Norms Bait and Tackle

[Marilyne]

Mary Ann, could the name possibly have been Isolda CY?   That was one of the names that I saw last night on the Marine Traffic cam, but . . .  I didn't think that could be it, because it was shown on the map on the other side of the locks, as if it hadn't entered yet.  I knew this ship had been through the locks, and was on it's way out.  CY looks like Cypress?

[Lindancer]

Good evening  sunny and no wind all day.    Now they are saying rain for Monday and Tuesday.

Larry, I bought my Featherweight in 1947. Dennis was 2 month old. It still was in fine working order when I gave it to my DIL.  They don't make anything all metal nowadays

[Mary Ann]

Marilyn, I think that might have been it.  I'll see if I can find something about it and get back here.

Mary Ann

[Mary Ann]

Marilyn, I think Isolda is it.  I tried to copy a picture of it but it would not Paste.  The ship did have Polsteam on its side.  I'll go back to see if I can give you directions to get there - it's not hard!
*************************************************************************************
Click on the Soo map.  Click on Explore data.  Click on Vessels.  Type in Isolda.  Under the photo it shows 130 photos (that gets hidden sometimes).  Scroll down to pics and the third from the left is a good pic that shows Polsteam on the side.  There is other info available but I did not look at it.

Mary Ann

[Marilyne]

Mary Ann, I'm embarrassed to say, that no matter how many  times I followed your directions, I never got past "Click on the Soo map". Never saw "Expore data", et al it's okay though, because I'm sure that the boat I saw leaving the locks, is the Isolda. On the Marine map last night, it looked like the Isolda was ready to enter the locks, not already through the locks and moving out!  Since it was the only boat around, I wrote down the name anyway, just in case. 

I haven't looked tonight to see what's going on, but will check things out after I leave S&F.  I hope you enjoyed your first day of Standard time?  it does seem like a very long day.

That reminds me . . . here in California, we will be voting Tuesday, on whether to have year around Daylight Saving Time.  I haven't decided yet how I'm going to vote.   If we were voting on year 'round Standard time, I would definitely vote YES.  Although I dislike switching back and forth, I'm not sure if I want DST all the time?  It will be interesting to see how the vote turns out.

Okay, it worked! I went back and tried again, and everything ran smoothly, according to directions!  Yes, Isolda, is definitely the boat I saw last night!   

[larryhanna]

Hi Everyone. The weather report says it will be a cloudy day today with a small chance of rain late this afternoon.  One of my coffee drinking friends has been very ill and he passed away a couple of days ago and so plan on attending the Memorial Service at 1 pm.  Scott said he would come over later this morning and set up the new color laser printer that was delivered on Sunday and do a couple of other installation jobs for us. We got the last pull out shelf we need to put in the cabinet that holds Pat's sink in the master bathroom and the longer black out curtain came a few days ago so he will put those up for us. I have a friend who should be here in a few minutes to work with me for an hour.

We did have a very nice Church Service yesterday as it was All Saints Day and the day we remember our lost loved ones and especially the member of our Church who have died in the last year and there were quite a number of them. The service started with a bell ceremony and then later there was a litany in recognition of the lost members and as each name was read a small candle was lit while our bell choir played quietly in the background.   

Patricia, thanks for the info on how the military usually appear off base in terms of dress. 

Mary Ann, it is always good to be out before any rain or snow starts. Glad you and Dot were able to attend Church and then eat out and visit.  I notice the children in our Church service are also well behaved.  I especially enjoy our Children's Sermon as you never know what the little ones are going to say or do.  After the children's sermon the children go to Children's Church or go back and sit with their parents. 

Marilyne, that extra hour of sleep must have done you well if you had more energy yesterday.  I wish we would change to either keep DST year round or the other time all year round.  I read yesterday that it wasn't the farmers that wanted DST but it was the golfers so they could start earlier.  I have no idea whether that is true or not (although I did read it on the Internet so it certainly must be true). 

deAngel, you are right about things being built better years ago and thus lasting a longer time like the Featherweight's.  I was happy that I could finally fulfill one of Pat's dreams and get the Featherweight for her.   

[Mary Ann]

Larry, sorry you lost a former coffee drinking friend.  Those two young girls who were so well-behaved yesterday were the minister's grandchildren.  They sat with his wife.  I never heard a peep from them.  Radar looks as if we will get some rain today.  We are at 45 degrees so may get up to 50 degrees.  Heat wave!!!  Tom signed up to be a substitute teacher and today is his first day.  He is at a nearby school of fifth graders.  Subs don't have to know the subject of their class but just supervise.  The pay isn't what he had hoped, but it's more than if he didn't work at all.  And more interesting than trying to recruit semi drivers.  Or driving for Uber.

We celebrated All Saints Day too with white roses for each of the deceased people.  As their names were read, the organist played a bell tone on the organ. 

I would prefer Standard time if we were to make a change.  I'm sure we were on CST when I was young enough to recognize that time zone we were in, but for a long time we've been on Eastern time.  We are at the Western edge of Eastern time and 1,000 miles from New York and Maine.  I have no idea how wide other zones are.

Marilyn, I am sure, too, that the Isolda was the ship both of us saw in the lock that night.  I click on a lot of things to learn more about the ships - other things too.

Mary Ann

[angelface555]

Good morning from the nearly snowless, icy Interior. No new weather developments as it just says almost the same as the week before. I did get out to play some cards yesterday and will be out again this afternoon.

There will be a textile exhibition this week, and the local quilting group generally has a showing among those participating as well as the local painter's guild will be exhibiting on Friday through Sunday at Alaslaland's Pioneer Park. There will also be a five-piece string ensemble from the university's main orchestra but I may bow out of that one. Winter activities always seem more; I don't know, less casual than other seasons. And I'm more laid back.

Larry, I'm sorry to read you lost a coffee friend. This part of the state was managed by the military as a territory purchased from Russia and in the early nineteen hundreds, during the wars and also for building interstate highways which as a result are named after military men.

While in the midst of the cold wars, more forts were built and more defenses brought in. Often when they announce base deactivations and closings, local leaders and governments work to keep them open and to bid for more such as the new fighter squadron being brought here at one of the local air force bases or buildups at the missile base. It was an economy before the oil discoveries as much as tourism and will probably still be after the oil is drained and gone due to various nations jockeying for their share of oil and natural gas around the pole as the ice recedes even more.

We used to have four state time zones until political and business leaders in the late fifties and early sixties wanted to have the entire state on the same time zone as Seattle and that area to facilitate more business. Now it is usual to see the sun directly overhead at three in the afternoon rather than at noon.

MaryAnn, I hope Tom does well at substituting. I was looking into it part-time before I decided to retire fully as here you only need a degree of some sort. However, a friend who did some after retirement substituting ended up in classes such as chemistry or physics and he just had a degree in English and Literature, and that had been forty years previous. I wasn't up to that or probably maintaining order and decided against it.

[Mary Ann]

Patricia, Tom has a MDiv degree.  That and $2.50 will get you a cup of coffee.  Tom claims you don't have to have knowledge of the subject, just show up and keep things orderly.  Since this is his first day, we'll see how things worked out when he returns home.  He has subbed before, but up in the Petoskey area where he lived for several years.  Tom has requested that I make any appointments on Tuesday or Thursday and I can do that.  I did just make an appointment with a plumber for Wednesday afternoon but I have a dental appointment that morning, so I did not think that would upset things.  From here on in, I'll make any appointments on Tuesday or Thursday.

Mary Ann

[angelface555]

MaryAnn I have a two-year history degree in how population corridors and wars shaped the city-states and a four-year general European history degree from the seventies, (I worked for the University at the time in Media Services and was able to get many classes free due to a loose assumption that it related to my position). Beyond that, I paid for it.

In the late eighties, to mid-nineties, to bolster my employment, I took courses in computerized accounting, small business admins, and business methods and communications. My entire career was spent in retail or hospitality industries middle management, so I'm not sure if all of that would buy me a cup of coffee either.

If I had known better, I would have gone to a good trade school for refrigeration courses, or robotics or computer development and languages for finding and having a good career. They do say that hindsight is the best foresight, don't they?

[Mary Ann]

Patricia, I don't have any type of degree; Norm and I were the only ones who did not go to college, all of our cousins did.  I did go one semester, but that was when my mother died and I did not want to go back to school, so I got the job where I spent the next 43+ years.

I was not/am not dumb and I took to office work quickly.  I had taken typing in school and I've become a fair typist over the last 75+ years.  Looking back (hindsight), if I had known how much I enjoyed the office work, I would have taken more office related courses in high school.  The idea was that my folks would put me through college and I was going to be a math teacher (and that is a big laugh), I'd get a job and I would put Norm through college.  Really, I think both of us did well financially without college.  I did take shorthand that evolved into short longhand or long shorthand.  It served me well for the 25 years I worked for one man, however, we usually talked about what he might write, then I composed the message.  The rest of the time, I didn't need it.  I think I am a better typist now after years of computing than I was before.  I learned the computer shortly before I retired and bought a computer at that time and I've never been without a computer since. 

I took to the computer like a duck takes to water!

Lake Michigan is pretty today with leaves turning color and the whitecaps.

Mary Ann

[angelface555]

MaryAnn, I was more of a religious typist, (Seek, and you shall find); and I never learned shorthand. I was more of a floor manager, and about the only office work I did was in the cash office or dividing the work hours allocated to my department by the number of staff I had available. If I had thought to take typing, shorthand or any economic classes offered in school, I would have done better for myself and family.

My most extended employment was twelve years with an import/export store, and others were more in the realm of five to eight years.

The history classes were what I was interested in and not very helpful in earning a living while the later levels were an attempt to raise my pay grade. My problem was in not going for a degree or a set of courses towards an objective. Again, hindsight is the best foresight. If I had paid more attention, I would have a condo or a house with a yard instead of an apartment.

Those classes also wouldn't have prepared me for teaching or holding a class of children to their lesson plan.

[Marilyne]

Mary Ann, I didn't know what Mdiv was, so I looked it up.  Lots of information online, but it's rather vague, as to what a person with that degree does to make a living?  The most interesting to me, was that they could work somewhere as a counselor or therapist, helping people with their problems.  That sounds like it would be a worthy pursuit.  I have been impressed with how Tom is always ready and willing to help his friends, and listen to their troubles.

I have a BA college degree in Journalism, but I never pursued a career.  I did work on one daily newspaper for about a year, and then AJ and I married. He was drafted into the Army shortly after, and during those years, we lived wherever he was posted and I had various office jobs. 
I think you would have been a good journalism or English major, because you like to write and you do it well.

Patricia, European History sounds like it must have been an interesting major.  I think I would have liked that. Also, Art History would really interest me now, but back then it was not on my radar.  Just as well, because it's also a major that won't buy you a cup of coffee.
You mentioned Time Zones in an earlier post this morning, which reminded of my zone map.  I have this website bookmarked, because I like to refer to it, to keep track of the zones that the different S&F members are living in. 
https://www.timetemperature.com/tzus/time_zone.shtml   

     

[Mary Ann]

Patricia, when you think of it, we graduated from high school at age 18 and who really knew at that age what they wanted to do the rest of their working years.  I liked math and decided I wanted to be a math teacher.  Looking back, that is a big laugh.  I probably never got over 5' tall and by the time I would be teaching, boys were approaching 6' to 6'5" and can't you see little me trying to scold at 6+ footer; he'd laugh at me.  My dad retired in 1959 and it was about that time that students were starting to become more disruptive and parents stuck up for their children, right or wrong, and not the teachers.  Dad taught printing on presses and he did not have disruptive students, in fact, had good rapport with them.  Any way, he retired a year before he had to.  I kind of fell into office work and discovered I liked it

Marilyn, MDiv allows you to go into the ministry and Tom was youth pastor at a couple of churches and I don't know if it was his fault or the "old boy" network at the churches, but they did not review his performance at one church and told him they had paid all their bills and had no money to pay him at the second church - kind of Mickey Mouse operations.  He started selling computers and hooked up with a man who sold office equipment.  A man he sold a computer to asked him to join his organization and Tom was there for a few years and did well.  The company merged with another company and the office manager of the other company got Tom's job and his working life has gone downhill from there.  He has always been active in a church as he is now.  He holds a Bible study every Friday morning and most of his friends are church related.  Tom and I differ in religion and politics so we don't discuss them and we get along very well.

I write like I talk - blabbermouth.  I feel a necessity to give too much detail but I want others to know what I'm talking about.  I think it drove Norm nuts as he always interrupted me with "what's the point?"  In many things, personality, for instance, he took after my mother, but talking wasn't one of them.

Thanks for the compliment.

Mary Ann

[Mary Ann]

When I look at the number of posts, I see too many by Mary Ann.  I've got to slow down.

Tom said his day subbing at school went well, so well, in fact, that he has at least five more days booked.  I wondered how the teachers knew they were going to be sick in advance and he said there were things coming up - school related - that teachers go to.  They are delighted that there is a sub who can teach.  While he doesn't have a teacher's certificate, Tom is a good teacher, has patience and speaks clearly.

Mary Ann

[angelface555]

Marilyne, thanks for that site and hopefully it'll stop me counting on my fingers. What I liked about history is the same connection I love in genetics. In war and city-states, you have the corridors of human migration such as the Alaska land bridge, the Russian steppes and in out of Africa and into Asia, not counting the Polynesian and other people sailing the seas into the unknown.

They were hunter-gathers who stayed in an area until they depleted the resources and then moved on. After they learned to make fire and to garden, they started to remain in an area and perhaps either war with or join together with any previous inhabitants. As they became more numerous and extended their holdings, they began to join together for assistance and defense and established rules, quotas, and leaders. Their homes, tools, became stronger and more elaborate, walls going from earthenware trenches to rock and then stone and mortared walls. And so they evolved into city-states.

European history was more of a continuation during the final days of the Roman Empire and into Vikings, Germanic people, and Mongols. And further into Kings and Queens and Religion power plays and land grabs.

While none of this will get you that cup of coffee as about the only openings are for teachers, professors, and writers, minimal fields; it has always been fascinating for me. So much so that I finally stopped dithering and ordered my Ancestory.com kit and I received a note that it shipped today!

MaryAnn, I am blessed with friends, or they're tired of hearing it but Dora brought me a box of Bisquick and a friend whose daughter married a soldier, brought me a box of Jiffy All Purpose baking mix from when she drove her daughter to the military store and told her to look for it. So tomorrow, let the cooking begin!

[MarsGal]

Mary Ann, I know what you mean about talking. I was pretty quiet when I was young because I thought nobody cared about what I said. I had more than one occasion where I said something and was ignored, only to have someone a little later say the same thing and get a response. Anyway, eventually my tongue loosed up some, to the point that my Ex used to tell me I would say in a paragraph what could be said in a sentence. Progress of a sort, I suppose.

This morning I am getting used to a new pair of glasses. The prescription isn't too much different so it shouldn't take long. It is so nice to see through clear, unscratched lens again (the coating on the old pair was horribly scratched up).

[Mary Ann]

MarsGal, I used to be very quiet and even now, I can monopolize a conversation with one or two people, but with a half dozen, I just sit back and absorb the conversations, sometimes speaking up, most times not.  As you may have noticed, I do use many paragraphs instead of a sentence to say something.  I guess it's "Welcome to the Club".  I hope you get adjusted to your new glasses soon.

Patricia I'm glad to hear you are going to learn from whence you came.  It is just interesting to know, even if you already know.  They give you percentages and upgrade the percentages occasionally. 

What nice friends you have to give you Bisquick and Jiffy mixes.  I expect you will be baking up a storm now. 

Today is election day and I voted absentee but I haven't seen Tom yet this morning so I wonder if he's at the school waiting in line.  He could vote absentee but he likes the people interaction and he usually sees someone he knows because he was brought up in the Northview area and went to school where he votes.  A large turnout is expected.

It isn't a nice day, kind of damp, however, not raining at the moment.  An article in the news says by the weekend we might have snow.  It is 50 degrees here now, but supposed to go down, starting today.  I do not have to go out much so I can sit inside and watch the weather.  Kendrick will be glad to watch it with me; he does not like the cold and will not go out on the porch or deck.

Mary Ann

[Marilyne]

Marsgal - I can definitely relate . . . I was also one who didn’t talk much at all in a group situation. It seemed to me that no one was interested, or ever responded, to what I had to say, even if I asked a question - so I just gave up.  I’ve always been intrigued by the woman/girl, who could walk up and join the group, and all eyes would turn to her, and she would be immediately drawn right into the conversation. I did fine on a one-on-one basis, but in a larger group, I was, and still am, an observer and a listener.  I guess that’s why I tend to write too much on message boards . . . it’s my chance to be heard?

Mary Ann - We always go to the polling place on Election Day and vote in person.   Everyone I know, including our two daughters,  does the mail-in ballot, or goes to an early voting site. Why we have stuck to the old fashioned way of voting, I don't know? We mark our sample ballot at home, so it doesn't take long, once we get into that little voting booth.  Also, there is never a wait anymore, as I think most people vote early.

I hope Tom enjoys his second day of teaching, as much as he did his first.  It sounds like he has found something that fits him really well, and would be great if it turned into something permanent.

Patricia - Give me a box of Bisquick, and I'm a happy cook! Anything that cuts meal prep-time, is my friend in the kitchen.

[Mary Ann]

Tom didn't tell me he would be subbing today but he's been gone too long to have had breakfast and voted and he did say he had five jobs from yesterday's subbing.  He really enjoys it but he wishes the pay would be a little more. 

I just watched a ship go by on the near Soo channel, then it was in a lock and it lowered.  There was a tree in the way but most of the leaves are off so I could see pretty well.

When I was offered a chance to vote absentee, I took it.  Our lines were long and it has been very nice to not have to wait in line.  When I lived in the house where I grew up, we voted at the school a block away and I remember one year the line stretched out the door to the sidewalk and down to the corner street.  I was not part of that, but I either read or heard about it.  It was a presidential election year. 

Take a look at Grand Haven - many whitecaps to the edge of the screen.  Norm would love it.

Mary Ann

[Joy]

Good morning.  At least it is still morning right now here in the east for a little bit yet.

I had a busy day yesterday.  Got my hair done and then just had time to get some lunch when it was time for the exercise class.  I am sorry that it is only once a week, as it is fun. There were 8 of us there yesterday.

Came back upstairs and then it wasn't that long before it was time to start thinking about some dinner.  The afternoons always go by so fast.

Nothing special going on today.  I have a call in at a doctor's office and will probably have to wait all day for a return call.  I have to have a minor procedure next Wednesday and I have a few questions.  I will need to be put to sleep and I know I have to stop taking some of my medicine.  Just want to make sure I know exactly which ones. 

MaryAnn,  I, for one, don't think you talk too much.  I always enjoy all your postings.  I like to hear things about different parts of the country and what goes on with all the different friends in here.   I also really like to type.  And, I think I am a pretty good typist.  I did take that in school and I worked in an insurance company for a couple years after I got out of school.  Typing applications all day.  I still will type a letter most of the time.   I like the fact that if I write something that I don't like afterwards,  I can always delete that and change it.

It is kind of a dreary day here, also.  It seems that most of the time on Election Day,  the weather isn't always nice.  It sounds like it is going to be a record turnout by what the news people are predicting.  I have been voting by absentee ballot for several years now.   I wouldn't have any way to get there.  In years past,  the recreation girl that used to be here would take some of the residents to the polling place.  We do have a new girl now, but I didn't see any notice where she was going to provide that service this time. 

I see it is getting onto lunchtime.  Not sure what I will have to eat.  I have a nice big beefsteak tomato that I might make a sandwich with. 

Hope everyone will have a good day.

Joy

[FlaJean]

Our early voting started the 22nd and we voted then.  There was a small line.  My daughter and husband voted this morning.  We also always fill out our sample ballot before voting.  We use paper ballots here the same as we did in Ocala.

It is a dreary dayâ€"-dark and overcast and expecting rain.

Marilyne, our state passed a law to have daylight savings year round and Sen. Rubio submitted a bill to Congress and there it sits.  The change has to be approved by Congress even ‘tho the state wants the change.

[Mary Ann]

Joy, others have said they like what I and other write, especially when we go on and on.  I know I'm not the only one.  One day I looked at the number of posts and there aren't too many ahead of me.  It's the only way I can get my 2c worth in when there's a crowd!  Ha! 

I sent Tom a note as to his whereabouts and I have not heard from him so I can only assume he's subbing.  It was 5th graders yesterday (10 years old) but I don't know what else was on tap the rest of the week.  I only know that when I make appointments from here on in that I make them on Tuesday so he can sub Monday through Thursday.  He leads a Bible study Friday morning.  I know subbing is much more interesting than trying to recruit semi drivers, possibly even more interesting than Uber driving but he does get some interesting characters while driving.  His pet peeve is teen-aged drunk girls.

I think it is time I look for something to eat.  The only way you can shut me up!!!

Mary Ann

[Sandy]

Happy Voting DaY, everyone!!

Back in the good old days,  when I was young, 
children were to be "seen and not heard", 
especially if the chlidren were young girls...

An education was wasted on the gals in the family,
because of course,  they would be housewives and
expected to support their "husbands".. 

My father would not let my Mother work until
they got very old,  and she finally went to work
for a year or so,  but was too old to really be
able to handle the grind...   

Well I really avoided that trap....  starting with being
a lover of JFK....   (of course my family were "conservatives"
and like Nixon  (yuk)....   

I never went back to their old ways...  worked all my
life etc etc etc....   oh how times had changed. 

And are still changing ...   

HAPPY VOTING DAY,  everyone ... 
Fingers crossed that all goes well..
so that I can say
" " 
to that person looking back at me
in the mirror!!

Sandy

[angelface555]

Good midmorning from the Interior! Its cold out there, icy and minus four but an expectation of plus ten as a high. I go downstairs to vote as our polling place is in the security office where they can monitor any persons coming in to vote who aren't residents.

I'll be baking today thanks to kind friends who found me baking mix. There was a blurb on the news that some regular Thanksgiving items have run out, but evidently, the stores are working to get more in. I could have easily made my mix but am pleased not to have to!

I made arrangements to finally have my donations picked up and then I will be able to set up the two black folding tables and black tablecloths to have an office set up in one corner. I will no longer have everything scattered about but all in one place. Now I only need one desk chair, one wing chair, and a futon rather than a loveseat.

Farrah is very affectionate today as I have been in and out lately. I wish she would play more, but I've finally given up and am donating the toys she has no interest in.

As you see, I'm not one of the less is more club in posting. Around my childhood dinner table, there were lively discussions, and you were expected to back up what you said. Then in college came Speech class.

The first speech, my hands shook so much that the paper audibly rustled and my eyes darted about quickly. I still remember my professor giving my speech a C and an A+ for effort! I was terrified of standing in front of those three hundred students, but no one audibly laughed even a few encouraging smiles. In the end, I received a B in the class and hadn't stopped since!

Please don't censor your posts! I love to hear from all of you an miss Joan!

[angelface555]

Sandy, you should thank your family as they made you what you are today and that's a good thing!

[Lindancer]

Sandy, I did not go to work until my son went to college, and we took and extra mortgage My other son was 14 and unhappy with me going to work when he came home.  I worked in a hospital on the evening shift.

Mary Ann, I always look fore to your post and interested what you are doing.  We both have good nephews staying with us

[Mary Ann]

Thanks to everyone for encouraging my writing on and on.  And I'm glad I'm not the only one because I enjoy learning what everyone else is doing and learning about your past and present lives.

My mother did not work outside the home, but she was plenty busy because she was in the PTA at both my grade and high schools and she was in a Ten at church and worked at their projects.  Norm and I used to laugh at something you couldn't do today, but we had a front porch that had three pillars in the front corners and there was space at the top.  If Mother was gone, she would tie a corner of a hanky to a key and put the key in that space with the hanky hanging down so we could reach it.  Anyone could have gotten hold of that hanky but no one did.  I had more trouble when I was living alone there and I'd put the key (alone) in the mailbox that had an opening toward the bottom and a little boy up the street would take the key out.  It was hard to leave a key for any service person because Billy had the key!  We also had a multi fruit tree in the back yard and it was only about 8 or 10 feet tall, rather fragile.  Billy tried to climb the tree and you might guess he broke half of the branches.  I was glad to lose Billy when I moved to Belmont, a bedroom community.  I miss that house and it still is "home" to me.

Tom was subbing this morning as I finally suspected and did not like the class.  Whereas yesterday were 5th graders, these were high schoolers and not as controllable (I don't think the spell check is right).  He said he probably would not go there again.

Tomorrow morning I have a dentist appointment and in the afternoon a plumber is coming to see about our low water pressure that drives me crazy.  If it is something major, I know I'll have to pay through the nose, but I would like it fixed.  Tom should be here to take care of the lower level but if I have to, I'll go down to show the plumber where things are.

I took a nap this afternoon and Kendrick came to join me.  He's still there.

We are going to have Thanksgiving at James' in Holland and it will be on Friday or Saturday.  Alicia's parents are coming from Milwaukee so there will be six adults, maybe seven plus the twins.  I am paying for the turkey.
 
Mary Ann

[Marilyne]

Mary Ann - Yes, the wind is blowing and the waves are wild at Grand Haven! I see that the trees haven't lost their leaves yet, but I doubt there will be many left after today. 

Your upcoming Thanksgiving sounds nice and organized, with everything in place.  Wish I could say the same, but I don't know for sure how many people will be coming here, or if maybe we will go to son and dil's house.  Anyone who comes here will have to be contended with a turkey dinner from Whole Foods.  I can no longer deal with all or most of the cooking.  I doubt that I could even lift a turkey to prepare it for cooking. In fact I know I couldn't!  I have a difficult time with a half gallon of milk, or a grocery bag full of  food.

I like your story about the key and the handkerchief.  That makes me think about the fact that handkerchiefs are a thing of the past.  Remember when we all carried one in our purse, and all the men had one in their pocket.  Even as a little girl, I can remember having a "hankie" in my coat pocket.  I learned to iron, by starting with hankies, when I was young.  They were ironed in a little square, and then stacked in a dresser drawer.  The men's were a large size, and were ironed in a long shape. Now I'm going to think about them for the remainder of the day.    I still have some around here from long ago.

Sandy - Good to see you checking in.  I just got home from voting, and my polling place was very busy!  Tonight will be an interesting night to watch television, and see how things turn out . . . both here in California, and across the country.

Jean - I wonder how many other states have voted for year around DST, and then submitted the bill to Congress?  So if it passes here in CA, I guess we can expect a long wait before we ever hear about I again?

Patricia - I'm laughing at your early attempt at public speaking!  You didn't say if you got better in time?  I never got over my "stage fright", or whatever it's called when you panic at the thought of speaking in public.  I had to take speech class in high school and also in college, and I was no good!  Even standing up and saying a few words at a wedding or a funeral, is out of the question for me. 

I just realized that we didn't hear from Larry, this morning?  I hope he and Pat are okay?

[Vanilla-Jackie]

I am just off to bed as it is touching mid-night here in UK... but I had to stop and post the time ( two years ago ) when for the first time ever, I read a passage from the bible in my then new church...The bible reading I was told was the second hardest to read and to make matters worse for me, the Lady Bishop came to our church on that day, where a lot of preparation had taken place, and it was almost a full house...If you are wondering which verses I read it was from The New International Version Bible...ACTS 2 Versus 1 - 21...( The Holy Spirit Comes At Pentecost..) and would you believe I pulled it off, it was word perfect on the day...well I lost count of the times I practised it over and over at home and making many mistakes over the pronunciations of...Galileans - Parthians - Medes - Elamites - Mesopotamia - Judea - Cappadocia - Pontas - Asia - Phrygia -Pamphylia - Egypt - Lybia - Cyrene - Judaism - Cretans - Arabs...and these were just the versus from 7 - 12...
Going back to my school days, I was one of my classes top best readers and always enjoyed standing up in class reading to the rest of the classroom, but have to admit I was both excited and nervous on this special occasion in front of our visiting lady Bishop who incidentally I was introduced to whilst rehearsing as she walked in through the church door....