Remember When-sday - Telephones

Do you remember:

• glass-enclosed phone booths with folding doors
• one phone company
• party lines
• before answering machines
• only having to dial 5 numbers for local calls
• switchboards
• phone books on chains at pay phones
• before 911
• before caller ID
• busy signals
• dialing long distance through an operator
• rings that actually sounded like bells
• princess trimline phones


• having to redial because you caught your finger in the dial
• dialing your own number and hanging up quickly and your phone would ring
• calling the operator for the correct time
• being able to move only as far as the cord would reach?

Cancer

Today, my sister in law had a double mastectomy. My fingers kind of froze after typing that. The words aren't coming easy to express all that I'm feeling: worry, anger, sadness.

I remember the morning, she called and told me about her diagnosis. I wanted to cry because I knew there were unpleasant things coming in her future... things you can't avoid or run from... not if you want to live. She had a great attitude through the chemo, and managed to stay upbeat as much as anyone can that has no energy and feels like throwing up. When her hair started to fall out, she cut it short and dyed it orange. When it got too thin, she shaved it off and bought a bunch of wigs. I joked with her at Thanksgiving as all the kids ran around the house wearing her wigs, that she was making cancer look like too much fun.


In reality, I knew it wasn't any fun. The diagnosis alone would make me want to curl up in a corner and pull dirty laundry over my head hoping no one would ever find me, but the treatment is no walk in the park. First there are all the tests and opinions, the chemo with all its side effects and the surgery. How do you prepare yourself to get that which makes us feel feminine removed? I know, they're just breasts, but I'm rather attached to mine. They make my clothes hang nicely and my husband's eyes twinkle; they alone nourished my child for her first four months. It would be hard to say good bye. My sister-in-law is going to have reconstruction, but I wonder if they will ever really feel like hers, or will it be like when you get a tooth crowned... It works the same, but you can tell it's not original equipment.


Mostly, I'm glad she's alive and the prognosis is good. But I wish she hadn't had to experience this. I wish no one did.

Let Them Eat Cake.

Sunday was Sweetie's birthday. I asked him what sort of cake he wanted, because around here, you get what you want... once a year. He asked for vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and he wanted it from scratch. Alrighty then... Betty and Duncan (Crocker and Hines, that is) were getting the day off, but I wasn't. I found exactly what I was looking for here at Fine Cooking with the added bonus of being 4 layers and having a raspberry jam/Grand Marnier filling.

He couldn't wait to dig in, although security tried to hold him back.

My evaluation... Making the cake was easy. The frosting had quite a few steps and nearly every measuring cup and spoon in the house had been dirtied. The cake could have been a little more moist, and the frosting seemed at bit too buttery, but the birthday boy was happy.

Am I Too Old for Pop? Me and Katy Perry.

Thanks to all the computer equipment Sweetie has to buy for his business, we had a $10 rewards certificate for Best Buy that was about to expire. I went in today and browsed the movies. I didn't find anything that I cared about owning, so I thought I'd check out music. I haven't bought any music in at least five years. I mostly listen to 80s rock and I could count on my fingers the new artists that I like, but I do like Katy Perry. She writes her own songs, which are similar to the tortured twenties poetry I used to write. She's quirky and crazy without being controversial, she's popular yet private, and breaks fashion barriers to call attention to herself. She reminds me of me at her age... minus the fame, talent and recording contract.

I picked up the Katy Perry CD and headed to check-out. I was looking forward to popping it in the CD player and rocking out to "I Kissed a Girl." The cashier, a friendly 20-something, told me what a good album it is. "Is it for your daughter?" "No." I grinned sheepishly. "Oh," unsuccessfully concealing her surprise, "it's for you!" Apparently, I don't meet the Katy Perry demographic. As a forty-something, did she expect I'd be picking up some easy-listening?

Natasha Richardson Dead After Tragic Accident

Most have you have probably heard that Natasha Richardson, 45, died on Wednesday. She fell while taking a ski lesson at Mont Tremblant, on a beginner trail. She got up laughing seemingly unhurt and refused medical treatment. An hour or so later, she developed a blinding headache. In less than 24 hours, she was declared brain dead, transported to New York so her family could say goodbye, and was removed from life support. This makes me feel sad... almost sick inside.

She got up Tuesday morning, just like we all did, thinking it would be an ordinary day. She had plans... probably had plans well into the future. She didn't think about her own mortality. She didn't expect that she would never again get out of bed to greet another morning. We don't go through our lives thinking about the accidents that might happen; we take our lives for granted unless we're diagnosed with some serious illness. It's sad when someone dies of an illness, but there is time... time to prepare, to say goodbyes and I-love-yous. A serious accident doesn't provide that opportunity. One minute, you're living life, and then life is gone, and the loved ones left behind are shocked and devastated.


She had two sons, ages 13 and 12. There's no good time to lose a parent, but they're too young to have it happen to them. There are so many events and rights of passage in their lives when they will miss her: first dates, prom nights, graduations, weddings and more. And there will be ordinary days when they'll feel the hole she's left behind, when they just need their mother's arms around them. Even big boys need hugs from time to time.
Natasha was a classy lady. She and Liam Neeson had been married for 14 years. She led a quiet life, that kept her name out of the tabloids. Her boys were unrecognizable to the public, which probably allowed them to lead fairly normal lives. She was a talented actress who chose meaty roles in Hollywood and Broadway. She leaves an excellent example for celebrities to follow.


Perhaps she leaves an example for us as well. Maybe we'll appreciate life and those we love a little bit more... even for a few minutes.

Remember When-sday - Cars

It's been a couple of weeks since I did a look back. This week it's cars. Do you remember:

• The Edsel, the Rambler, the Studebaker, the Thing
• Push button transmissions
• Bench seats
• Shift levers on the steering column
• Low riders
• Kit cars
• Dune buggy kits
• Baby on board signs on suction cups
• Styrofoam Balls on top of the antenna
• Before radios and when there was only radios
• Before seat belts
• Chrome details
• White wall tires
• The VW bus
• Before fuel injection?

Signs of Spring

The snow is dwindling and there are definite signs of spring outside.

Towns put up signs like this near dirt roads. Why, you may ask? To prevent things like this from getting worse.
How come when I'm out looking for them, I can't find a decent mud rut to photograph. When I'm not looking, they're lurking around corners, ready to swallow my car whole and spit it back out again if I'm lucky. Seriously, they can get pretty deep... I've seen them over a foot deep. There are over 73 miles of dirt road in our town, so we take mud season pretty seriously. The worst of it is usually over in two or three weeks. Then the town moves through with some big equipment and grades it smooth.

There are lots of buckets hanging from sugar maple trees and miles of tubing running through the woods. With the few warm days we've had, the sap is running like a water fountain.
There are huge maple sugaring operations, but there are lots of "backyard" sugars that only make a few gallons. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. That's a lot of water being boiled off.

Even the small operators have a sugar house. No one will boil in their house because it will steam the wallpapers off the walls.

The sheep venture out of the barn hoping to find a few fresh shoots growing up from the bare spots.

The donkey, their companion and protector, gently accepted an offering of Pipsqeak's apple core. Donkeys are often kept with sheep to protect them from coyotes.Many people can't understand why we would want to live here and put up with long, cold, snowy, icy winters. Winter has it's fun and challenges, but if we didn't have it, I wouldn't get to enjoy the overwhelming sense of well being I've had the past few days when I feel the warm sun and get to roll the car windows down a bit.