Cowpokes

Lloyd sent me a great picture:



This photo was taken at "Ghost Town in the Sky", a tourist trap that is the re-creation of an old time western town. It is in Maggie Valley North Carolina. We (Lloyd and Sister Sue and I and Brother Ed and some girl Ed was dating - this was right before Dayna)went there on a nostalgia trip in about 1987. That is when this picture was made.

One of the coolest things about Ghost Town is that it is on top of a great, huge mountain and one has to ride a precarious, steep cable car 1,250feet straight up the mountain cars to get to it.

(I know neither of those people, but it is a good shot to show what the chairlift is like.)

At the top, the park was divided into several areas. Among these are the "Indian Village", "Mountain Town", and "Mining Town". The heart of the park is the re-created old Western town complete with a two saloons, a schoolhouse, bank, jail, and church, and various other businesses typical of the day. Each hour, a gunfight is staged right in the street. "Famous guest stars" often play the cowpokes. Once Tony Dow was there, and I got his autograph. Wonder where it is? There is also a "saloon show" every hour, with dancing girls.

We Taylor kids had been going to there all our lives because Mom and Dad so often took us to Lake Juneluska on summer vacation. Both Lake Juneluska and Ghost Town are in Maggie Valley North Carolina, which is in the Smokies. There are many funny stories that I can, and will, tell about those times, but one is that we often went to Juneluska with Dad's friends and their families - another clergy family. One year, the father of the other family was a pompous jerk. Mom got mad at him because he never tried to have fun with his sons. Mom finally talked him into taking the chairlift up Ghost Mountain. When he was halfway up, there was a cloudburst. The operators stopped the lift, and he just had to sit in the rain until it stopped. Mom still talks about it with great glee!!

More about Bob

I decided to tell you more about Bob Edwards, the guy I wrote about yesterday. Here is his picture, along with Sue. They are in my office on election day.

It was Bob's nasty, decrepit dogs that provoked the incident with the naked fat man which I told you about in an earlier post.

Bob came from a wealthy family in Staunton, and was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. In DC, he became "comptroller" of a major company and was quite wealthy himself.

He went to school at William and Mary, which he considered vastly superior to Virginia.

One of Bob's major interests was choral music. Although he never knew David well, he was fascinated by David's job. At the time, David was a full-time music minister.

One of Bob's activities was that he was a member of the DC Gay Men's Chorus. He also had enjoyed being a member of the National Cathedral Men and Boys Chorus. Though he got in a disagreement with the direector and quit the chorus, he was well thought of at the Cathedral. His memorial service was held in in one of the small chapels. After the service, we all released helium balloons in his honor. I think he would have liked that.

Bob

It's a beautiful "Indian summer" day
(get it? That's an Indian tattooed on the arm, and it is summer! HA!HA!)
At least it is a beautiful "Indian Summer" day if I really know what "Indian summer" means. It is sunny, and 75 degrees, and it is October. Does that qualify as Indian summer??

I scooted down the street to a nearby park. They had a craft festival today. A bunch of vendors put up tables selling their jewelry or pottery or needlework. I managed to restrict myself to buying only a necklace - - but, you know, the fair is still going on... It is right across the street... I actually need a bracelet... You know, to go along with the necklace.......

This really is a nice little festival. They've held them every Saturday all summer, but I just heard a vendor say that this was the last one until next spring. Bummer.

I guess fall is legally upon us. I made my annual arrangement of pumpkins and gourds and I put it on the shelf outside my door in place of the ugly fake flower arrangement that Emeritus puts there. (No, they didn't say that I could do that - so arrest me, why don't you?!)

Back in the olden days, I made such a fall decoration for Bob Edwards, my AIDS "buddy". This was back in the horrible times when an HIV positive diagnosis meant you'd probably be dead in a year. Whitman Walker set up a program where healthy volunteers were "buddies" with a person who had AIDS.

Bob was my buddy. I'll have to tell you about him some day. He was a character.

Anyway, he loved it and kept it proudly in his living room. When he went to the hospital at the end, though, some of his friends took it apart and found that the pumpkins had developed "weevils".

Stormy

Major hurricane approaching! I went by Mom's and Dad's place, and they ought to be fine. A Hermitage employee stood up at lunch and said that they had enough extra food to last for 5 days and said that anyone with specific needs or concerns should contact the office. Here, on the other hand, they have said nothing. I wonder if they realize that a possible disaster is imminent?

I went to the CVS to try to get a flashlight and batteries this afternoon, and that was a laughable situation. There was a carton that contained batteries laying decimated in the aisle, stripped of all DD batteries. So I guess that all I can do now is hope that the lights don't go out. I think, however, that the likelihood of that is nil.

Natural disasters are a major bummer.

They've been showing Hatteras and Okracoke on .t.v. for the last couple days. It is quite awesome to think of being down on that little strip of island during a storm. Sue and I went there every year for years. Ed always went with us, and usually his girlfriend Martha, and always Lloyd, and Lloyd's one time beaux Richard, and often Susan Craft, and once Rudolfo, and Nega once, and Robin once, and Betty Stratton once, and Dayna, of course... But not all at one time. Oh, the stories I could (and probably will!) tell.

We always stayed at this little dump of a motel, Burris Motor Court.

Lloyd

My good. friend Lloyd Bryant came to visit last Wednesday. It was wonderful to see him. We had a good time, but it was disappointing because it was so short. He had to go home 2 days early because his dog, TJ, got sick. TJ was home in Glen Allen, and Lloyd's partner, George, called with the news.

We did get a chance to go see Oklahoma at Arena. It was fun. The accessible seats are are in the back row - they just pull out some chairs and get the wheelchairs to pull in the empty spots, which was fine. The show is quite enjoyable. It got me in the mood to sing "Oklahoma" and "Poor Judd is Dead" all night, which did not gain me any brownie points with Lloyd... Or the Caretakers who helped me get to bed... Or the Metro Access driver. But I think the ladies I eat breakfast with might have enjoyed it.

Pals?

Wow - who would have thought? I think I may actually be making some friends here! I was looking up movies in the paper this morning because I had nothing in particular to do today, and this old guy asked what I was doing and said he would go to the movies with me! Having a companion made the experience more pleasant.

We saw The Conspirator. It was a really good movie about the Lincoln Assassination, and could be the impetus for an in depth discussion on the morality of the death penalty.

Wayne (my companion) and I did not have this discussion, however, basically because I barely know the man and was therefore reluctant to start a serious conversation.

I also discovered thet there is a big farmer's market all around that metro stop every Saturday. It would be fun to come back next week and just go to that!

My other 2 friends here are the two old women who eat with me. They both speak Spanish as a first language,, and they love trying to teach me Spanish. They la ugh and laugh. Wonder why?

Banjo music

I was in major fights with everyone that works here all day, but other than that it was an O.K. day. The problem is that people sometimes just plain refuse to listen, and then then they say I said something which is not what I said at all. (Lloyd. quit snickering!) Today's broo-ha-ha came about.... Well, never mind. Except that I pay them tons of money...

Hedi came over today and we went to lunch She Is a good friend from CTS. Her healthy young husband, Paul, died several years ago on the bike trail for no good reason. Hedi now holds a popular charity event every year called "Paul's Ride For Life", and she raises a lot of money for charity. I sure admire her. When Paul died, David was really shaken up, and got a banjo player for the funeral. David was so good... In my opinion, the banjo player was a way to provide really good, enjoyable music, and yet say at the same time "there ain't nothing normal or usual about this."

50th anniversary

In light of Mom's and Dad's upcoming 60th anniversary, I decided to re-run the poem I wrote for their 50th. We (Ed, Sue and I) - with David's support, dedication,creative input, labor, and supervision, rented the party room in a restaurant, invited over a hundred people, including all of our many out-of-town relatives and all the congregations of all of Dad's old churches (only 2 of which were actually close enough to draw many people), served food, had beautiful flower arrangements (made by Bonnie Hamilton, David's friend from Christ the Servant), and were entertained all through dinner by a professional string quartet. And under David's supervision, it was all very affordable for us, Anyway, at the end, we did a long program where we showed slides of their lives through the years while
Ed, Dayna, Sue, and I alternated reading aloud sections of the following poem. which I'd written for the occasion:

PLEASE REMEMBER, ALL THROUGH THIS WE ARE SHOWING SLIDES OF THE THINGS WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.

DEB
They were so different
In how they were reared,
You’d not expect marriage
That spans 50 years.

For him, northern cities
Were what he called home,
While she in the heart
Of the mountains was grown.

The one thing they shared
Was a hunger for knowledge,
So they both set their caps
To attend Union College.

And it was at school
That they met up one day.
Then in Dad’s senior year
They just both slipped away

Off to get married
At Cumberland Falls.
Then they went back to school
And told no one at all.

They returned to their dorms
With their own separate rooms
And never let on
That they were bride and groom.

Dad graduated.
Mother dropped out,
And they then, together,
Their lives set about.

Now let me just pause
For a moment or two,
For I have a question
I must pose to you.

What, do you think,
Would have been the reaction
If one of their kids
Did commit that infraction?

(Words had previously been distributed to all songs, so all could sing along. David provided accompaniment.)
TO: THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES THEME

Come and listen to my story ‘bout a man named Ed,
Poor college boy, Pennsylvania born and bred,
Then one day he was acting in a play,
Saw Mil there and she stole his heart away.

Next comes the story of a mountain lass.
One look at Ed and her heart beat rather fast.
Thought, “Kentucky boys now all seem rather lame!”
And from that moment on her whole life was not the same.

Next thing you know, young Edward took a bride.
Went for a time up to Boston to reside.
Said, “Virginia is the place we want to be,”
So they loaded up the Ford and the rest was history.

When it comes to kids,
Well, they had their share.
The first was a daughter
Who had no compare.

Look at that youngster!
She’s cute as can be!
And smart as a tack ,
As you plainly can see.

Oh yes, you can tell
That the first was the best.
And the next one, I fear,
Well, he’s sort of a mess.

ED
Hey, wait just a minute!
Now I’ll take the floor,
For next came a son
Whom they simply adored.

The boy was their favorite,
Of that there’s no doubt.
“He’s a fine fellow,”
Our parents would shout.

SUE
Now that’s quite enough!
And I sure don’t mean maybe!
Their favorite, of course,
Was their last darling baby.

She was adorable –
Cute as the dickens.
Beside her, the others
Seemed rather slim pickins.

TO: RAINDROPS KEEP FALLIN’ ON MY HEAD

My brother hit me in the head,
And that stupid jerk will very soon find out he’s dead.
I will have a fit.
That
Edward is going to bite the dust, he’s a goner.
Hey, he just changed off the TV from my show.
It’s my turn to pick the station, which I’m sure he knows!
Give me the remote!
Oh,
Edward’s a freckle faced freak-o, little monster!
Oh, aren’t kids fun?
A joy.
You think they will outgrow it, but you know it…
They never do.
They’re adults now but they don’t show it.
Still each one wants to be the best.
Each one still will put the others to the test
With sheer jealousy.
But
You’ll never stop them from their love of complaining.
No, not these three.
‘Cause they love it, you see.

ED
Dad’s been a preacher
For most all his life.
So Mom, all those years,
Had to be preacher’s wife.

Think of the pot lucks
And bake sales galore.
The picnics, the camp outs,
And, oh, so much more.

TO: THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS

There’s no business like church business, like no business we know.
Everything is done by a committee.
Even things like fixing up your house.
Therefore it would be an awful pity without a witty
And patient spouse.
There’s no preacher like Ed Taylor and
no spouse like his wife.
They go with the youth group to sleep in a tent.
And they have many hours spent
In attendance at each church group’s big event.
They’ve put on a good show!

SUE
Methodist preachers –
They go where they’re sent.
So we’ll show you some of
The places we went.

The very first places
I just can’t recall,
For I was an infant
Or not born at all.

The beach was the place
They gave birth to their boy.
And in Roanoke
To their pride and their joy.

Winchester next.
We all loved it a lot.
No better place
To raise kids could be sought.

And Mom learned to drive
While she lived there, and so
The kids then to scouts and
Piano could go.

Colonial Heights
Quickly proved to us that
It’s not the right city
For good democrats.

DEB
Charlottesville next,
That place was great.
And one year the family
Had two graduate.

For from UVA,
Much to Debbie’s surprise,
She got a diploma.
And, oh, how time flies,

Mom got her degree,
To her family’s loud cheers.
A project that took her
Just 29 years.

To Harrisonburg.
And then Falls Church lurked,
At this time all 3 kids
Found meaningful work.

Then off to Manassas –
And Ed 3’s ambition
Became to create a new
Family addition.

DAYNA
And so Dayna Taylor,
As here you can see,
Became a new branch
On the old family tree.

ED
Then to Roanoke
They quite gladly retired,
Where Dad took three churches
And Mom joined the choir.

DEB
And finally decided
It was in their wishes
To be near their girls,
Though I’m rather suspicious

That’s not the whole reason
They moved here at all,
Into a high-rise
Right at Tyson’s mall.

For Mom has become
A complete shopping nut,
And Dad seems to love it
With no grass to cut.

Whatever the reason
They moved in so near,
We both of us know that
We’re sure glad that they’re here.

TO: THE BEVERLY HILLBILLY’S THEME

Now the next thing you know they’re living everywhere.
Bishop says, “Ed, move away from there!”
Says, “I decided on the place you ought to be!”
So they loaded up their stuff and they moved the family.

The best part of moving,
We, all, of us found,
Is meeting nice people
As you move around.

And the folks sure enjoyed
All their family and friends,
The hours they shared, and
The good times they’d spend.

At magical moments
Distinctions would end
And friends became family
And family good friends.

Sitting and chatting
Or out in the sun.
When they got together
They always had fun.

And holidays, they
Were another fun time.
(Let’s wrap them up quickly,
And so end this rhyme.)

For these verses, see,
They could go without end,
‘Cause 50’s a long time
To cover, my friends.

At least 50 pictures
You’d be forced to see
Of us in our jammies
All under the tree.

And 50 more pictures
Of fine Easter clothes.
And then birthday pictures –
Now don’t forget those.

So let us just quit
And we’ll leave it right here.
And not show each occasion
The whole 50 years.

TO: WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

We have got a lot of pictures,
We have got a lot of pictures,
We have got a lot of pictures
Of holiday cheer.
Of food and of gifts,
Of times that were fun.
We won’t show them all ‘cause we’d never get done.

So we’ve covered friends
And our different locations.
We’ve covered a lot
But we’ve not done vacations.

Our family went somewhere
Away every year.
We always found this
A time of good cheer.

Though have you ever noticed
The wild destinations
Our parents did choose
For their later vacations?

As children they took us
To mountains or beach –
Someplace quite fun
But within easy reach.

So we all grow up
And are no longer here,
And then Mom and Dad –
They shift into high gear.

Off to Korea,
Jerusalem, too.
A boat through Alaska
They decide then to do.

And so, with their luggage
Held tight in their grip,
They’re all the time off on
Another big trip.

But I’ve not been fair,
For they once took us all
Over to Britain,
And we had a ball

Until, I do fear,
On the very last day,
When off to the airport
We all drove away.

And friend Robin said,
With voice that was steady,
“Everyone got
Their passports all ready?”

Mom panicked, of course,
As she tore through her purse.
The rest of us sighed
As we silently cursed.

“Where can it be?”
She inquired of us,
As her frantic hands
Quite dismantled the bus.

The passport was found
In the first place she’d looked –
Safe and secure
In her own pocketbook.

With this ends the story
We’ll tell of their life.
One question remains, though,
Of this man and wife.

What is the magic
That, through all the years,
Has caused these two hearts
To together adhere?

How did they manage
When children threw scenes?
How did they make it
Through three surly teens?

Were there not times
When their money was low?
Times when their ducks
Were not quite in a row?

Yes, they were forced
To face troubles and such.
What keeps them together
Is loving so much.

They love each other
Through good times and bad.
They love each other
When sad, glad, or mad.

They love with a love
That on nothing depends.
They love without limits –
Their love has no end.

TO: BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

How many years can a couple be wed
Because they desire to be?
Yes’n how many times can strong egos lose out?
They smooch and agree to agree.
Yes’n why do they cling to each other when they
Know that they could each be set free?
The answer, my friend,
Is love that has no end.
The answer is love that has no end.

W

My blessed room

The church people came last night, and that was really great fun. There were approximately 10 people who came. Everyone managed to crowd into my little room. I wrote the following poem for the occasion at the request of the pastor:

I’m glad you’ve come to visit.
You can see my small abode.
I’d like to say to all of you
“Sit down. Take off a load.”

But yet I can’t so welcome you.
It seems I’m not prepared.
You can’t all sit, I’m sad to say,
‘Cause I’ve got just one chair.

I’d planned to serve you up a meal,
That plan I had to veto,
For I have got no cooking stove.
Would you like a cheese Dorito?

I’d like to share a scenic view
Of a lovely grand estate.
Instead won’t you please join with me
In gazing at my grate? (My main window overlooks a big grate in the sidewalk).

What I have got, I’ll gladly share
With you, my dear, dear friends.
And in return, I ask that you
Visit again and again and again.


After we visited, the Pastor read a prayer for new homes that he had brought. It was quite amusing. I only have this one, wee little room, so he would shuffle over to the refrigerator and read the "blessing for kitchens", and then he'd stand by the bed and read the "blessing for bedrooms", and by the desk for "blessing for offices", and the TV for "blessing for dens". I guess he really blessed me out!

It was fun to visit together. This is a very jovial, convivial group.

Afterwards we went walked (or scooted) to Union Jacks Pub in Ballston. It was good British food. (No, good British food is not a contradiction in terms! I had fish and chips, which were quite tasty. Another lady had chicken curry. I tasted it and it was wonderful, but I don't quite understand why it was British. They also have a cottage pie, which I plan to try next time.

Everyone enjoyed being together, I'm glad the pastor thought of it. It reinforced the feeling that it's certainly nice to be part of a community.

I'm back

I'm BACK!!! My internet is all set up, and I can sit in the sanctity(?) of my own room and look out my own window and type entries on the internet. Only problem is that life on the city street outside my window is so fascinating that I'm tempted just to stare at it in amazement and not to get any work done. All sorts of combinations of people hustle past (the last two were drunk) in all sorts of different garb carrying all kinds of different stuff. Heavy duty traffic motors up the street. People come and go in the office next door - as a matter of fact, at night with their interior lights on, I could even see what they are DOING in office next door! But I'm certainly too much of a lady to do that. Don'tcha think?

Speaking of then sanctity of my room, the pastor is bringing a small bunch of people from church next Sunday night to see my place and eat at Ballston. It would be nice if I could get my pictures hung by then. Alex (Susan Craft's son) has said he'd do it, but I don't know when.

Poor Susan and Alex! They are renting a little one-story house in Springfield, and two weeks ago someone broke in and trashed the place and stole lots of stuff. The cops took a report, but big lot of good that does. And then, last weekend, probably the same guys broke in again when Alex was home with a friend and stole more stuff and trashed the place again. Susan is now looking to move, but she has to stay in the same school zone.

Susan and Alex have 6 dogs, but they are chihuahuas!

Deerly beloved

Charlotte Cleary, my friend who started as registrar in Arlington the same year I started in Falls Church, has told me things about activities available to people who live in Arlington. (Things like the "Learning in Retirement" Program, where one can take all kinds of interesting classes for not much money.) I think I'm getting kinda excited about the move.

I had many unusual experiences with Charlotte, because she kindly drove me around the state to all the registrar meetings. This alone was exciting, because Charlotte is an excellent, but nervous, driver. If an 18-wheeler approaches in any lane, from any direction, she slams on the brake and screams, "You never know what they are going to do!" We once spent a Monday night in Richmond, having battled DC's Monday afternoon rush hour to get there, because Charlotte wanted to avoid the much less potent Richmond morning rush the next day! But, way cool, Richard Gere was filming a movie in the lot next door to our rooms,

One thing Charlotte told me disturbed me, though. She was reading to me out of the little Arlington paper, and it seems the found a severed deer's head a couple blocks from my new place. I said, when she read it, "They found a dead deer?!", and she said, "No. Just the head."

That's probably an unusual type event, though.

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".

...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.

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...

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?

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."

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!

Work pals

I met some of my registrar friends at an Indian restaurant named "Raaga". It is in Bailey's. Actually, none of these people is now actually still a registrar They are all retired. Jenny retired most recently, from Alexandria City. We talked about voting stuff a little. and gossipped some about people we all know. (And even some about people we don't all know!). It was quite pleasant!

I had a grilled shrimp dish. Most of the dishes are yogurt based. It was very good.

This all sort of leads me to a discussion of elections, which, of course, leads me right into a discussion of how the Falls Church Electoral Board blatently fired me because they didn't like it that I was in a wheelchair and they even put that in writing and all three signed it.

But I won't bring all that up now.

It reminds me of that movie, Lenny with Dustin Hoffman. It is about Lenny Bruce. At first, Lenny does fantastic stand-up comedy, but then the authorities start shutting down his show and arresting him all the time. Lenny becomes obsessed with this and it is all he talks about in his act and he isn't funny anymore and everyone quits coming to his show. And then he dies of a morphine overdose. I probably am just as bitter (after all, I ran 53 successfull elections!), but I'd really rather not die of a morphine overdose, so I think I'll follow Sister Sue's advice and "just let it go.".

Lots of cats

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone...

Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan


Man, what a poet.

So, back to Harrisonburg.

Buzzita worked to Roses in Harrisonburg as the loading dock manager. She actually loved her job. She worked independently and got to organize the warehouse and boss around the crew and flirt with the truck drivers. At least that's the way I always perceived it.

I, on the other hand, hated my job, I was, after all. a University graduate working at Roses in Harrisonburg for next to minimum wage. It was my own fault... I think I'll just have to let it go at that. It happened.

Anyway, I was "advertising manager, which was a job a the manager sort of made up. because I had an administrative assistant job offer from Bridgewater College, at the same pay, and he wanted to keep me on as a cashier. The cashier cupervisor would call me on the intercom to cashier if they got busy at the front. (Which I hated!)

The cool parts about being advertising manager were:
1. I got a large shared office in which I could smoke like s chimney.
2. My job was fun and creative. The manager gave me a list of stuff he was putting on sale and the prices. I took a large piece of "newspaper layout paper" and pasted the ad together using little pictures I'd accumulated of the various products. Then I had a large piece of transparent tracing paper on which I would write in the prices and copy I wanted the newspaper to print up and stick on the layout paper in the various spaces. Isn't that a kind of cool job? I bet they don't do it like that anymore!
3. After the newspaper had the page laid out. I got to go down to their office and check it before they printed it.

Buzzita and I got to be best of buddies, and sort of "partners in crime" through all this. I spent every weekend at her house because we could party there and I lived with Mom and Dad. Here ia a picture of Buzzie:

Here is George, her husband:


Juanita had 9 indoor cats in a very small house. Here is a picture of my brother covered by cats after he slept over one New Year's Eve.



Here is a picture of my sister covered by cats after she slept over that same New Year's Eve




I think Juanita just kind of collected cats, brcause she never acted like she really liked any of them. I've read about cat hoarders She never abused the cats, though, she just didn't seem to really like them.

another high school's friends

Lloyd came back this morning to help me get started on facebook. That sure could eat up a lot of time! Of course, time isn't exactally in short supply here...!

2 of my good friends from Charlottesville High had found me on Facebook and sent me messages. That's pretty cool! I never thought I'd hear from either of them ever again. It will be great if I can follow up with them.

I spent the first summer after high school working in the office of the father of one of them. He was a medical doctor who taught aspiring medical doctors at UVa Medical School.