Category: Life

I started the weekend looking forward to making my pot roast. Oh, how I was looking forward to that. I sat at the table, cutting vegetables and tossing them all in my crockpot.

I added all the other ingredients and then became distracted. That’s my only defense, and not even a good one.

An hour later, I went to check the pot. I had not plugged in the machine and turned it on.

I turned it all on and reset the timer. I came into the family room just furious with myself.

Six hours later, the meat was done and tender, but the flavor was all wrong.

Since my episodes of Covid, I have lost my taste buds, and they have never returned. Also, things that made my tastebuds sing no longer appeal.

I need to get out my old recipe files and make the simple and appealing ones.

Meanwhile, I’ve been listening to music to ease my soul. Previously, I had put together a playlist with the Beatles and each member separately. Oh yes. I doubt we will ever have another group of men change the landscape of the music world!

Me in Liverpool!

I cannot recall when I had to deal with the heavy winds like we had. As I sit here writing this post, waiting for the delivery of some patio furniture, I am listening to the wind howl! When Heidi goes out, her floppy dackel ears blow back like a flag during a storm.

At least the rain has stopped, and the sun is out. I am very grateful for that!

Tomorrow is a big day. I am going to make a chuck roast. I cooked roasts like this back in the day, but Jack was a snob and refused to eat them, but I found them rich and flavourful. I shall report my results with pictures, including my recipe.

My screened-in porch table arrived, and it goes so well with the chairs I got.

Now, I can sit with my tea or coffee and look out over the lake. That is, when it is warm enough.

My late husband, Jack, was a pilot. He served in the Army and eventually went over to the airlines. He enjoyed flying, and he enjoyed talking.  This brings me to the next part of this story.

Back in the early 1970s, Jack was flying for Pan Am and was based in Berlin, Germany. The Wall was still up, so if you wanted to get in or out of West Berlin easily, you flew out, and Pan Am had the best routes and permissions from the East German government.

As a flight engineer, Jack did all the weight and balances for the fuel and walked around looking for damage to the aircraft. They monitored aircraft systems, including engines and other critical flight systems. He joked he knew more about the A300, 727, and 737 systems than he did about either of his wives.

After all, he needed to memorize everything at the drop of a hat. I can’t even memorize a recipe!

I bring this up for two reasons. First, Jack had a mind that retained everything. And second, Jack loved to talk.

So, after taking off and reaching altitude, Jack turned his seat to talk to the pilot who was sitting in the jump seat. It was then he saw a plane heading for them.

“Captain, nine o’clock!”

The Captain took the yolk and pushed it forward. Then he leveled the plane, and the Captain got on the radio once the plane was secure.

He asked the air traffic controller what altitude the Pan Am Clipper had been cleared to. Then he asked about the other plane.

A long silence followed, and the German air traffic controller returned with, “I am so sorry, Clipper.”

“My dear boy, you certainly will be.”

In the end, the air traffic controller was very sorry. However, there was a plane full of people who made it to Frankfurt, Germany, in one piece, aside from thinking their ride was a bit bumpy.

Captain Jack

In recent months, while dealing with my health problems, I started to watch a lot of TV. What I found were a few often hard-to-digest truths.

• Many genuinely gifted entertainers from back in the day are either gone from us or have aged so much that we no longer see them.
• I went to Liverpool and took the Beatles tour. I thought of those four Lads from Liverpool and how they revolutionized popular music through the songs they wrote and the ones they performed. John and George died, and Ringo and Paul are in their 80s.
• I now understand what my grandmother once told me. One day, you are sitting at a full table with all you love, and the next, half of your loved ones and friends are gone.
• I will be 66 years old in November. If I am lucky, I will have 20 more years to live and enjoy my crazy life.
• I sit eating my Cheerios in the morning, and I can’t believe how quickly  I have lived 66 years.
• We all share these feelings. If we are lucky and stick together through thick and thin, we can go when this life ends with a smile.

People have been joking with me recently about dining out at my favorite place, George’s Diner.

I admit to eating there a lot. The food is excellent, and the staff is like family!

I’m 65 years old. I’ve only eaten alone a few times. I usually ate with my parents and siblings, my first husband, our kids, and Jack.

Now, meals are eaten standing up. Usually, it’s toast or Cheerios. For a while, I ate chicken pot pies. Now I can’t stand them!

After all these years, I can finally relate to Gary Portnoy’s theme for Cheers.

 

Have a great week!

I must tell you that I had a good time on the cruise: sunny skies and temperatures near 80. I felt good, and although I had three excursions canceled, there was always something to do. When in Port, I spent most days walking on the shore.

My health was good, and I felt strong. Then, the 14th arrived, and I was told I should be ready to ‘disembark’ by 8 AM.

I grabbed an English muffin, and I headed to grab a taxi. Miami has changed. I recalled all the time I spent there. Jack and all our Pan Am pilot group.

Eventually, our plane was ready to load. The announcement offered a preboard for those who are disabled and might need extra time.

I got up and went to the gate, and the Agent looked me over and said: I said for people who are disabled. I need that extra time. And she said the magic words that anger everyone, “I can’t see anything wrong with you.”

I stopped myself before reaching out and bitting the hand, trying to push me away. I turned and showed her the scar. I hoped that would be enough as I didn’t want to play the “How Disabled Are You?” game.

I settled in my seat and got settled.

Our plane to Boston was packed, and right after take off, I swear, everyone began to cough. Not quiet coughs, but loud, full hacking coughs. I prayed I would be okay.

Since I found that my life is one Bermuda triangle after another, I felt very wiped out three days after I returned. Sleeping, coughing, and then chills.  But by Wednesday, I felt so ill I sat down with my Covid tests and took them. Both tests were very positive.

So, here I sit under several blankets, sipping ginger ale. My fever is down. My cough is almost under control.

But now, it is time for me to take another nap. Here in my personal Bermuda Triangle!

I have not felt like watching TV since Jack passed. Yet, I am not comfortable with the sound of silence either. A while back, I made a list of some of my favorites on Youtube.

So many of these performances from way back when, like when we were young too, are fabulous!

One singer I loved back in the day was Andrew Gold. Now I had a few songs I liked. But I didn’t pay attention to the rest of the band. After all, I was married and raising my first baby, Amanda.

But as I listened and watched, I realized the band members (who are still with us) are in their early 70s.

Sadly Andrew Gold passed away quite young due to complications from kidney cancer. But most of the others are still around.

One of those is a pianist, orchestrator, and producer, Brock Walsh—a Harvard graduate who also worked with Linda Ronstadt, is featured in all the videos singing backup and playing the piano and organ for Andrew.

Andrew is the redhead on the left side of the stage playing the piano, and Brock is on the right side playing piano and organ and singing back up.

Here’s the thing, everyone looks so young. I remember being that young. But doesn’t time fly by? In a few short months, I will be 65. Now isn’t that just a kick in the pants? How on earth did that happen?

On Monday, I went to our local Social Security Office. I had tried the “easy to do” online sign-up, but even though I could enter Jack’s date of death, it wouldn’t allow me to do anything. So I showed up in person, and everyone was so nice! I was all done and on my way in less than an hour.

So while I putter around, I listen to Andrew and his band, sing all the old songs and remember that once I was very young, trying to make good decisions and often failing. But the music always helped to calm the spirit.

Well, time for this old girl to get to bed with the doggies.

Friday found me getting the family room ready for two new pieces of furniture.

My 30-year-old sofa has never fit in this house. So, Friday’s delivery removed that sofa and Jack’s chair and moved the new smaller loveseat and a nice reclining chair.

I’d been concerned because of all the rain we were having, but somehow we managed to get furniture moved around between the torrential downpours.

I had to do this for several reasons but for the most part, for Lili and me. You see, Jack’s chair still smelled like him. Each day Lili would sniff at it, hoping Daddy would appear. And every day, I woke, looked at his chair, and remembered the day he left us.

It all started in that chair.

So the house looks different in the family room. This morning Lili was calm. It was as if she understood that Daddy wasn’t coming back.

Today I am cleaning out the mud room. Lili chewed the boot bench in her puppyhood, which is terrible. So, I am emptying that and will remove the bench and put a small old desk in there. Then I must start to clear out the kitchen.

Little by little, bit by bit, I’m getting a handle on getting the house in order. One thing I have learned is that Jack was a true packrat!

So off I go now to get to the cleaning. Music, rags, and detergent! So much to do.

When I was growing up I tried to think of what career path I should follow. Since the start of 2023, I have come up with a few professions I should have studied.

First, I think it would have been grand if I had studied plumbing. I’ve needed work in the guest bathroom, and now my kitchen sink. The kitchen sink has been clogged since Friday night.

I had just finished making a special dinner using every pot, pan, and dish when I noticed the sink was not draining.

I tried my Science Experiment fix, (baking soda, white vinegar, and boiling water). I also plunged. Nothing was working.

I worked all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to no avail. Tuesday is the first day after the holiday weekend. I hope I can get a plumber in here soon.

Meanwhile, I am washing dishes in the small bar sink.

The other thing I should have learned about is taking care of my furnace and my water pipes during a couple of -20 degree days!

So, plumbing and heating for sure, and toss in the Automatic garage door opener and I would be all set.

Well, whatever it is, after 23 years it seems like everything is going. I just suppose that is how it goes.

But you know, It’s all done pretty well to last this long.