What a way to spend a birthday! First thing to do is drop by the lawyer’s office for paperwork to sign.  If you don’t know, call me!  Next doctor wants to see me because I’ve had congestion for a month since I had a cold from which I recovered - except for the congestion.  I just keep coughing gunk and it never seems to change.  That brings on inhaler and a course of antibiotics.  Of course, a short supply of medicine, just because the state just raised the copays on everything so that short supplies are the most expensive.  I am so thankful to be a government employee.  Life is changing.  I am liking the prospects of retirement – except from ym siging career – that will be sorely missed.  I think state retirement will be farther off than I want to be.  However, I am getting a new car.  I am trying to convince myself that it is a wonderful birthday present, if late, and it will be very appreciated as part of the long term picture. It was not planned, but the old car is $600 and $800-ing me to death.  Time to invest in the future. But now I worry about the long term picture.  Dad was only 20 years older than I.  Do I have his last 20 years as a picture of my future?  I hope not.  I asked the doctor if she knew an Indian Chief. So, I didn’t see them in the right order. Maybe this aging thing won’t be all that bad. But I already don’t like the frequency of doctors and drugs.  How do you think it will be to drive a red car? Ah, there’s my Indian Chief – it should be a Pontiac – a thought from my many yesteryears – but it is a Prius – as green as I can be at this juncture – but it IS red!!!

So, I change my bathroom decor with the seasons – a genetic thing from Grandma. So I got out the summer shower curtain – a nice nubby off-white cotton number that I picked up because it looks like simple toweling.  Last year when I took it down, I threw it in the wash, then folded it and put it away for its next season, this year. However, I did not read the tag on the shower curtain that said natural cotton, made in India, dry clean only.  Now whoever heard of a dry clean shower curtain? Not in my lifetime. I think it has something to do with the proverbial champagne taste and a beer budget.  I did not read when I bought this shower curtain.  So was changing to the summer bath decor and as I was hanging the shower curtain, suddenly I realized I was strectching it to make it fit the rings.  I looked down and realized the  length was above the bath tub. Useless.  I could not believe my eyes. Then I spotted the tag – natural cotton, made in India, dry clean only.  Who’d-a thunk it.  One shower curtain into the rag bin. And that means I have to shop for a new shower curtain.  Give me a break.  Well, I got off-white cotton again that can be thrown in the washer. I checked,  We won’t play that game again!

When I grew up it was supposed to inspire confidence. For nearly all my life I’ve had a Maytag portable dishwasher. The current one, only my second, is a youngster, just a few years old.  Months ago I got a letter from Maytag that I could replace my dishwasher and get a rebate on the purchase price because of a dangerous defect in the design OR have the defect repaired.  I decided a new dishwasher was the wisest option because it would surely last until I really don’t need it any more. So, I went to the store to purchase my new dishwasher because time was running out.  While in the store, I discovered that the “approved” replacements were all under-the-counter and mine was a freestanding portable.  So I called Maytag right from the store to find out which model is approved in the protable line.  This set off a chain of events that I would rather forget. Maytag claimed that my dishwasher had been repaired. I told them it was impossible. Maytag gave me the name of the company and the repairman who supposedly did the repair and told ME to call to verify that.  I told them this was impossible as no one had been inside my house – and besides any verification of anything would be THEIR responsibility since they had initiated the recall.  This led to calls back and forth for days.  Every time I did not call back to Maytag, no one would call me back, inspite of daily promises, and everytime I called to Maytag they kept telling me they had a signed receipt for the repair of my dishwasher.  It got so complicated that I had to start taking notes about who I talked to and who said what on what date.  Anyway, after weeks of wrestling with Maytag, a new repair person is to come to my house on Friday to verify that my dishwasher has NOT been repaired.  I will then be able to get a new dishwasher. However, I have NOT seen this supposed signed ticket from whatever company claims to have repaired my dishwasher. Today, Maytag says they never said they had such a ticket.  I asked what is to be done because of the fraud of the company that claims to have repaired my dishwasher, and Maytag says they will handle it.   I told them I should get a free dishwasher for all the trouble NOT just a significant rebate that covers most of the cost of a NEW dishwasher anyway.  Maytag, of course, does not want to hear this. I really don’t care, but I am surely disappounted in Maytag.  Hopefully, I won’t ever have to buy another appliance from them.

Last night was a choir party for retirement for our director.  I had a good time, but felt strangely detached.  I think reality will not set in until some time in the transition.  I also think things are so unsettled at my real job that this retirement after 45 years of service seems unmonumental. HOw’s that for distortion?  It seems that I have arrived at a point in life where so many people I know will retire that perhaps it will be the new normal.  There was a period some years back when people started retiring from my state job, and surely, people have come and go in our choir, but the choir has been pretty steady for my 24 years.   My father was already retired 5 years when he was my age.  NOW, I envy THAT!  - though I really do not know that I want to actually retire, but I DO want to travel.   Our choir director does not act his age and I hope that he will be full of life during his retirement.  I go to dinner every quarter with a group of retirees from the state and that is always fun.  So I always say I am easing into it.  Every retiree I know looks good.  There must be something good about it.  Having more time for goddaughters looks like fun too. Maybe they’ll keep me young!  Sunday is the final farewell.  I have a feeling that I will not be emotional until after something hits me about the transition. I want Sunday to be as magnificent as it can be.  After Sunday, emotions can kick in!… except I have to work. DRAT!!

too much – not enough time to write – perhaps blogging has gone the way of dinosaurs. I am going through a period where all I do in my house is sleep! I thought things were supposed to slow down when one gets older! HAH!

Winter killed three fruit trees.  That means replacement.  I pruned the blackberries which reminded me of doing it for Dad last year.  I never knew if his blackberries yielded much of anything since I pruned them so heavily. I pruned mine heavily after a bountiful harvest last year.  I am looking for a bountiful harvest of bluberries this year, though the winter was unkind to a few of those as well.  I am wondering what will happen this year as we have had alet continuation of cold. It has been almost too cold to do the gardening chores. But I just LOVE working in the dirt, so I just keep going – just enough to keep replacing and placing things which need to try to find their new homes and thrive in my tiny share of real estate. 

Speaking of real estate, since the housing values have plummeted, the city decided to up the land value after doubling it the last time.  They have to make sure they will get their tax money one way or another.  But did the assessment on the house fall as much as the real estate market fell?  You must be joking.  The government can make the tax bill increase in the dead heat of a recession – all the more reason to increase its revenue. I’d rather work in the dirt.

I sat down the other night in front of the news and heard that a firefighter had died in the course of duty.  The TV news showed his face and I instantly knew that I knew him. He was Mark Falkanhan. His sister, Mary Lou, and I were school mates.  However, I remember very vividly an important day that I spent with Mark. It was in July and the family was burying  a grandmother who had passed. Mark was an infant and they did not want to drag him to the grave side services, so I stayed with Mark in Grandma’s house and watched her black and white TV while the family was attending the burial. As it happened, it was the day the astronauts landed on the moon and TV was carrying the live shots, including “One small step for man, one large step for mankind.”  I remember thinking to myself back then that it was surely ironic that I was babysitting an infant while his family was burying his grandmother, and history was being made with men walking on the moon.  I was amazed that I recognized a face that I had not seen since infancy.  I was amazed that I caught the news, as I am not yet in the habit of daily checking obituaries. Sometimes, things are just meant to be.

Mark is lying in state at an armory in Towson. I went to pay my respects.  His funeral is Monday. I learned from a cousin that his Dad recently had surgery and is not doing well, and Mary Lou is staying with Dad, at home, keeping him away from the mobs of people.  The armory was indeed mobbed. I had never noticed it in many years of going to Towson for multiple reasons. Even with google maps and google earth, I didn’t believe what I saw.  However, age has a funny way of playing with the mind.  I go lots of places where I used to be very comfortable going, and things don’t look the way they used to.  I often wonder what I know and what I don’t know. But I DO know I spent a historic day with Mark Falkanhan when he was a baby!  You know, I don’t remember yesterday, but I DO remember something that happened 40 years ago!

This week was the first week I had to work a full week since before the winter holidays.  It is always rough to get back in the groove.  It has been so cold for so long this winter, I have already had enough of what I have little tolerance for, under the best of circumstances.  I am rejoicing though, because the daylight hours are noticeably longer each day. I like this.  However, when I parked my car after work today, a rat ran across the street; it appeared it had been hiding under the car in front of me.  We’ve only had rats since Anchor Fence went away. It is really bad when the rats are out as cold as it is. All I think is that when the weather warms up they’ll be looking to burrow and have babies.  YUK!  I think animals are much smarter than humans – hibernation is so reasonable.  It can’t be good wasting energy when it is just so cold!   Does retirement mean one can hibernate away the winter?  Now that’s a promising proposition!

A warm day in winter means prune the roses.  Every time I do it I think of Alice in Wonderland.  It is funny that rose bushes look fine with no leaves, but the garden always looks better after the pruning until such time as the buds begin to swell. Soon the snow drops will be peeking through. I added more snow drops to the rose garden this year, as well as more daffodils. A friend gave me two new hostas too for the shade garden.  They were mailed and the post office was a bit slow intheir delivery, so I will be waiting anxiously to see if they actually come up. It has been so cold for so long already that I wonder what the effect of the winter will be on the gardens.  I think I have done more pruning this year than ever before. I also had to replace a tree in front (a flowering quince) that I am now calling Dad’s tree – a dwarf almond.  But now I will watch the winter pass.  I rejoice every year when the solstice with its shortest amount of daylight has passed.  It’s another good thing about Christmas. Now, all we need is to get past the cold temperatures.  I like snow while it falls, but then I want it to go away immediately.  However, I never like cold temperatures, except at night when I am sleeping.  Animals who hibernate have the right idea!  Yes, I would very much like Camelot so the snow and the cold are  gone by morning when I have to go to work! But I can always chuckle to myself when pruning the roses on a warm winter’s day.

Today it was reported that Agathe von Trappe died at age 97. Now talk about memories!  Grandma took me downtown to see the movie when I was 15.  That was a special treat, as I got to go for an evening performance, which let me stay out late.  We were in the balcony of the New Theater, and I’ll never forget the opening scenes flying over the mountains and feeling as if we were going to fall. Of course, now I own it on DVD, and I have a picture of Julie Andrews in my office. It is my nod to the American fascination with Hollywood. I visited Agathe several times when I was in my early twenties and sang and played the piano for her.  She was delightful and was always pleased with music.    I felt it was really special to be invited to her house and be able to perform music for her, and, obviously I have never forgotten it. Agathe was the one whom we would recognize as Liesl in the movie, though she said she was not as forward as the Liesl character.  And she always claimed that the movie portrayed her father as far too strict, compared to the reality.