Holiday?

            This is a holiday weekend.  I know this because they were talking about it on the news and offering suggestions for things to do.  It doesn’t “feel” like a holiday to me, but then the last few haven’t felt like they were holidays either.  Holidays should feel special, with different food, fun activities, and visiting with people we don’t see often.  Warm weather holidays generally lend themselves to larger pot luck gatherings with extended family. 

            When I was growing up, and even when my kids were small, the summer holidays were spent usually at my parents’ house with my siblings and their spouses (I was the first to have children), and usually at least one of my aunts.  Mom’s potato and macaroni salads were always on the menu, as well as ‘burgers and dogs’ on the grill, an assortment of vegetable sticks, cheese and crackers, potato chips, and watermelon.  Sometimes sweet corn and cookies or cake were served as well. She always made her own lemonade and iced tea served out of large thermos jugs, too. When we had the big picnic on Labor Day, there were one aunt’s ‘famous’ baked beans, another ones cucumber salad, still another ones fresh garden tomatoes (which she sliced in her hand while talking to her sisters, without ever once cutting her hand), and someone always brought deviled eggs.  They were special days filled with the conversations and laughs you hear whenever relatives who enjoy each other’s company gather after being separated for months. I love those memories, and the pictures we used to take to remember the day by.  Now we don’t have so many relatives, and usually it’s just the 4 of us hanging out, having a day off of work.  I try to make the food special, but the day just doesn’t hold much of anything different from any other weekend day.  It’s a little sad but we’re all so tired from the hectic pace of our weekdays that we just want to spend the day relaxing.  Sometimes we do get together with our siblings, but definitely not this year what with the pandemic and all the restrictions on group gatherings.  Maybe next year we can try to make things a little more special.

            I hope that for you, the holiday is as special as you want it to be.  If what you really want is just a day to relax, I hope you get that; if you want to do something special, I hope you get to do that, too.  As for me, I’ll be hanging out in the back yard, possibly playing “Yahtzee!” or “Scrabble”, eating snacks and feasting on burgers and dogs.  Maybe I’ll make some of that potato salad and macaroni salad too.   

Sundays And Books

Sleepy Sunday morning,

Rain drips from the trees,

Lazy thoughts are mingled,

With gossamer threads of dreams,

Wisps of steam rise, curling,

From hot brew in a cup,

Cozy feelings all around,

On Sunday morning waking up.

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     Sunday mornings of my youth were not relaxing. We were all (my brothers and I) up early, breakfasted, dressed, and dropped off at the church for 9:30 Sunday school. Dad dropped us off, while Mom got ready and then drove to the church in time for choir warm up. Dad didn't attend church; I'm not sure what he did while we were all out of the house besides listen to country music. He was alone in his love of that genre, and it was his chance to listen to it outside of the basement where he spent much time tinkering with radios and old TVs, and probably reading paperbacks. His favorites were mysteries and westerns, Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Louie L’Amour are authors names I recall seeing at our house. I think that his choices influenced both my love of reading, and my tendency to read mysteries and stories set in the Midwest with horses and cowboy characters. I don't think he got his books from the library, as I don't recall him ever going inside ours. Rather, there always seemed to be a paper bag of paperback books around the house. Maybe he got them from a friend, or one of my aunts. I never questioned it; it's just something that always was. It’s funny how we often don’t question things that were in our growing up houses.  They were just there, part of who we all were and would become later in life, influencing us by their mere presence.

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Library

I really miss the library,

Meandering through the stacks

Of books, each one enticing,

With covers both colorful and black,

Promising to dazzle me

With words and clever phrases,

To teach and entertain me,

As I read through story mazes,

Alas! They are all closed,

Due to this ugly virus,

One day they will reopen,

To teach and entertain us.

          I have been missing the library.  It is one of my favorite places to spend a little time.  The smell of the books, the rows of colorful covers creating a mosaic of temptation; I want to touch them, run my fingertips along them as I meander through the stacks.  It’s so enjoyable to read the titles, pick which ones to check out, and sample a little of the first page before deciding.  I usually limit myself to 3 at a time because under normal circumstances I don’t have a lot of time to read. 

          On the last day I worked before things started closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I stopped at the library on the way home and checked out a stack of books, as many as I could carry.  I should have taken a bag with me, but it was a decision I made at work so wasn’t prepared.  My thinking was that since the schools were closed, the library would likely also have to close and I didn’t want to end up with time to read but nothing new to dive into.  Initially it was to be a 2 week closing of the schools, but as it turns out, it’s to be 5 ½ months. I don’t think the library will be opening any time soon, so far it’s been 2 months and there doesn’t seem to be an end date in sight.  I do spend quite a bit of time reading as I find it a wonderful way to escape the grim and crazy news reports on all media.  It took about 3 weeks for me to read through my initial stack, and I was going to start rereading the books I have around the house, but my daughter started bringing me stacks of books from her bookcase that she got at one of the library’s book sales.  How wonderful!  I should be good with books for a while.  I know I could have read e-books, but I don’t enjoy them as much as the “old fashioned” paper kind.  The look, the smell, the feel of a book is intoxicating to me; it’s all part of experiencing a story.

          If you are a reader, and find yourself not working during this life changing time of life, I wish you many books.

Mother's Day

               As Mother’s Day approaches it’s natural that we would think about our mothers who have passed on.  It’s painful for many as they are missing their mothers and this day to honor them feels wrong when they are not here to be with them.  I miss my mother’s physical presence every day.  How many times a day do you find yourself wanting to tell her something, or ask her something? Probably countless times is the answer.  The thing is, though, that her influence is with me all the time. The things she liked, the things she found distasteful, her way of organizing the house and her day all are still with me, whether I follow those ways myself or not.

               My mother had a ‘schedule’ that she followed.  It wasn’t written down or anything like that, but Mondays were sheet changing days, and they were washed, dried and put away once they were taken off the beds.  I’m more of a nonschehedule type of housekeeper; I do things as I have time depending on what else is going on. Thursday night was grocery shopping, or maybe it was Friday?  I’m not quite sure about that, but her list was organized by how the store was laid out, something I also do as it makes it easier to remember everything we need.  My love of music stems from there always being music in our life.  Whether it was the radio, records, or my mother playing the piano, from a young age our house was filled with melodies.  She sang in the church choir and encouraged all four of us kids to play musical instruments and join school chorus and church choir. Yes, our house overflowed with music.  Mom was an early riser, a carryover from her having been raised on a farm where the days started very early with chores.  She had a habit of running errands early in the day, as soon as stores and the post office were open.  I, too, prefer to run errands early in the day just as she did. I use her recipes, and can picture her in my mind grating cheese for macaroni and cheese, stirring a pot of tomato sauce, and kneading bread dough.  I see, in my mind’s eye, her delight at flowers and remember her showing all her plants around the yard to visitors in the summer, and digging in a small patch of garden planting vegetable seeds, and pulling weeds.  Nothing was better than when she’d go out early in the morning in the summer and pick black raspberries for us to have on our cereal.  My love of words comes from her, and we played countless games of Scrabble.  She usually won, but on those rare occasions when I beat her it gave me a feeling of accomplishment.  I think of her every day, in so many different ways.

               Even though I am sad that I no longer have my mother to delight with a gift of flowers, I celebrate her memory on Mother’s Day and every day.  I hope you find some comfort in your memories of your mother.

Pandemic Thoughts

Pandemic Thoughts

This time is very stressful,

This time is really strange,

Mixed messages come constantly,

Some people act deranged.

We can’t get paper products,

Chicken and flour’s been scarce too,

We cannot hug each other,

Oh what are we to do?

We can do Mad Libs on Facetime,

Wave to neighbors as we walk,

Play and sing music for each other,

Write or call someone to talk.

We’re all still washing hands well,

We’re staying at our homes,

Until the day, when once again,

We’ll be free to hug and roam.

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Easter In Pandemic

Although we’re distant physically,

In spirit we can be together,

We send our hugs out virtually,

Wishing in person we could gather.

This Easter Sunday is not the same,

As the ones that we all remember,

The message of Easter does remain,

As in unison we sing Hallelujah!

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Pandemic Things

Wear your face mask,

Wash your hands,

These are rules,

In the lands,

Some won’t do it,

Though most will,

Just keep in mind,

This virus kills.

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Distancing Haiku

Stay six feet away

You better put on that mask

Wash your hands again

Confused

I’m not sure what day it is,

Nor what I should do next,

Go outside, or read, or clean?

This isolation has me vexed,

Keeping safe tops the list,

Of important things to do,

So from a distance I will say,

Hello! From me to you.

               So here we are, in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and I’m finding it hard to get motivated to make good use of all this time at home.  It’s so easy to slip into the habit of getting up and moving to the couch to drink coffee, nap, play games on my phone or tablet and click the tv remote around to see what’s on while scrolling through Facebook and Instagram.  That routine, however, leads to a general lethargy, crankiness, and just over all feeling of “meh”, at least for me.  Then depression starts to rear its ugly head and there’s not really anyone to distract from it.  Even if you’re quarantined with your family, by now, about 6 weeks into this, you’re probably getting on each other’s nerves.  What can we do about that?  Well, what I have done is text with some friends and family, call some, and either Facetime or have a Zoom meeting with friends and family.  I’m so used to talking to many people in the course of a normal day, that I find I miss that the most about being out of work for an open ended period of time.  Also, I have nothing, really, to offer my family in terms of conversation without much contact with those outside of my house.  I know I need, also, the outlet of being annoyed with those I don’t live with so that my frustration has someplace to be let out besides impatience with my housemates.   Another thing I’m doing is try to keep moving at least as much every day as I would if I were working by keeping track of my daily steps with an app that came with my iPhone.  I keep it in my pocket and every step counts, so even just housework counts and I try to walk, even if it’s just doing laps in my driveway.  I feel better if I can get outside for at least a few minutes every day, and sometimes I just take a drive to get a change of scenery and listen to music.  I’ve also realized that turning off the news is very important for me.  If I happen to have time alone I’ll watch reruns of crime shows, comedies, cooking shows, or whatever I feel like.  As a family, we frequently listen to one of the music channels, and of course when Hillary is up we’re generally watching SpongeBob which is her favorite show.  Whatever it takes!   Reading is also a way I found to keep myself from worrying about what is happening and how it will affect us in the long term.  The last day that I worked I did two things before I went home—stopped at the library and took out a big stack of books, and went to the store for toilet paper because I had put the last roll at home in the bathroom that morning.  It’s a good thing I did that, because 3 days later they closed the library until further notice, and toilet paper became scarce in the stores.  Grocery shopping has become a scavenger hunt, and I try to go only every 2 weeks.  There are still many empty shelves, but it seems like it’s getting a little better at least as far as paper goods go.  These are weird times we’re living right now.  Hopefully things will get better sooner rather than later.  In the meantime, stay safe, healthy, and wash your hands.

Taking a Break

With the COVID-19 Pandemic racing across the land, most of us are now on an extended break from our regular lives.  So many of us don’t know what to do with all the time we suddenly find ourselves faced with in our homes.  In order to feel less isolated, and because I truly miss my coworkers, we are keeping in touch via a group text, as well as some individual texting and phone calls.  One of my friends/coworkers and I were talking about beautiful places we’ve been right here in our area.  This brought up memories for me of one place in particular: Swartzwood Lake.  She and her husband enjoy going there fishing, as well as a small restaurant near there.  I’ve never been to the restaurant, but I’ve been on the lake.

               Swartzwood Lake State Park is in northwest NJ, and the center piece of the park is a glacier lake which is the 3^rd largest natural lake in the state.   It’s about 3 miles long, and a mile across, and about 22 feet deep, on average, and 42 feet at its deepest.  There are a swimming beach, and trails, picnic grounds, rowboat and canoe rentals, and tent camp sites. It’s truly a beautiful place and I have fond memories of going there when I was a young adult.  I used to take my dog up there in the fall, along with a thermos of hot chocolate when I got off of work in the morning.  I worked from 10:00 pm to 6:00 pm in a donut shop when I left college after 2 semesters.  It was so peaceful in the morning, and the cool air felt refreshing after standing over a fryer full of donuts all night.  Around the same time period, my friend and I went there a few times in the summer and rented a rowboat to just row and float around the lake and while away the time.  The water was so nice and cool to dip my hands in, and the rowing was excellent exercise. Sun dappling the water through trees along the edges of the lake, and the gentle slap of the water against the boat are among my impressions and memories of those days.  After I met my husband, we used to go up in the summer with a picnic. We’d spend some time on the swimming beach, walk some of the trails, then find a picnic site with a grill and have hamburgers and potato chips.  Those were happy times, and memories I treasure.  To be young and in love, and outside in the fresh air in a beautiful setting in the summer; it doesn’t get much better than that!

               This is a stressful time for the world right now, and having nice memories to recount is one way to make it less so.  We need to take a mental break from the news and predictions of what’s to come, as well as how inhumane and selfish some people can be.  If my little blog can give you a little respite from the fear and worry, I am glad to be of service.  Stay 6 feet away from everyone, and stay well! Oh, and wash your hands………