Author: Rene

My phone case died. It had a pretty mermaid on the magnetic closure, was a draw for my granddaughter’s amusement, and kept my phone fairly safe from harm. It was a birthday gift from my little sister, and I did love it.

Since my official bucket list includes finding a seahorse in natural surroundings, I’m considering keeping the case to bury at sea. It’s in such disgusting condition, I can’t imagine planting it on ”Rosary Boulevard” and endangering a tree. Somehow the landfill doesn’t seem significant enough for this beauty which served me so honorably.

Thanks, Sis, for all the memories this little gem has provided!

Excitement reigned this morning. My neighbor is housing a den of foxes, probably a mother with her kits. They are cute as can be, and they are excelling at digging under her concrete. I can watch them with my binoculars as they romp around her property.

We have no shortage of wildlife here, though it seemed a bit empty this spring. However, the hawks have returned gracing neighboring roofs. The hummingbird is making his stop at the Indian Paintbrush in the back yard. And now we have foxes.

I hope that mother fox is the reason we are not plagued with squirrels this year! (“Parsha”, I’ll help you fix the concrete when they abandon the den.)

When our little posse ventured to the Farmer’s Market a month ago, my generous friend, ”Pann,” purchased some peppermint oil to share with the crew. She diligently dropped the oil in little vials and under cover of nightfall, made the drop at our homes. While we had a good laugh, we are still enjoying the calming benefits of this essential oil. That’s what gave me a chuckle when I saw this on my Pinterest board:

I’m being selfish though and not sharing with the family. I shall remain calm and carry on.

I nearly peed my pants when I opened the package from my college major pal, ”Paroline.” What could she be sending me?

Four VO5 hair conditioners neatly packaged with a Lillian Vernon catalog, that’s what! It’s good to know we can still prank each other 40 years later. Thanks for keeping me looking good, Friend, and for the throwback catalog, my reading for the evening.

P.S. This really does keep your hair smooth and shiny!

Whoo hoo! Thanks for the protocol, ”Piane.”

Many moons ago, (21 years!) our family spent the Fourth-of-July watching Wimbledom at a private golf and tennis club in England. My husband had business there and the children and I were left to self-entertain. The kids were off limits in the fine dining room, so we made the best of it!

We watched quite a bit of tennis in the bar, like the entire women’s finals, with my children kicking back baby bottles of Schweppes sodas. They were cute – the little bottles. The bartender loved them – the kids – and upon departure, gave my offspring all of the bottle caps so they could play with them, trading and bartering with the different colors. There had to be over 100 of them as we were there for a few days. (I didn’t keep my Stella bottle caps. No need to have that tally.)

We enjoyed our weird stay there, and I’m sure the Brits were happy to see us go. Venus took the championship that year, we took our private gloating back home, and that’s what the Fourth-of-July brings to mind for this American. No better place to celebrate than in Britain!

Happy Fourth Weekend!

Some things you knew all along!

Although I did not know this year is the bicentennial of William Herschel’s death, and quite frankly, do not know his music, I do share his intuitive knowledge of the benefits of music. I’m quoting out of the paper today and not citing the reference properly. (Gasp.) ”He was the Einstein of his time.”

He was the scientist who discovered Uranus, Saturn’s moons, mapped the night sky and accomplished a host of other scientific wonders. He also composed music. And, he held a belief to which I ascribe and employed with my children: music and math go hand in hand.

Who knows? Maybe it helped my daughter in her Mathematics and Astronomy degree? Or my son with his Master’s in Engineering and Computer Science? They are still musical, and can be heard singing or playing under duress with the famous, ”Tipsy Trio.”

It’s a small sample, but one with a 100% proof of validity.

Remember that song by Kiki Dee? It keeps playing in my head now, but with different lyrics. ”I’ve got the Covid in me, I’ve got the Covid in me, I’ve got the Covid in me.” We have succumbed.

Since my daughter and I both tested positive yesterday, it was a given we could hang out together. Her husband had to stay home as a precaution, so we used the free babysitting day to head over to their townhome to finish cleaning and painting it. We accomplished our tasks in five hours and then left.

Returning my daughter to her abode, I nearly ran a stop sign as I exclaimed, ”Oh look! That little girl is selling lemonade. Should I flip around and help her out?” She looked so forlorn in the heat with no customers as I slammed on those brakes. My daughter chimes in, ”We can’t. We have Covid.” “Oh, yeah.”

We laughed our heads off the rest of the way and I’m still chuckling. Thankfully, we are not suffering, and I hope it stays that way. We’re also not going anywhere fun, yet a small price to pay.

Personally, I don’t think I ever thought about running away as a kid? It does seem like a tempting option these days.

Happy mid-year!

Why do I like hockey? Because at the end of the battle, fiercely fought, the teams respect each other enough to congratulate one another. The coaching staffs congratulate the opposing teams. The teams both give compliments to their opponents. Defeat is felt, victory celebrated, but what reigns is the ability for gentlemen to shine. That is tremendously appealing and laudible.

My only question after the Avalanche victory is this: ”Will ’Makar’ replace ‘Orr’ in the crossword puzzles?”

Congratulations, Avalanche!