Thursday, September 28, 2017
Pumpkin Spice Redux
With all the chatter about the prevalence of pumpkin spice, I remembered that when I baked a pumpkin pie last Thanksgiving, I added to the filling a packet of Pumpkin Spice, a favor from Krystal and Danny's wedding. I found out later the packet was Pumpkin Spice Tea. But the pie tasted good.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
In Dreams
I brought the items down to the office to check them out. The office looked just as it always had, years ago. The office workers there the same, several people. But before I went into the office, I found myself rubbing my forehead, trying to remove the red splotch I knew was there, because I had fallen asleep at the computer with my head on the desk. I didn't want to appear injured or disfigured. I brought the smaller item, the flag, out to my car, but left the umbrella there, thinking I could either store it there until next session or else bring it home later.
I never did find out what became of the umbrella though, because I woke up sitting at the computer with my forehead on the wooden desk. Undoubtedly if I'd checked in the mirror, I would have seen a red splotch. But I didn't look.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Dr. Oz....
...is either a total wuss or else he has led a charmed life with complete avoidance of stress. But how can that be since he is a surgeon? Today he filmed a segment of his going to Motor Vehicle to renew his driver's license, while monitoring his blood pressure, as he knew it would be elevated. It was. He can't stand the waiting. Everybody was nice, he reported, and his wife was with him.
If I were his doctor, I would recommend he seek treatment for labile blood pressure. That, as I have been told, is also important to control. But then, nobody listens to me---ever.
If I were his doctor, I would recommend he seek treatment for labile blood pressure. That, as I have been told, is also important to control. But then, nobody listens to me---ever.
"This old house...
....once knew my children. This old house once knew..."
With credit to Stuart Hamblen, who wrote not just of the physical house, but also the mortal house:
Moved in: May '69: Newly married with a newborn baby-3 people
Two more kids, 1970 and1977----------------------5 people
Kids left in the 80's and 90's, now only --------- 2 people
August 2, 2017---------------------------------------1
With credit to Stuart Hamblen, who wrote not just of the physical house, but also the mortal house:
Moved in: May '69: Newly married with a newborn baby-3 people
Two more kids, 1970 and1977----------------------5 people
Kids left in the 80's and 90's, now only --------- 2 people
August 2, 2017---------------------------------------1
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Three Drunk Girls: "Say You Won't Let Go"
It was Graduation night, circa 1964. I was jolted by a memory while watching the marathon finale of America's Got Talent. A young British singer by the name of James Arthur was performing his chart topping song, "Say You Won't Let Go."
The song is a romantic ballad type song. I'd heard it a few times before, and I was struck about how one of the lines seemed so non-romantic. The line being: "I held your hair back when you were throwing up."
Romantic or not, an image sprung to mind, of exactly that. I know for a fact that nobody ever did that for me, but I have a clear picture of its being true for someone else.
On the eve of Hoosic Valley's High School Graduation, or more precisely whenever the graduation parties for that event were held. Ruth and I were still teaching at Hoosic Valley and Dorothy still lived at home. We were all three young and single. The three of us went to a graduation house party for Ruth's niece Sharon. There was plenty to drink, and probably food as well, but we didn't care much about eating back in those days. We liked the party aspect.There were a number of adults who were willing to serve different drinks to us three young ladies.
I believe I drove Dorothy and me up to the party on Burton Street, and then drove the three of us down to our second graduation party invitation---two houses down from my own house, to Jane's party. And that's where the party started. With all the people there and seemingly every type of alcoholic beverage on the face of the earth, we were encouraged to partake, and we did. We were handed drinks we'd never seen or heard of, one after the other, maybe even two at a time.The three of us got drunk. Beginners as we were, we most likely didn't know how drunk, but it was evidently apparent to others. A couple of the young men at the party, graduates from a few years before, offered (or took it upon themselves) to walk us home even though Dorothy and I lived a few houses away, and I had parked my car in our driveway.
I looked back and saw Mike O., gently holding Dorothy's long red hair away from her face while she threw up in the front yard. (Both of them are gone now, so it's not a betrayal of any sort,) Ruth and I and G.M. (He may or may not be living now) made it to our front porch and G. suggested that he drive Ruth, and me, to her house, which was probably the safest thing to do. After we made sure Ruth got safely home, he asked me if I would like to drive to the Reservoir to get some fresh air and clear my head, but I said no. Instead I went home and sat on our bathroom floor with Dorothy until our heads stopped spinning enough so we could climb the stairs to our bedroom.
The song is a romantic ballad type song. I'd heard it a few times before, and I was struck about how one of the lines seemed so non-romantic. The line being: "I held your hair back when you were throwing up."
Romantic or not, an image sprung to mind, of exactly that. I know for a fact that nobody ever did that for me, but I have a clear picture of its being true for someone else.
On the eve of Hoosic Valley's High School Graduation, or more precisely whenever the graduation parties for that event were held. Ruth and I were still teaching at Hoosic Valley and Dorothy still lived at home. We were all three young and single. The three of us went to a graduation house party for Ruth's niece Sharon. There was plenty to drink, and probably food as well, but we didn't care much about eating back in those days. We liked the party aspect.There were a number of adults who were willing to serve different drinks to us three young ladies.
I believe I drove Dorothy and me up to the party on Burton Street, and then drove the three of us down to our second graduation party invitation---two houses down from my own house, to Jane's party. And that's where the party started. With all the people there and seemingly every type of alcoholic beverage on the face of the earth, we were encouraged to partake, and we did. We were handed drinks we'd never seen or heard of, one after the other, maybe even two at a time.The three of us got drunk. Beginners as we were, we most likely didn't know how drunk, but it was evidently apparent to others. A couple of the young men at the party, graduates from a few years before, offered (or took it upon themselves) to walk us home even though Dorothy and I lived a few houses away, and I had parked my car in our driveway.
I looked back and saw Mike O., gently holding Dorothy's long red hair away from her face while she threw up in the front yard. (Both of them are gone now, so it's not a betrayal of any sort,) Ruth and I and G.M. (He may or may not be living now) made it to our front porch and G. suggested that he drive Ruth, and me, to her house, which was probably the safest thing to do. After we made sure Ruth got safely home, he asked me if I would like to drive to the Reservoir to get some fresh air and clear my head, but I said no. Instead I went home and sat on our bathroom floor with Dorothy until our heads stopped spinning enough so we could climb the stairs to our bedroom.
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Ready to call it quits...
...I think I have the capacity to make myself understood using simple forms of our native English language, and I would like to think that, likewise, I can understand what others are trying to communicate to me. I spent many years teaching English and its communication skills, and quite successfully saw correction and growth in those I worked with. Everybody seemed to get the picture. And I certainly never anticipated having any problems understanding anything I would be reading in the English language.
But that was before I was involved with Government Forms. I will adamantly state that the wording is NOT "complicated" or "confusing" or "difficult to understand." That would imply that the person reading the forms lacks some insight or knowledge or ability necessary to understand the sophisticated wording. No, the fault is not with the reader. Some of the forms appear to have been written by a committee, with each committee member unaware of what the other members have written. It is not that the questions asked are hard to answer: rather the questions are independent of the preceding and following questions. So as an entity, the questions make no sense.
In explanation, the service rep will read a statement prepared in defense of the contradictory and nonsensical questions on the Form. The answer given totally defies reason, but since they know what information is needed, submitting what they tell you works, most of the time and for those who ask in the first place.
I am citing an example, which will mean nothing to those unfamiliar with :
Form 21-00845 Authorization to Disclose Personal Information to a Third Party.
Section 1 ---asks for the Veteran's Name
Section 11--asks for the Beneficiary/ Claimant's name, specifying it can NOT be the veteran. (Sometimes the Beneficiary refers to the Veteran,so this could make sense.)
Section 111---asks for the name of the person (or organization) to whom the information may be released. BUT IT SPECIFIES THE NAME CANNOT be the same as in Section 11.
So the name in section 2 can't be the same as in Section 3, nor can it be the Veteran's name, in Section 1, so whose can it be? No other instruction is given; believe me, I have read every word of all the instructions.
So I call. The first rep will give me NO information. Because this Form has not been properly filled out. Catch 22 is government-ese. I try again, another day, get another rep, more helpful. I know how to determine who will help. She tells me to ignore Section 2. Leave it blank, she says. She says the only time Section 2 should be filled in is if the Veteran is deceased. I say thank you. I don't ask, because she is being as helpful as she's allowed to be, this question:
How can it be? The question in Section 2 asks for the "Name of the Beneficiary / Claimant Who Is Not the Veteran. " Does it make sense for this to be filled in if the Veteran is Deceased? I mean this is a government form, used by many thousands of veterans. It follows in the view of the government that a deceased veteran is NOT the veteran. Not any more. I guess that's true.
But that was before I was involved with Government Forms. I will adamantly state that the wording is NOT "complicated" or "confusing" or "difficult to understand." That would imply that the person reading the forms lacks some insight or knowledge or ability necessary to understand the sophisticated wording. No, the fault is not with the reader. Some of the forms appear to have been written by a committee, with each committee member unaware of what the other members have written. It is not that the questions asked are hard to answer: rather the questions are independent of the preceding and following questions. So as an entity, the questions make no sense.
In explanation, the service rep will read a statement prepared in defense of the contradictory and nonsensical questions on the Form. The answer given totally defies reason, but since they know what information is needed, submitting what they tell you works, most of the time and for those who ask in the first place.
I am citing an example, which will mean nothing to those unfamiliar with :
Form 21-00845 Authorization to Disclose Personal Information to a Third Party.
Section 1 ---asks for the Veteran's Name
Section 11--asks for the Beneficiary/ Claimant's name, specifying it can NOT be the veteran. (Sometimes the Beneficiary refers to the Veteran,so this could make sense.)
Section 111---asks for the name of the person (or organization) to whom the information may be released. BUT IT SPECIFIES THE NAME CANNOT be the same as in Section 11.
So the name in section 2 can't be the same as in Section 3, nor can it be the Veteran's name, in Section 1, so whose can it be? No other instruction is given; believe me, I have read every word of all the instructions.
So I call. The first rep will give me NO information. Because this Form has not been properly filled out. Catch 22 is government-ese. I try again, another day, get another rep, more helpful. I know how to determine who will help. She tells me to ignore Section 2. Leave it blank, she says. She says the only time Section 2 should be filled in is if the Veteran is deceased. I say thank you. I don't ask, because she is being as helpful as she's allowed to be, this question:
How can it be? The question in Section 2 asks for the "Name of the Beneficiary / Claimant Who Is Not the Veteran. " Does it make sense for this to be filled in if the Veteran is Deceased? I mean this is a government form, used by many thousands of veterans. It follows in the view of the government that a deceased veteran is NOT the veteran. Not any more. I guess that's true.
College Commuter's Nightmare, '50's Style
Our Freshman college classes began September 17, 1956. I had no idea what to expect, and that turned out to be a good thing. Otherwise, my sister and I (she only 16 years old) would never had made it through.
As commuters, and dependent on various means to get there-car, bus, trains---there was no time for any activities or entertainment, or even enough sleep. So many negative memories, but I was reminded of this horror the other day.
We majored in English and Social Studies,as well as the requisite Education courses, and there were tons of mandated reading assignments. In those days, the professors, elitist you might call them, disdained the idea of restricting assigned readings to the many textbooks that were required for their courses, vigorously pursuing the idea of having us read specific passages from books that were, for the most part, out of print. Therefore, rare, and found only in the college library on the dreaded Reserved List. That meant you had to sign up for them. The rest of at least your class had the same requirement, so that meant a race to the library desk to sign up first, or early enough to glean a time slot before the assignment was due.
That would have been trying enough under the best of circumstances, but for commuters who had to catch a number of rides at strictly scheduled times, it was a nightmare. Having to find a time when the book would be available was so difficult to do. Of course the books on the Reserved List could be read only in the library, not signed out. Trying to squeeze an assigned reading into the only free time we commuters had was a hellish venture, not one to be soon forgotten, or ever, as witness this writing.
And remember, in this primitive time period, before modern inventions, there was no way for the professors to copy any of these revered passages they were assigning, The utilization of copy machines was still in the future. Today's student could retrieve the book, snap picture of the pages, and read at their leisure. Then, the student had to physically pick up the book and cast their eyes over the pages as quickly as possible. Can't miss that bus in Albany, because then we'd miss the connection to the last train from Troy to Valley Falls. And to compound the horror, at times the book would be unavailable somewhere along its route because an unscrupulous student had sneaked it out of the library, security not being very aware in those times. Even worse, was to finally sign the right book out at an advantageous time, and find that, though you had access to the book, the assigned pages had been snipped out.
If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have.
As commuters, and dependent on various means to get there-car, bus, trains---there was no time for any activities or entertainment, or even enough sleep. So many negative memories, but I was reminded of this horror the other day.
We majored in English and Social Studies,as well as the requisite Education courses, and there were tons of mandated reading assignments. In those days, the professors, elitist you might call them, disdained the idea of restricting assigned readings to the many textbooks that were required for their courses, vigorously pursuing the idea of having us read specific passages from books that were, for the most part, out of print. Therefore, rare, and found only in the college library on the dreaded Reserved List. That meant you had to sign up for them. The rest of at least your class had the same requirement, so that meant a race to the library desk to sign up first, or early enough to glean a time slot before the assignment was due.
That would have been trying enough under the best of circumstances, but for commuters who had to catch a number of rides at strictly scheduled times, it was a nightmare. Having to find a time when the book would be available was so difficult to do. Of course the books on the Reserved List could be read only in the library, not signed out. Trying to squeeze an assigned reading into the only free time we commuters had was a hellish venture, not one to be soon forgotten, or ever, as witness this writing.
And remember, in this primitive time period, before modern inventions, there was no way for the professors to copy any of these revered passages they were assigning, The utilization of copy machines was still in the future. Today's student could retrieve the book, snap picture of the pages, and read at their leisure. Then, the student had to physically pick up the book and cast their eyes over the pages as quickly as possible. Can't miss that bus in Albany, because then we'd miss the connection to the last train from Troy to Valley Falls. And to compound the horror, at times the book would be unavailable somewhere along its route because an unscrupulous student had sneaked it out of the library, security not being very aware in those times. Even worse, was to finally sign the right book out at an advantageous time, and find that, though you had access to the book, the assigned pages had been snipped out.
If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Yes is no longer in vogue.
It seems no one, on TV anyway, wants to use the word yes in response to a question: "Were you born in California?"----"I was!" "Have you performed in seven Broadway plays?" ---"I have." "Did your mother come from Ireland?"----"She did!" Are you considering having an affair with your manager?"-----I am."
Last Hurrah
 |
| Hydrangea to right of me |
 |
| Hydrangea to left of me |
 |
| Zinnias beneath the gym |
 |
| Falling Asunder |
Reading Comprehension
Maybe I've gotten lazy, but I'm tired of struggling to understand what I read. Double negatives are challenge enough, but a piece of cake compared to the headline that reads: "High court judge halts block on ban." Now if I were teaching composition or working as editor, both jobs which I've held, I would encourage the writer to write, oh, maybe: "High court judge upholds ban." The headline of course is never meant to tell the whole story. That's what the article is for. But neither should the headline have potential readers scratching their heads trying to decipher what they're going to read about.
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