Bigfoot shows up once again.

Hi. Just saw a news flash on television that someone has gotten hold of a Bigfoot body and has it in a freezer in Georgia. Every now and then we will be subjected to a notion that Bigfoot actually exists, even though no one has actually gotten an authentic picture or carcass of one. I do not for a moment believe that tribes of Bigfeet roam our forests and fields without being seen or found lying about. Of course, I do not believe in ghosts, shadow people, little people or leprechauns, although I do write stories about little people. I am like the philosopher who kicked the stone and said, "Yes. It is a stone. It exists." If I can see it or touch it, I will know it is there. I would like to believe that life exists after death, but I question that premise just as I do all paranormal claims. I know that perfectly rational people believe that there are other worlds whirling about on different vibrations than our world, but of course I may be wrong and they may be right.
i was in a coma for five days once, and I neither went through a tunnel with light at the end, or felt that I had an out-of-body experience. It was simply a blank space in my life, and when I woke up, it was as though I had had a long sleep. My granddaughter woke me up, and I was instantly conscious and recognized her immediately.
The two men who claim to have found Bigfoot say they have sent in DNA to try to find out just what he is. They are offering safaris into the woods to find another one, for $1,000 a tour. How is that for a way to make money?

A short day trip

Hi. I had a lovely little day trip today down to the shopping center to try and find a new dress for the party I am attending on August 30. I found nothing I liked, but had a nice sandwich at a deli and a nice ride there and back. My daughter took me there and actually did some shopping for herself so the trip wasn't wasted. i am taking a new medication to try to improve the circulation in my arteries so I can walk better, so today was a sort of test to see how I did. i managed with a walker pretty well but did get very tired. I started to take this medicine last year, but found the side effects to be troubling. I am going to persevere this time, though, as I have been having some severe difficulties lately, and refuse to get a little scooter. If i start riding around in a scooter I am sure i will give up walking altogether. That I refuse to do.
We saw a dear little dog today in the optometrist office. It was bred long ago to be a lap dog, purportedly in the king's court, and allowed itself to be petted and fondled by every customer who came in. It was white with golden patches. I had never seen one before.
Today closes as most of the days do, with my husband and myself listening to the radio and closing the day down by watching the news on television. Last night I stayed up late and watched "Murder, She Wrote." two episodes actually, but tonight I think I will choose a more reasonable hour to retire. Keep in touch.

It's all my fault

Yesterday had a few quirks to it, including having the water shut off for four hours. This happens about once a year up here, usually due to problems with the water pump. It was back on in time to get dinner going, which for my husband and myself consisted of left-overs, which we enjoyed a little early.
The other quirk involved the television set, without which our lives are monotonous indeed. I had ordered and received a movie disc from Netflix, and had even managed to play it. After it had ended, and I had figured out how to get the disc back out, I tried to watch the Olympic games on the television. Nothing came on the screen. Only a blank blue screen.
"Honey," I called. "The cable must have come off the set. Could you check it for me please?
My husband, annoyed at having to get up from his reclining chair, called back. "You must have pushed the wrong button on the remote. Try it again."
I could tell by his voice that he had decided to play the accuser/defender game, at which he excels.
It goes like this, usually without change from one game to the next. He makes an accusation, I defend myself.
"That may be it," I called back. "Shall I try all of them?"
"How long have you had the set?' he demanded to know. "You should know how to use it by now."
"I do," I answered. "I didn't do anything that i don't usually do. I think the cable has come apart."
With an audible sigh and some grumbling he arose from the chair and checked the cable line. "There," he declared triumphantly. "There is nothing wrong with the cable."
I was expecting his next demand. "Let me try it," he said with an aggrieved look. "I don't know what you did but you did something that has to be straightened out."
He tried all of the buttons on the remote. He then depressed the buttons on the side of the set, causing various letters to appear in the upper right corner. TV. DIC. Spbtc1 Spbtc2. "What does this mean? What is DIC?"
I wanted to shriek in frustration, but calmly pulled out the instruction manual, but of course could not understand what it was trying to tell me. Finally I suggested, timidly, that we bring out the small TV set from the bedroom, hook it up to the cable, and see if it would work. It was a matter of moments, and the deed was done. The small TV worked perfectly when connected to the cable. Without the cable the screen was blank, just like the other set.
Without another word, my husband slid to the back of the set, fiddled with the various plugs attached to the back of the set, and just like magic, the screen came back to light, and when i changed channels, it worked perfectly.
"I told you," said my husband. "It was the cable. It wasn't plugged in."
He didn't say it was something I had done or not done. That is not part of the game. When the problem is solved, the game is over. Until the next time.

Time is rushing by

Time is rushing by too quickly for me. Next month I'll be 86 and I'm not ready yet. If someone asked me what I still wanted to do, I would have to say that I have done all that I ever hoped to do, and more, but no way am i ready to cash in my cards. i still want to see my great-granddaughter go off to school, I hope to see a little brother come on the scene, and I hope to be here for my grandson's wedding. A lot is still to come. Will I be able to hang in there a few more years?
I saw in the obituaries today that an acquaintance of mine, not yet even sixty, had passed away. It gave me pause to think that she had been cheated of at least twenty good years with her grandchildren and husband, while I am clinging on at almost 86. I don't know why I peruse the obituaries every day, since they do make me sad, and are a constant reminder of the fragility of life. Usually the departed are in their eighties or nineties but not always. Sometimes life ends cruelly soon.
Life here is serene and easy. My neighbor was up from San Francisco for a couple of days, and she had a tree cutter come and trim some of the trees down below her house. It gives us a nice view of the road down below. Our hummingbirds are enjoying the feeder we put out by the roses and my little cat is hanging in there although she is 24 and can hardly get around any more. My husband made chicken and vegetable stir-fry for dinner, so I had an easy evening. He likes to cook! Making a cake or cookies is a treat for him. Needless to say, I don't discourage him for a moment.
Night all. Keep in touch.

Good Friends

Little Mama Mouse was very frightened. It was winter and her little mouse house was very cold. What was worse, there was nothing to eat in her little house. Baby Mouse helped her look for crumbs in all of the corners and drawers, but they couldn't even find an apple seed. They were cold and hungry and Mama Mouse didn't know what to do. She put her arms around Baby Mouse and whispered in his ear. "I'm sorry, Baby Mouse," she said. "Let me sing to you and we will try to find something to eat tomorrow."
She wrapped Baby Mouse in a warm blanket and sat down in her little rocking chair and rocked and sang a lullaby. After while Baby Mouse fell asleep and she tucked him into bed and covered him up with all of the blankets to keep him warm and cozy. Then she took her little candle holder to the table and lit the tallow candle and sat back down in her rocking chair. The candle gave a warm yellow light and the fragrance of melting tallow filled the room. And all of sudden Mama Mouse jumped up out of her chair and did a little dance in the middle of the room. She had remembered something! Mice like tallow. It was their favorite food. And right there, on the table, was a fat little tallow candle ready to be eaten. Mama Mouse went to the table, stood on tiptoe and blew out the candle.
The room was bright with the light of the moon shining in the sky. Mama Mouse went to the window and peeked outside. It had stopped snowing and a full moon was sailing across the heavens. She saw the shadow of Mr. Night Owl as he flap-flapped along the path. Soon all of the night creatures would be out looking for their dinners.
Mama Mouse snuggled down under the blankets with Baby Mouse. She hummed a little song as she thought about the tallow candle and what her plans were for the new day that was coming. "We will eat the candle," she thought, "And then I will put his warm little coat and boots on Baby Mouse. We will go down to the old apple tree by the corner. If Mr. Blue Jay is there, he will get an apple for us. Mr. Squirrel will give us some acorns and peanuts. We are not all alone, after all. We have good friends who will help us. Everything will be all right." She fell asleep with a smile on her face and her arms around her little baby mouse.

A Bubble of memory.

Every now and then a little snippet of memory will bubble up seemingly out of nowhere, and tantalize me with a glimpse of the past. This morning I watched as a red leaf drifted down from a tree in my back yard, and the song "Red Sails in the Sunset" popped into my mind. I remembered where I was when I first heard it, and most of the lyrics were still intact in my memory. The entire scene was crystal clear as though it was yesterday. I remember i was a Freshman in high school, sitting in assembly with the rest of the students, and we were all singing in unison, something we did once a week in the last period of the day. I suppose it was a ruse to keep the restless students quiescent for the last period, but I remember being acutely embarrassed because I didn't know the song. I pretended to sing along and by the time we had reached the last stanza I was able to join in. I had never been encouraged to sing because my voice was deemed to be too shrill, but I was soon given a spot in the glee club, so I couldn't have been too bad. I sang in the glee club for the entire four years I went to school there and must say, I enjoyed it. "Red Sails in the Sunset" was my introduction to yet another new experience.
It is unfortunate that children accept and incorporate whatever is said of them by adults, whether the remark is justified or not. Later in life I joined a singing group and actually sang a solo in a production, wondering all of the time if my voice was too shrill. Now I can't get "Red Sails in the Sunset" out of my mind. I guess I'll have to sing it again.

Lost in the clothes hamper

When my grandson was small, we lived about seventy miles away and so I used to write him letters about little pretend people who lived outside my house in the elephant plant patch. I decided to share one with my readers, written about twenty years ago.
Dear Eli,
I sat down to write a story, and as I stared helplessly at my typewriter, and it stared back at me, I realized that I hadn't seen those little pretend people all day. I hadn't seen them yesterday, either. Where were they? I looked under the bed, and under the sofa and chairs, but no one was there. I got worried. I even went out into the cold night and looked under the bushes and went up and down the rows of rose bushes, calling out to them in a loud voice. "Where are you, little people?" No answer. A man was walking his dog and looked at me very strangely, but I didn't care. All I could think of was how cold it was, and how those poor little people were lost out there.
But maybe they were inside and hiding from me. I went back in. i looked everywhere. I began to get angry. "You come out this very minute. Stop fooling around!" I yelled. I made Grandpa look too. Then I sat down on the edge of the bed and thought very hard. I thought so hard that my hair stood on end. My ears twitched. My nose wiggled. And I remembered something. "Oh, oh" I said to myself. "You changed the sheets and pillowcases on this bed yesterday. Then you threw them in the clothes hamper. Look in there."
I went into the bathroom and carefully lifted the lid on the hamper. A dirty face cloth flew out and landed on my head. A handkerchief flew out and landed on the floor. Out came a towel and a pair of socks. Those little people were in there and they were so angry they were throwing everything out. "Stop, stop," I said. "How did you get in there?" At first they were so angry they talked in little people talk. "Grpplmn! Admtffr! Gillpogner." I couldn't understand a word they said. But then they let me help them out and onto my bed. "We were in the bed when you yanked off the sheets and blankets," they said. "You threw all of us into the hamper. We are so hungry we could eat a dirty sock!" They looked at me for a minute, and then I knew what to do. I went to the kitchen and brought back some cookies and an apple. They gobbled the cookies and apple down, and then, because they were so tired, they curled up on my bed and fell asleep. Next time I change the sheets I will look very carefully before I put them in the hamper. I looked again at the little people sleeping on my bed. Each one had a big smile on its face. Love, Grandma