Vacuum...

      Vacuum is a description of my mind. When I went to the grocery store yesterday I forgot to bring my shopping list. However, when I returned home and perused the list I discovered I'd purchase 12 of the 13 items on the list. If I can do that why can't I remember to bring the list? Joanne and I used to joke about having only one oar it the water. Together we hoped that our oars were on the opposite sides of the boat. 😀

    Sally died yesterday. She, and her husband Greg are (were) next door neighbors. They were among the first inmates I met when I moved in to the OFH. The culture here is that if there's an empty chair at a table in the dining room it's cool to ask permission to join. Sally & Greg were the only diners at a table for four. Gaining their permission I joined them. During the conversation Sally mentioned her retirement. That offered me the opportunity to ask, "From what did you retire?" She replied "I was a church secretary in an ELCA congregation." 😀 Imagine the conversation that ensued. (There are two more ELCA pastors on this wing, one of whom was a bishop.)

   Greg, fascinated with my extended absences to South Dakota, teases that he's going to sublet my apartment. Sally suffered from COPD. All the while I knew her she was on oxygen.  They moved here from Wisconsin to be near their two daughters. Their grandson is a server in the dining room. Now Greg joins a myriad of us in the land of grief.

Takk for alt,

Al

 

Lexington Landing, which I affectionately call The Old Folks Home (OFC). 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

      This morning I watched a little of the Rose Bowl Parade. It was raining. Twice I've witnessed the parade in person though I've only been at the Rose Bowl Game once. It didn't rain either time I was there.

     The first time I attended was in 1961. That came at the end of my first year at USMC Camp Pendleton in southern California. Marjorie (Negstad) Dahl, my first cousin, lived with her husband, Jasper, and daughters, Carole and Betty, in Lakewood, CA. which is suburb of Long Beach. They took me to the Parade. Minnesota lost to Washington in the game. Arriving early we had seats curbside for the parade.(Travelling around the L.A. area with them in their Buick Roadmaster, I was the designated driver. Neither Jasper nor Marjorie liked the city driving. Marjorie sat next to me in the front street and navigated as well as a GPS.)

     In 1970 we were visiting Rollie and Sherry, who lived in Glendale, CA., at New Years. Rollie went all out arranging our Festival Of Roses experience. It began with his youth group saving curb side seats for us on the parade route. Shortly before the Parade began we were driven near the route and took our seats. When the Parade ended we were driven to Pasadena for lunch at their friend's house. After lunch we were dropped off at the stadium for the game. USC beat Michigan. Following the game we were again picked up and driven to Rollie's house. Yes, we were treated like royalty!

Takk for alt,

Al

 

1970 Rose Bowl Game.

9 

OFH follies!

     The planned lunch/cribbage planned for today had to be postponed. Tom, the cribbage master, is sick.😓It will be rescheduled when Tom recovers and likely be sometime next week. Seems to be a bit of illness circulating in the community.  It's comforting to know I have my flu shot and a recent COVID booster. Hopefully, I can maintain my status of never having COVID. 

     A group of inmates put their heads together and planned a New Years Eve potluck. It was very nice, and, true to Old Folks Home metric, it began about 4:00. Arriving at 5:00 I was about the last to come. Staying up to anything close to midnight was totally out of the question. Certainly there is nothing wrong with events being early.

    When our Friday dinner group made plans last week for this week we decided to meet on New Year's Eve. None of us have big New Years Plans. What we didn't know was that there would be a New Year's Eve potluck. Never mind, we did both.

Takk for alt.\,

Al

I keep finding my sentiments in the 'funnies'.

 

Memory!

     Margaret's comment on the blog brought back a memory. While Ed and I were stationed on Okinawa in 1961, our battalion was shipped to Japan for cold weather training. It was near the city of Gotemba. For about six weeks we lived in a tent camp on the lower slopes of Mt. Fuji. Typically, we didn't do training on the weekends. One weekend Ed and I took the train to Tokyo. Another weekend we trained to visit Margaret's family.

    Margaret's parents, Oliver & Judy, (Oliver is my cousin) were missionaries in Shimzu, Japan, which wasn't far distant from the tent camp. Having a weekend off Ed and I had made arrangements to visit them. Arriving in Shimzu by train the only clue we had to their location was an envelope from Oliver which had his return address. Leaving the train we went to the nearby taxi barn. Showing the envelope to the taxi drivers and pointing to his address a group of taxi drives huddled around the envelope. Much conversation ensued none of which we could understand. Shortly we were motioned into the back of a taxi. After a bit of a drive we were brought to Oliver & Judy's house.

    At home with their parents were the two youngest children, Bryan and Naomi. The two older children, Margaret and Phillip, were away at a boarding school.  It was a rare privilege to spend a weekend with this cousin, with whom I grew up, be with his family and glimpse his work. 

Takk for alt,

Al

With Oliver, Judy, Bryan and Naomi: Unfortunately Oliver died soon after retiring and moving back to America and Judy died some years later. 

Highly Recommended Book; Five of five stars!

     Perhaps it should be said at the outset that much in this book is not easy reading. Yet, the story unfolds as a compelling personal memoir told with empathy and balance. It's the best one yet that I've found that gathers all the  factors and events that have transformed, an almost idyllic America in the 1960s to our hugely divided country today. 

   Beth Macy is a highly respected journalist who in Paper Girl: A Memoir Of Home And Family In A Fractured America, recounts her difficult childhood, alcoholic father and life in poverty, in Urbana, Ohio, and her continued relationship with her family and the community. As she sees the effects of de-industrialization on Urbana and its citizens she identifies the causes of its current malaise. Her analysis is well researched and accurate but always delivered with empathy and compassion as she recounts its impact on the lives of people.

   The North American Free Trade deal facilitated the de-industrializing as factories fled America to other countries. Well paying jobs disappeared as the did the influence of unions. The middle class was decimated. Reagan's appointed Federal Communication Commission ended the 'fairness doctrine' in licensed electronic media which required the airing of all sides of an issue. This led to the fragmentation of news outlets which were now free to propagate any conspiracy they chose. With this change print media withered to the point the Urbana paper was a shell no longer able to report local news. Consequently, citizens of Urbana were poorly informed about their community. Public schools, once the bastion of truth and belonging, withered as charter schools syphoned off good students and home schooling eroded the schools further. In modern day Urban parents challenged about the truancy of their children removed them from school saying they are homeschooling them. College education has been priced out of the reach of vast numbers of Americans. In the 60s Macy was able to pay for college via a Pell Grant. Now, Pell Grants are a drop in the bucket for college students.

   With the middle class gone Urbana is left with a wealthy remainder who have no idea the fate of the impoverished people in their community with no newspaper with local news. Not realizing the desperation of the poor they road-block any attempts to provide care and support for the disadvantaged. With ready access to unreliable sources of news they are prone to conspiracy theories that demonize the others; college educated, city people, liberals, etc. They readily believe the most preposterous slander about those who are seen as "other".    

  Don't take my word for it read it for yourself! It will be a best seller, it's newly published, and will be on 'Best Seller' lists for weeks. Get ahead of the curve and read it now!

Takk for alt,

Al

Winter Weather!

    It's been snowing most of the time since 9:00 this morning It's now 6:00 pm. There were about 50? in church. Included in that 50 were 15 pastors who are members of the church. I can think of only four pastors who were missing. Attending church is in our DNA. 

   The old snow had gotten very grey so  this will clean up the appearance. Snow is pretty from the 4th floor window of the OFH. My students in Thailand had never seen snow and were very curious about it. I put some in my carryon bag as I left Minnesota for Thailand to show them. Guess what happened? 😂

Takk for alt,

Al

This picture shows me teaching in Thailand. While I miss teaching there I'm not willing to make the arduous trip to do it.