Monday, October 15, 2007

Bath time at the Nut house -- jcarolek

I found another nut dropper today -- one that I had previously overlooked. That old saying, “I can’t see the forest for the trees,” was actually the opposite from my experience over the past couple of weeks. In fact, I cannot seem to properly focus on a tree within the forest, because each seems to grab my eye, even as I am trying to examine another. Maybe the better expression for my nut hunting escapades would be, “the nuts are always bigger, under the next tree.”

At any rate, and for whatever reason, today I discovered

Saturday, October 13, 2007

There was something in the air -- jcarolek

I had to laugh. I had never considered the possibility that a 125 member choral society would sing, “Splish Splash, I was taking a bath!” as their encore for their concert. But that is exactly what they sang and it was great! The audience loved it and it was the perfect ending to a great matinee performance of songs from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s.

My husband, who accompanies me to these things under some presumption of my expecting him to do so,

Friday, October 12, 2007

I hear Grandma's voice -- jcarolek

Today my daughter called from France. She uses Skype to call my land line, and the cost is very, very reasonable. Still, it is an overseas call and, though she sounds as if she is calling from next door, I find myself operating under my grandmother’s rule of long distance conversations.

I recall Grandma telling me how ridiculous it was for someone (I think it was her sister) to mention that the pet bird had died, when Grandma was calling long distance to let her know of their expected arrival time. Back in “the day” long distance

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Ring that Bell -- jcarolek

When I was a young child I was completely free to roam … as long and as far as I wished. I was not getting “special treatment”. All of my siblings had the same freedom. We had only a single constraint. We HAD to be within earshot of “THE BELL.”

The bell was a smallish, brass model with a clear sound that carried….well, to be honest, none of us had the nerve to actually test how far that bell carried,

Thursday, October 4, 2007

My daughter was a mean child -- jcarolek

I like to think I set a good example for my children. I tried to teach them right from wrong, by doing, not just paying lip service. So I was a bit distressed when, on a Thanksgiving when my daughter was ten, I came to discover I was raising a mean little girl.

We had friends over for the holiday. The mother was my best friend. Her husband and she were getting divorced and so she was alone with the children that year. Her son