Fall has, well, fallen upon southern Indiana. This is the last week of soccer. Nights are cool; days are warm but without the humidity. The mums are in full bloom, the two we planted...the other two dried behind the pool wall and never saw the dirt of earth.
Orange and brown dominate the store landscapes as Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations lure shoppers with the guilt that each house, yard, mantel, table and door front should have a hanging artifact that declares to the world that you, the homeowner, know that the seasons have changed and are embracing the change. And I know that some of you reading this are sporting pumpkin pins and sweatshirts....(note to self: add this to the list of old people behaviors...see previous blog).
Do you sometimes wish we could change our lives as easily and with the same lack of fuss that we change seasons? Prescribed colors, holiday themes and slogans make seasonal change a no-brainer. Sometimes I wonder if we embrace the seasonal change with such passion in order for us not to have to figure out the colors, themes and slogans of our own lives.
That's what I'm thinking about today.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Trying to Pull a Fast One
Anyway you title it, the savvy eater will know that at its core it is meatloaf. One does not need be a connoisseur to see the advertising trickery behind fiesta patty, porcupine balls, marvelous meat cake, beef roll and simply fabulous pork loaf. It is all meat loaf in one form or another.
My husband has bad memories of cafeteria food at Ohio State where to this day he is sure that the staff served the left-over meat from the day before, simply creating names and adding ingredients until the original base meat could not be identified.
Yet as I sit here writing, the aroma of fabulous mini-meat loaves wafts through the air from the oven where I have not six, not 12, but 20 loaves baking. Topped with a spoonful of salsa mixed with chili powder with a sprinkling of cheese on top, I think the family may find these mini-loaves tasty.
The alternative to meat loaf for dinner is reservations at a restaurant of their choice. I will let you know how it goes.
That's what I'm thinking about today.
My husband has bad memories of cafeteria food at Ohio State where to this day he is sure that the staff served the left-over meat from the day before, simply creating names and adding ingredients until the original base meat could not be identified.
Yet as I sit here writing, the aroma of fabulous mini-meat loaves wafts through the air from the oven where I have not six, not 12, but 20 loaves baking. Topped with a spoonful of salsa mixed with chili powder with a sprinkling of cheese on top, I think the family may find these mini-loaves tasty.
The alternative to meat loaf for dinner is reservations at a restaurant of their choice. I will let you know how it goes.
That's what I'm thinking about today.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Old People
Nearly ten years ago a co-worker and I who are the same age decided to write a book about Old People. Our idea was to compile a list of behaviors that identified someone as an old person, regardless of their chronological age.
We agreed that we, and four or five other co-workers would form a bond and hold each other accountable for not exhibiting any of these traits. We would be the OPP or, Old People Police, alerting anyone in the group about traits that might label them as someone getting older.
I recently came across an old email from my co-author, one we were mailing back and forth adding items for the book. I list a few of them here. Old People:
-have clip-on sun glasses
-have standing hair appointments on Friday
-carry Styrofoam containers out of restaurants
-have a kissing Dutch couple in their front flower bed
-wear big jeweled rings on every finger
-have a button box
-talk louder into the phone when it is a long-distance call
-have white, boxer-like cotton underwear
-read Reminisce
-use words like malarkey and bologna
-sip drinks through little pursed lips
-carry their purses over their forearm
-have boxes of tissues in their cars
-wear knee-hi nylons with skirts, rolled down to their ankles
-have a gas usage booklet stuck in the car visor
-line up their pills by their water glasses in restaurants
-take sweetener packets home from restaurants
-buy ribbon candy at Christmas and throw it out in April
-place fold-up aluminum chairs on either side of their shiny globe lawn ornament to make 'an arrangement'
And now that I'm thinking about it I say, "So?"
We agreed that we, and four or five other co-workers would form a bond and hold each other accountable for not exhibiting any of these traits. We would be the OPP or, Old People Police, alerting anyone in the group about traits that might label them as someone getting older.
I recently came across an old email from my co-author, one we were mailing back and forth adding items for the book. I list a few of them here. Old People:
-have clip-on sun glasses
-have standing hair appointments on Friday
-carry Styrofoam containers out of restaurants
-have a kissing Dutch couple in their front flower bed
-wear big jeweled rings on every finger
-have a button box
-talk louder into the phone when it is a long-distance call
-have white, boxer-like cotton underwear
-read Reminisce
-use words like malarkey and bologna
-sip drinks through little pursed lips
-carry their purses over their forearm
-have boxes of tissues in their cars
-wear knee-hi nylons with skirts, rolled down to their ankles
-have a gas usage booklet stuck in the car visor
-line up their pills by their water glasses in restaurants
-take sweetener packets home from restaurants
-buy ribbon candy at Christmas and throw it out in April
-place fold-up aluminum chairs on either side of their shiny globe lawn ornament to make 'an arrangement'
And now that I'm thinking about it I say, "So?"
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Our Big Adventure
On the search for the perfect winter formal dress four of us, Taylor, her sister Brittany, Lola (their aunt) and I headed for Louisville, two hours away. I really did think we could get there before the winds from Ike reached us. Au contrare!
Two accidents we saw in Louisville. One car had been hit by a falling tree head-on on an eight-lane highway. The windshield was pushed into the back seat. The driver was probably going sixty. The tree was probably going that also. Another tree fell on the middle of the roof of another car nearly cutting the vehicle in half, again right on the Xpressway. I just hurried along to the shopping mall.
And in a half hour we had found the perfect dress. Which I would post here but then Taylor's friends may be able to see the dress before the dance which would never do.
We were hungry and happy and headed for The Cheesecake Factory, our mouths watering and our imaginations running wild about what we would order there and what kind of cheesecake we would have at the end of our meal. We held on to each other in the wind as we made our way across the parking lot to the restaurant.
The restaurant was dark. And it was closed. The servers were still there but the power was out so they could not serve guests. Major disappointment from which we rebounded to try Logan's Steakhouse; same deal, no power. Then Wendy's, McDonald's, the Kroger store was closed and the gas stations...and we were really hungry.
What could we do? Louisville was without power, so we headed back to southern Indiana and thanks to the GPS found a fine restaurant open and with power an hour from the city.
But we found the perfect dress (which I dare not even describe to you).
It was dangerous to be out driving, debris flying around, wind gusts shoving cars out of their lanes but we had no incident befall us.
Oh yes, perhaps this one more thing. When Lola returned to her home, the neighbor's tree had fallen over the fence onto her garage and her house. The garage is a total loss, but the good thing is, if the garage had not been there and taken the brunt of the force, the house would be missing two rooms. This morning a 40-ton crane showed up to lift the tree from the garage and house.
That's what I'm thinking about.
Two accidents we saw in Louisville. One car had been hit by a falling tree head-on on an eight-lane highway. The windshield was pushed into the back seat. The driver was probably going sixty. The tree was probably going that also. Another tree fell on the middle of the roof of another car nearly cutting the vehicle in half, again right on the Xpressway. I just hurried along to the shopping mall.
And in a half hour we had found the perfect dress. Which I would post here but then Taylor's friends may be able to see the dress before the dance which would never do.
We were hungry and happy and headed for The Cheesecake Factory, our mouths watering and our imaginations running wild about what we would order there and what kind of cheesecake we would have at the end of our meal. We held on to each other in the wind as we made our way across the parking lot to the restaurant.
The restaurant was dark. And it was closed. The servers were still there but the power was out so they could not serve guests. Major disappointment from which we rebounded to try Logan's Steakhouse; same deal, no power. Then Wendy's, McDonald's, the Kroger store was closed and the gas stations...and we were really hungry.
What could we do? Louisville was without power, so we headed back to southern Indiana and thanks to the GPS found a fine restaurant open and with power an hour from the city.
But we found the perfect dress (which I dare not even describe to you).
It was dangerous to be out driving, debris flying around, wind gusts shoving cars out of their lanes but we had no incident befall us.
Oh yes, perhaps this one more thing. When Lola returned to her home, the neighbor's tree had fallen over the fence onto her garage and her house. The garage is a total loss, but the good thing is, if the garage had not been there and taken the brunt of the force, the house would be missing two rooms. This morning a 40-ton crane showed up to lift the tree from the garage and house.
That's what I'm thinking about.
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