"Green, Green"

I didn't write this.  I wish I had!  But anyone over the age of 50-55 will remember doing some of these things.  The older set (my contemporaries and up) will remember doing most of them.  The world when I was a child was a lot simpler, but darn, we took care of a lot of things automatically, without even thinking  about it overmuch.  But there are always those who want to make things easier! Eventually those "easier" ways came along.  Sadly, it took a long time for society to realize that those "easier" ways generally required the use of more technology, more power, more time, more complexity, ended up costing more, took longer and didn't actually make much easier at  all!  And now there are those who want to blame their parents' and grandparents' generations for all the waste and harm to the environment.  

I copied....borrowed....stole this from a magazine some months ago.  Says it much more clearly than I could.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

And if you are one of the younger set who like to think that previous generations willfully and consciously screwed up the world, we did not!  You'd better keep in mind....We don't much like being old in the first place; and it really doesn't take much to piss us off.   So. Back. Off!   We were doing our version of "Green, Green" before you were ever born!

"What's the Use of Wonderin'?" (one more time...)

You would think that anyone who has lived well into their 60s (like me) would have pretty much encountered most of life's weirdness by now!  It doesn't, however, appear so. There are still a whole bunch of things I don't understand...new trends, styles, inventions, attitudes, behaviours  that I just don't get.  More new ones cropping up every day....and there are still other things that have been around for a long time that I still don't get.   For instance:

1.  I don't know what this is officially called, but to me is seems a bit like a reverse French manicure!  It is a new style of manicure where the majority of the nail is left either natural of with just a hint of color, but the tips of the nails are painted in something bright or sparkly or really dark, or with some small design.  I haven't seen one yet that looked good.  In fact, they are mostly just a big ugly!  've seen it done on both hands and toes.  Why?  Why would anyone want to make their nails ugly??  I just don't get it!

2. I continually come across word usages and phrases that are being incorrectly used.  It's particularly irritating when they writer is close, but misses anyway.  The words they use just don''t mean what the writer thinks they mean!   I read this one on Facebook recently.  The person was talking about starting a new healthy diet plan.  She called it "her  new regime."  What she meant was her new regimen.  The words are spelled very similarly, but leaving out just one letter changes the whole meaning.  She used it several times so I don't think it was a typo.  She just used the wrong word.  It only takes a couple of minutes to look up a word so that you ensure you are saying what you mean to say!!  I just don't get it!

3.  One of life's biggest annoyances falls into the category of a pet peeve:   I am seriously annoyed by people who don't return phone calls, or emails.  By not returning them in a timely manner you are more or less sending the message....." I just don't care about you or your question or your point of view."  It's tantamount to a slap in the face.   Some people just won't get back to you, even when you say please!!  That's flat out rude!  I just don't get it!

4.  People who don't RSVP to invitations fall into a sub-category of #3 above.  We have hosted many parties over the years and we have pretty much always sent written invitations.  We always ask people to let us know whether or not they are coming.  Usually this is to make sure that we have enough food and drink planned, so that no one goes home hungry and we SAY SO on the invitation.  Still we never hear from everyone.  Never, never!  There is some correlation between the no shows and the no response people, but even that's not 100%.  Really it only takes a minute to call and say yes or no!  But it just doesn't happen and the host is left with a mystery.  Maybe they don't understand what R.S.V.P. means....but I doubt it!  It's annoying and I just don't get it!

5.  Have you ever wondered why some days feel like they last forever while other days whirl by like a dervish and its suddenly over and you can't even remember what you did??  That's generally true of all different time period designations.  Sometimes 5 minutes can feel like 5 days and 5 days can feel like 5 minutes.  Our perception of time has a lot to do with whether or not one is doing something enjoyable.  Still I don't quite understand why time doesn't ever feel like a finite thing!  An hour is 60 minutes....always.  A minutes isn't that long of an interval.  Shouldn't they always feel the same??   Why one minute can feel long while another one feels short is a thing, I just don't get!

6. I don't know if this is just me or if happens to everyone, but some days when I am getting dressed (even on an ordinary unimportant day), I will look in the mirror and sometimes I will feel like I look really good.  Other days....not so much.  Every day I do the same routine of skincare, hair, make-up, etc. etc.   Its the same face I had yesterday and I'll have the same face tomorrow,   I should look the same.  But some days, I'm Grace Kelly and other days I'm Emmet Kelly (a  very famous, but sad looking clown from the 50's!!) Why should this be?  I just don't get it!!

7. Why isn't everyone fascinated and intrigued by Science?   We live in such an amazing universe and new things are being discovered every single day.  Yet there are many people that not only seem totally and completely uninterested, oftentimes there are people who don't even believe  that what  has been done is really true!  This blows my mind.   And I'm not just talking about Fundamentalists or others whose belief systems are driven by their church or whathaveyou.  Science is fact.  Just because you have never heard of something before doesn't mean it is untrue!  Not interested in Science??  You don't have to be a rocket scientist to learn new information about this world we live in.  Check out this site; it has some stuff that you probably didn't know and it should amaze you.   https://www.facebook.com/ScienceIsSeriouslyAwesome  It you aren't interested and amazed, well, I just don't get it!!

8.  All of a sudden, there has been an explosion of blogs, Facebook stuff, and other websites where the writer(s) are using what appears to be a GREY or BLUE font.   If that weren't bad enough, the greys or blues  they are using are LIGHT grey and LIGHT blue.  They might not realize it, perhaps it shows up differently on their computer monitor for some reason, but when it shows up here, those fonts ARE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE.  Seriously!!   Often the size of the font is on the small side and between the pale color and the small size, I cannot be the only one who can't read it!!  Please use black ink.  Please use a visible font and size.  I beg you writers, think about your audience!  Some of us don't have great vision for lots of different reasons.  If you want to be read, please, make it VISIBLE!!    If not, well why are you bothering to write?   I just don't get it!!


As always, I probably won't ever understand any of this so, really, "What's the Use of Wonderin'?"  These things seem perfectly clear to me, but others don't agree with me.  Haven't you all accepted the fact that I am always right??    LOL!!  Well, I'm sorry but I just don't get it and I never will!

Feet

Consider the foot!  The most basic form of transportation.  Babies' toes, the cutest thing ever!

"Bits and Pieces"

Just a few bits of this and pieces of that.....

1.   Maddie-the-Great is having a great time at her new school.  Things are going well for her academically (mostly A's and a couple of  B's), she is making friends, likes her teachers (except one....there's always one!),