NOT AN ACTUAL POST

 This post may look like an actual post for this blog. For instance, we have a lovely picture, full of inspiration. And you are reading words, which are the biggest part of a blog entry. Yet, NO, this is not an actual post. You are reading a journal entry. Yeah, that's right. A journal entry. I have gone for quite some time without writing anything. Don't get me wrong, I think about writing all the time. I'll see something happen in my world and think "I should write about that." Then, I don't and that small, daily experience is lost.... forever! And the guilt piles up  on me because I know what was lost. Well, since it is happening everyday in everybody's lives, it's probably easily forgiven. So I went back to that lovely pin on my Pinterest board that speaks to getting started writing again when a lot of time has gone by since you last wrote. Her advice is to write a journal entry. So you are reading it. This is my way of plowing my way out of the ditch. I'm grabbing the rim with this and making my start.



Here goes: I've been sick! If you know me personally, you know this. It's the only thing I can talk about. I've had this creeping crud for a solid week. I was deep in the "Never coming back again" Forest. And all I could think about ( except for my husband is going to outlive me) was how it would be a great time to be writing something. And today, I realized something to write about - The Hopefulness of Coughed Up Phelm. I've had this horrible, banging on a barrel sound, cough all week. It has ruined my sleep and almost my health, with it's tickling the throat during the wee hours, blasting me off my pillow and out of my dozing. This morning, as I was fetching the mail,  another coughing spell started and that rumbling barrel sound rang out - then a spoonful of phlem came flying out of me like a love offering. I know it sounds gross and IT IS,  but it made me feel all excited inside. This affliction is leaving me! I will begin again!

Brain Strain!

 

Four day headache.

Head in vise. Neck in pinch.

Top of shoulders in earholes.

No writing until next week.

I'm thinking, though.

You Be The Judge.

     It's election season so I wanted you to see what I've been seeing everyday for the past two months, as I drive into Anderson. (Anderson is in Madison County, Indiana.) By the way, I don't vote in this election.
    First off, here's Jason Jamerson. Jason wants to be a Judge. Not just a regular judge but a real, cool judge. Notice the sports jacket, tossed over his shoulder - all casual and stuff. He's got chin fuzz and a slightly loosened necktie. He's relaxed.  I can just see him handing down judgment on a guy that's just been convicted of murdering his wife.
     "Sir, you have been convicted by the jury for killing your wife. I could give you life in prison or the death penalty, but hey, man, we all know how women can be sometimes. One year on house arrest!"
     And here's another picture of Jason. I don't know why this guy is stuck in my head. Maybe it's because I see these pathetic pictures of him all over Anderson. In this one, he has the jacket on. He's starting to get a little more serious. Note his fingers entwined in a semi prayer. Like, 'Please, baby, please, make me your judge. I'll get it right this time."
 I would definitely prefer Justin if I were on trial in Anderson. After all, he is the hometown choice.

Now, check out Stephanie Wade. (I don't know if she and Justin are running for the same position or running for separate judgships.) Take a good look at Stephanie. Not only does she want to be elected judge, she's already fully dressed and ready to judge!
    "We've got you dead to rights on tossing that cigarette butt out the window of your car! It's the slammer for you!"
      Stephanie kind of scares me. 

**********************************

Now in travel news: While we were in Bowling Green, Ohio in September, we toured the S.S. Col. James W. Schoonmaker Museum.

 

A view of Toledo, Ohio from the top of the ship.

 

 

 A view of nothing but the inside of the ship

on the inside of the ship.

 

 

 A ship in a bottle inside the ship.

 

 

Here's a lovely family

- I'll call them the Finkelsteins -

touring the sleeping quarters

on the S.S. Col. James W. Schoonmaker. 

The Finkelsteins love to sleep.

 

Time to eat!

 

Time to think things through.

 

 

 *******************

 

UPDATE:

 

It's Jason Jamerson winning the election with 6,346

over Stephanie Wade with 6,119

 

Oh, Johnny.

    

   I woke up early one morning - around 5 AM. I went to the bathroom then came back to bed. As I lay down and was just sinking back into my pillow, a funny memory flashed through my mind.

   When I started school, we did not have kindergarten. School started with first grade. I rode a school bus to school and on this school bus was a boy named Johnny. Johnny was also in my class at school.

   I had long hair, which I wore in two long braids. Johnny would constantly try to pull my hair and laugh when he succeeded. I hated him for that but when I would complain about it, everyone would say that Johnny liked me. "He wouldn't even bother you if he didn't like you."

    Johnny liked me so much that he didn't limit himself to the school bus. One day on the playground, he called me "Moon pie face!" And he kept calling me "Moon pie face."  I told him that I was going to tell the teacher. At first he didn't think I would, so he kept at this annoyance.  I marched right off the playground and into the classroom. The teacher was busy stacking items on the shelves and didn't stop as I walked up to give my report.

     I was furious and began "Johnny called me a name."

     "What did he call you?" She asked.

     "He called me Moon Pie Face!" I said.

      "Oh, that's not so bad. We all like moon pies. They're delicious." She replied.

     Then she added, "He's just calling you that because he likes you."

Once again, someone is pointing out how much Johnny 'likes' me.

    At this point, my teacher says "Now go back outside and play. If you keep coming in, carrying tales, I'm going to give you a paddling."

    I was stunned and disappointed at her response.

    I walked back to the playground, all dejected.

    Johnny comes running up to me and asks what happened with the teacher.

    I looked at him with my sternest look and said that the teacher said  "If you don't stop calling me names, she's going to give you a paddling."

I never heard another Moon Pie from him.

     When that early morning memory hit me, I laughed. Some 50 years later, I realized that I got away with it - carrying tales. Sometimes a girl just has to write her own rules.  

     



   It's been a long day. Well, it's actually been the regular length of a day but this one has seemed longer. One great thing is that it was sunny today. On the back side of that is that it's been chilly all day. I wore a denim jacket today that I've owned for 15 years and tonight I decided that I am going to clean it and give it away. It didn't keep me warm at all so, "begone!"
   I had a lot of running to do for my husband at his building in Anderson. Then he and I went to see a dear, old friend. After that, we went to dinner and then to a play at the Phoenix Theater. To our friends who could not accompany us, I will say one thing - "You dodged a bullet!" There were only 11 people in the audience and the actors were so full of drama that at one point when the two main, male actors were looking at each other - "dramatically," I wanted to heckle them with "kiss him!" I almost lost it when the two of them looked toward the horizon like those folks on One Life to Live or some other sappy, soap story and one of them said "I miss the trees!" I was so close...
It's one of those "this is so serious that it's funny," kind of things.
    Anyway, we didn't get home until late, so I added the above story which I had already written a while back, instead of the travel story that I'd promised.
    Good night.

The Trip Begins

    

My brain was a squirrel cage last night as I tried to settle down to sleep. My thoughts ricocheted from left to right. That's what happens when one waits for a muse to show up! There wasn't much to write about yesterday.  It rained, off and on, all day.  And what can you say about the rain?  It poured. It came down in sheets.  It came down in buckets.  It drizzled.  It rained cats and dogs .... Ok you can say a lot about rain! But do I need to write a book?
     The only other story that I had was about the two guys working in the wood shop next to my studio. I could hear the saws buzzing away, when suddenly, they turned on some heavy, rock and roll music. It was blasting from the room! The recorded singer had a strong, steady voice. Then one of the guys, I'll call him Rick, who also plays in a band, started singing along with the recorded voice. I stopped dead in my tracks! Rick could not carry a tune in a zip lock bag! He screeched and see sawed on that song, giving it a jagged edge treatment but not in a good, groovy way. Luckily, when I came into my studio and the door snapped shut, I could no longer hear him.
     After work, I drove Philip over to Frye Electronics to get his truck. He had a back up camera installed in the dashboard. Now, he can throw the truck in reverse, check the back up monitor and gun it!  It's a luxury that comes with age.
     We stopped for dinner at a restaurant then headed home in the pouring rain. By now it was dark and my eyeballs squinted and pained to see the road. "You just had to stop for dinner!" they seemed to say. "You know how we feel about night driving and now look at this mess! We can't even tell the side walk from the street in this shiny, black darkness." They would have closed in exasperation but why should we all suffer?
   Did I tell you that Philip and I went to Canada in September? Luckily for us, our daughter's house is on the way and she invited us to come for the Black Swam Festival in Bowling Green, Ohio.
     Before I begin, I never actually saw a black swamp while in Bowling Green but since they have this festival every year, it must be there.

  On one of the days in Bowling Green, my daughter took us 

on this lovely garden tour at Simpson Garden Park.

 

We walked along stunning trails, viewing beauty all around us.

 

 

 

 

They had an especially wonderful children's garden.

 

 

 

This is my grand daughter. I'll call her .... T Bone .... she was especially

 excited to discover a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar in the garden.

Her second grade class was in the middle of studying Monarch Butterflies.

 

Then we became a little uneasy as we spotted gobs of vultures circling overhead.

There must have been two dozen or more of these creepy, cool birds looking for a BIG feast.

 

 

Stay tuned for more - next time.

Oh, Baby, Baby.

    Last night, around 11:30 PM, I sat in my living room and waited for my writing muse to show up. I waited about 30 minutes then decided she wasn't coming, so I went to bed.
     My husband had already gone to bed but was leaning against the backboard, reading a book. Right now he is reading "How Not To Be Wrong," - (such a promising title). The book is by Jordan Ellenbery and it's about the power of mathematical thinking.
     So as I am getting ready for bed, Philip says "I love this book!" Mind you, he never even looked up from it's pages.
     "Why?" I asked.
     "It explains mathematical theories in an easy to understand way," he said.
     As I climbed under the covers, he went on to tell me how this teenage girl went to a Target in Minnesota and bought unscented lotion, cotton balls and mineral supplements. Using this information, the folks at Target and their associates at Guest Marketing Analytics started sending the girl coupons for baby gear.
    I'm laying there listening to him go on about how they got it so wrong with their super powered algorithms! And how all of this had caused a real problem.
   When he stopped talking for a minute I said "Well? What? Was she pregnant?"
And he said "YES! She was pregnant! And it caused a lot of problems because her father saw those coupons coming to her in the mail. He was furious that Target knew about her pregnancy before him!"
     I was totally amazed that the geniuses at Target had nailed that one so totally. Then Phil added that the algorithms make mistakes, a lot of mistakes!
    I was lying there totally stunned and amazed with Target and floated off to dreamland.


* Tomorrow, I hope to start a series of stories on my travels with my husband this past summer.
    

Monday, Monday

     I am sitting in my living room. Waiting. It's 11:10 PM. Any minute now, a great inspiration will hit me. While I wait, I'll tell you a little about my day.
     This morning at 8 AM, I arrived in Pendleton, Indiana for a dental appointment. It was a simple cleaning but I dreaded it anyway.
     Kim, the hygienist was dressed in blue gray scrubs - metallic. As she put on her miner's head lamp to go exploring in the deep cave of my mouth, she handed me a pair of dark glasses. "You might want to put these on to protect your eyes from my light," she said. At first I put the dark glasses over my regular eye glasses, just being a goof! Then I got serious and took my eyeglasses off and put on the cool shades.
     Without my glasses, things up close look blurry. I lay in the chair, Kim the hygienist took out her digging tool and began prowling through my teeth. My mind wondered, pondering the day ahead, the beautiful fall morning, what I might have for breakfast after my dental appointment, and then I looked up at blurry Kim, dressed in metal and her Cyclops light and I began to imagine that I was way in the future and a robot, all metal and lights, was cleaning my teeth. It felt scary and funny, all at the same time. My mind messes with me like that sometimes.  Then I got a cramp in my foot.  My body fights back.