Today we went out for lunch to celebrate Ted’s birthday.  The venue was an easy choice, since he had a birthday coupon for a free lunch entreé.  It’s December, so it’s cold and there’s a very light drizzle that’s icing a little bit on the hard surfaces, but the food was warm and good and our hearts were warm and sunny.

I rarely check my newspaper horoscope, but Ted solved the Sudoku puzzle and left the open page on the counter today.  Imagine my surprise when I saw I was going to have a five-star day filled with “wild scenarios” and will need to go with more of my “flights of fancy.”

I’m not much of a shopper.  I like to have a list of what I’m going to buy; go directly to the store, aisle, and shelf where it’s located; make my selection; and leave.  A friend of mine once told me that when she enters a store, the merchandise whispers “Buy me, buy me” to her.  I told her that when I enter a store, the voices tell me “Go home.  You don’t belong here.”

That said, Ted and I went Christmas shopping on Main Street in the Historic District of St. Charles over the weekend.  We were very successful in our shopping, which probably took an hour or so, and then we spent over three hours walking around and enjoying all the holiday activities offered in this pretty, historic, 16-block business district, with its specialty shops and restaurants.

The Historic District dates back to the 1600s and is a year-round tourist destination.  Over the holidays, however, it’s an exceptionally special and unique place to visit.  The afternoon begins with a parade of all the performing period characters and groups.  There are Santas (or versions thereof) dressed to represent international personas of him from many countries, and historic characters in period dress.  The Santas and historic characters walk the sidewalks all afternoon and mingle with the shoppers, telling stories about who and what they represent.  Carolers perform at the Main Street gazebo as a group, and in trios and quartets as they walk around the District, also in historic dress.  A drum and fife corps regularly marches and plays its way up and down Main Street.  Restaurants and kiosks offer hot chocolate and freshly-baked cookies in a $2.00 combo, and the mood of the shoppers–and shopkeepers–is genial, not harassed.

On December 24, the final parade (led by Santa and the Mrs.) goes to the bandstand on the riverfront (the block behind Main Street) and wishes all those gathered a merry Christmas.  At the close of the short ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. Claus get into their sleigh and head home so Santa can begin delivering gifts.

I took pictures as we shopped and wandered and, when we got home, Ted and I agreed that shopping at the mall was fine, but shopping on Main Street was fun.

Some of the carolers singing beside the sidewalk.

Father Christmas (English) told us that in England, “merry” means “drunk”; therefore, in England, it is more appropriate to wish people a “happy Christmas.”

The jester struck a pose for me when he saw my camera.

Here comes the drum and fife corps.

This might be a modern Santa.  I’m quite sure this is not a “period” motorcycle.  Notice the trimmings on the shops in the background.  The entire district is decorated like this.

Just as the shops were closing, there was a final choral performance by the historic characters at the Main Street gazebo.

As it got dark, the holiday lights came on.

These are some of the decorated trees in Frontier Park along the Missouri Riverfront, just behind the Main Street shops.

November 29 was the 184th anniversary of Louisa May Alcott’s birth.  Google celebrated with a Google doodle.

That’s Beth at the piano, Jo running with books, blonde-haired Amy painting, Meg embroidering, and Laurie, the neighbor boy who marries Amy.   I think the picture on the wall is Louisa May Alcott.  Can you find “Google” in the doodle?

Seeing the Google doodle made me want to re-read Little Women, one of my favorite books.  I usually re-read it every one or two years.  I have two copies of the book:  one was my mother’s, and one was a gift from my brother Tom.  Given the appearance of my mother’s handwriting, she might have received her copy of the book at about the same age Tom gave me my copy.

Little Women was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869.  Both of my copies include the entire story in a single volume.  Interestingly, neither copy includes a copyright date.  This could be because Louisa May Alcott never copyrighted the book, or because any book published before 1923 is in the public domain.

The blue book was my mother’s; the top one is mine.

Both copies marked by their owners.

Wednesday evening we drove to the Lake of the Ozarks to celebrate Ted’s birthday with dinner at Bentley’s.  We wanted to avoid the Christmas rush, and Bentley’s is closed all of January, so we opted for an early celebration.

The day was dry, but cloudy.  Just like Monday, however, we experienced the “sunny by dark” effect and enjoyed a brief late fall sunset.  It was only a few minutes before sunset that the sun starting shining on the clouds and turning them red.

The dinner, as always, was wonderful.  Merrill, our favorite waiter, knows our order by heart:  grilled salmon for Ted (the best salmon he’s ever had, according to him) and pepper steak with red wine sauce for me (the only place I’ve ever had such good pepper steak).  Add a glass of wine for each of us and, for dessert, “The Thing” for Ted and a grasshopper for me.  “The Thing” is a generous serving of ice cream with hard shell chocolate, nuts, strawberries, and whipped cream.  Ted loves it.  The grasshopper is thick enough to eat with a spoon, but I use the straw.  It takes a long time with the straw, but gives us more time to enjoy the ambience and dining experience at Bentley’s.

Next visit to Bentley’s:  my birthday.

Katie posted an interesting activity on Facebook, so I tried it.  The directions are to, without prompting, ask your husband these questions and then write exactly what he says.  Some of Ted’s responses surprised me, but here they are.

What is something I always say? ♥ I love you.

What makes me happy? ♥ You’re almost always happy.  You’re an optimist.

What makes me sad? ♥ Not much any more, but when we didn’t have much money, you would sometimes be sad.

How tall am I? ♥ 5′ 5″.

What’s my favorite thing to do? ♥ Sit on the sofa in the evening while I rub your feet.

What do I do when you’re not around? ♥ Read and sit outside by the pool.

If I become famous, what will it be for? ♥ A new teaching principle.

What makes you proud of me? ♥ That you got your doctorate.  And you’re in good shape cuz you exercise.

What’s my favorite food? ♥ Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.

What’s my favorite restaurant? ♥ Bentley’s.

Where is my favorite place to visit? ♥ The Outer Banks.

If I could go anywhere, where would it be? ♥ Europe.  Italy, Germany, or Switzerland.

How do I annoy you? ♥ By worrying so much about things like not having time to finish everything.

What is my favorite movie? ♥ Gone with the Wind.

Who is my celebrity crush? ♥ I don’t think you have a crush, but I’d say George Clooney.

You get a phone call that I’m in trouble.  Who am I with? ♥ Liz.

Last summer, Jeff found a misspelling in one of my blog posts–compliment should have been complement.  I think spell check incorrectly corrected my spelling, but I failed to catch the error in proofreading, so I conceded the point to Jeff.  He immediately sent an email message to the other kids and copied it to me to announce that he had caught Mom in a rare writing error.  Now, it’s my turn to score a point on Jeff.

I have a piece of technology that Jeff hadn’t heard of.  I recently bought a new laptop computer and I wanted to copy the iTunes music from my PC to the laptop.  I have about 3,400 songs in iTunes, and when I back up my music files, it takes well over an hour to do it.  I have a home network among my computers, but that takes awhile too.  I went to Best Buy and asked a salesman what would be faster.  He gave me a box.  What I could see through the window in the box resembled a USB flash drive and, I’m embarrassed to admit, I didn’t pay much attention to it; I paid for it and took it home.

This is what I could see through the window in the box.  It is definitely a USB connection, but the cord should have been a giveaway.

When I plugged the cable in, windows appeared, indicating that an installation was necessary.  Looking more closely at the box, I saw that I had purchased a wormhole switch transfer cable–ideal for working between two computers.  I had trouble getting it properly installed, so I (of course!) asked Jeff for help.  His email response was, “Believe it or not, I’ve never heard of one of those.”

Without my personal IT guru (Jeff), I had to resort to the helpline which was, surprisingly, pretty good as well as helpful.  My installation problem turned out to be a missing or outdated driver.  The help technician emailed it to me and walked me through the installation.

I have to say, a wormhole switch is awesome!  It transferred the 3,400+ songs from my PC to my laptop in 12 minutes!!!  In the hour I played with my new toy, I discovered other neat features it provides.  I can use one mouse and one keyboard on two computers simultaneously–the mouse moves from screen to screen and the keyboard follows the mouse.  I can easily work with files from either computer and I can just as easily move them to or from either computer.  I assume I’ll be able to transfer my PC picture files to my new laptop as quickly as I did the music files, but I haven’t tried that yet.

Two computers, one wormhole cable, and one mouse.  Awesome!

I have a lot of training materials that I’ve developed over the years and saved to my PC, but when I go to India to facilitate teacher trainings in December, I’ll be taking my laptop with me.  It simplifies things greatly to have easy access to the PC files while working at my desk and putting my training materials together on the laptop.

Jeff said he really doesn’t have a need to work with two computers simultaneously, but I’m grabbing this moment.  It’s not easy to introduce Jeff to a technology he hasn’t heard of, and it’s not likely to happen again.  I score the point this time!

In April 2014, I had a minor surgical procedure to fix a trigger finger–the ring finger on my right hand.  Surgery always creates some degree of swelling, but I was told not to re-size any of my rings because the swelling would go down in 12-18 months and then my re-sized rings would be too big.  The swelling did go down enough for me to wear my rings, but only about two-thirds of the time.

Today, nearly two-and-a-half years after the surgery, I gave up and took my rings to the jeweler to be re-sized.  On the days I can slip them on, they often require some effort (or soap or lotion) to get them off, and I’m starting to get a callus on the side of my knuckle from the friction, making the knuckle even thicker.  My rings need to be enlarged about one-eighth of a size–just enough to slip them over my knuckle without pushing or tugging.

I like to wear rings, I have beautiful rings from Ted, and I’m tired of not wearing them regularly.  When I pick them up on Friday, I should be able to wear them whenever I want to again.  Yes!

Forty-seven years ago today, Ted and I were married on a beautiful Wisconsin summer day.  One of our wedding gifts was an anniversary candle from the florist.  The enclosed note suggested that we burn the candle every year on our anniversary, and promised that the candle would still burn brightly at our fiftieth anniversary party.

We’ve burned the candle every year.  It’s a little less than half its original size, and I’ve had to move the decorative flowers downward over the years, but it looks like it will definitely be around for our fiftieth anniversary.  

The best things that ever happened to me were meeting Ted and marrying him.  Happy anniversary, Honey.

This afternoon, Ted went to visit his friend, David, who lives in a senior apartment complex in south St. Louis.  Ted started visiting David about five years ago as a volunteer for Senior Connections.  Over time, he and David have become good friends.  All was well until Ted was nearly home.  Suddenly, a red light flashed on his dashboard and the car started slowing down.  Luckily, he was near an exit from the freeway, so he turned and managed to go a few miles before the engine died a mile-and-a-half from our house.  As a result, we had an unexpected event this afternoon.  To be continued on Monday, when the service stations are open again.

Follow-up note:  The words “oil” and “manifold” came up in the diagnosis.  I don’t pretend to understand what the problem was.  Apparently all is well again and, with a far-less-than-expected cost for the repair, we are back to two operating cars.

While we were in Wisconsin, I heard some unique sounds that told me I was home again.  The first sound of home came when a lady reached for something, missed it, and let out an “oop.”  (Similar to the use of “oops” elsewhere in the country.)  That might not look unusual in print, but in Wisconsin-speak, it’s pronounced like the o’s in “took.”  (Try it:  oop.)

The second instance occurred when another lady was having trouble finding what she needed on her computer and asked me to “Wait a minute while I futz around with this.”  I think I used “futz” once in Missouri.  A person who heard me asked in a shocked tone, “What did you say?!”  I explained, and she said she’d never heard that.  To avoid being misunderstood for using high-level profanity, I’ve abstained from using “futz” for many years.

It’s always fun to go home.  If only I’d heard someone ask where to find the bubbler.

I love to swim.  When I was a kid, my friends and I swam daily in a local pond.  As I was swimming my laps today, I was thinking about how swimming is the only athletic activity I can do with competence and good form.  As a child, I was usually the last or the second last one picked for any team sports activities, and I tell people that I’m best at cheering for other athletes.  (I tried out for cheerleading in high school but I didn’t make that team either.)

I took swimming lessons at a nearby lake (they’re everywhere in Wisconsin) for a number of years while I was growing up, and I can do every stroke except the butterfly.  The back crawl is my best stroke; the breast stroke is my weakest.  I even earned a lifesaving certificate when I was sixteen.  The final exam took place in a lake and required “saving” an overweight middle-aged woman who seriously fought to get away.

The larger high schools in our area had swimming pools and swim teams, but I attended a small high school (300+ students) and our school district didn’t have that kind of money.  If it had, I might have been able to make the team.  On the other hand, doing a competitive back crawl might have resulted in rotator cuff problems later in my life.  We’ll never know, but I’m glad we have a swimming pool in our back yard where I can swim laps for five to six months a year.

Hotel Happiness?

Today I was finally able to spend the massage gift certificate the kids gave me for Christmas (see my car in front of the salon/spa).  My hair stylist told me Cheryl is their best masseuse, and I can now say from experience that Cheryl has a gift.  In the interest of fairness, I hope Cheryl knows another gifted masseuse so that she can be the recipient of an equally wonderful experience.

I never thought I wanted a massage, and yet, I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about them.  My hair stylist regularly gets massages from Cheryl to relieve the body stress of being on her feet all day.  The two of us discussed massages and I finally decided I should try it instead of deny it.

Well, you’re never too old to learn!  What a lovely, relaxing hour I had with Cheryl.  I can see how this would be good for mental and emotional health.  In fact, we could probably eliminate crime if everyone had regular massages.  Who would feel like doing something bad when the massage makes you feel this good?

Thanks again, kids, for the gift massage and feel free to re-use this gift idea.

Tonight was the opening night of the movie Elvis & Nixon.  The prologue clearly stated that there is no documentation of the events between Elvis’s decision to become a Federal Agent-at-Large and Nixon’s giving him a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) badge.  This allowed the filmmakers (Amazon) a lot of leeway in developing the plot, and provided some good laugh lines for the audience.

Kevin Spacey did a good job of portraying Nixon’s voice and his hunchbacked posture, but for a true Elvis fan (me), it was a challenge to believe that Michael Shannon was Elvis.  Still, it was an entertaining night at the movies–and educational as well.  We learned that the photo of Elvis and Nixon in the Oval Office is the most requested photo from the National Archives.  No surprise to fans of the King.

Back in the 1970s, we took some ballroom dancing classes.  It’s been a good skill to have for events like weddings and anniversary parties.  We still remember the basic moves, although we’ve forgotten most of the fancy turns we learned.

The cruises we’ve taken both had dancing in the evenings, but we’re not that good at standing in one place and coming up with new ways to wiggle and shake.  Since we’ve got two more group trips coming up–one by land and one by sea–we thought it would be a good idea to prepare for the evening dancing by taking some swing dance lessons.

Who knew there are five different varieties of swing??!!  We’re taking East Coast swing at the community college.  I’d always heard how good the teachers were, and it’s true.  It’s fun and we’ll be ready to dance the night away on our European trip this summer, and then at Brandon’s and Kyle’s weddings this fall.

Last night, we went to a St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concert at beautiful Powell Hall.  We originally had tickets for Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, but they were for the day after my foot surgery, so we exchanged them for Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

The first time I heard this piece, it moved me deeply–especially “The Great Gate of Kiev” at the end.  This time, it was still excellent, but my favorite piece of the evening was Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 5, which I don’t think I’ve ever heard before.  The piano music was so beautiful!

I don’t really enjoy playing classical CDs at home, because the music is too intense and actually makes me a little crabby while I’m trying to do something else (and I’m always doing something else at home).  In the concert hall, however, there’s nothing to do except listen to the music, and I look forward to these evenings.

St. Charles Community College will celebrate its 30th birthday, beginning on April 4. The celebration will include free food, games, prizes, and other activities, including a giant birthday card to be signed by students, staff, and community members.  Additional special events related to SCC’s 30th birthday will be held through June 2017.

And to think Dean likes to tease me about my birthday month!  I’m going to have to find ways to expand my birthday celebration in the coming years!

Bentley’s Restaurant at the Lake of the Ozarks is one of Ted’s and my favorite restaurants.  I used to have a lot of business conferences and meetings at the Lake, and if Ted joined me, we would often eat there.  Now that we’re retired and business conferences are a thing of the past, we decided to make dinner at Bentley’s our gifts to each other for our birthdays and for our anniversary.  It’s a three-hour drive each way, but the Ozark Mountain area is very scenic and we both enjoy driving, so making the trip three times a year is fun.

Ted’s birthday dinner was delayed because the restaurant is closed in January and I was sick in February.  We made the drive yesterday for a joint celebration.  It was sunny and in the 60s, the Bradford pear trees were blooming all the way, and the redbuds were just coming out, so we had a beautiful drive.  Our favorite waiter took care of us and, as always, we agreed the food and the drive were worth it.  We’re looking forward to our anniversary dinner at Bentley’s in June.

Bentley’s Restaurant and Pub, Lake Ozark, MO

Outdoor seating area–a little cool to eat here this time

Indoor view of the Lake. Lots of boats to watch in the summer.

The guests of honor ?

My son-in-law, Dean, teases me about my “birthday month” because I usually spend at least a month (more, if possible) celebrating my birthday with friends.  This year’s kickoff event was last night at Kari and Dean’s home–and there’s some irony in that, Dean–where Kari cooked a delicious dinner and baked an equally delicious cake for my birthday.  In addition, she gifted me with a mother-daughter lunch or dinner at a future date to be mutually agreed upon (thus extending the birthday celebration).

Today, I had a birthday lunch with two friends; I have another lunch scheduled later this week; and there is yet another lunch coming up next week.  Ted and I celebrate our birthdays with dinner at Bentley’s, our favorite restaurant at the Lake of the Ozarks.  We plan to make the three-hour drive for that within the next two weeks.  In April, I’ll be meeting with a group of retired women friends from the college, and I’ve still got at least one more friend with whom I need to schedule a celebratory lunch.

How boring it would be to celebrate one’s birthday on a single day!

By the way, the TV weatherman acknowledged that even though spring technically began at 11:30 pm on March 19, March 20 was actually the first full day of spring.  That means I can still say my birthday fell on the first day of spring, just the way I like it.  Whew!

Awesome! The second time since I got married that I didn’t make my own birthday cake. (The first time was also thanks to Kari.) Adult kids rock!

Spring is my favorite season, and I love that my birthday is almost always on the first day of spring.  This year, the first day of spring just missed my birthday.  As we all know, this is a Leap Year, so every day after February comes a day later.  As a result, I had to wait an extra day for my birthday (like everyone else) and because of that, spring began at 11:30 pm last night.  (So close!)  At least the Google doodle of the day is spring blossoms.

Our health insurance company offered us a free gift if we completed a health survey.  I scored 98% in good health and habits on the survey and chose to receive a Fitbit.  Today it came in the mail and I set it up for wireless tracking.  Unfortunately, as a result of my foot surgery, I’ll be wearing a boot on my right foot for the next four weeks.  I don’t think I’m going to make my 10,000 steps per day for awhile.

I was talking with a gentleman who mentioned that he is now 70 years old.  I responded by saying that I will be 69 this month.  His response:  “You must take very good care of yourself.”  How nice!

He loves me.  He loves me not.  He loves me.  He loves me not.  

He loves me!  And I love him!

More than three weeks later, we still haven’t finished the puzzle we started on a chilly January night.  In fact, we demoted it to the dining room table two weeks ago and haven’t worked on it since.  I guess we’re not puzzle people.  I rarely give up on a project, and can think of only three that I deliberately quit without finishing.  I’m starting to wonder if I should go for four.

Those who know me well know that I believe spring begins on the day following the winter solstice.  Holding the thought that the days are getting longer keeps me from whining about winter, my least favorite season.  This week, I discovered a literary soulmate.

One of the characters in the book I’m currently reading was walking outdoors “into the blustery cold” of February in New York.  She asks, “Why is there February? . . . February should be eliminated altogether for the good of mankind.”

Time moves on in the story and it becomes March.  At this point, the same character notes that, “Seeing it’s March, it’s practically April, so it’s almost summer if you think about it.”  Yes!  I get that!

P.S.  There was a small flock of robins in the front yard this morning.  It must be nearly summer!

I was invited to attend the City of St. Charles School Board meeting tonight to be recognized for my volunteer service at the Success H.S.  I’m always uncomfortable with public recognition, but I’m glad I accepted the invitation.  When I was at the school Tuesday, the teachers asked me if I would be at the meeting, and they were very happy when I said “yes.”  It made me think that if I’d said “no,” I would have disappointed them in their desire to thank me.

Five other people from two schools were also recognized and it was enjoyable to hear the stories from the principals describing the wonderful things they had done.  I still don’t feel I deserve recognition for doing something I’m enjoying so much, but it’s always nice to be thanked.  Best of all, as a result of the story about one of the other honorees, I went home with a wonderful idea for a way that Ted and I can do some meaningful charitable work through the school district.

A few months ago, Thom suggested that I write a travel blog.  I haven’t journaled or kept a diary since I was in seventh grade, so I told Thom he was very funny and that wouldn’t be happening.  In spite of my best efforts, Thom’s suggestion stayed in my mind.  I enjoy reading Jeff’s blog, and it makes me feel more connected with what’s happening in his life.  Sometimes it even makes me want to contribute something from my own life in response.

I asked Jeff for some help in getting started, and (as always) he was very generous in sharing his computer expertise with me.  So here I go–living on the edge and trying something new.  I’m started.