E, I, X, U, O, C, E!!!!

Now what kind of word can I make out of those 7 letters? Scrabble is one way to activate my brain. My Dad got me hooked on this crazy game. There was always a Scrabble Dictionary close by and if he challenged you it had better be in that book. The Scrabble game has been around since 1938 and is sold in 121 countries, in 29 different languages. Over 100 million sets have been sold and in the US 1 out of 3 households have a Scrabble game. We are on our second game as the letters in the first game are well worn. A couple of the letters got misplaced and my Dad cut new squares and painted the missing letters on them. They didn't match the rest of the letters so you knew what letter was on those tiles. I always look forward to Granddaughter coming because she challenges me to a mean game. When we first started she was a good player and tried hard to win, now she is an aggressive player and it is getting harder and harder to beat her. I am watching for new words when I read or hear them, try to tuck them away in the Scrabble section of my brain just waiting for the chance to pull out the board and start playing. Thanks Granddaughter for taking time to match words. Grandmother

Over the hills and through the woods to grandmother's house we go

This weekend my mom and I traveled to Grandma's, where hugs and kisses were awaiting us and the lingering smell of fresh baked lasagna beckoned us into her home, always the haven for hidden treats from Snickers to sodas. Grandma is always sweet and eager to please us, until you pull out the Scrabble board and she turns into a word nerd, who can never be beaten. But I'm getting closer and her reign of wins is almost at an end, as this time I was only two points away from claiming victory. Even with her competitive spirit, Grandma's is still the best place on Earth.

Check out our new, updated photo! Daughter.

Special Anniversary Dinner

Since we were able to help celebrate my parents' 56th anniversary, we planned a nice dinner for them. My husband, daughter and I cooked and served roasted pork tenderloin topped with an apple, dried cranberry chutney, mashed Parmesan potatoes and grilled asparagus wrapped in
prosciutto. YUMMY!





And for dessert a buttermilk coconut cake topped with the original cake topper from my parents' wedding cake! Mom

Wow!! 56 years

Time passes so fast it doesn't seem like it has been 56 years since I said "I do." We were married in my parents' home with my Grandfather officiating. My wedding dress cost $49.00 which was expensive to me at that time. It took me some time to save up the money. My aunt made the wedding cake and my folks provided the buffet lunch. Both of our fathers bought the booze and set up a bar in the office space of my folk's home. My Granddaughter was looking at our wedding pictures and got a good laugh seeing some of the wedding gifts. We got a lot of practical items, a new straw broom, a rolling pin, cookbooks, hand embroidered dish towels and of course a frying pan. It was fun to share our wedding day with our family who were here to celebrate with us. Grandmother

56 Years of Wedded Bliss

It is hard to believe that my parents are celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary today. That is a long time to be married to someone, but they have stuck it out through thick and thin. They have set the gold standard for a lasting, loving marriage. Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary! "Mom"

Ignorance Is Bliss

At least that was the case this afternoon when my daughter called and said that there was a tornado in Colorado. It was in Windsor which isn't that far away from where I live. We got pounded with hail ranging from pea-size to golf ball-size. But the destruction in the path of the tornado was by far worse than the pounding we took. Guess we were on the periphery of the big storm. The hail was nerve wracking enough. If I had known that there was a tornado in the midst of it, I would have been a lot more anxious not to mention cowering in my bathroom! As it was I was totally oblivious to a tornado being in the vicinity. Like I said sometimes ignorance is bliss! Mom

Category: Game Shows

Answer: Jeopardy -- What is my favorite game show!!! I watch jeopardy every time I can. My Dad got me hooked on it and I try to shout out the answers before the contestants. My expertise ranges from theater, opera, geography and literature. I have to admit Children's literature is not my category. Last Monday night was especially interesting to watch. One of the contestants was my niece's husband. We were rooting him on and he made a good showing for himself. It provided us with an evening's entertainment just to watch him. His claim to fame was when Alex interviewed each contestant and he recited Jabberwocky, a nonsensical poem by Lewis Carroll, in one minute. It left Alex speechless. Congratulations to Mike V. for a great performance. Grandmother

New Age Learning

I have read a couple of articles lately about virtual learning using Second Life. Evidently this is a virtual 3D world with characters called "avatars". I looked up avatar and according to Wikipedia it is a computer user's representation of herself; an object representing the embodiment of the user. At first when I was reading what Second Life is I was asking myself why would anyone need a virtual world when it is challenging enough to live in the real world??

But the most interesting thing about Second Life is the article I read where companies are employing this computer graphic to conduct training sessions. When I was working we would have to sit through endless training sessions listening to someone drone on about something no one cared about...the best part was being able to go out to lunch since working in the schools we never had that luxury.

The next advancement in presentations was power point which was even more boring as the speaker would literally read the slides that were presented on the screen...something I could do myself. But now with the advent of a 3D virtual learning classroom where I could create my alter ego in the form of an avatar, training and learning take on a whole different look. How cool would it be to design some persona totally not like me and then participate in a virtual classroom. I probably wouldn't mind asking questions or challenging ideas since it wouldn't really be me but my avatar.

Just think of the possibilities of using this kind of learning in the classroom. Kids who are not typically engaged in traditional learning might just come alive and actually get turned on to learning.

I still don't quite understand how all of this would work but I find it very interesting and possibly a way to make learning exciting and stimulating! Mom

Congrats to all High School Grads

Our newspaper has been full of achievements that the senior graduates have accomplished. We have four high schools in our area and I was amazed what these teens are looking forward to achieving after high school. Travel, college, vacations, military service and jobs will be their future. There were a number of scholarships awarded to fortunate students. They looked so happy in their snappy gowns of red, blue, white and black. Each high school had their commencement ceremony on the municipal TV channel. We knew some of the grads so we watched the ceremonies. I was a little surprised by the footwear of these graduates. There were flip-flops, sneakers, bare feet, dress shoes and high heels.

The ceremony of the R5 alternative high schools was interesting as with the small class there were more personal stories. Each graduate gave a flower to a person in the audience that meant a lot to them and their personal achievement. It has been 50+ years since I graduated from high school but it certainly left an impact on me. I guess you might say it was a mile stone since I was expected to get a job and support myself. From teen ager to self supporter it was overwhelming. Scholarships were few and far between in our class. Today's graduates are much better prepared for the future than I was at the time I graduated. Congratulations to all Grads!!!!!Grandmother

Creative Design

My design quilting class has ended and I completed two more designs. The one below is based on a still life that I sketched. It is a lot easier to do still life in pencil than it is in material I discovered. Trying to get shading and colors to work in material required a lot of snipping and tossing of material. Needless to say my sewing room was in shambles by the time I got this little piece together. The one thing that I did get out of the exercise was a better understanding of values (tints, tones and shades).

This design was based on repetition of shape. I used both geometric shapes (rectangles and circles) and an amorphous shape (kokopelli). This exercise was hard also because trying to achieve the right contrast so kokopelli wouldn't fade into the background resulted in many trips to the quilt store to get just the right material.

Doing art quilts is a lot harder than following a pattern and a real challenge for me. I have great ideas in my head but I am challenged artistically in bringing those ideas to fruition. Now I just have to sandwich and quilt these to get them finished. Mom

Garden "Gertie"

That's me!!! This cool, rainy May morning I made a trip to the greenhouse and garden center up the street from us. Wow!! Plants all over the place, some blooming others stretching their leaves to the light coming in. There were all colors of flowers, red, pink, purple, white, orange and of course the variegated colors. I meandered down the rows and found the vegetable plants. There were tables of tomato plants, names I have never heard of, all with days listed showing when you could eat the tomato. There were some listing days of 58, 62, 70 and 78. I looked at the plants and figured by July 10 we could be eating fresh tomatoes. Now I thought about my green thumb and decided that would never happen. I did buy 4 early girls and am counting down the days. I promise that when we eat the first one I will let you know.

By the time I checked out I had 8 tomato plants, 4 cucumber plants, 3 summer squash plants, 2 green pepper plants and of course I could not resist 24 flowering annual plants. There is nothing like a trip to the local greenhouse to perk up spirits on a cool, rainy day in May. Grandmother

Trying to be the Hare

For as long as I can remember, my dad has been a runner and a sports enthusiast. He used to be right there on the sidelines next to my soccer coaches hollering about how I should do this or do that. While I always dreaded "The Talk" that inevitably came after any game, he was always honest with me and didn't sugar coat a thing. So part of the reason I signed up for the Chicago Half Marathon is because I am inherently an athlete at heart. The other motivation is that I hope to one day run in my father's footsteps across the finish line of a full marathon.

This is no easy feat for me and I would argue it's not easy for anyone (with the exception of triathloners and Olympic runners.) The hardest part is getting over a bad run, you know those where you were slow, achy, huffy and puffy and just a mess of a runner. Those are the worst and they come out of nowhere. You'll have a great run, where you were the hare instead of the turtle, and then the next run you will be slower than the turtle. And I must admit, I've let these runs get the best of me, letting many days slip by in between jaunts. But with a looming goal at the end of the track, I'm forced to get back out there again. And my new motivation during these bad runs will be imagining my father next to the sidelines, his face red and his voice booming as he points toward the goal! Daughter.

Happy Mother's Day!

Things I learned from my mom:
Learning is a lifelong activity...you can never get enough.
You can do anything you set your mind to.
Let your imagination roam freely.
A clean house is nice but it can wait if there is something better to do.
Take care of your dirt and it will grow good things.
Don't pass up a chance to travel.
Buy art, it is priceless in the enjoyment you gain from it.
Don't just sit there and do nothing, the day is being wasted.
If you want to eat good food then learn to cook and can.
A needle and thread are for sewing.
Thanks Mom for all of the things you have taught me through the years and for your unconditional love. Hugs and Kisses. Mom

Go Green!!

Seems like the management of our small city are finally getting the "green" fever. The city will be setting up recycling bins at the ball fields and city parks to collect plastic water bottles, pizza boxes, cardboard, aluminum cans and newspapers. They estimate that in a week's time over 20,000 to 30,000 containers, paper and cardboard will not be going to the city dump. This is good news and a needed conservation effort.

We have been using "green" bags for shopping and I added up the rebates I have received in the last month and found that it has paid for two of my bags. Let's all think "green." Grandmother

Help the Honey Bee!

The decrease in honey bees is continuing and causing a real concern about pollination. Click on this link to read more about the problem. To do your part in helping the honey bee avoid using pesticides in your garden and yard. Always identify the pest you are trying to get rid of and go to your local extension website to read a fact sheet on the best ways to eliminate that pest. There are many options other than pesticides available and those options are better for the honey bees, the butterflies and us! Mom

What!! no ring

That's what happened yesterday. I tried my cell phone and I got nothing!!!! Now what did I do to it, maybe pushed the wrong button but no I tried again and still nothing!!! The land phone rang and my daughter said "Why aren't you answering your cell?" I told her it did not ring, I could hear the sigh in her voice as she thought Mom doesn't know how to use the cell phone. I don't know whether I would ever give up my land phone.

The first phone I used was a six-party line phone. One of the favorite pastimes of my sister and I were to very quietly pick up the phone and listen in on the conversations. Then someone would shout "hang up the phone." Some of those conversations were interesting especially if some boy called his girl friend, at times there was no conversation just heavy breathing. One could use their imagination on what they were thinking. But I ramble, on the news last night we learned that our cell carrier was down for 4 hours and hence no cell phone, so it wasn't me after all. Grandmother

Danger, Danger!

When I was a kid we used to watch a TV show called "Lost in Space" and there was a robot who was always yelling out a warning, "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Danger!" After having a conversation with my son, who has a PhD in chemical engineering, about the potential hazards of plastic bottles , I suddenly had a voice in my head yelling, "Danger, danger!"

After years of thinking that plastic was so great and putting it in just about everything, we are now finding out that maybe it isn't so great after all. Plastic baby bottles are being pulled from shelves in stores because the bisphenol A (BPA) in the plastic of those bottles is causing some serious effects in mice such as damage in egg cells. While the government insists that this plastic is safe there are numerous scientists who have voiced alarm. I tend to side with the scientists because the government has proven to be stupid on more than one occasion. While reading the articles about BPA and baby bottles I didn't put two and two together to realize that our hiking water bottles have that same ingredient in them.

Besides looking for my old Girl Scout canteen to start carrying my water in, I also see that now I need to get rid of all of my plastic bowls. They now are finding that heat and plastic combined with fat when placed in a microwave oven releases dioxins. Hence that spaghetti and meatballs that tasted so good for lunch really was loaded with cancer causing compounds. YUM! Folks, this means that tupperware, rubbermaid, plastic wrap is not to be used for warming up food in the microwave...even if it says "microwave safe". We are going back...back in time to glass. Put your food in tempered glassware and heat it in the microwave. As for all my plastic bowls, it looks like a garden sculpture is in the works...after all we know that plastic will last for years and years and years. Mom

Poor parenting

That's all I can say about the Vanity Fairs layout on Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana). Miley's father Billy Ray Cyrus was on the photo shoot of his daughter and he okayed the picture of Miley nude with a satin sheet covering the front of her. This girl is only 15 years old and is a role model for a lot of kids. What were they thinking about!!!! Fans are up in arms and want to boycott Vanity Fair and Disney (her corporate sponsor.) I can't blame them but I believe the blame lies with her father in allowing these pictures. She is still a young lady and not a "sex symbol."

I think back to some of the role models we had and I can't remember one of them in suggestive poses with little or no clothes on. I guess the days of a young Judy Garland, a provocative Liz Taylor and of course Mitzi Gaynor are over. How things have changed. Grandmother

New Neighbors

A new family has moved into the neighborhood; a single mom with 5 kids.

I kind of wonder about the Mom as she seems to leave the kids out alone.

I don't know maybe the kids are old enough to watch out for themselves! Mom