Barb's Blog

     We had weather in the mid-50s over the weekend.  What a teaser that turned out to be.  It looks very frosty out there right now, and I have a feeling my yard work is over for the year.   I did manage to fill the yard-waste can one last time on Saturday.  Perfect timing, as last pickup is this week.  I even planted a few more daffodils, some of those really big ones (King Alfred??) so I can see them across the yard.

     My Christmas shopping is well under way.  This is a far cry from those years when I had it completed by the end of August.  When I worked full time, I was an efficiency machine.  Now, not so much. Ok, ok, not at all.  I decided a month ago what I wanted to give sister Bertie for her BIG birthday on Dec. 2, but have I bought it yet?   Sigh, no.  Now I hope I can find it in time.

     Cheryl's houseguests arrive today for the T-day weekend, so we will not be walking.  Consequently, I am still in my pjs, and it's almost 9:00 a.m.  I do have some errands to run, so will eventually get myself together.   I have a good book, though, and a nice fresh pot of coffee............you see where that's going.

     Have you read the books, "The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith?   I love the series of them and was thrilled that HBO made them into a tv series last year.  I don't have HBO, so have waited patiently for them to come out on video.   They have;  our library bought the set; and I watched the whole 451 minutes of it over the last three days.  It's charming.  If you're looking for a way to wile away some snowy afternoons, I recommend them.

 

     First...a huge thank you to Lois, my dear friend back home, who has been running all over the place helping me locate and obtain documents for Christina.  Since I can't be in two places at once,  Lois has jumped in.   And she is good at this, innovative and tireless.   Lois would have made a good detective!   (If you're looking for a second career, Lois,  that's the one.)

 

     I am now tracking down information about our home town in Italy; mostly how to get information out of them.  To whom do I write, etc.  The most informative sites are, of course, written in Italian, a language which I do not speak.  :(      Daddy would not allow it in our home, having faced the discrimination of coming from an Italian-speaking home when he went to school.  Therefore, the only words we heard in Italian were swear words that just popped out if Daddy, say, hit his thumb with a hammer.   These are probably not the words that will help me get birth certificates from Italy.

 

    Are you getting the idea that my life these days is one long genealogy search?   If so,  how right you are.  As part of that, I had written to my cousin Chickie's wife, Teresa.  She had done Ellis Island research some years ago and found the ship manifest for each time Grandpa came over.  That is how I know what town we are from.   Anyway,  I was hoping for a letter from her;  I got something better:  a phone call!   It was lovely to chat with her last night, although she did not have any birth certificates I need.   The last time I saw her and Chick was when mother died three years ago, so we had a lot of catching up to do.

 

     Yesterday, while others were doing my work for me  (how Tom Sawyer-ish of me, tsk, tsk)  I was in Chicago hitting the American Girl Store for Aurelia's holiday outfit.   Only I didnt find one.  They are still selling that same dress I bought for her last year.   And hers still fits her, so that's that.  I did buy some winter p.j.s for her and her doll, Edna.      Aurelia has long preferred nightgowns, or sleep dresses, as she calls them.  So imagine my surprise to see on Skpe the other day that she was wearing pajamas.    Di told me very quickly that Aurelia was wearing 'house pants'  just like momma and pappa do.   LOL  No pajamas in sight.   This didn't surprise me as much as it might have, because I was there when Aurelia showed up one morning in leggings under a skirt.   She had previously refused to wear leggings, slacks, tights, et al, so I was curious how Di had gotten her into them.   Here's how:   Di told A that they were NOT leggings, they were 'skirt pants."   LOL   I love it.    Just gotta speak the language, right?

 

     I digress.  Wasn't I chatting about the trip to Chicago?   It was a little chillier and rainier than we had anticipated, so instead of wandering around Michigan Avenue, we went to the Walnut Room at Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields).  Their Christmas tree was up already and we had a wonderful lunch in this elegant turn-of-the-century (last century) room.      We caught the 2:30 train home and what a surprise...it was a double decker!   A first for me, and apparently for the Southshore line, as it was a brand new car.   We, of course, sat upstairs.  Usually one can't see much from the windows, what with all the low trees and shrubbery, but from upstairs it was a whole new world.     To cap off our day, we stopped at Grand Mere for dinner on the way to our homes.

 

                                                                                                 

     Our girl is four today!   We chat often in Skype, which I love.   So much better to be able to see each other while we talk. Her present from her parents is tickets to the new Disney movie, "The Princess and the Frog."  It is being shown in that fancy-schmanzy new Disney theater in LA, and lots of princesses will be in attendance.  I'm sure all the little girls will be in costume.  How special can one movie get?   Aurelia will have a wonderful time.

 

     Speaking of birthdays, yesterday was my friend Jane's.  We went to the Boulevard in downtown St. Joe and had a wonderful meal.   The special was Ahi tuna with miso sauce on a bed of fried spinach.   FRIED SPINACH??    Sounds weird but is, in fact, delicious.   This is not a breaded vegetable, merely a nicely crisped version of spinach.   It was a delightful surprise.

 

     On the home front, I am still tracking documents for Christina.  Hopefully, some of them will start arriving in my mailbox this week.  This is frustrating work.  I am now working on Census reports and naturalization documentation.  Yikes.   I'm back in school---and a big paper is due!!

    We, my  friends and I, are at that age where we worry about osteoporosis.   So it was with great interest that I read an article in this morning's NY TImes on the subject.   I've lifted the interesting paragraph from it for you:

 

"In the meantime, the current state-of-the-science message about exercise and bone building may be that, silly as it sounds, the best exercise is to simply jump up and down, for as long as the downstairs neighbor will tolerate. “Jumping is great, if your bones are strong enough to begin with,” Dr. Barry says. “You probably don’t need to do a lot either.” (If you have any history of fractures or a family history of osteoporosis, check with a physician before jumping.) In studies in Japan, having mice jump up and land 40 times during a week increased their bone density significantly after 24 weeks, a gain they maintained by hopping up and down only about 20 or 30 times each week after that."

 

So, let's get hopping!

     I am still working on the process of helping Christina document her lineage back to my grandfather.  It is slow going, as I have to send away for everything, and let me tell you, some Town/City clerks are easier to work with than others.   And of course it costs money for each certificate.   And time to compose letters, get copies of my i.d., have my request letters notarized.   What we do for our children!

     Some fun:   Aurelia has Skyped me twice in last week;   I love the video  phone calls, and we do have some lovely conversations.   Yesterday, she played her CD of "Harry and The Lady Next Door" over the computer, or at least part of it.   We talked about how loud that lady sings, and then we sang....LOUD!!  What a hoot.  The hard part about those calls was that during both of them Aurelia said she wanted me to be there in her house with her.  Of course, I had to say I can't come right now.  And we reviewed again the list I had made for her of all the things that will happen in her life before I am again in LA.   She has crossed off 'Halloween,'....can't learn the joy of lists too soon!

     Today the sprinkler guys are FINALLY coming to winterize the system.  We had a heavy frost this morning, so this isn't a minute too soon.   I've raked some more, and some more, and some more.   The yard waste guys emptied the can yesterday, and it's full again already.   Most of the leaves are down from the trees now, so there is an end in sight for that chore.

     Jane is coming here for lunch today, as I need to stay home for the sprinkler guys.  Other than that, it's life as usual, and what a good life it is.  I am so grateful.