Another pair of words ~ yarmulke and kippah

yar·mul·ke /ˈyäməlkə,ˈyäməkə / noun = a skullcap worn in public by Orthodox Jewish males or during prayer by other Jewish men.  Jews of Eastern European descent (Ashkenazi Jews) refer to it as a yarmulke (a Yiddish word), but it's also called a kippah by others.

Why am I telling you this?  Because Iva and I were chatting in our Circle@Crown Café yesterday when we noticed an elderly man wearing a yarmulke with Trump's face on it, bigger than this example I found online.  I looked it up when I came home, because I couldn't remember how to spell "yarmulke."

What I'm thinking about

1.  On the Crown Center bus ~ Iva, Betty, and Meredith on the left; Bonnie, Esme beside Jerry, and Shannon (in the back) on the right.  This is an old photo, but I'll be on the bus again today when we go to buy groceries.

2.  Another bagful of books ~ Risé invited me to go with her this morning to the last day of the sale of used books at the Jewish Community Center.  That's when we can fill a bag with books for five bucks.  I've written about the books I've stuffed into bags other years, like THIS in 2017, but I haven't been to their sale since I quit driving.  I'll tell you about the books later, probably over several days, a few books at a time.  I set this to post itself while we're book shopping.

3.  Punxsutawney Phil ~ Did you see my earlier post?  Today is Groundhog Day, so go back one post to see what I wrote.

4.  Einstein's cluttered desk ~ The photo on the right was his office on the day he died.  These are the words on the left photo:  "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?" — Albert Einstein

5.  Survey about daily life ~ Do you need help...

... with using the telephone?

... with shopping?

... with food preparation?

... with housekeeping?

... with laundry?

... with transportation?

... with your medications?

... with your finances (budgeting, buying, banking, paying bills)?

6.  And then there's quality of life to consider, as Atul Gawande wrote about in his 2014 book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.  I gave that one a 10/10 rating and highly recommend it.  A survey could ask questions about whether you are satisfied with your life, how you feel, whether you are involved in activities or not, whether you feel hopeless or happy.  Think about it.  How alive and involved are you feeling these days?  In answering some of their quality of life questions, I didn't just circle Yes/No as requested.  You know me, right?  I had to throw in a few remarks, as well.

7.  Do you often get bored?  NO, I don't think I've ever been bored, except in some business meetings.  😃

8.  Do you prefer to stay at home, rather than going out and doing new things?  YES, but that's because I'm an INTJ (introvert).

9.  Do you think it is wonderful to be alive now?  YES, but reading news of random rampages is not "wonderful."  (Neither, is reading about wars and violence.)

10.  Do you feel full of energy?  NO, not physical energy.  Mentally I have lots of energy, but my physical energy is slowing down.

11.  An alarming day ~ I set off alarms at the courthouse in my town back in 2009.  Why?  I told people it is because I am held together with baling wire. I actually WAS wired together after quadruple bypass heart surgery earlier that year.  The guard let me pass through after I showed her my scars from surgery.

Walking the cat and losing my phone

I took this photo of Clawdia at the end of a recent walk in the hall.  She walks beside me, as we pace together to the other end of the hall and back in the late evening.  Notice that she is looking up, because she knows this is the door that opens to OUR home.  One of my friends said I must be "the cat whisperer," able to train a cat to walk beside me, not even using a leash.  No, it was all Clawdia's doing.  She walks ahead of anyone else who joins us in the hall, almost like she's showing them how we do this.

Now the phone thing.  I confess that I was in a near panic Wednesday evening because I could not find my mobile phone.  Yes, I'm getting forgetful in my old age, but most of the time I can figure out when and where I last had my phone.  I'd been stretched out on the bed, reading, and had decided to get up and find something to eat.  Afterwards, I realized my phone was not in my pocket, where it usually is.  So I looked around.

I couldn't find it on the bed, where I'd been.  I moved books and papers around, but it wasn't there.  (Yes, I have books and papers on my bed ... because I'm a reader and a book blogger.)  I went into the kitchen to see if I'd left it on the counter.  No, not there.

I checked the bathroom, the easy chair, the table beside the chair, the rollator (just in case I had put it in the bag under the seat when I walked to the grocery store earlier with Iva using the Rollator).  But I knew I had had the phone since then, didn't I?  Yes, I was sure I did.  But where could it be?

Just then, Clawdia stood up to jump off the bed.  Lo and behold, there was my phone!  Uh-huh, she'd been sitting on it, watching me search the whole apartment.  What cat would sit on a smart phone, people?  My smart cat, that's who.

For the record, she very "helpfully" sat on my yellow tablet back in 2020 while I was taking notes during a Zoom meeting.  Clawdia sitting on my stuff is totally inexplicable.

Word of the Day #1

roll·ay·tor / 'roll·ay·tor = A walking frame equipped with wheels, especially one designed for the elderly or disabled.  It is commonly referred to as a "rolling walker."  Mine, like the one shown above, has hand brakes and a seat with a pocket where I can tote a book or small items I've bought or whatever.  I pronounce rollator with the accent on the first syllable, as in 'roll·ate·or.  Apparently, pronunciation of this word varies from place to place.  I heard someone on YouTube pronounce it 'roll·uh·tor.  I wondered if it's a brand name and found that, although it was originally a brand name, rollator has become common for wheeled walkers in many countries and is also the most common type of walker in the United States.

Word of the Day #2

in·ex·pli·ca·ble /ˌinekˈsplikəb(ə)l / adjective = unable to be explained or accounted for.  Example:  For some inexplicable reason, Clawdia chooses to sit on things that take my attention away from her.  But how does she KNOW that?  She seems to be a very observant cat.

Two chairs in a cozy corner

One day, Iva and I sat in these two chairs in the shade outside the Crown Center and talked, but the heat has kept most of us inside for several days.  Imagine with me:  If we could sit in these chairs and chat for a bit, what would we talk about?  Do you have any questions, anything you want to ask me?  Did you bring along a book?  Or your Kindle?  Let's talk!

Saturday stuff that's on my mind

What's this written note REALLY about?  Can you figure it out?

My mother used to make a delicious pineapple upside down cake.  This one, using bananas, looks very simple to make.

Eleanor Roosevelt was ahead of her time.  This makes me appreciate her more than ever.

Here are four of my friends and neighbors, all appropriately masked.  This photo of Iva and Toni behind Phil and Tomoko was taken by someone on the Crown Center staff.

Thursday thoughts

Light has no shadow.  I've been thinking about odd things today, I guess.  But also, I've been enjoying friendships I've made here at the Crown Center where I live.  I went down to our Circle@Crown Café for breakfast and chatted with Kari, Judy, Melvin, Alyssa, Iva, and Brenda.  I've been reading devotional essays by Joan Uda and thinking about calling Joan to talk about some of what she wrote.  She lives in Montana now (again), near two of her children.  When I met her, she was living in the apartments next door to the Crown Center, which is maybe half a mile from the home of one of her daughters.

Helen of Helen's Book Blog once asked me how I met so many authors.  Well, Helen, it helps to live near one and have the secretary of the church I'd been attending call to ask if I'd give a neighbor a ride to church.  Joan didn't have her car here, having flown in to bring her husband for specialized medical care in St. Louis.  After he died, she moved back to Montana, but we remained friends.  I flew to Montana in 2019 with her daughter and son-in-law, who took me with them to surprise Joan on her 80th birthday.  I've also had fun meeting other book bloggers.  So Helen, if you ever "drop by" St. Louis in your travels, let me know and we can meet at the airport or my place or somewhere.

I'll leave you with a laugh:

Thursday thoughts

Cara, Bonnie, and Barbara

Today we welcomed Cara to the Crown Center staff.  She's our new controller.  I thought someone had misspelled the word "comptroller," but Donna looked it up and found this link about the two words.

At the right, Mary is at the end of the table with Cara, across from me.  In the photo below, Cara was at a nearby table greeting Miriam and other residents.  In the background, you can see Donna and Walter at the other end of my table.  Iva (on the left) was talking to Mary.  Lots of us were in the Café this morning to welcome Cara.

One more thing ... Donna brought her new tee-shirt to show friends.  I encouraged Randi to get in the photo (below), so she is feigning surprise at the shirt.  A sloth hangs upside down with these words:

Click the photos to enlarge them

"I finally found my spirit animal ... SLOTH ... does absolutely nothing and just sleeps."

For more about Donna and sloths, read my blog post from last Friday.  Now she has a sloth keychain, a sloth book, and a sloth shirt.