Posted on June 20, 2024
On May 17, I wrote about the upcoming debate between Biden and Trump, scheduled for June 27, one week from today. I said it wasn’t a true debate, and I’m sticking with that opinion. I also said I wouldn’t watch it. But I’m revisiting that opinion.
Here’s why.
If I watch in person, I’ll know firsthand what happened. If I don’t watch, I have to rely on people who did watch and will tell me their opinions through their own filters. Which would I rather do?
At this point one week out, I’m leaning toward viewing the debate at the start and seeing how it goes. I’m not sure I can stomach the whole thing, but I can always turn the television off and go to YouTube the next day before reading various columnists from various news channels.
Right now, I’m in. Will keep you posted.
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Posted on June 19, 2024
Tonight my friend M and I dined at my favorite restaurant on the planet: the LaSalle Grill in South Bend. It’s primarily a steak house, although the other entrees on the menu aren’t slouches, judging by what other diners choose. It’s just that I can’t get past the succulent steak.
M had never been to the LaSalle Grill, while I’ve been there once or twice a year for the past twenty years. Since we were both having a significant “Big O” birthday this summer, we decided this is how we would treat each other.
It’s a small place; most likely the kitchen is larger than the dining room. Which means it’s intimate, if you come early; it’s gets louder as the evening goes on. We arrived at 5:30, before the crowd, and it was wonderful.
I’ve come to believe the LaSalle Grill’s excellence is mostly about the service. When we were seated at our table, both M and I had birthday cards signed by the staff of the day. Our menus had our names on them too. Our server inquired if this was our real birthday or somewhere in-between. It was the latter, which meant we didn’t get complimentary desserts. But we were so full by then it didn’t matter.
Did I mention M and I shared a shrimp cocktail and a wedge salad? In some places, it’s become standard of late to charge for splitting an order. But not at LaSalle Grill. Additionally, our silverware was replaced after every course.
The entrees – filet mignon for me, ribeye for M – arrived on a bed of softly roasted potatoes and tuxedo onions with bright green string beans and bright yellow carrots as the color commentary. As we ate, the maître d’ came by and asked if there was anything else we needed.
Needless to say, the LaSalle Grill is not inexpensive. But if you consider the meal as the evening’s entertainment, it’s on par with seeing a Broadway show. It takes about as long and you leave the building with fond memories.
See more 10 Minutes in category Dining/Food, Special Events
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Posted on June 18, 2024
I really don’t like to iron; still I iron all outerwear for both Earl and me. If you return to February 2024, you’ll find blogs about this. Not the dislike of ironing, but the compulsion to do it. And the need for a new iron and a new board. It’s four months later; I have the new items. And because the previous ones were decades old, my new ones are more efficient.
Still . . . I wish I could just wear clothes that come out of the dryer, warm and soft. And perhaps I could if I were in charge of washing them. But this is one of Earl’s “jobs” in our household. And he isn’t inclined to jump up when the dryer stops to hand press clothing so it doesn’t need an iron.
So . . . my options seem limited. I could opt to take over the laundry, but who knows if I would be Johnny-on-the-spot and remove clothing when the buzzer goes off? Truthfully, probably not. I could ask Earl to jump up, but that probably won’t work either. Which leaves the options of continuing to iron or of wearing unpressed clothing.
I doubt anyone else will notice, which means I need to work on my psyche and assure it that pressed clothing is a compulsion on my part and not a requirement for the universe. It also means negating decades of obligation to the pressed seam and the smooth blouse in favor of using the ironing time to more satisfying endeavors. Wish me luck.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Things to Ponder
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Posted on June 17, 2024
At least a couple times a month I eat at the unlikeliest of restaurants. I’m not even sure it has a name, but it is located inside the local hospital’s outpatient services building.
The staff is cheerful, the tables are clean, the menu is varied, the price is just right. Granted they don’t bring the food to your table, but that’s a small price to pay for everything else. And did I mention it’s incredibly quiet for when you want to chat with your friend without commotion or music.
It started when a friend and I went to Panera for lunch. There was a sign that said we had to order at the kiosk because the establishment was short of cashier help. There was another sign that said the muffins were $5. And there were no diners in the restaurant.
So we decided to go elsewhere, that being the outpatient services café. And we got breakfast sandwiches and coffee for $5. When was the last time you got that?
Today I had a turkey sandwich on swirl rye bread, toasted, and a glass of water .And I paid $5.61, including the pickle. My friend had soup and a panini with pesto. For under ten dollars. What’s not to like?
She got a pickle too. Mine and hers were both wrapped in paper and not sitting on the sandwich making it soggy. Score more points here.
We’ve already planned to return next time we meet.
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Posted on June 16, 2024
Yesterday the Chicago Cubs won a home game with the score of 5 to 1 against the St. Louis Cardinals. As a rule, this wouldn’t warrant an individual blog, but the Cubs have had a terrible time since May, losing more than two games for every one they’ve won.
Many of the good players are on the injured list; those who are not are in a slump. And the manager, Craig Counsell is stone-faced except when he’s eating cookies in front of the camera.
He never calls for advice, but Earl and I have plenty for him. First and foremost is to smile. Next is to reconsider his opinion that right handed pitchers pitch better against left handed batters and vice versa. Earl says this is standard baseball practice, but I think Mr. Counsell takes it to the extreme. Additionally, he tends to take the pitcher out before I would. But then he’s played the game for years, and my knowledge of it stems from my son’s Little League experience decades ago.
The irony is that Milwaukee, where Mr. Counsell came from, is in first place in our division . . . without him at the helm. And the Cubs are in fourth. Earl also says a manager is only as good as the players he has to work with. I see that point of view but the things I’ve mentioned are under Counsell’s control.
So far the Chicago press, which can be vitriolic about the city’s sports teams, is biding its time before being super critical. Me? Not so much.
See more 10 Minutes in category Special Events
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Posted on June 15, 2024
When I told a friend what I wanted for my birthday, she laughed.
“Why didn’t you ask for a cruise or jewelry or some special restaurant?”
Because we’ve done all those things. At eighty years of age, I’m staying closer to home, reducing possessions, and enjoying my own cooking. Earl seems okay with it too.
I garden almost compulsively during the Michigan season from mid-May through October. There’s weeding and tilling and planting and mulching and weeding again. In all the years I’ve done this routine, I’ve never had a good shovel. A trowel, yes; but not a shovel.
Recently I borrowed a friend’s shovel and was taken with what a great garden tool it is. It did the work of my small trowel in one scoop instead of several. It was easy to use too.
So I asked for a shovel, one that would be inscribed to honor my birthday but also one that would be utilitarian, because I intend to use it.
Yesterday, we picked it up from an engraver. The only place the engraver could do his job was on the wooden handle. But that’s fine with me. The inscription reads, “ AB – Digging it for 80 years.”
I can’t wait to get it dirty.
See more 10 Minutes in category Flora/Fauna, Me/Family
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Posted on June 14, 2024
It’s been ten days since I blogged. In that time, my close family gathered to celebrate my birthday (I’m partial to birthdays.) and my cousins in Denver buried my beloved Alice, their mother. It’s the sweet and the bitter in equal measure.
My birthday was a wonderful long weekend where the six of us enjoyed eating in and eating out, getting spa appointments, taking walks and taking photos. Two family members took on making a birthday German chocolate cake from scratch; another installed some yard art that is amazing; and yet another bought me the gift I’d requested: a shovel. (More on the shovel tomorrow.)
During the same time Alice was buried next to her husband of 75 years. I don’t know this because my cousins contacted me and wondered if I was coming. Instead, I know it because I went online to read her obituary and learned the important details
I couldn’t have gone to the funeral, since my family was still here. But it would have been thoughtful, from my point of view, for my cousins to inquire. It just confirms my long-held opinion that my relationship with them is probably tenuous at best.
No matter. My relationship with the birthday attendees is not. And I revel in that.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Special Events
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Posted on June 4, 2024
I’m taking a break for a week or so to remember Alice and celebrate my own birthday, one of the ones that ends in zero. It doesn’t seem appropriate to write about things more frivolous – like the Chicago Cubs or what felons are able to do or the price of tomatoes – under the circumstances. I need to take a breath.
I promise it won’t be a four year break, which is what happened the last time I did this. I’ll be back soon.
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Posted on June 3, 2024
Alice died today. She was 99 years old and doing well when she fell the beginning of April and broke a hip. She was my mother’s younger sister, nineteen when I was born.
Now there is no one left who’s known me all my life and who was occasionally mistaken for my mother as we both had blonde hair and blue eyes. Her husband, Dick, died the beginning of April. Since they were inseparable for 75 years, it wasn’t a surprise that Alice wanted to be with him. Her four grown children and I understood.
At least . . . I think we understood.
The news, although anticipated, is still so fresh that the reality hasn’t sunk in. It will take a while. In the meantime, I’ll cherish the items in my own home she gave me: her secretary, the Hummel, the handmade quilt, various books, the tanzanite ring, and the apple cake recipe. Most of all I’ll cherish the letters I wrote her over 20 years (which she returned to me a while back), and our Friday telephone conversations that took their place as writing by hand became more difficult.
I’ve thought of Alice constantly since she took a turn for the worse several days back. And what keeps coming to the fore is that I never called her Aunt Alice, unless I was referring to her in conversation. As a child, I nicknamed her Owl-see; as an adult she was just Alice.
It wasn’t our biological connection that made our relationship special. It was Alice herself.
Posted on June 2, 2024
We have subscribed to three streaming channels, if that’s what they’re called, for a year or more. In that time, we’ve spent $40 a month and watched one program on one of the channels. This doesn’t seem like a wise financial decision to me.
So last week I set about to cancel our subscriptions to Netflix, Disney+, and Peacock. From now until the World Series we’re involved in baseball, so the odds of watching anything on those channels is practically nil.
Cancelling wasn’t easy.
I realize I’m not the most savvy computer tech on the planet, but I’m relatively analytical and can usually figure things out. However, the streaming channels don’t want to lose your money, so they make it difficult to cancel.
Long story short, after a personal appointment with Xfinity and several attempts online I managed to cancel our subscriptions. If you’re ever thinking of doing the same, allow yourself a couple hours on a rainy afternoon to complete the process.
I bet it won’t take as long to re-subscribe once baseball season is over.
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