280 What is it about those doggos?

 

What is it about those Doggos?

Since My pup Tootsie is a Jack Russell, naturally I follow a Facebook page devoted to the JRT. It has 5.6K followers worldwide and is one of several Facebook groups devoted to the breed.

Some folks post frequently while others add something infrequently-- as I do. A week ago, I posted a photo of Tootsie with her poor little face swollen after having five teeth pulled.

She was sitting on my lap, which she did for about six days until she started feeling better and was off the pain pills.

As you can see, Tootsie received many many comments and likes-- more than I ever have.

So with six days of being a lap, I spend much time on Facebook, looking at everything but watching many dog videos. That sent me on a search about the pupularity of dog videos on the Internet.

This also brought up many articles about whether dog or cat videos are more popular. The consensus was the dogs have edged out cats but no one is really sure. My theory is the dog owners like dog videos and cat owners the cat ones. Since there are about 94.2 million or so cats as pets in the U.S. and 8.l7 million dog pets, I think cat videos win. But have you seen the cute ones where big dogs adopt and bring up kittens?

I looked for best doggo sites and went down the rabbit hole (whoops mixed metaphor)--went down the pupper hole! Anyway, the number of sites promoting dog pictures and dog videos seems endless. I guess my addiction isn't too bad because I had not heard of most of them.

And the language! Why are all the captions a mix of baby talk and variants of the words dogs and pups and so on? I am sort of used to it but it is weird. And are all those dog owners named Karen or is that some kind of an inside joke?

Well, this has been heckin pawsome but, Tootsie is fully recovered from her dental surgery so my obsession with dog videos is laid to rest! I hope!

                                                        Trish

279 A Book for Pandemic Questions

A Book for Your PANDEMIC Questions

OH! NO! You just rolled your eyes. Yet another blog about the pandemic. Yes, but I promise you it’s a little different. I have found the book for us all to read. 

It should be required reading as dictated by someone with more authority and clout than I have. Maybe Dr. Fauci? It’s one of those books that makes you say: “YOU GOTTA READ THIS!” If not word for word, read this for reasoning, for research, and for explanations of how it is all entwined.

Goodness. Amazon loves me. My indulgence just for me is buying books online. Two days, usually, and I have the ordered books at my door. I have read lots and lots of mysteries. Caught up with all the J.D. Robb and Stuart Woods books. Bought a couple of Wooster and Jeeves anthologies and now I am reading the romance series of the Bridgerton family because we don’t get this on DIRECTV. [No, we don’t have Netflix anymore. We had a billing issue with them and we already had Amazon Prime anyway.]

Along with these “light reading” books, I am attempting to catch up with Civil War Virginians (many of whose thoughts now appall me), Black History, the Vietnam War, and the Chicago 7 (one member went to high school with me). I am also absolutely entranced by Henry Louis Gates and his books as well as his TV show “Finding Your Roots.” He’s delightful and smart, and he grew up in Keyser, WV and has taught at Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Duke among others, and has won oodles of awards. (skim the Wikipedia article for further details.) Watch his show for amazing stories.

BUT THIS IS THE BOOK! My new focus for the “heavy reading” is the history of pandemics. Epidemics and Society: from the Black Death to the Present, by Frank M. Snowden, Yale University Press, 2020. Yes, it is thick and scholarly-looking but he writes well and it reads quickly. I stay up far too late for just one more chapter! It has a thirty-page bibliography (he’s done his research) and an extraordinarily detailed index. It is fascinating. I recommend it. 

Snowden says in his preface: “The goal is not to reach specialists in relevant fields, but rather to encourage discussion among general readers and students with an interest in the history of epidemic diseases and a concern about our preparedness as a society to meet new microbial challenges.” (Snowden, xiii) Starting with the bubonic plague--I think perhaps everyone’s worst case scenario--and ending with the Coronavirus, Snowden moves with fascinating details from the fourteenth century to 2021.

I believe that these two anecdotes sold me. During the Napoleonic period, Bonaparte sent a great military force to the Caribbean colony of Saint-Dominique in 1802. He wanted to “restore slavery” and impose French rule in the colony. However, Napoleon’s forces were destroyed, literally, by a virulent epidemic of yellow fever. The army’s devastation led to a historical chain of events. Haiti gained its foothold and independence.  

The French losses in men and political power ultimately led to the Louisiana Purchase. Well, this was surely a learning curve for me! Let’s stay with Napoleon just for a sentence or two more. By 1812, Bonaparte thought he had amassed the greatest military force ever to invade Russia. However, the troops were annihilated not by men and guns but by typhus and dysentery, and weather. Napoleon‘s army was essentially destroyed and the geopolitical balance of power was forever changed. After losing over 300,000 men, 70,000 in one day at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon could no longer expect to march from a victory in Russia across Europe. The emperor found himself exiled to Elba.

Now, I may gross out a few of you, but I found cholera fascinating. Cholera has had seven pandemics all by itself starting in 1817 in Asia, in the 1830s through 1875 in Europe and North America, in the 1880s to 1923 in Asia and Europe, and finally from 1961 to the present in various places in Asia, South America, and Africa. British colonialism as troops and trade moved, then a Haj to Mecca, and most importantly the transport revolution of railroads, steamships, and the Suez Canal caused the various outbreaks. Cholera thrived in the unplanned urbanizations and crowded slums with poor water supplies and no sewers. The epidemics that arose caused people to say “The Plague has returned.” 

There was such fear that Snowden lists the reactions: “mass flight, riots, social hysteria, scapegoating, and economic disruption.” (p. 235) Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But cholera has a fearsome description: pneumonia, meningitis, uremia, and gangrene of the extremities. Blood is so dense it no longer circulates, acid enemas were tried, sulfur bonfires, and the list goes on. Surprisingly, governmental policies helped: the distribution of blankets, food, and medicines along with isolation facilities for the ill and the banning of group gatherings. Again, sounding familiar. (pp. 233 – 238)

If I keep on with all the gory details, you will never finish this blog or read my blog again. It will not be long before Trish and Frances will tell me to “get a grip.” Often, we compare this siege of COVID with the flu of 1918. Check out this graph; it tells enough.

WashPostArchives and ohiohistory.org/Googleimages

Since most of us were alive for the polio and HIV/AIDS pandemics, I will now race to the present. According to Snowden: “Unpreparedness to face the challenges of epidemic diseases despite the warnings” and “treatment of health as a commodity in the market rather than a human right” are the causes of our downfalls. (p. 502) Thus, COVID.

For those seriously concerned about our health system and its geopolitical ramifications, I really (and rarely) exclaim over a book, but this one is so far-reaching and so readable, it’s worth buying. It has been chosen, by the way, for the Open Yale Courses Series. (Amazon has it on sale for $17.51!)

Winchester Star photo

And applause to all our medical heroes and frontline essential workers and to Valley Health, Lord Fairfax Health District, and Shenandoah University for bringing the COVID vaccine to our hometown.

Stay well! Glenne

278 Hunt for Vaccine

On the hunt for a vaccine!

In this most unusual of times, we found ourselves going after something we never imagined--a vaccine for Covid-19. There we were lining up not for concert tickets or hot commodities but for a shot in the arm.

As soon as the first distribution was announced, those who qualified started a texting and calling chain to let others know. It was like the hottest gossip in town. We sent the information to all our friends who met the criteria. They were excited and ready to embark on a vaccination hunt.

The first eligible group was 75 and over. Would you believe I turned 75 on the actual day of the first distribution in the community – Jan. 11. My husband lacked two months of reaching the coveted 75, but since he lives with me, he was eligible. How lucky he was.

I never thought I would spend my 75th birthday in line waiting for my first vaccine shot. It takes two to be completely vaccinated so this was the start of the expedition.

At first, we weren’t sure we would stay. We drove by the first time that morning and thought the line was too long. But then when we turned around and came back by, we decided to do it. What else did we have to do as the pandemic had curtailed all activities!

The only car parking we could find was about a half a mile away, but we were prepared with comfortable, warm clothes. It was a typical January-type day but luckily no precipitation or wind.

The line snaked around the parking lot of the fire hall and most everyone had on a mask. A friend who had arrived before us gave us the lay of the land. Numbers were being distributed at the door for entry into the hall where vaccinations were being given.

After standing in line for at least an hour, one of the health department officials started giving out numbers to those in line before reaching the door. That way once we got the number we could move around and stay warm. Our number was in the 500s and the 300s were being served. That day more than 900 were given, and the officials kept saying that they had plenty for everyone. That was such a relief!

As I said before, where else did we have to go since the pandemic had stalled almost all activities, so it was not an imposition. Time went by slowly but we were determined. Finally, we arrived at the door and entered the hall to be shot. 

The staff was amazing. We both got our vaccinations from the same nurse who was very kind and considerate. Then we waited for 15 minutes to make sure we had no side effects.

Those that got vaccinated that day made vows to each other to share information when we got word of the second shot. We would be eligible Feb. 8.

So happy birthday to me!! Never could I have imagined that the best gift I could get was a Covid-19 vaccination. Also, we had no side effects except sore arms where the shot was given.

More and more distributions were scheduled in the area. We kept waiting to hear about our second. Another friend found out the location had been changed, but the date was the same. Then another friend was called for an appointment and was told to tell others, so the vaccination hotline began again to make sure everyone knew. Waiting for the call was nerve-wracking so some of us called and got through, and others kept trying until successful. We stayed vigilant and appointments for the second shot were made at the new location at the health department in our area.

I can’t tell you the relief when we went through those doors and got the second shot. It was like old home week as we saw friends and acquaintances. Again, we had sore arms, but this time we were a little tired for a couple of hours but nothing major.

As the weeks have unfolded, many friends have had trouble getting appointments so we have all shared information as best we can. Conversations throughout the elderly population continue to be laced with vaccination comments, such as how to get an appointment, where to get a shot, are there side effects, etc.

My sisters in other states have had similar experiences and are close to getting the second shot. One of them recently exclaimed how nice it will be when all of us old vaccinated folks can get together!

We are cautioned to continue wearing masks, social distance, and avoid large gatherings. We could still get the virus, but it shouldn’t be as severe. So please get vaccinated when it is your turn to help stop the spread. It will help us all to live in a safer, vaccinated country and world. This pandemic can’t end soon enough!

                                  Vaccine-Savvy Frances

277 Super Bowl Ads vs. Puppy Bowl

 

Super Bowl Ads vs. Puppy Bowl

As I compose this blog, the Super Bowl is days away. I half-heartedly follow pro football but rooted for other teams in the playoffs so I don't care that much about this game.

However, I would like Bruce Arians, the Tampa Bay Bucs head coach, to win. Arians played

quarterback for Virginia Tech in 1974; his first coaching job was as a graduate assistant at Tech; and he seems to be a nice person when not coaching!

I would be happy to read after the game that he had won. But there are those commercials. I generally read a book during the games and look up to see replays of exciting moments. For this game, I will have to interrupt my book for commercials too.

There are many lists of the best game advertisements. I like the Budweiser frogs and the Clydesdales. The 1984 Apple commercial was just weird--to me. I liked Mean Joe Greene too.

This year a 30-second Super Bowl commercial will cost at least $5.5 million or so. The research says that these ads do result in increased sales. Some companies are skipping this year--Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Budweiser--to give funds to more needy causes. But Anheuser-Busch commercials (Bud's parent company) will air, and Pepsi is sponsoring the halftime show. Also sitting out sponsorship are Audi, Avocados from Mexico, and Hyundai.

The Puppy Bowl is an attractive alternative. I wonder how those $5.5-million sponsors feel when a game gets boring, and we lackluster fans switch to the Animal Planet.

This will be the 17th year of the Puppy Bowl. The concept started out as a joke at Animal Planet but grew into a real program. Now it draws about 10 million viewers over its 12-hour block--110 million for the Super Bowl. What is great is that all 90 participating pups are from rescues, and all get adopted! The Puppy Bowl is filmed over two days with seventeen cameras.

The plan is to watch the Puppy Bowl after the game since the pupper show is repeated several times--I don't want to miss those commercials. Unless the game goes south, then I will join the 10 million at Animal Planet!

Not-Super-Bowl-Savvy Trish

276 Highlights of a boomer's life

Highlights of a Boomer's Life

Well, Savvy Readers, 2020 was a heck of a year and 2021 does not seem to be shaping up without being fraught with its share of scary events. It is only January! 

I am feeling a bit claustrophobic after nearly a year of isolation and a whole lot fearful for our country. I wanted to see if, perhaps, I was making too much of the “now” and minimizing my memories of “then.”

 I have done a timeline of events that I remember having some sort of impact on my life or stuck in my memory in the past seventy years. I am the quintessential “boomer” – born in 1946 and graduated high school in 1964. (Wow! How did I get so old?) 

Don’t feel an obligation to read every item but I was indeed struck by how much has happened in my lifetime. It might be interesting to see how much you remember and what events you think I forgot! Some are just interesting, but much of it is sad and a bit scary. Seems like every new and exciting event has an equal number of sad or catastrophic ones. Maybe we just get used to what is happening without thinking too far in the future as we go about our daily routines. Maybe every generation feels this way? Maybe?

1946: ENIAC--the first computer; AT&T car phones; Dr. Spock’s Common Sense Baby and Child Care; I am born.

1948: Supreme Court rules religious education in schools is unconstitutional (most schools ignored for a long time).

1950: The first TV remote was called the “Lazy Bones.”

1953: The CIA uses LSD in human research trials. 

1954: Polio vaccine; Disneyland breaks ground in California. 

1956: Elvis appears on Ed Sullivan’s show; American Bandstand with Dick Clark begins.

1958: Khrushchev becomes Russian premier.

1959: I am 13 and have to watch the news every evening (yep, whole family): Big Year, though: NASA selects seven astronauts; first Barbie dolls; international flights on Pan Am; Khrushchev not allowed into Disneyland (no idea why I remembered this).

1960: Another big year: Civil Rights Sit-In at Woolworth’s in N.C.; Civil Rights Bill passed; first contraceptive pills on the market; JFK elected 35th President.

1961: Berlin Wall built; Alan Sheperd first American in space; Bay of Pigs near catastrophe.

1962: Marilyn Monroe found dead in bed; first Wal-Mart opens. 

1963: MLK delivers “I Have A Dream” in front of Lincoln memorial; JFK assassinated; census = U.S. 190 million (2020 listed at 331 million); Equal Pay Act (whatever happened to it?); March on Washington. 

1964: MLK receives Nobel Peace Prize; Beetles appear on Ed Sullivan show; World’s Fair in NY; Head Start education program for young children; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution allowed President Johnson actively into Vietnam; I graduate from high school.

1965: Voting Rights Act (still a bit of trouble with this one); Watts Riots in L.A.

1966: Huey Newton and Bobby Seale start the Black Panther Party.

1968: Vietnam – remember Mi Lai? MLK assassinated; I graduate from William & Mary; Chicago Seven at Democratic Convention (I went to school with Rennie Davis’s brother and sister.). 

1971: Kent State students protest Vietnam and National Guard opens fire; Nixon visits China. 

1972: Roe v. Wade (and it’s still an issue!); Watergate scandal; Munich Olympics--Palestinians attack Israeli athletes.

1974: Nixon resigns over Watergate; Ford becomes President and pardons Nixon.

1975: End of U.S. in Vietnam War--Saigon falls, becomes Ho Chi Minh City. 

1979: Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident.

1980: Ronald Reagan elected President. 

1981: Sandra Day O’Connor--first woman on Supreme Court; AIDS diagnosed.

1985: Gorbachev becomes Russian leader. 

1986: Space shuttle Challenger explodes--seen live on TV (we were on a ski trip taking a break in snack bar and saw it on TV); Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes in Ukraine.

1987: Stock market drops over 500 points – worst in history – Black Monday (which I still don’t understand). 

1988: Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda; George Bush elected President; Libyans blow up plane over Scotland. 

1989: (a volatile year!): Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons oil off Alaska; Tiananmen Square; Berliners continue tearing down wall; U.S. invades Panama to get rid of Noriega.

1991: Rodney King beaten; Soviet Union dissolved. 

1993: NAFTA--free trade agreement U.S./Canada/Mexico; NYC bombing of World Trade Center; Toni Morrison first Black to receive Nobel Prize for Literature. 

1994: Nelson Mandela sworn in as President of S. Africa; Oklahoma bombing.

1995: O.J. Simpson trial--not guilty. 

1996: Dolly the sheep is cloned. 

1998: President Clinton impeached. 

1999: Clinton acquitted; Panama Canal transferred to Panama. 

2000: No clear winner between Bush and Gore--Bush wins due to Supreme Court ruling. 

2001: 9/11 bombing of World Trade Center and later Pentagon. 

2003: U.S. and Britain wage war against Iraq; Columbia space shuttle explodes on re-entry. 

2004: Four hurricanes devastate south coast. 

2005: Hurricane Katrina wrecks Mississippi and Louisiana; Justice Rehnquist dies, O’Connor resigns, John Roberts becomes Chief Justice.

2007: Nancy Pelosi becomes first woman speaker of the House of Representatives; mass shootings at Virginia Tech. 

2008: Barack Obama elected first Black President. 

2010: Instagram founded. 

2011: Osama Bin Laden killed by Navy Seals. 

2012: Obama re-elected; Sandy Hook Elementary School killings; Hurricane Sandy ravages east coast.

2013: Black Lives Matter emerges as a political movement; Boston Marathon killings; Supreme Court strikes down “defense of marriage” act. 

2015: Same-sex marriage allowed in all 50 states. 

2016: Donald Trump elected President over Hillary Clinton. 

2017: White supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia; three more devastating hurricanes--Maria, Irma, and Harvey; film producer Harvey Weinstein accused of sexual harassment and #ME TOO MOVEMENT begins.

2018: Steven Hawking dies; Stan Lee dies; George H.W. Bush dies. 

2019: Government shutdown (seems partly due to Trump wanting money for Mexican border wall); first photo of a black hole; shootings continue: Virginia Beach, Dallas, South California, El Paso, Dayton, Ohio; Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein found dead in prison cell; impeachment against Trump for presidential abuses of power.

2020: Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and global shut-down; a Black man, George Floyd, killed during police arrest – protests and riots follow; Biden and Harris elected with Harris being first woman and first Black to hold v-p office; first COVID-19 vaccines given; two of my heroes die: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Alex Trebek. 

2021: Trump supporters storm and enter Capital with riots and looting; Trump second impeachment– “high crimes and misdemeanors”; Biden/Harris inauguration.

And What Is Next?

(The information was collected from various websites: digitalhistory.uh.edu, pbs.org/americanmasters, historynewsnetwork.org, Infoplease.com/history, Wikipedia.org/u.s.history and a variety of google searches which give one/two sentence descriptors)

Here’s to better times! 

                               Glenne

P.S. We got a Christmas card today that was mailed December 18. 

275 What a day – Jan. 6

What a day – Jan. 6

My shock and bewilderment began in the afternoon of Jan. 6 and continued throughout the evening. These feelings prevail and probably will for months, if not years, to come. It is so hard to process what happened.

We try very hard not to be political in our writing of these blogs. I am speaking, not of politics, but what was witnessed by all of us on this day of despair.

Watching the spectacle through the eyes of the TV cameras was alarming, sobering, and depressing. I could not believe what I was seeing. Washington DC was under siege by its own people. This couldn’t be true. They could not have entered the building, which has been closed to the public during the pandemic. But the cameras did not lie. There they were, streaming through the majestic halls of the nation’s center of government.

It was so hard to believe. Those of you, like me, who visit the city often remember how the guards at the door look you over so carefully, poke a wooden stick through your handbag, and motion you in once the process is complete. This is true of all the buildings during non-pandemic times, so what was different this time. The guards are very professional but stern and maintain an air of authority.

I find it hard to believe that something was not amiss that day. How could this breach happen with these dedicated individuals at the door!

Living about 60 miles from the nation’s capital, we frequent the city on many, many occasions. In fact this past Thanksgiving, we took a drive just to get out from our stay-at-home situation to the city. It was a nice day with little traffic, as we thought would be the case.

What we saw could have been a warning of what was to come. The fencing around the White House was alarming. We had always strolled in the area where the holiday trees were decorated, but this year it was closed off. 

When we walked on the other side of the beautiful building, again we were shut off. Ugly fences surrounded the majestic structure with signs of warning to stay out. 

Police patrolled all around the perimeter. We thought what is the reason for all of this? We have visited the city for more than 50 years and have never seen this type of restriction.

Little did we know, this type of barrier would be needed, but not at the White House. We were upset that day but had no idea of what was to come. Fences of this type would have helped stop the insurrection that took place at the Capitol. Why was it left so vulnerable! Hopefully, the answers will come soon.

When our country was attacked on 9/11, we grieved together and blamed the foreign powers. But this time, the destruction and assault were by our own citizens to stop the tabulating of the electoral college.

As I watched it all play out, I thought of other situations of lockdowns and attacks. I hope the congressional leaders who were present during this horrible event will think of the schools and how children, teachers, and staff feel when they go into lockdown and aren’t sure what is happening, as well as others who are involved in attacks at stores, malls, etc.

Hopefully, these leaders will do more now than offer thoughts and prayers when this occurs.

I guess I should have been better prepared for what I saw on that terrible afternoon. One warning was when I received hazard pay for the first time in my life. I have worked as an election official for several years since I retired. This year we meticulously followed all the CDC pandemic guidelines. I never felt unsafe and helped run a secure, flawless election in the state of Virginia. 

A month or so after receiving the regular pay, I was mailed an extra check labeled “hazard pay.” I was shocked! Now I know why this was done. I guess we were taking our lives in our hands, not only for the virus but for what others may have done. 

This terrible event will be remembered in the annals of history as a threat to our democracy. I never felt the democracy was in danger, and the congressional members who went ahead with the electoral vote were proof that the democracy prevailed. 

I have always felt such pride whenever I visited the Capitol, especially statuary hall. It is a majestic area that invokes the enormity of the history of our nation. And on that horrible day, here were people who were storming the area, taking selfies, and acting extremely irreverent. 

The democracy will prevail; I know deep in my heart. But I warn my children, their children, their friends, and all other citizens below the age of 50, beware of this type of event that can happen and be ready to defend our nation.

I continue to shed tears as I have done almost daily during the pandemic, but these tears were for our nation that must stand tall and proud. 

                                           Frances

274 Planning your own funeral redux

I woke up early hours Monday, Dec. 21 with chills and then fever. I spent the day with a dull headache wondering if I had it. First thing Tuesday, I went for a test and was confirmed positive. I am writing this on Thursday and am feeling like I am starting to get a cold but with little other symptoms. 

I have suspicions where I contracted it since a walking buddy went for a test after me and also showed positive. Now I remember she was complaining of feeling like she had a cold or allergies!

I have high hopes that I will continue with these minor complaints and nothing more. But I must confess my first thoughts were morbid and I revisited a blog I had posted in September 2018 to see where I stood on funeral planning. With your indulgence, I am reprinting it:

Planning Your Own Funeral

I have noticed recently that there are many obituaries in the newspaper with what looks like high-school photographs of people who were 70 or 80 years old when they died.

I am not sure anyone would recognize this photo as Trish Ridgeway if it were attached to an obituary. Of course, I am not in contact with many people that knew me in my younger days since I moved around as a Navy brat and changed locations every two years. I must say, however, that I have trouble picking my husband Harry out of a group picture from high school!

Of course, I googled obituary photographs and found plenty of advice about how to choose one. Plus one article noted that it is a recent trend to use much younger photos in obituaries.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer did a study of the use of obituary photos over time. “Obituaries and their photographs are one reflection of our society at a particular moment in time,” said Keith Anderson, co-author of the study and assistant professor of social work at Ohio State University. “In this case, we can get hints about our views on aging and appearance from the photographs chosen for obituaries. Our findings suggest that we were less accepting of aging in the 1990s than we were back in the 60s.”

I bet that few people have formal portraits made in old age. You see many blurry photos in obituaries that seem to be enlarged from a group candid shot.

In this Google search, I also found many websites that told you how to plan your own funeral. Many are purely mercenary, wanting to hook you up with lawyers or funeral homes, but I also discovered sites on the topic from the New York Times and Kiplinger's.

Everyone offers a checklist of what to do--writing down what type of burial or cremation, what type of service, eulogists, pallbearers, music, readings.

And, of course, the advice tells you to write your own obituary. I saw an ad for a four-week course on writing your own obituary. That seems a bit much to me! Do you want "just the facts, mam," a literary masterpiece, or something that reflects your humor and point of view?

Being an obsessive-compulsive type, I immediately started answering the questions in the checklists and writing my own obituary. When I discussed what I was doing with my husband Harry, we discovered that although we had generally discussed what we want, each of us had preferences the other did not know.

While I was thinking about all this, Senator John McCain's funeral was going on. Sen. McCain had time to think about and plan his funeral even though I imagined he and his family hoped it would be later than it was. If we die suddenly, imagine the stress of the grieving survivors trying to plan a funeral in usually less than a week after the death. We usually spend a year or more planning a wedding or other special event!

So it makes sense to plan ahead and make sure your wishes are available immediately to loved ones. That means don't put the plans in a lockbox!

A morbid subject to be sure but one to think about. Now I have to go back and add more humor to my obituary! 

Back to 2020, still being compulsive, I reviewed my planning list and my draft obit--it still needs more humor!

                                                     Trish

273 Holidays 2020?

Holidays 2020?

If I may first make you smile, I will give you a brief overview of our Thanksgiving this year. I bought a turkey breast and the “fixins” to do a two­-person traditional dinner. 

Dear husband decided he would rather stay in his recliner and watch tv. Suited me just fine to stay out of the kitchen! Went to Sheetz for a ham sub and a turkey sub. ‘Twas a great way to stay relaxed. No prep and no clean up work. Talked to various children on the phone later in the evening. Amen. The end.

Now, it is time to prepare for the COVID holiday. I like this mug but didn’t buy it because I am not paying $25 plus shipping and handling, but it is a clever representation of life in America right now. 

We have a tree this year. It’s about two-feet-plus tall with little white lights and I put a gold ribbon bow on the top to match the gold bow on our one wreath. This is just for us to enjoy. No one will be visiting. We long to see our NYC contingent but that is surely a no-go! 

Dear husband’s family reunion is always held on December 26th when relatives from far and wide have gathered. No, not this year. This is the first year in our 43-year marriage that the reunion has been canceled. It is a fun time, but the recluse in me goes late, leaves early but seeing everyone and hearing a few stories does make for a special time. Maybe next year.

Amazon loves me as does Children’s Salon and Sephora and Harry and David and Virginia Diner and the Milk Bar pastry shop, etc., etc., etc. The gifts purchased from said stores were either shipped directly to the recipients or will be left on various porches around town. I am staying safe rather than sorry – and we wear masks AND gloves!

So, you ask, “What on earth is she doing with the extra time?” Reading, reading, still working on cleaning out the storage room (four months – not finished), reading, duplicate bridge online, and reading. Oh, playing piano a bit, but fear the muscle memory in the fingers has r e a l l y slowed down. Yes, and reading.

I decided to go back to some classics that I read in college days and probably did not appreciate or truly understand. Proust! Proust is the one. He was born in a Parisian suburb in 1871 to a noted scientist father and a well-educated mother who loved the classics. 

As a child, Proust was a hypersensitive (read hypochondriac) small-sized asthmatic. He, however, did manage to obtain a philosophy degree. In his home, he lined his bedroom with cork to block the noise of Paris life and wrote all night and slept all day. (from Carter, W.C. Marcel Proust: A Life, Yale books, 2002) 

I started with Swan’s Way, the first volume in what is collectively known as In Search of Lost Time. His writing has these long, convoluted sentences which remind me of reading Faust in German in my college days. Go to the end of the sentence or the semi-colon and try to find a verb to give context to all those other phrases. Nevertheless, it is so worth the effort. If I am correct, Proust’s life premise is that ART can withstand the destructive forces of time and place. Boy, do we need that thought this year!

From the same Proust book, Carter explains that Proust saw a relationship between sensation and memory, and to enhance this reality one needs visual images. Proust’s visualizations apparently were often based on paintings he knew and his memories of them, just as the smell of tea and madeleine cookies recalled his childhood times with his grandmother. (Sound familiar, doesn’t it?) The rather highbrow term for this is “aesthetic analogies.”

Proust also had a dark, droll sense of humor. He notes that if one finds something tried does not work, try something else. He, however, admits to continuing to make the same mistakes over and over. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny. 

I must acknowledge Vanity Fair magazine whose last page always features a Proustian questionnaire of a noted person. It is the first thing I read each month. The questionnaire was not original to Proust, but was a Victorian parlor game so all the guests would participate in  conversation. Proust answered the questions which were found in the papers of French President Felix Faure. It was an album belonging to Faure’s daughter from 1924. It was sold in 2003 for $113,000 at auction. The questionnaire is used for interviews and college admissions and parlor games today. (Wikipedia/ProustQuestionnaire, accessed December 4, 2020) 

My holiday present to you is a copy of the questionnaire. Use it on Zoom, Skype, or the phone, ask a question at the mailbox when you see a neighbor (six feet apart, of course). It’s fun and can be illuminating! Merry, merry and happy, happy, and hoping for a better 2021.

Glenne

The Proust Questionnaire

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
2. What is your greatest fear?
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
5. Which living person do you most admire?
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
7. What is your current state of mind?
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
9. On what occasion do you lie?
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
11. Which living person do you most despise?
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
16. When and where were you happiest?
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
21. Where would you most like to live?
22. What is your most treasured possession?
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
24. What is your favorite occupation?
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
26. What do you most value in your friends?
27. Who are your favorite writers?
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
31. What are your favorite names?
32. What is it that you most dislike?
33. What is your greatest regret?
34. How would you like to die?
35. What is your motto?