Choose Less Ordinary

Hubby Dearest gave me a bag of Dove Dark Chocolates last week after I had shared my left over Halloween candy with him. He doesn't care for dark chocolate, but knows I do and like to have a little on hand in case I need a chocolate fix - which I do once in awhile.

When you unwrap a Dove chocolate and take time to read the advice to choose less ordinary which comes with each piece, you can get some good ideas on how to behave, like, Keep Them Guessing. 

One which is apropos for me this week: Be Proud Of Your Age. (I'll be 74 Saturday.) But another says, Ignore The Clock. Hmm, I guess those two are compatible.

My favorite suggestions so far are Why Not? and Take A Run On The Wild Side. (Which for an elderly woman (as media likes to identify me) can be pretty tame.)
But today, Hubby Dearest, and I are going to do just that, take a run on the wild side. Details to follow. In the meantime, I hope you Give Them Something To Talk About. 

Four Skunks and a Ground Hog

I found a picture of my Mom that I don't remember sharing before. There is no date on the back, but I would guess she was around 18.

In her diary, 80 years ago today, she wrote: "We kids went down home." (Referring to herself and Dad, I'm sure. They had been married just over a month and were living with Dad's family. 'Down home' would have been to Mom's folks.)
"They went hunting. Got 4 skunks. We went with the folks to take Evelyn and Howard (Mom's sister and brother-in-law) home. They went hunting up there. Got a groundhog." 'They' most likely refers to the men.

This piece of material with the note pinned to it was with the photo of Mom. The note is in Grandma Lynam's handwriting and reads: "This is sample of Dad's suit. You can paste in his Book you have."

I don't know what book of his they had. I would guess the suit referred to may have been the one Grandpa was buried in, so perhaps the book was from his funeral in 1947.

I also don't know why the picture and suit sample were together. Just another of those questions that'll never be answered.   ....Like....
What would you do with four skunks and a groundhog??

The Morning Fog

It's damp and chilly and......foggy.

Visibility may be poor, but there's something ethereal about fog.

Tony Bennett had the right attitude: ♫ ♪The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care. ♪ ♫

Look Now, The Sky Is Golden

The leaves are falling, November's calling....maybe my favorite month - impressed upon me early because of my birthday and Thanksgiving.
The sun has moved south, some of the trees are already bare of leaves and the sunsets are glorious.

The first thing I noticed when I looked out the window this morning was how littered with leaves the deck was.

Overnight those maple leaves had begun coming down on the decks and the roofs.

They are swirling into piles everywhere - along the deck....

and in the street, behind the garage.

Some of the oak leaves have started to fall. They make a rattling sound, blowing down the street.

"Now constantly there is the sound,
Quieter than rain, 
Of the leaves falling..."
   (Wendell Berry)

Play That Funky Music

One of the story lines on General Hospital (yes, I got sucked back into watching it) is Josslyn and Oscar trying to discover who Oscar's father is. (For the record, I think it is going to turn out to be Sonny.) While snooping in Oscar's mother's things for clues (b-t-w, we still haven't seen his mother [Brenda?] on screen), Joss and Oscar find a CD mix of old tunes. Thinking it could hold clues to Oscar's dad, they take it, but have no way to play the CD. WHAT? I know modern technology has made cassettes obsolete, but I thought CD's were still sold. I guess the younger generation listens to music on their iPod or phones?

And I guess I am almost as obsolete as cassettes and CD's, but that doesn't mean I don't still want to listen to the ones I have accumulated over the years.

Which I could do until a few months ago. I had my trusty old boom box. The CD player worked fine but when I tried to play a cassette, there was a problem even my handy, handsome, husband couldn't fix. Oh, well, I had plenty of CD's to listen to.

But a few days ago, for some reason, I started thinking about the music we chose for Mom's funeral, all of which was on cassettes, and I wanted to hear those songs again.

It only took a few minutes online to place the order and three days to arrive. What a difference in size and weight. The old player was metal and big, the new, plastic and small. The first cassette I listened to was Hollie Smith's 'Light From A Distant Shore' with her Amazing Grace from Mom's services.

In the old days, I would offer my old player to one of the grandkids, thinking they could use it to play their CD's, but I know they'd just look at me like, "Grandma, what world do you live in?", so I'll hang on to it. Maybe use it in the garage or on the deck.

Part of me thinks it was foolish to buy a new player just to play a few old cassettes. But what the heck, I can justify it as an early birthday present from me to me. Next up: Connie Dover's cassette, 'If Ever I Return'.

Red Letter Day

A red letter day is one that is pleasantly noteworthy or memorable. November is full of such days in our family, which I've written about before - birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
They are not marked in red on my calendar, but I have decided to start noting in red the days when I feel good (physically) - keeping track in order to see if there is any discernible pattern.

Monday, I wrote, "Felt Really Good." Today wasn't a red letter day to begin with, but it turned out to be not too shabby. Here's a hint:

There is a company in Great Britain where you can shop for red letter days perfect experiences. Mine didn't come from there, but that second photo illustrates what made this day pleasantly noteworthy.
I finally decided it was time to have a massage again. I used to do so regularly but hadn't had one for a long time - mostly because I hadn't found a masseuse I really like since moving. Now I have.

She had just begun working on my back when I kinda groaned a little. "Does that hurt?, she asked. "No. It just feels so good." A red letter day for sure.

Thinking About Railways

A while back I discovered a series of Irish Railway posters with the art of Paul Henry. They were commissioned and distributed by The London Midland and Scottish Railway Company to encourage tourism in Ireland. The above poster was the first in the series. It was published in 1925. Oh, how I would love to have seen Ireland then. (The other posters can be seen, and purchased, at travelpostersonline.)

The posters helped establish Henry as an artist. I like his spare, post impressionist style. Much of his work featured the West of Ireland. I imagine this young woman, preparing to emigrate to America and looking west, across the Atlantic, wondering what her new life will hold.

I was thinking about trains because of this one which was stopped this morning waiting until Amtrak came through before journeying on.

I hadn't before noticed so many cars with those J B Hunt Intermodal containers on them. What are they? What is in them? And just what is intermodal? (Two or more different modes of transportation used in conveying goods.)

So goods can be loaded into a container in China, transported by ship, off-loaded onto a train, travel across America, off-loaded again, hooked up to a semi and trucked to a warehouse or business where it is finally unloaded?

I'd still like to know what is in some of those containers on this morning's train.