Life In The Fast Lane

A bunch of us girls get together every couple weeks. We are  neighbors and friends here at our 55+ apartment complex. We get together, drink a little iced tea, have some snacks and talk for hours. There's the health issues, the multiple doctor visits along with a world of other topics, including what is going on around here.

People are just so different. There are lots of people living here that I've never seen, wouldn't know them from Adam's house cat if I ran into them on the street. And, some are those acquaintances you are happy to run into and say "good morning" and move along. 

Then there are those, like us girls, who've become friends and enjoy each others company. Girls? At 85 I am the oldest of the bunch, the youngest is 65 or somewhere around there. We come from different walks of life, different areas of the country. Hey, if it works.. it works, so don't knock it. 

One of the girls, some time back, bought herself a BMW convertible, a little low-slung black whizamajig. 

She wanted it, so why not! But, she gets all these shocked looks when she comes driving up into a parking lot. People notice pretty cars like that. And, they think "who's that young thing driving that car?" and then when her car door opens their jaws drop. 

She steps out all hunched over (scoliosis I think), hobbles around to the tiny trunk, lifts the lid, gets her walker out and away she goes. And, they are still standing there with their mouth open wide enough to catch a ton of flies. It's funny as heck!! 

How To Park A Car

Yesterday my daughter and her hubby came to see me. My computer was acting weird and he's the one that keeps that thing going for me😁. 

She comes in the door and says, all flustered. I can tell she's flustered ..I just always can. And, she says "Mama, your car's backed into your parking spot. I know you didn't do that 'cause you can't park that way. Has someone else been driving your car?"  

"Chris parked it that way last time we went out," I say. 

"Mama, that was 10 days ago."

Well, I guess it was. 

I've been busy working on a bunch of projects, happy as a 'dead pig in the sunshine'. I had plenty to eat. I was nice and cool and it's hotter than hades out there. So, what did I have to go anywhere for? Just asking. 

We older ones... did I just say that. We are comfortable in our own skin. We don't like sweating in the noon day sun. We don't like fighting a crowd at the grocery store. We like doing our own thing. 

So, I guess I had better go out and crank up that car, drive it out of it's parking spot and put it back in the right way. Then no one will know if I've been anywhere or not. Right? 

Seek A Newer World

My son sent me a book that he thought I'd really enjoy and you know what.... I love it.

                     It's "30 Lessons For Living" written by Karl Pillemer Ph.D  

           Dr. Pillemer asked 1000 older people to share their advice on living a good life. 

              Boy, there is some great stuff in there. 

One woman aged 76 (now, by crackies, that's not old) said "Remember, you only get one chance to go through life. Don't ruin it for yourself."

Right along with that is the quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem about Ulysses. "Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world".

I've been dating some of my pictures by going through my old journals. I was so lazy about dating pictures, writing where it was taken. So, I am in an attempt to date what I can.

I just finished dating a trip that daughter Susan took her Dad and me on back in 1991. He never was jazzed about starting on a trip but by the time we got back he'd be so excited about what all he'd seen and done, you'd think it had all been his idea. 

We started in Paris, traveled on to Switzerland, moved on to northern Italy and ended up in Monaco.

          Seeing those pictures just got me all teary-eyed, remembering what a great trip it had been.

And, wouldn't you know it... today I get a Marco Polo* (I'll explain that later) from Susan, a video of the beautiful view she sees from a hotel in Capri, Italy. A part of me feels jealous... but reality soon kicked in. I am not sure my old body would withstand a trip like that 

                                                               YET...
                                                                               maybe

                                                     " 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world"

* Marco Polo is an app that allows you to make and then send a video to someone. They, in turn, can video you back. I really, really enjoy it. Seeing and hearing the person talk. 

Cooking For One

It's just the pits cooking for one. Have you ever noticed that?

I have no training in being a chef for a single person.. well, to tell the truth, cooking was never my strong suite. But, I managed to feed six of us and none of us ever went hungry.

I hate messing up the kitchen to make one meal for one person. When I make a mess, there is no one else to clean it up!😝

There are ways to get around that. Grocery stores carry food now geared for the smaller family or even individuals. I stock up on some of that.

The best thing EVER is having it already cooked and delivered right to your door. Now, that's my kind of "cooking".

I've ordered from Swann's for a few years now. All their stuff is frozen and it's very good. AND ... they have already cooked products, too. Just warm it up and gobble it down. I am afraid I've done too much "gobbling" in my day but I figure at my age it isn't going to make a whole ton of difference what I eat. Might as well enjoy my "older" age.

Then there is the Uber delivery.

What? Yep... you just call a participating store or restaurant, tell them what you want... and doggone it, if they don't call up an Uber driver. He/she sticks what you've ordered in the back seat of their car, drives to your house and there you have it... a nice warm dinner. What's this world coming to? You can even do it online.

I am loving it. So, cooking for one has sort of turned into ordering for one. Oh, I still do a bit of cooking. Nothing beats home cooked veggies, fresh sliced home-grown tomatoes. I will get in the kitchen when I get a hankering for stuff like that.

How many do you cook for?

Be sure to leave me a comment, let me know the number, what your favorite food is or do you order out? I would love to hear from you.

Memories of the 4th

                                                               Today is the Fourth of July

It'll be a quiet one for me.  

I remember some pretty doggone good ones from the past, though.

When I was a child and Mom and I were living with my grandparents, the whole gang (aunts and uncles included) would gather on the front porch, a great-uncle rolling lemons to get the most juice out of them. He was in charge of making a churn full of sweet lemonade.

If we didn't have enough milk, my aunt would scurry out to the barn with a bucket, milk ole Bessie, come back to the kitchen and strain it. It was then mixed with all sorts of yummy stuff and poured into the crank style freezer. Somebody would have had to make a trip into town to get ice. There just isn't anything better than sitting there waiting in anticipation while a grown-up turns the crank until it won't hardly turn and you know that ice cream is ready. No pictures made of that back then but here is one of our grandson helping hubby and my son make some ice cream back in the 1970s.

When we lived on Midway Island, as small a place as that was, we put on a humdinger of a parade... floats, marchers, music, a flatbed with a huge home-crafted gooney bird on it. And, there were games on the beach and all sorts of stuff.

In Annapolis the hubby and I took the children up to the fourth floor balcony to watch the firework. Scared the beegeebees out of the dog but we loved it. 

There are the times Hubby and I flew to New York to see our married daughter and there would be tons of country club members and their guests out on the golf course where everyone was sitting on these blankets that the club provided. And, a scrumptious buffet under a tent... and the world-class fireworks display. 

But, today... it'll be a quiet one for me. I may hear a few booms from far-away fireworks and I might see a few explosions of color if they shoot high enough to be seen over the treetops. I'll get an ice-cream bar out of the freezer. No lemons so no lemonade.


Hey, this is sounding pathetic and I surely don't mean for it too. I am thrilled to be in my little apartment,  watching some fourth of July on tv and then I'll go to bed, happy in the fact that I have seen another celebration of the independence of our country. 

                                                 Happy 4th Everyone

Madder Than An Old Wet Hen

I was walking down the street the other day and guess what I saw...

That's right. There he was, my feller... with another woman, sitting all cuddled up on a bench. 

Made me madder than an old wet hen, it did. 

So, I just sat down beside them.  I'll show them!!