Ok ...I'm trying to get back into bloging even though my computer does not see the need.
It is the last few days of school here so things will be more active in this neighborhood shortly.
I remember those last few school days and what I felt was the useless encumbering of my time. Gazing out the open window at the blooming bush whose fragrance was wafted through   the room with each slight breeze expanded the torture of enduring the never ending period..
Miss Love,(typing), was standing there summing up the importance of what she thought she had taught us. Since I am typing this by the touch method, I'm admitting she was probably right. 


 

Today is Chuck Norris' birthday. Alexa has been issuing "Chuck Norris facts" all day.  My favorite was :" When Chuck Norris gets pulled over on the highway, he lets the officer go with just a warning."

Last Friday daughter Grace went to a nursing home to visit  her long-time friend. When she entered the place she could hear singing coming from the dining/activities area. They were singing " I got a brand new pair of roller skates; you got a brand new key". Of course! They were from that generation  that used a skate key. We all had sidewalk scabby knees back then.
This time of the year when I was in early teen years we would go to the roller skating rink. It was on rd.15  across from the Crystal Dairy Bar. The building looked like a war surplus Quonset hut with a hardwood floor installed. We used rented shoe skates and I remember I would be so excited I often went home with a sick headache. The worst was just after Christmas when I had received a bottle of "Evening in Paris" cologne and used it liberally. 
Aargh!!!
 .

This is First Friday in downtown Warsaw, In.  The Ice artists are on almost every corner with huge blocks of ice and chain-saws.  It's 25 degrees at six and going down to  9 tonight...not like when they did this last week in Niles Mi. and it was 50 degrees in Michiana.  So no big rush to see the results as they will keep. 

I'm playing a lot of memorable Christmas songs this Christmas.
When "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin first came out I was about nine years old. After going to the movies to see Bing Crosby perform it my cousins and I would act it out using the stairs as theater seats in that cold hallway of the house on Center Street. It was in that house there came a new baby sister and the next Christmas K and I got to go to sleep under the Christmas tree. 
One of those Christmases, in that rented house,  mom's niece, Betty Jean Peterson got us the new "Nutcracker" record album by Spike Jones (our introduction to the classics).  We never got over it.!

I  spent alot of Christmases  working at Marge's as a live in "Nanny" type babysitter. When the grown-ups went out to parties it was ok for Glen to come over and help. A fun memory was the year  they had all blue lights on the tree and a new Christmas Album by The Four Freshman. Our favorite song was "Blue Christmas". Little  did we know one of the artists on that record would be our good friend when we were in our late twenties.

When we were dating Glen told me about his family get - togethers where he and his cousin Norma Lee would sing "Winter Wonderland" with slightly different words; Later on we'll perspire, while we dream by the fire". Makes sense to me however unromantic.

The first Christmas album Glen and I bought was" Christmas with Conniff". We played it every Christmas morning. Of course I still do.

My old computer would do everything but create a new post. The hoops I had to jump through to write this on my even older laptop: next to impossible !!
Went to Enhanced Fitness this morning for a good Fri. morning activity.
The Cubs are playing in the World Series at Wrigley field tonight. This is something my dad dreamed of every year. Hope his spirit is there.
This is a very warm Halloween weekend. The last day of October promises to be glorious. When the kids were out of the house I compiled all the recipes they seemed to enjoy growing up. Brown October Stew was one of my faves and with age they warmed to it and actually forgave the fact that it was named stew. Here is a copy of my version.
                                       Brown October Stew

   One or two of our darlings did not care for the brown part of this recipe.  Stew gets a bad rap from institutions that serve anything sloppy with gristly meat and call it stew.
I'm sure I found this hearty soup waiting for Glen to come home from work, after putting the kids to bed in their twin beds up in their little room with the cherry wood floor at Murtaughs.

3 lbs. of lean chuck chunks devoid of fat and gristle.     3 T flour.
one large onion chopped                                                  1/4 t ea. salt and pepper
one small stick cinnamon                                                1/4 t ginger
4 large scrubbed carrots, quartered
Brown meat after dusting with flour, salt and pepper
4 cups V8 or vegetable juice
Put all  in crock pot and cook on low all day or medium three and one half hours.
You  may add vegies( squash ) and lemon slices half way through the cooking.