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  Finding Thanksgiving Mike and I are hosting Thanksgiving for Mike’s family. To make sure we have room for everyone, I found a folding table with chairs to set up in the living room. We bought the turkey. The menu is planned and Mike’s family invited.  Last week, I measured all of the table surfaces and set out to buy some Thanksgiving table linens. Okay, they didn’t have to be linen. Paper tablecloths with matching napkins and paper plates would have been fine.  But they were nowhere to be found. Even Walmart offered no Thanksgiving ware or even plain, suitable tablecloths. I went to Bealls and found nothing “Thanksgiving-y”.  Finally, I found a few things at Big Lots. I had to rummage through the bin to find enough placemats, two decorative pillows for the couch, some paper napkins, and three round green placemats to use like hotplates for each table. They have “Grateful” embroidered on them.  We have some plastic disposable plates we can use and enough ...

  Of Cars, Corvettes, and Kids When I married Mike, I entered the world of Cars. Not the animated movie. The world of going to car shows and learning to appreciate the wonder of metal and motors. The world of fiberglass and chrome.  I already had an appreciation for cars. To a degree. I knew what I liked and didn’t like. I hold dear the memories of my first car, a ’66 Mustang. A “first car”  is  a memorable experience. So much so, that when Mike retired from his work at the electric company, he treated himself to a car identical to the first car he owned. The one he drove in high school. A ’69 Chevelle Super Sport.  I don’t want or need my old Mustang back, but the memory of driving to high school, taking friends to the beach at a place called Lake Ellen, and to Frisch’s restaurant and such…those memories are strong. Good. And sufficient. I remember the day I wrecked it, too.  This past week, I was able to be a part of a different car experience. One that t...

  Six Degrees of Separation or…Kevin Bacon, Are You Out There? “What a small world!” You’ve heard the phrase. A 1929 short story by Frigyes Karthinthy and a 1990 play by John Guare came out purporting that everyone is connected by six degrees or less. Sort of a small world ideology, if you will. For a while, people would suggest that everyone in show business was somehow connected to the actor Kevin Bacon by a mere six steps of separation. The first time I heard of this “theory” was when I was teaching overseas. One of the teachers invited a few of us newbies on the scene to gather and get to know each other. Living In Europe Has Perks As we talked, two of the new teachers noted an immediate connection to me.  One coming from Pepperdine University in Malibu, had as her professor the woman who started the program I inherited at the University where I taught for over a dozen years. Her professor and I had met and talked on occasion. Another was the daughter of a woman I knew in...

  Lemonade I’ve long embraced the saying, “When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.” It’s a perspective. A way of taking something difficult or unexpected and turning it into something good.  There are many examples in the Bible. For instance, jealousy drove Joseph’s brothers to beat him up, steal his coat, throw him in a pit, then sell him into slavery, but God later used Joseph to save his family from famine. Long story, but if you want the details, read Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Bible is full of such examples, the ultimate being the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus had to die so we can live.  There are modern day examples of “if that hadn’t happened…I wouldn’t be here.”  But this blog post isn’t really about those types of events. It’s actually about…well…lemonade. This is the Pure Lemon Juice, Lemons, and Nifty Juicer. Cool, Huh? When Mike and I moved to our home in Citrus County, we inherited a couple of fruit trees. We’ve enjoyed fresh picked...