"Baby Love"

When I was a little girl, I always wished that I had a sister (or even two); someone to play with, someone to share secrets, someone have adventures with, someone who could be my very best friend!   I never particularly wanted a brother because....well.....brothers were (shudder) BOYS and I didn't much care for the boys that I knew.  I didn't really know that many boys, but those I did  know were loud, messy, mean, and rough.  No, I definitely didn't want any of them living in my house with me!!  But a little sister, ahhhhhh, that was a totally different story. 

Whenever I asked my mom, if I could have a little sister, she always just said something along the lines of "No, I don't think so."   As I got a little older, she told me that she couldn't have any more children because she had a "female" problem and her doctor told her it was very unlikely that she would have anymore children.  [Ultimately I learned that mom had had an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy when I was around 2 years old and as a result, only one of her Fallopian tubes was still functional.  That reduced her chances of becoming pregnant by at least 50%.]  I was disappointed of course, but I accepted the idea that I would always be an only child.

Well, the several years went by and my mom focused her love of kids by becoming a Girl Scout Leader.  She was a great one, too!  She really enjoyed having a bunch of girls to do things with and for.  I was in her troop and kind of felt like some of those girls were my "sisters."  Because there wouldn't be any more kids in our family, Mom and I made do with having those girls in our lives.

At some point in the year that I turned 11 years old, mom sat me down one day and told me that evidently that doctor had been wrong because she was expecting a baby!  She and my Dad were obviously surprised, and I was not only surprised, I was ecstatic!

In those days, there was no way of determining whether it was a boy or girl, until the baby was born, so for months we talked about boys and girls names, how our lives would change when the baby came, having another child in our family, all the plusses and minuses of not longer being an only child.  I was so happy to know that this baby was coming, that I didn't even care (too much) if it was a boy or girl.   The pregnancy went well, though it seemed to me that it was taking forever!!  Finally about a month and a half after my 12th birthday, right on schedule, the baby decided it was time to be born, so on August 12 after twelve years of being an only child, I had a sibling, a cute, adorable, lovable, sweet, beautiful baby sister!!!  A sister!!!   OH, HAPPY DAY!!  My Little Sis came into our family and I fell in love with her the very first time I held her!

She had very blonde hair, and pretty blue eyes, and she was such a good baby!  She was just exactly the kind of sister I had always wanted.  I had a serious case of "Baby Love!!"

 

 

We don't get to see each other very often, which is really too bad. Our lives took us in different directions. I got married when she was only 7 years old. So we haven't ever lived the lives of little sisters who grew up together. We haven't even lived in the same state for about the last 30 years. 

But as you can see, life went on and my sweet little sis grew up, she became a Pharmacist, got married, had two great kids, got divorced (yay!), discovered she loved to travel. As a matter of fact she and her daughter (who is a dentist by the way) just came home from a cruise to Alaska! I hope she comes here for a visit again soon!!

Still here it is again, August 12, the birthday of my Little Sis, the little baby who came into my life years and years ago, and I am just as grateful for having such a great sister as I ever was!!

 

Happy Birthday, Debra Ann!!!

 

 

"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling"

Mikey celebrated his 70th Birthday this year.  Its a milestone and I thought it deserved a gift that was something to remember.  So I asked Ratchlet if she and T.A. and M-t-G would be interested in going with her dad to Ireland.  (As you all know, I.  DO. NOT. FLY, EVER! so I never even considered going with them.  Besides, I don't have even a little bit of Irish in my family.)    My darling daughter actually thought it was a great idea too.  She and T.A. had been to Ireland nearly 20 years ago, and was, therefore, at least a bit familiar with the country.  She graciously offered to make the arrangements and put together an itinerary that would take them to a variety of historical and ethnic sites and towns in Ireland. 

When we told Mikey about the gift he was really excited and happy.  His paternal grandparents both came from the same town in Ireland to the U.S. where they met.  So Mikey had always felt the family connection to Ireland and the idea of actually spending time exploring Dublin and some of the countryside and small towns was perfect.

Ratchlet and her dad talked  several times about what he would like to see and visit in Ireland.  They decided that they would go first to London because Maddie-the-Great is enamored of all things British, and she has wanted to go to London for some time.  (A lot of her interest was generated through British TV shows, like Dr. Who, and the recent Sherlock Holmes series among other things.) 

After spending four days in London, they would fly to Dublin and spend an additional six days in Ireland.  At they end of their time there, they would fly back to the U.S. from Dublin.

Well, anyone who wishes, can pat me on the back for a great idea!!!

The four of them left Austin on July 10 and returned on July 23.  From what I understand they had a great time.  In London they saw Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the British Museum home of the Magna Carta), Westminster Cathedral, and several other famous sites.  London was absolutely amazing just as they had expected....but, at least for the Big Guy, Ireland was the best.  They went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kels , visited several castles, explored Dublin, and went to the town where his grandparents were from.  Mikey loved everything about it....he loved the history, the people, the country, the weather.  In fact he didn't really want to come home.  Mikey loved Ireland!! I think he would go right back if he could. 

I have been told that Mike, Ratchlet, and T.A. all took photographs of the trip.  So far I have seen exactly two photos!  I'm sure I'll see more of them when T.A. downloads his photos (I hope). 

When Mikey came home he talked about the things they saw, the places they went, the food they ate, the things they just didn't have time to see.  All things considered however, when Mikey started telling me about the trip, he was the perfect embodiment of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling". 

So glad you had a great trip, Big Guy!!  Happy Birthday!!!!

"Gun Love"

As you all know there has been a lot of on-going debate about gun control, and the need to do something to stop the horror of school shootings and the like.  Each time another of those incidents occurs the controversies arise again and most of us fall on one side or the other of the debate.  One of the main  (possibly the only) reasons why there has been no action on this vital necessity for the protection of our citizenry, is the forceful position of the lobbyists, members, and supporters of the National Rifle Association, and those people who have a seemingly innate and unstoppable case of "Gun Love."

Now I do not mean in any way to minimize the seriousness of the issue of the need for gun control in this country, however, it occurred to me that those who are in favor of any form of gun control, really need to recruit the individuals who drove the battle against smoking.  Those folks took hold of the issue and pushed and bullied, and convinced just about everyone that smoking is worst thing on the planet!  And their efforts worked!  Smoking has been reduced enormously in this country because of their anti-smoking fanaticism.  They have been doing this for over 35 YEARS.  They won't give up until cigarettes disappear and smoking only relates to bonfires!

 Just think what this same group could accomplish if they changed their focus to gun control! 

"My Wish Came True"

The driver of the car that sideswiped my car on New Year's Eve, turned out to be a17-year-old girl who had never had an accident before.  I think my chasing her down to get her license plate probably scared her to pieces.  Thinking back on it, I admit it was a really dumb thing to do.  The policeman that responded to my call told me the same thing.  (ahem!)  What was really amazing about the whole thing is that she got away and headed straight home, where her mother convinced her to turn herself in!!  Which she did.  Not only that but she admitted her responsibility, so she got a ticket, but in spite of that her insurance company paid the total bill for the repair of my car!!  It sort of restored my belief that most people are good people! 

The Big Guy arrived here in mid-January and the movers arrived a couple of days later.  And of course, at that point we began to realize that we had way too much stuff for this house.  The new house was only about 200 sq. ft. smaller that the Austin house, but it has become pretty clear that the "missing" 200 sq. ft. must have all been storage space!!

Over the last several months we have encountered some repairs required, some replacements required, some things that cost a little bit, and some things that cost a lot!  We have donated a very large amount of our stuff to the local Care Center Thrift Shop, but we are still not finished getting everything unpacked and put away.  I know it will happen eventually....but it is a sloooooooow process.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that the move hasn't exactly been a smooth one, we are still living in Central Florida which is something I have wanted for over 50 years!  It took a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of indecision, a lot choices, and a lot of convincing, but the bottom line is after all this time, "My Wish Came True!" 

I never would have believed it!

"Home Sweet Home"

Once we made the decision to move to Florida, the search for the right home began.  Luckily for us, one of my former classmates from Lake Wales, was a very experienced and excellent realtor.  With her help we began the search.  Mike and I went back to Lake Wales to look at some homes and explore the area.  We saw a house we liked that was actually less than 1/2 a mile from the house I lived in back in high school.  It was an older home with lots of character and  quirkiness.  It was a bit on the small side compared to the last several homes we had lived in, but it had a lovely pool and a guest cottage and it was very reasonably priced.  We placed a bid on the house and kept our fingers crossed!

Well, crossing our fingers didn't work.  On the same day we made our offer, the owner also received another bid for the same amount but their offer was a cash offer....which pushed us right out of the picture.  It was disappointing, but it was understandable.  So it was back to the drawing board.  After searching on-line some more we found another home that we liked.  After much discussion I went back to Florida to actually see the house and Mike stayed in Austin.  I really liked the home and Mike and I  decided to make an offer.  Surprisingly, the offer was accepted and then we had to put our Austin home on the market.

That didn't go as well.  It took about 3 months to find a buyer, a long and frustrating 3 months.  So for those 3 months we had 2 homes.  The Austin house was built in the early 90's and unfortunately many of those who viewed the house thought much of it was dated and in need of major updating.  The things people didn't like were fairly superficial, and in some cases downright ridiculous.  But eventually we received an offer.  It wasn't as good as we had hoped but we wanted to get on with it, so we accepted the offer.  Yay!

So the summer of 2014 was filled with all the paperwork for both houses, sorting through some of our possessions to begin to weed  out some of our stuff.  We closed on the Florida house in September, 2014.  I went back to Florida in the middle of October (for my 50th H.S. reunion).  Because we didn't want the Florida house to sit empty while we were waiting to sell the Austin house, I filled my car with as much of my stuff as possible and I stayed on after the reunion. 

For the next three months I lived in Florida and Mike lived in Texas.  We spent a lot of time on the phone!  Mike ultimately decided to retire in mid-January, 2015.  After we got the offer on the Austin house, we scheduled that closing for mid-January, 2015.

While I was in Florida waiting for Mike and the rest of our things to arrive in January, I got the worst case of flu I have ever had!!  I was so sick for over three weeks that I was totally incapacitated.  I wasn't able to get out of bed for more than a few minutes at a time.  I was hardly able to eat anything and lost about 7 pounds!  I mostly slept through those three weeks.  I wasn't able to drive back to Texas for Thanksgiving which was extremely disappointing.  My whole family was together for the holiday, except for me. 

I seemed to be recovering slowly but surely, when I had a relapse and was sick again for another 10 days!  Finally, Mike flew to Florida and took care of me for a few days and then we drove back to Austin about a week before Christmas.  It was a very weird experience all the way around.

After Christmas 2014, I loaded up my car again with as much stuff as I could get in and returned to Florida.  Mike would be there in about 2 weeks and then  we would be able to start getting our house in order and settled in as Florida residents!  I had a smooth trip with no delays and I arrived back here on New Year's Eve at about 7:00 pm.  Safe and Sound!  After 50 years, I was finally back to "Home Sweet Home!"  

As I was on the very last leg of my trip back to our new home, and I was only about a mile and a half from the house, I pulled into a turn lane to make a right turn onto the street leading to our house, when, seemingly out of nowhere, I was sideswiped,  pushed out of the lane on to the shoulder, and then the driver of the other car took off like a bat out of hell!!  Luckily I was not injured and my car was still drivable, but I was really angry and I took off after the car so I could get the license plate number.

Hardly a great start to 2015!!


(More tomorrow....)

"Homeward Bound"

Hi there!  Anybody remember me??  I have absolutely no excusable reason for my total disappearance from Mellodee Musings.... for the last year and a half (give or take several months!)  Having felt as though I told every story from my life, and discussed all the things I felt driven to write about, and generally felt as if I had nothing more to say.  And then of course, there was the major upheaval in my life. 

After having left the state of Florida at the age of 17 in 1963, over the next 50 years I lived in Chicago, IL, Sunnyvale, CA, and Austin, TX.  All during that time, I had an on-going desire to return to Florida, because I always felt like it was home.  Circumstances over those decades never were conducive to making that move.  So I had pretty much accepted the fact that I would never again be able to live in my favorite place. 

That was pretty much true for a long, long time.  I never thought I would be able to convince the Big Guy that Florida was a good place to live.   But all of a sudden in October 2013, things changed!

I went to the 50th H.S. reunion for the class before mine.  Before I left Austin I thought this would most likely be the last time I would travel to Lake Wales, the town where I went to high school.  I traveled around the area, went to all the events that were part of the reunion, saw many old friends that I hadn't seen since those high school days and generally made a farewell visit to all the places I loved.  I had a great time, reconnected with several people I knew from back then, and still felt like it was home.

A few months later, I met up with my oldest friend (I known her since the third grade!) and we decided to take a trip to the ocean in  the area were we grew up (Vero Beach).  On my way back to Austin then, I drove through Lake Wales again and actually saw a house for sale that I really liked.  And that was the start of whirlwind year in which everything turned upside down and inside out!

Mike had decided that he would retire in January of 2014 after having worked 4 years beyond his "retirement date".  But it was definitely time for him to stop working and enjoy life.  We talked and I told him about the house I had seen.  We agreed that Austin was getting way too crowded and we didn't want to deal with the bad traffic and crowds anymore.

Somehow in those discussions the option of moving to Florida came to be our mutual choice!!

WOW!  After 50 years, I was "Homeward Bound."



I truly will try to finish the story tomorrow....I swear!!

I'm back!  Just spent the last 2+weeks in my favorite places on earth....all contained in my favorite state:   Florida!!  What a time I had! 


Thanks, Janie!!  Had a great time with you, it was terrific discovering that all those "disconnected" years made not one whit of difference....true friendship survives time, distance, age, differences, and lives gone down diverse pathways.  Love you!


Rediscovered McKee's Botanical Gardens in Vero Beach, which has had a rebirth and is even more beautiful than I remembered.  Spent an afternoon at Bok Tower in Lake Wales, another gorgeous spot that is perhaps the most peaceful place in the world.  Kudos to those who are preserving and supporting these historic and unique landmarks of my childhood.


Saw several of my favorite LW people and enjoyed laughing, talking, and sharing of stories with Sharon Horton Kurschner, Kathy Manry Smith, Estelle Martin Sullivan, Faye Smith Anderson, and Charlotte Raymond Cannon.  It was so great to see you!  Hoping to be back soon!


The drive home was interesting!  The weather conspired to keep me in Florida (even Mother Nature thinks I belong there!)  With the rain, flooding, road closures, tornados, and the inundation in Pensacola (which I would have been right in the middle of had I kept to my original plan), I decided it best to hole up in a safe haven near Tallahassee for two nights.  It was a good decision but once I finally got back home on Saturday I felt like I had been driving for weeks!  Actually I guess I had.....put nearly 3200 miles on the odometer from the time I left until I got back home!

All in all it was a great trip with only a few moments of confusion (when I got lost for a bit in Houston) and sorrow (when it was time to head for home) and regret (when I realized I had not taken a single photograph of the people and places I had seen....again!) 


Thanks, everyone, it was lovely!

Reprise: "Great Balls of Fire"

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In the midst of my ongoing writer's block, here is another repeat posting from May, 2010....maybe you've never seen it!   



I'm pretty sure that by now, you have all realized that I am NOT a domestic goddess! Don't like to cook. Vacuuming is a major pain. I hate all those repetitive chores. I don't do crafts. I'm not a seamstress. I despise grocery shopping. None of it! Not my thing. (You could, I guess, just say I'm lazy, but I'd rather be thought of as pursuing my bliss....and my bliss doesn't include dishpan hands!!)

I do realize that there are certain things that must be done....at least occasionally. In fact, I did all of those things.....fairly frequently over the course of the years, but I didn't like it! There is, however, one thing that absolutely MUST be done unless you are a hermit living in a cave. Laundry! There inevitably comes a day (generally several times a month) when you are completely out of clean underwear....and so is every other member of your household! You do the laundry.

I've done a lot of laundry in my lifetime. I remember helping mom hang wet clothes on the clothesline and then collecting same when dry as soon as I was tall enough! When I hit about 12, ironing became my chore. It was a big deal, we (well, I) ironed my mom's dresses, my school uniforms, my dad's shirts, and all flat work (handkerchiefs, sheets and pillowcases). I didn't mind ironing too much, at least I got to sit down while I was doing it! When permanent press was brought into the world, I rejoiced! By the time I was a senior in high school all the laundry was my job, while mom worked. I hated that because I had to go to the laundromat and people could see me fold my dad's underwear!!! EWW! How embarrassing!

After I got married, of course, all the laundry fell to me. Baby clothes, mommy clothes, and daddy clothes, several times a week. It seemed like I was always having to do laundry. Another milestone day in my life was the day we bought our very own washer and dryer!! No more laundromat!! I could do it from the privacy and comfort of my own home! Wow! We were finally livin' high!

But it was still laundry. Of course, once the baby stopped throwing up and pooping on everything in sight, things got somewhat better. Nevertheless, it was basically an un-ending chore. Now that its just the Big Guy and me and I'm not working, there's not nearly as much. This is good. Even better, is the fact that the Big Guy has begun doing a lot of his own laundry. There are several reasons for that, but the end result is that I have less laundry to do. Yay!

But I still have laundry to do. Darn stuff, just keeps on piling up. I can try to ignore it, but that's pointless. Sooner or later comes the day when I'm out of clean underwear! (Of course, I don't always wait until that time, but its funnier to say that I do!! -- LOL!)

The other day I was contemplating doing some laundry (no urgency, I still had clean stuff !) I don't know how or why it happened, but I started to think about how much time laundry takes and that it really eats up a lot of time. So I tried to add it up. How much time is taken up with laundry?

Well, I decided there was no way to count it up accurately, the best I could do was estimate. So I figured that ON AVERAGE, the time it takes to do the laundry (4 loads: gathering, sorting, washing, drying, folding, and putting away) is a bit less than 2 hours.

Here's what I came up with (again using averages):

Laundry: 3x/month @ 2 hours each = 72 hours/ year

Starting at age 14 to present day = 50 years

50 Years @ 72 hours/year = 3,600 hours

24 hours/day into 3,600 hours = 150 days

30 days = 1 month

150 days divided by 30 = 5 MONTHS!!  5 MONTHS??   5 MONTHS!!!

5 FRIGGIN' MONTHS OF MY LIFE WERE SPENT DOING LAUNDRY. 5 months!

"Goodness gracious, Great Balls of Fire!!"

No wonder I hated it! That's nearly half a year!! Gone. Used up. Wasted. Erased. Eradicated. Forever!! Unbelievable. And no end in sight! Well, Crap!


Oops, gotta go, the dryer just buzzed....

"In the Still of the Night"



I seem to still be having great difficulty in finding inspiration to write these days.  It is enormously frustrating because I really don't want to give up writing this blog!  I have mentioned before, I think, that I have probably used up all my good stories after writing this blog since July of 2009!    It occurred to me that a way to carry over at least some of my writer's block, might be to reprint some of those early posts I did way back when I started writing.  Except for a limited few of you (mostly my relatives!), most of my "followers" are reasonably recent and may not have taken the time to go back to some of my earlier posts on their own.  Soooooooooo, because I am scrounging around for ideas again, if no one minds too much, I'm going to re-post something from 2010 that you may (or may not, I hope) have seen.  I hope that's okay with you.  If nothing else it does prove that I am trying to stay in the loop with writing.  

 

Anyway, here is a story from a long time ago, back when.... 

 

 



....we were young and fearless, The Big Guy and I decided that we needed a vacation. Ratchlet was not quite 4 years old, and other than one or two short trips for a couple of days here and there, we hadn't had much of a "real" vacation at all during the time we'd been married. You know what I mean by a "real" vacation, "an out-of-state, stop the newspaper and mail delivery, go stay in a hotel where someone else makes the beds, gone for two whole weeks," vacation!! After a quick stop-off in Atlanta to see my BFF, we would go on to Florida, my old stomping ground, and I could show all the sights to Ratchlet and the Big Guy. Besides it was "going home" for me, at least for a little while.

We decided to take my Little Sis along, both as a break for her and as an additional someone for Ratchlet to play with. Little Sis would be 12 that summer, just the right age to be fairly responsible but still enough of a kid to enjoy being with us! She and Ratchlet have always had a pretty close relationship (even now), which is understandable. The are closer together in age than Little Sis and I are! Anyway, it was a win/win deal!

In order to be able to afford this adventure, we decided we would drive there. Well, in fact, we decided that the Big Guy would drive there! (I was a late bloomer and didn't have a license, but that's whole 'nother story.) The Big Guy, being the the kind of guy he is, said we should drive straight through, and not spend money on motels along the way, besides, that would mean we would have more time actually IN Florida. Although I had some real reservations about that, he SWORE that if he got too tired, we would stop at a motel. Plus, the idea of trying to entertain a 4 yr old in a car for several days held very little appeal.

As I said, we were young and fearless, so off we went!

At the time, we were still living in Chicago proper in the same apartment we'd lived in since before Ratchlet was born. It was smack dab in the middle of one of Chicago's neighborhoods and the building had no courtyard or play area, or pool. In fact, it pretty much had no amenities at all! We didn't have a covered, designated, parking space, we had to find on-street parking. We were right on Irving Park Road, which at that time, still had noisy, obnoxious, and frequent trolley buses! Anyway, it wasn't a place to spend much time outside.

We thought Ratchlet would enjoy seeing the country from the car. She loved going for rides in the car....so much to see!! Besides which she could always fall asleep in a car! No danger of driving for 27 hours straight with a cranky, unhappy, sleepy but unrested child!

On the day we were to leave, by the time we picked up Little Sis, and got everything situated, and finally got on the road, it was later than we hoped. That was okay, because we wanted to be driving mostly at night when it was cooler. It was, indeed, a lovely ride. Of course we stopped fairly frequently for food and potty stops (we had a 4 year old in the car....'nuff said!) We sang songs and played word games and watched for cows, horses, and other critters (again, remember the 4 year old!) But after supper, once it finally got dark, Ratchlet and Little Sis drifted off and it was peaceful and quiet. They slept for a long time. I can't sleep in a car so I kept the Big Guy company as he drove

We were somewhere in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee in the middle of the night. It was a clear night, with not much moon so it was pitch black, there were big tall trees on both sides, the road was empty, except for us! It wasn't scary (it was an interstate after all), just DARK.

Somewhere around 2 am, we heard Ratchlet's little voice, pop up, with a question. "Mommy, what are all those little white things in the sky?" OH. MY. GOD. My almost 4 year old daughter, did not recognize STARS!! She had a great view out of the back window and there were millions of stars visible. (There's nothing like star-gazing on top of a mountain!!) But my poor, city-bred, apartment-raised, little girl, hadn't ever actually seen stars. I was crushed! How could we have neglected teaching her about this rather significant portion of the world she lived in?? Luckily, not too far ahead there was a place we could pull off the road to park and get out of the car.

So we did! There we were, all four of us, at 2 o'clock in the morning, standing in the parking area, somewhere in the Smokey Mountains, looking up at the sky while we explained about the stars to our little girl!

After about half an hour later, we got back in the car and went on our way. The rest of the trip was great, we all had a wonderful time. I introduced my family to the places I grew up. We saw a lot of the sights. It was terrific. In fact, we all enjoyed it so much we did it again a couple of years later!

But the thing I always remember first about that trip, was when Ratchlet discovered the stars "in the still of the night".

"Baby, It's Cold Outside"

The rumble of snickering and laughing you have been hearing in the background over the course of this winter has been good ol' Mother Nature, while she has been playing pranks and making life uncomfortable all over the country.  She has just been having the best time this winter, I'll bet!   She's has dragged winter on well past the time it has usually begun to moderate.  She has popped in plunging temperatures wherever and whenever she pleases.  It does not please anyone else!  She doesn't care!

 Nearly every person you talk to from all across the country has been complaining about the snow, the cold, the ice, the wind, the sleet, what it all does to traffic, and well, gee, isn't this winter ever going to end???  Can hardly blame them, it's been pretty crazy.  Even those odd ducks (sorry, Cathy) who swear they like snow and love winter have been significantly silent this year, because the weather has pushed even them to the limits of their endurance.

Now I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't had one post about the winter here in Austin.  This is not because it has been a sweet mild little winter.  Oh no, it is because it is so refreshing to hear everybody else kvetching over all the problem the weather has brought!   For once in my life I am not the cranky voice of one of the weather minority!  I've just been sitting here thinking "Baby, It's Cold Outside!"

Austin has delayed the opening of school or closed the schools because of the forecasted weather three times....none of which turned out to be much of anything.  Even the kids were complaining because they'll have make up days at the end of school! 

As far as I'm concerned there has been too much cold, that down-to-the-bone cold that just seeps into your fingers and toes no matter of many pairs of socks or gloves you try to wear!  Even though the actual temperatures have not dipped into frigidity very much, what we have had is a very sharp wind, very minimal precipitation, lots and lots of grey skies.  The actual temperatures mixed with the humidity, barometric pressure, and the scattered  precipitation have just been uncomfortable for a long time.  We never actually got much snow (of course Austin drivers DO NOT KNOW how to deal with any snow or ice.)  But the roads have been slick and dangerous several times and the numbers of accidents that have occurred due to those conditions has been staggering!  All of that comes with the territory of winter and as it hasn't been very rainy either (even though just about everyone would have celebrated having the drought "done in"....but that didn't happen, at least not enough!

However....you KNEW there had to be a however, I'll bet.....however, it is now the middle of March.  Things that grow are giving it their best shot.  There are a couple of different types of flowering trees and have bloomed and the flowers are actually sticking around a bit longer than usual.  I've seen daffodils popping up all over town.  It hasn't all exploded at once like sometimes happens, just a spot of color here and there.  Two nights ago, I actually heard a couple of chirping birds after many months of silence.  (Well, silent except for the grackles....they never shut up....ever!!  They don't chirp pretty little tunes, they SQUAWK....loudly!)  The flowers and the birdsong are all welcome signs of Spring.  It feels like it's been a long time coming.  Now if it would just warm up!!!

I am tired of jackets and gloves, tired of sweaters and pants all the time, tired of wearing socks, tired of dark wintry colors, and most especially tired of the wind whipping around everything from hairdos to trash cans!!   Because even though it is mid-March in Austin, TX the temperature tonight is 49 and with the wind it feels about 39F!  Yep, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." 

I know that Spring doesn't officially start for another week.  But I am ready for it NOW!!!   In fact, I think EVERYBODY is ready for it now!  Except. of course, for that tricky Mother Nature.....I wouldn't be at all surprised if she has a few more arctic blasts up her sleeve that she will let loose while she laughs out loud at all us shivery mortals! 

She's funny, that Mother Nature....oh yeah, a real hoot.  Well, I'll show her!   I've made up my mind, no Christmas present for Mother Nature next December!  Except, perhaps a lump of coal in her stocking.....though come to think of it, if it doesn't warm up soon, there probably won't be any coal left to shove in her stocking.  We will have burned it all up in our fireplaces in August!!

"I'm Back in the Saddle Again"

Well, I don't know what happened or why it happened and I don't know how to fix it, but it appears I can no longer use Google Chrome as my browser.  I switched from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome some time ago because Google basically told me I had to, because IE wasn't supported by Google Chrome (whatever that means exactly).  So, being a girl who usually does what I am told, I switched.  And it worked fine.  I even really liked some of the features of Chrome a lot better than IE.  I thought I was set.

And I was....for a couple of years.....but it all fell apart last week when suddenly Google Chrome started acting really weird, doing things it had never done before and refusing (so to speak) to do things it had always done.  I tried (within the limitations of my minuscule knowledge of things to try) to get Google to work right, but no, but no! 

So I went back to Internet Explorer as my browser and voila "I'm Back in the Saddle Again."  I seem to be able to connect to things, and link to things, and navigate among the sites I visit.  I've lost  some of the things from Google Chrome that I liked, but I'll get over that.

Thus I am back!  At least for the moment.  I do, however, have a feeling that I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.  It won't surprise me if, at some time in the not too distant future, I will be forced to change browsers again.  So many people seem to use the newer browsers like Firefox and others. There must be a reason why!  I won't change unless I have to, but if I encounter more road blocks to the Internet highway, I will switch over to my third browser without hesitation.

Anybody have  recommendations or comments about the other browsers??   At this point I just want something that's not too difficult to change to, and is reasonably user-friendly.  Your thoughts??

But for now, I'm back and I am much relieved to have figured out a way to stay in touch with the computer (and Blogger) world!

"Trouble"

This is my third attempt to post something today.  I'm having real "Trouble" with Blogger, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer.  I can't connect to any link after whatever is my first choice.  I've been trying to figure this out for two days.  Soooo Annoying!!  It's annoying because I don't have a clue what I'm doing, why this happened, or how to fix it.  When things have happened in the past with my PC, I just muddled around until I found someway to make it work.......which probably didn't "fix" anything!



I'm trying to sort it out, but I probably won't  be able to get back to normal postings for hours.......days........months...........years??????



I'm going to try to post this through this site (which I just happened to stumble upon).....crossing my fingers!

"Call Me"

Did I tell you that I got an IPhone for Christmas?  After years and years of carrying around telecommunication dinosaurs (First, an old cell phone that I had for years, then one of the Big Guy's abandoned flip phones), I finally decided I needed to step into the 21st century and get a

camera/
datebook/
weather station/
Internet/
radio/
message center/
photo album/
newspaper/
TV/
stopwatch/
calculator/
watch/
atlas/
compass
......oh, and phone!   

So Mikey and M-t-G jointly decided to "give" me the phone of my choice.  Mikey would pay for it and M-t-G would teach me how to use it!  After a quick introductory tour into the world of IPhones from Ratchlet, I decided to get an IPhone 5c.  As a special deal from Best Buy, I was able to get the phone and sign up for a Verizon service plan.  Interestingly enough, they gave me the phone for free.  I realize that Verizon makes their money on the ongoing monthly payments, but neither Best Buy nor Apple got a dime from me, while I got the newest version of the Apple IPhone.  That seems illogical to me, but I guess there is money changing hands behind the scenes among the three companies. So if they are okay with it, who am I to judge?

It came as no surprise that there was no actual written instruction manual included in the IPhone materials.  I guess there is one on-line, but basically one has to depend on "the kindness of strangers" or friends or family to figure out how to make the thing work.  M-t-G did, in fact, spend several hours helping me to set up the IPhone and she showed me a lot of "tricks," and that definitely got me up and running.   Still,  I am definitely a "techno-dweeb," so, even with M-t-G's help,  I pretty much expected there would be a rather protracted period of adjustment.

Most of it is pretty easy if one is already familiar with a computer, but there are a few things that take a bit of getting used to.  For example, I have mistakenly called people from my contact list multiple times, because I can't seem to consistently remember the right steps to delete calls from the log.  I usually catch it before it actually connects to anyone, but when I don't catch it soon enough, its embarrassing to admit that I STILL don't know what I'm doing on the dumb thing! (Okay, okay the phone isn't dumb....it's the user [that would be me] who doesn't seem to be quite with the program!)

There is another thing that I find really annoying.  Sometimes it seems that all I have to do is breathe on the screen and it will connect me to something that I'm not wanting to connect to, or move where I don't want it to move, or change something I didn't want to change!  Other times I'm tempted to get a hammer to pound on the various icons or arrows or whatevers because hitting them with my finger or even a stylus just doesn't seem to work!  How come it's so sensitive sometimes but other times it just flat out ignores whatever I'm trying to do??

And then there is typing!  It is very convenient to have access to email and the Internet from almost anywhere, but it surely isn't always easy to create a message.  I spent 40+ years working as a secretary/executive assistant and believe me, I knew how to type!  I believe my standard typing speed was somewhere around 70-75 words a minute when I was working full time.  Well, not anymore....and certainly not on my IPhone!  Obviously, one cannot type in the tried and true method of touch typing that I learned many moons ago!  Not on that teeny little keypad!  I've tried to do the 2-thumb approach that all the young people seem to use, but I'm just not that coordinated I guess.....every time I try to type with my thumbs, I drop the IPhone!!  This is not a good thing. (Luckily it always dropped into my lap, so there was no damage done, but that won't last forever!) Using a hunt-and-peck approach leads to a lot of errors, so I don't even try to do a longer multiple paragraph email on the IPhone.  It is just enormously easier to send such messages from the computer, but that kind of defeats the whole purpose!!  For Valentine's Day Mikey gave a darling gadget which incorporated a stylus, a monogrammed heart, a sparkly little butterfly, and a "bungee cord".  The cord plugs into the phone and stretches sufficiently to use on the keyboard. It works well!  Besides which it's kind of fun to add a little bling to the process.  (He also gave similar ones to Ratchlet and to M-t-G.....)  Having that stylus helps quite a bit!

I've decided that I like my IPhone.  It is very helpful to have access to all the different apps from just about anywhere.  On the whole it is more positive than negative and I think it will get better as I get more adept at using it.

Ironically, one of the main reasons I decided I needed to move into using this century's technology, was that frequently people I know would say, "I'll text or message you." When that happened I had to explain that I didn't do text or messages because I had a dinosaur phone.  As you all probably know, trying to type from a telephone keypad is possible but oh, so, tedious and frustrating.  I knew I needed to update my phone skills in this way, or I would be left behind in the dust.   So now you can "Call Me" or text me or message me and I will get it AND will be able to answer!! Cool, huh?? The irony comes in because in the six weeks I have had the IPhone, I have only received two text messages!  I guess there wasn't any urgency after all!

Still, now, after all these years, I'm finally one of the cool kids!  How about that?!!

"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!

"This Little Girl of Mine"

I am a typical grandmother.  I am absolutely crazy about my granddaughter.  She has always been smart, funny, witty, and clever.  She is special in so many ways.  Those of you who have followed along with the Musings for a while. probably read about her entrance into the world as a preemie (a tiny preemie!) and her encounter with Hepatablastoma (a malignant tumor on the liver) at the age of 3 1/2.  She came through both of those experiences with flying colors and earned the title of Our Miracle Baby because of them.  And now at two months shy of her 13th birthday, she is a completely healthy and a pretty  normal pre-teen.  She loves to read.  She plays violin in her school's Symphony Orchestra. She's a Girl Scout.  We are very proud of all of her accomplishments in the last 12 years.

Like most kids she has a few things she struggles with.  She has a temper, she gets frustrated easily, she is interested in a gazillion different things, she doesn't like being the center of attention (but she's getting better at it).  She is a huge Dr. Who fan (and I mean HUGE) along with a group of her friends.  When she's cranky, she is world-class cranky!!  She is an individual who follows her own drummer and does things according to her own time schedule.  

She's a great and unique kid and we love spending time with her (when she's not cranky!!  lol!)

I mentioned that she is smart.  We've known that for a long time.  I could give you multiple examples of things she has done and how great her grades have been.  She attends a magnet Middle School with am academic program for bright kids.  She is now in the second half of the seventh grade and she is doing just great.  She loves the school and finds it challenging but not impossible.  They seem to have enormous amounts of homework, and all the kids complain, but they get it done.  That's okay, kids always complain about homework and the older you get the more there is!  

Okay, there you have it...."This Little Girl of Mine" (okay, she's OUR girl) our granddaughter, is Maddie-the-Great and we love her to pieces, just like every grandparent feels about their grandchildren.  We don't love her because of her gifts.  We love her because of who she is!

Nevertheless, there are times when her special-ness stands out in a way that is hard to miss.  For instance.....

Duke University (along with several other colleges and universities around the country) has a program for identifying academically gifted kids and offering them opportunities to attend special summer courses exploring all sorts of fields and topics.  The way they identify these kids (at least in Texas) is by having high scorers on the Texas STAR test are given the opportunity to take the S.A.T.s while they are in 7th or 8th Grades.  Yes, that's right, they take  the regular S.A.T. exams when they are in the 7th or 8th grade, right along with the regular administration of the tests to high school juniors and seniors!  7th graders are 12-13; juniors and seniors are 17-19 that's 4-5 more years of maturing and schooling  received!  The 7th graders take the exact same test, which is scored in the exact same way.

And then they wait for the results.  So, as you might have figured out (because you are pretty bright too!!  LOL!), Maddie-the-Great was one of the kids to take the test back in January.  

Just to be clear, there is no penalty involved if the child doesn't do well.  The test results do NOT stay on the record if their score is below a certain level.  There is no stigma attached, after all they are only 12!  Most kids don't take the S.A.T.s for several more years.  No pressure to do well, no embarrassment, no bad consequences.  Participation is completely voluntary.

Okay, so M-t-G was one of the 7th graders.  She was pretty relaxed about it given the circumstances and the lack of "expectations" both at school and at home.  When she talked with us after the test she said that the Math was kind of hard, but the rest wasn't too bad.  She felt okay about the test.  Good!

The sponsors of the program, Duke and other schools, offer two levels of summer offerings for these kids depending on their test results.  "The Academy" offers classes to the kids that rank in the top 5% of participants' scores.  "The Center" offers classes to the kids who have the highest academic achievement scores.....that's all it says.....just the "highest"....I think these are the uber-smart, almost genius level kids, but it doesn't exactly say that. 

Last Thursday they got the results.  Maddie scored a 500 in Math, 520 in Writing, and 580 in critical reading, which puts her solidly in The Academy group....the top 5% of her peers!!  That gives her a composite of 1600....1500 is the average score for High School Juniors who take the SATs!!!

Just like any grandparent I am very proud of her ability and how well she did.  That's nothing new!  But now when I say, she's pretty smart, she's got the SAT scores to prove it and she got them at  age 12! 

"This Little Girl of Mine(/Ours)" did it again!!   Maddie-the-Great, indeed!

(In the interest of complete disclosure, I did not do extensive research on this program.  But this is what Ratchlet and Maddie said and I sort of confirmed it on Duke's website.  So I'm pretty sure I got it right, but I could be off a bit.)

Sunday Stealing

It's been a while, so maybe you'll forgive me for indulging in yet ANOTHER meme all about me!!   LOL!


Sunday Stealing: The Books Meme

1:Favorite children's book?   

Absolutely love Winnie the Pooh even though I didn't discover it until I was in my teens!  (Thanks, Flossie!)

2:What is the next book you plan to read?    

I just got "The Last Original Wife" by Dorothea Benton Frank.

3:Books on your "to read" list?  

I generally don't keep a list.  If a book interests me, I'll buy it and read it right away.

4:Top 5 authors?   

My current favorites, in no particular order --  Robyn Carr, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Emily Richards, Kristen Hannah, and Jacqueline Druga.  Over the years there have been many, many more.

5:Favorite genres?   

Women's Fiction, Science Fiction, Humor (Again this is currently. There have been others over time.)

6:Do you have multiple books in process or just one at a time?  

Usually have 3 or 4 going at once.  

7:A book that you've cried over?   

I cried every time I have re-read "Little Women".  Must be about 20 times by now!

8:A book that made you laugh out loud?  

"The Princess Bride"  I laughed out loud on practically every page!  Funniest book I've ever read.

9:Fiction or nonfiction?    

Reality is full of non-fiction!  When I read, I want happy endings!!   FICTION!!

10:First book you've read by your favorite author?  

I don't have just one favorite author.  And generally when I find an author I like, I will try to read everything they've written, so it's difficult to remember what came first.

11:Best book-to-movie adaptation?  

I will not usually see a movie adaptation of a book I liked because they are rarely even half as good.  I did, however, like the movie of Leon Uris', "Exodus", but that was mostly because they cast Paul Newman in the role of Ari Ben Canaan.  Perfection!   :)

12:Do you read comics/manga?  

You're kidding, right??  I'm a little beyond comics!

13:Hardcovers or Paperbacks?   

Or Kindle!!  Yes to all three!

14:Do you buy books as soon as they come out or wait a while?  

For certain authors I will even order them pre-release!

15:Do you buy books spontaneously without any prior knowledge of what happens in it?  

Generally not, I need at least a short synopsis before I decide to buy. 

16:Have you ever bought a book based on the cover alone?   

Hate to admit it, but yes!

17:Where do you usually buy your books?  

Amazon, Goodwill, Half-Priced Books, Costco, garage sales, Barnes and Noble, flea markets, drug stores......I'm not picky!

18:Book that had a strong impact on you?   

There have been so many...."Anne Frank --  the Diary of a Young Girl," "Atlas Shrugged,"  "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Exodus," "Time and Again."

19:Historical or science fiction?   

Science Fiction....(but definitely NOT fantasy).

20:Dystopian or Utopian?  

Dystopian  (I'm going through a phase!)

21:Once you start to read a book, do you feel compelled to finish it?   

Heavens NO!  If a book does not capture my interest after about 30 pages, I stop reading it!  If I don't like a book even after reading more of it, I stop reading it!  .   There are too many wonderful books out there to waste my time on something I don't like!!

22:What genres do you refuse to read?   

horror, porn, graphical violence, among others.

23:How many books do you own?   

Hundreds (over the course of my life, it might have been thousands.)  I have to periodically purge otherwise my house would have no room for furniture!!

24:Do you go the library?  

Not so much anymore, because of the ease of finding things to read among e-books.

25:How many books do you read a year?  

Since I retired it has usually been around 275-300 a year on average. (I'm a fast reader!)

26:Do enjoy reading the "Classics"?    

Not usually.

27:Do you ever re-read a book?  

I will often re-read a book I loved.   It's like visiting an old friend!

"Old Friends"

I am very fortunate, well, for a lot of different reasons, but the one I am speaking of right now is that I am very fortunate to have several "Old Friends" that I have always considered to be my BFFs (Best Friend Forever)!  There is Janie, whom I've known since the third grade -- my childhood BFF; then there is Flossie, my BFF from high school and beyond; after that came Cathy --  not only my BFF from my middle years, but also my music making BFF; and about a year or so ago, I met T (actually Tamara) when we were in a show together.  She quickly became my new BFF and is also one of the partners in our new theatrical venture...."The Hourglass Players".  Not very many people can say they have four best friends so I feel very blessed!

My first two BFFs are basically the same age as I am (give or take a few months), the other two are about 8-12 years younger.   All four of them became my friends because of some shared interests, shared experiences, mutual respect, and we share an ability to laugh together!  Janie lives in Arkansas and has been married for 45+ years, Flossie is in Florida, married late then divorced just a few years later and just married again this last summer,  Cathy is in Chicago and married her hubby twice (it's a long story), and T lives here in the Austin area and has been married for around 35 years (I think), And of course, there is me, living in Austin and coming up on 48 years of marriage to the Big Guy,

Interestingly enough, none of them know any of the others and they are vastly different from each other.  But for whatever reason, some twist of fate brought them into my life and they each fill a part of my soul with friendship that I treasure unconditionally.  

We are the kind of friends who understand each other, support each other, laugh together, cry together.  We can be open and honest with each other.  We can even disagree and argue a bit, but it doesn't affect the friendship at all.  We accept each other for who we are.....no games, no backstabbing, no unmet expectations.  I know that I could contact any of them in the middle of the night if I needed to and they would be ready to listen, give help and comfort for what ever reason.   I can count on them and conversely they know that they can expect the same from me! That is what makes them my best friends.

I may have mentioned that I don't have tons of friends, at least not as many as a lot of people seem to have.  It is usually difficult for me to make new friends. I'm not sure exactly why that is so, but it is.  According to Facebook, I have 103 friends and they are spread all over the country and are of many different backgrounds and lifestyles, I've known some of them for years and years through work or theatre or some other interest.  Others I really don't know well, but I like them and want to stay in touch.  Still others are little more than acquaintances.   That's why being able to say that I have FOUR best friends is downright amazing to me!

They are the type of friends who you might not see for long stretches of time.  Nevertheless, when we do manage to get together, it's as if we'd never been apart.  That is a wonderful feeling to have about special people in your life.

Fortunately all of us appear to be in reasonably good health, good physical condition, and fully present in our minds and in our lives.  This is extremely important to me.  I want them all to stick around forever, because I sure can't even imagine not having any of them in my life.

When they each received the designation of Best Friend Forever, I meant exactly that....Forever Friends.  And so far, our forevers have lasted a good long time and I am deeply grateful and happy to be able to say that I hope our forevers go on a whole lot longer!

The only real complaint I have about my four BFFs, is that none of them regularly read Mellodee Musings!!   In fact, I don't think a couple of them have ever even seen it!  Silly girls.........I mean, really!!  Of course, they all already know just about everything there is to know about me, so I guess its okay.  Still, wish they'd show up here once in a while!

Otherwise, how will these "Old Friends" ever know how very much they mean to me?     :)

"Life Upon the Wicked Stage" Part Two

Okay, on to Part Two.....

As I said yesterday, I decided to see if I could put together a small group of theatre friends who approach community theatre in the same way I do....with a commitment to quality, pushing to make productions the best we can do, and presenting plays that are varied and interesting.....and most of all, entertaining!

So I talked to five individuals that I had met through the problematic theatre group.  Each of us has had years and years of theatre experience of various sorts.  Each was knowledgeable and talented and loved theatre.  Unfortunately, we all had encountered mounting frustrations in trying to produce a quality product despite the inherent roadblocks the group continually uses to keep tight control of their "vision."  Four of us had worked together on a romantic comedy a year or so before and the fifth had worked on several shows there but had left the group because of her frustrations.  I knew their standards were good ones and we agreed to explore the possibility of starting a group of our own.

We had several planning and discussion meetings trying to identify what exactly we wanted to do.  At first I was fearful that we wouldn't be able to come to a consensus on something we could all support and be involved in..... everybody had their own opinions on what type of group we should strive to be.  Should we be a regular community theatre that eventually presented a couple of shows a year aimed toward a broad range of audiences?  Should we focus on a specific type of play (comedy, musical, drama....?)  Should we be a for-profit or not-for-profit group?  Should we try for traditional or go for new or unfamiliar plays?   Or should we try to do something new and different....at least new and different to us?

After a couple of meetings one of the original five realized she just didn't have the time or inclination to devote to such a large undertaking right now so, after wishing us well, she pulled out.  And so we were four.

As we talked we began to hone in on a concept that did not exist in the Austin area....Senior Theatre!  This is a type of endeavor that is springing up all over the country as the senior population is growing every day.  There is not, however, any one model that is being utilized.  There are many different companies that operate under the "Senior Theatre" umbrella, but each group is structured differently, with a different focus, a different target audience, a different approach, and a different concept.

We ultimately decided that we would make our group a traveling theatre company which would focus our attention on residences that are set up for the over 50 population.  Some of these residences are independent living facilities, some are more assisted living, and so on all the way to skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes.  In each of these facilities there is a range among the residents who have mobility issues that come from their declining visual, hearing, physical , and cognitive abilities.  We decided that we would go to them!!

So we are official now.  We are an Incorporated, not-for-profit, traveling company of actors who will (at least at first) develop a repertoire of fairly short one-act plays with small casts and limited set needs. Hopefully we will be able to contract with various facilities to present entertainment programs of 2 or 3 one-act plays that would appeal (we hope) to senior audiences.  Our company currently consists of Jo R., Geoff R., Tamara F. and me.  We expect that we will add performers as needed as time goes by.  We have named ourselves The Hourglass Players and we have adopted a logo (so that makes us official!)

The Hourglass Players
(A Senior Theatre Traveling Troupe)

As it stands the four of us have chosen, cast, and rehearsed four one-act plays each about 15-20 minutes long.  We had our first performance about two weeks ago at a lovely senior resident apartment complex.  Their facility is terrific and includes an actual theatre!  We presented two of our plays...."Lost" and "The Hotel Lobbyist" to an audience of almost forty people.

 The Hotel Lobbyist 

 by Bara Swain 

                             

A recently widowed former political activist and her conservative daughter meet in a hotel lobby, where the mother has handcuffed herself to a chair!  They proceed to argue about whether the mother will agree to live in a retirement facility as her daughter hopes.....or will remain independent and continue to live in the same home she shared with her late husband for 47 years!

Lost

by Mary Louise Wilson

Two women of a certain age, roommates and best friends since child-hood, try to head out for an evening at the theater. Unfortunately, they each seem to have a bit of trouble remembering things.....things

like their keys, glasses, shoes, where they are going,

and especially, how to get there! 

 Both are comedies, and as it happens, I was in both of them.  We introduced ourselves to the audience and gave some information on our backgrounds and what our goals for the group were.  We made it clear this was our debut performance and was, in some respects a "test."  Both plays were very well-received and we had an open discussion with the audience at the end of the evening to gauge the audience's reactions and opinions on what we had done and what our plan for the future was.

They were extremely supportive of our effort and the general consensus was that they liked us and they hoped we would come again.  That was gratifying and very much a relief!!

So we are off and running.  We have another performance scheduled at a different retirement community in March.  We will be working on seeking out other venues where we might be able to bring our company for their entertainment.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but the four of us are committed to making this a success.   At this point we have no funding from any source other than our own investment into the company.  The reality is that like any business endeavor there will be expenses to meet, such as royalty fees, administrative costs, prop and set expenses, and so on.   In fact, we are accepting (and very grateful for) any and all donations (which, as we are a not-for-profit corp., are tax-deductible) from our friends, families, and interested parties.  If by chance any of you would like to help us in our start-up efforts, we'd be ever so grateful!  Please contact me via email and I'll tell you how to make a donation:  mellodee625@gmail.com.  

I will most likely be sharing updates on our progress and experiences trying to make the Hourglass Players a viable, well-respected, effective and  fun theatre company for the senior set!  Over time as we proceed we will be open to adjustments in our mission or exactly what we do.  But right now, we are very excited about all the possibilities and looking forward to returning to "Life Upon the Wicked Stage."

Keep your fingers crossed for us!



P.S.  I'd love to hear your opinions or suggestions on our project.  So, what do you think??