....down South, y'all...

...if you've never watched Paula Deen,Southern cook supreme, on the Food Network, or heard many "Southern" expressions, they can really catch you off guard...we've all heard",,busy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs..." today, Paula got me with one I'ld never heard before..."busy as a cat covering it up..."...I rarely laugh out loud at the TV, but this was one of those moments...In 1977, I toured for 3 months with a musical group[40 total: singers,instrumentalists,techs...]...we had several Southerners from Georgia,Florida and TEXAS... the few from Texas were the most entertaining when it came to "original and colorful" turns of a phrase...it wasn't long before all of us[even the girl from Minnesota,don'ca know ?] were "fixin' to do this or that and just plumb tuckered-out when it was over, but pleased as punch to do it again...aside from my tour-mates, some of the more "interesting" ways to "talk Southern" include the phrases,"..well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit"...or .."put on your big-girl panties and get over it.."...so I recommend that if your life is spinning out of control...Stop !...and rest a spell, watch Paula talk[and cook] Southern...she is the genuine article and a vacation in a half-hour...y'all come back now, y'hear ?

..."paging Mr. Noah..."

...in my last entry, I quoted an unknown[to me ,anyway]source about "faith" and how when you get to the edge of the known light, you will find a place to stand or be taught to fly... I would now wish to include "taught to swim" after "taught to fly"...if you are confused, see Miz Minka's Oct.29 "Much Music " blog...I'm taking off my squishy shoes and taking a nap...

Faith...

When you come to the edge of all the light you have known and are about to step out into the darkness...
FAITH is knowing one of two things will happen...
There will be something to stand on or You will be taught how to fly.
author unknown

baaah, flu-bug

...for years, I avoided flu shots, I'ld finally taken a pneumonia shot because I had had it several times and the Dr. made me, but in those days, it was supposed to be a "one-time" thing, not annual like "flu shots"...of course, I got sick... I saw anywhere from 100-160 students a day and had to handle instruments they played...but whether it was because I was younger or just the built-up immunity from all those germs...the "flu" didn't seem as bad "then"... I had the "Hong Kong" flu in 1973 and was helpless for almost 2 weeks,high fever,nausea,aches etc... I had the measles[hard !]along with strep throat in 1963 [I was 14] and was even more helpless for 3 weeks... I had the light measles during college and had to stay in the infirmary for several days until the spots left... I don't remember much of the mumps[I was 4] or the chicken pox[I was 10]..but I was told that as a baby[1949] I got a very mild case of smallpox from the vaccine[and have the scars to prove it...] during high school, the Dr had me come into his office to get my final polio booster instead of lining-up with the masses at school for "shot day"[baby boomers will relate...] ...turns out he was pretty "ahead of the curve", since I went into anaphalactic shock from the minute amount of penicillin in the polio shot...that's when they found out I'm allergic to penicillin..I guess that if I had learned anything it should have been to avoid needles...but no, since I've been retired I have been getting my yearly flu shot[aka.period of flu-like symptoms] like a mindless "sheep"...it does seem better during the peak flu season, but I truely hate "being the first one" to get sick each year, after the shot... "baaah flu-bug"

Striplings General Store,"you never sau-sage a place"

...as another birthday "looms" over me, I've found myself seeking connections to my past...due to my generational position, I am out of synch with my past...my dad was the 21st child of 22...his father was born in 1858...my maternal great grandmother was born in 1862, I actually knew her but my paternal grandfather was dead 15 years before my birth...so of the family I KNOW of, my brother, his family my cousin and I are pretty much it.... my maternal great grandfathers' name was Moses Striplin, born in Georgia in 1859...the oral tradition was that the Striplins who stayed in Georgia spelled their name Stripling...one day, while watching Paula Deen's cooking show on Foodnetwork,she visited her friend Skeeter at Striplings General Store in Georgia...he looked so much like my Great Grandad,Moses, that I emailed them to see if I was related to Skeeter... of course, Skeeter is not a Stripling, he's just worked there forever,but there was something about finding this store online that felt like home...they called me in response to my email and were very nice....maybe someday , I'll try to make the connection with the remnants of my family, but for now, I'm feeling very comforted by the country ham,smoked sausage,jams and pancake mix I bought online, so if you see me in my red Striplings tee shirt, you'll know the "rest of the story..."

raccoons, opossoms , roof rats and things that go munch in the night...

...a few years ago, I planted a Fuji apple tree and a pomegranite tree...I did this because I love both Fuji apples and pomegranites ,but I should have known better... I have a comice pear tree that is in too shady a spot to give me pears, so I have to buy them...my necture[white]peach tree gives me peaches if I am a)quicker than the birds and rats b)the spring conditions were just right and c) I'm really lucky...my relationship with my cherry tree and apricot tree are pretty much the same as with the peach, ...considering all these "bad experiences", a smart person would conclude that backyard fruit growing is "iffy", at best, and not waste the effort...so why did I plant the apple and Pom. trees after all the other experiences ? I guess because I grew up on a farm eating tree-ripe fruit and the stuff in the store tastes nothing like what I grew up with...and because for the few times that I have been successful in snatching my meager harvest from all the forces of nature lined up against me, the taste and smell, not to mention the juice running down my chin, have transported me back to the ranch and the "real" fruit of my youth... for the last few years since I planted both the apple and pom. trees, I have watched during the spring for blossoms...last year ,there were finally blossoms on both, but they never set as fruit... this spring they did and I was excited ! I watched the apples swell and the pom. flowers bloom and set and they began to swell also...about 2 weeks ago, I noticed the apples were starting to show red and decided to wait another week or so as they also showed some green still...the poms were begining to weigh down the branches, so I propped them up, noting the fang marks but knowing that until Halloween, they wouldn't be the level of ripeness I craved[ I had tried one that had split open and it was about half ripe]...I then made my way to the apple tree...there had been over a dozen apples the last time I had looked,but now...not a one !... I looked closer and they weren't on the ground, they were just gone...gone, with my zucchini crop, the last of my tomatoes [few that there were to begin with...] a "pest control" expert would cost hundreds of dollars and would trap and kill the critters...I considered it, but I remember the possums when they were babies [they were so cute...] and I just can't bring myself to have them so callously "exterminated"[they'll probably die this winter anyway...]...the raccoons are probably the biggest problem and they are too smart for traps anyway and trying to get rid of roof rats in this area is like spitting into the ocean....so for now , I'm keeping a watchful eye on the 6 or 7 poms on the tree...and hoping the bitterness of the skin will keep them safe for me until after Halloween, when they will be sweeter....

is red, by any other name as bright...?

...my nearly 80 year old "bungalow",(a variation on a Sears kit "Pendleton"), is a small (1100 sq ft+) English Tudor(brick with stucco and "half-timbering")built in 1931...I am the proud owner of hardwood floors, a fireplace and a breakfast nook...the crowning glory is the eastern facing living room/dining room,(about 35 ft long)...there are 3 French door windows in the dining room and the living room has a wall of windows also...this room is uncharacteristically large because someone in the houses' distant past removed the dividing wall between the two rooms, creating one large, bright space, anchored on the north by the fireplace and on the south by the always bright breakfast nook,which being the corner also has a southern window as well as an eastern "bay"...since I retired, [June,2005],I've been "working" at redecorating...Mom's illnesses and subsequent death(Jan.2007) have not only interupted my progress, but often have brought it to a halt... not to mention the influx of Mom's stuff I needed to keep, added to my own clutter....argh...!...but thanks to some friends[Miz Minka & Mr Greenthumb], I've been able to make some inroads....I have a carpenter coming to fix the closet door hinge[as soon as the new one gets here,of course,it's on 'back order']he will also install the custom wood shutters I've had for the nook for over a year...and next week another friend will be helping me get the stuff out of the dining room so we can clean the floors and prepare to paint...in the past , I painted the ceiling,walls and woodwork all the same color[beige]...I liked the way the light in the fall and winter made a cozy "peach-y" glow...but when I painted the nook and kitchen[as part of a re-model 2003-4],my love of "earth tones" took over, so I used a sunny yellow in the nook and pumpkin in the kitchen,with a creamy ceiling and woodwork and a dark red accent wall that faces the southern exposure...it took me weeks to find that red and 3 coats over primer to make it "right"...now, I've been using the tools at Benjamin Moore.com to find colors[you can paint walls and see how it looks under certain light situations...very cool]...of course when I go to the BenM store,I find small sample bottles and that the red I love comes only as exterior paint...[I want interior "satin"] all other reds are too much of a compromise, but I have no choice...so I buy a couple of quarts of 2 shades of red and a sample of another[I want a deep red ,the kitchen red isn't right for the DR"light",not too purple or too brown...or too orange...like ruby port....],as well as other tan-ish/beige-y colors for the other 3 walls,ceiling off white,woodwork creamy white and the madness continues...at OSH... I find 2 promising reds, so I get a quart of each.... I know it will take at least 3 coats to get the true color and different tans go with different reds...and I need to do this without making the woodwork look yellow or the ceiling look gray....this is going to be almost as much fun as my last mammogram or pap test...this kind of frustration is probably why I painted everything beige before...but I'm sure that all this fun is only the opening salvo...I'll probably change my mind a number of times before I lose it [my mind, that is...]...stay tuned...

...the trumpet blows...

...to say that I have a "love/hate" relationship with playing the trumpet is a misstatement... I don't "hate" playing, just the way my aging body throws stumbling blocks in my path... flaky vision, arthritis, wandering concentration... the true irony is that at this point, I know more about how to "do it right", than I did when nothing hurt and I took physical acumen for granted...I also still have "chops" [the ability to play high, etc.]... but my fingers are stiffer and slower, my tonguing has to be "re-set", I have to NOT be having an allergy attack that stops-up my ears and I have to remind myself how to transpose tricky things[ie piccolo trumpet in A or trumpet in G]... still, after I rub off the "rust" and play a few days, the sound I want comes back [for the most part...] and I do enjoy playing...when I play, especially something I like, I "sing" through the horn... my mom and my BFFL always said that they could tell my sound and that my playing and singing had the "same " tone quality...I have heard that occasionally from others, but mom always said it and I thought it interesting that my BFFL came up with that too all on her own... I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my G trumpet[to replace the one I should never have sold...] and will be playing at church on Nov.25
[Christ the King] on a Vaughan Williams anthem I've done a dozen times before....sometimes, I miss playing in groups, but then I remember that to play in groups, you must rehearse and after 50 years of playing[40 of them as a professional], I don't need anymore rehearsals cluttering-up my life...it's nice, to be able to stay home and not have to spend half the night rehearsing or performing [ I was being paid...], ... someday, I may feel differently, but not today... I have spent thousands of hours practicing and hundreds more rehearsing and then performing, for years of my life, it's now time to slow down and enjoy the music making now that it is no longer my occupation...

confessions of a wuss

....my brain has been jogged, [no mean feat...], to ponder my mental wimpiness...my best friend[BFFL] used to roll her eyes or snidely remark that I would never watch a certain film she had just seen and loved,[she is a film buff...], only my extreme respect for her and our friendship caused me to watch as much of "Dances..." or "Braveheart" as I have...she rolls her eyes at my lack of curiosity about "Silence of the Lambs" and still does...in my defense, I really "go" inside of things I watch/read... I've been watching, "The War" on PBS and was just notified that my copy was on its way.... I become depressed, then tearful after watching "Band of Brothers" for the umpteeth time...I think that because I live in my head, things that penetrate , stay with me... so I catch myself channel surfing if moments are too intense on screen and "skip" ahead if reading,...after being "prepared" mentally, I can often go back and watch what I couldn't deal with when surprised...just so you don't get the wrong idea, my BFFL is just teasing me, when she says that she doesn't get why graphic films get to me[although there is a cunundrum there..] and this is why... over 20 years ago,when I first knew my BFFL, I lived in a duplex, just off a very busy one way street... when I moved, after 7 years there, I was cleaning and moving out the last things,[ my BFFL was helping ] ...suddenly, we heard a screeching of tires and a couple of horrendous crashes at the corner, followed by screaming... I looked outside, called to my BFFL to call 911[this was before cell phones and my phone hadn't been disconnected yet...], I grabbed a roll of paper towels and ran to the corner, a guy was trying to open the door of one car to get the elderly driver out, she was in shock, but not too injured...the screaming was from a young girl who had been in the other car, she had been thrown out [no seat belt], her forehead was bleeding so she couldn't really see for the blood and there was a bad cut on her leg...she was screaming for her boyfriend, the other driver, who was trapped in his car, [ the elderly lady, in a battleship car had turned left onto the 1 way, pulling in front of them , their drivers side hit her passenger side...] I knelt next to the hysterical woman, folded some paper towels and asked her to hold them to her forehead after I wiped some of the blood off her face, as I put pressure on the leg wound with a wad of towels, I talked to her, trying to calm her, telling her that the ambulance was coming, her boyfriend was being helped, she was going to be OK, anything I could think of in as calm a voice as I could muster....it must have worked, because she quieted down....the EMTs got there quickly and I relinquished my position to them...my BFFL had been helping other victims and as we walked back to my apt., we noticed that I had blood on my hands and pretty much everywhere else...my BFFL, who already knew I didn't like gore in movies told me that she was surprised by my willingness to get so involved when I didn't like gore,[the whole thing left her really shaken, as it would most sensitive persons, she had to sit quietly for a bit and gather herself]...for some reason, the adrenaline rush had propelled me to act and when it was over, I was a bit shaky, but wasn't freaked out as my BFFL had expected me to be... my BFFL still gives me a hard time about being "such a wuss" about movies, she'll say,"...oh, you probably wouldn't like it " or "don't see that, you'll hate it"... but she always does it with an ironic smile....

you know it's Fall when....

....the sun plays hide and seek with clouds
....the cats sunggle closer[your armpit becomes a "destination"...]
....ALL the stores decorate for Halloween[right after Labor Day]
....ALL the stores decorate for Thanksgiving[ before Halloween]
....ALL the stores(and everything else...) decorate for Christmas[right after Halloween]
....kitties get thicker coats
....kitties hack-up more hairballs, due to thicker hair...
....baseball goes 'away', but not before they play The World Series, IN THE SNOW...
....football is king !
....basketball and hockey return [they were gone ?, yawn...]
....NASCAR goes away[ and ,please, STAY AWAY...]
....the smell of wood smoke makes you feel cozy[unless you live in a "fire"zone...]
....politicians ramp it up [PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP !]
....school is "on" and I don't have to go [hee,hee,hee]