PNewL PNewS
Volume 24 Issue 3 “All the pnews that phits September
2016
Summer Stories
Good times in the Big City
Nora announced she was performing at Joe’s Pub in New York City and I
thought: let’s go. I suggested it to a few people and gradually there was a
swelling of interest. Every time I go to New York City, I wish I did it more
often. Maybe now I will. It was easy. We had a great time. A group of old
college friends wandering the streets, eating well and drinking plenty, seeing
a show, riding a boat, and walking walking walking. (My fitbit recorded over 18,000 steps a day.) The last night we were
there was Nora’s show. She was quite sick at the time and in a great deal of
pain so we didn’t get to see her anywhere except on stage. It was the
definition of bittersweet. I loved every minute and cried through most of it.
The sweetest part was that several of her performance students performed with
her, along with members of her family. She knew she didn’t have it in her to do
the whole show alone. Watching her protégés look to her and sing her songs was
heartwarming. It felt like they were showing us the future, in a nice way. Now,
a couple of months later, I have learned that she died yesterday. No words.
Thanks for a great show, my friend. I miss having you in the world.
Breakfast Meeting
I was invited to be an ambassador
for Habitat for Humanity at a breakfast meeting of members of the community.
I’ll do anything for Habitat but as soon as I said yes, I said to myself, what
were you thinking??? Strangers? At breakfast? Conversation with people I don’t
know?? Oh my. And as often happens at events I dread, it was great. Here were
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY people who were dressed and ready to face the day and
have interesting conversations at 7:30 in the morning. Who knew this kind of
thing was happening? Listening to community leaders talk about housing issues
facing our county was enlightening. The fact that folks representing all kinds
of different facets of the area were on a panel talking to each other gave me
hope. Sat across from a representative of UNCA who can connect Women Build with
college volunteers! People talking and listening…at whatever hour! Yay!
The Reluctant Gardener
Lately I have been planting and re-planting, and then there was the day
that Robin came over and helped weed (bless her patience and kindness and darn
her for noticing I needed help with the weeds…). Mostly it’s been kinda hot and
humid to be out in it. Whilst planting and re-planting—that is moving plants—I
was reminded of the rock problem we have. I planted a black eyed susan in the
“meadow” (where I am not mowing) and started to unearth a giant rock that might
come in handy somewhere when I realized I had probably used up my rock-moving
favors from my fabulous neighbor Jeff so I planted right up next to the rock.
In my yard, you have to learn to live with the hardships or move on—that’s what
I tell the plants as they go in.
That’s when I thought: I really
need a servant. Perhaps I was born in the wrong era. I keep thinking a lackey
would solve a lot of problems. Move that, climb up there, fetch this, chainsaw
that. Instead, things get left as is and that is not necessarily a good thing.
TV and the Olympics
I love the Olympics. I usually spend some large percentage of it in tears.
Joyful tears but often sloppy wet sobby kinds of tears. I love the pomp and
youthful enthusiasm. The striving and success, and of course, the failures too.
It’s inspiring and charming and so unlike much of what is going on in the news.
It’s a suspension of reality, or a different reality or both.
I have been kicking myself this
year as I canceled my contract with a satellite company that shall remain
nameless because I may say mean things and I don’t want them to come after me.
They raised their prices without telling me. When I called to say I couldn’t
get local channels any more which I was paying for, I was told I was only
subscribed to 120 channels so what did I expect. Only 120 channels—ya know when I was a kid… Anyway, enough was
enough. I quit. (Pardon—I think this is a repeat rant but it feels as good as
it did the first time.)
I thought I would miss it but I
have become happily addicted to Netflix and Amazon Prime and Acorn. I don’t
miss much…except for Survivor and a few others. And no commercials? Heaven. But
I didn’t get it together in time to re-subscribe so I could watch all of the
Olympics. Patsy thinks I should set my sights on reconnecting before the Fall
TV season begins. We shall see. Meanwhile, I signed up for a free quasi-legal
website which got me nothing. Then a 7-day trial with Sling TV which allowed me
to watch Venus Williams lose in a thrilling tennis match. (I had to put down my
knitting—I kept making mistakes…) But I will cancel that soon. (I subscribed for an additional month but really only watched a lot of HGTV.) I don’t know
what the answer to my TV dilemma is but hopefully I will have it figured out by
the Winter Olympics in Korea in 2018. Oh but wait—I’LL BE IN ANTARCTICA THEN!!!
Guess it’ll be the Summer games in 2020 (Tokyo).
First Day of School
My friend Henry, who lives next door, started kindergarten yesterday. All
last week, he kept saying he wasn’t going but apparently he did. And he had a
wonderful time, he said. A picture of him on Facebook showed a bigger than he
seemed just days ago little boy with the biggest darn grin. I am so relieved. I
am among a lot of people who are relieved (for so many reasons) by Back to
School, I gather. He was so full of himself and so smart and sassy, I sometimes
wonder how relieved the teachers are.
The Adventures with Foster Dogs,
cont’d.
Considering how much I was in town this summer (and what a long hot summer
it was though I think we got robbed of June. I have no memory of anything that
happened in June.), I was a slacker in the foster parenting department. We had
Sapphire, an adorable Chihuahua + something mix who wound up being adopted
while I sat at the office waiting to take her home, for just 24 hours. Why they
sent her home with me and over several emails determined she should come right
back, mystifies all of us.
This week, we have Mike, a large
happy pitbull dog of indeterminate age, but probably on the large puppy end. He
loves Roger who puts up with him part of the time and enjoys the rough housing
the rest of the time
Summer of Balls
My new favorite foods are balls. They freeze well and return to the
unfrozen world quickly. Perhaps I should do a cookbook. (I checked with Amazon
and there are many cookbooks for Ball canning, meatballs and cheese balls but
not covering the range of balls from my perspective.) Firstly, have you had
chicken meatballs? Best. Meat. Balls. Ever. They have, to my mouth, a very
different and wonderful consistency. I could eat them every day…and have on
occasion. Meatballs of turkey and beef are good too, of course, but
chickenballs are my current favorite.
Then there are what Pinterest
types call things like energy bites. They are balls, people. And yummy—and
practically good for you while giving the hint of sweetness that is essential
in life. Many are based on dates and nuts but the variety goes on from there.
My current favorites are “Liar’s Balls” (a take off on the Lara Bars available…
well, everywhere that I shop) and Lemon bites.
Things I am Learning
& Miscellaneous Observations
• My dad used to
carry a copy of the constitution with him--he used to pull it out and say, to
flight attendants and waiters and me, "When was the last time you read
this? This is great stuff!" or something like that. I think it may be the
same version Mr Khizr Khan, one of the speakers at Democratic Convention (it’s
been long enough you might have forgotten him and his 15 minutes of fame)
carries. Every time I hear stories of Mr Khan and his constitution, I wish Dad
were here to hear them. Recently realized it’s the 10th anniversary of Dad's
death. Wow. Seems like yesterday... and too long ago.
• We have a little
gathering we call Cocktails @ the Mailboxes when people in the ‘hood bring
their chairs and beverages and snacks down on an evening and enjoy each other’s
company. We have met in sun, sunset and rain. It’s a pretty friendly
experience. In September, we have a candidate for county commissioner coming. I
couldn’t face having a meet n greet at my house so offered this as an option.
She said she’d be there. One of my neighbors told me she thought I was a good
community organizer. I know many serious community organizers. I had to laugh
that I could be given that title simply because I had an idea and followed
through with it. All it takes is sending the email, and you too can be a
community organizer!
• Things that are
annoying me today (8/20/2016): fruit flies, my knitting injured thumb, Ryan
Lochte
(On the brighter side: the raspberries that just keep on coming,
butterflies that are attracted to flowers I’ve planted, Roger the dog)
• Did I mention I am going to Antarctica? After much noodling on websites
that offer such trips, we are signing on the dotted line this week. Sara, Betsy
and Peggy do Antarctica (and the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, oh my!). I
am calling us Team PBS. Jan-Feb 2018.
• It has been more fun than I expected having a young family next door. Watching
Tatum go from the 5+ pounder she was 10 months ago to the substantial almost
toddler today—and watching the aforementioned Henry (now 5) grow up has been fun and enlightening
and a good reminder why people are parents when they are young. Henry joins
Roger and me for walks sometimes. The other day he came up with a couple of
those “Kids Say the Darndest Things” lines. When I asked him if he thought
Roger was a good boy, he said, “Yes, he is SUCH a good boy.” And I looked at
him, and he said, “Well, that’s what you always say!” Then when he came into
the house unexpectedly, he looked around and said, “YOU have even more stuff
than ME!”
Guess you had to be there.
“When you do
everything yourself by hand and you put so many hours into something, it’s like
it has your hair inside, it has your tears inside, it has your food inside. The
work is really personal.” Sandra Backlund (at the Cooper Hewitt Museum)
