What Day Is It Anyway?

My world has always revolved around the academic calendar.  I calculate every day and date around the start and finish of my semesters.  I know what day of the week it is based on my MW or TR Thursday schedule.  For the past several summers, I have taught summer school so my reference points have remained in tact all year long.  This summer, however, I am not teaching and I realize that half the time I have no clue what day it is.

I recognized when Weber retired that he lost track of the days of the week.  He'd ask me what time I'd be home and I'd say something like, "Well, it's Wednesday and I teach until 3:30 so I should be ready to come home around 4:30, just like every Wednesday."  His response was always the same..."I forgot what day it is."  Then, I couldn't wrap my head around this absolute disconnect from day and time, but now I am beginning to get it.  When you have been used to a rigid daily and weekly schedule and all of the sudden you don't have that, its absence is a bit crazy-making.

Most days this summer, we have no real need to set an alarm clock.  We rely on the canines to wake us up.  That can happen anywhere between 5:30 am and 9 depending on how late we all stayed up, how cozy they are in bed, or how hungry they are.  Essentially, we all get up when we get up, whenever the dogs are ready to get up.  And breakfast occurs equally as leisurely.  There is time for as many cups of coffee as I can drink without floating away.  I have time to enjoy my breakfast rather than slamming it down just because I know I need to eat or I won't survive six hours straight in the classroom.  Or, we can even go out for breakfast...on a Thursday!  At least I think it was a Thursday.

Sometimes lunch happens and sometimes it doesn't.  That too depends on how late the dogs sleep.  If we sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast, it may be almost lunchtime before we are done eating and cleaning up.  Even though the clock says that it is lunchtime, no one's hungry.  When it gets to be mid afternoon and the hunger pangs start, it's almost dinnertime so we skip lunch.  Sometimes.  Or we might just move dinner.

Like getting up,  dinnertime can be a movable feast, happening anywhere between 5 and 9.  There is no real reason for it to be routine.  Lol!

For someone who is a slave to her planner and calendar most of the, this free form lifestyle is disconcerting and hard to get used to!  I feel out of control, but there is little for there to be control of.

I spent all day today convinced that it was Saturday.  It felt like Saturday because we were home most of the day.  I took a short nap this afternoon, usually a Saturday occurrence.  We also had symphony tickets for tonight, again,  usually a Saturday night event.  We got home and I realized that its only Friday so I don't have to set an alarm for church tomorrow morning.  Woohoo.  Now if the canines will just sleep late tomorrow morning!  And I need to remember that tomorrow night is Saturday and I do need to set an alarm for church on Sunday morning.

Is this what it will feel like once I retire?  There will be Sunday, church day, and then one other day each week, a 144 hour day, created from all the other days of the week that have all melded together into one big duration.  I don't know about this.  Without my planner and my routine, I may never accomplish anything ever again!

Oh, you mean I have to create a new routine???

But I don't know what day it is!

The only consistency in our week right now are the trash days.  How pathetic that trash days are becoming the defining moments in my week, assuming I can figure out when Monday and Thursday are actually happening!

Maybe I need to find more consistent things to be doing over the summer.

Or. maybe it doesn't matter what day it is.

I'll think about that tomorrow, Tuesday.

----- 

Here is something for you to think about...name three consecutive days without using the names of any of the days of the week.

-----

Today's photo prompt was Sports.  The only sport happening in my world was amateur pie crust wrestling...and professional napping, but that picture would not have been pretty! :-)

January 8-16: Cleaning, Friends, and Tornado Sirens

Only sixteen days into the new year and so many good things have already happened!  Yes, I have taken a week long hiatus from writing here; though that was not exactly what I had planned, it is a good thing.  Last weekend, while on retreat, I felt compelled to write even though I was not supposed to be.  And this week, I have been at home with access to my computer, but other things were more important.

I returned home from last weekend's retreat tired, but ready to take on some tasks that I had been putting off for way too long.  Our guest room has been a storage unit rather than usable space in our home since I brought things back from my parents house over a year ago.  I have had lots of reasons excuses for not going through all of the boxes, but it was now time.  I needed a "good" reason to get started and get it done.  I finally had it!  My friend, Joni, wanted to come visit from Wisconsin for a few days.  Asking her to sleep either on the couch with the dogs or on an air mattress on the floor did not seem very hospitable; I had the impetus I needed to attack the guest room chaos and get it done!

It is hard work going through several generations of family papers trying to decide what to keep and what to toss.  I had lots of photos of people that I could not identify in places that I could not identify.  I finally had to tell myself that if the photos did not have meaning to me, they weren't going to have meaning to anyone else.  With this realization, I was able to part with a lot of them.

Then there was all of my dad's Navy stuff...his sword, medals, uniforms... It's funny.  I know that my dad was career Navy and I am proud of his service, but that is not how I knew him.  To me, he was not a Navy Captain, he was my dad...the guy who gave me piggy back rides, taught me to garden, talked to me about Carl Sagan books, educated me about investing, tried to convert me from a Coke drinker to a Pepsi drinker,  did not share my political views, called me Peanut, and shared my love of Sudoku puzzles.  And this is how I want to remember him.

I hung his sword on the wall in our library, sorted and packed the medals in a box, and safely stored them in the back of a closet.  This is not a permanent solution, but it is progress.  It is the best I could do right now.

We did the same sorting and thinning of boxes of stuff that Weber had.  Again, we are not done but now have labeled boxes. The most difficult part of this whole process is now done.  Our hands have touched every piece of paper and we know what is in each box.  We also sent items to other family members, various historical societies, and other agencies.  Our goal is to make sure that the things that we have that we are choosing to part with go to people who will appreciate them.  When Weber and I got married and combined our belongings,  our test for whether something stayed or went was, "Is it useful, beautiful, or joyful?"  If the answer was "no," then away it went.  We did have to think a little harder before answering this question during our latest round of purging.

Thanks to our friend Paul, who helped us rearrange some furniture, hang some pictures, and built us shelves in a closet, the house was in the best shape it has been in a long time when our friend Joni arrived.  Perhaps even more importantly,  I felt good emotionally about all that we had accomplished.  I was exactly where I needed to be to fully enjoy our visit.

I keep coming back to the importance of friendship.  I was touched and honored that someone wanted to spend their vacation time with us.  Of all the places to go on a vacation...Dallas...to spend time with us?  My heart knows that when push comes to shove, it is the who that is most important, not the where or the what.  My head, however, has a hard time really embracing that notion, especially when I am the who.

Thankfully, the frigid temperatures from the previous weekend gave way to springlike weather.  We were able to have a meal from the grill and also walk around downtown Dallas and visit the Sixth Floor Museum, the old Texas Book Depository, the building from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shots at JFK.

(Ignore Snorri.  He thought it was still 17 degrees outside.)

Joni and I also spent a lot of time knitting together.  I am doing well with 2017 goals!  More knitting and a clean guest room!

I did have to start my Temperature Blanket over twice; the first time because an animal accidentally pulled my first few rows off of the needles and a second time because apparently my knitting skills are rusty and I made some stupid mistakes.  I am happy to report that now I am caught up on my blanket and I'm planning to roll smoothly through the rest of the year one row at a time!

On Saturday, Joni and I met up at the mall with another one of our pale pals.  We behaved fairly well while we were out unsupervised! :-)

On Sunday (yesterday), Joni got a taste of ugly Texas weather!  We had a terrible thunderstorm with high winds and the threat of tornadoes.  The tornado sirens did go off and we spent a few minutes huddled in the "safe room" with all of the animals.  Isn't that how everyone wants to spend their vacation?

I truly enjoyed my time with Joni.  I did take time out of each day to take my daily picture, but I did not want to lose any more time, so I chose not to write here.  I am happy about that.  The memories that I have of cursing knitting mistakes, making (and eating) cookies, downing a six-pack (of Diet Coke) every night, and getting to know each other a little better are far more meaningful than any words that I would have written here.

For that, I am thankful...

Friends are the siblings God never gave us. Mencius

True story...

Friday evening we went to a production by our local community theater.  Joni and I were in the restroom at intermission.  An older woman asked, "Are you girls twins?"  We both answered, "No."  She then said, "Oh.  Just sisters."  Again we both said, "No."  At which point she headed into a stall a bit confused.

First World Problems

So the worst thing that some folks have to worry about these days is the fact that Starbucks has removed any "Christmas" symbols, like snowflakes and reindeer, from their holiday cups.  One militant Christian posted a viral video online saying that this is because Starbucks "hates Jesus."  I'm fairly sure that snowflakes and reindeer are not signs of Jesus.  And even if they were, why does it matter what is on your coffee cup?  My understanding of Christianity is that Jesus is supposed to reside in our hearts, not on a paper coffee cup, especially a coffee cup that will,  minutes after being paid for, be tossed in a trash can only to be replaced later by another such cup.  Maybe this is why Christianity is making such a bad name for itself right now.  People treat God, Jesus, and their faith like they treat their coffee cups; as disposable.  For a little while people feel all warm and fuzzy inside and then they discard the cups and don't think about them again until they need to feel good again.  This whole debate/discussion/tantrum about the red cups is ridiculous.  I am almost ashamed to have even mentioned it.  It does, however, give me an introduction to my own first world problem of today.

On Tuesdays i only teach until 1:30.  With the addition of Piper to our family, we make sure that someone comes home every day at lunch to let her out.  Since I had a relatively short teaching day, I figured I would come home and do some work from home this afternoon, though I had also entertained the idea of a nap first.  This is one of those stories about the best laid plans...

While I was walking home, Weber called to tell me that there was a possibility that we had no power at home.  How did he know being that he was at school?  Our thermostat is hooked into the wi-fi, which requires electricity.  When the thermostat goes offline, it sends and email notification.  Sure enough, when I got home, no power.  I figured that was a sure sign that God wanted me to take a nap since with no power, I could not do any work on the computer.  (I have a desktop, not a laptop so battery power was not an option.)  Cool!  A forced nap.  And then the problems started...

I'll just have some lunch first.  Since I'm going to lay down, I don't want anything super heavy...maybe a couple pieces of toast.  Oh wait, I cant use the toaster.  No big deal.  I'll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Get the bread.  Go to the fridge for the jelly.  It is really dark in here!  Where is the jelly?  The fridge is stuffed full since it is early in the week so most of the weekly groceries  have not yet been eaten.  Fumble around feeling for the right sized jar in the place where I last remember seeing the jelly.  Success!  Next to the pantry for the peanut butter. Wow!  I sure wish we had a window in the mudroom. It would make it slightly better than impossible to things in the pantry.  Fortunately, the pantry is well organized so the peanut butter is easy to find.  Voila!  Sandwich now made.

I just need some iced tea to drink.  Back to the fridge only to discover that there is none there.  I didn't miss it in the dark.  The big bottle would have been right in the front.  Not a problem.  I'll get a new bottle from the pantry.  It will be warm, but I'll just have it over ice.  Oh.  No I won't.  I can't use the ice maker to dispense the ice.  Forget it.  I'll have a Diet Coke; the power hasn't been off long enough for the cans in the fridge to get warm.  

Lunch was good.  Now time for my nap.

Gather up the puppy so that we can curl up in the recliner together.  That way she doesn't have to go back to her crate but I know she, and all the shoes and socks in the house, would be safe.  Ready.  Set. Go.  Push the button to recline and nothing.  Oops. We now have a recliner that is electric.  No reclining happening right now.  The puppy and I move to the couch.  In Piper's opinion, the couch is not a suitable nap location so we give up on sleeping and go sit outside on the patio.

The temperature here today was perfect so the lack of heat or air conditioning caused by the power outage was a non issue.  I had  a reasonable lunch, much more than many people get  to eat in a day or maybe even a week.  I had running water and a flushing toilet. My cell phone was charged and handy to keep me entertained.  And I was surrounded by three loving dogs.  Life was good.

The events of the afternoon did make me think about how much I take for granted every day - the ability to make a piece of toast whenever I want it, with either peanut butter or jelly atop, an ice maker, my beloved recliner, my computer.  How silly is it to "miss" such trivial things?

About as silly as is it to miss snowflakes on a disposable coffee cup!

356/365-2 Ready

"Naughty? Maybe. 25? Definitely."

These two are ready to party.  The "naughty" one celebrated her 25th birthday today.  She and her "nice" sister spent the day shopping and eating (and maybe drinking a little, too.)  All that was followed by a family dinner and sharing of gifts tonight.

Neither one of them was really dressed for a portrait.  The naughty one had on ridiculously high heels making her way taller than her sister and thus making it impossible, in terrible light, for me to focus on both of them.  The nice one's hat was casting a weird shadow on her face.  Oh well, this is what they looked like today.

Happy birthday, Brooke!

257/365-2 A Mess

"A Mess of Shoes"

*** No time was injured in the setting up of this shot. ***

This is about as everyday as it gets.  The shoes that we don't wear very often are neatly stacked in clear boxes in another closet.  The ones we wear daily, however, get kicked of into the closet haphazardly at the end of the day.  When I am crawling around on the closet floor barely awake at 6:30am  trying to get ready for school, I wish that I had a better grip on this mess.  By the time I get home from school and kick off my shoes,  I totally forget about that wish.

359/365 Christmas

"Beethoven's First"

It is hard to believe that Christmas Day has come and gone already.  I'm not exactly sure how it all happened but I think everyone had a good day.  As far as Christmases go, we had a relatively low-key day.  That was OK with me.

I learned one thing today.  My family is a bunch of serious enablers!  They all gave me great gifts, many of which will support my photography obsession journey.  I got everything from a new camera strap, to a flash and, from Erin, the Bible illustrated with pictures done with Lego minifigures.  Yes, there is a God minifigure somewhere!

I also got a Beethoven action figure.  Like most things (and people) in my world, he quickly became a model for a round of pictures.  Photographing him with some of my new Christmas toys sparked my creativity.  During the month of December I have been looking at all kinds of photos of people's Elf on the Shelf shenanigans.  They have been super creative and a lot of fun to look at.  I have decided that I am going to photograph my friend Ludwig throughout 2014 in this same vain.  I'm sure he will get into some mischief in the new year and I want to be there to document his every move along the way.  OK, reality check.  I probably won't photograph his every move.  My goal right now is to capture at least one photo of him each week.  So here we begin - Beethoven's first - of 52.

I didn't do a very good job with taking pictures during the day today.  I think I was too busy reading instructions and playing with new stuff...and eating.  As I looked through the day's photos it is funny to me the one that emerged as my favorite.  I'm not even sure why, but here it is.

Brooke painting Erin's fingernails with silver polish.  This was then followed by another coat with red and silver sparkles.  How silly is this?  I love it.

I hope that you all had a blessed Christmas Day however you celebrated.  May joy and peace fill your hearts and homes during this Christmas season and in the new year to come.

I Sense A Theme Here

On July 10th, exactly a month ago, Weber and I celebrated our third anniversary and I gave my final exam for first summer term.  While I was at school, my beloved husband was doing on his anniversary what most men do, frantically trying to wrap a gift for me.  This involved finding appropriate wrapping paper.  And so the story begins . . .

We don’t have much cause for gift wrapping throughout the year because a) the majority of our family birthday’s are in December b) I have a moral objection to gift wrap and c) we don’t give many wrapped gifts (see “b” above).  All this to say that the gift wrap we do have resides in the closet in our guest room, a room that is kept off limits by a baby gate because of a little dog who likes to leave gifts of her own in there.

As Weber was scaling the gate with wrapping paper in hand, he caught his foot on the gate causing an intimate encounter with the wall in the hall.  Again, I was not home at the time so I missed this daring choreography.  According to Weber, the “thud” elicited a half-conscious “Are you OK?” was his sleeping stepdaughter.  He managed to respond with,  “I think so.”  She went back to sleep and he assessed his various places of pain.

As it turns out, he must have smacked the wall on his way down because when all was said and done, the only real injury was to a finger - his ring finger on his left hand.  By the time I got home, it was swollen quite a bit.  He had not thought to take off his wedding band immediately so at this point it was pretty tight on his hand.  We managed, by slathering it with soap and holding it above his head, to finally get it off.  And, he gave me my still unwrapped anniversary gift.  Here’s to the irony of taking a fall like that and the only think you injure is your left hand ring finger, requiring you to remove and not wear for several weeks, your wedding band, on your anniversary.  So, Weber got to masquerade as an unattached guy for a few weeks.

As we were preparing for our trip to England, we searched to various websites for the hotels where we would be staying to check on the availability of free wi-fi.  We quickly learned that “free” and “wi-fi” are words that the English do not often use in combination.  Our first stay was in Cheltenham at a Holiday Inn Express.  Surely an American chain would offer free wi-fi.  Weber had an email exchange with them and was told that if he became a member of their rewards program, which was free tHeflin, he would then have access to free wi-fi.  That was easy enough.  He then received the following email:

Dear Mr. Baker,
Thank you for your email.  We can update your IHG number and you will be provided free wife.  Please advise us your IHG number
If you need anymore information please do contact me
Kind Regards,
Tugba Ilkbey

Duty Manager (Trainee) 
Holiday Inn Express Cheltenham Town Centre
Dunalley Street
Cheltenham
GL50 4AP

Freudian slip or the wonders of spellcheck?  

Whatever the case, we have gotten many laughs from it.  I told him that it was probably a good thing that he was not wearing his wedding ring.  I wasn't sure how his free wife would feel about the fact that she was getting a “not new” husband.  I also wondered if having two wives was a blessing or a curse.  Oh well, we won’t go there.

As it turned out, the free wi-fi materialized, the free wife did not, at least as far as I know.

Just this week, the following cartoon was in the paper.

The synchronicity of things never ceases to amaze me!

Weber’s finger is no longer swollen so he put his wedding band back on.  He is at home with one wife and all the free wi-fi that he wants.

192/365 On the Street

"Past and Present Meet On The Street"

The juxtaposition of the old sign and new sign for this building one on top of the other made me chuckle.

184/365 Contrast

"Contrast"

So what is it that makes someone think that taking a photograph of a sprinkler is even remotely interesting?  I'm not sure what the answer to that question is.  I do know, however, that as I walked up the sidewalk to school this morning I was immediately struck for some reason by this image.  In reality, there was more of the "rainbow" visible; that may be one of the aspects that drew my attention.  Another may be the shape that is created by the water under pressure and then that that loses its upward energy and begins to fall.  I don't know for sure what the appeal is.

There was a time where I would have felt obligated to be able explain all of the "whys" of this image.  Those times are gone . . .thankfully.  No longer do I feel like I have to explain and justify why I like what I like, why I feel the way I feel or why I do the things I do.  Leaving these behaviors in the past leads me to a place of freedom and joy.

I think that the sprinkler suits today's prompt quite well.  I like the lines present.  The contrast comes from the sun-soaked spray of water against the dark bar ground, which is a brick building resting in the shade of another building.

All that said, I still can't really explain what it is that draws me in to this picture of an automatic sprinkler.

Perhaps I should just consider it an homage to John Dryden who said, "You see through love and that deludes your eight, as what is straight seems crooked through the water."

167/365 Something Masculine

"Lookin' Macho"

Here are the two most important guys in my life giving me their best macho looks.

I'm not so sure about macho, but they sure are sweet!

149/365 A Smile

"A Family That Smiles Together . . . ."

Today was a great day to capture smiles at our house.  Brooke is home with us to stay.  Yah!  We spent her first day back shopping and eating.  What better way to celebrate a homecoming?  Before Erin and Edgar headed off to work this evening, all three of the kids agreed to help me out with today's prompt.  It was even fairly easy to get Brooke in front of the camera.  

As usual, Erin, Miss Photogenic, was in charge of posing.  I like the above picture because, although everyone is not looking at the camera, they all have a genuine smile.  It took us a few shots to get there.  And, Erin had to employ some antics to get cooperation from her sister.

"Come on you guys, smile and look happy!"

"If you don't smile, I'll pinch your rear."

"Next time you'll take me seriously."

"So how's this for serious?"

In a few short minutes, we had a lot of fun.  Though the kids are all sporting big smiles, probably the biggest one is not seen here in any of the photos - mine.  I'm so lucky that they all get a long, enjoy being with each other and will even humor their mom with silly photos.  

In spite of all the silliness, I did manage to get a few decent shots of each of them.

"Offspring No. 1"

"Offspring No. 2"

"Edgar, the good sport who spent his day shopping with a bunch of girls."

And before all was said and done, I got a good picture of all three of them looking pretty darn good!

Thank you!  I love you guys!

148/365 State the Obvious

"Warning, Warning, Warning!?

Who knew that making that morning cup of coffee could be so dangerous?  Not one, but two warnings alerting me to the presence of sharp needles.  I never would have guessed that it took something sharp to poke the holes in the otherwise sealed K-cup to allow the water to be forced through.  And, oh my gosh, I never would have expected that it would take very hot water to make my intentional very hot coffee.  Ya learn something new every day!  I guess that is why I need adult supervision to make my coffee.

Seriously, if you are really stupid enough to need all of those warnings, are you actually going to read them?

BONUS: Creepy shot with a macro lens.

I think the thing that makes this a little creepy is that I can see my reflection in the chamber where the sharp needle resides.  The creepy feeling has nothing to do with how many coffee grounds seem to be running around loose.  Really!

114/365 Mobile

"Table Manners"

I don't usually have my camera with me at the dinner table.  I also don't usually look across the table at dinner to see a set of feline ears staring at me from the chair across from me.  I did have my phone in my pocket and was able to snap this picture.  I'm terrible at phone photography and I haven't spent much time playing with all the photography apps that are available.  I already don't have enough time to do all the things that I am supposed to do; delving into that would be another time sucking activity.

Today, "mobile" means taken with my mobile phone.

106/365 Pie or Pile

Pie of Berries and Pile of Berries"

At the beginning of each month Katrina Kennedy of Capture Your 365 publishes the list of prompts for each day of the month.  Then, each day she sends an inspirational email with photo tips of tidbits of inspiration.  I had been looking forward to the "pie" prompt all month since we have our family baker at home with us.  When Katrina's email came this morning, she said that she had actually intended for the day's prompt to be pile, not pie.  Pie was actually a typo.  

I had pie on the brain so I decided to go ahead a photograph a pie.  I was afraid that if I told Brooke that the prompt wasn't really "pie" that she would then decide not to make me a pie.  That would be very sad!  When it came time to actually take the photo, I decided to add a pile of blackberries next to the berry pie.  Thus, I ended up with both a pie of berries and a pile of berries.

Later in the day, I decided to attempt the "pile" prompt.  I had fun with these colored hair bands.

"A Pile of Ponytail Bands"

49/365 Favorite Snack

"Peanut Butter and Celery"

"Hello World!"

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you have a good week.

23/365 Snuggle

"Just Trying to Help!"

I know that I am very lucky that Weber is so supportive of my crazy obsession commitment to take a picture every day.  I didn't realize that the dogs, too, were on that bandwagon.

Today is my longest day of the week - school until 4:30 (though I got out a little early since today was the first day of my MW classes) and then choir rehearsal tonight.  I knew that I was going to be hard-pressed to get any decent picture today, especially of anyone snuggling.  I thought about various possibilities on and off throughout the day, but came up empty handed.  I hoped that when I got home from choir I could find some person, dog, cat or some combination thereof cuddled up together; I would snap a picture and that would have to do.  

This definitely was not the picture I imagined.  It is,however, proof positive of the saying, "Life is what happens while you are busy making plans."  Rather than fight it,  I just laughed and clicked the shutter.

Seize the moment.

Welcoming 2013

We are having a night of fun, food, family, friends and games at home tonight.  The girls are here with some friends and we had Erin's birthday dinner that she was too sick to enjoy on the 23rd.

Earlier today I decided that is was time to do a little housekeeping - get rid of 2012's dirt so that there is room for the new that 2013 will surely bring.  When things were clean, we were all hungry but didn't want to get the kitchen or dishes dirty so we opted for sandwiches from Schlotzsky's. 

Here is what we got:

Nothing special, but a tasty lunch.

Our total bill -

Welcome 2013!

I wish all of you a happy, healthy and joyful new year!

A Scary Story

It was a dark and stormy night . . .

and . . . Oh wait, that is the wrong scary story! 

 Let's try this again.

It was the middle of a sunny but crisp October afternoon, just ten days before our next presidential election.  I was at home making chili and butternut squash bread to take to a Halloween party later that evening.  Weber had a few errands to run.  While he was out, he decided that he would exercise his right to vote - early.  He made his way into a packed parking lot at a branch of the public library.  It quickly became apparent that many people had early voting on their Saturday agendas.  Weber finally spotted someone getting in their vehicle and about to vacate a parking space.  He stopped, giving this person enough room to back out, and waited patiently.

While he was waiting patiently, someone came up behind him, stopped briefly and then went around him.  Weber watched as this person circled around and maneuvered himself back into the same lane where Weber was, but facing the opposite direction.  You can probably see where this is going.  This person managed to cut Weber off and take the parking space.

Rather than fight this guy for a spot, or, for that matter, the rest of the traffic in the parking lot, Weber just came home - without incident and without voting.

As he finished telling me his tale, I said somewhat sarcastically, "I bet I can guess who that person was going to vote for."  

Weber said, "I don't have to guess; I know.  He had a Romney/Ryan sticker on his Mercedes."

Why is it that stories these days are so predictable?  

One Cannot Live By Bread Alone

One also needs a cat!

We shared a simple Easter meal for nine at our house. Simple means that we had black bean soup, chicken tortilla soup, a fresh green salad and warm homemade bread. That is about all we could muster after our Holy Week and Easter obligations at church.

The weather turned dismal about the time everyone was on their way here. This delayed their arrival by a while. I tried to have everything ready so that we could eat as soon as they arrived. I set the table, got out the butter and salad dressing, and arranged all of the serving necessities. Apparently I made a few miscalculations.

I thought that I had gotten the bread basket set out and lined with a clean napkin so that as soon as the bread that Weber made came out of the oven, it could b e placed in the basket. Seemingly what I thought was a bread basket is more accurately a cat bed. I don't know how I could have been so confused! Consequently, the bread rested on the bread stone and the cat in the bread basket.

In case you are wondering, by the time we were ready to eat, Frankie was sufficiently rested and had changed venues. And I had changed the napkin in the basket.

Enlightenment

Do you read the instruction manuals for all of your household items? If not, you should. Not necessarily because they may enlighten you on how to properly use whatever it is that they came with . . .though they might; but rather because they are often a great source of entertainment and hysterical laughter.

The following is from such a manual.

"11. Do not touch the parts that are not intended for manipulation."

I kid you not. Any guesses as to the product whose instructions offer such guidance?

HINT: It did not come in a discreetly marked box intended to protect us from embarrassing assumptions by the mailman.