Still Raining, Sunshine in a week

As all of us locals know, IT'S STILL RAINING! and now freezing, with my lack of balance, think skipping the paper is probably a good idea for a while.  I don't really want to become one of those old people that sit in the house bitching about the weather, will probably venture out later.  Shannon is coming home for the day.  Her needs are simple and repetitive. Music, TV and movies are a requirement as well as lunch planning and dinner planning.  When all those are met, she is a happy camper.

My house is filled with computers for use and for repair.  My wife is a dogged repair person and will work on one of these machines until its fixed.  I wish I possessed her fortitude.  After a while and many attempts without success, it would be rolled into the trash.  She has been collaborating with my daughter on college work and occasionally, I will provide a word or phrase to complete a thought. 

My attention span is getting shorter and I have a tendency to scan rather than read material missing the core content.  This writing seems to help. Thoughts get completed and embellished upon.  Feelings and opinions are committed to paper.  We spend a lot of time with our grand children and one of the projects we do is to write stories.  I tell them they can say whatever they want and I will put it in a Word document.  We find images of the stuff in the story in stock photos and insert them in the story.  Many times the story goes all over the place but that's fine.  Its theirs, they own it and can look back.

Marie and I had a date nite last night.  She is 7 and one of the lights of my life.  She called me and asked if we could go to Toys R Us because she had her own money and wanted to shop.  This is a girl that has a tough time making a purchasing decision.  She weighs the cost of items and looks for what she can afford.  After poring over the numerous selections at the store, she finally selected 3 small items and we were off.  I was please that it only took about 45 minutes and she was satisfied with her choices.  There is a Panera bake shop in the vicinity, her favorite place to eat and we got a cookie and ate it the place.  It was a pleasant visit and soon we were off to drop her off.  I bought a cookie for Eli her brother and he too was quite pleased.  All in all a good night.

that's it for now

April 2018

We are now in the middle of April and its a rarity to have temps in the 50's.  The rain has become more or less a constant.  Needless to say it is miserable outside, and becoming more and more annoying. However, its raining on everyone.  Soccer games have been cancelled with the fields being underwater and most of us are holed up inside watching movies. I have been doing my favorite hobby, inventive cooking all day. I love to experiment with core recipes adding or altering ingredients. Made roasted potatoes and oatmeal bars that I can eat, because Splenda brown sugar is used.

Due to my burgeoning lack of balance, I fell recently and injured both hands.  Head and architecture is ok but my hands are still sore but improving.  

The son of our across the street neighbor is a documentary film maker.  We saw his production, "Michigan Divided"  last night at the Senior Center.  It is a thought provoking look at the divisions of opinion in our state regarding the direction of our government, both nationally and statewide.  It featured the thoughts of eleven Michigan citizens (or couples) from around the state.  Some of the folks I liked and some I did not.  But none the less, the viewer is forced to watch participants they do not agree with and evaluate their comments.  There was no antagonizing or shouting.  Anyway, should you get the opportunity to see this film, do it.  It is a production of Bridge Magazine, an online publication.

I found a book from 1953 a couple of days ago on winning at baseball, pretty interesting from the historical look.  Sending it to my baseball coach nephew in NJ. Think he will find it entertaining. 

We have a new boss at Staples,  my favorite boss left the retail rat race to manage a frozen custard shop.  It sounds like a good move for him.  The management beats on the store managers constantly to meet metrics.  It seems like all they get is abuse.  You can only handle it for so long.  I will miss working for him but wish him well.  The jury is out on the new guy at this point.  We all have to get used to each other.

I am planning on relaunching my yard work for seniors effort this spring on a limited basis.  The money is good and I really enjoy the work and the couple of ladies I work for.  When the weather breaks, I will start the spring cleanups.  

Our national leaders are getting less and less coherent and we continue to be mired in the personal drama of the President.  If it is the goal to be on every third sentence of a news broadcast at least, he is succeeding.  I don't care who he has slept with or when or what she is being paid.  All the media is focusing on the car wreck because it earns them viewers.  The whole thing is tiring.  In the meanwhile, Flint still needs clean water and the children of Detroit need to be able to read, to math and write at grade level.

all for now 

Entertaining end of February

There are not too many movies I would like to see these days.  Most are meant for devotees of action films or particularly gory adaptations.  We don't attend the movies much anymore aside from an occasional matinee.  We still need entertainment that won't break the bank.  We are turning to the small screen to accomplish this.  This photograph is stolen from some internet site and is a rendering of the invented New York Symphony playing for inmates at Rikers Island Detention Facility from the Amazon series "Mozart in the Jungle".  This episode was transcendent in that it was a real orchestra (Chelsea Symphony) playing for real inmates at Rikers.  The non musician actors were sitting in front and receiving most of the camera shots.  The piece played was a rarely heard or performed suite that was quite cacophonous but still interesting.  Members of the audience were interviewed post performance and gave moving impressions of what they heard.   

My favorite dramatic program has been "The Newsroom"and that continues to be so.   However Mozart has become a close second.

All for now

Snow....and more snow!

This is for my Michigan expats in San Francisco, Arizona and other places, no news or surprise for the rest of us residents.  The photo is from yesterday and I could have taken the same one today and probably tomorrow.  About nine inches dropped yesterday and we are having difficulty finding a place to put it.  However, we are a hardy lot and will soldier on thru the remainder of winter with hopes of the first pitch on opening day.

We have been watching the new Ann Curry show on PBS called "Till We Meet Again"  about people separated by many decades and great distance and the effort taken to bring them back together.  The newest program was about children that were born in Viet Nam during the war and their attempts to find important people in their past.  I find myself weeping thru the whole show.  There's that empathy thing again.  If your heart is not a stone and you have some tissues handy, watch this show either on Sundays or streaming.

We have a wonderful neighborhood where we help each other out, all shoveling each others snow and pushing cars when needed.  We are very comfortable here in this small life.

all for now

More February

I left my second workday this week at Staples last evening.  While in the breakroom (loaded with candy and other forbidden goodies),  I spoke with our newest employee in our copy/print center.  He is a larger man somewhere in his fifties with a shock of salt and pepper hair.  He speaks very accented English with some difficulty, looking for the right words to express his thoughts.  He arrived in this country 5 months ago from Moscow, being sponsored by his sister in law along with his wife and kids.  I asked him where he lived and if he had a long way to drive.  He said in Grosse Pointe Farms, which is a 40 minute drive to Clawson. 

He shared that he had been in this country for 5 months and that this was his first job since arriving.  Although this is a low paying job, it is a good place to work and start out, in that we have a great boss that is understanding of all kinds of people.  I am happy that Brian gave him the chance and this job.

I cannot even imagine uprooting my life and moving thousands of miles away to a different culture, a new language and people that will not always be kind and understanding to me or my family.  This takes great courage.  I will make sure I write to Brian to express my thanks to him for giving this new employee a chance to move forward in our country.  I will try to teach my grandchildren the concept of empathy as at guiding force in their lives,  something that is sorely lacking these days.

all for now

February 2018

I am happy to report that I am enjoying the benefits of the new tax program.  My hourly rate at Staples went from 9.23/hour to 9.35/hour.  By my calculations, that is 12 cents.  I think I'll buy a new car.  Its snowing again in Royal Oak; one of the ongoing daylong events steadily piling up for us to shovel.  At least not too cold outside.  Harry is looking intently out the window.  He is not bothered in the least by the white stuff, running thru it with abandon. 

Its super bowl Sunday and we will be watching the grand kids so their parents can attend a party at friends house.  Really have little interest in the contest but am rooting for Philadelphia because they are the underdogs.

No Shannon this weekend due to the snow.  We cannot get her in and out of the car when the ground is slippery.  We went to see her last evening at her home and it was a pleasant occasion. 
all for now