Freedom

Posted on September 11, 2017 | Leave a comment

I have cried “Freedom” before at the premiere of Cry Freedom in NYC with Denzel Washington and Kevin Kline at the next table.

It was an honor to help write and create the first Martin Luther King day. A bunch of us got into a station wagon to drive to D.C. We each had an assignment. Mine was water and sodas. Upon arriving at the Subaru wagon with said goods I was told I would not be allowed any as “tiny tank” would not be allowed to have anything lest I made them stop at every other gas station on the NJ Turnpike. Fair enough.

We stayed with my former room-mate in Washington. What a day she had planned. Church services, memorials, and finally an incredible service at an AME church with a choir, and Coretta Scott King, in person, spoke to us. We spent 14 hours at memorials that day. It was an honor and a privilege to be able to be a part of making this day of remembrance and first holiday in his name.

I am a white woman who champions human and civil rights for all. Animals included. Abuse of any living being is not to be condoned. A couple of years ago we went to Memphis, I hoped to see the hotel where MLK was shot but it was under construction.

Whatever anyone else believes is not up to me, I know that by his principles he changed our world for the better. This morning I got up to take out the dog and gave a hug to a Black lady who is starting her new job in charge today (I gave her a reference without ever being asked).

For me, it’s always been the same. In the south, it’s different. We spent an hour a year learning about the Civil War. Why they called it “civil” I’ve no idea, brother against brother. They spent the entire year studying that war. They focus on it today, on losing the South and their way of life.

Get on with it, folks. Who would have expected a northeastern gal to drive south to celebrate the first national MLK Day? Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial

Tagged

Thumbs Almost Up

Posted on September 11, 2017 | Leave a comment

I don’t know that I’ll ever have full feeling in my right thumb from where I cut myself, but it is healing well and the worst thing now is skin loss from bandage adhesives.

It is always a pleasure to write to you and let you know what is going on, in Dee-Ville. Oh, how I hate that term, from a lame French teacher in high school.

At least I can tell old dog Zoe that I once again have opposable thumbs, something she will never have so will depend upon me for dinner until the end. I will be there for her at that time, and she will always have my “thumbs up!” She’s almost 14 years old and we met her at the shelter at five weeks. We’ll get through this but she she is changing and I need to care for her and prepare all of us for her passing.

My husband does not wish to know this or be there. I’ve said we adopted her nearly 14 years ago. We have to decide when she goes and be there for her. You can’t cop out of this one on a business trip and make me do it alone. I’ve done it alone before, several times. For heaven’s sake you’re chosen as a pallbearer at every family funeral. You just don’t want to see them die, and I need to do that.

Zoe is slowing down so much, she is sleeping more that 20 hours per day and has cataracts and is losing her hearing. Have your dog learn basic hand signals that are broad and even with cataracts they can see you and follow to come to you to go out.

I loved my Chani and taught her well. So I did Zoe because we got her as a very young pup and not as an abused and incarcerated dog for two years like Chani. I now prefer teaching a shelter dog pretty much from scratch. Both were/are great dogs.

A photo showed up of Chani with her old friend Sam. Sam was a neighborhood cat that walked in through the gate and slept near Chani for several hours a day out in the courtyard. They enjoyed the sun and the company a few feet away from each other.

I love all my pets, Nathan, Chani, Mickey and Zoe. All but Zoe are gone now, years ago. I’m still thinking there’s another pup in me (my husband can’t deal with cats for allergies) and I’d be willing to train her. Right now I do not wish for Zoe to have to deal with a pup 24/7. She wants to be with us.

As the Stones would say, “you don’t always get what you want,” but we always give her what she needs. Right now it’s not a puppy. Remember what Aretha said about RESPECT. My husband and I respect Zoe. Cheers and take care of your pets! They are family. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Mickey Mouse, pets, Zoe

“Normal”

Posted on September 10, 2017 | 1 comment

I do not know what that term means, only that neither I nor my husband for nearly fifteen years probably do not fit most people’s description of the term.

He is from the south and grew up milking cows, mending fence, splitting wood and building his own workshop as a kid to invent things and learn physics. When he was two years old his grandmother started reading him the encyclopedia. He is brilliant.

I grew up in the country, up north, where I had access to a university, music, art, dance and was relegated to the back of the classroom with a boy during reading hours for advanced literature of our choice. Yes, he was reading sports books and I was reading Death Be Not Proud and The Diary of Anne Frank. I was six. I’m smart, too, but in a very different way.

We’ve never been considered “normal” by many standards but we met shortly after 9/11, fell in love, met the folks and eloped. My folks had split up and I didn’t want them to have to sit together or anyone to pay for anything for us. Cheers from the architect of the War of Northern Aggression, no I wasn’t born in 1800 but am starting to look like it! That’s what his father calls me, I am the cause of the Civil War. I love him!

I’ve always been a glass half-full kind of gal and my husband a pragmatic physicist and engineer, which is more half-empty. When things go kerflooy around here I take care of my family (including the dog) and batten down the hatches. He goes on as if everything is OK, and it always turns out to be OK. He just does things like normal. We change roles.

Heaven forbid, the last thing we wish to do is be normal. Come on, I volunteered for six years to take care of Greyhounds rescued from racetracks, and spay/neuter 2,500 feral cats. Is that normal? My husband didn’t think so. When we moved I had to give that up. We both had strict upbringings of very different sorts but when we are together our personalities mesh into what is our version of normal. Cheers! Dee

 

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial

Stains, Love And Life

Posted on September 9, 2017 | Leave a comment

Yes there are stains on the dishes and laundry, and much to do in the kitchen and bathrooms. My husband is home to write a book and wants to learn how to cook. His favorites are spaghetti and meatballs, and really great fluffy pancakes for which I have to make egg whites to stiff peaks.

He usually sleeps immediately and like a champ but was up last night so today I’m going to make mini-quiches with eggs, cheese, prosciutto and he’ll love it.

He gets spaghetti sauce on his shirt, the walls, everywhere. I clean it up. Forget about pancakes, too many dishes to count. And when he decides to wash dishes, I follow him around like a second shift and clean up after him as there is water, water everywhere. Shower and shaving, too. He is called The Human Tornado for a reason. Yes, I gave him that name many years ago.

Do I love him? You bet I do. He is my love and my life. Stains included. He is my soul mate, savior, bete noir some of the time. With a love of life, cheers, Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, loving life

WordPress

Posted on September 8, 2017 | 2 comments

The first week my husband started this blog for me WordPress placed us up for the best of the newbies. I got in touch with her to say congrats and hello and we’ve had a relationship for many years yet have never met.

Before my time is gone I would like to meet her. We know about our families and friends yet have not ever had the chance to greet each other in person.

We’re both “foodies” and I’d love to meet her in the market in her town. Cheers! Dee

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged

Tricking a Cat

Posted on September 8, 2017 | 1 comment

Yes, I did it. I was sent a five-week old cat by my sister, across the country. Surprise! He had fallen seven feet from the loft where he was born and his mother would not feed him. I’d never had a cat before that time and did not know anything about raising a cat.

I learned and ten years later adopted another cat. They did not get along. Imagine run, run, hiss, hiss. Again and again. How about a cabinet being opened and slammed closed 100 times at 4:00 a.m. Yes, it was the cat food cabinet.

For the holidays I bought them a blanket. The young one slept under, the older one over. I stayed for five minutes until they were asleep. Then I went to my desk for work and they thought they were cuddling me and not each other.

That’s one way to trick cats and try to live a normal life. Unless there are dogs that run away from home to visit my cats. Yes, they did. They both loved dogs. My husband is so allergic to cats that I can’t have one. Our old dog loves cats, too.

There may be a video for kittens that they can watch on TV. I had a CRT back then and Mick would sit on top and watch and bat at the squirrels and birds. I’d run it twice and he’d go to sleep, so I could work. To you who adopt the unadoptables from local shelters, THANK YOU! Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial, editorial pets, Pet

The Game

Posted on September 7, 2017 | Leave a comment

I remember the Titans. GCM High. They came with swagger and talent and bravado and beat us my first year as a student.

There are other games, with compatriots, people who treat me with disdain, even my husband and our dog. My dear husband says I’m “sneaky” because I can find my way through small streets to get to the grocery, streets he does not know and that do not involve highway traffic.

My dog says I do not need discipline any more, I just want you to feed me. I turned down two small, new dogs last-minute to take care of for a week because we just got off another volunteer gig and old dog and me are exhausted. Plus hubby is here 24/7 at least for this week. I’ll make mini-quiches or we’ll make pancakes because I just got maple syrup. I prefer grade B as I think it tastes better.

With people and dogs (not cats) it’s all in your head. Read them, know what they want you to do for them and decide whether or not to do what they ask. Then decide how to explain your answer, that is critical and it must be short and specific.

Cats are a different story. Cheers! Dee

 

Leave a comment

Posted in animals, dogs, Editorial

Tagged

Loving You

Posted on September 7, 2017 | 1 comment

That was an old song I never cared for. I do care for my family, for this piece just my immediate family with whom I live, day in and day out.

My husband is brilliant, and knows everything including physics, software development, farm equipment and wood-splitting. He is kind but not effusive, hard-working and hard headed and not likely to say he’s sorry for anything, but he spoils our old dog like crazy.

Speaking of Zoe, she is kind to all (including cats that do not run) and wants to be next to us and herd us or play fetch with Precious, her only toy that is indestructible. She does not wish to sit on our laps but wants to be a couple of feet away so we can’t go anywhere without her knowledge. Yes, an old herder, though years ago she became afraid of two baby goats!

I have been accepted into my husband’s growing family, as has Zoe in a farming culture that does not allow dogs in the house. Now she is a member of their loving family as well, and stands on my father-in-law’s place on the sofa awaiting his return from feeding the cattle. She also picks up anything that drops on the floor during my mother-in-law’s and my cooking marathon for days before every Thanksgiving.

When we drive there as I turn on the long road to the Ranch she pops her head up from her 4″ orthopedic bed and knows our destination. Food and family.

That’s how we roll. I cooked some St. Louis style ribs last night, Alton Brown style, with a rub inspired by Jeanne Voltz, with salt, pepper, sugar and smoked paprika. My dear husband grilled the ribs for five minutes after I cooked them covered in a low oven for 90 minutes and I brushed on a hint of BBQ sauce that had a bit of bourbon in it. I also made a fresh radicchio salad with an organic ranch-style sauce, and we had a few root veggie chips.

I love my family! Dee

 

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial, loving life, Recipe Ideas

Tagged

The Blue Car

Posted on September 6, 2017 | Leave a comment

It was sleek, fast and sexy. I believe the electric cars and the huge track Santa put in our basement was worthy of our efforts, and that the cars were based on period models.

I chose the white car. Whoever got to bet with me (nothing but a brownie or cookie) got to choose the car. They always chose the blue model, so I got the white one. I knew how to keep and manage my speed on the curves and the blue car would fly off the track and be back a length.

He was a hare, I was a tortoise, who nearly always won, the one with the heavier car, and I was eight and knew how to not choose. Get the smart, stable one especially if your competition doesn’t know how to choose the right car.

Don’t be silly, I had to drive the blue car many times and learned how to do it without flying off the track. I won those races as well because it was faster so I ran it faster on the straightaways and I let it slow on the curves. The guys never got that point, they just wanted to go fast.

I once had kids over when I was 12, boys and girls. We had a ping pong tournament and I was in the top two paired against a skilled male athlete at school. I won. He threw a fit and told me that a girl should always let the boy win any game. We were not dating, nor was I allowed to date anytime in the near future.

No way. If I’m better at a game than you, I’m just better. I’m the white car and you just flew off the tracks. Game, Dee!

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial

Tagged ,

Grands

Posted on September 6, 2017 | Leave a comment

We get to do things for people. Share meals after a prayer. There are five grandchildren, plus me, an honorary. My husband is the eldest male grand and is his father now is the eldest living son. I only say this in an informational context.

I would like, as a perpetrator of the “war of Northern aggression” to retain tradition. No, J, I was not alive in 1860 to wage war on the South. I would like to retain what is now my family and its traditions. Most of my family is gone now, both parents. Yes, we are from the North but our families share roots in Europe.

What do we do? Bring games for the kids who are getting too old to like them. The boys play football now. We don’t set up this outdoor game, measured boundaries, for nothing. I’m there to help, then cheer on the kids. Both sides. That’s what grands do, cheer for great-grands and further. Thank you, Nanny! Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Family