U is for "Until Next Time..."

 

 This is Pemaquid Lighthouse that we visited during our last trip to ME. BTW, this is the lighthouse on the Maine state quarter.

Today, Wally, Theo, Ward, and I are off on a trip to Maine. We will be visiting with family and playing tourists at times. Our bags are packed, our route is charted, our reservations are made, our audio books are downloaded, and we have more snacks than we could ever want. So here we go on a long car trip.

I don't know if I'll be able to check in or not while we're gone, but I will pick up where I left off with the last five letters when I get back.

So, Until next time...

T is for Today

 Today is going to be filled with...

Tissues, Throat lozenges, and Tea.

Turns out that it wasn't allergies after all. 

I have a Terrible cold. :(

Until next time...

S is for Spring

Things are constantly changing outside in the springtime. Here's another update of what my Maryland yard looks like this fourth week of spring. 

When I planted these tulips, I planted yellow ones with them. The yellow ones didn't come back after the second year.

This late bloomer is the only daffodil that is left.

Violet

All of the lilacs are transitioning from buds to blooms.

The crabapple tree is in full bloom. The lower limbs have been removed to make mowing easier, so I took a picture from a position where I could reach. This is the case for most trees in our yard.

Virginia bluebells

We planted this apple tree 5 years ago as a small stick. It has produced apples the last couple of years, but the deer have gotten to them before we do. The deer also eat the branches. Hopefully, this will be the year we harvest apples to eat.

The blossoms on the sour cherry are starting to fade.

However, the neighbor's ornamental cherry, located at the edge of our yard, is in full bloom.

Viburnum

Dogwood. Another tree with no lower limbs, so it's hard for me to take a picture.

This dianthus mound always amazes me.

The grape hyacinths are still going strong.

Wallflowers

A few things I planted in our vegetable patch have sprouted, including these peas.

Radishes. The turnips are also poking their heads above the ground. The picture I got of those was blurry, but they look just like the radishes. :)

Spinach

Not a great picture, but I didn't want to disturb this mama chickadee to get a better photo. She has 5 eggs under her.

Until next time...

R is for R.S.V.P.

I think most people are familiar with R.S.V.P., which is typically found at the bottom of most invitations. It's French for "Repondez s'il vous plaît," meaning respond please to the invitation. In other words, let me know if you're coming or not. It's aggravating when you're the host of something and people don't respond. You don't know how to plan. I've learned over the years to plan for the number of 'yeses' I receive. There are always some people who say yes but don't show up, and some who don't respond but do show up anyway. I add 10% to that for good measure, and it usually works out. 

I'm sure there are many good excuses why people don't R.S.V.P., but the most common one, I think, is that they forgot. I try to respond promptly, but I have been known to wait to the last minute when I forgot. However, there may be another reason that I discovered recently. I was talking with Wally, asking if he was going to go to a family function. He said yes, and then I said he needed to RSVP. He said he didn't need to because you only needed to tell people that you aren't coming. What?! Maybe this was a generational thing, so I asked Theo what he thought it meant. He agreed with me that you need to let the host know one way or the other whether you are coming or not. However, he said that many invitations are now made over social media, and the rules can be looser.

So, what does RSVP mean to you? Do you think I have an old-fashioned view of it?

Until next time...

Q is for Questions

There are limitless questions that I could explore here, but I'm going shallow with the ones I'm going to ask and answer. These are a couple of questions that are often asked of celebrities.

What was your first celebrity crush? Billy Mumy from the TV show Lost in Space. He played Will Robinson, the young son of the family who were lost in space. It was an unbelievable, silly drama, but it was popular in its time. When I was in 4th grade, we played Lost in Space on the playground and acted out scenes from the show. I wrote away and got an autographed picture of Billy. The only person I ever did that for. I also had a crush on David Cassidy of the Partige Family, but did not write away for his picture.

What posters did you have on your wall as a teenager? I shared a room with my sister, and the only thing I remember on the wall was a picture of Hank Aaron, a baseball player for the Atlanta Braves who broke Babe Ruth's home run record. We followed the Pittsburgh Pirates at that time, so we were aware of players, especially those in the National League with the Pirates. Aaron was called Hammerin' Hank and some of his hitting records still hold to today. 

And now for the question, no one may be interested in but me,

How did your exercise go last week?

 Since retirement, I have focused on getting more exercise. I post weekly updates here to hold myself accountable and see my progress.

I developed a cold last week, which slowed me down on my exercise goals. But I did some kind of movement most days, and I'm happy with the effort.

Saturday, April 12, 2025

Free Day: I didn't attend a class at the gym this morning due to an eye appointment. But as it turns out, I had the day wrong, and it's next week. Oh, well. I wasn't particularly active today. Theo came over during the afternoon to cook (chicken tetrazzini), and the cold, rainy weather suggested that that time on the couch with a book and some TV was the right thing to do.

Sunday, April 13, 2025

LIIT (Low-Intensity Interval Training): I met a new instructor today who is a favorite of Ward's, and I see why. She almost made the intense workout bearable. Besides the usual shoulder and leg work, there was more focused ab work than I get sometimes. I was tired from class for the rest of the day, but not so much that I just wanted to lie around, as I had on other occasions. That is either because I have learned to pace myself better or my fitness is improving. Or maybe a little of both.

Monday, April 14, 2025

Strong and Balanced: I felt some soreness today from yesterday's class, especially in my abs, but it was not too bad. This instructor continues to find ways to make the class fun. Today, we did the YMCA dance with weighted balls. She reminds me of when I was doing storytimes and was always trying to think of different ways to do things. The important thing is that after LIIT classes before, I've been too sore to do anything the next day, but not today. That's progress.

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Line Dancing: I wasn't feeling the class today. My legs were sore from the last couple of days of exercise, and I fatigued quickly. Near the end, I was getting a headache and ready to be done. I think all the pollen is wearing me down, but I managed to get a decent amount of movement.

Wednesday, April 15, 2025

Free Day: It turns out that it was maybe more than pollen wearing me down. I have a mild chest cold, so I took it easy today. I got in about 1/2 hour of ballroom practice. Nothing vigorous, but it did get me up off the couch.

Thursday, April 16, 2025

Walking: Until I see how this cold is going to play out, I didn't think that I should do anything at the gym. However, I walked extra aisles while shopping and took a neighborhood walk later. I ended up with 12,000 steps for the day, so I'm happy with that.

Friday, April 17, 2025

Free Day: I usually go to Strong and Balanced today, but decided not to because of my cold. The class isn't too intense, so I probably would have done okay with it, but I didn't think it was the right thing to do for the other participants. I certainly wouldn't want someone with a cough like mine standing next to me. Instead, Ward and I went to a park with a historic house, hoping to get some exercise by walking. It turns out the park wasn't that big, and we spent most of the time in the mansion learning about its history. Interesting, but not much movement. In the evening, I took a one-mile walk around the neighborhood at a decent pace, and hills had me huffing and puffing. It wasn't a big movement day, but I'm happy with it because I took the evening walk, even though I didn't want to.

Until next time...

P is for Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery might be better referred to as cosmetic surgery or perhaps reconstructive surgery, but I already had this planned for P, so plastic surgery it is. But, I'm going to say cosmetic surgery from here on out. Simply put, cosmetic surgery is defined as surgery performed for aesthetic purposes rather than medical health.

Recently, I heard of a cosmetic procedure that I found hard to believe. It's called Cinderella Surgery and involves altering feet so they will fit better into pointy, stiletto heels. The surgery can shorten or lengthen your toes, shave the bone on the sides of your feet to narrow them, and sometimes fat is injected into the ball of the foot, allowing you to stand longer in your heels.

While Cinderella Surgery is new to me, it's been around for a while. All the foot procedures mentioned above are sometimes used for painful medical conditions, but I'm not sure when they started being used for people who want to wear their heels for a long period of time. The obvious first question is, why don't you just change your shoes before you undergo dangerous surgery to wear shoes that weren't meant for human feet? 

I can't imagine wearing shoes shaped like this, so why do women do it? First of all, some designers said it was fashionable. Also, supposedly, they make your legs look longer and slimmer, your foot look smaller, and your bust and butt bigger. In other words, they make you look sexier. 

While high heels have been around for a long time, stilettos gained popularity in the 1950s with the advent of technology that allowed for a steel shaft to be inserted into the heel of the shoe. While they have always been around since then, stilettos have gone in and out of fashion, with the current trend starting about 25 years ago. It seems like it's about time for a change.

While this all seemed ridiculous to me, I took a moment and realized that people undergo all kinds of procedures for aesthetic reasons. A few that I've heard of are face lifts, breast augmentation, tummy tucks, butt implants/lifts and all kinds of fillers. I guess that each person has their reasons. If I'm being fair, I'm not the one to judge what someone else does with their body. I just don't always understand it.

Until next time...

Note: I recognize that many of these procedures are performed as reconstructive surgeries, not solely for aesthetic reasons. I'm only talking about the cosmetic ones. 

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a19900354/cosmetic-foot-surgery/ 2014

https://www.mymed.com/aesthetic-medicine/cinderella-surgery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiletto_heel

O is for Other Ways of Doing Things

For many, some parts of Easter are taking on a different look this year. With the soaring price of eggs, traditional coloring and decorating eggs are not happening. Well, some clever people out there are dying potatoes instead. Ward first told me about the Easter potatoes, and I was intrigued. After some Google research, I decided to try it and reserve my eggs for Easter brunch.

Most videos I saw involved putting drops of coloring on the potato and then painting. There were a couple of videos in which the potato was put in a cup of dye and magically pulled out colored. I tried that method first because it seemed the easiest, or maybe it was just the most familiar. 

I had some baby potatoes in the pantry and pulled out the light-colored ones to use. I mixed up the dye according to the directions and then soaked the potatoes in it. I checked after 10 minutes and didn't see much change, so I put more dye in and waited another half hour.

Here are the results. The potato on the right was supposed to be purple, having soaked in both the red and blue dyes. I was underwhelmed with the results.

Next, I got out some watercolor paints that Ward had used in a woodworking project. I tried various combinations and came up with some interesting results. 

After running out of potatoes, I looked around to see what else I could dye and dyed a few nuts. If I had more to work with, I think I could have perfected my color combinations with the liquid and paste paints. But that was it, and I wasn't going to buy any more potatoes just for coloring. (That's Ward in the background eating chicken while watching me make a mess.)

So, I ended up with a dozen colored potatoes instead of a dozen colored eggs. 

Are you going to color eggs for Easter (assuming you celebrate Easter)?

Until next time...

N is for Never Have I Ever

Never Have I Ever is a game played with friends where one person says a thing they've never done, and then if someone else has, they get a point. Or take a drink. Never have I ever played the game, so I'm not sure. But now I'm going to play with a set of questions I cut and pasted from the internet. I wonder how I'll do since I'm playing against myself?  :)

1. Never have I ever learned a foreign language. I have studied several foreign languages, but I would say I never learned any of them. In high school, I had a year of French taught by one of the coaches. I still remember a few sentences, but that's about it. In college, I studied Russian for three years. Even though I got good grades and was in the Russian National Honor Society, I didn't learn it very well. I can't remember much Russian at this point. I also studied a year of Japanese, and I probably learned more in that year than I learned in any of the other languages I studied because of an excellent teacher. 

2. Never have I ever dropped acid. Nope, unless you count spilling some vinegar.

3. Never have I ever had a one-night stand. Nope.

4. Never have I ever read a partner's text messages. I do read Ward's text messages from time to time, especially if he's driving. However, I try to be respectful of his phone and don't regularly look at it.

5. Never have I ever read a partner's emails. Ward and I read each other's emails freely. Occasionally, we will tell the other to not look at them when there's communication about a gift. Ward doesn't check his email frequently, so because I check it, I can give him a heads up if there is something he needs to pay attention to.

6. Never have I ever been hospitalized for something other than giving birth or being born. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks when I was a baby for pneumonia, but nothing else since then except to have kids. I was in the emergency room once for amnesia but was not admitted. 

7. Never have I ever sang in public. I have sung in school and community plays, church, and at work. I like to sing, but have no training, meaning sometimes I'm sound pretty good and other times I'm a little pitchy.

8. Never have I ever played a musical instrument. When I was in school, I played the clarinet and saxophone in various groups. I played my sister's flute at home. I tried to teach myself to play guitar but never got past my fingers hurting on the strings.

There was good sledding after this snow.

9. Never have I ever gone snowboarding. Nope

10. Never have I ever gone skiing. Nope. The most I've done in snow is sledding.

11. Never have I ever traveled to a foreign country. I have not traveled extensively, but I've made it to a few countries, including Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, and Guatemala.

Until next time...

M is for More Book Reviews

 Here are more books I've read recently.

A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters, historical mystery, 1977

This is the first of 20 historical mysteries featuring the 12th-century Welsh monk Brother Cadfael. Kris recommended it in the comments on my last book review post. 

In this one, an ambitious priest wants to bring the remains of Saint Winifred from Wales to his abby in England. The town does not want to let her go, and a murder happens while the monks are in Wales to retrieve her. Through different deductions and tests, Brother Cadfael figures out who did it. 

I enjoyed the book but had some difficulty reading it, at least in the beginning. First, I was unfamiliar with the hierarchy and some of the religious practices of the Catholic church, especially in the 1100s. Next, the Welsh names and some of the local words were unfamiliar to me. However, about halfway through, I found a glossary in the back of the book with many of the Welsh words defined. 

The book was richer than the cozy mysteries I sometimes read, and I will add more Brother Cadfael books to the rotation when I'm in the mood for a mystery.

The Mayfair Bookshop by Eliza Knight, historical fiction, 2022.

Granny Sue recommended this book on her blog. She said it was the best book she had read in a while, so I put it on my list to read.

The Mayfair Bookshop is based on the life of Nancy Mitford and her family during WWII in England. The book follows Nancy through her younger, carefree days in a high-society family into a bad marriage and the horrors of WWII. While Nancy is loyal to England and tirelessly helps the war effort, some of her sisters are in Hitler's inner circles. This causes much strife in the family.

The book fluctuates between chapters about Nancy during WWII and the present day when Lucy is trying to solve the mystery of who Iris was in Nancy's life. The present-day story is less compelling than Nancy's, but it's okay.  

While the book is fiction, it is a fact-based story, including almost all names, dates, and places. The Mitfords were often in the newspaper for scandals and wrote copious letters, so much was known about them.  

I agree with Granny Sue and would recommend this book. I have requested Nancy's 1945 novel The Pursuit of Love from the library. It was her first commercially successful novel, and the Mayfair Bookshop describes the circumstances under which it was written. I am curious to see what I will think about it in the present day.

Note: Since I wrote this, I have read The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. The book focuses on the narrator, Fanny, and her cousin, Linda. Linda is a somewhat one-dimensional character who is in pursuit of love. Mitford is definitely writing about what she knows, and the characters in this book are recognizable from her family, with Linda being a combination of a couple of the Mitford girls. The book was okay, but I won't be reading the next one.

L is for Lips

 How about a little pop culture quiz about famous lips? See if you can guess whose lips these are.

1. These lips aggravate Marge.

2. Her lips have been used for international adoptions.

3. He used to play football, and these lips still talk about it.

4. Her lip kits made her hundreds of millions of dollars.
 Her famous family didn't hurt the business.

5. Only Wilbur knew these lips could talk.

6. His lips deliver the weather with a smile.

7. These lips have been an enigma since
they were painted over 500 years ago.

8. It's a myth that there were wooden dentures
behind these lips.

____________________________________________

Answers: 1. Homer Simpson, 2. Angelina Jolie, 3. Michael Strahan, 4. Kylie Jenner, 5. Mr. Ed, 6. Al Roker, 7. Mona Lisa, 8. George Washington

How did you do?

Until next time...