For All the Chairs I Loved Before

Hello dear readers! It's been a while since I routinely put words on laptop for this blog. Why? I've asked myself that for the past couple of years. I used to squeeze writing in between working, activities, and parenting. Now I'm gloriously retired! What's up with that? 

Writing (along with reading) is something I've always enjoyed. When I found my employment dream career at age 40, I parlayed writing into part of my job as Recycling Coordinator in three SW Iowa Counties. I approached the Creston News Advertiser about submitting a monthly 1,000-word column on waste reduction and recycling. It turned out to be one of my favorite things I did (I loved it much more than public speaking, haha). When I moved on to my job at the Department of Natural Resources at age 50 I no longer had that writing outlet. So I started blogging. I was prolific! I had a lot to say, mostly about nothing important. 

Fast forward ten-plus years. Changing technology enables me to "read" audiobooks and podcasts pretty much anywhere these days using earbuds. I rarely do a chore or walk without some audio input. It's hard to ponder blog topics and turn phrases while constantly filling my head with other people's words. 

2020 was my first year of retirement. What a strange year in the life (for almost everyone on the planet.) Thanks, Covid! 😒 Though I had plenty of alone time that year, it failed to translate into any kind of joy of writing. I was out of words. 

I miss writing and want to find the joy of writing again. I've decided to cut back on audiobooks and true crime blogs. I'll get back in touch with music to see what happens. Thanks to our friend Connie and others who have asked about my blog and have encouraged me to write again. Maybe it will help keep me sharp - like Wordle does (haha). 

Today's inspiration started with an early morning sleep house remodeling dream. In the dream, each room I entered in the house contained a recliner chair from my past. Paul and I just visited Homemakers Furniture on Sunday. We looked at rugs, not chairs, but that place is full of recliners!   

Sorry recliners, I've always been more of a chair with ottoman person, like my mom. I'm the only remaining Bullock living in our home state of Iowa. Through the years, when my parents and grandparents were living, I benefitted by being gifted furniture. Ethan Allen cabinets, couches, chairs, and more. I've recently learned my DNA says I'm 26% Scottish, so that thrifty side has appreciated free stuff!  

Betsy and Max in Dad's chair - home place Atlantic

One of the first chairs I inherited was Dad's chair - seen above. Dad traveled the state of Iowa Monday through Friday repping ladies' lingerie, so the chair was available on weekdays. On weekends, Dad had dibs. His beautiful leather briefcase could be found tucked beside it.  

As you can see above, the chair was gold before Mom had it reupholstered. Atlantic Upholstery was operated by the parents of my classmates, twins Steve and Judy Boots. The Boots did fine chair work. Mom went with a vertical stripes pattern - with blues, reds, gold, and white (below). That's the color it was when Paul and I got it. It must have been 20-plus years old by then!  

Paul and sleepy Judson

The wear and tear with two kids, a cat, and a dog took a toll on the chair. No amount of Woolite upholstery cleaner would perk it up.  I found an upholstery shop in nearby Mackburg, and the chair was reinvented yet another time with a darker red, blue color that covered spills better. It lasted another ten years until the springs were just shot. I hated to get rid of it. We put it downstairs with my grandparent's plaid fold-out couch. 😁 

I replaced Dad's chair with my first brand-new chair/ottoman combo selected carefully at Coen Furniture in Creston. They matched prices with all the big guys like Nebraska Furniture Mart and they delivered. 

Greenish oversized chair/ottoman. Room for Kitty and Odie, along with my Bullock-sized bottom

That large taupe green chair served me well. On my telework days (every Friday morning throughout my DNR career) I put in many hours crunching trash numbers and corresponding with program participants in that chair. It was sooo comfy with wide soft arms that supported plates and laptops. My chair made the move to West Des Moines in 2012 and served through the Odie years. She liked to dig the seat (snagging it) and sleep on the back like a cat. 

Odie passed in 2018, and I still miss her. But old Green was looking a bit ragged by then. I shopped for a long time to find a replacement - finally settling on one at Redekers in Boone. Thanks to high school classmate John Krengel for fixing me up with my chair - he worked at Redekers for years. 

This is where I rest my bones these days. I remind myself of Mom in her nice wingback chair at my parent's condo in Atlantic. I still have the matching ottoman in my room - that chair wore out! And my grandma - Zora Bullock (Momo to us) in her beautiful blue wingback chair. Or in the antique rocking chair she always sat in at our house. 

Momo - in the rocker (I think Susi has it now), Dad is on our oversized blue couch. Mom had it recovered more than once and Dad still had it at their condo in Atlantic when he passed. We had to toss it off of the deck to get it out. 

So that's my walk down furniture memory lane today. Don't even get me started on couches! 

I hope you have some beloved furniture pieces in your lives (or not). I know, it's just stuff. But for me, furniture memories are like certain songs - memories of a bygone era and people and pets I love. 

Writer's Block redo - Coffee

This post originally ran in 2013. I have updated it and am now reposting for your reading pleasure. I don't know if it's retirement, isolation, or lack of dedicated effort - but I'm having a hard time coming up with Blog topics that I haven't already covered. Plus we don't really do anything, so a diary blog is out. Here goes on the redo: 

Coffee Jones

Age 12 with Momo, Bubba and Charlie the dog

I think it was my grandma, Zora Clayton Stewart Bullock - aka Momo, who introduced me to coffee. She "babysat" a few times when Mom and Dad were out of town. Momo drank coffee, just like Mom, but at breakfast time she encouraged me to try it. She added lots of milk and sugar. Instead of my usual Cap'n Crunch, I had toasted Wonder Bread, slathered in butter dipped into a marvelous concoction of coffee, milk, and sugar. It was a fun and different treat for when Momo stayed with us! It made me feel so grown up. 

Mom enjoyed coffee too (with her morning cigarettes). Remember those perking coffee pots? We had one -just like everyone did in the 1960s. Those pots made interesting noises, indicating that something important was going on inside! They took forever to brew coffee. If you forgot to put the top on the pot, the coffee perked all the way up to the ceiling! Leslie the kid thought that was really funny. 

In the 1970s Mom when through her "Zen" age. She got a funky coffee press with a filter and a decanter that sat on the stove. It was all very complicated. I don't know if it tasted any better, but she thought she was very sophisticated! Many years later, our daughter Amy got this same system. And she's lefthanded like Mom. So even though I attribute Amy's gentle personality to Laura Goldsmith, Paul's mom, there is some Pat in her. haha. Once drip coffeemakers came out, Mom went to a Mr. Coffee system. You just couldn't beat the convenience - AND that name. A dude was making you something! 

I never became a big coffee drinker in my early years, despite that yummy coffee, milk, sugar concoction. In college, roomie Vicki and I picked up some Folgers instant coffee crystals for late-night studying. It was before the microwave days - so we still had to boil water! I remember when Vic and I took Zoology together. We stayed up so late before a test that we became "slap-happy". I still smile today when I hear the scientific words for the various secretions the body makes as we had to memorize them. We laughed until we cried. Those college years were magical! The coffee wasn't.  

I didn't start drinking coffee again until I got married to a guy who has a real coffee jones. Paul can't help it - it's in his genes. Nature and nurture really. The Goldsmiths are farmers. They drink coffee 24/7. Recently we had a family Zoom and we talked about who drinks coffee. Most still do - some all day. Paul amazes me - he can drink the stuff (black of course) until midnight and still sleep. He'll even drink cold coffee after it's sat in the car all day when we're traveling. We take the thermos everywhere. 

Me? I'd better not sniff caffeine after noon or I'll be buzzed for hours. Sometimes I can get jittery from just one cup! My Creston bestie Deb and I used to get coffee drinks at True Value in Creston. Yes, in that town the coffee place is in a hardware store - they can multi-task, and it's good. We'd go on Sunday afternoon, then I'd lay awake for hours that night. Nancy Drew finally figured it out. It was the caffeine. Duh! I had to go to decaf. 

In 1986 we moved to Creston, the home of Bunn-O-Matic an international coffeemaker company. Since then, we have been spoiled by coffee brewed instantly. I know the real experts look down on this method, but we lived and worked with the Bunn-ites! I toured the factory, which is the largest employer in town. Their employee break area has all of the good beverages - coffee, tea, hot chocolate. Okay, probably not as good as the break area at Coors, but close! We had three Bunn-O-Matic brewers in our 26 years of living in Creston plus a few in West Des Moines. Finally, a couple of years ago, our most recent Bunn gave out and we went with a different brand as we were buying retail. We went with a Cuisinart drip coffeemaker that doesn't require a paper filter. We like it. But I still enjoy checking out restaurant coffeemakers to see if they are Bunn people. 

Paul used to think Folgers was the "best part of waking" - except for another day with me (haha). After moving to the (not so) Big City, he has learned to grind his own beans (since we bought Starbucks beans by mistake one time and I purchased a grinder). We've tried lots of types of beans, but he's a Starbucks fan. Since he grinds it and drinks it black, he gets to pick.

Some people swear they can't function without their morning joe. There are lots of cartoons, memes, dishtowels, and decorations based on coffee. Beyond Starbucks, in Des Moines and everywhere, fancy coffee has never been more popular. I do enjoy a coffee drink like a latte but have to admit I am somewhat intimidated by some of the hot and cold beverages available today. Today's people have taken "special orders don't upset us" to a high level. It turns out we like that. 

I'm still getting used to this new personalized way of life. In the olden days, families like mine had more kids and less time for personalization. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the number of choices available. At coffee shops, I usually stick with skinny vanilla lattes. I'm sure there are lots of other delicious possibilities - but what if I choose unwisely? The problem is real y'all! Paul always sticks with black coffee at those places. 

During the pandemic, and just over one year of retirement, it's amazing how much enjoyment I've gotten from my morning cuppa with Cinnamon Dolce creamer. I usually just drink the one cup with a warmup partway through. Caffeine jitters you know. A friend of mine lost her sense of taste/smell after getting Covid-19. Coffee is one thing she really misses. We don't know how much we rely on daily rituals until they're gone. I hope you have something to help get you through each day - a beverage, snack, snuggle, TV show, or exercise. It's all good. Be kind - to you and others. I'm working on that every day. 

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Old Green

I got a new chair. That's big for me - change is hard. If you've been to our house both before our move to West Des Moines and after, then you've seen me sitting in my chair - Old Green. It wasn't always old, but earned the moniker because we purchased it many years ago from Coen's Furniture, Creston's wonderful local store - owned by a great family.

I've never been a recliner fan. That probably comes from my incompetence in working the mechanisms to make recliners comfy. Mom always had a chair with an ottoman in their second Atlantic home, a nifty condo on the Back 9 at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. That chair was so comfortable through the years it influenced my chair choice. Mom lives on through me in picture placement (don't hang them high and be eclectic) and furniture.

Because Paul and I lived close to Atlantic and because we weren't rolling in $$, we were fortunate (or cursed) to be the furniture hand-down recipients. Early in our marriage, sadly, my Atlantic grandparents passed away. They had just outfitted an apartment at Heritage House, an Atlantic retirement home, with furniture from their condominium (my grandpa, Bubba never mastered the pronunciation of that word, "condoninium?")

Thanks to proximity and my grandparents, Paul and I received a colonial-style plaid couch with blue tones (my grandmother, Momo, and I share a love of blue), and several Ethan Allen pieces including a dining room table with chairs, and the cabinets that we still have today. We sold the table/chairs with our Creston home. The couch - a heavy fold-out wore out long ago. Sorry to our buddies that helped carry it into and out of our basement on Port Road. That was a labor of like and pizza payment! 

Dad's chair looked like this when we got it. We recovered in a darker red stripe

As I mentioned, Creston has a great family-owned furniture store that we were happy to support. They always had plenty of stock to pick from and competed with the big city stores on price. After we moved to our second Creston home, the time came to replace Dad's old chair (yes we got hand-me-downs from my parents too). I'd had it re-upholstered once, but the springs were poking - the cushions were finally shot after 50 years of use.

Old Green was wide enough for both pets

That's when I picked out my green chair with a matching ottoman. That chair hugged me through many highs and lows in my life:

• When I took on increased job responsibilities as the landfill director in Union County, that led to some insomnia. Middle of the night chair sitting was required. 
• I created Amy and Jud graduation slide shows sitting in the chair, occasionally shedding sentimental Mom tears carefully selecting photos and music. 
• The chair soaked up many grief tears especially when Dad died - leaving me parentless. Hard even at age 50. 
• Countless hours of watching TV, movies, funny, sad, educational, scary....transitioning from watching kid shows to binge-watching things like Entourage with our kids - to today's Netflix  
• Genealogy work - tracing my roots online never leaving my living room
• Real work as I was fortunate to be allowed to telecommute nearly every Friday during the eleven years I worked for DNR, even after we moved to West Des Moines from Creston eight years ago. 
• The chair was a comfort during illness - migraines, shoulder, issues, and more. When I couldn't get comfortable in bed it was a comfy alternative.
• The pets loved the chair too. Odie and Kitty (real name Samantha) would lay across the back or on/by my lap. They loved it too. So much the Odie dug and snagged the cushions for that "lived in" look. 
• I could go on but you get the idea. I'm willing to bet you have a piece of furniture you connect with like that too. 

So why replace it? We are updating our living space and it was "one of these things is not like the others". My new chair is lovely and well made. It doesn't yet fit me like a glove and we haven't bonded. Perhaps that's for the good because I really don't need to spend my days and nights in a chair! These days I stand up at our kitchen bar and sit there for some of my work. In nice weather, I can even be found under an umbrella at our deck table. 

I hope you have someplace comfy to settle in/on at your place. Especially in these unsettled times, we all need some comfort. 

 

New chair has no name yet. A little stiff - needs to warm up to my buns...

I hope Old Green goes to a good home who will enjoy her comfort as I did. Not college dudes! haha. 

Super game?

I was raised on football. Today is Super Bowl day. I don't have a favorite but will pull for the underdog Eagles. Paul and I listened to the audiobook "Silver Linings Playbook" recently. You may have seen the movie the book was based on. The main character in the book is a huge Eagles fan, which encourages me to appreciate the team, its fans and the "Fly Eagles Fly" song.

I grew up watching football on TV and at the Trojan Bowl, where our school team played. Sure insert condom jokes if you want to. We Trojan fans are used to it! The Atlantic Trojans were good at football - especially in the 60's and 70's. In the 60's, our team featured the great Eddie Podolak, who went on to star for the Iowa Hawkeyes (I cheered for them too, once upon a time). Then he went on to play for the Kansas City Chiefs. He now does color for the Hawkeye football games - wearing his black and gold heart on his sleeve (tongue).

AHS teams seemed to always be at the top of the conference. Coaches sent players went on to college teams. Just this year, I read that our former A-town neighbor Tom Hayes is retiring as defensive coordinator at Kansas State University, after a long career as a player and coach. Football was in the Atlantic water. 

So proud of my football jersey

I don't have any brothers but was (am?) what used to be called a "tomboy".  I'm not sure that term is even proper anymore. I knew that beyond the backyard and Powder Puff variety, I'd never get to play the game in any real sense. That didn't stop me from asking for a football for my birthday. I'd punt it in my backyard and run and catch it! Behind Tyler's house, up the hill from Buck's, there was an open space where we used to put together neighborhood games. I liked being the wide receiver. Sue Tyler made a good QB. 

My family worshipped television. When I see homes where the TV isn't a main feature in the living room, I think, "whaaaat is this about?" Sure, an office or library without a television - makes perfect sense. But the room where one lives? No way. Our own home features a big TV, just how we like it.

I have fond memories of watching football with my family - including my grandparents Momo and Bubba. They too worshipped the TV god. We'd go to their place for "drinks". I remember watching the Dolphins vs. the Chiefs when Eddie played. The Fins came out on top of the longest NFL game ever played. My grandma, Momo loved the Viking's Fran Tarkenton and Roger Staubach of the Cowboys. Had a thing for the QBs, I guess. 

I don't know what the future of football is. Head injuries are a major concern. How can some players go through life not showing the trauma from head injuries, yet other are so damaged? More work needs to be done to change the game - or it may just fade away as parents quit funneling their boys into it. And Millennials paying for cable TV.

Meanwhile, I continue to be a fan. College football is my passion. And tailgating! I'm a winner at that - thanks to our Cyclone tailgating pals.

Go team! 

Happy Book Lover's Day!

August 9th is when America celebrates Book Lover's Day - but that's really every day for me. And it has been ever since Miss Casey introduced me to my first Dick and Jane book in first grade at Washington Elementary in Atlantic, Iowa. I recall how delighted I was to take control of those letters - making them into words and finding meaning in them. Reading opened a whole new world for me!

The world was first - our little library of books at the Bullock house - some of the books gleaned from Momo and Bubba's attic, from the stash that had been Dads, and my Aunt Jean and Aunt Marty's.

• Happy Hollisters
• Bobbsey Twins
• Nancy Drew
• Oz Books - by Frank L. Baum
• and other assorted books - like the Grimm Fairy Tales - those were some dark stories!
• Black Beauty

After I exhausted our supply of reading material, I began to order paperbacks from the school program. They probably made a bit of money on each paperback they sold for $.45. Mom was generous - I'd get up to 10 books sometimes. I loved Encyclopedia Brown - were I got to try to solve the crime along with the boy detective.

 

Then it was on to the Atlantic Memorial Library. I'd go with Mom, who was also an avid reader, or during summer months, I enjoyed walking downtown. I'd stop at the various dime stores for candy - enough to get a big canker sore later! Pixie sticks, purple bubble gum, Lemonheads, Pez - I liked it all! Even Giant Sweet Tarts - the kind that made your tongue bleed. It's no wonder I didn't go into a diabetic coma.

Once I had my little paper sack full of sugary goodness, I'd walk a block over to the library and load up on books. They'd only let me get four, but that was about as many as I could carry! I'd plod up three blocks to 909 Poplar, where my grandparents lived. Momo would be watching her soap opera - sitting in her wingback chair. If I was lucky she'd get me an RC Cola (I'm not sure why they didn't like Coke or Pepsi), and some ice milk with Hersey Syrup from a can. Yum.

If Bubba wasn't home (he was often out putzing around the county), I might entertain myself by looking at books in the bookshelf that was built into the wall as you walked up to the scary attic. (It was scary because I was told the insulation could kill me - I thought if I stepped in it I would sink like quicksand...I know now I was probably asbestos-containing). When Bub got home, he'd drive me up Chestnut Street to our house, where I could lay on my twin bed with a reading light and eat my candy and read. Or I could sit in our formal living room that nobody used...except when Mom had bridge club. Oh, and Betsy used it for tumbling. Cindy practiced cheerleading there, and we put our Christmas tree there too. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't a total bookworm! I liked to get out and do stuff - but just like these days, I can pick up a book almost any time and be a happy girl!

My other book memories are -

• Mrs. Tibben (4th grade) and Mrs. Kluever (5th grade) reading to us after lunch - I fell in love with listening to stories thanks to them. The Secret Garden is one of my all time faves from that era.
• My Aunt Jean gave my Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (aka Willy Wonka) which also became a beloved book of mine.
• When I went to Junior High, the library there opened up my world to a new genre of book - the "Young Reader". Gwen Kluever was the librarian - she was a friend of mom's. I was a little embarrassed but still found a way to check out "My Darling My Hamburger" and other books that clued me in on what teens my age were doing and thinking (I was quite naive). Heady stuff!
• In High School, I took a course where I got points for the books I read - with more points for classics. This was when I read books like 1984.

Deb with Thea

I can't think about books without thinking of my friend Thea Applegate who passed away just over a year ago. I met her through book club more than ten years ago, and we grew to be close friends through the years. I've thought of her often this past year, and miss her laugh and her insight. She was a social worker, and was very good at reading situations and people. She also was great seeing humor in her own laugh. Here's to you booklover lady.

Want to shout out to my former book club mate (and St. Malachy mom and sports mom mate) Barb Coenen as well. Barb donated a kidney this week to a stranger, as part of a deal to allow someone she knows from Creston to get a new kidney. I've known Barb for over 20 years - she volunteers for Appalachia Service Project and makes people happy with scrapbooking. I'm proud to say she's a friend!

I went to the West DM library today to refill my supply. I get a little jittery when I'm out - books are like crack to me! I started reading a book tonight called "No Regrets Coyote". I noticed on the cover it says "A novel so good you will want to throw a party for it" - it's a quote from one of my other fave authors, Dennis Lahane (of Shutter Island fame). Liked that!

I'm going to read now...

Childhood memories of summer

Paul and I are just back from a short bike ride. We scooped the loop. No - that doesn't mean what it used to - driving up and down Highway 6 in Atlantic! Today, to this 'ol gal it means riding my bike east on the WDM trail then south just past Jordan Creek Elementary School.

The trail runs along big back yards of some beautiful homes and a creek. Paul and I were quietly peddling - and I could hear the critters. I think they were locusts - singing, with their legs eeeoooeeeooo. The temperature was just right too. It's summer in Iowa! It took me back for a few minutes. Back to my childhood in Atlantic.

I recalled in an instant those fabulous summer evenings - playing with my sisters and the neighbor kids as the summer sun dwindled. I didn't want it to get dark, because I knew my Mom would call and we would have to go in for the night. Those summer days were golden - how lucky we were to have them.

Kick the can, Sardines, Ghosts in the Graveyard - it was such heady stuff when I got to play with the "Big" kids on warm, humid summer nights. We even stretched it out under some moonlit nights too. A few times put on plays, like "Little Red Riding Hood" in Reinertson's backyard - using their clothesline with a blanket for a curtain. My grandma, Momo typed the tickets on her IBM Selectric typewriter.

Tonight after we rode through the small park a couple blocks east of 60th Street, we turned and rode back north through a neighborhood. I was happy to see a gang of about eight kids in a front yard of one house. They sounded like they were counting off, perhaps to see who was "It" for their next game. There was one little guy - no doubt he got cheated into being "it", courtesy of being youngest. It's nice to know some things don't change.

On the way home, we rode along Jordan Creek on the north side of EP True, we heard a catbird call and some blackbirds made themselves known. It was a beautiful summer evening. There were lots of other bikers and walkers out tonight. Perhaps they too were on a walk down memory lane.

A view from the bridge we cross - taken earlier this summer

 Amy texted me last night from Nicaragua. She wanted to know if I'd gotten rid of her lava lamp when we moved. Um yes I did. It didn't really work anymore so I tossed it. Sorry. (no not really). I chuckled though. What the heck was she thinking about that for. Guess I'll have to wait until she gets home to find out...1 week to go!

Coffee Jones

I think it was my grandma, Zora Clayton Stewart Bullock - aka Momo, who introduced me to coffee. She stayed with us a few times when I was young, and Mom and Dad were out of town. She drank coffee, just like Mom, but at breakfast time she encouraged me to try it. She added lots of milk and sugar. And instead of Cap'n Crunch I had toasted Wonder Bread, slathered in butter that I'd dip into the marvelous stuff. It was a fun and different treat for when Momo stayed with us!

My Mom enjoyed coffee too. Remember those perking coffee pots? We had one of those, like everyone did. They made interesting noises, but took forever to brew coffee. One time at our house, someone forgot to put the top on the pot, and it perked all the way up the the ceiling! I remember how funny I thought that was. Perk!

Then Mom when through her "Zen" age. She got a funky coffee press with a filter and a decanter that sat on the stove. It was all very complicated...I don't know if it tasted any better, but she thought she was very sophisticated! After a while though, she got tired of all the time the system took and went to a Mr. Coffee system.

I never became a big coffee drinker despite that yummy coffee, milk, sugar concoction. In college, roomie Vicki and I picked up some instant coffee for late-night studying. It was before the microwave days - so we still had to boil water! I remember when Vic and I took Zoology together - we stayed up so late before a test that we became "slap-happy". I still smile today when I hear some of those scientific words for the various secretions the body makes...oh how we laughed due to our sleep deprevation.

I really didn't start drinking coffee again until I got married. To a guy who has a real coffee jones. He can't help it - it's in his genes and background. The Goldsmiths are farmers. They drink coffee 24/7 if you let them. He amazes me - he can drink the stuff until midnight and still sleep fine. Me? I'd better not sniff it after noon or I'll be buzzed for hours. Sometimes I can get jittery from just one cup! Deb and I used to get coffee at True Value in Creston (yes, in that town the coffee place is in a hardware store - they can multi-task. It's good too) on Sundays. Then I'd lay awake for hours that night. I had to go to decaf!

In 1986 when moved to Creston, the home of Bunn-O-Matic. Since then, we have been spoiled by coffee brewed instantly. I know experts look down on this method, but we lived and worked with the Bunn-ites! I toured the factory, that is the largest employor in town, several times - their break area has all of the good beverage. I worked to help the company reduce waste and recycle more. A couple years ago, when we needed a new hot water pot at the Wallace Building, I reached out to my pal Jeanne Piel, who staffs for Bunn through her employer Manpower, to get a reconditioned unit. So I've still got connections!

Paul used to be strickly a Folgers guy. These days he has learned to grind his own beans (since we bought Starbucks beans by mistake one time - so I ended up purchasing a grinder) and we're mostly Starbucks people. Who knew it made such a difference, until we started buying better coffee? Thanks to Momo, I still need creamer or milk in my coffee.

Today since Pablo is down south hunting wabbits (turkeys really), I treated myself to Starbucks - not a frequent thing for me. But in my mind, it's no better than that milky coffee Momo made.

Weigh in. How did you first start drinking coffee?

Zapped

At left - my Grandma - we called her Momo. Her real name was Zora - cool name huh? As you can see she has a very fair complexion. Why couldn't I get my grandpa's (Wally aka, Buba)skin? He's the handsome dude with the pipe and bolo tie sitting in the rocker on the right. And my Uncle (my Dad's brother Charlie) is the Schnauzer on the floor.

This pic was taken the day I got the card saying my parents were giving me a horse for my birthday - my mom wrote it out in a little corny poem. I cried I was so happy. Note I have on my favorite Bar-L-Ranch (Guthrie Center, IA) sweatshirt with a horse on the front.

Back to my real topic...I visited my friendly dermo today for my annual skin check. I had a few spots on my face zapped by Dr. Ava Feldman with liquid nitrogen. Here's to you Lifeguard Leslie who had to try to tan with the other guards who were actually tannable. You were no bronze goddess - you nincompoop! Why did you think you could smear Baby Oil on and fry with no repercussions?

Once, in college on an early warm sunny day, my roomies and I laid out in the sun near our dorm, Maple Hall. If a little sun is good, a lot is great right? I fried so bad I couldn't even drink beer that night - my legs swelled up. Sun poisoning. And skiing both Paul (another Casper skin) and I burned so bad we blistered.

I'm paying for it now boy. I've had pre-cancerous spots removed from several areas - most recently under and beside my eye. A lesson for all of you out there in tanning bed land!

My love affair

I confess I’ve had a lifelong love affair – with books. We had many books when I was growing up. Our house, which was built by my mom’s father, had built-in bookcases and they were filled with the things. Mom made a practice of giving us books she had loved in her childhood. Her special favorites were L. Frank Baum books, the most famous was The Wizard of Oz. Oz characters Dorothy, Toto, Button Bright, Tik Tok, Woozy, and the Wizard were good and loyal friends of mine. I read those books time and time again. The beautiful ink-drawing artwork helped me bond with my friends.

My mother and many other moms took advantage of “story time” at the Atlantic library. The librarian read or played LP recordings of books like Dr. Suess’s Yertle the Turtle and other classics. When I was a kid, my neighbor Laurie and I would walk downtown – some 7 blocks all downhill. We’d stop at Bonneson’s Five & Dime or Ben Franklin to select candy. For less than a dollar I’d get bag of purple gumballs, PixieStix, Lemonheads, little wax bottles of colored sugar water, Sweet Tarts - and canker sores.

Then we’d walk to the library where I’d get my limit of 4 books. (That was before backpacks were invented so I had to carry them stacked on my arm.) I’d often then walk to my grandparent’s house, just 3 blocks from the library. My grandma, who we called Momo, would make me ice milk (fewer calories than ice cream?) with Hershey’s syrup. Grandpa (Bubba) would deliver me home in his VW Beetle. I’d read my books and eat candy – talk about hog heaven!

Each week I’d scope out the Nancy Drew books - the ones with the yellow jackets – at Rex Pharmacy downtown. My grandparents had Dad’s sisters (my aunts’) old books at my grandparent’s house – stored in their scary attic. Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys and more. I wanted to be one of the Happy Hollisters.

Except for my college years, when I kept busy reading text books and drinking beer, I've had a novel or two to read at all times. Then a few years ago, Deb and I decided we wanted to start a reading discussion group. Not the kind of book club that reports to the newspaperlisting who gave book reports. The fun kind where you meet other people who also have an on-going love affair with books.

So I put a couple fliers up at Matilda Gibson. It's our library in Creston. I know - most people have a Carnegie. We have Matilda. A few people called and slowly we put together a fine group of ladies I have grown to love. Not one guy yet, but who knows~!

Thea has named herself permanent hostess, which is grand because she lives in a grand house with three grand dames - dogs who greet us like long lost friends each time we visit. Peaches is crotch high which makes greetings quite intimate. Thea's house has a pool, which is lovely to sit by, or even get in, during summer months. Sometimes we even talk about books!

We mostly get them through the library via inter-library loan. It costs each of us $1.25 each month. I try to find discussion questions to get us started on discussions at meetings. We all suggest books to get, and I keep a spreadsheet to get to the library ladies to order. There have been some gems through the years and some bombs. Nobody feels bad if they didn't read the book. They come anyway, just to hang out with the cool book ladies!

Gotta go - there are so many books, so little time!