Stephanie says

I'm studying botany; the terminology jostles my memory from Botany 101 some 40 years ago as I fondly invoke the words:  dicot, monocot, stigma, stamen, anther, xylem.  Oh dweeb indeed.  I'm enrolled in a Master Gardener program, all day each and every Tuesday for the next 13 weeks.  Sustainable gardening is the focus.  I envision a riot of vegetables and a profusion of flowers in my garden this season.  I actually imagine that every season but this is the one that will succeed! Oregon State Extension Service provides this training as one of many educational services, for example: 4H, Food Preservation, Animal Husbandry, Trees and Woodlands.   Take this link to visit OSU Extension website  My grandfather, Elmer O Post graduated from Oregon Ag, College ( for a bit about him, click this link) in 1917 and the OAC Extension was already going strong providing education to improve rural life. Along the way, OAC became Oregon State University and OS...

Nearly 20 years ago on a road trip with cousins, the two of us without grandchildren were embarrassed by the behavior of the two with.  I witnessed each of them stop perfect strangers to show off photos of the children.  Jeanne and I declared a vow at that time that if and when either of us had grandchildren, we would NOT carry photos in our wallets, or behave in that manner.  She has two granddaughters, ages 9 and 10, and she may well have school photos tucked into her wallet but I've never caught her flashing photos of them to strangers. I have 18-month Henry and don't have a single photo in my wallet.  However, I do have an I-Phone.  Does that change the playing field?  Herewith, a video clip of him calling me "Grandma." We're not strangers, right?

As evidenced by today’s Christmas shopping trip into the metropolis of Eugene, (It’s all subjective.)   Drain’s population hovers around 1000 souls; Yoncalla has just about the same.   Eugene has a whopping 160,000 AND traffic signals.   Just so you know, red means stop.   Teresa drove today and must have maddened the traffic-light deity because at each and every intersection, the light turned red as we approached.   I didn’t notice this particularly until after our stop at Harbor Freight to pick up a gift for her husband, (an electric wood splitter of all things.   They have been married a very long time…   Wait, wait, is there a “Fargo” joke lurking in there?)   This was a virgin visit for me and I purchased an assortment of flashlights for stocking stuffers, a long-running favorite of my daughter.   I bought a hammer and tape measure for Bonnie – who is closing on a fixer-upper house next week.   She’s gonna need tools. ...

I scored a whole lot of bones today.  Beef bones.  Terry stopped by with skeletal mass from a recently butchered cow, (to the delight of Miss Rose Petal, who adores Terry, peeing on his foot in excitement every time he appears.  She loves any form of meat ever so much more however, "please leave the kitchen.  I won't jump up on the counter and eat the meat.  Really, I won't.  Leave now.) Back to the old cow whose time on this earth was over.  We are utilizing her remains fully.  We are making beef stock. I roasted bones in the oven at a high temperature, turned now and then to brown evenly, then tossed into the stock pot.  Rosie scored a meaty bone, just because she didn't snatch any from the counter, although I know full well that she would have, had she the opportunity.  Dogs.  Predictable.      Bones simmering on the rear burner.  Onions nearing caramelization on the other burner (because I only have two w...

Do people still take tap? For a slim-to-remote chance to land a role in rarely produced musicals like 42nd Street? It appears they do.  The curtain slowly rises with a staccato rat-a-tat-tat beat.  The stage is crowded with tap-dancing feet; Act I begins in high energy with dancers who definitely learned (and mastered) tap.  42ns Street was the 1933 Academy Award-winning musical; Composer Harry Warren, Lyricist Al Dubin, Librettists Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble..  I am considerably younger than that but knew many of the songs: "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me;" "We're in the Money;" "Lullaby of Broadway;" "Shuffle to Buffalo;" and "Forty-Second Street."   Great songs all.  Terry couldn't make this performance, which he will regret all the more after I describe a sea of long legs clad in scanty costumes performing in-sync intricate dance moves reminiscent of synchronized swimming.  But on dry land of co...

Had plans with my daughter’s family to attend an anniversary party.   Got a phone call on the road asking how far out I was?   “20 minutes.” “Okay.   There’s a birthday party for Grandma Muriel today.   I said we’d come.” “Alright.   We’ll go there first.” This being my former (?) mother-in-law.   I was married a very long time to her son and divorced many, many years ago but still consider this lovely woman to be my MIL.   We celebrated her 93 rd birthday yesterday.   It will her last.   Tyler commented “This is kind of weird.   I’m going to be with both my parents together in a social situation for the first time in 20 years.”   “This impacts me how?   This is your deal, not mine.”   Subtext:   It’s not always about you.   Deal with it. My boy Jason, my nephew, arrived same time as us.   Here he is now, pushing 40, unloading his family of three + another baby due soon, fro...

Hey Bets, I’ve just watched the first ten minutes of “The Graduate” and thought about you.   We saw so many thought-provoking late 60s movies on the big screen – damn they were good.   Butch Cassidy, Richard the Lion Heart, Midnight Cowboy to name a few.   An oldie: Gone With The Wind – you just sobbed through that screening - the only reason I didn’t.   Thanks for that.   The Killing of Sister George.   I’m laughing at our mutual discomfort with that movie.   That was when the penny dropped on female homosexuality -  I had no clue.   We drove home from that movie; you driving Uncle Jim’s Nova, and both of us hugging the most opposite sides of the car possible, repelled by the implications of that awful movie.   Maybe it wasn’t awful.   The irony is we shared a double bed.   I remember hugging the far, far side.   You did too – on the far opposite side.   Glad we shared those times.   Love you co...