Just Apologize

In a recent incident a rude lady not only banged into a friend of mine but, instead of apologizing, blasted both him and his wife with profanity.  Not a big surprise in this world of murder and mayhem but it bothered me that a simple accident like this could so quickly turn nasty.  My friend and his wife understandably retaliated with a few nasty words of their own but they might have been taking their lives in their hands by doing so.  It just makes you wonder why a simple incident such as this should have rapidly escalated into grown people cursing each other out in public.

It's sort of a joke in the States that we Canadians can sometimes be too polite but I'll bet it saves us a load of embarrassing situations.  Just apologize and move on.  It makes it a lot less stressful to get through the day.

Mute Furbys

I tried over and over again to put a picture in here of the 10 Furbys sitting on the shelf above the computer but it wouldn't transfer.  They are all mute Furbys so I can't sell them on Ebay but I love them for myself, anyway.  I don't know what it is about Furbys but they catch my heart.

Jake was here a while ago and he said he'd been very afraid of them when he was younger.  I guess it must be the big eyes but that's one of the things that appeal to me.

I do have one brand new baby Furby that is still in the box that I won't sell.  It was a yard sale find that cost me $2 but I usually only pay $1 when I find them.  After all, if they can't talk they can't be sold on Ebay.  These 10 Furbys will remain here in Florida but I'll take home the one in the box this year.  I always have the thought in the back of my mind that there's a possibility I won't make it back to Florida next fall.  When you're a senior, life is tenuous.

Christmas Breakfast With Friends

I had mentioned to Faye that, though I'm never lonely, I do find Christmas morning alone a little icky.  It just seems wrong somehow to wake up to one of the merriest days of the year and have no-one to talk to but myself.  Faye suggested I invite Barb, another widow, over on Christmas morning for coffee and whatever food I could scrounge up but I decided to invite Barb out to a restaurant instead.  Caroline and Charles came with us and we had a lovely time chatting and chomping down pancakes.  It did make a difference knowing I would have company on Christmas morning.  I woke up refreshed and totally looking forward to breakfast and then the dinner we'd all have together at the clubhouse later on in the day.

I still enjoy my alone time but, for whatever reason, being alone on Christmas morning just wasn't pleasurable for me.  Thank heavens Faye found me a simple solution and I'm hoping it will become a new tradition for me for the next few years while I'm still able to spend the winter in Florida.  I haven't decide yet how I'll spend Christmas morning once I have to do it in Canada but I'm sure I'll think of a good way when the time comes.

Barb, Caroline, Charles, and I went to Perkins for our breakfast and found it to be fairly busy but with plenty of room for us...and maybe more of us if anyone else decides to come with us next year.  The food was great and our waiter was one of the best I've ever had.  All in all, it was an experience I hope to repeat again and again.

Sometimes, a simple suggestion can make a big difference in one's life.

Christmas Eve 2012

I'm remembering Christmas days past and many held memorable moments for me.  Most were wrapped around making Christmas a good time for my family such as the open houses we used to have on Christmas eve.  My little house back home would be filled wall to wall with relatives, the children usually escaping to the rec room in the basement and only appearing to grab food or drink to take back down with them.

We once had a Santa show up who had to practically break big Larry's arm to get him to sit on his lap.  We adults were once regaled by a skit put on by the kids whose characters were the adults.  I always gave a home made gift to all the ladies, some were needlepoint tree ornaments showing the year.  Pictures were taken, of course, and I planned to put them all together in sequence to show how the children grew and the adults aged each year but that's still a project for the future.

Christmas is meaningful in our family, not for the gifts but for the family get-togethers.  In some way, shape or form, the whole family will spend time with each other during December and then separate groups will celebrate their Christmas dinner together.  This is the way we teach the younger generation that family is important.

Since 2000, I've spent my Christmas eve and Christmas day with friends here in the park who have become almost as close as family to me.  You don't have to be blood relations to be considered family.  Tonight I'll spend an hour or two at the clubhouse with over 100 other people listening to Christmas music played and sung by a park couple and yakking with friends.  Will the Christmas spirit still be as strong for me as it was when I was surrounded by family?  Maybe not but it will still be a nice time.

Our Christmas eve experience changes many times over our lifetime and that's not necessarily a bad or good thing.  It's just life.  Would I rather be home with my family at this time?  Yes, but only for a few short hours because then their lives would carry on without me.  Here, we're all travelling in the same direction and will continue to spend many hours together each day from now until April.  That wouldn't happen back home so here I stay and will stay until the day comes when I can't come down anymore.

I've had a lifetime of Christmas eve and Christmas day experiences and I have to say that the Florida experience is a wonderful one I'll always be grateful for.  For one thing, it will be about 75 degrees here today and tomorrow!!

Let's Have Some Good News

It seems we're all on overload with the bad, sad stories we hear on the news every day.  Every once in a while the reporters toss in a piece of uplifting stuff like the joy on the faces of children when they spot their soldier father or mother who has been brought home from oversees to surprise them and we cling to that picture.  I'm particularly thankful to Facebook because there are so many happy or funny postings to read every time we enter it.

Shelley opted out of the misery of watching all the footage on the Connecticut shooting in order to concentrate on having a happy family Christmas and I think she was wise to do so.  It's taken me a bit longer but I realized yesterday that a bit of depression was setting in from absorbing all the chaos and butchery I was watching on T.V. and I've decided to follow Shelley's example.

I'm going to concentrate on all that is beautiful in our world and there really is so very much.  I'm going to concentrate on the kindness of good people instead of the evil of bad ones.  I feel better already. 

Will This Be The Year?

No U.S. president in history has been able to buck the NRA when it comes to putting some limits on owning guns but just maybe President Obama will accomplish it.  I've listened to gun club leaders (such as NRA) on T.V. and they are scary people, rabidly insisting they have god given rights to own every weapon known to mankind if they choose to do so.  Their response to the horrible killings in Connecticut is to put armed teachers or guards in every school in the country.  Don't take away their right to purchase assault weapons, just increase the number that already exists in this country.  Frightening!

Statistics show that 1 in 3 Americans own a gun.  The number of murders by gun in the U.S. is astronomical compared to other countries but people don't seem to make the connection.  The more guns there are in homes, the more often they can be used during an argument or stolen by criminals.

I can almost understand that there could be legitimate reasons for some people to keep a hand gun for protection but there can be no reason on earth to own weapons capable of shooting off dozens of bullets in a matter of seconds.  I really don't understand why gun enthusiasts can't compromise and make the decision to eliminate weapons like this from being sold to the public.

All my life I've heard NRA types stubbornly declare their right to own guns but I've never really listened to their leaders spout such assinine garbage on T.V. before.  The last week has been a real eye opener to the public because we've had a good look at the self interest groups who have unbelievable political pull in the U.S..  And they appear to be dimwits!  

I've always liked President Obama but I know he can't accomplish any form of gun control on his own.  It will take both Liberal and Democrats together to make this happen and I'm hoping there are enough decent politicians here who have the guts to stand up to the NRA and at least prohibit the sale of assault rifles.  Right now it's disheartening to find out that an awful lot of them are choosing to remain silent.

In any case, we're soon going to find out just who rules the United States.

Bullet Proof Backpacks for Children

In my wildest dreams I never would have thought I'd see the day when a product like this one would hit the stands.  How could anyone consider it normal to produce or buy a child's backpack that is specifically made to be bullet proof?  Is this what our world has come to?  What ever happened to the days when children could play outside or attend school safely?  I've seen many changes in this world in my 72 years but this time I'm left feeling as though we really have all gone mad.

Bad enough that we saw a deranged killer armed with "legal" weapons that included assault rifles break into a school and murder 20 young children and 6 adults who probably gave their own lives trying to protect them.  Bad enough that gun enthusiasts will still fight to the death to keep their right to buy and own weapons only needed in battlefields.  Bad enough that these same idiots suggest that, instead of limiting access to assault rifles to the general public, all teachers should carry them during class.  Now some enterprising manufacturer has made and sold thousands of bullet proof childrens' backpacks guaranteed to stop a 44 calibre bullet at blank range.

Did anyone ever think that there was a danger in this pathetic world of someone walking up to a little child going to school and deliberately shooting them?  If this is the new norm we are all lost.

I'm starting to think the trouble doesn't belong only to the guns.  There seems to be a mindset with too many that molesting, beating, or taking the lives of helpless children is an achievement.  Some wouldn't lower themselves to harming a child but would still do all of these evils to an adult.  When did human life become so easily disposable?

I don't have to ask when some American parents were terrorized into purchasing bullet proof backpacks for their babies.  It happened in December of 2012.

    

December in Florida

Picture #1 shows a pot of geraniums I brought down from home plus some white impatiens.

Picture #2 shows a Christmas Cactus I bought last winter and which sat all summer in the Florida heat only to begin to bloom again just this past week.

Picture #3 shows a pot full of variegated impatiens and white impatiens which survived the Florida summer and only needed a bit of pruning when I got back down here in October.  It really never stopped blooming but it does look much fuller and healthier after being trimmed back.

These are just a few of the plants I have around the patio and it gives me great pleasure to be able to do a bit of gardening all year round.  You'd think that the vicious heat they experience in Florida during the summer would burn these plants up but that doesn't seem to happen.  They just get a bit straggly and that's why I trim them back a bit when I get here and they very quickly begin to thrive.

Gardening is good for the soul. 

A Little Bit of This and That

This was our internet casino day but only Barb and I went...Joann has given up gambling until after the new year.  We both lost but we had a good time anyway.

On the way to the casino, we witnessed an accident right in front of us.  We were driving along nicely and there was a car in front of us...no-one was speeding.  As we approached an intersection, the light was green for us but there was a car coming toward us and planning to make a left turn at the light.  For whatever reason, the woman driver made her left turn without stopping and slammed right into the car in front of us.  I don't think anyone was hurt but both cars suffered severe damage.  I left my name and phone number with the driver of the car who had the right of way just in case he had trouble with his insurance.  But for the difference of a few seconds, we would have been the car hit.  Life is often like throwing the dice...you win or you lose.

When we got back home, I found a few more Christmas cards that I'd been sent and felt a sense of happiness for being thought of.  I have no right to gain pleasure from these cards because I don't send any out, having given up that ritual more than 20 years ago, but I do like receiving them.  I'll be hugging a lot of people and wishing them a Merry Christmas at our dinner on Christmas day.  I'll be talking to family back home and wishing them the same thing so I don't think cards are that important.  That said, I smile when I look at the ones sent to me.

Tonight is my last alone night until next Sunday.  I've found I really need a bit of alone time when I'm in Florida because there are so many activities here that I get involved in.  We all need that quiet, peaceful, solitary time occasionally.

Now I'm going to spend the next few hours until bedtime watching some mindless T.V.  (no sad stuff), playing on the computer, and having cucumber sandwiches for my dinner.  Easy, stressless, and peaceful.  

Pity Steals In

I read the anger and hatred in the blog I wrote on Saturday when the killings occurred and felt a touch of shame.  It was how I felt then but, in the meantime, my feelings have changed.  I saw a photo of the killer on T.V. and it struck a different chord in me, a bit of compassion for such a troubled young man.

What he did was incomprehensible to all of us but only a severely troubled human being, suffering in his own way, could have committed this crime.  It's best now to try to understand what drove him to destroy himself.  My anger with him is gone and all that's left is intense sadness for him and his victims.

Murderer

Murderer is about the nicest thing I could call the creature who shot and killed 26 people today, including 20 children aged 5 to 10, at an elementary school in Connecticut.  Better words would be human garbage, piece of shit, monster.  I'm horrified that any human being could do what this 24 year old man did today.

What could possibly be in the mind of a human being to walk into a school, shoot and kill 6 adults, and enter 2 classrooms (one a kindergarten) and begin shooting small children?  How is it possible that anger and hatred like this can exist in a human being?  There are more children and adults connected to the victims who will never be the same again after experiencing this tragedy.  

I don't want to hear newscasters calling the murderer a "gunman" or a "suspect".  I want this bastard vilified to the extreme so that no other person copies his actions, believing it will exalt them in some way.  I want his body hung in the town square so the parents of the dead children can tear it to pieces.

There probably won't be any progress in bringing gun control to the United States and that is a tragedy in itself.  When will they learn?  It's terrifying to think how, right now, some crazy out there with access to guns is planning to outdo what happened today....maybe at a workplace, or school, or a pretty neighborhood street near you.  Gun control can only help lessen the occurrences.

Note:  The killer was actually a 20 year old young man and the children murdered were all 6 and 7 years old.

To Know When To Shut Up

One of the wisest things I did when I started coming to the States for the winter was to refrain from spouting my personal opinions about American politics.  My feeling is that I'm a guest in this country and I should be a polite one, not taking chances of offending my host (or it's citizens).  I take my cue from whomever I happen to be in conversation with and only discuss politics if they hold the same views that I do.

Tonight one of our card playing ladies sort of got on the topic of possibly unacceptable e-mails that people send out, usually ones that express opinions that aren't necessarily shared by the recipients of the e-mails.  Somehow that conversation slipped around to Obama and a few of us mentioned that we like him but it was plain by the silence from some of our friends that we were treading on uncomfortable ground so we stopped discussing that particular topic.  It was the right thing to do.  It is never proper to make your friends uncomfortable and I'll certainly try harder to keep this in mind if it ever happens again.

It's so much easier to vent our displeasure or preference of specific politicians when we're in our own country and when we're with people who know us well.  But it's nothing short of rude to do this in a country you're visiting.  Sometimes it's best to just know when to shut up and listen.

Fiscal Cliff

The new buzz word in the States is "fiscal cliff".  I'm not sure if it's supposed to scare everyone or to convince everyone that the person using the phrase is in the know.  In either case, it's annoying.

Having free-fallen over my own personal fiscal cliffs many times over the years, I learned that the only way to recover is to stop spending as much money as I did to reach my fiscal cliff.  The States also has the option of raising taxes, especially for the rich, but I'm betting it takes a long, long time for them to truly explore this option.

Wonder what the buzz word will be in 6 months?

Right to Work

In Michigan, they're trying to pass a law that anyone has the right to work without joining a union.  The little bit I know about unions is that there are definitely some issues that need changing and being able to work for a company without joining the union seems only fair.

I remember when (and it could still be happening) a union in Canada paid part of it's income to support the NDP party and I never thought this was fair to members who supported other parties.  Another instance is that new employees have to pay union dues for 6 months before they are even covered by the union.  How unfair is this?

Strong unions have been instrumental in gaining wages far exceeding their workers' abilities in many cases and that's a big problem. There are many people with superior knowledge and abilities who can't obtain wages even close to what a mailman makes, simply because they aren't in a union. 

The sad thing is that when your income potential is unbalanced because someone with less ability than you happens to belong to a union, the whole workforce suffers.  The public suffers.  If you can't get a job that you are well qualified for unless you join a union and pay union dues, then that is unfair.  There really has to be some choice in the matter.

It's frustrating because I can see the value in unions to help individuals fight huge conglomerates that would otherwise pay them slave wages but I can also see how some powerful unions have driven their members' wages far beyond what they should be.  What might be the answer is to take away just a bit of the union's power.  Giving an employee the option of joining a union or not is a good start.

Who Cares "Who is Black in America"?

There is another issue being bled to death on T.V. by black people and I think it's a waste of air time.  Two young women of mixed race want the world to know that it irks them when someone asked what they are.  Well, young ladies, this question has been asked for my lifetime of people of mixed heritage and it seldom is asked rudely.  It's just interesting to find out what nationalities has produced the person in question.

My background, as far as I know, is Irish, French, and English.  If someone were to ask me what my background nationality was I would never be insulted.  I would take it as a compliment that someone was actually interested. 

These days, we have people of all races and nationalities living together and it will result in children of mixed heritage being born.  I, personally, think this will result in future world harmony and that it's the way our world was meant to be.

So, young ladies of mixed race, you are the vanguard so be proud when someone asks, "what are you!".

At 72, I Had to Prove I was Over 18!

These alcoholic drinks are sold at the dollar stores, Publix, and Walmart and they're pretty darned good...especially for $2!  Today, Sylvia and I (69 & 72 years old) went into the dollar store and bought some of them.  At the check-out, the cashier looked at me and said I had to be over 18 to buy them and she'd need to see I.D. with my birth date on it.  I laughed and thanked her...but she was dead serious!  She said that it was the law and she could lose her job if she didn't insist on seeing the I.D. of ANYONE buying alcohol.

Just when you think you've seen and heard everything ridiculous in this world, something new and stupid comes along.  I, with my wrinkles and grey hair, pulled out my passport and showed it to her.  She scanned it carefully.  After all, I could be a 15 year old in disguise, right!

Sylvia went through the same scrutiny and we two senior ladies walked out with our purchases having successfully proved legally that we were over the age of 18.

What a nutty world!



 

Florida Weather

Sunshine and warmth during the winter in Florida is something I never take for granted.  It's still a thrill to be out at night in December or February and not needing a coat.  Last year was the best as far as weather goes but it wasn't what I'd consider normal and this year might have a few more cooler days but that's okay.  It's more the sunshine that I crave than heat and we get lots of that all winter here.

The memories I'll carry from here when I have to stay home in the winter won't be of the weather but of the great people and all the fun times we've had together.  We do laugh a lot!  Today is casino day with Dee, Barb, and Joann...maybe Agnes, too, if she decides to go.  I hope we're all smiling when we get home but I know we'll have a lot of laughs while we're out anyway. 

Life is good.

Floor Washing Day

Today is floor washing day for me and it seems to take forever for it to dry.  You wouldn't think that would be the case in warm Florida but I guess it's the amount of moisture in the air that inhibits drying.  Because it takes so much time...moving furniture around in a small space, washing the floor in sections, and then waiting for it all to dry, I try to do it on a day when I have nothing else to do.  Right now I'm playing on the computer with 2 of 3 sections complete and the fans trying to dry section #2.  Section 3 will be the area around the computer desk and I'll have to vacate it.

Keeping a trailer clean is a breeze, really.  I can do a half way job in 10 minutes each day and that leaves the trailer neat and comfortable to live in.  I think it's the way we're supposed to live instead of in monster sized houses that take all day to clean.  Since I live alone, my house back home doesn't take much time to clean, either, because I do my best to clean up as I go.  When I don't have to store merchandise and shipping materials for Ebay, it will be even neater.  I suppose I'll use that extra time to do more writing...maybe hounding the local newspaper with letters of complaint or praise.

Well, I think section #2 might be dry so it's time to clear out section #3 so I can wash the floor there. 

What "Senior" Women Talk About

The above picture is of Jan wearing Agnes' Santa Hat...it jiggles back and forth when activated.  This was taken during our Friday morning coffee with the park ladies and the reason I took only a picture of Jan is because she's the one who had us laughing the hardest with her choice of topic...condoms.

Now, most of us senior ladies have no need for condoms.  Either we're widows or we have husbands who can only be active in their imagination.  Anyway, Jan was a fountain of knowledge about all the different kinds of condoms that are available these days...different colors and textures.  We asked her how she knew all this stuff and she replied, "I have a son".  I guess that says it all.

Another of our coffee guests used to work for a government agency that dispensed birth control and she had us laughing again with one of her stories.  Apparently they had to hand out condoms to anyone who asked for one and the young neighborhood boys would come in for them but use them as balloons so Caroline got an idea.  She asked a group of boys who had come into the office if they knew what the condoms were supposed to be used for and only 2 of them didn't.  She took the boys into a private room and explained it to them, then told them she'd have to demonstrate their intended use if the boys came in asking for them again.  The boys fled and never returned.  Problem solved.

We always have plenty to laugh about at our coffee mornings but this last one was one to remember.

By the way, Sylvia was trying to turn the Santa hat off and it sexually assaulted her.  LOL!