Hi Everyone. I had just about completed my posting here and my computer locked up on me.  What an aggravation!  We are having a beautiful morning but it is suppose to be partly cloudy all day.  I spent an hour with my friend this morning and then made a quick trip to Walmart to return some light bulbs that weren't the right type for our ceiling fixtures that are recessed in the ceiling.  I also got a couple of grocery items.  We have a nice casserole from Costco thawed out for our main meal today and will make a small lettuce salad to go with it.  There is nothing else on the schedule for today.

MarsGal, our animal shelters are overflowing right now as there are more animals available that those willing to adopt them.  We had pets for many years but they are out of the question for us anymore.  I grew up eating some catfish occasionally but they were not fillets so had to deal with the little bones.  I have never had much of a taste for fish.  I hope Shan approved of your typing.  ;D

Marilyne, catfish have sort of a sweet taste.  I was glad to see what Patricia posted that no one in South Carolina had apparently gotten the ecoli infection.

Mary Ann, it seems the little ones learn "no" pretty early which may be because they have heard it so often from the parents. 

Patricia, thanks for the explanation of the "dirty ditch".  Do you want me to include the gumdrop cake recipe to the recipe index?  I looked yet to see if you also included it over in the cooking discussion.

Tom got home about 10:15 this morning.  I'm not sure he covered his teaching amount, but he said he did OK.  He's now trying to entice semi drivers to drive! 

Our snow has quit or at least slowed down.  Our high temperature is to be around 32 degrees and that is what my thermometer reads now.  Tomorrow more of the same.  I think if the sun came out, it would be easier to take, but we have cloudy skies today. 

Our Humane Society had an "Adopt a Pet" day recently and I think it was successful.  Once in a while I see a stray cat around here.  Dot called one day, all agitated because a white cat was in the area and I should keep Kendrick inside.  Kendrick is an inside cat and with few exceptions is not outside.  Dot is allergic to cats so seldom is in contact with him unless she comes here, then he is likely to go to the lower level because he doesn't see her enough to know her.  Actually, Annie is the only one who has the honor of him staying upstairs.

I also have never tasted catfish, however, I think people catch them from the Grand River which flows through downtown.  Carp is what is found mostly in the river.  I find it in the store but I've never bought any. 

Larry, I'm sorry your computer locked up and I hope it isn't a frequent occurrence.  Mine does it occasionally and fortunately it doesn't happen often.

As usual, I have no agenda so I'll take what comes.

Mary Ann

Good Afternoon... 

Larry, yes... living in the corner apartment
on the main street in the arts district of
 down town Portland is well worth the trade
off of my having to put up a few cooler days
inside my apartment.

As I have mentioned before, I grew up in
an eleven room Farm House that had a
"one pipe furnace  (coal and wood)"...
I slept at the head of the stairs on the
second floor,  so the heat from this old
fashion furnace,  alway made it up to my
room....    My father would get up early
before work and stoke the furnace so that
by the time the rest of us got going
for the day,  our house was warm enough...

I always sleep better when the temps are
on the low side.     Of course,  we always dressed
for the occasion.  And never really
suffered much from the lower temps. 

Today is pretty much the  same. 

Have a good day, everyone.   And may
you all be very comfortable no matter what
the weather.

Sandy
    with a few days

Good late Morning from another plus seventeen degrees and what else? Raining, Interior!

I finally after ten days managed to post a photo for Marilyne in Pets, but she had to, unfortunately, put up with my inexperience. I wish someone could put up a basic resizing and compressing explanation in Attachments and other options. And put back the old practice area!

Farrah is getting needy as she seems to do at this time of year and if I'm on the computer, she becomes very verbal. If ignored, she will suddenly jump up four feet onto my laptop's keyboard which always seems to startle me! We have settled into an easy nonverbal communication as in the morning she lays in the bedroom doorway until I'm up and then goes and waits by her bowl. If I get up from my chair, she immediately goes to her blue ring if she's hungry or inside of her paper bag if she wants to play "Gotcha!"

If I look towards the balcony and empathically say Birdie, she will jump onto the nearby table and look out. I never joke about seeing birds as I want to continue to communicate with her. She still doesn't chitter, but she observes the birds.

A friend told me a cute story about her old tomcat named Moose. Moose is a rescue that had been outside for a time in Maryland before he was rescued and they moved here. He is large, gray, yellow and white with a bobbed tail and one well-chewed ear. He's very easy going as now he is indoor only with food, water, good company, and no enemies to watch out for.

Anyway, her daughter got a small Siamese mix from PetPride and not knowing better about introducing cats, brought it over to show her parents.

The new kitten crab walked in circles and hissing around Moose who only laid there and watched. When the kitten came close, Moose reached out with one large paw and knocked the kitten over.  After that, the kitten left him alone. 

Go ahead and post the recipe if you wish Larry. It's from Barry's Rock Recipes.

Cute story, Patricia.  I'm afraid Kendrick would do the same, or maybe he wouldn't be so laid back and he'd get up and after the kitty. 

I put a small amount of grass seed in where I had the other this summer.  I cut the dried grass down, then put in the new seed and watered it.  The grass had grown about three inches by today so I put it in the living area (near a slider to get some light).  He looked at it for a few minutes, then came to see what it was.  He ended up eating all that was there.  I am in hopes the grass will grow or replenish as fast as it did outside (wishful thinking).  I have plenty of seed so if nothing new appears, I'll sprinkle more in the basket. 

Tom just left to drive for a few more hours.  I told him I hoped he'd get as much as he would have gotten teaching and he said he got that this morning.  He said he needs the money to pay bills and I know he's looking forward to Christmas too. 

I think our snow is over for a while but the cold is not.  We have reached the point where Tom is the one to get mail as I won't go out on the snow.

I've had three robo calls today.  One left a message in a southern accent but the area code was from the Springfield IL area.  I couldn't even understand her, but something about Social Security.  The second time I got that number I shut it off before she talked.  This last call was from the Detroit area.

Dot wants me to look up something for her, so I will be back later.

Mary Ann

Patricia, you did a good job on my picture. Certainly better than I could do.  One thing that I'm curious about, is how are those members who post in, Photos Old and New, posting those big colorful pictures? It's like they are having no problems whatsoever with the new format?

That is a cute story of Moose, the Tomcat.  Winnie was sweet and good natured, but would not have taken kindly to another cat in the house.  When Shelley and Claire would come and bring their cat Jerry, he (Jerry) was relegated to the basement for the duration of their stay.  Sounds awful, but the basement is warm, and there are lots of places to sleep and a bathroom for the litter box and food. Jerry didn't mind it at all, and I think he felt more secure down there.

Mary Ann - Do you have a sunny window, where you can put a chair or table for  Kendrick's grass?  That would keep it growing year around . . . but if it's doing okay without sunlight, then that's good. 

Between the driving and the teaching, Tom must be doing well financially! As I mentioned a while back, Sandy has quite a few friends who drive for Uber or Lyft, and they make a lot of money.  I know that it's profitable here, because of the millions of people, trying to get around the Bay Area, every single day. 

I went out shopping for a few hours today, and I'm really beat. I've been wanting to get a combination wallet and cell phone holder, for my phone, so that it's more secure when I carry it in my purse.  Today, I finally found one at the Hallmark Store.  It was on sale for half price, because it was a pink floral fabric, leftover from summer.  The pattern doesn't matter to me . . . knowing that Spring will be arriving soon enough, and I will be right in style again!   After that I went to a large local grocery store that I really like, but don't get to very often.  I bought a lot of food, so this should hold us for a few days.   

 

Patricia , I have made this..

https://www.rockrecipes.com/newfoundland-cherry-cake/

Using red in one batch and red and green cherries in the second.
Plus I have made two batches of these.

https://www.rockrecipes.com/moose-farts/

The first batch of Moose Pharts I used regular chocolate chips but the second batch I used mini chocolate chips which I think is better.

I do make his buns of bread as we don't eat a lot of bread and I can just bread off a "bun" and put the rest in the fridge or freezer.

Marilyn, no, I do not have a good place to leave Kendrick's grass for it to grow OK.  The best window is over the kitchen sink so now  the grass is on the living room floor (protected below) where it gets light from the north slider.  I have an inside unit so I have only north and south exposure and on the south other than the kitchen window is the front door.  The windows in this unit are not to the floor except for the sliders.  Besides I don't want him climbing on counters or on furniture to get to the grass.  I'll see how it grows and I may have to put it somewhere for a day or two for the grass to grow. 

Tom got home about 6 pm and fixed burgers for our supper.  He has now retired.  First thing in the morning is a haircut appointment and I have a coupon for 2 for 1 breakfast at the restaurant next to where I get my hair cut.  I know Tom has a meeting and I wonder when he's going to sub-teach this week. 

Mary Ann

Good early evening from the Interior

MaryAnn, I have no idea about Farrah's reactions although she is pretty blase in the vets waiting room with dogs or other animals. However, she is in a mesh carrier. She gobbles down her wheat grass, really makes a mess, but I just put it up, add a small bit of water and in a little bit, it's grown again.

Marilyne, I have no idea why you and I have issues with photos where others do not. Jack left me some advice due to a question I asked and other than his app, he does the same as I do. I've never had a cat that got along with other animals but Farrah might be one.

Amy those both sound good to me. I didn't know you checked those recipes. I would use the mini chips too as I think they would be a better fit. I'd check in with the Soda Shoppe but I'm overwhelmed as it is. I make small 9X13 whole grain loaves that I can use for soups or homemade nut butters and jams. I prefer the thick wholegrain loaves over those skinny slices.
 
Larry, could Amy's recipes go into the index?

Hi Everyone. We are in for a sunny but chilly day.  Right now it is 33 degrees in our area and will only get into the mid to upper 40's this afternoon. Pat has a dental cleaning at 10 am so we will have to leave shortly after 9:30.  From there we will head down to the Church for our Senior's Luncheon.  Today the program will be presented by our organist/pianist and I expect we will be singing some Christmas hymns and some Christmas securlar music as well.  She did a similar program last year and she is a wonderful pianist.  I am really looking forward to it.

Mary Ann, I read something the other day that truck drivers have an over 90% turnover rate each year.  I know it is not a life for everyone.  Our son couldn't drive a truck as he can hardly drive on the Interstate as he wants to fall asleep.  At least Tom didn't spend all day at his driving as he would have teaching.  We also had carp in the rivers in Missouri but I don't recall it as a fish we ate.  I may have to once again put this computer back in factory condition and start over.  I have done this several times so other than taking time it isn't a hard job and I have done it quite a few times in the past.  I went a couple of days without a robo call but they started up again this morning. 

Marilyne, it sounds like you are well suited to entertain an extra cat.  Glad you found the phone holder you wanted.  It sounds like you had a pretty busy shopping day but successful. 

Sandy, I can remember waking up on cold winter days on the farm when the pop-bellied stove would have gone out and the house was really cold.  It wasn't fun having to get dressed and immediately head out to do the milking but that was what was required.  We survived the cold and later the heat of the seasons but glad things are different now.  I like a warm house in winter and a cool one in summer. 

Patricia, I wish I could help with the photo posting instructions but just don't do photos very often and struggle also when I do.  If I recall Jennie Lee was the one who wrote the instructions before for SeniorNet.  I'm glad to see that Farrah is getting you well trained to know what she wants and when she wants it.  I will try to remember to post the recipe if I don't forget.  However, it won't be this morning as we will be leaving before long.

Just stopping by to say "Good Afternoon"

I have been missing for a couple days.  Just busy with a lot of little chores that I had been putting off for a while.

I did go back and read all the old messages that I had missed, but won't comment,as I am sure I would miss someone.

I have been on the computer for a good while already, and need to get myself moving. I am playing cards tonight, so need to get myself dressed and straighten up a little bit.

I posted a long message over in the Soda Shoppe, so won't repeat all that.

Have a good rest of the day.

Joy

I had a 9:15 am haircut appointment so timed my getting up for that and did not get on the computer earlier.  After the haircut, we went to breakfast at the restaurant next to the salon and when I got home, I did some computing but I was tired, so I took a nap.  When I woke up, there was a cat beside me!  He's still there.

I just watched a video of the Ames Brothers singing a Christmas song in one of the Music folders here (Oldiesmann put it there).  It was good to hear the Ames Brothers again.  After that came a video about a found cat claimed by the family cat and that family cat looked like Kendrick!  They referred to him as a "ginger" cat and I say Kendrick is an "orange" cat, but the resemblance is remarkable.

I am just getting into S&F.  Larry, 33 degrees must be very unusual for your area.  We've been at 28 degrees since early morn.  I wore my winter coat this morning but I've got to zip on the hood.  I have a stocking cap I knit many years ago and often wear it, but the hood is handier.

Larry, I'm not going to send these to you, but I just received from a half-cousin several times removed (!) a bunch of recipes.  He told of making some Rock Cookies from a Sylvia Tock and he had never heard of her.  I had; she was my dad's cousin.  He told me he collects family recipes and sent me at least a dozen recipes, maybe two dozen.  I'll save them, but since I don't cook, I probably will not make any of them. 

I've heard that about truck drivers too.  Often when Tom finishes talking to the men, he feels he has a good one.  He sends the name to the home company and evidently they feel the same way and they send transportation tickets to them - and they don't show up.  The companies want the drivers to drive their trucks, not the drivers' and both companies Tom represents are in New Ulm MN.  The transportation is by bus, which can be disappointing to the potential driver.

Tom enjoys the sub teaching when he can actually teach, which happened with the 6th graders.  Tomorrow he has a class that uses computers and he has no idea what they're doing.  He knows computers but I think he said this is "computer science" and there is no "stand up and teach" with that.

Our neighbor long ago had a pot-bellied stove for the winter.  They were the same ones who had an outhouse for many years. 

When we took Kendrick to the vet earlier this year, he went in a plastic carrier but he could see out of it.  He screamed all the way in the car; I never heard such sounds from him.  When we got to the vets and Annie put the carrier on the floor beside us, he was very quiet and when the lady vet took over, he was very good, even when she put the chip in his ear.  He also was very quiet going home, probably because nothing bad had happened to him. 

I had a Jr omelet this morning and I ate the whole thing, something unusual for me.  I did bring home a couple pieces of raisin toast and I am now eating them.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn, that catawauling cats do when they're in the car is commonly called in jest, "The song of their people!" Especially if the only car rides they're accustomed to is going to the vet. 

Good Afternoon to Larry, Joy and Mary Ann, and all those who haven't posted yet today.

Nothing of interest happening here. I did get a lot of online Christmas ordering done. It's so time consuming, to scroll through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Appleseeds, LLBean, and many others, looking for just the right gift. The thing that slows me down is not remembering what it was that I was planning to order?

Mary Ann - I've noticed that people refer to cats that are the color of Kendrick and Winnie, as "Ginger cats".  I had never heard that term until recently.  I always said that Winnie, was my Golden Boy.  His face, chest, tummy and legs were white, but his head, back, and tail were a pretty golden/yellow color, with some darker gold stripes. I do have a couple of pictures of him that I'll post in the Pets folder, as soon as it becomes less of a puzzle for me to figure out.

Larry - Yes, I did accomplish a few things yesterday, but I'm paying for it today. By the time I was ready for bed last night, I could feel that painful twinge of sciatica, coming on! It's been almost a year since my last bout with it, so I am grateful for that. I took a muscle relaxant pill called chlorobenzapar, that the doc gave me, and I do seem to be better today.  No worse, anyway. 

Joy - have fun at your card game tonight. Come back and visit with us tomorrow.

Patricia - I have to write down that term, "The song of their people", to tell my daughter.   When Jerry comes with them for a visit, she says he yowls and screams like that, most of the way - which is well over 100 miles.  She prefers to leave him home, and have a neighbor come in and feed him, but if it's more than two nights, they bring him along.

Marilyn, I can see why Kendrick's color is referred to as ginger; I had not heard that until recently.  I think Kendrick has more predominant stripes than the cat I saw in the video, but even the face looked like Kendrick.

Patricia, Kendrick has only made one trip to the vet since he was neutered and on the way home he was quiet.  Maybe he remembered the route and realized he was on the way home.  I was surprised by the noise on the way there because I had never heard that much sound from him

Recently I was contacted by a step-grandson of one of my dad's cousins.  He isn't really a Tock, but it is all he knows so he considers himself one of us.  I have no problem with that.  Even though Dad's cousin wasn't his birth grandfather, that was the only grandfather he knew.  Today I received an e-mail from him telling of a recipe for some cookies he was baking and the name Sylvia was on the recipe - "Who was Sylvia?"  So I wrote something about Sylvia and her parents, August and Lena.  Back came a message - "Tell me about August and Lena".  It puzzles me that he lived in Appleton with all the other cousins and only knew about the family his mother married into.  There are pictures in my Ancestry Tree site and I hope he'll look there to see them and find out about them.  If not, I'll send some pictures because I want him to know about the others. 

Just one more thing for me to do.  I do think I bring them on myself!

Mary Ann

Good evening

Larry we had a pot belly stove in the dinning room.  I would stand in back of it to get warm at night. even the wall
got hot.  Also remember the coal stove in the kitchen, where I kept the brick for my bed at night.  Would wrap it it in a towel or flannel in put it in bed about and hour before going up stairs.  It was also my responsibility to bring it down in the morning

, or I would have a cold bed./b]


Joy, we use to play cards for years on Wed. night. There were 7 members so it only came up every 7 weeks you would be hostess. which met cake and coffee plus gossip. Now I am the only one left. that is what happens at the late age  Maybe I will make 95 in Feb. the other ladies are running to catch up to me.

MaryAnn, Marilyne; the term "Ginger" is English in origin and was often a derogatory term going back centuries to Medieval times when it was said they were evil or witches. I have heard in articles that the British Prince Harry heard slurs in boarding school due to his hair color. It doesn't seem to have the same connotations in this country.

Hi Gloria! We never had a potbelly stove although both of my Grandmothers did.

Marilyne, I usually buy all the gifts I don't find on Amazon at a site called Uncommon Goods.

 https://www.uncommongoods.com/ 

Hi Everyone.  It is a beautiful and cold (for us) morning that started out at 28 degrees  this morning and will only get into the high 40's.  However, it is sunny or will be nice.  A friend will be here in an hour to work with me and then this evening we will go to our last Wednesday night dinner at Church until after the first of the year.  Our cook and her husband are going to be away for a month to New Zealand to visit his family.  We are looking forward to spending some time with Scott this evening.  Yesterday I took the old spare laptop down for our granddaughter to use until we can get her computer fixed.  Fortunately it was still under the 90 day warranty and I should hear from them this week.  We had a most enjoyable senior luncheon yesterday.  It was very well attended, the meal was good, and the program was excellent.  Our organist/pianist played a couple of classical pieces and two or three Christmas favorites and then asked for the group to call out what they would like to hear and did two hymn medleys from memory.  Word don't express what a great pianist this lady is.

Joy, glad you stopped by here to say hello.  Were you the winner at your card games last night.  What game do you play?

Mary Ann, I have lots of Christmas music in a playlist in my Spotify account and I guess I had better start listening to it.  The program we had yesterday helped put me in the Christmas mode.  We really aren't use to such cold nights and mornings but it is usual for this time of the year and it sure helps when the sun is shining so it isn't damp. You know I would be happy to put the recipes in the Index if they are something you can copy and paste in one of the cooking discussions.  I keep an eye on those two discussions each day and also will post a link to the posting where a recipe link is shown if it is in one of the two general discussions I follow here.  If I needed a job I think it would be worth taking to bus trip to check out.  With the cost of trucks and maintenance and fuel it would seem it would be an advantage to drive a company's truck rather than your own.  I expect the kids would at least be interested in the computer science class and could probably pretty much work on their own.  I hope he has a good experience with teaching today. 

Patricia, our cat never liked to ride in the car or get into his carrier, which was always a struggle. 

Marilyne, it takes a lot of time to do online ordering but at least you are not on your feet in crowded stores trying to make decisions and running from store to store to make comparisons, which can be done on the computer.  Sure glad the sciatic nerve problem didn't worsen for you.  I have never experienced it but my wife sure has. 

Lindancer, did the stove pipe from the pot belly stove ever glow red when the fire got too hot?  I saw that many times.  Our house was pretty small with a combined living/dining area, a small kitchen and two small bedrooms and the stove was in the living/dining area.  The other rooms would often be shut off, except the kitchen, on really cold days.  I guess it worked OK because I'm still here.  You certainly had an incentive to get that brick down to heat each of the cold days.

Larry, 28 degrees in your area is terrible.  At 10:45 am, we are at 27 degrees.  It's cold for us even at this time of year but at least it is not snowing.  Actually, outdoors looks terrible because we have not had new snow in the last few days.  we had ice on the ground yesterday and I walked through the garage to get to the car.

Tom is teaching at a suburban school today but I don't know what grade.  He's happier when he can actually teach instead of baby-sit as he does with computer classes.

Last night I spent the entire time after supper working on address labels and did not accomplish a thing.  The labels were OK it was the fact that the printer is across the room and I was going to print the labels individually and I would have to put down my computer, go the printer to put the labels in a position to print the next one and do that for 30 labels.  I ended up copying the names to a sheet and Tom is going to print them for me.  It have a mickey-mouse arrangement here and the thing that did it for me was having to get up from my chair with three cables attached to the computer and going to the printer each time.  My balance isn't always so good and I don't have better places to put either the computer or the printer.

Larry, I'm not sure you would want to put all of the recipes in your program.  He typed them exactly as he received them from scraps of paper, original grammar and spelling.  I'll copy the one that started the whole thing and you can see what you think.  With my not cooking now, I doubt I'll make any of them, but they're all family recipes, which this man collects.

I have a Music Channel on my TV and I imagine the Christmas music has started.  Some of what they play is too modern for me, but most of it is OK.  I want my Christmas hymns sung as hymns and I don't like it when the singers improvise.  I do keep the sound low so it is good background music and I am hardly aware of it being on.  I do have several Christmas tapes and albums that I can play, but the TV doesn't take any effort!!!

Here's the recipe - a cookie

 Chocolate Rocks - Sylvia Tock
1 C shortening                         
2 C B. Sugar                             
2 eggs - Beaten                     
1 C sweet milk
1 tsp. Soda sifted with:                                 
3 C flour - Salt                                                 
2 sq. choc. or 3 tb. cocoa                               
1 cup raisins, Dates                                       
1 C. nuts                                                                                       
 
 Cream Butter & sugar, add egg, then milk, then soda, salt & flour.
 then add the melted choc., raisins & nuts 1 tsp vanilla if desired
 Bake 375 degrees, 12-15 minutes.

Sylvia was my dad's cousin, never married, lived with her parents.  A delightful lady.

Much ado about nothing!

Mary Ann


 

Drizzly, misty weather this morning. Wish I could call it rain, but it doesn't qualify yet . . . I hope that changes! As always, we need rain here, and snow in the Sierra mountains for our water supply.

Mary Ann, I'll bet those Chocolate Rocks cookies are delicious! Unfortunately, I'll never know, unless I can get one of my daughters or dil, to make them. I used to love to make batches of cookies every Christmas, but can't do it anymore.

I also listen to Christmas music on my TV, or will turn on one of the Yule Log programs, where they show the real fireplace, and play Christmas music with no commercial breaks.  There used to be a Yule log channel that was live, and had a cat that wandered in and out of the camera range. Sometimes it would sit and stare at the fire for awhile, and then leave and return, etc.

Patricia, Thanks for the, Uncommon Goods, website.  I looked at it last night, and did see a number of things that I am considering.  I haven't seen everything yet, so will go through it again today. 

 

In another recipe, it was written "use hart with the fruit" and the man who sent it to me could not figure what that meant - I think it might have been my grandmother's recipe and she used an oldstyle "p" that is open at the bottom of the loop and it looks like an "h".

Marilyn, drizzle is almost worse than rain and doesn't do as much good.

I wrote my book a few minutes ago, so have nothing to add now.

Mary Ann

Good morning,  It is a cold and windy morning, but the sun is shining.

I just wrote a "book" over in the Soda Shoppe.  I will see if I can write something different in here.

Larry and Marilyn, yes, I did play cards last night.  It was nice to get back to playing again.  We play a game called "Hand and Foot".. It is a lot like Canasta.  I don't play Canasta, but the ones that I know who do play, said it is very similar. You have 2 sets of 13 cards.... a hand and a foot. You have to finish your "hand" before you can get into your "Foot.  It is fun.  Usually, my partner and I hardly ever win, but last night we did.  They all were happy as it was my first night back since I was sick.  One of the ladies is 95 years old and you would never know it. She is very active and has a great memory. She is very quick to pick up if somebody does something that isn't right. LOL

Larry, your luncheon sounds like it was a nice afternoon.  We have a lady here who was a concert pianist at one time, so she will play the piano at some of the activities we have here. She told me the other day, that after the holidays, she would like to get a group  together to start a little choral group. Hopefully, that will catch on.  Our new activity girl works hard to get new things going, but, some things just don't go over well. She is trying very hard, tho.  She has little puzzles and word games that she puts out in the lobby.

Mary Ann, that is nice that the distant relative has gotten in touch with you.  So nice that you can communicate with him now and let him know about a lot of your family.  I must make you feel good that you can do that. I know you enjoy  genealogy, and even if it is a little extra work for you, it will give him a lot of pleasure to hear about the family he didn't get to know that well.

I like to listen to the TV music channel at night when I have trouble getting to sleep.  I like the one that plays Easy Listening and the one that plays Soundscapes.  The one that plays Sounds of the Season is playing Christmas music now. Right now I am listening to  a new CD I just got yesterday.  It is the new CD from Michael Buble with a lot of old songs. I really like him,.  He was been on a lot of the talk shows last week promoting his new CD. He is a very down to earth guy. He sings a lot of songs from the old days of Frank Sinatra.

Patricia,  I, also want to thank you for posting the link to the Uncommon Goods site. I found a couple things I want to order for 2 of my sons.  Even tho I give gift cards, I like to have something for them to unwrap.  They both do a lot of grilling and I found wire grilling baskets to keep veggies from rolling off the grill. There was another type for grilling with skewers, but I think I like the baskets better.  I didn't get to look at the whole site, but I will go back to it sometime today and look around more.

I see I have written another "book" again.  But, I will say Hello to Gloria D.

Hope everyone will have a wonderful day.

Joy

Good afternoon, cold with wind gust up to 59

MaryAnn, the hairdresser just left, and I feel better all ready. It is strange around here with out Keith, who is still in NC with his father. I have been on my own for nearly 2 weeks.I have a new neighbor I have not met yet. He is a baby to me 59 years old, I understand he works in the lumber co. Most all my neighbors work. that is the neighbor I miss the most, hemovied to NC. Gene would make sure I had my paper in the morning, and always brought my mail in. Tuesday at 4:15  I decided to go out for mail and paper. it is really not that far to the mail box,by the time I started back iwas short of breath and thought I was not going to make it up the steps.  finally was on my hands and knees.  I only had my cane, first time in a long time I did not use my pushmoble.  I am not good at walking and breathing. when I got into the house I put the oxygen on right away.

Joy, I enjoy your post. Hand  & Foot use to be my favorite card game 3 of us would play that on Sat. nights. That is when I bought the card shuffler. Michigan rummy is what our card club played. would take a lot of pennies

Larry, still have fond memeries of that old house

Gloria, watch it in cold weather.  Do you cover your nose and mouth?  I don't think I have that sort of trouble but now that the road is not good, I don't go to the mailbox and that probably will continue until Spring.  When teaching, Tom gets home in the middle of the day and gets the mail before he comes in the house.  We are at 29 degrees now, a jump of one degree!!!  If your neighbor has moved to NC, that means there is no one else who gets your mail and paper, does it?  Is this the same neighbor who shares so many meals with you?  You be careful!!!

Marilyn, I hope you were able to look in at the Soo today because they've been quite busy.  I don't expect you would watch at 6 am (your time) but around noon there was a ship and now at 2 pm there was some traffic.  Around noon ships were in both channels, going in opposite directions.  I did not watch until the ships were raised or lowered or left.  I've got better things to do.

I don't know how long I'll leave it on, but I turned to the Sounds of the Seasons:  Holiday music today.  I have it on low so I don't have to listen to versions I don't like.  Picky!

Mary Ann

Gloria - That is certainly worrisome, that you were so out of breath, that you barely made it into the house, and had to go to your hands and knees!  When is Keith getting back from NC?  I hope he comes back soon, so that he'll be there to help you and check on you.

Mary Ann, I haven't been paying much attention to the webcams, but will start checking on them again, starting today! Thanksgiving, interrupted my attention span, which is already very short! Ha ha!

Why our sense of time speeds up as we age — and how to slow it down

"THE PERCEPTION OF TIME IS RELATIVE, BUT AGE AND MEMORY PLAY MAJOR ROLES"

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/why-our-sense-time-speeds-we-age-how-slow-it-ncna936351?cid=eml_better_20181128

[bMarilyne, I am not such when Keith will be back. as I wrote before Gene the man go brought my mail in, and also my paper in the morning has moved to Tenn. My other good neighbors work. One friend is going to take me to lunch to morrow.]

Quote from: angelface555 on November 28, 2018, 09:41:08 PMWhy our sense of time speeds up as we age — and how to slow it down

"THE PERCEPTION OF TIME IS RELATIVE, BUT AGE AND MEMORY PLAY MAJOR ROLES"

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/why-our-sense-time-speeds-we-age-how-slow-it-ncna936351?cid=eml_better_20181128

Good Article Angel....  I feel time fleeting  faster
and faster every year..  So it is good to
understand why!

Good Morning Everyone,  from the slightly cool,
and cloudy rocky coast of Maine. 

Just another Blah Day, to go along with
all the other Blah Days that we have
been having this late fall. 

Of course this is pretty much par for the
course here in Maine. 

All is well here except I am "fighting
off" a miserable cold....  "fighting off"
is much better version of said cold!         

So I am grateful for feeling OK. 

Have a good day,  EVERYONE!

Sandy

Hi Everyone.  We have another cold, crisp and sunny late November morning.  It was 31 degrees this morning and we are to stay in the high 50's this afternoon.  My main activity for today will be to pick up my friend and we will go downtown to coffee.  After I bring him home I will stop at Walmart to get prescriptions for both Pat and I and then do the online grocery order pickup.  Fortunately, this isn't a big order.  That will pretty much be it for today. 

We did enjoy the hamburgers, hot dogs with French fries of both regular and sweet potatoes and all the trimming for the sandwiches.  It was topped off with an ice cream bar.  Scott came out later last evening and put in the light bulb that was out in the recessed ceiling lights in the kitchen and then changed the dryer door to the opposite side.  All this time we have lived here the door was on the wrong side and finally this week I realized it could fairly easily be switched, which will make putting the wet clothes into the dryer much easier.

Mary Ann, when I have made address labels I would use an Avery template for a sheet with 30 labels on it (I think that is the number) and then could print them all off at once.  I don't do Christmas cards to mail anymore so it has been quite awhile since I prepared any.  I will post your cookie recipe.  We have the Christmas music on the TV also but I prefer listening on Spotify where I have the playlist prepared.  I have about 1,800 Christmas songs in that playlist. 

Marilyne, I hope you got some decent rain yesterday. 

Joy, I like your "books" and those written by others.  We used to play "Hand and Foot" with Pat's aunt and uncle but it has been a number of years.  It is a big improvement over the old Canasta, which always seemed to be very one sided.  I learned to play Canasta when the game was first introduced as my family played it.  Congratulations on your win and it sounds like the group was very happy to have to back.  You are so lucky to have a former concert pianist living where you do.  We have a concert grand piano in our Sanctuary and also in your fellowship hall.

Lindancer, like Marilyne, I hope Keith can return soon.  Please ask one of your neighbors to bring your mail up as it sounds like you have no business trying to get it from the box yourself.  Are you aware that you can get a document from the Post Office for your doctor to sign asking the Post Office to bring your mail to your door.  Pat did that for my folks several years ago and I looked at the requirements a few months ago.  The final decision is up to the individual post master but I should think you wouldn't have any problems in getting approved.  The mail deliverers are getting out of their vehicles all the time to bring up packages to big for the mail box.  You can find the information on the web but here is an article that may be helpful to you regarding the process:  http://www.uspsinfo.com/hardship-mail-door-step-delivery/ 

Patricia, I look forward to reading the article on time speeds later today.  Thanks for the link.

Sandy, keep fighting off the cold.  I heard a number of people coughing in Church last Sunday so guess we are into the season with colds.