card pt. 1

Many, many years ago I wrote a Christmas card which featured different poems to be sung to the tunes of different carols. Because they bring back memories of that relatively carefree time back to life, here they are again. They were accompanied by my primative drawings of Christmas scenes, all of which we faithfully colored by hand. (We drank a bit back then!) One of the songs I shared with you on 12/7. Here are more:

This carol is funny. I was thinking I'd already put it in the blog, but I can't find it, and I like it too much to take a chance on missing it.

This was back in the late '80's, before I was visibly disabled. I volunteered as what was called an "AIDS buddy" through the Whitman Walker clinic. Basically, I just provided friendship and whatever practical assistance I could to someone who was dying of AIDS - which, remember, is what eventually happened back then to anyone who was HIV+ back then. It was a horrible time.

My buddy - the only one I ever had - was Bob Edwards, a real flamer. He had these two horrible nasty little dogs that he loved dearly. These creepy, dirty, smelly. incontinent little beasts were probably 900 years old in dog years. With their arthritic little bodies, they moved at a snails pace.

So who got to walk them? Me.

And what happened? A creepy fat man ran up to us and pulled off his raincoat. Under the coat he was naked. He then chased me and the very slow dogs slowly up the street.
Thus, this carol

TO: Jingle Bells

Dashing toward the door
While the doggies lag and play.
O'er the field I run,
Freaked out all the way.
Obscene cat calls ring,
Giving me a fright.
Why did that fat naked man take his clothes off in my sight?

Oh-h-h-h-h-h-h
Dangling balls, dangling balls,
Dangling all the way.
Why did that damned fat man have to pick on me to day-aye.
Dangling balls, dangling balls,
Dangling all the way.
Why did that damned fat man have to pick on me to day



:

continuation

Sorry that last post ended so abruptly, but they came to take me away.

ANYWAY. it was kinda amazing how many people were aggressively pushing their self-important way through the mall with "no holds barred" attitudes. I got Sue2 a suit jacket at LL Bean that is the wrong size and, since I actually have nothing in the world to do, I think I'll offer to take it and exchange it myself. That would be the patriotic thing to do - that way she can continue her classified government work on whatever it is that she does. It has something to do with the "President's Budget", so probably you can thank me for saving you thousands of taxpayer dollars!

I did NOT study my Spanish this week, and class is tonight. But, hey, it is Christmas! Such an attitude doesn't make a whole lot of sense when one is taking the class solely for one'ls own edification, does it?

Be sure to tune back in. I hope to give you all of the Christmas card I wrote years ago that I've been sharing bits of occasionally. (I guess that is a promise and not a threat!!)

I went to Tysons mall today. It was CRAZY there! There were more people than right before Christmas, and the PEOPLE WERE MEAN!

I saw True Grit. I loved it, but I see the critics only gave it B+.

More family

Yesterday I spoke about "family" and how the concept of family had grown and evolved over time for me. None of this negates the importance of blood relatives, though. I assumed this was underdstood, but it occurred to me that I'd better say it outright when I remembereed that some of my most loyal readers are my aunts.

Hi, aunts! I have aunts on the brain today (aunts on the brain would be a great name for a rock band!) (forgive me, Dave Barry) because I went to see Mom and Dad, and Aunt Delores and Uncle Gene dropped in. They only live 20 minutes away, in Alexandria. We talked about how funny it was beck when "Feliz Navidad" came on the radio, and Uncle Raymond declared vehemently that it was the stupidest song he'd ever heard. One of my aunts said, "Why? They are just singing 'Merry Christmas' in Spanish," to which Raymond responded, "Fleas on the dog? They just keep singing 'fleas on the dog' over and over!"

My Uncle Kenny sent me a Christmas card that I got today, too. He reminded me of the time when I was little and he lived on the farm, and I went with him to milk the cows, and came back and told Mom that "Uncle Kenny fed milk to the cows." Although he says that it was in the mid 70's, which made me about 16 years old, so I wonder what the deal was there...?

More on family later!

Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone's was wonderful! My family (Me, Sue, Ron, Mom, Dad, Martha, and Jackie the cat and Shirly) all went to Sue's. This was the first year when Mom and Dad haven't hosted, but they have no kitchen now, and Sue did a real fantastic job of providing us all with a homey Christmas. She had everything very nicely decorated and pretty. She had ham for dinner and everyone brought side dishes and desserts. We then exchanged a vast multitude of presents, talked, and watched the cat, who never did much, but we watched her anyway. (All except for Dad, who has absolutely no interest on watching a cat. Unless he is watching it walk away!)

Isn't family wonderful? I guess it's love that makes family. I'd say more, but everytime I try, I cry, and I don't think the keyboard is supposed to get wet...

Have you seen the show "Modern Family?" It's supposed to show how diverse modern families are. It ain't no contest, I guess, but we win hands down. They have gays and adopted a kid of a different nationality. Us, too, but we also have disability. I guess the truth about modern famillies is that they aren't created by bloodlines and legal documents, buy by love, And that sure does make for a happy Christmas!

Joy

TO: Joy to the World

Joy to the world,
It is Friday.
The maids will clean my room!
They’ll vacuum and they’ll sweep the floor.
They’ll shine the sink, but then there’s more!
They’ll take the trash ah-ah-way.
They’ll take the trash ah-ah-way.
They’ll ta-ke, they’ll ta-a-ake the trash a way!

WINTER WONDERLAND

TO: WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND

Pagers ring. Aides don’t listen.
Rings might bring new petitions.
Please don’t put aides through
A job they must do.
Just sit in your chair and be real bland.

I get up every day-ay.
And I scurry a way-ay.
Don’t care where I go
So long as I know
Surly aides aren’t going to be at hand.

Close to two AM I hear them chatter.
Right outside my door, they shout to friends.
To complain would only make them madder.
Besides, by four o’clock the chatter ends!

I arise fairly early
And I leave in a hurry.
I wonder which way I’m going today…
When I get there, then I’ll understand!

Jingle Bells

TO: JINGLE BELLS

Racing through the door.
You’d best get out the way.
Got no place to go
But I’m going anyway.

Cold don’t hinder me.
I shiver but still roam,
I’ve just got to get away
From this damned old folks home.

OH

Off to shop, to museums, maybe try a play.
If I catch a movie it will while the time away – ay.
Go drink suds at a bar, hoping time will pass.
Maybe I'll go crazy and I'll take a Spanish class!

12 Days of Christmas

This is an attempt at humor. Any resemblance to an actual meal, living or dead, is pure coincidence!

SUNG TO: The Twelve Days of Christmas

The first day of Christmas the kitchen gave to me
A mushy meat lump with gravy.

On the second day of Christmas, they tried variety,
Calling them ribs,
They baked sauce on bare bones to serve me.

On the third day of Christmas, the chef baked up poultry,
Wee tiny hens,
Overcooked squash,
Tooth breaking bread,
And a fine tasting cup of coffee.

On the fourth day of Christmas, this lunch was served to me:
Quite smelly fish,
Soup that congealed,
Limp lettuce leaves.
And a spoonfull of languid green peas.

On the fifth day of Christmas, the kitchen serves to me
Five Harvard beets!
Four big lumps of meat,
Potatoes,
Two small greyish mounds,
And it’s all covered in a gravy.

Snow

BUMMER! It snowed! Doesn't it just figure... The ONE day a week that I actually have something to do is Thursday, so, of course, if it is going to snow, it is going to do so on Thursday.

After all, what else would you expect... since, after all, I'm cursed, you know....

Its actually my own fault. (NO, not that it snowed. Even I don't attribute that much power to screw things up to myself.) I won't go into all the details, but it is, indeed, my fault that I ended up with nothing to do tonight, when at various times I had several options.

I f***ed up.

In real life, I'd just say it, but in a blog you run the risk that someone might show it to your mother.
This is a picture of my mother. She is the one on the left. Dad is on the right.

This is some man I don't know, but I thought it was a funny picture.


Please forgive me. Let's just call this a snow day.

Theater of the Absurd

I keep trying to tell you why I wore men's long underwear on stage at UVa and the "Caretaker Nazis" keep coming in and putting me far from the computer.

One of the shows was just a sort of readers theater production of the Dr. Seuss book "And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street". It was a show someone directed to get the directing credit they needed to graduate.

My other 'long underwear' play was "Ubu Roi", a theater of the absurd work by Alfred Jarry. I played the Polish Army in this work (not a member of the army, but the whole Polish Army.) I was blessed in this play with stage directions such as "Polish Army riots" and "Polish Army disobeys". It was wonderful.

?

My apologizies to all of you who have been waiting with acute anxiety to find out why I did two shows in Culbreath's Black Box theater while costumed in men's long underwear. My further apologies to those of you who've been waiting with an ugly anxiety. (yuck, yuck. Get it? Acute anxity... an ugly anxietty! Hey, gimme a break. It's been a bad day!) My deepest, most heartfelt apologies to those of you who don't give a crap. But, then again, those of you who don't give a crap probably don't read the blog either. In which case I think I'll quit talking to you. SO THERE!!

Relationships are difficult, aren't they?

Oklahoma Revised

Mom and I went to Arena Stage yesterday and saw Oklahoma. It was really great. The singing and dancing were wonderful.

The new building they've built to house the "Arena" is wonderful, also. It contains 3stages and is quite spaceous. I do think it was a mistake not to provide more packing, because I don't think there is a garage nearby. But, then again, what do I know about parking?

The stage we were in was "in-the-round". This was wonderful, because it brought all the action in close, which meant the entire audience had great seats. Also, because of this, the whole play seemed quite intimate - unusual for a musical. Dance choreography for theater in the round must be a bitch, but it worked out fantastic.

I worked in the round twice at UVa, in the workshop stage called the "Black Box". In both plays my costume was men's long white underwear!

Have you got a light?

Last night was Spanish class, and Ivar says that he's giving us a test next Thursday night.(Ay, carrumba!) Although it really makes no difference, since I'm only taking the class for my own benefit. Perhaps it will be a good self evaluation, though. It will be a good motivator to keep me studying this week. And it IS a motivator 1) I don't want to look stupid, and (2) There is one other student in the class. I'm quite competitive, to put it mildly. (Lloyd says he'll never, ever play Parcheesi with me again!) I HAVE to score as well as she does!!

I know I've said this before, but I'll repeat it only because its truth keeps being demonstrated over and over. The Latinos who work here love it that I'm taking Spanish. They seem to enjoy helping me, and laugh at my feeble attempts in great fun. It just builds camaraderie among us, I guess, which is a great help in what is often tense relationship.

The same idea sort of worked the other day with Amharic. I had an Ethiopian caregiver the other day, and Sue (sister Sue) and I used to be good friends with a group of Ethiopian guys . I said "good morning" to her in Amharic, which amazed her, and "lets drink beer now", the only other phrase I know, which amused her.

Besides using Spanish as a tool to enhance relationships, the other thing I enjoyed about the class last night was the trip back and and forth. That may seem strange, but the bus going both directions went through residential neighborhoods, taking a different route going than the one used to come back. It was after dark, and it is almost Christmas, so there were lots of pretty Christmas lights out on the houses.

In the past, David and Ron and Sue2 and I always took a night to drive around and look at the pretty lights in the neighborhoods. I'll never forget that one year. when it was real cold outside, we drove around for a long time with David and me in the front seat and Ron and Sue in the back. David and I kept "oohing" and "awwing", but the other two never said anything. Finally they said, "We can't see anything!" and we looked back and found that, despite their frantic wiping, Sue's and Ron's windows were entirely covered in fog and they couldn't see anything at all. This is probably an example of why Susan has taken to calling herself "Susanella".

Christmas trees yet again

The biggest problem with living in an apartment and having a live Christmas tree is, "What do I do with the tree when Christmas is over?" Generally, we de-decorated (undecorated?) it on New Years day, but then we had a big empty pine tree carcass and we didn't know what to do with it. So we put it on the balcony and ignored it.

One year, when it was still on the balcony in February, David jokingly suggested that we throw it off the balcony to the balcony below. "We can't do that," I replied in mock horror. "That little lady who hosts the Bible study group lives downstairs!"

Susan Craft was there, and said, "No problem. Set it on fire first. They'll just think it's the burning bush!"

Ha, ha!

The situation led me to write the following Christmas carol for our homemade Christmas card. The carol is sung to the tune of "O Christmas Tree".

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Your branches green delight us.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Your branches green delight us.
If only you just wouldn't stay
Out on the balcony 'til May.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Your branches green delight us.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
In March you are a problem.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
In March you are a problem.
So David says, "Why don't you throw
It to the balcony below?"
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
In March you are a problem.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
By April you're a danger.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
By April you're a danger.
"Set it ablaze,* says Susan Craft,
"And soon there will be nothing left."
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
By April you're a danger.

Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
By May we want our balcony.
Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
By May we want our balcony.
So Susan shoves you in a bag
Which to the trash room she then drags,
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
That really was quite easy.


The good news is that we happened to think of actually throwing it away before we resorted to trying one of my more brilliant ideas, which was to cut each branch into tiny pieces and grind it in the garbage disposal. Had we done that, I'd probably still be grinding.

...Your branches green delight up...

The little 2' Christmas tree I bought yesterday actually works out fine in this room. It fits right next to the door and it's something live and Christmasy and green. I think I'll buy some evergreen odor spray or candle or something, to further the tree illusion.

Sue and I have always had a Christmas tree, thanks to David and, later, David and Ron. For a long time I insisted on a live tree, so we made an annual pilgrimage to a Christmas tree lot. We finally found a lot where the salesman cut the bottom off the tree without a hassle, tied the tree up sufficiently, and packed it nicely in the car.

Then we'd get the tree home and face quite a dicey situation as we tried to get the tree in the tree stand. I say "we", but of course I didn't really have a damned thing to do with it. Except for offering multiple unwanted (but brilliant) suggestions, I was no help whatsoever. I wasn't even noticeably disabled way back then in the mid '80s - just useless and opinionated, with an incredibly indulgent and patient best friend.

(pause)

ANYWAY - we'd decorate it, and it was always beautiful and smelled fantastic and Sue and I really enjoyed it all season.

O Christmas Tree

Today I went to the annual Falls Church Christmas Craft Fair they have at the Community Center. All these vendors come in and sell "homemade?" Christmas Crafts. This year they also had the High School Glee Club sing Carols, which was a nice touch.

Back in the "Good Old Days", David's church choir Christmas party, both at Dulin and at CTS, was always the day after this sale. We'd both have to bring a Christmas ornament as a gift for this "gift exchange" game the choirs played the next day, so I always bought us both things that I thought were unique and folksy at this sale. Many of the other choir members, though, brought in classy expensive pieces. David always thought our gifts were fine, I guess.

One year, at Dulin, this real strange, social misfit, who mumbles to himself and wears the same clothes for weeks without end, was in the choir. He once brought a large ceramic owl for his ornament. David said this guy was actually brilliant, and had an important, powerful government job. The Dulin bell choir used to go out in the Christmas season, and play at places like Ballston Mall, and this guy had a small entourage of people from his job that would come wherever we were to hear him play.

Today I didn't need ornaments, but a little 2' tree that has lights on itg and is pre-decorated. It adds a bit of festivity to this dreary room.

Amigos

Taking Spanish is a really cool way to get to know people! I was working on my home work real early this morning and heard the vacuume in the hall, and knew that the woman who vacuumes is a native Spanish speaker. I asked her for help with my homework, and she was real glad to give it, and loves it that I'm taking Spanish. She even vacuumed my room a day ahead of schedule!

Then, on the Metro Access bus, the driver was a fellow I have quite often. He's from Argentina, and was an English teacher to Spanish speaking kids, so he drilled me on vocbulary and phrases all the way home. At least he says he was a teacher. Come to think of it, he also once told me that, as a teen, he was riding a horse bareback real fast across the Argentine grasslands, and he fell off and broke his back in several places, and it was two days before his family found him laying in the field.

True? What do you think? He looked really sad as he told me...

homework

Worked on my Spanish homework all day today, and I STILL didn't finish it. (Of course, it was a week and a half's worth of home work, andd I tried to do it all in one day!) My personal history with doing homework isn't exactly the best.... Sister Sue laughed like a hyena when she found out I was actually paying for and taking a class I didn't need. As a matter of fact, no one was more surprised than I was when, at the end of my college graduation ceremony, they actually had a diploma for me. I wonder what I ended up majoring in??

Old Folks Home

1.
OVERHEARD BREAKFAST CONVERSATION
CARETAKER (to resident): Here are your pancakes.
RESIDENT: How many pancakes?
CARETAKER: One. Just like always.
RESIDENT: I only want half a pancake!
CARETAKER: So just eat half of it.
RESIDENT: And waste the other half?! I'm not going to do that. Take it away and bring me back half a pancake!

2.
We have a big old lazy dog named Thompson that just sleeps all the time. Rumor has it that he was originally trained to be a seeing eye dog, but flunked his test because he's scared of cars.

The concierge from the front desk got on the elevator. Thompson got on with her. This is something the dog does habitually. He's commonly found on all three floors.

"So?" the concierge asked him. "You going up or down?"

3.
My regularly scheduled appointment with therapist was this afternoon. So that's a good thing, right? Especially since I've been in this institution all day. Right?

I have this little wooden Christmas tree that has all these tiny wooden ornaments on it. I got it at the Kennedy Center gift shop. It took me a while to get it put together, but it's cute and special and I smile every time I look at it.

So Lenee comes in and says, "That's nice, but it looks like it should revolve."

She picks it up to look at the base, and ornaments fly everywhere.

Oh, well... She pretty much re-assembled it. Maybe the maids will find that last ornament while vacuuming!

Happy Thanksgiving! We (Mom, Dad, Sue, Ron, Ed, Dayna, Charlotte, Lulu, Martha) all ate at the Hermitage for Thanksgiving dinner. The food was very good and the service was excellent.

Afterward, some of us went up to the penthouse, which was unoccupied, and let Charlotte and Lu run just as hard and fast as they could up and down the room. That was probably an excellent idea!

Then, (I guess just for everyone's general entertainment), Susan took it upon herself to repeat the story of my disastrous entrance into a Thai restaurant last New Year's Eve. Last New Years Eve I met Sue and Ron and a friend of Ron's at a local Thai restaurant for dinner. It was cold out. I was dressed in many more layers than I was accustomed to. I wet in the restaurant to find may group already seated at a table already neatly made with plates, silver, linens, filled water glasses, and various other beverages.

Immediately after greeting everyone, my glove got caught on the "GO" lever of the scooter.

Much to mine and everyone else's amazement, I came sailing into the room at breakneck speed and completely out of control. I plowed into the table where all were waiting, pushing the table into the opposite wall. Glasses, beverages, silverware, linens, etc., flew everywhere. Thai waiters ran madly about the room.

So now, why, pray tell, would that seem to anyone like a proper story to tell after Thanksgiving dinner?

Liebowiitz

There was an excellent Scorsese documentary about Fran Lebowitz on HBO the other night. Lebowitz, if you aren't familiar, is a very witty, sardonic, intellegent essayist, reminiscent of Dorothy Parker. She's got a new book out titled "Public Speaking".

I saw the documnentary and it was fantastic. She validates the truth of something the Sunday School leader mentioned last week, which was that, in this society, we are visually oriented, and receive information through images, and not through the written word. Her writing is very humerous and witty, but it seems to me that people these days haven't developed the patience to enjoy what could be a very pleasurable experidnce if they took the time required to read it.

And now for my personal confession......

My friend Susan Craft called to tell me the show exsisted and when it would be on TV. I said, "Gee, but that's when "Hawaii Five O is o." she said, "Hmmm... Fran Liebowitz or Hawaii Five O... What was it that Rudolfo used to say..? (Rudolfo is her brillant deceased husbansd.) Oh yes! 'Nobody ever lost money underestimating the intlellegence of the American public."

Due Date

I got up Monday morning and went to the movies at 10:15 AM - an odd thing to do, but totally enjoyable. As I told the Metro Access driver - "well, hell, why not?" He agreed, although somewhat jealously.

I saw "Due Date". It was HYSTERICAL! I was all by myself in an almost empty theater, and laughed out loud all through it. If you remember from my "Iron Man2" post, I think Robert Downy Jr. is incredibly hot, so that made the movie even more fun. It is totally stupid slapstick juvenile jokes type comedy. For example, a total doofus type guy is carrying around his father's ashes in a coffee can, SO, OF COURSE, they end up making coffee out of the father and drinking him. (Seems like there ought to be some klnd of theological point to drinking the body of the father??? But I guess sometimes a snake is just a snake.)

Seals

Went to church and Sunday School today - who would have thunk... In Sunday School, they are studying the book of Revelation. I guess I'd better read Revelation... I've probably read all of the rest of the New Testament I've read it in a piecemeal manner, but I've read it. Mom, who is the ultimate church lady, told me that, if I ever read the Bible, I sould skip Revelation, because it would confuse and scare me. So far, her warning would probably bode true... except....

....except that the teacher was talking about a document that bore seven seals, and he explained that the book didn't mean aquatic seals,
but seals that seal things, and I got tickled.

More later...

Metro Access

I spent about over 6 hours in a Metro Access van yesterday, 4 of them with the same driver! She was totally worthless! Part of the disaster was the fault of the dispatchers. They scheduled an absurd number of passengers, all of whom were going to widely divergent locations. At one point we went past my exit on 66, only to get to Ballston and turn around and go back west on 66 AND PASS IT AGAIN!

Meanwhile the driver was so addle brained that it's an absolute wonder that she managed to drive. Each new passenger took absolutely forever to load. True, one has to tie down all the mobility devices, but it's like she had to make up from scratch how to do it each time.

She was lost all the time, too, because following the GPS seemed to "cramp her style". The GPS would say. "Turn left 500 years." So she would turn left immediately, or she'd get in the far right lane or she'd obliviously go on straight. She'd do anything but go left in 500 yards

I didn't say a word. I just sat there like a quiet little mouse.
I've learned the hard way that, if you say anything at all, it just rattles them more and takes them longer.

It took 2 hours to get to Reston, 2 hours back. In real life it's just a half hour trip.

Oh, well. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride and watched the leaves change.

My trip last night was fine, though. I went to Clarendon and back, and I got two normal drivers.

Clarendon is really neat. It's like a well lit city area that's bustling even at night. Spanish class was much better than the last one - better organized. It's just me and one other student, and we meet in a Barnes and Noble Cafe.

Spanish

I have a busy day coming up, so I decided to write this post first thing in the morning.
This morning I'm going to church to assemble bulletins, (no big deal. except that I see in my email that a church friend wants to meet me there and go to lunch... cool!). Tonight, though, is my first of my new Spanish classes with "Spanish Blackbelt". (Doesn't that name just crack you up?) It should be exciting - at least it's something new to do! It's in Clarendon, and that's a new stomping ground for me. And the "Spanish Blackbelt" company sent me a picture of the instructor

and... well, lets just say it increases my interest in the class.

Civil War

I saw the second part of the Civil War exhibit at the National Archives today. They have the actual Emancipation Proclamation. The cool thing about the Archives is that they have lots of multi-media interactive displays. For that reason, I recommend that you go on a day when it isn't particulsrly crowded. It wasn't crowded today and I could roll around and do everthing at my leisure. The exhibit closes 4/17, and if you live here, it is certainly worth seeing. This is Part 2 of a two part series, mind you. The first part, which I also saw, was "Beginnings". As you will see if you follow the link, my reaction to that exhibit was disappointment that it consisted mostly of documents, and I guess that was probably my reaction to Part II. "Imagine!" (read this understanding that I say it with a voice that drips with sarcasm.) "The Archives has mostly documents!"

Christmas shopping

I had a kinda nice exciting Christmas shopping experience last Saturday. Strathmore is a big music center up in Maryland. It right next to to the old Strathmore mansion. Once a year in Oct., the Smithsonian museum's gift shops take over the mansion and a each shop sells it's own wares. It is incredibly crowded, but I didn't run over anyone. (Or at least not to my knowledge!) What a great way to start shopping!

I got mainly for Ed (brother), Dayna (sister-in-law) and my two nieces (6 years and 8years) because, if possible. I want to get their stuff before Thanksgiving, so they carry it back with them. DON'T TELL THEM, but I got Lu a fuzzy fools cap like this with a bell on each tassle. I also got her a soft, felt overnight bag shaped like a dragon. It has dangling legs and feet. I got Charlottte a cool felt hat in the shape of a shark. His wide open mouth is where the wearer puts his head, so it looks like a shark is taking a bite out or the person's head. I also got Charlotte a really neat looking magician set that has lots of magic tricks. I got Ed and Dayna some ornaments.

I just got Mom and me accessible tickets to Oklahoma. It's at the Arena Stage.

Words of wisdom

As Andy Warhol said, why be sad if you can be happy?

As my friend Robin says, why eat soup if you can eat pizza?



I went to my shrink today and got my prescription refilled and then rolled on down to Mad Fox Brewing Company and had some beer. They brew their own beer. The following quotes are about the beers I tried and are from their menu. "Porter: An English style robust Porter brewed with imported pale, crystal, black and chocolate malts to lend the dark color with ruby highlights and dark malt flavors. This is a beer supposedly created in London in the early 18th Century to slake the thirst of the Market Porters, men who carried all the produce at markets throughout the city. The hops used are English varietals like Challenger for bitterness and a good amount of First Gold to balance all the malt notes." and "Wee Heavy Ale: A Strong Scotch Ale. This is a very full-bodied, dark rich brew with a sweet malt character of much depth possessing the flavors of toffee, plums and currants. The hop varietal used in such small amount is English First Gold and can be barely discerned. The target gravity for this brew is 20 degrees Plato and hop bitterness of just 14 International Bittering Units, which is a measure of hop content." They are very serious about beer there, and brew their own. Porter was nothing special, but Wee Heavy was to die for.

Then I got a personal size pizza. They cook everything from scratch, meaning even the pizza dough was rolled in the kitchen. From their menu, "Mad Fox features fresh seasonal and local ingredients with a chef-driven menu that features pizza, panini, salads, meats and vegetarian friendly foods. Our chef works with local farmers to procure seasonal produce and locally raised lamb, bison, beef, chicken and game. The chef also features locally produced cheese, charcuterie, bacon and Virginia Country Ham." It was really good. I give it ****. (That doesn't stand for a cuss word. It means 4 stars.

Then I had an appointment with my therapist.
Do you think it's possible that I'm a wee bit self indulgent

So, anyway, I feel better than I did yesterday.

And the beat goes on...

OK. I admit it. I'm a weak, rotten selfish person. Since I'm conpletely depressed, here are some "nothing matters" thoughts.

1. Quitters never win. Winners never quit. Those who never win but refuse to quit trying are idiots.
2. Hope lays the groundwork for torment.
3. If everything seems to be going well, you've apparently overlooked something.
4. It may be that one's sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
5. The harder I try, the dumber I look.
6. Some people are alive because it is illegal to kill them.
7. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.
8. Behind every good man is a bad man who takes all the credit.
9. Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.
10. Never put off til tomorrow what you can put off forever.

Interesting

Interesting Metro Access ride home from Reston the other day. The driver diverted off the toll road onto Rt. 7 in Mclean near Tysons to pick up another passenger. There were three interesting events associated with this side trip:

1) You may not find this interesting at all. It may be that everyone else in the world knows this but me, but I was fascinated. Did you know that they carry new cars to dealerships inside 18 wheeler trucks? I thought new cars were shipped on those open car carrier trucks,
but it seems they actually have big 18 wheelers that have the car carrying ramps and stuff inside the closed van of the truck.

2) We picked up a very nice "little person" from her job at a Tysons mortgage office AND TOOK HER TO HER SECOND JOB, which is caring for an elderly man. She seemed in good health, but she had lots of problems getting around due to her size. It served as a reminder to me that I shouldn't just sit back and accept all this disability crap, but should go out and find things I CAN do. Because there really are things I can do.... (Except run elections.... because, despite having successfully run every election in the City of Falls Church from 1985 to 2008, that is apparently something I'm not capable of doing from a wheelchair. It would embarrass the Electoral Board! (Not that I'm bitter............)

3) The second job for this lady was in a gated community, right there in McLean. Probably there are lots of gated communities in the world, but I've never been in one before. There was a gate with a guard that one had to drive through, and the guard checked off our passenger on his list. The houses and townhouses and condo buildings were all real hoity-toity looking.

Hair

I saw Hair, and I loved it. (No, the above picture does not have anything to do with "Hair", but I was in a psychedelic mood. Thought I'd revel in some mushroom dreams for awhile.) I sprang some extra bucks to sit in the orchestra. and I'm so glad I did, because all through the show, the hippies meandered through the audience, striking poses and dancing and protesting and passing out leaflets and flowers. It was fun.

What must it have been like to see it back in 1967, when, rather than seeing a historical recreation of a traumatic time, you were actually living in that time? I remember Mom and Dad were in NYC for some kind of Methodist preacher class that year, and got to go see "Hair" in its original first run on Broadway. They went with Al and Lois Stables.

Al Stables was a Methodist preacher, and our family hung out with the Stables family all throughout my childhood. We took many vacations together. I don't remember us ever living in the same town as the Stables, though. They had three boys who were roughly the same ages as us. I'll tell you more about the Stables family in another post. One finds many strange characters among Methodist clergy families!

Back to mushrooms - they were groovy. About 20 years ago, some comrades and I sucked on psycadelic 'shrooms and watched MTV all weekend. Actually, that was back when MTV was new, so maybe it was 30 years ago? Anyway, we'd been inside all weekend, so we decided to take a "field trip". There was an empty field next door, so we all went and sat in it for about 15 minutes and felt we'd accomplished something.

Oh yes, I remember it well.......

Back to Hair - It was groovy.

Lyrics | Hair Cast - Where Do I Go lyrics

Rhymes at last

I haven't rhymed in a while - used to be that I wrote rhymes galore, but no one needs them now, so I don't. I guess I need to work more of them into the blog...?

Anyway, Mom's and Dad's old folk's home has a poetry group that puts out a book of rhymes. Here are some of my favorites.

Mary had a little lamb.
It's fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
That lamb was sure to go

One day it followed her to school.
The children were agog.
Lambs are not allowed, as a rule.
So why didn't she just get a dog?
ISABEL STEINER

Jack Sprat could eat no fat.
His wife could eat no lean.
The doctor said, "Mrs Sprat,
YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR CUISINE!
JOYCE GLOCKLER

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
Along with her keys and her purse.
It could be worse- -
She could have had a flat tire.
THE POETRY GROUP

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet.
It wasn't the day for curds and whey,
So she jolly well ate as she pleased.
LINDA BURGETT


OK - I'll start rhyming again. Used to be that I sold rhymes on a web page. I actually made a tiny bit of money that way. It's easier to write rhymes if there is some reason they are needed. Maybe I'll try a web page again....?

Don't worry, be happy

COOL!!! I needed something different to do on Sunday, so I called the Kennedy Center and got a wheelchair accessible matinee ticket to Hair. I'm totally psyched!! I've wanted to see this since I was 12!

But I digress... What I intended to talk about in this post is this really groovy (excuse me while I shake off the 60's vibes) old lady that has moved in. She is the mother-in-law of Liz Shawen.

Liz was City of Falls Church City Clerk for about 10 years (or longer) while I was City Registrar. We did not really work together much. She ran City Council and I ran elections. But our jobs held a very similar position in the overall "scheme of things". As a matter of fact, until the late 1960's, both of our jobs were merged into one position. Then the General Assembly created and mandated the position of General Registrar.

Anyway, Mrs. Shawen moved in here and she is a really neat lady. She's smart and funny and just enjoys everything just as much as she can. Back when it was warmer you'd find her out on the porch every day. I'd join her fairly often, and she'd say, "I don't understand! We have this beautiful big front porch and all these nice rocking chairs, and nobody ever comes out but you and me and Fred!" I usually had something with me to read, and she'd say, "Don't let me disturb you, now. You go ahead and read, and I'm just going to sit here and be quiet." But I think that the truth is that she didn't want me to disturb her, because she just loves sitting there quietly watching the traffic, and especially the big trucks, go by. She enjoys seeing the scenes painted on the sides of the big trucks.

She's so enthusiastic about anything she likes that it just makes me happy. For instance, I've started going up to breakfast on time, which I never used to do, because she enjoys her Cheerios so much.

Hard to believe she's 93. She, I guess, is a perfect example of the line I saw the other day in the book "Cats, Cats, Cats" by Andy Warhol, which was, "Why be sad if you can be happy?".

Spanish Now? Only if you're real lucky!

On Tuesday afternoon, I, once again, took the whole afternoon getting to Old Town and then hanging around there, waiting for Spanish class, which starts at 6:30. About 7PM I check my phone messages. Once again, my "Spanish Now" class has been cancelled, and "please call them tomorrow to arrange for a make-up."

So call them I did. I told the woman that this had happened 4 times now, and that I just wanted to quit and get my money back. After some interim denials and discussions, she said today that she would mail a check.

Which leaves me sort of bummed out. (Yo soy mal). I wanted to take Spanish, or else I wouldn't have signed up. They have all sorts of "teach yourself" classes online, but part of the purpose of this is to get out, so taking a class online is rather self-defeating.

SELF DEFEATING


So, I went back online and found and signed up for something called "Spanish Blackbelt". I guess I'll either learn Spanish or how to karate chop wayward Hispanics.

Who knew?

Why do you think I even need a lava lamp? Did you know that, if you drop them sideways and they don't break, the sediment inside them does not mix up in interesting combinations, but just lays in big colored clumps.

Perhaps I should read a book.

Who knew?

It is CTS's 25th anniversary. They are celebrating big time. (At least they have a punchbowl! I'm not participating This is David's church, and I just "came with the band".

I remember the first time we went to CTS to check it out. It was in January, 1992. David had resigned at Dulin several weeks before (months?), and then he told me he wanted to go check out this church his friend and fellow teacher, Gloria Rossbach, had told him about. Her husband was resigning as musician, and she wondered if Davie might want the job,

We went anonymously and sat on the metaphorical "back row". I, myself, was quite unimpressed by what I saw. David knew right away, though, that CTS was where he needed to be.

Ron, at the church's request, went through David's hard drive and pulled out all the church pictures. He made a CD for them. That was really nice of him. There were thousands of pictures through the years. It was possible to watch kids grow from babies to adults! I guess they probably showed a few of the pictures at the anniversary party. Here are some of them.

Halloween

So which is scarier? Is it the ghosts and ghouls of Halloween? Or is it the fact that the Republicans may retake the House on Tuesday? I think the later.
Halloween used to be a night for costumed drunken debauchery. It was great. Sue2 (I call her Sue 2 because I've always added her to my conversation as sort of an afterthought, like, "Oh yeah. And Sue, too.") So she started signing her name as "Sue2". Anyway, Sue2 and Susan Craft and I would go out "Trick or Drinking" every Halloween. We always chose a theme and then made costumes for the theme. David always created my my costume and fixed my makeup. I had some real kickass costumes. One year we were bugs, and he made me into a really pretty butterfly. We were at Dulin and had choir practice on Halloween night, and he let me wear my butterfly costume. Here we were as Wizard of Oz characters.
One year we dressed as witches. We had an especially debaucherous celebration that year and ended up at a bar. As we walked home, Susan Craft started sweeping both the sidewalk and unlucky pedestrians with her broom. She spent the night at our place, and left sometime before we got up. Sue headed down the long hallway staircase to go to work the next morning and found Susan's witch's hat abandoned on the stairs. She brought it back in to me, saying, "I think she melted."

party

I have lots of stuff to tell you today, but limited time. I've wasted a ton of time searching for my cel phone. I call it from my other phone, and I think I have the ring narrowed down to some where either behind or under the bed. How it would get there I don't know. Someone called me a while back. If it was someone whom reads this blog, I'll call you back when I find the phone.

Ron and Sue and Shirley and Martha and I went to the Hermitage for Mom and Dad's "welcome" housewarming party. That place is so much nicer than this place, it is just plain in a different class. Mom has worked like hell, and they are pretty much unpacked and their rooms actually look like "home". She even has her little decorative pieces placed and her "africans" laying on various pieces of furniture. (David always said that, in North Carolina, instead "afgans", they called them "africans". So his dad would come in and say, for insance, "I think I'll curl up on the couch under an african for a while."

Anyway, I think they can be veru happy there.

excitement

They are having a big "virtual dementia" conference here today. I guess they are probably learning to deal with people like me!

That's funny, but it's also indicative of why this place is intolerable - the staff treats every resident as if he/she is incapable of having a rational thought. On a certain level, one starts to believe it must be true. After all, it is what everyone else thinks! So I run just as fast as I can.

Today I folded stuff at church. Tomorrow I'm in Alexandria again, because I got all the way to Alexandria Tuesday, and then they called and cancelled class and rescheduled for tomorrow. This is actually OK by me.

I have a funny story for you. Sunrise has a wee, tiny circular brick drive out at the front entrance that exits onto Broad Street. On Tuesday, the Metro Access bus was waiting for me at the top of the short driveway. A bread delivery truck was there, also. I got on the bus. There was a work crew in the middle of this tiny brick driveway. They were tearing out and replacing bricks. As my van sits there, two more cars pull in from the street. They idle as they try to figure out where to park. Then, lo and behold, two huge firetrucks scream up with sirens blaring. They pull in the driveway entrance. My pal Bill, an older guy in a wheelchair, comes out to see what all the excitement is about. He sits right in the middle of the circular part of the drive. So, to sum up, we have a Metro Access van, a bread delivery truck, two passenger cars trying to park, a crew tearing up the pavement, two fire trucks, a guy in a wheelchair...

...and a woman runs up from the back parking lot screaming, "Its an emergency! I have to get out!! I have to get out!!"

Apparently there was no fire or emergency requiring firemen (imagine if they'd tried to fit in an ambulance!), so the firemen managed to get everyone out! Bill stayed until the last minute! I bet he felt he'd had great morning!

Oops!

Oh dear... You know what? Ron Mussleman is a real nice guy! Here is his picture with my sister.
I had a trip scheduled for today to the National Gallery for no reason (other than self preservation!) But, much to my dismay, Bob Ryan said last night to expect rain all day. I decided that would not be a good day to make a junket, so I tried to all Metro Access to cancel, but they had some sort of phone phone outage. To make a long story short, I ended up taking my phone to bed so that I could call them at 6:00 AM.

Well, I tried, but it is DARK at 6 AM! I pushed the button that I thought would call Metro Access, and the next thing I hear is, "Hi. You've reached Ron. Please leave..."

I hung right up, of course, but he called immediately, and was very nice about it all. He sounded relieved. I guess probably normal people only call their friends at 6AM if there is some sort of emergency! At that point, I decided that the recent turn of events meant that the fates must want me to go, so I went, and I had a wonderful time!

I'm really down on this place today - so lets get out of here! This morning I went to Starbucks (I'd rather pay an arm and a leg for coffee than to drink it here!) Yesterday I went to the National Portrait Gallery. Today I have class in Alexandria in the afternoon. Tomorrow I just called to get a bus to the National Gallery. Thursday I get to volunteer at church. Guess this is my atones for being stuck in a rest home.

She blinded me with science

The weather here in DC was wonderful today (Saturday, 10/23)- cool in the morning, but warm and sunny all afternoon. Luckily, I'd planned something wonderful to do in the nice weather. I went down to the Mall, where they were holding the US Science and Engineering Festival. It was like a HUGE science fair with hundreds (literally) of white tents, each of which held a display demonstrating some different type of scientific work or discovery.

I, of course, know nothing of science. I had Mrs. Mahoney for chemistry in the 11th grade, and that was as advanced as my scientific education ever got. I have never even used a Bunsen burner. Mrs. Mahoney was quite elderly, and dyed her hair bright red. We kids swore that she must have mixed up the dye herself in the chemistry lab. I once saw her (really!)in the grocery store saying "wheeee!" as she ran down the store aisle pushing her grocery cart. She then jumped up on the rack that was on the bottom of the cart and rode the cart as it whizzed down the aisle.

So I don't know a whole lot of science.

Lloyd would have loved this, though. He is a pharmacist and thinks scientifically. He can also do Texas Line Dancing. My Aunt Patricia would have loved this, also. She is a college level science professor. She also makes beautiful Appalachian ceramics. (Which she sells, if you are interested!)

I generally just tooled around in my wheelchair and enjoyed being out on the Mall on such a pretty day, There was only one fairly minor disaster. I went over a metal thing that covered electrical wires across the road and got stuck in the street, but two passerbys saved me.

There were some really cool looking displays. NASA had a lunar rover and a spacesuit.

The another display that interested me was the one from the people that make the Rubik's cube. I got Lloyd a brochure about how to solve it, although I bet he can do it without a brochure! I looked at the brochure, but got no further than step 1, which was "get to know your cube"!

Class

I went ahead and signed up for the Nov./Dec. session of my Spanish class. In a way, that's too bad, because the class isn't particularly good. If I continue to be the only student in the class, though, I guess two hours of one on one instruction for 16 hours, which is worth $239.00.

I had found and signed up for a class that looked more serious - more like a real class - with Fairfax County Adult and Community Education (ACE). It was about the same price, and met twice a week in a real class room. I was all signed up for it, but then it was cancelled due to lack of interest. (Not lack of interest on my part, but lack of interest by the population as a whole.) Now I know that they exist, though, and can be on the lookout for new classes starting in December or January.

I'm also kind of unexcited also because I've sort of "done" the highlights of Old Town... although, even as I say that, I realize that it probably isn't true. I've seen just a few things, and those I've seen only very superficially. I''ve never even been in Christ Church... And one could spend days in the Torpedo Factory and it would be different all the time, because the artists are always creating new stuff.

The George Washington Masonic Memorial is something Ive never been inside, and it created an amusing moment a while back. My Metro Access driver was overwhelmed by the beauty of Alexandria at night. As we came up King Street and saw the Masonic Memorial at the end, he was beside himself. "Oh my God. It is beautiful. What is it?"

Try to imagine yourself explaining to a man from Sudan what a Mason is. I don't think I really even know what a Mason is. If it ever hapens again, I'll say it is a Church!

Jean

I think I'll tell you about one of the caretakers here, a good one.

The ones that get me up in the morning most weekdays are really good at their jobs and are usually in a good humor. The first one I'll tell you about is Jean. She is the lead. She is a tall, thin (but healthy!) woman from Jamaica of about 40 years old. She always seems to be in an "up" mood, and is usually singing and laughing and dancing. She is very proficient at her job, and acts professionally.

I try to learn jokes to tell her because Broken English is her first language, and therefore she understands them. She tells lots of stories from her childhood in Jamaica. It seems to have been a place where the kids really had to toe the line and listen to teachers and parents. The school principal, she tells me, was a bad man who said all the teachers were "caca".

The other day, I asked her to tell me a joke, and she she told me about a time when she was a girl. She was at the top of a hill, and the latrine was at the bottom of the hill. She wanted to use the latrine, but she looked down and there was a man in a big hat, sitting in there, nodding up and down. She waited and waited and waited. Finally she went running, yelling, "Pa! Pa! There is a man a big hat who is just sitting and nodding in the latrine." So her Pa came running, and he went down to the latrine and found that what she was seeing was the shadow of a banana leaf.

Alexandria

I got good news and bad news yesterday, and they were both the same news. They called when I was on the bus going to Spanish class and said yesterday's class was cancelled. That is both the good and bad. bad because class didn't meet, but good because I now get to go to class on Friday, and, as you may have realized, I love going to Old Town, and eating out at La Madeynes.

I had lots of time to kill yesterday. I went in pretty much all of the accessible shops on King Street. Many of the shops have one little brick step in front of the door. I still managed to buy some stuff I absolutey don't need to be getting right now. For instance, the Christmas cards you will be receiving in a few months time were purchased yesterday.

Probably I won't go quite as early Friday as I did Tuesday.

The Torpedo Factory is always fascinating, though. I actually saw one of the artists painting a picture of a boat on the Potomic. Whoops - gotta go.

Donde esta mi classe?

I have my last Spanish class today with Spanish Now in Old Town. I wasn't especially impressed by the quality of the instruction, so I've signed up for a class that starts next Thursday, offered by Fairfax County Continuing Education. It meets Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30, which fits my schedule great, because Tuesday and Thursday are the two days they won't give me a shower. If you can't beat them, run as fast as you can!

Lincoln Assassination

Something that I found really interesting about John Wilkes Booth but forgot to mention yesterday was that he had individual photos of 4 girlfriends in his pocket when he shot Lincoln, and he carried them on his escape. That was back in the days when photos were a big deal.

This is a picture of the boot I mentioned in the last post that they have in the museum and they Mudd had to cut off Booth's leg to fix Booth's fracture after the assassination.

I also found it interesting to look at the photos of John Wilkes Booth and the rest of the conspirators. They are so young! The museum guard called them the Al Queda of their day!


Do you know what the Entertainment Tonight reporter asked at the theater door?
ET: Well, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?

Ford's Theater

That was scarey - I wanted to write in the blog, and I couldn't find it for a while. I guess that shows how entirely disorganized and computer illiterate I am.

Sabrina Fair was well done show and fun in it's way. It was very well-acted, and quite witty, and I enjoyed it.

It just isn't the type of show I usually choose. I guess I usually go a musical or racous comedy. This was more like what you call a "comedy of manners".

It was super cool to be in Fords Theater. Lincolnn's box seat was draped in red, white, and blue bunting. They have a museum downstairs thats full of stuff about John Wilkes Booth, including his diary and a boot he was wearing at the time and which was later cut off his leg by Dr. Mudd.

this and that

I had a difficult time here last evening,

BUT

this afternoon I'm going to Sabrina Fair at Ford's Theater. If you can't beat them, ignore them.

I just heard on TV that a man got his drivers licence at DMV, then went out, got in his car, and crashed into the DMV building.

When I went in for my Social Security Disability interview, I fell down getting in the car in the parking lot in full view of the Disability Office windows, and Sue had to call the Fire Department to get me up. I got the benefits, no problem.

a blast from the past

I went and voted absentee today. That took a bit of courage, because I haven't been back in the office since the electoral board from hell fired me for being in a wheelchair. They had everything set up for absentee voting exactly the way I used to set it up. So they must think I had it set up correctly, right? (Except that they didn't have a sample ballot posted on the door, which is something I always used to do, and which is something that seems like a good idea to me.) I never used a paper pollbook and wrote voters names in it when conducting absentee voting. I always assumed the absentee ballot applicant list was the pollbook. The evil and incompetent and ill informed Secretary of the Electoral Board from hell made it a big deal that I wasn't using paper pollbooks and put on a big show of demanding that they be used, but now I see that they aren't using them again. Could it be that she found out that she was wrong?

The reason I went to vote is because Jim Moran is on the ballot, and I feel he's always done an excellent job.

Voting is so important and such a unique privilege and so easy to do that I can't believe that anyone would not vote. But, from what I know of my blog readers, I am probably preaching to the choir.

Once David let loose with one of his frequent heartfelt and poignantly correct sermons during rehearsal. One of the basses raised his hand. "Yes, Stan," David said. "David," said Stan. "You are preaching to the choir."

Artsy

I had Spanish class yesterday. I went to Old Town in the middle of the day and stayed through class. The weather was gorgeous - around 70 degrees and clear (no llueve y no nieva, en espanol). (I think probably I just said 'no rain and no snow'). (I think)

I went down to the waterfront and read for a while - "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", still. I'm finding this book hard to dive into. I sat at the water for a bit, and watched the boats go by and the planes take off, and the ducks paddle. Then I went in and looked through "The Torpedo Factory". This building used to be an actual, working torpedo factory. It is three floors tall and divided into hundreds of small studios, where artists work and then sell their finished pieces. It was really wonderful. I found a lovely piece that would have been nice for Mom and Dad's new place, but it was $400.00. They have enough pictures. don't you think?

nurse

Moving day seemed to go well, I guess, although I wasn't there for a lot of it. The movers took FOREVER to get them packed, so they didn't even get to the new house until after 3:00. They've been there a couple nights, now, and all seems to be going along O.K.

Well... except for the nurse... She is a perfect example of a person who has let her tiny bit of power and influence go straight to her head. Sue fought with her on moving day. I fought with her yesterday, and then the dumb nurse callled up Sue to tell on Mom and Dad for doing what I said instead of what the nurse said. So Sue got furious and told the nurse that Mom and Dad had a doctor, so she (the nurse) wasn't actually in charge of their medical care, (which is basically what I had said), and that, from now on, whatever Mom says is what she should do, and not to ever call her up again expecting her to negate one of Mom's decisions.

Moving day

Moving day! Mom and Dad are making the big move from Idylwood Towers to the Hermitage. The weather is supposd to be beautiful today - a GREAT day for moving. Not cold and not hot and not raining!

Thank God for Sue! Mom has worked herself ragged packing, but Sue has been helping all along, and worked like a slave all day yesterday. I talked to her last night, and she said they are still far from through. The condo fee is paid through the month, though, so she's hiring a cleaning crew to come in next week and spruce the place up before Tina actually puts it on the market.

Thank God for Ron, too! He's also working hard to implement all this. Ron and Sue together have just sort of taken over responsibility and are making sure this happens!

As for me, I plan to go over to the Hermitage later today and try to stay out of the way and show my support. Maybe there will be something I can actually do...? At least least I'll be there in case there is. When I actually will be useful is later, when Sue and Ron will be at work and I can hang out with them as Mom unpacks.

Won't it be wonderful to actually be able to manuver my wheelchair into every room in their house! They have rooms I haven't seen in years!

I sure hope they are happy there! It kind of seems like a real nice place for them to live!

On the road again...

My endless search for meaning led me today down to the Mall, mainly because I was too lazy yesterday to arrange anything more clever. When I got there, I didn't even specifically know which museum I wanted. I wandered into American History, and some woman volunteer in a pink shirt came up and started telling me all about one of the scientists that the exhibit was about, including cute anecdotes about her. Maybe I'll find out more about how to volunteer for that. It might be fun.

I actually heard a tourist say today, "They should call them 'aren'tifacts', because they sure aren't 'art'."

Blahhhhhh...!

Old Town

I just read again my last few posts, and I've realized something you've probably known for a long while - i.e., I am seriously off kilter. It probably doesn't lend much validity to this blogs entry yesterday about human integrity and values to realize that the day before the I went on a tirade about having prevented a woman with a disability and using a walker (and wearing a hideous yellow pantsuit) from boarding the Metro Access bus.


Yeah, but that doesn't count though, right? That was different.... That was ME!

Excuse me...!

Yesterday I had a great day. I went down to Old Town real early because my theraspist movedd my appointment, so I had some time before the class, I went down to the waterfront and sat there and did my homework and watched families frolic (there were a few there, even on a Monday in October!), and tour boats drift past and ducks paddle about placidly and seagulls scream and scavenge. Occasionally wild new-age music drifted out of the Torpedo Factory. I didn't go to the Torpedo Factory, and haven't been in a while, but I believe I'll go next week.