Rusty Secrets

Rusty bear and I have shared this journey through life for 61 years since his arrival in a package from Dad on my first birthday. I've lost count how many times he's been packed away to move from house to house. Over the years he has been a steady comfort, sharing pillows from crib to king size. (OK, so I don't sleep with him anymore but he does sit on my nightstand when darkness comes).

His body holds the secrets of our parallel lives. The fur that is matted and worn, bald in some spots, honors years of toddler cuddling, tweenage tea parties, teenage rants, newlywed neglect, new mom blues, and diminished house cleaning attempts. I remember when Mom gave him new button eyes in his early years; now he has only one, barely hanging by a thread. The zippered pocket sewn inside his left leg in the thirteenth year, held a stash of teenage secrets. Rusty and I may be well worn around the edges but as long as the stuffing doesn't fall out, I think the secrets are safe.

Birthday Cards

I won’t see my son on my birthday this year; nor will I see him on his birthday five days later. But, he sends a card, a card that was artfully done with the only tools he has, short colored pencils and cheap white all purpose paper. There is a message attached to the card. He apologizes for not having enough money to buy me a ticket. As I look at the cartoon, I smile then laugh at the humor. The picture is worth much more to me than a ticket to the most costly of all concerts. Even more important, it appeases my sorrow knowing that my son can still maintain his sense of humor in his sad situation.

Mug Cakes 101

OK so I weighed in this morning and was pleased to find that I was still 1.5 pounds under my goal weight. By noon I was craving a celebration and I remembered seeing something somewhere about a microwave cake in a mug. By 12:02 I found google results for hundreds of pounds of these tidbits. It seems everyone has their own variation somewhere in their blog. Everyone but me anyway.

I started mixing the basic ingredients: 4 tbsp flour, 4 tbsp sugar, and pinch of baking soda. I added the beaten egg and stirred thoroughly. Then I added the other basic ingredients one by one: 3 tbsp milk then 3 tbsp oil. Someone had suggested a splash of vanilla so I stirred that in too. I poured it into a well greased mug, stirred in a couple tablespoons of chocolate chips and stuck it in the microwave for 3 minutes. I dumped the lopsided cake (it's supposed to be that way) onto a plate immediately just like it said in the recipes. I let it cool... for about 15 minutes... if I had read the blog comments, I might have known better. Next time I'll dump and eat immediately to avoid chewing my way through a rubbery sugar fix.

No, I did not calculate the point value. I don't want to know.

Yesterday’s News

We have a regular morning routine in our household. Just as I finish my morning bowl of mush, hubby takes the bowl away and brings my coffee. (Note: I have never asked him to do this… he just does it). Usually it’s about the same time that I turn to the obituary page. Usually he stands over my shoulder and picks out at least one picture and comments, “That guy looks familiar” or “Geeze they all look so young.” Yesterday as he looked over my shoulder he exclaimed, “Wow they changed the format of the obituaries, I don’t think I like it.”

”Look again,” I say “It’s the new survivors”…

Xfinity and Beyond

Monday evening hubby and I settled in to my warm bed to watch the weekly episode of House. Half way through the program up popped an ad for an Iphone Xfinity App. Curious as to how I could remotely control my TV without an official Comcast remote, I promptly reached for the Iphone and downloaded the app. With a patient tweak here and there I discovered I could indeed control my TV DVR plus the one in the living room.

Little J was curled up on the sofa in the living room watching cartoon network. Hmmm, I thought, I could play a trick on him now. I could change the channel and he wouldn't have a clue as to what was going on. So I did. And it worked. Shrieks came out of the living room, "Grandma something happened to the TV." Hubby and I laughed as he came stomping into the room and we quickly confessed that Grandma discovered a new Iphone app and was just playing around to see if it worked. We assured him his show would be back on the living room TV before he could return to it.  It worked.

Getting back from  the distractions, House was  moving right along and getting close to the final commercial break when the TV went haywire. It seemed to be searching for channels, flipping back and forth from cartoons to DVR to House. I tried to break the cycle and wondered if it had been a mistake to download an Iphone app and if perhaps the internet had taken over every TV in the house. I reached for the Comcast remote and turned the TV off. It flipped back on. I turned off the DVR. It flipped back on. I reached for the Iphone and turned it off. I missed the end of House and only hoped that the back up recording was in order. After a good ten minutes and with increasing frustration, I picked up the Iphone again thinking I would delete the app and all would be well. All of a sudden Little J appeared in our doorway, all giggles and grins, "It's all a joke Grandma." There he was with his remote control which just happened to work on my TV too. I'll never figure out how that little trickster managed to keep so quiet for so long.

This morning I reminded him that he had played the last trick so now it was my turn to get even. He looked at me with those sweet innocent brown eyes,  "It's OK Grandma. I'm ready and I already have my next plan."

Possum Pie

For years we have had deer roaming our hillside. Each spring we look forward to seeing the procession of does with new little Bambies and an occasional buck. We chuckle when they pass through the fenced in boundary of our neighbor’s yard to nibble on her latest delicate flowers.

There is the morning ritual that begins with the doling out of dry cat food to the cats, as we watch the sleepy eyed raccoon pop up from his little nest halfway up the hillside. I’m prepared as I huff back up the driveway to chase him away with the daily newspaper.

By noon the turkeys have polished off the latest dusting under the bird feeder and are strutting their way around our yard, evil glaring eyes daring us to try to get from the back door to our cars.

Owls keep us awake at night, blue jays torment the cats and someone in the neighborhood taught the mocking birds early morning wake up calls.

Skunks leave behind odiferous reminders as they pass through the yard, perhaps having been disturbed by one of the six cats that reside at our address.

I cringe when I think of the huge tarantula that I removed from middle of the kitchen last week. It managed to sneak in under the back door. I'm plagued with spiders but at least the termites are gone.

The cats earn their keep with weekly deposits of rat heads and tails on our doorstep. I've learned to look before I step these days.

But here's the latest. I'm searching the internet for a recipe for possum pie...

 

No Evil

Makes a lot of sense to me…

 

Karate Beach Training

It started out to be a chilly day under a thick layer of fog for the annual karate beach training day at Stinson. The kids (and sensei) worked hard to earn their beach BBQ hotdogs and a gourmet feast of accompaniments. As we finished up lunch, the fog burned off and we spent the afternoon basking on the sun warm beach.

 

Lavender

It was a lavender plant. In my front yard. Not a good environment for a lavender plant. Sometimes I feel like this too.

 

I Ate It All

Well, I ate almost all of it. I did save one little cookie for Little J. This was High Tea at Jacqueline’s in Petaluma. Next time I’ll go for something a bit more reasonable. Oops, there was a scone too, with all the trimmings, which is a must have at this tea place. That disappeared before we brought out the camera.