It's the first day of spring, and even though it started out partly sunny and mild, later in the afternoon it got a bit windy-cool. There are winter weather advisories for the western part of the state, but we are expecting only rain and colder temps in our town.
Slept late this morning, until around 8 a.m., then did a treadmill session after breakfast. Mother came over later and made greeting cards. Once I was ready for the day, I continued working on the scrapbook pages I'd begun at our meeting last Thursday. Our new great-grandson is the subject of the pages, of course.
For lunch, I put noodles in the broth left from our boiled chicken dinner earlier this week. Daughter and Granddaughter will appreciate that we had chicken noodle soup without chicken again...and we did it on purpose this time.
After lunch, I went on a photo safari around our yard to take pictures of flowers in bloom. Took lots of shots of the daffodills (see previous blog). Besides daffodils and jonquils, the hyacinth, hellebores and forget-me-nots are also blooming.
Continued scrapbooking after that until time to prepare supper. Supper was easy tonight, since we had leftover lasagna. Served this with salad, using one of the tomatoes and some of the lettuce I bought at the hydroponic farm, along with canned whole kernel corn, and mini wheat bagels toasted with margarine blended with herbs and Parmesan cheese.
Mother went home after supper, and Hubbie and I settled in to watch TV, as usual. We saw the movie, "Shadowheart," a 2009, PG-13, western starring Justin Ament, Daniel Baldwin, and Courtney Gains. After a teenage boy sees his father killed, he leaves town. As a man, after he serves in the Civil War, he returns to his hometown to find the girl he left behind, and deal with the bad guy land baron who killed his father.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Daffodills
We love the different color combinations of the cultivated daffodills growing in our yard right now. Hope a predicted cold snap tonight and tomorrow doesn't kill them. The jonquils, a variety of daffodills that grows wild, as well as in cultivated gardens, are pretty hardy and seem to survive even in snow, so maybe the daffodills will, too.Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, March 19
Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. The morning started cool, but warmed up beautifully by noon. I would have thought more would show up for aerobics, since it was a nice day, but there were only eleven of us.
At home, Hubbie told me that the downstairs potty isn't working, so he called a plumber, who of course couldn't come until Monday. He was advised to buy muriatic acid to pour in the toilet and allow to stand for several hours.
After getting ready for the day, I went to the medical clinic at 11:30 for bloodwork, as a follow-up to my visit three weeks ago. Back home, Mother had heated the tomato soup, and Hubbie made grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it for lunch.
Following lunch, we went on an outing...our intention was to visit the home of one of the ladies from water aerobics, who invited us to see all the jonquils growing in and around her yard. I'd asked the lady her address, but somehow I translated Sweet Gum Road to Sandtown Road, so we traveled the wrong road for several miles, finally coming out on a highway in a small community north of our town.
We gave up finding her house, and decided to look for the second place on our tour agenda...a hydroponics farm featured in our local newspaper this week. We had some difficulty finding this place, too, but finally phoned the owner for more specific directions.
We arrived there around 2 p.m., and visited the small store adjacent to buildings housing the vegetable plants. The farm produces a prodigious amount of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, bell peppers, lettuce, etc., but today they had sold out of everything but tomatoes and lettuce. We bought some of each.
Before we bought the veggies, we were encouraged to taste a small tomato, which was richly flavorful. The tomatoes are deep red, pristine clean, and very shiny, like they have been individually polished. But we were told that this is the way they come off the vine.
We had hoped to see the farming operation, but were told that they only allow folks into the buildings on winter days, when the weather is 32 degrees or colder, which assures that no insects enter the buildings.
We weren't back home long before I decided we should go pick up tickets for a concert Saturday night, featuring several local performers, as well a group from a nearby tourist town. We've seen all of them in concert before, but thought it would be interesting to see them again.
We stopped first at a bank, which had only bleacher tickets left. Mother would not be able to manage bleacher seating. Next, we checked at a radio station...nope, just bleacher tickets. Finally, we stopped at the college where the concert is to be held. They had tickets for regular seating, but they were $15 each, which is more than I want to pay. So we'll skip the concert.
Back home again, I mixed a quadruple batch of whole wheat pancake batter. Hubbie did the honors of cooking the pancakes for supper.
After supper, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I went grocery shopping at the WDCS. The store didn't have several items that we needed, so we had to swing back by a grocery store to get those things.
I had programmed the DVR for a college basketball game we were interested in seeing, but Hubbie gave me erroneous information about what channel it was on, so when we sat down to watch it, I discovered we had recorded the wrong channel. I searched live channels and finally found the game, already in the second half, with our team over 20 points behind.
It was a day for road blocks, it seemed.
"Alice in Wonderland" movie report: the movie takes a few liberties, like making Alice a young adult, instead of a young girl. It's rated PG, because there are some scary characters in it, like a dog-like beast with a double row of teeth that dashes at Alice and even injures her by scratching her arm. The Cheshire Cat is a little weird, and the Mad Hatter is a lot weird. There is also a fire-breathing dragon that Alice beheads. I think that these characters, especially in 3-D, might be frightening to very young children. Also, the story line is probably too sophisticated for very young children to grasp.
At home, Hubbie told me that the downstairs potty isn't working, so he called a plumber, who of course couldn't come until Monday. He was advised to buy muriatic acid to pour in the toilet and allow to stand for several hours.
After getting ready for the day, I went to the medical clinic at 11:30 for bloodwork, as a follow-up to my visit three weeks ago. Back home, Mother had heated the tomato soup, and Hubbie made grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it for lunch.
Following lunch, we went on an outing...our intention was to visit the home of one of the ladies from water aerobics, who invited us to see all the jonquils growing in and around her yard. I'd asked the lady her address, but somehow I translated Sweet Gum Road to Sandtown Road, so we traveled the wrong road for several miles, finally coming out on a highway in a small community north of our town.
We gave up finding her house, and decided to look for the second place on our tour agenda...a hydroponics farm featured in our local newspaper this week. We had some difficulty finding this place, too, but finally phoned the owner for more specific directions.
We arrived there around 2 p.m., and visited the small store adjacent to buildings housing the vegetable plants. The farm produces a prodigious amount of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, bell peppers, lettuce, etc., but today they had sold out of everything but tomatoes and lettuce. We bought some of each.
Before we bought the veggies, we were encouraged to taste a small tomato, which was richly flavorful. The tomatoes are deep red, pristine clean, and very shiny, like they have been individually polished. But we were told that this is the way they come off the vine.
We had hoped to see the farming operation, but were told that they only allow folks into the buildings on winter days, when the weather is 32 degrees or colder, which assures that no insects enter the buildings.
We weren't back home long before I decided we should go pick up tickets for a concert Saturday night, featuring several local performers, as well a group from a nearby tourist town. We've seen all of them in concert before, but thought it would be interesting to see them again.
We stopped first at a bank, which had only bleacher tickets left. Mother would not be able to manage bleacher seating. Next, we checked at a radio station...nope, just bleacher tickets. Finally, we stopped at the college where the concert is to be held. They had tickets for regular seating, but they were $15 each, which is more than I want to pay. So we'll skip the concert.
Back home again, I mixed a quadruple batch of whole wheat pancake batter. Hubbie did the honors of cooking the pancakes for supper.
After supper, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I went grocery shopping at the WDCS. The store didn't have several items that we needed, so we had to swing back by a grocery store to get those things.
I had programmed the DVR for a college basketball game we were interested in seeing, but Hubbie gave me erroneous information about what channel it was on, so when we sat down to watch it, I discovered we had recorded the wrong channel. I searched live channels and finally found the game, already in the second half, with our team over 20 points behind.
It was a day for road blocks, it seemed.
"Alice in Wonderland" movie report: the movie takes a few liberties, like making Alice a young adult, instead of a young girl. It's rated PG, because there are some scary characters in it, like a dog-like beast with a double row of teeth that dashes at Alice and even injures her by scratching her arm. The Cheshire Cat is a little weird, and the Mad Hatter is a lot weird. There is also a fire-breathing dragon that Alice beheads. I think that these characters, especially in 3-D, might be frightening to very young children. Also, the story line is probably too sophisticated for very young children to grasp.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Thursday, March 18
What a gorgeous day...sunny and mild...just perfect! I could use more day like this one. Yellow forsythia and pink blossoming trees around town, and the daffodills in our in our yard are on display. What joy!
Sort of tossed and turned again last night, so got up late. It'll probably take a week or so for me to adjust to the time change. Did a treadmill session after breakfast, but didn't accomplish much after that.
Mother came over after lunch, so we could go to a scrapbook club meeting at 1 p.m. One of the members came by and rode with us. She is almost 80 years old, and doesn't like drive in town.
Sadly, she reported that her daughter and husband's brother-in-law (husband of his sister) was killed in a fiery automobile crash at 2 a.m. yesterday morning. Apparently, he fell asleep at the wheel of his vehicle and then crossed the center line into the path of a propane truck.
The other member of the club in attendance, as well as a visitor, knew this man, but I did not. Because the man was well respected in the community, tonight's local newspaper carried a big article about the accident on the front page.
The four of us had difficulty completing intended projects today, because we each failed to bring crucial elements for our scrapbook pages. Still, we did as much as we could in the two hours we were there. And we enjoyed visiting.
Back home, I began preparations for Hubbie's and my supper...tomato soup and bean sandwiches on hamburger buns. Mother did not join us for supper tonight.
Later, Hubbie and I went to the movie theater to see "Alice in Wonderland" in 3-D. I'll report my opinion of the movie in tomorrow's blog.
Sort of tossed and turned again last night, so got up late. It'll probably take a week or so for me to adjust to the time change. Did a treadmill session after breakfast, but didn't accomplish much after that.
Mother came over after lunch, so we could go to a scrapbook club meeting at 1 p.m. One of the members came by and rode with us. She is almost 80 years old, and doesn't like drive in town.
Sadly, she reported that her daughter and husband's brother-in-law (husband of his sister) was killed in a fiery automobile crash at 2 a.m. yesterday morning. Apparently, he fell asleep at the wheel of his vehicle and then crossed the center line into the path of a propane truck.
The other member of the club in attendance, as well as a visitor, knew this man, but I did not. Because the man was well respected in the community, tonight's local newspaper carried a big article about the accident on the front page.
The four of us had difficulty completing intended projects today, because we each failed to bring crucial elements for our scrapbook pages. Still, we did as much as we could in the two hours we were there. And we enjoyed visiting.
Back home, I began preparations for Hubbie's and my supper...tomato soup and bean sandwiches on hamburger buns. Mother did not join us for supper tonight.
Later, Hubbie and I went to the movie theater to see "Alice in Wonderland" in 3-D. I'll report my opinion of the movie in tomorrow's blog.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wednesday, March 17
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!
Had trouble going to sleep last night, thanks to the cup of coffee I enjoyed at Friend's house yesterday afternoon, so 6:30 rolled around pretty quickly. Dragged out, anyway, and readied myself to go to water aerobics.
Fifteen of us showed up for the session this morning. Our leader and one other lady wore green bowler hats, necklaces, and earrings in honor of the day. The rest of us had to fudge a little...some had a little green in patterns of their swimwear, but the only thing I could come up with was the glowing green face of my wristwatch.
Back home, though, I sported a green turtleneck shirt, which no one saw but Mother and Hubbie, since I didn't leave the house today.
Mother came over after I was ready for the day, and we made a double batch of tomato soup. I plan to have the soup with bean sandwiches for supper tomorrow night.
As we were doing this, Hubbie came in carrying his favorite male cat...this cat has made a habit of coming indoors and sitting for hours on Hubbie's lap. Today, the cat was injured. He was obviously hit by a car and his left jaw was broken. Hubbie took him to the vet, who is keeping him for a few days to see if he can fix him surgically. I hope he can. It'll be sad for Hubbie if he can't. This is a very nice cat.
After lunch, Mother and gathered stuff to make greeting cards. I made a screen door birthday card for a friend, whose birthday is March 23. This is the friend who fell and broke her neck. I made the card in cheerful yellows and decorated it with flowers and butterflies. I hope it'll lift her spirits. Mother made Easter cards.
Then we went to Mother's house, so I could take a picture of her new kitchen curtains...she wanted the snapshot to include in a thank you note to Son and Daughter-in-Law, to show her appreciation for the gift card they gave her, which she used to purchase the curtains.
After that, I spent a while talking to Granddaughter on the cell phone. I always enjoy hearing her stories about the little ones...my great-grandchildren. In talking about the Sponge Bob Square Pants balloon that Great-Granddaughter gave to Mother for her birthday, we got on the subject of kids' cartoon shows on TV.
That launched me into stories about remembering when TVs first came out (I was a young girl), and how we were so fascinated by them that we even eagerly stared at the target-design test pattern that came on prior to telecasts. In those days, TV air time was very limited...only a few hours in the evenings, opened by a test pattern, and accompanied with patriotic music at the close of broadcasting a few hours later.
TV reception was through "rabbit ears," placed atop the TV and maneuvered this way and that to catch the signal. Sometimes, we found that wadding aluminum foil on the ears helped make reception sharper. Holding onto the ears also seemed to improve reception, but no one wanted to stand by the TV all evening holding onto the ears.
Later, we replaced the rabbit ears with roof mounted antennas. These often required that some brave family member climb on the roof from time to time to adjust the antenna until a clear picture appeared on the TV (this was usually Dad's job, with Mother yelling out the door when the picture was right).
All this is to lead up to the earliest cartoon I remember watching on our black and white TV, which was, "Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent." This was (we were told) a large green sea serpent, whose loyal buddy was Beany, a little boy....a concept no more far-fetched than the current Barney the Purple Dinosaur.
For supper tonight, we had boiled chicken, with rice and gravy, and English peas. I had intended to finish the meal with chocolate "coins"...one for each of us, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. The coins were given to me by the arts council director at our meeting last week. But I learned that Hubbie had scarfed all three sometime or other, without telling me. I was a tad annoyed.
Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I watched the movie, "Air Bud: Golden Retriever," a 1998 G-rated Disney film, featuring Gregory Harrison, Tm Conway, and Dick Martin. Buddy the golden retriever learns to play football and foils a gang of thieves looking for talented animals to start their own zoo. This is a sequel to the original 1997 Air Bud movie. It's family fare.
The second movie we saw was, "Eye See You," a 2002 R-rated film starring Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Kris Kristopherson, and others. The girlfriend of Stallone's character (Malloy) is murdered by a serial killer targeting cops. Malloy then falls to the depths of drink and despair, before being taken to a remote rehab facility, where other cops are also being treated. Soon, people begin mysteriously dying.
Had trouble going to sleep last night, thanks to the cup of coffee I enjoyed at Friend's house yesterday afternoon, so 6:30 rolled around pretty quickly. Dragged out, anyway, and readied myself to go to water aerobics.
Fifteen of us showed up for the session this morning. Our leader and one other lady wore green bowler hats, necklaces, and earrings in honor of the day. The rest of us had to fudge a little...some had a little green in patterns of their swimwear, but the only thing I could come up with was the glowing green face of my wristwatch.
Back home, though, I sported a green turtleneck shirt, which no one saw but Mother and Hubbie, since I didn't leave the house today.
Mother came over after I was ready for the day, and we made a double batch of tomato soup. I plan to have the soup with bean sandwiches for supper tomorrow night.
As we were doing this, Hubbie came in carrying his favorite male cat...this cat has made a habit of coming indoors and sitting for hours on Hubbie's lap. Today, the cat was injured. He was obviously hit by a car and his left jaw was broken. Hubbie took him to the vet, who is keeping him for a few days to see if he can fix him surgically. I hope he can. It'll be sad for Hubbie if he can't. This is a very nice cat.
After lunch, Mother and gathered stuff to make greeting cards. I made a screen door birthday card for a friend, whose birthday is March 23. This is the friend who fell and broke her neck. I made the card in cheerful yellows and decorated it with flowers and butterflies. I hope it'll lift her spirits. Mother made Easter cards.
Then we went to Mother's house, so I could take a picture of her new kitchen curtains...she wanted the snapshot to include in a thank you note to Son and Daughter-in-Law, to show her appreciation for the gift card they gave her, which she used to purchase the curtains.
After that, I spent a while talking to Granddaughter on the cell phone. I always enjoy hearing her stories about the little ones...my great-grandchildren. In talking about the Sponge Bob Square Pants balloon that Great-Granddaughter gave to Mother for her birthday, we got on the subject of kids' cartoon shows on TV.
That launched me into stories about remembering when TVs first came out (I was a young girl), and how we were so fascinated by them that we even eagerly stared at the target-design test pattern that came on prior to telecasts. In those days, TV air time was very limited...only a few hours in the evenings, opened by a test pattern, and accompanied with patriotic music at the close of broadcasting a few hours later.
TV reception was through "rabbit ears," placed atop the TV and maneuvered this way and that to catch the signal. Sometimes, we found that wadding aluminum foil on the ears helped make reception sharper. Holding onto the ears also seemed to improve reception, but no one wanted to stand by the TV all evening holding onto the ears.
Later, we replaced the rabbit ears with roof mounted antennas. These often required that some brave family member climb on the roof from time to time to adjust the antenna until a clear picture appeared on the TV (this was usually Dad's job, with Mother yelling out the door when the picture was right).
All this is to lead up to the earliest cartoon I remember watching on our black and white TV, which was, "Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent." This was (we were told) a large green sea serpent, whose loyal buddy was Beany, a little boy....a concept no more far-fetched than the current Barney the Purple Dinosaur.
For supper tonight, we had boiled chicken, with rice and gravy, and English peas. I had intended to finish the meal with chocolate "coins"...one for each of us, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. The coins were given to me by the arts council director at our meeting last week. But I learned that Hubbie had scarfed all three sometime or other, without telling me. I was a tad annoyed.
Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I watched the movie, "Air Bud: Golden Retriever," a 1998 G-rated Disney film, featuring Gregory Harrison, Tm Conway, and Dick Martin. Buddy the golden retriever learns to play football and foils a gang of thieves looking for talented animals to start their own zoo. This is a sequel to the original 1997 Air Bud movie. It's family fare.
The second movie we saw was, "Eye See You," a 2002 R-rated film starring Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Kris Kristopherson, and others. The girlfriend of Stallone's character (Malloy) is murdered by a serial killer targeting cops. Malloy then falls to the depths of drink and despair, before being taken to a remote rehab facility, where other cops are also being treated. Soon, people begin mysteriously dying.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 16
Overslept again this morning...didn't get up until 8:30. Obviously, it's going to take a while to get used to the time change.
After a treadmill session and resistance exercises and getting ready for the day, it was already 10:30 a.m. Mother's and my friend called while I was exercising, and invited us to visit at her house this afternoon. Our other friend from a town about an hour and half from here is in our town for a couple of days, and when she is here, we four like to get together for a couple of hours of gab-fest.
Mother spent part of her morning making a greeting card, while I checked e-mail and did other things on the computer, including writing yesterday's blog, since I didn't have time to do it after we got back from the movie last night.
At 11 a.m., Hubbie met a dental appointment. When he came home at noon, the news from his dentist was not good...seems several of his front teeth have thinned to the point of breaking, requiring nearly $6,000 in crowns! Yikes.
After lunch, I made a batch of fruited Jell-o to have as a snack later in the evening. Around 2:30, we headed to our friend's house. Friend, as she always does, served refreshments...today it was a choice of coffecake and chocolate chip cookies, and coffee flavored with mocha creamer. She served the coffee in cute little China mugs in various delicate designs. We visited until about 4:30.
Back home, we heated the beans and ham, oven fried potatoes, greens, and cornbread for supper. Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I watched TV. We started with the movie, "The Derby Stallion," a PG film starring Zac Effrons, Bill Cobbs, Crystal Hunts, and William R. Moses. A young country boy wants to be a steeplechase jockey. He is befriended by an older African-American man, who rode in his youth, but in later life became a reclusive alcoholic. The man buys a race horse, with the intention of training the boy to ride him.
Then we watched a state college basketball team play in the NCAA tournament. This is the first time this college has gone to the NCAA, and they won! Yay! We'll look forward to seeing them play again Friday.
After a treadmill session and resistance exercises and getting ready for the day, it was already 10:30 a.m. Mother's and my friend called while I was exercising, and invited us to visit at her house this afternoon. Our other friend from a town about an hour and half from here is in our town for a couple of days, and when she is here, we four like to get together for a couple of hours of gab-fest.
Mother spent part of her morning making a greeting card, while I checked e-mail and did other things on the computer, including writing yesterday's blog, since I didn't have time to do it after we got back from the movie last night.
At 11 a.m., Hubbie met a dental appointment. When he came home at noon, the news from his dentist was not good...seems several of his front teeth have thinned to the point of breaking, requiring nearly $6,000 in crowns! Yikes.
After lunch, I made a batch of fruited Jell-o to have as a snack later in the evening. Around 2:30, we headed to our friend's house. Friend, as she always does, served refreshments...today it was a choice of coffecake and chocolate chip cookies, and coffee flavored with mocha creamer. She served the coffee in cute little China mugs in various delicate designs. We visited until about 4:30.
Back home, we heated the beans and ham, oven fried potatoes, greens, and cornbread for supper. Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I watched TV. We started with the movie, "The Derby Stallion," a PG film starring Zac Effrons, Bill Cobbs, Crystal Hunts, and William R. Moses. A young country boy wants to be a steeplechase jockey. He is befriended by an older African-American man, who rode in his youth, but in later life became a reclusive alcoholic. The man buys a race horse, with the intention of training the boy to ride him.
Then we watched a state college basketball team play in the NCAA tournament. This is the first time this college has gone to the NCAA, and they won! Yay! We'll look forward to seeing them play again Friday.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 15
Another indication that spring must surely be on the horizon...this potted amaryllis in full, glorious bloom, lends happy color to the sunroom.
Up early, at 6:30 a.m., to get ready to go back to water aerobics, after being off for a week during the school's spring break. I sure had to drag myself out of bed, since it was still dark, thanks to Daylight Savings Time.
I enjoyed the pool, though, once I was in it. Fifteen of us showed up today, including one lady who recounted the story of a fall from her attic to her garage floor. She broke her fall somewhat by grabbing onto a step on the way down, but still hit hard enough to cause a compression fracture in her back. She's been in physical therapy for a while, and this was her first day back at the pool in several weeks.
Another member, who has not been to the pool in a few months due to shoulder surgery, is now recuperating from blood clots that traveled from her leg to her lungs. The story is that as she was walking into a restaurant recently, she suddenly couldn't breathe, and then she collapsed in a faint. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, where she was administered blood thinners.
While I was at the pool, Hubbie went to the home of a Master Gardener to dig more plants for the fundraising sale. I learned that this year, instead of the sale being in May, as it usually is, it is scheduled for April 24, with the Thursday and Friday preceding it as work days. Well, that's the same week I have scheduled a photography residency at a local school. When I penciled the residency on the calendar, there was nothing conflicting with it...because Hubbie had forgotten to record the plant sale. So now, he'll have to miss the work days in order to assist me at the school.
Mother came over after I was ready for the day, and we began gathering materials needed for a scrapbook club meeting on Thursday. Then I called the club members, and made a beauty shop appointment for me for next week.
By then it was lunch time. We settled for PB&J sandwiches. After lunch, we finished the task of gathering stuff for a scrapbook club meeting, and I took pictures of the amaryllis above. Otherwise, we each occupied ourselves in various, unimportant things.
Supper tonight was lasagna, with French style green beans, and cottage cheese on the side. Afterward, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I decided to go to a movie to see, "Shutter Island," starring Leonardo DiCaprio. If you watch the previews to this movie, you might think it is a horror film. But it is actually a suspense. About halfway through the movie, I figured the whole thing out, but it was still good. A U.S. Marshall goes to an island for the criminally insane, and then is cut off from the mainland by a horrific storm. The Marshall is looking for a missing patient, but the staff thwart his efforts at every turn.
There were six of us in the cool theater tonight. It wasn't as cold as the last time we were there, but it was cool enough for me to wear warm clothes and a coat.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sunday, March 14
We chided ourselves when we awoke this morning and saw that it was 8:30 a.m., and we were not yet up. Then we realized that our brains thought it was 7:30, because of Daylight Savings Time.
I skipped my exercises this morning and just proceeded to get ready for the day. Spent the morning as I usually do on Sundays...washing clothes, programming the DVR, reading the newspaper.
Lunch today was beans and ham, oven fried potatoes, and chard prepared with olive oil and onions. There was also cornbread for Hubbie. It was a good old-fashioned, yummy, southern meal.
After lunch, around 2 p.m., we went to the museum to hear some folks tell stories of tornadoes they'd survived. One of the survivors will celebrate her 100th birthday in June. She rode out a 1929 tornado in a small community near our town.
A retired school superintendent told about a 1973 tornado that destroyed much of a local school, but miraculously injured only two children. The same tornado also struck the college where I attend water aerobics.
A hospital staff member from a town about 45 minutes from us, showed a slide show of the aftermath of a tornado that struck the hospital and other buildings and businesses in her town in 2008.
Members of the audience also related stories of storms they'd lived through. We didn't tell our experiences, but both Hubbie and I have survived tornadoes. In a town about an hour and a half from here, a 1970s twister took the roof off the home Hubbie lived in while the family was asleep, lifting one family member from her bed and tossing her into another room. The tornado caused millions of dollars in damage to the town.
The tornado I lived through happened in April of 1965, when my youngest son was only weeks old. On that day, I gathered my kids for a visit to Mother's house. The skies looked stormy, but I had never experienced a tornado, so I was unafraid.
Mother's house was a couple of miles from mine, and on that muggy day around 6 p.m., we saw the sky turn a sickening yellow at the horizon with purple-black clouds above. The atmosphere was eerie, still, just before the storm hit. We watched from a window as in the distance, in town, an enormous funnel dropped from the clouds and began moving from the southwest to the northeast. It found a large propane tank, which exploded, shooting debris everywhere, even as far as Mother's house.
That was all we needed to see. I grabbed my kids, and we huddled under the kitchen table, not knowing what else to do to stay safe. In hindsight, I don't think that flimsy table would have protected us much in a direct hit. The tornado was far enough away, though, that we didn't even hear the roar that others describe. After a few minutes, it began to rain hard and the sky lightened.
Later, we saw the destruction...the tornado, several blocks wide, wiped out a large part of the town. Six were dead, including my neighbor, who was swept away when the storm ripped the kitchen from her house. My own house (a rental) imploded. Two-by-four planks of wood were driven through the roof and into the rooms. In the town, 200 people were injured, and property damage was in the millions. At the airport, small planes were tossed like toys into the trees. Houses were leveled, oddly leaving a closet here or a bathtub there.
We have now entered tornado season, and those of us who have lived through them will closely monitor storms on TV and radio. I yearn for a tornado shelter (or "hidey-hole," as they're called around here), but we will just have to make do with sheltering in the pantry, if necessary.
We were back home around 3 p.m. Mother went home, Hubbie continued watching tournament basketball games on TV, and I played on my laptop.
Later, we watched a movie..."King of California," a 2007, PG-13 film starring Michael Douglas. A mentally ill man, who left his teenage daughter to raise herself, returns home from an institution determined to find Spanish treasure buried beneath a warehouse store. Cute movie.
The second feature we saw was, "Elevator Girl," from the Hallmark Channel. A successful young lawyer and a peppy girl get stuck on an elevator. They hit it off. But he has just been made a partner in the firm, while she is a waitress who wants to become a chef. They date anyway, but their romance gets tricky when they start socializing first with his elite friends, then with her backyard-barbecue friends.
I skipped my exercises this morning and just proceeded to get ready for the day. Spent the morning as I usually do on Sundays...washing clothes, programming the DVR, reading the newspaper.
Lunch today was beans and ham, oven fried potatoes, and chard prepared with olive oil and onions. There was also cornbread for Hubbie. It was a good old-fashioned, yummy, southern meal.
After lunch, around 2 p.m., we went to the museum to hear some folks tell stories of tornadoes they'd survived. One of the survivors will celebrate her 100th birthday in June. She rode out a 1929 tornado in a small community near our town.
A retired school superintendent told about a 1973 tornado that destroyed much of a local school, but miraculously injured only two children. The same tornado also struck the college where I attend water aerobics.
A hospital staff member from a town about 45 minutes from us, showed a slide show of the aftermath of a tornado that struck the hospital and other buildings and businesses in her town in 2008.
Members of the audience also related stories of storms they'd lived through. We didn't tell our experiences, but both Hubbie and I have survived tornadoes. In a town about an hour and a half from here, a 1970s twister took the roof off the home Hubbie lived in while the family was asleep, lifting one family member from her bed and tossing her into another room. The tornado caused millions of dollars in damage to the town.
The tornado I lived through happened in April of 1965, when my youngest son was only weeks old. On that day, I gathered my kids for a visit to Mother's house. The skies looked stormy, but I had never experienced a tornado, so I was unafraid.
Mother's house was a couple of miles from mine, and on that muggy day around 6 p.m., we saw the sky turn a sickening yellow at the horizon with purple-black clouds above. The atmosphere was eerie, still, just before the storm hit. We watched from a window as in the distance, in town, an enormous funnel dropped from the clouds and began moving from the southwest to the northeast. It found a large propane tank, which exploded, shooting debris everywhere, even as far as Mother's house.
That was all we needed to see. I grabbed my kids, and we huddled under the kitchen table, not knowing what else to do to stay safe. In hindsight, I don't think that flimsy table would have protected us much in a direct hit. The tornado was far enough away, though, that we didn't even hear the roar that others describe. After a few minutes, it began to rain hard and the sky lightened.
Later, we saw the destruction...the tornado, several blocks wide, wiped out a large part of the town. Six were dead, including my neighbor, who was swept away when the storm ripped the kitchen from her house. My own house (a rental) imploded. Two-by-four planks of wood were driven through the roof and into the rooms. In the town, 200 people were injured, and property damage was in the millions. At the airport, small planes were tossed like toys into the trees. Houses were leveled, oddly leaving a closet here or a bathtub there.
We have now entered tornado season, and those of us who have lived through them will closely monitor storms on TV and radio. I yearn for a tornado shelter (or "hidey-hole," as they're called around here), but we will just have to make do with sheltering in the pantry, if necessary.
We were back home around 3 p.m. Mother went home, Hubbie continued watching tournament basketball games on TV, and I played on my laptop.
Later, we watched a movie..."King of California," a 2007, PG-13 film starring Michael Douglas. A mentally ill man, who left his teenage daughter to raise herself, returns home from an institution determined to find Spanish treasure buried beneath a warehouse store. Cute movie.
The second feature we saw was, "Elevator Girl," from the Hallmark Channel. A successful young lawyer and a peppy girl get stuck on an elevator. They hit it off. But he has just been made a partner in the firm, while she is a waitress who wants to become a chef. They date anyway, but their romance gets tricky when they start socializing first with his elite friends, then with her backyard-barbecue friends.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)