Follow that car . . .

When we left to visit J's mother, our grass was brown and crunchy. We were gone for six days and it did not rain a drop while we were away. At least, it didn't on our grass.

This was one of the few trips during which not a drop of rain fell on our moving vehicle. Nor on any parked ones that we could see, either.

However, we must have towed a vortex of moisture laden air behind us as we returned home. Perhaps it was lost and needed a hint. Because, last night it rained some - just enough to make the brown grass supple and give the occasional greenish blade some hope.

This morning it is spattering rain again and the ground is loving the idea of slowly taking it in.

So now we know. It must be true. If there isn't rain down here in the southern end of our state, we have to travel up there and guide it down . . .

More plans . . .

Today, our faithful transportation feels abandoned. We haven't been near it since we got home yesterday. Tomorrow, perhaps, I will climb aboard and see if it remembers the way to the supermarket.

Don't you just love planning ahead . . .

Plans . . .

The day we arrived at J's mother's home, we went to bed early because we wanted to. Well, okay, we needed to. In fact I could have put my head down any time and been gone. Thank Heaven for Starbucks.

On Mother's Day, we took J's mother and sister to a fine restaurant which gave each of the mothers a little something. It was a gift certificate usable on the next visit.

The day after Mother's Day, we had big plans. We were going to the bank and the post office.

I couldn't wait . . .

Most of the time . . .

Tomorrow we are Rock Fish Grilling for lunch with Zeta and M.

Since we are traveling on Friday, BigEd and Mew will be keeping each other company. She is pretty easy company. She mostly does this:
She is on top of the condo that J's mother brought her. She tried the various levels once each and decided she prefers the penthouse. We don't bother her while she is up there and she visibly relaxes when she jumps up.

I know, she is visibly relaxed most of the time unless she wants something . . .

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

01 Doc asked if there would be any pictures of what I have been doing in Origami class. I will try to put some here although I am still not used to Windows Vista. Above are some boxes that I am not too ashamed to acknowledge. The top row of boxes are the examples of reverse sides of the boxes on the bottom row. The triangular ones require three sheets of paper and the square one requires four pieces. They are docking boxes meaning that the parts have to be interlocked together. That is the most difficult part, for me. Technically, I understand that these are not pure origami. I don't mind as long as they are fun to do.

The first time I attempted a triangular box at home, the paper became so weakened from being refolded and manipulated that I finally crumpled it up and started over again. You know how practice can get some people to Carnegie Hall?

It can also get you some docking boxes . . .

Go see . . .

Zeta and M are thinking of getting back to normal after the long weekend of welcoming family and guests in conjunction with the wedding and reception. We had eclectic food choices in such quantities as to be simply amazing. The one of the best parts was seeing A's face when he discovered his brother had flown in to surprise him. M the younger flies back home tonight.

Zeta has some pictures up on her site. Go check 'em out . . .

Wedding report . . .

S-the-guru has many talents including being the official wedding photographer for today's festivities. I saw many of his shots in the camera and hope to see them on line as he posts them. Perhaps Zeta will display some, also.

It went so well, today. V was a lovely bride and A was funny and proud. His brother flew in as a surprise and when A saw that his brother had come, his face was a study in surprised delight. I knew he would be there and it was so difficult not to blurt out a teletale comment before hand.

We ate and ate at the reception. It was similar to the loaves and fishes in one way: lots left over. A had requested Mommas's broccoli casserole, especially. This time, I pounded Ritz crackers for the topping, which I seldom do and which is faithful to Mommas' version. They seemed to like it. They were surprised to hear that it was handed down from my mother. S said that it is now an old family recipe, for sure.

There was an eclectic selection of food, something for everyone. We had such a good time and so did everyone else. I may eat again tomorrow, or maybe not.

At any rate, early to bed sounds about right . . .

Tomorrow, tomorrow . . .

Tomorrow is the special day. There will be a wedding and a reception to celebrate. A and V will join their lives together. Family and friends will join their voices in celebratory toasts. Zeta and M will host the reception. They have been making preparations for weeks.

I hope the alterations to my suit will be ready this afternoon, as promised.

Nothing like doing things ahead of time . . .

A flight of . . . cranes

We have family members visiting from upstate: the capital to be exact. They arrived last night and we were so happy to have them here. We knew they had endured a long day of travel and still we kept them awake until after 1 a.m.. No one wanted to be the one to call it quits and retire. Finally, J said that they had to get some rest, so we let them do that.

Today, while they were out seeing other family members, I went to Origami class at the library. I had spent the whole week practicing three-part, triangular boxes and today we made star boxes and cranes, instead.

I have gotten fairly adept at the triangular boxes I had practiced: don't even need to consult the diagrams any more.


Today, we reverted to cranes. We need to practice the cranes, we were told. My crane's legs made him appear physically challeged. Actually handicapped to be uncorrect and explicit. The legs transform into a tail and head with some reverse folding. After I finished, he looked mentally challenged, as well.

Then we blew them up which means we inflated the little body. It didn't require the use of ordinance . . . although that might have been kinder.

This is the last time it gets its way . . .

The literature that accompanied the laptop trumpeted that it came with "Wireless N" technology. S-the-Guru explained that meant not "Wireless G." Hoot. Woot.

"What does that mean?" was our next question. Stronger, farther reaching wireless connection, explained S-the-Guru.

Since the two workstations are set up at diametrically opposite ends of the house, and since the signal has to penetrate what used to be the outside wall of the house, and mostly because the laptop wanted to try the new system, we went with Wireless N. This was a hard decision because Zeta and M offered us the use of a router they are not using. Free is as good as it gets. But the laptop had pleaded for the N and we are humoring it.

But this is the last time, no matter how hard it begs . . .

My eyes! My eyes!

It's not our electrical service or our telephone or DSL that is non-operational. It is the Comcast Cable service and our baseball team has an afternoon game, today. The outage is large which includes at least one node of circa 200 homes. Maybe more than one node is affected but the customer service reps don't really know. The really strange thing is that out of all the channels available to us on a usual day, only one has a picture at present.

This volunteer is the sole channel that shows Bambi and his relatives being brought down by sniper-scoped-appearing rifles borne by whispering trophy seekers. This is not my least favorite channel. It is a channel I would never watch.

Ironic, isn't it . . .

Terminal Cracks . . .

It is sad when something you like, something that works well, gets cracked. Our Rival Smart Crock Pot insert fits that profile exactly - including the cracks. No one knows how this happened. It just did. Sad, no? We have two crock pots and the other one is older, smaller, and also dumber.

I discovered the condition of the insert early in March. I telephoned the maker of our injured appliance after looking on line to see if there was a replacement insert and it appeared to be out of stock. After looking for himself, the customer service rep told me that the insert was unavailable at that time. (I knew this) It should be available for ordering in about 3 weeks, he said.

I put a note on the calendar to try again and forgot about it until today. I had saved the serial number of the crock pot and the serial number of the insert from the previous call. This might shorten the process, one would think. But, no. My call was placed on what appeared to be terminal hold.

When the person came back to the other end of the line, she apologized profusely. Not for the length of the hold, mind you, but for the fact that the replacement for my crock pot insert is no longer manufactured. She also apologized for my not having been told this when I called back in March. She did not know why it had happened but she had an idea how to remedy the matter.

She is having a whole new appliance sent instead of just the insert. Would I mind that the insert is a half-quart larger than the broken one? Uh, no I wouldn't mind.

It ships in 7-10 working days and a tracking number will be emailed to me.

I told the young woman that I found the whole thing a generous response to my problem. She seemed happy about that.

I know I am . . .

Flying . . .

S-the-Guru has grown up and got himself married while I wasn't looking. Yes I was there through most of that process. But, when he came over to work with our router setup, he was so competent and sure. I really don't like the word mature. It sounds a bit stodgy and staid to my ear. But he is mature now and is living proof that mature can be a dynamic status. He seems to enjoy where he is at this point in his life and I am so happy for him.

I was struck by how he has changed since he was the little guy I used to take to Tropical Elementary in the mornings. Or, later, watch while he orchestrated his Eagle Scout project and achieved that rank.

All eagles were fledglings once. Zeta and M did a good job. It is satisfying to see how an eagle can soar when the wings are spread and the wind comes . . .

The age of miracles . . .

This evening, after doing a long stretch at work, S-the-computer-guru came to our rescue. He not only made our wireless network impenetrable, he freed the PC from its slavery to hardwiring. With the purchase of a printserver, the printer can be wireless, too. I asked him what kind of printserver to buy. He specified a cheap one. He also told me that if we replace our printer, it should be capable of bluetooth.

I learned so much from him today.

I really do thank E for sparing him to do all this. They have evening plans for dinner and a movie with friends. I hope they have a wonderful time. They both deserve it.

Right now, BigEd and I are both surfing the 'net. Independently. At the same time. It's a miracle, I tell you.

Thanks fly out to Zeta, too, for facilitating changes to our plans when I called on her unexpectedly. Today was less convenient for S and for E than yesterday would have been. But he came anyway.

Bless 'em both . . .

Listen, just listen . . .

I have been living under a rock, one would think. Over the past few days, I have caught brief references to a Scots singer named Susan Boyle. This evening's news aired just a brief phrase from the performance that made her famous at her initial Britain's Got Talent appearance.

You Tube offers the entire performance including the skeptical expressions of the judges before she began to sing.

When she ended, I was in tears. What a voice. I surely do want to hear more from her.

As I said, under a rock . . .

The cavalry cometh . . .

Our computer guru, S, called me this afternoon and volunteered to come over and look at the router config. Don't uninstall the software from the laptop, he advised. Frankly, that really means don't mess it up any further until I get there.

But he is much too nice to say that . . .

Neat . . .

Today, I got my car back from the Zeta and M auto detailing service. They did such a wonderful job on it and even added windshield washer fluid, which was low. The gas tank was topped up over-full, too.

All in all, their customer service ethic is superb.

Thank you so much, Zeta and M.

Oops . . .

The new laptop may have been done a disservice when first I installed the wireless router using it instead of the PC. The laptop was hooked up to the docking station so it was connected via an ethernet cable.

A trial version of "Net Magic" came on the disk and I installed it, too. But, but, but, but, after switching the computers so that the PC was running the router and was hooked up to the ethernet cable, the laptop could not see the new network. Blind, it was, and pitiful.

During the laptop's install, it asked if I wanted to replace an existing router, I selected not to do that. So, hopefully, if I uninstall the new software from the laptop, the original Wireless N software that came with it will emerge glistening and shiny. One can hope. Otherwise, it will be either up to our own personal guru or the Geek Squad. It came with a Geek Squad setup system in the first place.

The router is lighted up and trying to be useful. But, not.

Details at eleven, or sometime . . .

Day past . . .

I have been collected like a parcel and conveyed to various places. First I conveyed my-own-self to Zeta's where she and I immersed ourselves in ribbons and wire. We had such a good time playing with color and textures. We even made an excursion to Michael's for more good stuff.

We sat near the back patio doors where two of Zeta's kitties were fascinated by what we were doing: trailing ribbon and empty ribbon spools rolling across the floor kept them entertained for hours. They were so exhausted by the activities they watched that they curled up like black and white commas on the mat and drifted to sleep.

Later, BigEd picked me up and, on the way home, we went by a new-to-us Chinese restaurant. BigEd went inside and asked for a menu.

We all decided to let the oriental establishment do our cooking that evening. BigEd went back to the place and brought home some Chicken Chow Mein, Moo Goo Gai Pan and Honey Garlic Chicken. It was delicious but contained more salt than I expected. It took a fair quantity of water to slake the thirst resulting from that deliciousness. I shall have to abstain, for a while.

But the day was so satisfying and productive. And the time? It had zipped and fled away from us.

It's a good day when that happens . . .

Dot and carry, dot and carry . . .

Yesterday, a barefoot fool went looking for something in our spare room which contains a bicycle among other oddments. This fool, standing by the side of the contraption, tried to get closer to it. The fool lifted two toenails: one all the way and one just a bit.

Today the doctor laid bare the toe with the most damage and cut back the nail of the second one.

No sandals for me at the wedding. They will be lucky if I don't wear one shoe and one bedroom slipper . . .