A word of caution
in Saturday’s Ledger-Enquirer, “Friendly reminder: You should eat your
Thanksgiving leftovers within four days.” Russ and Karen let me share in their
Thanksgiving feast. They live in a second-floor apartment, the building does
not have an elevator, and I don’t do stairs. So they brought the turkey,
stuffing, asparagus, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and
pies to me; a delicious meal. A plate piled high with leftovers sat in my
refrigerator until noon Friday. After a quick stop in the microwave, the
Thanksgiving meal was every bit as delicious the second time. Who needs
friendly reminders from the Ledger-Enquirer?
The best part of Thanksgiving wasn’t the
food, it was the visit. Even Molly, who is a dachshund of either the toy or
miniature variety, makes herself at home here in B-116. Russ showed me how the
modern aspiring magazine illustrator checks out prospective markets. Rather
than walk over to the magazine rack at Barnes & Noble, where he works and
receives a hefty discount on his purchases, or sending a few bucks to the
publisher for a sample copy, Russ downloaded an app for Cricket magazine and
received one free issue. For the benefit of his father, he flipped through the
pages of that issue on his I-pad, occasionally saying things like, “I could do
that.” I’m hardly an unbiased observer, but, yes he could, and he could do it
better. After our meal, we took a walk around the Covenant Woods complex. The
day was gorgeous, warm and sunny, and there were enough squirrels out and about
to keep Molly entertained. A delightful day from start to finish.
Black Friday was a busy day. After rousing
myself, I did the Los Angeles Times and USA Today crosswords on line, made
oatmeal for breakfast, and then adjourned to the laundry room. I like doing the
laundry early in the morning because I’m the only one there. It’s not that I
don’t appreciate company, but, in the words of the old commercial, “Mother,
please, I’d rather do it myself.” So often, the residents who see me stumbling
around in the laundry room want to help. They are wonderfully kind people. Any
one of them could unload four or five dryers in the time it takes me to unload
one. But, if I don’t insist on doing the things I can do – no matter how
ineptly I do them – the list of things I can no longer do will grow much faster
than it should. Besides, I’m twenty years or more younger than most of the
people who offer to help. I might be the one most likely to fall in the laundry
room, but I’m also the one least likely to incur lasting injuries from a fall.
Moments after I’d stowed my clean underwear
in the dresser, the phone rang. It was Penelope, wondering if I had time to
deliver a notice from door to door. Time I’ve got, and off I went with a stack
of papers. Along the way, Judy, one of the housekeepers, dragged a vacuum
cleaner out of a room and put it on her cart.
“Are you doing double duty today to make up
for being off yesterday?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “I did my Thursday rooms
earlier this week. So, I’m regular today.”
The effect of housework on regularity
troubled me all weekend.
“Would doing more housecleaning make me
regular?” I asked Irene, Judy’s boss, this morning.
“You better stick to fiber pills,” she said.
And now back to the Ledger-Enquirer. In a TV
commercial Wednesday night, the paper ballyhooed its Thanksgiving Day edition.
“The biggest paper of the year,” it said. Thursday’s paper wasn’t noticeably
bigger than the average weekday paper. In fact, it was hardly noticeable at
all; a tiny island of newsprint in an ocean of glossy advertising inserts. But
those advertisements didn’t come cheap. The weekday newsstand price for the
Ledger-Enquirer is $0.75, and the Sunday paper sells for $1.50. But on
Thanksgiving Day the paper sold for $2.00.
After a wait of several months, Beth and Ken
finally got some eggs from their chickens. Sure, the chickens laid the eggs,
but Beth and Ken did all the work. Please excuse this moment of parental pride.
The blog madkane.com holds a weekly limerick
contest. It provides the first line; you have to do the rest. I’m giving it a
shot.
A fellow who wasn’t too bright
Sat and stared at FOX News each night.
He watched O’Reilly,
Always entirely,
And quoted the blithering blight.
A fellow who wasn’t too bright,
Thought his wife was pure and upright.
But the cute, young hussy
With morals unfussy
Made love to five men every night.
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