It’s “Hey Rene J” Today!

We can only hope. The two-lane roads I drove Sunday were littered with the little carcasses, and they were pretty fresh. With my penchant for keeping tallies, I decided to spend ten miles counting them. Eight in said miles. It was some serious roadkill.

Yes, the drive can be monotonous. However, it was something to do while I wrestled with the wind yesterday and deftly passed high-profile vehicles swaying in the ”breeze.”

It’s good to be home.

My travels brought me to the stomping grounds I traversed over 40 years ago. I hadn’t been back to my college town for as long, so I gingerly drove through the city ignoring my GPS and taking the back roads I recalled.

My graduate pal, ”Paroline,” kept me entertained on the drive as we reminisced. I took her advice and blasted 70’s music whilst on the highway. To be honest, I could only give it twenty minutes and I had to move into this century. Side note: I listened to an hour of the band, ”Wheatus,” sharing their favorite music. I had never heard of them, nor their blockbuster, ”Teenage Dirtbag.” However, every song they had on their playlist was on mine! Musical highlight on a rather lengthy, dry drive.

That could be the highlight, too, unless I go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Good thing that wasn’t around 40 years ago!

Strange phrase – presumably coming from colonists bartering over the exchange of wild turkeys, according to my investigation. Turkey has come up a lot recently in our household.

What are we doing for Thanksgiving this year? Inviting family or enjoying the holiday? (kidding!!!) Going somewhere or staying plunked watching a parade of little value and watching college football games of no interest?

St. Nicholas’s tomb was ”recently” discovered in Turkey. It was interesting to note the tomb was in the church of St. Nicholas. Strange.

Should we go to Turkey? Istanbul is a happening place! I’m thinking we should talk turkey about turkey in Turkey.

It’s good to plan ahead.

One of the most influential people in my life was Dr. Jim Redmond.

Jim, as I was privileged to call him in adulthood, was my college English professor, who gently encouraged me to continue exploring the world, not just through literature, but through experiences. He’s probably the reason I write this silly inane musing.

How many people correspond with college professors throughout the years? It’s a gift I was given, mostly because I felt compelled to send Christmas cards every year to the people that mattered most to me 40 years ago. Dr. Redmond always responded with handwritten letters to my handwritten missives, both of us ruing the lost art of letter writing. He called when he was in town and continued to encourage me by merely phoning randomly and asking about my life. It was a mutually beneficial friendship, because I felt acknowledged by someone who was a genius in his field. I’m sure he felt somewhat inspired by a student who continued to explore the world – he enjoyed my travel writings pre-blog, and I began to feel like we were becoming the same age. What a lovely convergence.

I will miss his ”out of the blue” calls. He was a true educator. He was a friend.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/james-patrick-redmond-obituary?id=36839638

Yesterday I attempted to bake little gingerbread skeleton cookies. I made the dough Sunday evening and finished cutting the gems Monday morning. This is what I hoped for as the outcome:

Cute, right? Nothing too difficult, maybe just a little time-consuming. When my frosting appliance did not pull through for me in defining the skeletal sections, I switched to making gingerbread mummies.

Every pastry chef has her tricks!

Never say to your daughter, ”Let’s be twins!” The response made me laugh and double over with delight. I cannot possibly reprise her dramatic response.

We were shopping for her daughter who has surpassed her designated size and needs winter attire. I was hoping to find something, too, which elicited my statement. Nearing the end of our needed search we found a super useful black top which we both acclaimed was, ”cute!” Accommodating both of our sizes, and applying to our coupon, we became twins.

Sometimes you have to make your goal known to the universe.

This year our trees have been extremely gorgeous, on cue. The flowering pear tree in the back is still green, but will succumb soon. Every moment I walk past or view this Autumn Blaze Maple I am stunned by the beauty. This photo was taken on Friday, and by Saturday the leaves were fading and falling.

Once again I quote, “The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry of bugles going by…” Bliss Carmen

Aside from my nose, the South side of the house has some problems we have been trying to resolve for a year. It’s come down to the final stage…hauling rock.

We’ve hired a reliable crew member to aid us – our son. (I’m hoping he reads this missive.) The weather is cooperating nicely so it’s the optimal time to achieve proper drainage. It’s also the perfect time to clean the patio furniture and haul it in along with the wood for the fireplace.

Little Home on the Prairie weekend?

Remember the good old days when you went to work or school sick? That perfect attendance record was in reach! I never had that, but I did go out in public many a time – if you call having “the common cold” being sick.

Actually, there was a time I had to show up to teach a class on a weekend because there was no one to substitute. Students came from rural areas as well as the city, so I couldn’t ”call off” the class on short notice. I gingerly pulled myself out of bed for that one and made it through three hours.

My son deserves credit for toughing it out in school with a double ear infection so that he wouldn’t miss sports that afternoon. We were on our way to the ER early morning when he told me he knew it was an ear infection and he’d just as soon go to get antibiotics after school and practice. He was in third grade.

We all have stories of slogging through the day crippled by illness. The nice thing about a cold is taking cough syrup and slathering on the Vick’s Vap-o-Rub. There’s something comforting in that little self-care ritual.

This is the kind of goofy stuff I like. It’s an interesting grocery list, for sure! See if you can decipher. Thanks to the APB for filling in today.