Thursday Thoughts ~ it's Black History Month

1.  Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States.  It is a time to remember important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.

2.  Galentine's Day is celebrated on February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day.  Around noon on Monday, I plan to go to the Café.  No plans except chatting with gals who are my friends.  Invite your lady friends and come, if you want to join me there.

3.  Zoom in

The meaning of ZOOM is changing, so could I say that I'm zooming into a Zoom Meeting, since we're doing it online?  How fast is zoom?

4.  Zoom out

Colleen wrote:  "When in doubt, zoom out.  Ignore the cult of doom and gloom, and embrace the cause of zoom and boom.  We will laugh at the stupidity of evil and hate, and summon the brilliance of praise and create.  Life is crazily in love with us — wildly and innocently in love with us.  The universe always gives us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it." — quoting Rob Brezsny

5.  What's it mean?  When you zoom in on something, you take a closer look at it.  You might zoom in on one particularly beautiful sentence in a book you're reading, for example, reading it slowly a few times.

6.  Cat chasing a white dot (this isn't Clawdia)

When the sun shines in our windows in the morning, Clawdia comes and sits looking at me expectantly.  Sometimes I move my wrist so my watch reflects a little round dot of light.  Sometimes I use my iPhone, getting a squarish sort of light.  And sometimes, Clawdia just sits and watches the light show, when both lights start playing and chase each other.

7.  Our new apartment

When construction is completed and we move into our new apartment, our windows will be facing west.  I wonder how having no morning sunshine will affect Clawdia's thinking about the little white dots.

8.  Miss Sheri's Cafeteria

Someone told me Miss Sheri's went out of business.  Is that true?  I used to like to go there to eat, back when I still had a car.  (Update:  confirmed.)

9.  On the other hand

I'm not so sure a cafeteria would work now, since I use a cane.  I don't think I could balance a tray full of food and drink in one hand.

10.  My closest cousin died

I was on the Crown Center bus, going grocery shopping, when I got a text from Andy saying his mother had died on Tuesday evening, January 31st.  Carolyn was a year older than I was, minus a couple of days.  When she'd call to wish me a happy birthday, I'd always say that I had caught up with her.  We were the same age for two days each year.

11.  Remembering with a smile

I remember splashing together in the tub, when we'd visit overnight.  Two little girls, having fun.  And I still have the twin bed we slept in, side by side, when we were that small.

12.  Bulletin board

I've given up the volunteer job of changing the bulletin board on my floor every month, and my neighbor Galina has taken on the job.

13.  Word of the Day

snarf /snärf / verb (informal) = eat or drink quickly or greedily.  Example:  "I woke up hungry and snarfed down my breakfast!"

14.  Unforgettable Senior Moments and Remember

These two books really go together.  What I read at the beginning of the book on senior moments sounds exactly like what I read in Lisa Genova's book:  "The most familiar type of forgetting is absentmindedness, in which information is never properly encoded in one's memory, if it's encoded at all.  Say you've misplaced your keys.  When you laid them down, you weren't giving their location your full attention, you were distracted, or, as scientists say, your attention was 'divided'" (p. iv).  Click either title to read more that I've blogged about that book.

15.  Astounding numbers

This blog had more than 500 "pageviews" in 12 hours last Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m.  Those stats are on the sidebar beneath my photo.  Usually there are only about 200-300 in a whole day.  Somebody must have spent a lot of time reading my blog that day.

Feast of the Found Blue Bag ~ REJOICE

Feast of the Found Blue Bag ~ REJOICE

Luke 15: 8-9 ~ "Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'"

Have you ever hidden something from yourself?  I've done it before, but this one "takes the cake," as the saying goes.  Lauree brought me a gift bag full of goodies, as I wrote on my blog three weeks ago.  I put the cranberry chicken salad in the fridge right away and opened a bottle of mineral water.  I put away the graham crackers for me and the treats for Clawdia, who soon ate her cat food gift.

Then one day, I couldn't find the blue-and-white gift bag.  Thinking "it has to be here," I searched for days.  I hate it when I do things like that.  "It's GOT to be here," I'd think, "but it's NOT."  I couldn't have thrown it away, could I?

Last week, I woke up thinking about the lost bag of goodies, and I had a thought from somewhere (the back of my mind, maybe?).  I got out of bed and went straight to that spot.  Yep, I had hung the gift bag on a handle where I later hung the empty plastic bags from my Instacart order, completely hidden under many brown bags.  It was right there in front of me all the time, but buried.  Now that it is found, I invite you to rejoice with me at what I'll call a Feast of the Found Blue Bag.  All of you readers are my friends and neighbors, right?

Preparing the Feast

Here's the Crown Center crew packing meals for residents last week.  Left to right are Kari, Genevieve, and Judy.  Notice they are all wearing face masks as well as gloves.  Below are the individuals at work.

Judy in the kitchen putting it all together.

Kari in the kitchen cutting up the bread (sounds like lyrics for a song, doesn't it?)

Scott ready to deliver, with the list in his hand.  The delivery person varies, and that was the day Scott brought mine.

More Feasting

Just before noon, as I was taking my blood pressure for a medical study I agreed to do, I got a text message from my buddy Sharon at the other end of my hall:

"Purple people eater blueberry muffin.  I tested it this morning.  Fit for human consumption.  Outside your door."

Sorry, people, but you don't get this at our Feast.  I have devoured it, even the crumbs.  It was so fit for human consumption that every single crumb is now gone.  I didn't even think about taking a picture of it until I was down to the last bite.

While I was typing this, my neighbor Galina knocked on my door and backed away after handing me a small, unopened container of carrot-raisin salad.  I had given her the carrot sticks from one of our recent meal deliveries because it's hard to crunch big pieces of carrot with my dentures.  She thoughtfully gave me shredded carrots which I am able to eat.  Such thoughtfulness among neighbors here at the Crown Center is very common, maybe more than usual during our lockdown.  Like today, Donna got an Instacart delivery and shared her grapes with me, along with some of her fresh bread.

Lest you assume those meals being delivered from the Crown Center are just our normal fare, it isn't.  This is an independent living retirement center.  We have our own kitchens in our apartments.  This is something special they are doing to keep us happy and healthy.  Those who choose to be part of this program during the lockdown get five meals each week, whether we have ever been part of the food program in the dining room or not.  No charge.  We can make a donation later, if we like, but for now they are taking care of a meal for each weekday, if we want them.  Thanks, Crown Center.

Cousins together

My closest cousin is Carolyn, who now lives in California with her son's family.  We had a nice conversation this afternoon by phone, catching up on family news.  She's a year older than I am, but for two days every year we're the same age.  My 80th birthday was Sunday, and she's 81 today.  Happy Birthday, Carolyn!

There's a cat licking your birthday cake

Here's the birthday girl, wearing my face mask "uniform" as usual when leaving my apartment.  Notice the tissue in hand for punching elevator buttons, so as not to waste a disposable glove just to take the elevator down once and back up.  Donna had ordered me birthday dinner from Panera — Fuji Apple Salad with chicken and apple chips, and a blueberry muffin for dessert.  I met her where deliveries are left on that table next to me because outsiders may no longer roam the halls of the Crown Center.  We met the delivery guy there and each took food to our apartments to eat, all socially distanced to stay safe.

I'll show you what I ate, and it was delicious.  I shared a few nibbles of the chicken with Clawdia.  Maybe it's because they are trying to be extra good to any customers they can get right now, but it seemed to me there were more of all the goodies in the salad today — more sliced up tiny tomatoes, more feta crumbles, more pecans, even more of the chicken.  It was very delicious.  Clawdia concurs.


Donna sent me a singing birthday card, and I've found it on YouTube for you.  If the video here quits working, click on the link to view it there.  The words are appropriate, since Clawdia would act just like these cats.

Cats on an antique player piano

As if one musical card weren't enough, I got another lively one from Mary Grace (Gigi) entitled "Kit Cat Boogie."  She wrote:

"Happy Birthday!  Hope you'll boogie on your birthday, Bonnie!  Last picture I saw of you, you looked well and happy — hope that is still the case.  Enjoy your special day.  xxoogg"

Yes, I'm doing well and have been doing the boogie all over my little apartment today.  My cat didn't lick my cake when I ate a little Hostess cake for lunch.  For breakfast, I ate a small can of Vienna sausages and the last three green olives left in the jar.  There's a back-story for that.

When I was ten, I went off to summer camp with my cousin Carolyn, who's a year older than I am.  Mother sent me a care package that week, and in it were a can of vienna sausages and some green olives.  She knew I loved those special treats.  So for my breakfast today, I gave myself a treat from my childhood and thought about what my Mom sent me seventy years ago. 

Marie brought me a gift last night and, wearing our masks, she handed off the bag she'd used to bring it up to me and backed off across the hall.  I had a hard time deciding whether to open it last night — who would know, right? — or wait for my actual birthday.  I did manage to wait to discover a wooden box full of Tea Drops.  On the side are directions:  "Pour in boiling water, add Tea Drop, stir and enjoy."  Tea Drops, it says, "are pressed teas made with genuine tea leaves that dissolve in hot water."  And inside are five kinds of tea:

• Citrus Ginger
• Sweet Peppermint
• Blueberry Acai
• Rose Earl Grey
• Matcha Green Tea

I've had so many text messages and phone calls and long conversations that I had to recharge my phone at midday:  Barbara, Sandra, David, Sheila G., Susan, Sandy.  I got Facebook birthday wishes from Sylvia, three books shopped off her own shelf from Donna (stay-home orders, you know), and these birthday cards from Donna, Miriam, and Marie.

When Clawdia woke from her latest cat nap, we ventured out into the sunshine for the walk she's been wanting for days.  Miriam called happy birthday to me from a distance, while she was out sitting in the sun after days of rain.  We're both 80 now, since her birthday was in March.  As Clawdia sat in the lush grass looking around, I decided the pollen count seems to be down.  The mowers and trimmers were working here on this sunny Sunday, even though they usually come here on Mondays.  Maybe they've gotten their days as mixed up as the rest of us during this lockdown, or maybe they're worried about "rainy days and Mondays."

That's not all, yet.  Later in the day I got a couple of other singing electronic cards, both from Sharon.  One was these goats yodeling, and the other was William Shatner singing to me and putting my name in lights as I posted at the top of the page.  Okay, Sharon, how'd you do that, getting both of them to sing my name?  Thanks for the shout out!

And at the end of the day, more birthday wishes on Facebook from Gina, Toni (who included another birthday cat for today's collection), Annette, Judith, Charlotte, Bonnie M, Jimmy, and Terri.  Thanks to all.

Update 4/27/2020:  Birthday wishes keep pouring in, like floodgates have opened.  Facebook friends continue to send belated good wishes ~ Nancy, Jess, Alyssa, Cindy M, Jean L, Dora, Sharon L, Sylvia, Diana, Laurie, Mary Virginia, Cindy Z, Carol H, Ginger, Rosemary, Vickie, my brother Jim, Pamela, Ginny D, Candy, Sheryn (who added a dog to celebrate with us), and Rosie (who added a cat flying around in a small bi-plane to my cat collection).  And I forgot to include the twenty-plus who have clicked "Like" or "Love."  Feeling very blessed by all of you.

LOCKDOWN ~ humor

For more fun during our lockdown, here's a short video from a music teacher, who has composed a sweet little song.  In her viral video, Liz explains:

"As some of you guys might know, I'm a music teacher, and I've found that one of the best ways that I can process the whole transition to online learning and teaching is to write a song.  So, I wrote a song, and I'd like to share that with you guys now.  Here we go."

 What follows quite succinctly sums up the collective feelings of many, many teachers, parents, and students around the country.  And I'd say, it applies to the rest of us, too.  Shall we sing it with her?