An Errand For Fools

Posted on August 29, 2017 | Leave a comment

Is not necessarily a fool’s errand, if it works in your favor. Let’s say a certain industry will not allow one to succeed without a certain stamp on one’s forehead. This hypothetical person could pass a test while sleeping but no….. an expensive week-long ritual must be undertaken and then the test.

Let’s say said individual was committed to designing and building traditional log homes and s/he was forced to spend savings on a course on steel frame construction. It would be a waste of time and money.

I believe in people and lifting them up to be the best that they can be, with commitment to a cause they believe in, to work and colleagues. As a consultant, after an event we’d have a session with all staff. It was not bads and goods, it was Goods and Betters. What can we do better next time?

Can you guess? I was the go-between, the problem-solver that no-one ever noticed.

There is another mechanism like king and castle vs. his “people” where taxes are levied and increased by rule willy-nilly and livestock taken and hunting denied on the king’s land so that his people starve and in the beginning of his end, revolt.

I think there is no question that this consultant would choose to empower and support her people. Goods and betters. I was not an event consultant but had to do it from time to time. No name tags or beverages? I was on it, even without my clients’ knowledge. The items just showed up. It wasn’t our fault, it was the venue’s but in that case communication was the issue as to who would provide what, so there was fault on both sides. Go to Betters!

I led volunteers and would go to the nearest, best store alone after we set up and buy juice and a muffin before we started. They’d ask what we were doing and would show up a half hour later with a ton of free food and water for my fellow volunteers. Lift up, do not drag down. Volunteers are spending an entire day in intense heat and stress. The least I can do is help them out. Thanks to our benefactors, Dee

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Prior Engagement

Posted on August 26, 2017 | Leave a comment

I can’t go on a trip with my husband because I’ve a prior commitment. We were looking forward to it. I had my dates wrong.

Dreams of museums swam through my head. He would have no time to spend with me, but I could have seen my brother. I haven’t seen him for over eight months, since Dad’s funeral.

Last night when I told him I couldn’t be there he said it was OK. I told him I wanted to see him and have pastrami and he said no can do. So I’ve researched it and it’s a “can do.” Perhaps if we plan it I can spend two days and we can do our museums and deli. We’ll see, Dee

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Thanks, Dad

Posted on August 26, 2017 | Leave a comment

for always keeping me safe while reaching out, even to this strange dog while having a picnic in the mountains. I wanted the dog, Dad. You knew it and let me go for it while keeping me safe every moment, that’s you.

I was six months old and Dad was about 27. I petted the dog but waited until age 42 to meet my soul mate and marry. Now when he says something, I say he sounds just like Dad! That’s sad as Dad is gone now. What do they say about gals?

They marry a version of Dad. So I found a genius taller than Dad with a bigger brain for science but who had to learn about personal interaction. That’s why he married me, and then we adopted Zoe. Now he meets people on old dog walks all the time, people and dogs from all walks of life. That is life. Cheers! Dee

 

 

 

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Emily/Emilio

Posted on August 24, 2017 | 2 comments

No, that is not her name. She’s a pup I had for a long weekend and will have again for a day or so. She did a number on my right arm last time but now is no longer teething!

Sweet dog, wants to be “by” all the time but I call her “ghost dog.” She can be sound asleep alongside me and I don’t want to get up. I do to get ice for a glass of water and it’s like Emilio Lopez in the 2002 re-make of Mr. Deeds. He was played by the talented and very funny John Turturro.

She is sitting there by the freezer. Another time I go to the guest bath. There she is, sitting by the toilet. I go to sit on the sofa and she’s underneath me waiting for me to sit down. Turturro would have Deeds on the elevator to his quarters and take the stairs and meet him at the elevator doors, not out of breath at all. Surprise! Ghost pup!

My husband was home that weekend and he said I was “it.” I was the thing she wanted to be close to in more ways than one because she was missing her folks. She is going to grow up to be a very good dog, but like our old Zoe, as my brother said nearly 14 years ago, needy. She is very lucky to have good, caring parents. I like Em and my old blind dog friend, many others and those who’ve passed over the years. Our Zoe is going blind and deaf. I do like meeting the young ones in the neighborhood. Stay! Dee

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Yes, Virginia, There Is a Concord Grape

Posted on August 24, 2017 | Leave a comment

It probably will not be out until late September/early October, depending upon the weather. They can be eaten and my first and most popular blog is “How To Eat a Concord Grape.” Just follow the instructions from a hobby farm gal surrounded by Concord vineyards and dairy farms.

You must eat it fresh, else you’ll end up with Welch’s jam and juice. I don’t live there anymore, but if you can’t get to western NY the Welch’s white grape juice is the closest thing I  can get.

* * *

Husbands. Mine sharpened a favorite knife of mine, a 4″ paring knife he uses to shave off slices of what kind of apple he likes that day. I was cutting two jalapeno peppers for chimichurri sauce for grilled skirt steak and sliced my thumb, deeply. He has been threatening to re-bandage me for a few days. The thumb opened up two days ago and I needed more time.

This afternoon it looked really good and he re-bandaged it, I washed my hands, placed hydrogen peroxide on the cut, let it dry, added Bacitracin, and he put on a nearly invisible NexCare bandage. I’m good to go.

* * *

Today would be Mom and Dad’s 60th wedding anniversary. They’re both in a better place now and hopefully have had some time to chat, in heaven.

* * *

Jewelry. I made my mother commit to letting me pierce my ears on my 16th birthday. She did. They were infected for two years. For the past ten I’ve only been able to wear 18K gold tiny hoops and they gave me trouble. I took them out for good a couple of years ago.

On my left arm I wear my 18K wedding ring (no engagement ring per my request), a copper hand-made bracelet from the farmers’ market and a magnetized “golf bracelet” that helps with my arthritis.

On my right, I’ve a silver Claddagh ring on my ring finger, an Italian red/white/green bracelet, a stronger golf bracelet which keeps arthritis at bay, and a Turkish “evil eye” bracelet to keep me safe, from Islamabad, a gift from Dad.

Other than really cool eyeglasses a la Edith Head/Edna Mode every day I wear a black, wooden guitar pick on a leather chain, with the Celtic, never-ending knot engraved inside it, in memory of Dad. Sometimes I add another handmade piece but the wood one is always with me. Dad was very talented, as a musician and director of many artistic endeavors.

Oh, I do have my great-aunt’s pearls from her wedding in the 1940’s. I wore them to mine. They’re not really appropriate for taking out the dog. Cheers! Dee

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In the Closet

Posted on August 23, 2017 | Leave a comment

No, not that! Though I love and approve of friends and family that are gay or lesbian.

I was in southern California, my sweet old dog had died and I met a guy. It was the dot-bomb era and the company left a white board up with the last item being “fire employees.” They all saw it and went home for the weekend to not sleep and wait to see if their name was on the list. They fired 1/3 of the workforce.

We had only gone out for a couple of weeks but I knew he was wicked smart and a “keeper” and I saw his dark apartment and tons of individual string cheese wrappers going from frig to the dual-brained computer he created from nothing and thought, this guy needs help.

His laundry system was clean pile, dirty pile. He would try to match clean pile socks. I did all the wash, folded it and set it up in two closets. He caught me in the smaller closet and said I needed to learn the Texas Two-Step. It’s been years and I don’t remember it. We started dancing in the closet then out into the living area and he moved away. Actually, that’s why I folded all the clothes, so they could go easily into boxes. Luckily I did, as his mother would have killed him otherwise! She still interviewed me for five days before we married.

He was gone for only two weeks. I had to pay for maids to come into his place. When he returned a guy he gave his recliner to next door asked why he drove back halfway across the country. He simply said, “her.”

Aah, true love. We met a couple of weeks after 9/11 and married (eloped) a year or so later after meeting all the folks. Nearly fifteen years officially, now. No. There are no clean/dirty piles of laundry. Everything is folded, appropriately stored, all the socks are matched and shirts and dress pants go to the drycleaner.

We have an old Zoe dog nearing 14 years who we got at six weeks. She has cataracts and is also losing her hearing and is tripping a bit on walks. No more string cheese, he’s become an expert on cheddar. I created a food snob, and while I packed for him for 12 years now he has his own (and my) suitcases and packs for himself. I just drop off his shirts and make sure they’re boxed.

Be careful, that Texas Two-Step can get you into a lifetime relationship! Dee

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Dear Mom and Dad

Posted on August 22, 2017 | 1 comment

I am losing my sight and now hearing and am nearing 100 in “people years.” I don’t want to go back to my loving vets for more tests or be put under for a teeth cleaning. I am old. Mom has to pet me to get me up in the morning.

Being with you is all I want. As long as I live, I will live well, under your care and tutelage. The kids and dogs and puppies and cats and people will love me. When I go you will be with me. I will be with you, in your mind and heart, forever.

After all,  I’m the best decision you ever made! I got out of the shelter and you got ME, the best! I jumped out of the box, Mom, you threw that box in back and I sat on your lap sniffing the wind out of the car window. That was my first day of freedom. Days later after Mom getting me fluids, and treating me for coccididia and hookworms was real freedom.

You gave something I never had, a home. It has been mine, in different places but always with you. Some people call it a “forever home” but for me, it’s just home. You’re always there, taking care of me. Well she didn’t tell me I could post Zoe’s blog but you need a change so I’m sure it’ll be ok. Treats, Zoe

ps A note from Dee, Zoe’s “mom.” I ran into a doc today, am taking care of their pup for a day next month. I told him of Zoe’s age and condition when we got her from the shelter. When fluids were required, I made sure she didn’t need an IV as she was already distressed and we’d only had her for two days, that it would be sub-Q (subcutaneous fluids underneath the neck skin). I told him that the vet looked at me funny and asked who I was, no nurse or doc. Just someone who had helped spay/neuter 2,500 feral cats over the years! Zoe was hydrated, de-wormed and fine. I think that vet’s mind spun around a few times. I found a better vet closer to home. And another to take out her hips as a pup, she had the worst x-rays her surgeon had ever seen. Dr. Val has the pictures to prove it. D

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Presidential?

Posted on August 22, 2017 | 1 comment

I think not. The best thing Trump did was to read the TelePrompter. He actually let someone advise him not to speak extwitteraneously.

When people know his speech fell flat that person will also be fired.

What was this speech about? How can I get over the Nazi scandal. In retaliation should we regulate banks? Insurance? Hopefully not health care as I don’t like poor people. Can we kill people? I can, as president? Let’s go do it! I need to make a statement to my voter base so let’s go kill people.

That is what it was about. I need to remind the President of the United States of America that he doesn’t represent his voting base, but that he represents everyone and has to start acting like it.

This pre-re-election effort will fail, Mr. President. You don’t listen to any of your Cabinet or advisors and fire them as if you’re on TV on The Apprentice. The White House is not TV. You need to have all of us and our issues in mind. Not cheerily, Dee

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Childhood and Food

Posted on August 20, 2017 | Leave a comment

I couldn’t sleep so saw a few moments of a show that was telling me chef’s favorite memories of childhood. I’ll do you one better, good and bad. As far as I’m concerned there are taste and sense memories like the smell of chocolate chip cookies in the oven. The smell of cookies and vanilla is a time-tested trick of the real estate agent.

Then there are family memories of dinners together, and then special events like birthdays. Mom’s gone nine years and no-one has her recipe for the birthday cake she made each of us, including herself, every year as we grew. It was a pecan layer cake with two types of chocolate frosting. I believe those were the best days we had with family. Birthday kid got to choose the meal as well. I only remember the cake, and I don’t do dessert because Mom and my sisters were so good at it I had to cook, not bake. My brother is a good cook, too, and he didn’t even go to school for it!

I hated bologna sandwiches. When Mom didn’t have time to make me lunch for school (a bologna sandwich) she would give me tokens, $.35 for a hot lunch at the cafeteria, $.02 for milk. I always had a penny so would pay a cent extra for chocolate milk. They usually had what they called Salisbury steak. Pity that town in England. It was awful.

In high school I ate my first “tater tot!”  Good. Later I got to choose and would have a slice of pizza (just dollars, no tokens any more) and packet of Twinkies. Great diet for an athlete! I’ll bet the Twinkies are still in me, with their incredible shelf life.

In college for breakfast in the caf I ate Cocoa Puffs with chocolate milk. Then I moved to an apartment, cooked real food for everyone and never touched a dish. My roommates were shocked that one could make brownies or a dish from dried pasta that didn’t come from a box. I said I’d cook if they set the table, did dishes before and after dinner, and shopped my grocery list.

Our list of hungry neighbors increased so I was cooking for at least 12 for dinner every evening. Shopping list said 50# bag of potatoes for the week. They brought back cans of potatoes because they were on sale. So much for that. From then on I had the list and the cart and pointed to what I needed.

I never liked rice pudding. Mom made it and I wouldn’t eat it. I think it was a textural thing, combined with rice going with dinner, not dessert. That was as a little kid. Yesterday I made Quiche Lorraine that my husband loved. Also a tart with cooked apples, cinnamon, peaches and blueberries.

I like most things, not octopus, texture. It is a blessing for me to be able to cook for family and friends. Cheers! Dee

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Dancers

Posted on August 20, 2017 | Leave a comment

The sketch of dancers Dad bought me nearly 30 years ago in an awful “uniframe” was beautifully framed and is in our home. You need to tell MC Hammer something. The strip he recommends failed.

I got this sketch re-framed and placed it as the focal point in our home. I had it framed a week before he died and didn’t receive it until afterwards.

The picture fell yesterday and did not break. It is well-constructed. While we haven’t observed the damage it is intact and we placed a real solid nail and picture hanger in there and placed it back up on the wall as a focal point. Dad has led arts institutions and dance companies. This work is important to me.

Nothing more can happen to Dad. He is gone. For this one work of art to fall off the wall may be a sign of something. Who knows? We fixed it and will see what happens next. Dee

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