Trader Joe's is Coming to Town

Like many other people, I like shopping at  Trader Joe's.  We here in Florida have been deprived of this experience long enough.  Trader Joe's will soon be in my neighborhood.  I can't wait for those clever fliers and helpful checkers who all look like vegans.

Trader Joe's will never replace my primary food store, Publix.  And I don't mean any Publix.  I mean my own personal Palm Springs Publix located in Altamonte Springs, Florida.  I'm capable of shopping at another super market but, like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, I'm not comfortable with it.

Trader Joe's is another story.  Their Charles Shaw wine (3 Buck Chuck's) is as good or better than wines costing much more.  Their special sauces are to die for.  Like curry. Yum.  And all very reasonably priced.

Like Omar Khayyam in this cartoon from The New Yorker, it's hard to stick with the basics.


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50 Years Later

We were talking recently about accepting new ideas.  Ir always takes longer than we think it should.

I just heard the I Have a Dream speech - twice.  It's been 50 years since MLK,jr. delivered it on August 28, 1963.  Despite what some say, much has changed for the good in our country since that time.  Dr. King's speech planted seeds in my heart to want to live a life that made a positive difference in the world.

With all of the speeches and stories we've seen and heard this week, I think what's struck me the most is watching the movie Pinky on TCM the other night. This film, made in 1949 and staring Jeanne Crain as a light skinned young black woman passing as white in the north, and then returning home to the south and receiving a rude awakening, was a vivid reminder of how far we've come as a people over the decades.

 I posted this photo of a 1978 march on Washington in this blog a few years ago. (Painful Memories, 1/25/10.)  Afterwards I heard from some old friends, reminiscing about those difficult but exciting times.  One of them reminded me that I was wearing her red coat.  That's my husband Ken in the cool shades.

I'm proud to have been a small part of helping to bring folks together.  I hope I can continue to be "part of the solution" in helping people all over the world learn to live together in peace.  


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How Do We Know When We're Done?

A while back I led a class of 80 and 90 year olds.  We discussed the question:  "Does my life still have value?"  This is, to me, a deeply spiritual question.  The answers are complex and personal but, most of the time, have to do with meaning and purpose.

Pew Research Center put out a poll recently asking "Would You Want to Live to be 120?"  The majority of people in every age category said "No" and the biggest percentage of the "Nos" came for folks over 65.  Reasons ranged from pain and suffering to using more than our share of resources.

So, how do we know when life ceases to have meaning?  Again, that's a personal question.

As you know, I love my "New Yorker" magazine.  And, as you know, I love the satirical column, "Shouts and Murmurs" the best.  This week, it's written by Simon Rich and is titled "The Tribal Rite of the Strombergs."  It's over the top disgusting, disrespectful and demeaning to older people.  And I love it.  It makes me think.

It starts with the Strombegs, father and son, playing scrabble.  When the son, Jeremy wins, the father knows what he must do.  He orders his son to beat him to death and "eat my weakened body...for I have become too old to live."

And so on.  It turns out that Mrs. Stromberg had put her mom onto an ice flow when grandma had forgotten the name of the actor who played Frasier.  The family had fed Aunt Susan to a horse in Central park when she promised her niece a summer internship at Bravo and didn't come through.  Uncle Mort marched into the ocean when his daughter discovered he was still using AOL.

Simon Rich, in his crazy/funny/outlandish way, is addressing the question "When does life cease to have meaning?"  I don't think the Strombergs have the answer but the question is one that Dave and I talk about all the time.


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Celebrating New Life

Winnie Palmer Hospital Orlando, FL

On Wednesday my granddaughter gave birth to a baby boy.  I spent my day traveling back and forth from the amazing and state-of-the-art Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies - and Brio's Restaurant in Winter Park where I was attending a birthday lunch for one of my Power Rangers.  She's our oldest - and  very much full of power and wisdom.

But she's had some health issues this year so I was happy that she made the celebration.  And in another couple of days another of my Power Rangers will celebrate new life in her own family.  We, her Power Ranger friends, are fortunate to be able to participate.

So I'm spending these days celebrating life - in many of it's forms.

I know you're probably thinking that I'm way too young to be a great grandmother.  Not so. We're all old enough for our rolls.  I was 24 when I gave birth to the baby's grandfather and there are 20 plus years between each generation.

Life goes on.  Let's celebrate!


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Blue Jasmine

 I love Woody Allen movies.  To me, at their heart, they are personality studies.  Many times over the decades they've looked like studies of Woody Allen's personality.

But not this time. "Blue Jasmine" came to our town on Friday and we saw it at 11:30 A.M. Friday morning.  It's the study of a woman who's come undone.  Think of "Streetcar Named Desire"'s Blanche Debois married to Bernie Madoff.

But, to me, the serious comparison of the two movies ends there.  In Woody Allen movies the cast of characters (and they are "characters") is key.  Also the cast of actors is key.  In "Blue Jasmine" for instance:

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett plays a totally self centered woman who deludes herself into thinking the people around her are there to be used.  Until she can delude herself no longer.

Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin plays her husband.  As I said, a slick, handsome Bernie Madoff clone
.

Sally Hawkins

Sally Hawkins plays her good hearted, hard working (bagger in the grocery story) sister.

Andrew Dice Clay

Andrew Dice Clay plays the sister's husband.  A good person who's destroyed by Cate Blanchett's character.

Bobby Cannavvale

Bobby  Cannavle plays her sister's boyfriend.  He's absolutely great in this role.




Louis ck plays her sister's other boyfriend.  He's good as well.

Peter Sarsgaard

Peter Sarsgaard plays Cate Blanchett's character's boyfriend.  He's smooth as silk.  He and  Cate wear beige .


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The Manly Game of Cribbage

Tough guys playing cribbage

Mr. Toby Crackit swept up his winnings (at cribbage) and crammed them into his waist-coat pocket.  - From "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens

During the summer, several evenings a week, around 5 P.M., you can usually find Dave and me sitting at the kitchen table listening to smooth jazz and playing a couple of games of cribbage.  Cribbage is a tough game. And it's traditionally been a man's game.  Dave's played his whole life but I'm a latecomer.  However, it didn't take me long to get addicted.

Cribbage is old!  "Oliver Twist" was first published in 1838 but cribbage was invented by an Englishman in the 1600s.  It has some things in common with bridge and poker, neither of which I play.  Actually I think I'm too old to learn to be a good bridge player.  It took me weeks to learn cribbage.  Lots of counting and lots of rules.

Our standard cribbage board

There's a style of playing called Muggins.  It's kind of a "cut throat" style.  Dave and I prefer to play the "Gentleman's game."

Fancy (but manly) cribbage boards

Cribbage was at one time the "official game" of American submariners. That makes sense.  It's a mind game.  I don't think it could keep me from going bonkers on a submarine but I'm sure it helped some sailors.

Cribbage is a card game.  Some folks think the board is involved in how you play it.  But the board is simply for keeping score.

There are all kinds of fancy boards.  Dave had one made of ivory with  intricate scrimshaw carvings.  Now we just use the regular board..

More tough guys playing cribbage

You may remember that, in a M.A.S.H. episode, (that originally ran about 35 years ago)  the super wealthy and snooty surgeon, Charles Emerson Winchester III was shipped off from Tokyo to the 4077th M.A.S.H. because he beat a Colonel out of $600 playing cribbage.

So here's a word of advice.  Don't play cribbage for money.  Especially if you play with Dave.



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Britney's 500 Dollar Manicure

The news media is all abuzz today about Britney Spears' recently published list of expenditures.  Among them is a manicure for $500.  This seemed odd to me.  While I was walking this morning I tried to visualize a $500 manicure.  I, myself, have maybe three or four manicures a year.  They're usually $15 plus tip.  And I always tip 20 per cent.  This is kind of a spiritual issue with me, as well as the fact that women have a bad tipping reputation.

Anyway, when I got home - and with several serious items on the agenda - I decided first to research the $500 manicure.  I was wondering if maybe she had it while watching a Broadway show or if food and fine wines were involved.

Gosh, I'm so naive. As it turns out, Britney's was a bargain mani.  For instance...

Leighton Denny $32,000 manicure

On the 2012 Grammys red carpet Rihanna sported a $5,000 24-karat gold gem mani..

British beauty expert Leighton Denny can give you a diamond, sapphire and ruby mani for the bargain price of $32,000.  Apparently it's a hit with Arab princesses.

So Britney, please forgive me for thinking you were being frivolous.  I guess $500 for a manicure can be seen as reasonable after all.

I wonder what kind of tip you leave with the $32,000 kind.


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August Entertainment

Dave and I haven't kept to our weekly movie going schedule in quite a while.  Absolutely nothing playing that we care to see.  I'm not suggesting that the summer movies are bad.  But if you don't care for animation, science fiction or wacky comedy - you're out of luck.

In the meantime, I've tried to watch more Netflix.  Do you have Netflix?  After you buy a box (about $50 but I found a Best Buy coupon and bought ours for much less) Netflix cost $7.99 per month.  We don't watch it much but it's changed the way we view TV.  

 I tried the original and very successful Netflix show "House of Cards" but it doesn't do much for me.  I do, however, like "Orange is the New Black."  It's about a young, sweet, rather naive, entitled Smith grad who is sentenced to a year in a minimum security women's prison.  Yes, it is blatantly sexual and raw so please don't watch it if that sort of thing bothers you.  But I've come to like it because we eventually discover why each one of these women is there.  The series humanizes them.  Yes, they're guilty of their crimes.  Yes, there are bad people, both inmates and guards. But everybody's complicated.  Both in a women's prison and in real life.

In the meantime, I'm patiently waiting for Woody Allen's, "Blue Jasmine"and "Lee Daniel's The Butler" to arrive at the movie theater.


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Louis Poulsen Floor Lamp

I work hard at being a positive person - but sometimes I'm not.  For instance, Dave has this Poulsen floor lamp he loves.  To me it's not particularly attractive.  Sort of industrial looking.  But, of course, since I'm a nice person I don't complain.

Dave's lamp after the fix today

A while back the lamp quit working.  Dave had a lot of trouble finding new bulbs and when he did find them they cost $75.00.  When I asked why, he said, "The lamp is Swedish."  

He put the the bulbs in the lamp and it still didn't work.  So I, nicely, suggested that maybe he'd like me to put the lamp on Craig's List and we could buy a new one.  He didn't want to do that.  He loves his lamp.  

So I put a call into our electrician, Wiley.  In the meantime, Dave and our neighbor, Al, thought they could fix it.  Dave bought two new ballasts, and this morning Dave and Al worked on the lamp.  

By the way, when Wiley the electrician called me back I told him to wait a few days because Dave's an architect and Al's an engineer "so you know they can't fix that lamp!"

Poulsen Floor Lamp $3,920.

But they did.  And here it is in the photo above.  And it didn't need new bulbs so Dave is off now returning them.  

In the meantime I looked up "Poulsen Floor Lamps."  This is the closet I could find to Dave's older lamp.  It's not quite the same - but they're close.  Dave's is metal of some kind and this one is metal and glass, plus the design is inverted.  

This one sells for $3,920.  Dave has never mentioned what he paid for his.  

But, yes, thenceforth, I plan to treat the lamp with more respect.  

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Beware of Sharks and Gustnados

This weekend, in Cocoa Beach, Florida, there was some excitement.  No, it wasn't a shark. Or a sharknado.  There was a gustnado!  And it wasn't even raining.

And, unlike a sharknado (a tornado that rain sharks down on us) - a gustnado is a real thing.  It's a short lived gust front tornado.  Yesterday afternoon a little whirlwind formed on the beach sending umbrellas and other debris flying up into the clouds.

Very scary but apparently no one was seriously hurt.  But I have a feeling we'll soon see a TV show based on this strange event.


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Happiness

Happiness is just a thing called Joe.

You must think I'm obsessed with happiness.  I write about it a lot.  And I sort of am obsessed with it.  Can folks over the age of 60 be happy - until death overtakes us?  I think "yes."  But it's not going to come in the form of some guy named Joe.

One of my favorite writers Joan Chittister, thinks it possible as well.  I'm currently reading her Nautilus /Book Award winner, "Happiness."

Happiness is a warm puppy.

But don't think Sister Joan is going to tell us that happiness is a warm puppy.  It's way more complicated than that.  She's written a book that digs into sociology, biology, neurology, psychology, philosophy, history and the world religions to develop "an archaeology of happiness."

Until the United States of America was founded happiness wasn't even a personal concept.  But it says right in our constitution that we should "pursue it."

Happiness is a trip to the mall. 

Here's a hint.  It has nothing to do with buying stuff and owning stuff - other than meeting our basic needs. Following are some quotes from Joan Chittister's "Happiness" book to help us get a handle on what it is.

It is the point at which we reach a sense of fullness of life, of needing nothing else, of being complete in ourselves. 

Using the personal responses of people across 178 countries...researchers rank Denmark as the happiest country in the world, along with Switzerland, Austria and Iceland.....The U.S. ranked...twenty-third.

...happiness...can't be pursued as if it were a product of something outside ourselves.  It must be chosen and developed and cultivated beyond things the surveys survey.  It is both in us and beyond us.  It is the elixir of the spiritual life. 

The cellist of Sarajevo, playing his instrument dressed in black tie and tails atop a mound of bombed-out rubble because it was the only way he knew to lift the spirit and touch the souls of the battered and beaten people of the city begging for bread.  This is an icon of ecstatic happiness in a brutally unhappy world.  It is the ultimate sense of purpose in life, of gift to be given, of a person's awareness of the reason for which they have been born. 

Somebody asked me this morning if I thought they would like this book.  I didn't quite know how to answer them.  The quotes above give you some sort of clue.  If you do decide to read the book, prepare to go deep.


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Florida Water

When Dave first started flying into the Orlando International Airport, he was amazed at the amount of water a person can see when the plane first breaks through the clouds.  And that's saying something for a man who was coming from the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Florida is a tourist destination.  And possibly the biggest draw is our water.  Lakes, rivers, pools, parks, resorts - we have them.  So come on down and enjoy our beautiful water.

But please be sure that you and your kids can swim.  As columnist Beth Kassab tells us, "Drowning is the number 1 killer of young children in Florida. And Florida has the terrible distinction of leading the country in drowning deaths."   What can be even worse is the near drowning.  Children and adults who survive but never wake up.

There was a scary article in the paper this week about what a quiet death drowning is.  There are no arms flailing or voices screaming.  We pretty much just go under - and we're done.

I almost drowned once when I was a kid.  How was it?  I remember it being quite pleasant.  I was lulling around on the bottom of a lake in Indiana when I looked ahead and saw my uncle swimming toward me.  I wondered what he was doing in the lake with his clothes on and things like coins and cigarettes streaming out of his pockets.

So please come visit us and our abundant water venues.  But learn to swim first.


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