Hearts and Dollars

Happy Valentine's Day! My valentine and I exchanged boxes of candy and cards this morning so I allowed myself an after-breakfast treat. I will have to work hard not to supplement it with more treats just because it's a special day. I have absolutely no trouble finding a reason to make a day special enough to have chocolate. How about this-the laundry is all finished, folded and sitting on the bed ready to be put away. Let's celebrate with chocolate! Or maybe-it's time to watch another episode of "Harry's Law." Let's stop by the chocolate box on our way to the TV!

I have given Pat the same valentine for the fourth year now. It's one I made in 2007 and really liked so I just store it away and keep re-giving it to him on V. Day. He hasn't noticed yet. I wonder how many years I can keep this up? He always seems to enjoy it and comments on the fact that it's homemade.

So if I've saved some money with card giving, I certainly haven't with cell phone use. You need to know that I don't often have my phone on and really don't use it very much at all. But I turned it on Saturday as I was leaving the outlet mall in Woodburn and didn't get it thrown down on the seat in time. The officer caught me for that as well as for rolling through a stop sign. Uh-oh. I honestly didn't see the stop sign since I was just following a long queque of cars that seemed to be rolling along the same as I was. The officer didn't ticket me for the stop sign violation. But he certainly did find fault with the cell phone use, as well he should have. For someone who does not use this piece of technology all that much it still cost me $142.00. Guilty. No need to go to court. The check is in the mail. I will use my cell phone even less now or maybe I'll look into a hands free device since the car is such a good place to catch up on phone calls.

Radio Days

I am in the car much more often these days. And I seem to drive around at many of the same times. I always let the radio provide background sound for my wanderings and have found that I follow a listening pattern. Let me say that I just have a plain old am/fm radio in my car along with a CD player that I mainly use to play "Silly Tunes" for my grands and sometimes "The Best of BeeGees" for me. Okay. I do have some Beatles, Led Zeplin (is that spelled accurately?), Santana, Rod Stewart, Willy Nelson, etc. hanging around that I pop in and out depending on my mood. But I usually rely on the radio.
I always begin with NPR. I especially like "This American Life" on weekends and try to time my drives to Salem just so I can listen in. I get a kick out of "Car Talk" as well and like "Prairie Home Companion" once in a while, especially Guy Noir. "The Splendid Table" at 6:00 on Sunday evenings is a delight. If NPR is featuring a story set in the Middle East, I usually forgo it. I am tired of that part of the world. I also don't much listen to stories of countries whose locales I can't fathom. Features about The Netherlands or tropical sorts of places I do listen to. I'm not sure why. And I really like to listen to things about Alaska but not Sarah Palin. If NPR is not up to my preference, I switch immediately to the classical station. I have some favorites here as well. I'm in if it's Mozart, Beethoven, just about anything done by the St. Johns Wood Orchestra (again I'm guessing at titles here), guitar players and even Saturday morning opera once in a great while. But if the music is beyond my appreciation (string instruments slicing off what sounds like uneven notes to me) I'm out of it and on to "Mark and Brian" unless they are in one of their too offensive for me bits. Can't handle that stuff anymore unless it's really funny.
And here's my big confession: before she was kicked off the air, I was absolutely fascinated with Dr. Laura and the snide, disrespectful, obnoxious way she had with her callers. I would actually talk out loud to her reminding her that some mothers do indeed need to work full time and that ready sex isn't necessarily what women with straying husbands should counter with. She really made me laugh. I miss her. But thank goodness for NPR and the classical station along with KINK and the oldies but goodies stations. (And along the same lines, I find it amazing that I sometimes hear The Rolling Stones in the grocery store.)

Old Dogs and Their Tricks

My grand daughter Mary brought a set of jacks home from school today. She didn't know what they were so I explained and tried my hand at showing her how to play. I told her how "onesies" leads to "twosies" and so on as long as the player is successful in scooping up the correct number of jacks while the ball is in the air. I was a whiz at jacks when I was her age. I could hardly wait to impress her with my skill and fancy finger dexterity as I scooped up to "tensies." I didn't count on my astigmatism being quite as bad as it is or the fact that I'm getting accustomed to new, stronger glasses. I didn't factor in that the new ball is a plastic version of the very old rubber one that was much easier to control. Needless to say, there was no big show of Granny's ability as a queen of jacks. Mary kindly understood that my eyesight wasn't what it used to be and then was mightily impressed with how I can twirl a jack until it spins almost endlessly on the table top. Add another spinner and then another and, wow, Granny rules.

Eeny Beeny Bits of Time

Time takes on such new meanings when one isn't required to report to work. (That's just more comfortable for me to say instead of "when one is retired.") There are the regular, mundane chores and activities that need to be attended to daily and the same amount of time is used to perform them as when working. One can actually spend more time on some leisure activities such as solving the daily crossword or watching an extra program on HGTV. But it's the little increments of time that are beginning to stand out. For example, I have started allotting myself one hour to work on the new book; maybe 45 minutes mastering the brkyobrk stitch in knitting (which I have been thinking about A LOT lately; and perhaps setting aside 45-60 minutes to read during the day. I've never had to do this before. I just worked on those things of pleasure as time for them presented itself. Not so now. I even find myself micro-managing my very minutes of free time. An example might be: I will allow myself the time while my tea is steeping to look at my new recipe book. That may help me to decide what to cook when Lee and JoAnn come for card night next Tuesday. Or maybe I'll set up something like this: After I clean two bathrooms I can check my e-mail. As I mentioned, time management has drastically changed now that I don't have to factor in school work. This is quite fun. Now I have to find a video about that knitting stitch I've been thinking about.

The Year of the Pika

1/1/11: Who can resist writing this date? I certainly don't want to miss this one time opportunity. Among other things, the New Year reminds me of calendars and, therefore, of time management and how things will be now that I'm practicing retirement. I've already hung up our new Linnea calendar just as I've done every January First since 2004. I can't resist the art work and I like the tradition of using the same artistic reference year after year. But doing so prohibits the use of any other kind of calendar and the market place is stuffed with them. You can even get one for 50% off right now and maybe even 75% off if you wait another week or so. Can you even believe how many interesting, beautiful, amusing, unusual and ridiculous calendar subjects there are to be had? If not, just wander over to the kiosk at your nearest mall and study the choices.
No resolutions for me. I think we've all scared ourselves off this traditional practice because it's so difficult to determine goals or dreams as we experience our in-the-moment kind of lives. Instead, I like to think ahead about what MIGHT or COULD happen this year if I gather up just the right amount of energy and point it in just the right direction. Working toward that end, Bobbie and I have started a new writing adventure about pikas hence the title of this entry. She's done lots of field work. I took one amazing trip into the high country to see this little critter in its natural habitat and I'll take a few more in order to totally absorb their special environment. I've even done a little research and started the first part of the text. The focus of this project is becoming more finely tuned as the days go by and I'll get back to you about our progress. Happy New Year!

Holiday Interval

In between tree and stay-up -til-midnight time is this lull that prepares us to ease back into the non-holiday world of January. I've enjoyed the usual things that I enjoy about Christmas-lights, cards, decorations, gathering of friends, the fun food. The music is not so fun unless I listen to the classical station and hear beautiful sounds that seem so Christmasy but are less familiar. I confess: I get tired of hearing "Jingle Bells." And, while I'm being honest, having 64 Christmases under my belt has made me just ever so blase about it all. But two events really stand out just as two or so events stand out every year. They are the happenings that make each holiday season special in its own way. This year the stand-outs were Christmas day brunch AND dinner with our friends Ed and Penny and our family gathering at Amy's house which was all pleasant and devoid of any sweaty family drama.
I'm wrong. There were three outstanding events. Another notable time was the card making party I had with my beloved women relatives from the Woodland, WA area. I have come to absolutely cherish these girls and get as excited as a little kid to spend time with them.
So that "little kid at Christmas" feeling was there more than I thought it was. The camaraderie of friends twice in one day, the family at peace watching the grandgirls enjoy the magic of Christmas and the excitement of being with my favorite relatives made this Christmas as special as all the others.

Good-by Owl

Three last venues stimulated and amused us. The Leach Botanical Garden was a beautiful setting. We offered books from our festive table in the Manor House and absorbed huge quantities of good energy emanating from all the volunteers who maintain this facility and sponsor the Holiday Sale. My grandgirls visited and fell in love with the place and enjoyed the roles of "models" as the media representative snapped fun photos of them. We left happy and still basking in the goodwill that fills all the nooks and crannies both inside and out of this lovely place.
The next place was fascinating. We were invited to participate with 40 or so other Oregon authors at the Holiday Cheer Book Sale at the Oregon Historical Society. This was by far my favorite experience in book peddling. We sat by and near big name writers like Robert Michael Pyle, Brian Doyle, Sarah Lee Lawrence, and the great Ursula K. LeGuin along with the always around Gerry Frank, the noted mystery writer Philip Mongolin and many interesting others. I was truly thrilled. These people are my life long heroes. I've seen LeGuin many times around town and have always wanted to speak to her so I took my chance toward the end of the day and approached her as she was gathering up to leave. I shook her hand and just said, "Thank you. I've taught your stories for years and years." She understood exactly what I was saying and returned a firm shake along with a winkly,"You're welcome." We sold lots of books and went home exhilarated by this academic setting of a book sale that was attended by many well-turned out Portlanders.
Our last venue was at the Holiday Market in Eugene. A special big room was set aside for books and authors with the usual Saturday Market to one side and the holiday artists and crafters to the other side. And we got to look at Eugene all day. All the old hippies were out joined by new age punkers threading their way through the throngs of university students and holiday shoppers of all shapes and sizes. Even the Fairy Lady strolled about sprinkling fairy blessings on vendors and shoppers alike. Again we sat in between two well known Oregon writers and sold plenty of books ourselves. During the day, we ate fabulous organic pasties, sampled lush chocolates and had a couple good opportunities to eyeball all the wares of the Market as we made our way through the wafts of incense and homemade soap.
What a day and what a way to experience our last official sale of the good little book called Owl Grove. Good-by to that magical place and we are already in the early stages of our new adventure. I hope to make an announcement soon.