At the Heart of the Matter

I want to live a long, long time. To get even with my son, if for no other reason. So, I'm setting out on a quest for health and wellness. I've filled the fridge drawer full of fruits and vegetables and non-alcoholic beer and wine. I'm checking my blood pressure daily and working on how to get some moderate exercise (the real challenge).
Day 1: 123/78.

artwork by www.judigoolsby.com/

Changing Lives

One note at a time. Cindy turned me on to this NYC music teacher and I've been obsessed ever since. Go to http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/ and select Teacher Saves Students with Song. Click on the video below. You'll be hooked too. (There's lots more on YouTube.)

This Week in the Stars

Virgo: All you need is love, but a good therapist and tax attorney are handy, too. Keep them both on speed dial, because anything could happen this week.

"Good driving has nothing to do with sex."

"It's all above the collar." Alice Huyler Ramsey (1887-1983)

As someone who loves to drive, I'm fascinated by Ms. Ramsey's story. In 1909, accompanied by two sisters-in-law and a woman friend, Alice drove a Maxwell 30 from Manhattan to San Francisco in 59 days. A graduate of Vassar (1907), she was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1970. Over the years, she repeated the cross country trip more than 30 times. 

Happy Birthday Alice!

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the above information.)

When I Question My Memory

I just pull out my old pictures and see what I can find to confirm or dispute.

In the early 60s, some guy came around recruiting folks to go to some place in Central or South America. The deal was free land in exchange for homesteading, sort of like the old west. We got as far as having passport photos and then it all fell apart.

I've often wondered if it was a real deal and how life would have been different if had been the great opportunity my father yearned for. Hopefully we wouldn't have ended up drinking Kool-Aid.

PS I love that only my younger sister was smiling.

The Last Time

The last time I saw my mother,
she did not look like this.
The last time I saw my mother,
her hair was white and uncombed,
her eyes tired, voice uncertain
like someone who's not sure
where she's going
or with whom.
The last time I heard that voice
she said come live with me
and I said yes
but my father said no.

All Roads Lead to

In the 40s, my aunt and uncle owned a cafe in Hobbs, NM. (My aunt is 3rd from the right). Hobbs was known as "Little Las Vegas" back then. There was an army base out on the north side of town but these boys at the counter look more like locals. The back counter looks pretty well stocked for a hot dog place.

Thinking About the Future

In 2000, I visited Sherman, Texas, to interview Susie Mae Griffin Edwards, my maternal grandmother's first cousin. At 103, she was clear as a bell, healthy, lived alone, and needed only routine housekeeping and personal assistance from her next door neighbor.

After lunch, she provided a complete and clear oral history of her strand of the Griffin family. As I approach 65 and medicare and full retirement, I think of her often and hope that her genes managed to make it to my dna.

For All the Corgi Lovers Out There

I'm Obsessed

with black cats these days. My Sweetie sleeps under my bedspread all day and on the back of the sofa all night. Except for frequent forays to the food bowl. He's huge and temperamental and can shift from loving to biting in the blink of an eye. Like mother, like son?