Go Long!

Superbowl Sunday is this weekend. How do I know this?  Because hubby told me.  Otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue.  The Seahawks lost out on their chance sometime ago and with their departure, the little interest I had in the matter, also departed.

All of which is to say that my interest in sports is specific and limited.  I will listen to the games of to the two local teams, the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners.  But I couldn’t name more than one or two players and the chances of me telling you their current standings at any given time are slim to none.

So when I saw Jon Kitna’s name in the paper it looked familiar but I couldn’t have told you anything about him.  Football?  Baseball?  What team?  I don’t know.  Turns out he played for my very own ‘Hawks at one point, plus several other football teams.  But what pulled me in to reading the article was that the story was not on the sports page and it wasn’t about some outlandish demand or scandal.

No, this is a story worth reading and sharing.  Jon Kitna played in the NFL for 15  seasons with the Seahawks, Bengals, Lions, and Cowboys.  He  earned over $3 million last year.  Now at the age of 39 he has retired from the NFL and is returning  to his hometown, Tacoma.  Which is interesting.  But what is worth our time and attention is that he is returning to his alma mater,  Lincoln High School, to teach math part time and coach high school football.

“I’ve already lived one of the big dreams,” Kitna said. “But I think this one, now, is bigger.  Think of it…if I can help graduate 30 seniors every year who have a vision that is bigger than this 20 square blocks, if I can impart some of myself in these young men…that can be huge.  Really, that’s the fulfillment of things that are not quantifiable.” (The News Tribune, January 30, 2012, page B4)

That amazes me.  That impresses me.  That inspires me.  What a way to “go long”!

IOU

We had the best of tourist guides on our trip to Mexico–our South-going daughter and son-in-law.  South-going daughter had each day planned with location and sites to see. Each day’s schedule was full including many meals out.  Being the frugal one, I was a bit concerned about the expense of all this eating out. (Concerned money-wise.  Who cares about the calories?  This is vacation!)

South-going daughter said it’s cheaper to eat out, in Mexico, than to buy groceries.  Ha!  I scoffed (to myself).  Can’t be.  Whoever heard of food in restaurants being cheaper than buying it and making it yourself?  South-going daughter is becoming delusional, I thought.  But we’ll go along with it, ‘cuz heck,  this is vacation!

And by gosh, by golly, she was right! One night the eight of us on this trip ate at the 5 star Holiday Inn in Queretaro.  This is a restaurant where the waiters put the cloth napkin on your lap then they hover not-too-near to jump into action to tend to our slightest whim, even filling our glasses with more house juice from the pitcher sitting on our table.  We ordered 8 entrees, 3 appetizers, 3 desserts, and 3 pitchers of juice (non of us are drinkers.) With tax and tip, the cost per person of this meal out was equivalent to a whopping $15.

On the other hand, a bottle of Martinelli’s sparkling juice, from the local Costco was the equivalent of $2.50.   I bought groceries, that at home would’ve cost about $80 or $90 and spent about $150 in Mexico for them.  I didn’t believe it til I saw it.

So, South-going daughter, IOU!  This one is on me.  You were right!

Old Stuff

A few years back I was in my “collecting old stuff” phase.  My then-young daughters and I would frequent antique stores looking for Breyer horses, books,  and most anything that was cheap, which meant small stuff.  So I now have a collection of beautiful oil lamps, blue and clear canning jars with their metal and glass lids, tin buckets, old hand operated can openers,  a couple of very pretty old toasters,  and a wonderful assortment of other old things.

These things have accumulated and sat around looking pretty and often pretty dusty. Then I had an epiphany. Well, I didn’t actually have the epiphany.  In truth, a co worker let me in on his secret about his collection of old stuff.  He uses them!  What a concept.   He would bring his lunch to work in his old metal lunch bucket.  I thought that was pretty gutsy. But it was also a great idea.

I’ve since begun putting my old stuff to use, but not usually in a reincarnation of its original purpose. Instead, the old canning jars now hold grains and nuts and beans purchased in bulk.  My old metal lunch bucket is the holder of the spare house key. My wood ironing board is a book shelf and divider between the entry way and living room. A beautiful old quilt is a wall hanging.

But it’s hard to do much with a toaster, other than use it to toast, which in itself is quite a trick. We can toast two pieces of bread at a time, one side at a time. Which we  do.  We plug in the toaster, because there is no on/off button,  put a piece of bread in each side of the machine, then wait for it to begin toasting.  About that time we grow bored and wander off to another task, usually in another part of the house, and only remember our toast when smoke is filling the kitchen.

Maybe we need to try harder to think of another use for our toaster.

Starting at the End

I have a book reading habit, when reading fiction or non-fiction books about people,  that drives my daughters crazy.

I start reading and, after I’m a few pages in and have an idea of who the characters are, I flip to the end of the book and read the last page or so.  My daughters become quite animated when I do this.  “No,” they say,  “you can’t do that!  It ruins the story.”  I must admit that their opposition has amused me.  I’m not telling them the end of the story so I’ve never quite understood why they are so upset.  Except that they think I’m ruining things.

I have tried to explain that it doesn’t ruin anything.  The last page doesn’t really tell a lot but what it does tell me helps keep me engaged as I read along and try to figure out how where I am in the story will get to the  last page.  It’s like watching Columbo.  Did you ever watch the TV show Columbo?  Each episode began by showing the criminal committing the crime.  Then the next hour was spent following Columbo as he figured out what you already knew.  That’s what my reading habit does for me. But my daughters think I’m nuts.

Today, in my 10th grade advisory class, the students took a Learning Style Survey.  As various comments were read the students circled the ones that described them, and didn’t circle the comments that didn’t describe them.  Comments such as, “I remember things better if I write them down” and “I prefer hearing a teacher to reading a textbook” and “It’s easier for me to work in a quiet place”.  And then we came to, “When I start a book, I like to look at the ending”!!  Imagine that!  There are other people who do this, too!  And this trait does not fall in the “You are Nuts” category.  It’s part of the Kinesthetic Learning Style.

Well, I’ll be.

Hummmmm

I went for my morning walk the other day, when our power was out.  School was cancelled, of course, because of the lack of power, so I’d slept in and was walking after daylight.  Nobody else was about. No one in their yard, no children building snowmen and having snowball fights, nobody driving to work or to the store.  My steps crunching on the ice was about the only sound as I started out.

As I neared our neighbors though, I began to hear a humming sound.   The same sound at the next neighbor and again at a neighbor further on.  With no power, these neighbors had started up their generators, trying to stay warm, get some light, keep their food in the freezer from thawing, pump water to flush their toilets.  No people sounds, just machines humming.

It was the same wordless song I heard a few years back when I was visiting Las Vegas.  It was 7:00 in the morning when I headed out for my walk but already it was in the low 80’s.  A few cars passed but nobody else was out walking, no one was outside working in their yards, no kids out playing.  The only sound was the hum of air conditioners keeping the occupants cool.

I’m very glad for electricity and the warmth (and coolness) and light and water and flushing toilets it provides us.  And I was happy to know that our neighbors were safe and warm and would be okay through this power outage that lasted for 3 days.

So I slid on home to my no-hum house and sat down by my wood stove and warmed my cold toes.  And hummed my own tune.

Queretaro, Mexico

Our time in Mexico began and ended in Queretaro.

Queretaro?  I’d never heard of it either, until a few months ago. And until South-Going Daughter traveled to Queretaro to live for a few months, neither Queretaro nor any other city in Mexico had been on my bucket list of places to visit. Funny how your bucket can suddenly get filled with things you never put in it.  As soon as I had family living in Mexico I determined that Feliz Navidad it would be for 2011.

So we went and conquered and we got back home and the other day I googled Queretaro, mostly to make sure I was spelling it correctly,  and much to my surprise I found an entire blog dedicated to another traveler’s December visit to  Queretaro.  I feel like we must be friends.  Like when you travel to another country and you meet someone who asks you where you are from and you say Seattle and they say, “Seattle!  I have a cousin who lives in Chicago. Do you know her?” Uh, no, I don’t, but I’m sure we’d become fast friends if we met.

Queretaro blogger’s visit was a year ago. But I’m sure that if we’d been there at the same time we’d have become fast friends. So now I almost have a new friend and Queretaro can be crossed off my bucket list.

Think Snow!

My motto at work  is Think Sun! because we just don’t get enough sun around here and I’m of the opinion that more Thinking might help. But when the weatherman seriously predicts snow I will slide around and encourage him with some thinking, as in Think Snow!

Last week snow was predicted for Saturday, Sunday, and maybe even Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Sounded good. Perfect timing for a snowstorm.  We could even have a 2 hour delay on Tuesday, call it good, and move right into Spring.

And folks,  you’ve done a great job Thinking. We got the snow Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  And Tuesday. And Wednesday.   Here in the hinterlands we got 7 to 8 inches of snow.  Some folks not too far away got up to 20 inches. And school has been cancelled for 2 days.

So I’m house bound, my February and May 4-day weekends have now shrunk to 3-day weekends (so we can make up these snow days), and I came down with spring fever.  I was up at 6:30 this morning (which was gloriously sleeping in for 2 hours!) and cleaning.  I got all of the  pantry cupboards cleaned and reorganized, straightened up the shelf with the bowls and casserole dishes,  and polished the silver that hasn’t seen the light of day in years. I even did some “removing” and have two boxes of nice items to go to Goodwill.

I’m now good with my cleaning.  And I’m now good with the snow.  It’s now time to Think Sun!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

My Trip is Complete

Let’s see.  I’m going to Mexico.  What is on my list of “To-do’s” while there?  Eat an authentic enchilada and cordita.  Climb the pyramids.  Walk the ancient streets and bargain with the vendors.  See a farmer with his burrito.  Drink Mexican hot chocolate and find out if the Mexican McDonald’s has sweet tea. Hear a mariachi band, all of whom are wearing sombreros, sing La Cucaracha.

South-Going daughter, whom we were going to visit would listen to my list then, more and more impatiently (as she  heard the same list more and more) say, “Sombrero just means hat,” and she’d sigh heavily at the La Cucaracha request.

 

So we get to Mexico and I’m eating authentic enchiladas and walking ancient streets.  I’ve seen my farmer with his burrito and watched the street vendor make authentic corditas. We’ve been to the pyramids and found out Mexican McDonald’s is not into sweet tea. And if sombrero just means hat, well, I’ve seen plenty of sombreros. Then, while eating at a very nice former hacienda now transformed into a very nice restaurant,  the mariachi band, perfectly outfitted in their mariachi band attire (but missing the traditional sombrero), sing, guess what?  La Cucaracha!  So there, South-Going daughter!

Then, to top off the list of things to experience while in Mexico, we came upon a road block on the freeway, were told to pull off and get out of the van.  We understood that much and that was all we understood of the rather long request/explanation by the polite-but-all-business-fellow-in-uniform, speaking fluent Spanish which we do not speak, with his troops near by.  The van was searched as was my husband’s backpack.  Then we were motioned to get back in and leave.  We didn’t argue or ask for more information and we tried not to freak out at the sight of their rifles.

South-Going daughter said, as we drove away and all began to breath again, “My Mexican experience is now complete.”  And to think, being searched by the Mexican police wasn’t even on my list.

Sun, glorious sun!

We had sun, glorious sun, for the past couple days!  Freezing cold, but glorious sun.

I often say I’ll gladly trade warmer (as in 40 degree is “warmer” than 30 degrees) and cloudy, for colder and sunny.  And that’s what we had for two days. Barely got above freezing but the sun was out!

Here in the beautiful gray Pacific Northwest we average  just 58 days of sun a year.  (Putting that in print makes we realize how really pathetic we are.)  I try to console myself by saying that we Pacific Northwesters really appreciate the sun because it is such a rarity.  We revel in seeing it, talk with everyone about how wonderful it is, and get out it in as soon as we can. Whereas people who have lots of sun, (as in more than 58 days a year), just take it for granted, which is such a waste of sun.

But having spent all of  9 sunny, December days in Mexico I realize how much rationalizing I’ve done. I really, really don’t want to wait through another 3 months of grayness until I can again revel in a couple  days of sun. I want more sun. I need more sun.  I think I really could promise to appreciate  sun year ’round.  I’d love it every day and brag about it to my friends back in the gray Pacific Northwest. Alas! It is not to be.  I’m in the gray, listening to friends and family in sunny climes brag about (but not really appreciate) their sun.

Well, it was great while it lasted.