Communicating or ….

White Boards

N°15 has long been known for its’ haphazard communications.

Whilst bringing up the family (two sons) with my husband it was one female to three males so things were quite often either mixed or totally misunderstood in between the lone female and the males. I realized later that one of the reasons we sister’s-in-law got on so well on both sides of the Atlantic was for the fact that at least with a sister-in-law around one had another female voice!

Then there were all the visitors: how to let them know either the rules of the kitchen, house, sleeping quarters, shower schedule, laundry use, etc. Again in the early days fairly easy as usually we were here at the same time.

Then I had my first, long-term housemate and we needed to be able to leave notes as we came and went. Thus started the white boards.

On that was electric-static in the downstairs’ toilet worked very well. We left messages, drawings and fun communications.

Then I found a small white board which was great for just the “hi, bye” type of communication but totally inadequate for what we developed. Enter the larger whiteboard laying on the entry-way table. They have all been fun, they are all hard to clean and they are at this very moment awaiting the next lot of messages. A synopsis of our busy lives, of those who come and go – as anyone entering the toilet feels driven to leave a message – in short a great way of communicating.

lg. entryway board - daily with current housemate

In the toilet - sayings, celebrations, thanks, visitor's additions

It’s the thought that counts or…

Perpetuating traditions.

It was only once my two sons were young adults that I realized that the only things they got from their parents for birthdays and Christmases were socks and underwear: any of the “good” presents that I had purchased were labeled as coming from the Godmother, the various Aunts and Uncles or the Grand Parents.

This became a tradition that I continued – ‘til this day, although as they are now young men I restrain myself to socks. They both have large feet and go through socks at an astonishing rate so it is fitting.

However, I hadn’t realized that the tables would be turned: I am the proud owner of a pair of socks from my last birthday.

Not only socks, but thanks to the colorblindness of the gift giver they are not the blue and green that he thought he had purchased, but rather a very flashy bright pink with a bit of yellow and lavender.

I wear them with PRIDE and GRATEFULNESS – it’s truly the thought that counts

 

Thanks and Survival

Ah the fun. We – my housemate and I – decided that to thank all those classmates of hers who were so present in her life during her recent health challenges we would throw a Thanksgiving party.

I, of course thought that I should add a few of my close friends as well as my older son and his girlfriend. By the time we were through we had a list of 20+, one non-turkey eater and a couple of vegetarians.

I – for reasons only known to my innermost psyche – had to have a proper sit-down Thanksgiving meal.

I also chose to be smart and ordered my turkeys – with stuffing – from the butcher where I have gotten them before. I mean setting up with only the two of us and making some of the food leaves no time for the continual basting and checking, never mind actually trying to get one in the oven then the second.

So we made pies (pumpkin, apple and pecan), cranberry sauce, Brussels sprouts, cookies, mac and cheese, gravy, and delegated other dishes to the guests. One of my guests very smartly also requested serving dishes thus eliminating part of the “receive, re-heat and plate” problems.

In the end three couldn’t come, but what a fine time the rest of us had! I did managed to create not only tables for sitting down, but also a table for snacks with cocktails and desserts at the end, but another table for the buffet set-up.

Relaxed, lots of laughter in spite of some of my wines being too old (one way to sort out a wine cellar). We only spent the whole day setting up. After the last guests we also got all the perishables into the refrigerator and I sent the two girls up to bed at half past midnight as they had a work-study all day the next day. I lasted a half-hour longer then toddled off myself. The next day whilst they were out I had the whole time to myself to leisurely finish off the wash up, the clean up, the break down of tables, the washing of table clothes and getting things back into their spots.

The house has never been so clean and orderly – always the plus of throwing a party.

Thanks: for all the support N received in the past three months; for the blessing of having friends and family celebrate the day together; for the privilege of having family and friends; for the pleasure of giving a party and I could go on and on and on.

Survived: enough said.

60 minutes of bliss…

Or the return to “normal” time.

Ah the preciousness of those 60 minutes once a year: I awoke promptly at 8:00 this morning then recalled – hey it’s only 7:00 actually!

An hour later I finally put my book down, snoozed a bit more then started my finally-a-calm-Sunday routine, ie. A bread pretzel (Bretzel to those in the know), peanut butter and orange marmalade (that is often a berry jelly) and pressed coffee (and no that doesn’t mean that I pressed coffee beans then poured water over them – a “French Press”).

After which if I looked at one clock it was almost 10, but if I chose to look at another only 9.

I love living like a schizophrenic for one day. As in order to get the full benefit of that extra hour I resist changes the few clocks that aren’t radio controlled until just before going to bed on Sunday night. A free hour on Monday is always worth more than on Sunday!

Jon Tyson on Unsplash

And due to recent discussions in Brussels I live in the hope that come Spring I will no longer have to “spring forward”. I’ll keep my hour thank you.

I want to pick and choose.

I love the fall, but when I awoke at my usual time to dark random thoughts flowed through my head.

Fall is my favorite season: the cooler temperatures, the colors, the clear sunny days (mostly that is and of course today isn’t one of them), the possibility of fires in the fireplace, the chestnuts: in short most everything. I even love the return to “normal” time.

So I’ll pick the fall as my favorite season, but choose longer days.

And even dead, beautiful leaves

I enjoy fruitcakes: I’ll pick the treat and keep nuts and raisins, but choose one without candied fruits.

Food is still a favorite item: I’ll pick the cheese cake, the lemon meringue pie, the champagne, but I’ll choose for them to be healthy and calorie free.

I enjoy having a pet and would love a dog, however my life as it is doesn’t allow for the necessary consistency: I’ll pick the animals, but choose cats.

Babette and Clea - sisters!

 Weather: I returned to Europe as I disliked seeing the sun every day – that still holds true, I love the seasons so I’ll pick them but choose to have my rain overnight, my fog briefly and my sun (in the summer) not to hot.

And a heart in every pool of water

I know that the world contains both good, bad and indifferent: I’ll pick to be here, but choose to only have the good (o.k. a spot of indifferent is acceptable).

Disease, illness, pain, and sorrow – they all hit us at some point in our lives: I’ll pick to be here, but choose for none of these to affect any of my family and friends.

It’s a New Day

The old adage “everything will seem better in the morning” is always true, unless one doesn’t sleep that night.

“A new day, a new dawn” from the Bible, and there are thousands of similar quotes from various well-known or little known or anonymous writers all on the same theme. In fact in trying to track down the original author of the first phrase the closest I came was C.S.Lewis.

Some authors say that it’s the greatest lie ever told, but for me it always works. A good sleep and even if all problems are not resolved they are either mitigated or easier to bear.

The last few weeks have been rather stressful but yesterday saw a young friend getting a diagnosis of Keratocystic Odontogenic Tumor – not cancer! It also saw my younger son off on another adventure, one that will hopefully suit him much better than his hometown.

I have managed to clear up a few tasks – always rewarding and reconnect with friends left to the side as I dealt with more urgent events.

Today is truly a new day as will be tomorrow, the next and the next. Grateful for the blessing of sleep and a cat on my typing arm!

And yes they are blurred pictures: I defy anyone to take a clear picture with a lousy cell phone one-handed...

7 or…

Numbers and me.

I have already written a blog – probably several even – about how I find coincidences in numbers, such as seeing the digital clock quite often when there is a double number, ie. 17:17, 21:21 and of course the best 22:22.

And if 3 is my personal favorite 7s have figured over abundantly in my life these past few weeks, months and days.

As this is also my 700^th blog it is only fitting that there have been so many sevens recently!

What fun to look at the car odometer and see the following just recently and, of course, to top it off – it isn’t so long ago that I celebrated that lovely 70^th birthday.

we won't mention the 666.6

Yikes, maybe I should pick another favorite number.

But then it’s fun collecting 7’s!