Studies show that the Danish people are the happiest in the world.  Today I learned that might be due to the fact that Danes practice hygge.

Further reading revealed that hygge is based on enjoying simple pleasures associated with everyday living.  Friends.  Family.  Graciousness.  Contentment.  Good feelings.  A warm glow.  More hospitality.  More warmth.  More respect for each other.  A deeply satisfying and cozy feeling of well-being.

I vote that we all resolve to practice hygge.

For a number of years, Ted and I have made the Bach Society’s Candlelight Christmas Concert a part of our celebration of Christmas, and we did so again this year.

The head of the Bach Society (I don’t know his title) did a little introduction before the concert started and he was pretty funny–not something we’ve come to expect at this event.  He told us that we’d be hearing from the Bach Society Choir and also the Bach Society Children’s Choir.  (A misnomer, in my opinion, since these are high school kids.  I would call it a “youth” choir, rather than a “children’s” choir.)  These students get voice training, music education, and character education.  Bach Guy followed this information with “Hopefully, one of them will run for President” and got a round of applause from the audience for his reference to character.

It is not unusual for audience members unfamiliar with classical music concerts to applaud after each movement of a selection, rather than waiting until the entire piece is finished.  Before leaving the stage, Bach Guy asked the audience to please hold applause until the end of the entire musical piece–Handel’s Messiah.  He said the performance would be so outstanding that applause after each movement would keep us in the venue until midnight.  He then promised we would know when the piece was over.

Of course, the well-known closing of the Messiah is the “Hallelujah Chorus,” for which everyone stands.  Why?  Because at the London premiere of  Handel’s Messiah in 1743, King George II stood.  According to royal protocol, when the king stands, everyone must stand until the king is seated, so the audience stood as well.  No one knows why King George stood.  My theory is that he might have thought the piece was over and was preparing to leave, then awkwardly stood in place while the orchestra and choir finished the “Hallelujah Chorus.”  If so, he was probably glad he stayed until the end, since the final chorus is the most stirring part of the entire Messiah.

Powell Hall is always beautifully decorated for Christmas.  You can see the adult choir coming onstage behind the orchestra.

For the second half of the performance, the concert hall is darkened and each of the approximately 200 choristers carries a lighted candle (battery-operated for safety).  The musical selections are Christmas carols–traditional and new–sung by the adult and children’s/youth choirs.  The audience sings along for two or three familiar carols, and the closing is always “Silent Night.”  As the choir members sing, they walk around the perimeter of the hall and through the aisles, spacing themselves so that the audience is surrounded by music.  It’s absolutely beautiful!  After this concert, Ted and I are always spiritually in the mood for Christmas.

Ted and I finished shopping for Christmas gifts, wrapping Christmas gifts, and preparing boxes for shipping Christmas gifts as of last night.  Gift Wrap Central is in the basement, where we store gift tags, ribbon, wrapping paper, etc. and have our wedding gift kitchen table as a working surface.  It’s a good place to work on projects because, if we don’t finish, we can leave the mess, go upstairs, and continue with our lives.

I’m the chief gift wrap artist in our house, by default, not by choice.  I’m not very artistic, but I get the gifts covered in holiday paper and modestly decorated.

It’s always a challenge to find boxes for shipping.  As our family grows, we need more and larger boxes.  We assess boxes we receive during the year to determine if they will be useful at Christmas or not, which determines if we keep the box or not.  We can usually find boxes that match gift sizes.  This year, I needed one of the larger boxes from the bottom of the nested pile.  As I was putting the mailing label on the box, I noticed it was an old box of Thom’s and I had coincidentally filled it with gifts for Thom’s family.

It looks like this box has been in the basement since Ted snagged it from the NWS office in 1994.

Yessir!  Thom (then Tom) clearly marked it as his stuff!  Now there’s some new stuff for him and for his family in his old box.

At some point, I clarified which stuff Thom had in the box.  David was a doll (or whatever you call the boy version of a doll) he had–complete with “stuff” for David and stuffed animals.

Christmas gifts and memories. . . . Good stuff!

Teddy, age 9, has loved pigs for several years.  When he first asked me for a pig birthday cake, I was amazed to discover that there were hundreds of photo suggestions for “pig cake” online.  Who knew that so many people wanted a pig-themed birthday cake?  Ted and I gave him a stuffed pig last Christmas, and he loves it.  For his birthday, he asked for a pig quilt to keep him and Waffles (the stuffed pig) warm.

Now I know for sure that Teddy was ahead of the trend.  When Ted and I took our walk a week ago, we saw a pig Christmas decoration.  Yes, when I think of Christmas, I often think of decorative pigs.  (Not.)  This one lights up at night, but the lights are white and don’t show the pink color.  It even sparkles in the sun!

Here’s the pig ornament.

The pig is one member of a menagerie.  There’s a raccoon, a polar bear, a cardinal, a rabbit, an owl, and more in this display.  Lawn Ornament Christmas is evolving.

. . . Santa might come early.

Last night, Ted picked up his new car at the dealership.  We had test-driven a similar car, but hadn’t seen the model or color combination Ted chose.  Here’s his first look at what he selected.

I think he likes it.

Naturally, we had to take a picture of the new and the old.

It’s bigger than the Prius and looks huge in the garage!

Ted and I spent about two hours in the driveway today going through the owner’s manual to learn how to operate the many bells and whistles on the new car.  I think we’ve got it all figured out.  Tomorrow, we’re driving to Kirksville to deliver the Prius to Kathy.  We offered her the first right of refusal, and she said she wanted to buy it because she needs a car, she hates the thought of car shopping, and she knows the Prius is in good condition.

It’s a 2018 Honda CR-V Touring model with a “Lunar silver metallic” exterior (who names these colors?!) and a light gray interior with black accents.

Yes, tonight’s concert was a blast from the past.  Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons played at the Family Arena in St. Charles.  Ted and I didn’t know if Frankie had a decent voice left, but even though he’s 83, he still sings pretty well–just in a slightly lower key.  The crowd cheered when he did his famous falsetto notes!  (Maybe because we love them; maybe because we were surprised he still has that much voice range.  Who cares?–He did it!)  The Four Seasons are apparently interchangeable over time and were much younger (40s?).

The show was scheduled for 8:00 pm, but didn’t start until 8:15.  I heard the man behind me tell his wife that they were probably giving Frankie oxygen to get him ready to perform.  (Yes, we old folks have a sense of humor about age.)  The average age of the audience was probably 65-70.  The sign at the concession stand said “We ID everyone.”  Ted and I wondered if there was any point in that, given the audience’s age, but then we saw about a half dozen kids whose parents (or grandparents) probably dragged them to the concert.  They brought the average age down a few minutes.

Frankie might be old, but he didn’t get fat.  He has a good band too.  Tonight, it included two local musicians on the trombone and the trumpet (the two on the left in the back).  The four guys in suits on the left are the Four Seasons.  (Duh!)

Frankie still sings well enough to do solos.  In fact, he and the Four Seasons just released a new album–“Romancing the 60s.”

When Frankie sang “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You,” the crowd broke out the cell phones and the flashlight app to do the arm wave thing.  We’re baby boomers:  we’re aging, but we’ll always be cool.

Frankie sang all his big hits and the crowd loved it.  The Four Seasons’ moves were all choreographed–just like in the 60s.  In this picture, they’re singing “Oh, What a Night.”

The finale.  All good things end.

The concert was very good.  Ted and I agreed the tickets were worth it, and I heard a lot of other people complimenting the performance as well.  As I was looking over the crowd before the show began, it made me think of the PBS pledge week doo wop specials, but after the lights went down and you couldn’t see all the gray hair (mostly on the men, of course), you wouldn’t have guessed it was an old crowd.  Party on, Baby Boomers!

Tonight, Ted and I decided it would be fun to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  There are a lot of laughs in the movie, but our favorite moment is always the one when Clark turns on the outdoor lights and Chicago dims.

St. Charles, MO was settled by the French in 1769 and was named Les Petite Côtes, “the little hills.”  Obviously, the city’s name was later changed, but every year on the third weekend of August, the city celebrates the Fête des Petites Côtes–the Festival of the Little Hills.  Ted and I go every few years.  Since the weather was beautiful last night, we decided to mingle with the crowd at the Festival’s opening night of the weekend.

The Festival has grown a lot over the years and has shifted more toward the “arts” of “arts and crafts” with fewer country craft displays and more (literally) art.  This year, we counted thirteen blocks of vendors on Main Street (from the 400 block of North Main to the 900 block of South Main), plus just as many vendors one short block over on Riverside Drive, plus more vendors in the strip-style parking lots along Riverside Drive.  In addition, Frontier Park, which runs the length of Riverside Drive, was filled with rides for the kids, and three bands were playing to good-sized crowds along Riverside Drive.  We enjoyed the event for about two-and-a-half hours and then topped off the evening with ice cream at Fritz’s.  It was another fun-filled summer night.

It was still light outside when we started our walk down Main Street.

Some interesting clocks available for purchase.  In case you can’t read them, the mechanic’s clock (top center) says “Your car will be ready at five” and the cop’s clock (bottom center) has hours of sweet treats.  My favorite is the left-handed clock (lower right).

Lots of rides and games for the kids . . .

. . . and even a bubble machine.

One of the bands on Riverside Drive.

The closer: Fritz’s ice cream.

Today’s mail brought Ted an invitation to attend a high school class “get together.”  Ten points to “the committee” for originality, creativity, and humor.  Note:  Personal information about “the committee” has been deleted to protect the innocent.

Last weekend, Ted and I went to one of our favorite restaurants.  We usually go on Sunday through Thursday nights after 7:00 pm to avoid a minimum thirty-minute wait for a table.  On Friday and Saturday nights, it’s often a ninety-minute wait until around 9:00 pm when it drops to 15-30 minutes.  It’s a very popular restaurant.

Parking is also a problem.  There are a lot of restaurants in this business complex and it’s not unusual for us to have to drive two streets over to find an empty parking space.  This time, we arrived at a parking lot that was only about one-third full, then at an empty restaurant.  One couple was getting ready to leave after finishing their meal, leaving the entire room available to us.

Come on in! No waiting.

Tonight there were food trucks and music in Frontier Park at the St. Charles riverfront.  Since Ted and I had no good ideas for dinner, we decided to let the food trucks feed us.

Lots of trucks.  Lots of food choices.

Dinner in the park.  No dishes to wash.

Lots of people joining us for dinner and a band playing good music while we ate.

Check out this collapsible wagon.  It even has 4 (yes, 4!) cupholders–2 in front and 2 in back.

We found an empty riverside park bench and watched the river flow by while the band played on.  Aaahhh, summer nights.

The St. Louis Municipal Opera, a.k.a. Muny, is in its 99th season and is the oldest, largest outdoor musical theater in the country.  It seats 11,000 people and has 1,500 free seats (the last nine rows) available on a first come-first served basis for every performance.

An overview of the amphitheater.  There is more seating to the right of the frame.  The back rows under the structural framework are the free seats–filled well ahead of the performance starting time.  The fans keep the hot summer air circulating and are quiet enough to run during the performances.

Ted and I have seen many memorable shows at the Muny.  Some that come to mind are:

• Mikhail Baryshnikov’s performance in Swan Lake in 1983.
• Porgy and Bess in 1984.  Ted was a good sport and went with me, even though he was working midnight shifts that week and slept through most of the show.
• My Fair Lady, a girls’ night out with Kathy and Kari in 1985.  Kathy was 12 and Kari was 7 at the time.  In retrospect, Kari was too young.  After sitting through the two-hour performance, her summary of the show was “So she learned to say her a‘s.  Big deal!”  (cf “The rain in Spain . . . “)
• Ted fulfilling the role of “official forecaster” for one performance of Cats in 1987.  There is an official forecaster at every performance to make the official call for a rain-out requiring ticket refunds.  Luckily for us, it was another beautiful summer evening, so Ted didn’t have to work very hard.  The perks of being the official forecaster included free tickets for VIP seats and VIP parking.  The seats were in the center front, close enough to see the players’ make-up, and the parking was right outside the theater entrance.  We were among the first to hit the road and left the park ahead of the traffic that night.  Yes!

During our past two weeks of R&R activities, Ted and I attended two shows at the Muny.  First, we saw A Chorus Line.  The plot line was thin (it was a musical, after all), but the music was good, and being entertained outside under the stars on a beautiful summer evening was a romantic date.

Several of the mature, aging trees that framed the stage have, unfortunately, needed to be cut down in recent years.

The second show we saw was Newsies, an outstanding Disney production.  It’s based on the true story of the New York City newsboys’ strike in 1899.  Over the years, we’ve learned not to sit in the center sections.  When it’s hot, it’s sweltering to be surrounded by so many people.  Sitting on the sides where there are some empty seats allows the breeze to keep us cool.  We should have used that experience-based knowledge when we bought our Newsies tickets.

This was my view of the stage for Act One.  Ted’s view from the seat on my right was equally bad.  There are a few square feet of stage floor showing between the heads, below the screen, left center of the picture.  We moved to some empty seats (on the side) during intermission and had a great view of the entire stage for Act Two.

Every summer, the Missouri Botanical Garden presents a special show from mid-May until early August.  This year’s show, “Garden of Glass,” featured larger-than-life glass sculptures created by artist Craig Mitchell Smith.  The show has been so popular, it will be held over for a week longer than planned.  Another “Garden of Glass” show in 2006 featured works by Dale Chihuli.  The Garden purchased four of Chihuli’s pieces for permanent display, and I suspect the same will be done with Smith’s pieces when they go on sale after the show.

The Missouri Botanical Garden, also called Shaw’s Garden, is one of the oldest botanical institutions in the United States.  It is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  It was established by Henry Shaw in 1859, and includes Shaw’s original 1850 house, as well as his mausoleum.  One of the most distinctive architectural features of the Garden is the Climatron, a geodesic dome that houses tropical plants.  Most of Smith’s glass creations were on display in the Climatron.  The entire Garden (79 acres) is beautiful and restful, and is always a wonderful place to walk, relax, and enjoy the scenery.

A Chihuli sculpture in the lobby of the visitor center.

The Climatron viewed over a reflecting pool with floating Chihuly glass “Onions”

A quiet courtyard decorated with mosaics

The plantings in this garden are changed each season.

Henry Shaw’s mausoleum

Shaw’s sarcophagus in the mausoleum.

Ted and I chose a perfect summer afternoon to visit the “Garden of Glass” exhibit.  The exhibits were beautiful beyond what I can describe.  We were so impressed with them that we decided they were worth a second look in the evening, when each piece would be lighted.  The evening shows are offered only on weekends, so we had to wait a few days, but it was worth it.  We took pictures of every exhibit–day and night–and together, we went through the pictures four times to narrow them down to a reasonable number to include in this blog.  It was very difficult to choose, and the pictures are a poor substitute for seeing the sculptures in person.

Bird of Paradise sculptures

We are standing behind the lighted waterfall.  Between the two columns of falling water, you can see the vertical streaks of Smith’s “Waterfall” glass, also lit in blue.  In the daytime, the water and glass were white and were nearly indistinguishable from each other.  True artistry!

Three glass mobiles titled “Spring”

“Poppies”

“Phoenix” was strikingly lit at night, but didn’t photograph as well as in the daylight.

“Night Blooming Cactus” lighted for the evening show.

Titled “Tree of Life,” this sculpture includes 1,000 glass monarch butterflies.

This 16-foot tall dandelion is called “Make a Wish” and includes 50 dandelion “seeds” that were hung among the trees along the path as though they had been blown off the dandelion stem.

“Passion” as found in a Garden fountain

Another beautifully lit piece: “Cubanola-Domingensis.”

After spending most of July on tasks related to our upcoming updates of the master and guest bathrooms, Ted and I declared August to be reserved for fun.  We have a good start on the month.  In the past week, we’ve done the following things.

Sunday:  Dinner and the evening with Ted’s niece, Judy and her family (Dinesh and Jay).

Monday:  Lunch out; “Garden of Glass” at the Missouri Botanical Garden; dinner out.

Tuesday:  St. Louis Municipal Opera for a performance of A Chorus Line.

Wednesday:  Lunch out; visited some local small businesses we were curious about.

Thursday:  Back to the Botanical Garden to see “Garden of Glass” in the evening when the glass is lit.

Friday:  Lunch out; saw Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Sequel.  Our review:  it was better than we’d expected.

Saturday:  Unfortunately, chores needed to be done.  Mowed the lawn, put the bathrooms back together, now that the paint is completely dry.

Sunday:  Saw Maudie.  Our review:  9 stars out of 10.  Probably some Academy Award nominations coming up for this one.

It was fun to play for a week.  Our Pilates class is on break for two weeks and volunteering hasn’t started yet, so we’ve got another week of no commitments except to relax and have fun.  Someone has to do it, so it might as well be us.

Hey kids, take note.  I saw a shirt that describes Dad.

I know about the man part.  Now I guess we need to determine what the myth is and at which point he becomes legendary.

Ted and I saw an unusual sight this evening.  He was watering in the back yard and I was doing dishes at the sink, overlooking the back yard when a gaggle of geese came running through our lawn!  We think there must have been at least 40 of them in a tight group and they were really moving!  They ran across our lawn and into Steve’s yard (behind ours), moving to our left.  When they reached the barrier of Tom’s fence (the next neighbor on the left), they did a quick about-face and ran around Steve’s house to the front instead, still moving as quickly as they could on foot.

Fireworks were going off at the time, and most of the people who live around the lake where the geese live all year usually shoot fireworks over the lake.  Ted and I think the geese were scared and were heading for another lake in the subdivision.  (They often fly low over our house going from lake to lake.  No need to go to full altitude for such a short distance!)  Fireworks have been going off like crazy in our subdivision for the past few evenings, so we suspect the geese decided it was too dangerous to take to the air and chose to use a land route, looking for refuge in a different lake.

It was pretty funny to see so many geese so huddled together and moving so quickly on foot!

Last night, Ted and I went to see Wonder Woman because:  (1)  Jeff’s family all liked it a lot; (2) it had very high ratings (92% on Rotten Tomatoes); and (3) we were in the mood for some fun and action.  Our expectations were low, but the movie was actually very good and we left feeling glad we had decided to see it.

Today, I’m experiencing the Unfairness of Life with laryngitis.  It caused me to miss having lunch with eight retired friends from the community college, an event to which all of us assign high priority because we have so much fun together.

As the day goes on and my energy level drops, I’m feeling worse.  Ted took a break and went to the recycle center.  He also picked up some AAA tour guides so we can start planning our fall trip to the southwestern U.S.  Then he made a final stop to buy a rose for me to make me feel better.

I’m sure he was putting into practice what Wonder Woman learned after 2 hours and 21 minutes of fighting battles:  Only love can save the world.  Go, Wonder Woman!  (And Ted!)

I looked at the whiteboard on the refrigerator the other day and couldn’t believe who we needed to call.  My brothers’ names are Denny, Steve, Tom, and Russ.

A local TV channel is inviting viewers to “take a selfie with Steve,” the channel’s chief meteorologist.  The winning entry will receive $500 in free groceries from Schnuck’s, a local grocery chain.  Ted and I were shopping at Schnuck’s one day and saw Steve’s cutout, so I took a picture of my weather man with the TV weatherman.

Yesterday, I was looking for something and, while I was rummaging through my stuff, I found a Christmas card I bought for Ted and forgot about.  I decided that if I save it for next Christmas, I’ll probably forget about it again, so I added “at any other time of the year” to the “especially at Christmas” line and put the card out for Ted to discover.  Just before we went to bed, I noticed a card on my dresser.  It was a Christmas card from Ted with the added wish for a “Happy Mother’s Day.”  He said he’d bought the card about two years ago and kept forgetting about it.

One year, we bought each other identical cards for our anniversary.  When you’ve been married this long, do two minds become one?

This is what my birthday could have felt like–but didn’t.

If birthdays keep getting better as you age, I’m going to keep getting older.  This birthday was so much fun that, instead of counting the candles, I kept on celebrating.  I had a half dozen lunches with friends, a destination celebration at Key West, a surprise weekend visit from our children, and finally, dinner at Bentley’s with Ted.  We saw beautiful flowering trees and spring wildflowers on our drive to the Lake of the Ozarks, our favorite server was on duty, and dinner was delicious, as usual.

It’s going to take something amazing to top this year’s birthday celebrations!

The view from the restaurant window while we ate.  The Lake is visible just to the right of the picture.

This is what my refrigerator looked like on April 1.

(Looks like the o.j. needs to be shaken.)

As I drove to school to volunteer today, the DJ on the radio was playing “telephone songs”–songs that referred to telephones and/or calling on the phone in some way.  He was also taking calls about telephones from listeners.  Some of the things that came up in the “remember when” category included:

• The operator saying “Number, please,” and then connecting you to that number.  (Think Lily Tomlin on the Laugh In.)

• Party lines.  (We had one.)

• Ringtones made up of long and short rings.  (Ours was five short–you turned the crank to make the ring tone.  Everyone on the party line heard it and could identify who was being called.)

• Waiting to make a long-distance call until the rates went down.  (Been there, done that.)

• Pay phones for 10¢.  (Yup!  In high school, when we needed our parents to pick us up after an event, we’d call from the pay phone.  We could hear our parents say “Hello,” but they couldn’t hear us unless we put the dime in.  To save the dime, we’d just hang up, and that was the signal for Dad to get in the car.)

The best called-in story on the radio, however, was this one.  When the caller (we’ll call him Ed) was in college, he’d set a time to call his brother (he can be Joe) at another college.  At the appointed time, Ed and Joe would each go to a pay phone booth.  Ed then dialed the operator and requested a person-to-person collect call to the number at Joe’s pay phone.  Joe would answer, agree to accept the charges, and the two would have a nice talk.  The lingering question, according to Ed, is “Which pay phone got charged for the calls?”

Note:  Unless you understand person-to-person and collect, you probably won’t think this is funny.  If you do understand, you’re probably admiring Ed’s and Joe’s ingenuity.

I’m still working on some physical therapy for my injured oblique muscle.  Last week, Brian (my therapist) had two of his Washington University students at the center to observe him and other therapists working with patients.

As Brian put me through my paces, he mentioned to the two students that he would not ordinarily give exercises at this level to a woman of my age.  He cautioned them about fragile bones, lack of flexibility, etc. with older patients and described me as an exception to the rule.

At my next appointment, two days ago, Brian asked me about the possibility of trying some planks and/or bridges to help my oblique muscle.  I told him I do the advanced levels of those moves weekly in Pilates.  He asked me to demonstrate the Pilates moves, so I did.  His follow-up comment was, “I just hope I’m as healthy, strong, and flexible as you are when I’m your age.”

That’s a very flattering compliment for a grandma!

Note:  A different therapist told me once that she worked with an 85-year-old woman who could run rings around most of the young people she treats.  That’s my goal!

I was volunteering at the Success School on Valentine’s Day when the principal came to each classroom offering cupcakes and valentines to all.  I think part of the secretary’s job (or maybe the teachers’ jobs) included finding inspirational sayings to make custom valentines.  Here is mine.  It’s not exactly the “Be Mine” type of valentine, but I like the thought.

We have recently had a private screening of a movie and a private seating at a restaurant.  Yesterday, we returned from Seattle on a (nearly) private jet, landed at a (nearly) private terminal, and were taken to our car by private shuttle (limo?).

The plane had 162 seats and only 42 passengers.  There were 7 crew members.  That must be close to the square footage and level of service we’d have on a private jet.

Ours was the last flight of the day.  All the shops were closed and everyone else had already left the airport.

Just Ted and me on our private shuttle/limo to the parking garage.

The reader . . .

. . . and what she’s doing.

I love to stare at marked slices of tree for hours on end, hallucinating vividly.  Thanks for pointing this out, Grammarly.

A few weeks ago, we had a private showing of the movie “Fences.”  Today, I was busy dealing with visa details for my upcoming trip to India, so Ted and I decided to go out for a late lunch.  It was late enough that we had the privilege of a private lunch.  Aren’t we special?!

Just us–and really good food and service.

I spent the day working on my India training materials again.  I left the room to get something and when I came back, I noticed that it’s a good thing I have a big desk.  And a new desk chair.

If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.  ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.  ~Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

There is nothing more selfish than trying to change someone’s mind because they don’t think like you.  Just because something is different doesn’t mean it should not be respected.  ~Jodi Picoult, Small Great Things

Peace

A few days ago, we almost had a private screening of Hidden Figures, but two people arrived just as the movie started.  Today, however, the theater was all ours for Fences, starring Denzel Washington.  Matinees are the way to go!

No one else in any of the seats

One year ago today, I posted my first blog.  Jeff helped me set up an account.  I asked him not to mention it to anyone until I tried it for a month, because I didn’t know if I’d want to keep doing it or not.  Over the past year, it has proved to be a good outlet for me.  I’m not a journal writer and I don’t want the whole world to read about my life on Facebook, but the blog format has been working well for me.  I’m really doing this for myself, but every now and then I get a comment or a compliment from one of my handful of readers.  It’s rewarding to know that they (you) enjoy at least some of what I post.

Thanks for giving me the idea, Thom; thanks for getting me set up, Jeff; and thanks to my readers for their feedback.  I’m started on Year Two.

Tonight we went to see Hidden Figures and almost had a private screening.  Just before the movie started, two other people joined us.  On a Sunday night, everyone else probably had to go to bed early to get up for work in the morning.

That lump two seats left of Ted is my scarf.

The movie was excellent.  It was a true story about three African-American women working at NASA. These women served as the brains behind the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, crossing all gender and race lines in the 1960s.  I recommend the movie, but I can’t promise you an (almost) private screening like we had.

It’s just that easy!  I’ve been working hard the past two weeks to get my training materials in order for the Indian teacher training.  I’ve spent at least five ten-hour days at the computer, synthesizing the ideas in my head, the notes I’ve made, and my research-based materials and putting them into a form that I hope the Indian teachers will find useful, informative, and fun.

(Most of the time) I did a very good job (for me) of stepping away from the computer every few hours.  I used to tell my students that taking a break clears your mind and helps you do a better job when you get back to work.  Guess what:  I was right!  I really did feel fresher after a 10-15 minute break.  It’s kind of like when, for a change, you do what the doctor tells you to do and then find out the doctor was right.

In a previous post I mentioned a literary character whose outlook on winter and spring matches mine.  By March, the fictional character was rationalizing that “it’s practically summer.”  The winter solstice is over and, beginning today, the days are getting longer.  For me, it’s practically spring.

P.S.  I ignore Ted if he dares to mention that the coldest months of winter are still to come.  That doesn’t matter.

Think spring!