Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Thursday, April 17, 2014

"The Address"

"The Address" is a documentary by Ken Burns, another piece about Abe Lincoln, (kinda). It was on Channel 9 a couple nights ago, PBS, the last bastion of commercial-free network programming. Maybe it was because every other channel had re-runs or the same old formula plots on shows they've been... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Bingo Therapy

A few posts ago I mentioned this little firecracker lady named Fay - the one who complained about her friend Elaine's wasteful spending on pedicures. They're related by marriage, co-mothers-in-law, so they do get all up in one another's business. Last time she was at Bingo Tuesday - three weeks ago... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

When the sh*t hits the fan, you need to step aside...

Not everyone gets this. There was this woman my son was seeing, not exactly an off-again on-again thing, they went to dinner a couple times a week, she came over and fixed meals, did a little laundry on her days off. He played catch with her 12-year-old son and showed him some baseball technique.... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Rainy Days and Mondays

I hear the neighbor's car backing out, scraping bottom on the steep incline at the edge of the street. It's 7:30, the hour when she leaves for her Monday physical therapy session. It's a bit better now, she's able to get around slowly on her prosthetic left leg, she can drive herself and doesn't... Sign in to see full entry.

Yesterday, when I talked about the typewriter guy

I missed the boat. What I was trying to say, when I said I assemble characters using typewriter parts was that I write about them using the keyboard. And when I said I am apparently doing it for the fun of it, it was my way of complaining that there's not much money in it. As the warden said in the... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Hobbies

I saw a video yesterday about an artist, young man of about 30, who sculpts things out of old typewriter parts. He uses nothing but the keys and gears and type and frames, the rollers and hinges, etc. First he carefully takes apart the old Royal or Underwood or Remington - tucks like parts in... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Don't start vast projects with half-vast ideas...

This was a neat, hand-printed motto one of the guys tacked to the bulletin board back in '61. At the time I was the secretary for the Physical Plant department at the newly-formed Edwardsville campus of Southern Illinois University. My new boss was John C., our base of operations was the former... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Goddess of Small Things

Thursday's weather was gorgeous - practically perfect. The mower crew was busy at work over at St. B's, trimming the new grass that popped up two days ago. Trees are blooming all over town, lilacs are sprouting leaves next door - as they are in Ciel's neighborhood. And the bugs are back - crawling,... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

So long, Jerry. We'll miss you. Come back and see us sometime.

Jerry's been coming for lunch and bingo Tuesdays and Fridays for upwards of six months now, a cheerful, warm-hearted special soul who makes everyone around him also feel special. A few weeks ago he begged me to let him help put mailing labels on the Center’s monthly newsletter. He kept them in good... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Sort & Pitch - the sequel

Early on, before Winter's curse had stopped echoing off the walls of my cave, I'd begun sorting out the stuff "I might need some day" into two loosely packed stacks. Stack 1 = anything they'd find acceptable at Goodwill, and Stack 2 which was stuff best dropped into the recycling bin. Keeping it was... Sign in to see full entry.

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