Posted on November 3, 2005
An unforeseen benefit to ripping out our bathrooms is that I’ve taken to exercising regularly, regularly being defined as five to six times a week, at the health club. I figured that, as long as I had to go there anyway, I might as well make use of the facility to do more than my usual walking.
So now a weekly routine includes four or five days of walking on a treadmill, one aerobic dance class, three sessions of weight training, and two days of swimming. I’m thinking of taking a cardio kickboxing class next.
I’ve never particularly been into exercise, and I prided myself for many years that I got through sixteen years of schooling without ever attending a gym class. (Truth is, that was before gym was a mandatory class for both boys and girls.) I never played team sports myself, and only made a fleeting acquaintance with baseball and soccer when my son chose to play them. When he quit the teams, I gave up my interest.
So here I am, at an age that’s closer to contemplating whether to take social security early rather than wondering if firm abs will get me a date; and I’m becoming an exercise nut. I even look forward to working out. I can’t say what the final results will be; but I’m moving more smoothly, my clothes fit a little better, and maybe I’ve lost a pound or two.
Evidently, our bathrooms aren’t the only thing being remodeled.
See more 10 Minutes in category Things to Ponder
|
Posted on November 2, 2005
I’m still sitting in dust listening to drills drone and hammers pound, still waiting for our bathroom project to finish. This is Week Five, and Earl and I have had to make an adjustment in our time schedule. In fact, we probably have another couple weeks to go before it’s all done.
While we wait, we’re working on our next project: the pantry. That is, we’re working on it mentally and nutritionally. After the holidays, we plan to remove all the shelves, paint the pantry, and rearrange the shelving for better use. What we’re doing now is emptying the shelves by eating what’s stored on them. We figure the more we eat, the less we have to move.
And, since we’ve been buying food at Martin’s Wall of Value for a couple years, there’s a lot to work with. We try to use at least one, and sometimes two, items from the pantry every night. For instance, last night I made corn muffins from one of those half-sized boxes Jiffy® makes. You probably know the kind; you probably have several boxes on your shelves too.
Other nights I’ve used up the pasta side dishes, the instant rice, the soup mixes, the beans, and some of the umpteen cans of tomato sauce we’ve hoarded. I now put olives in our salad; in fact I recently put black olives in a pot roast dish.
In the beginning, I used to look at the date on each item to see whether it was out of code or not. But when I found most of the food was past its announced prime, I gave up. We’re still here and neither of us has gotten sick from the canned mushrooms Earl brought back from one trip to his parents’ home in Tennessee.
We’ve also called a moratorium on buying more food, just because it’s on sale, and we figure we’ll have eaten ourselves through almost everything by year’s end. Hopefully, we’ll be showering in our new bathrooms by then too!
See more 10 Minutes in category Dining/Food, Me/Family
|
Posted on October 31, 2005
Tonight is Halloween, that night when ghosts and goblins reign. Or at least, youngsters dressed as ghosts and goblins. Most years of late, I’ve tried to be away from home on this night, preferring to leave my porch light off and salving my conscience with the thought that, for years, I held court on Halloween when my own children were costume and candy age.
But for some reason, probably the regular admonitions of my next door neighbor, I’ve decided to stay home and pass out treats. I’ve purchased little candy bars and crammed them into a festive container. I plan to invite the tricksters to take as many as their little hands accommodate.
Given that we live on a road of elderly people, this won’t break my bank. I’m expecting less than ten revelers. And the doorbell won’t make my dog go nuts, primarily because I don’t own a dog. It won’t interrupt dinner either, since Earl and I will work around it.In fact, I’m not sure what it will accomplish, other than I can say I experienced the current Halloween traditions up close and personal.
See more 10 Minutes in category Special Events
|
Posted on October 30, 2005
Carving the annual Halloween pumpkin ranks high among my fondest childhood memories. Perhaps it is because there was no other holiday baggage attached. Mostly I remember when we lived in Syracuse, NY. That was between my fourth and sixth grades in school, and I was pumpkin-ready.
My Mother and I would always pick the most worthy (read ‘symmetrical’ here) orange pumpkin and bring it home from the supermarket somewhere in the middle of October. We’d wait until an evening when I didn’t have much homework to begin the carving process.
We’d cut a top off the pumpkin and set it aside. Then we’d scoop out the seeds and strings and make the inside smooth. Some people roasted the seeds, but my Mother never did. She simply tossed them in the garbage; and it was only later that I learned of their snack value.
After the inside of the pumpkin was clean and smooth, we began creating the face. It wasn’t fancy, like today. There were no clever tools to make eyebrows or curls or rounded mouths. Instead, we cut triangles for eyes, an upside down triangle for a nose, and a perpetually jagged mouth. But, once the candle was inserted inside, the nuances of eyebrows and dimples didn’t matter. Our pumpkin smiled.
After I had children of my own, I continued the carving ritual. But, today, in the supermarket I see handpainted pumpkins. I can see their value, in that they probably last longer than the ones we cut into. At the same time, part of the fun of having a pumpkin is creating its own facial expression and not having someone else paint it for you.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Nostalgia
|
Posted on October 29, 2005
Baseball’s October frenzy, also known as the World Series, is over. Chicago’s White Sox won. And more than one media interview said it was a team effort. I believe it.
In fact, it was such a team effort that Earl and I watched all the post-season games together. Now this may not sound like an earth shattering team effort, but it is. Because Earl and I, a team of two, NEVER watch television together. Our personal tastes get in the way.
He’s prone to cops and robbers or, barring that, talking heads. I’m not sure which is the worse offender. Me? I’m prone to PBS and CMT. For the unfamiliar, that’s the Public Broadcasting Station and Country Music Television. It’s about performing rather than opining.
Most weeks out of the year, both of us shake our heads at the other’s choices; but for the better of three weeks this October we sat mesmerized together in the family room cheering for Konerko and Dye and Jenks. Most of all, cheering for Ozzie.
We laughed together when Ozzie made his signals for the big, fat guy. Or the little guy. We poured over the Chicago Tribune headlines with their double entendre meanings. And we almost cried when the Sox did it in Houston, a clean sweep.
In a way, I’m sad that baseball is over; because for three weeks of brisk autumn nights Earl and I sat together and reveled in a common commitment to see the White Sox through to the bitter end. The fact that the end was sweet instead will not deter us from returning to our respective evening interests.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Special Events
|
Posted on October 28, 2005
Yesterday the media announced that Harriet Miers had written a letter to President Bush requesting that he withdraw her name from nomination as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Reluctantly, he did so.
Now President Bush is not someone who ever revisits a decision; rather he forges ahead holding to his point of view at all costs. Some might call this focus or determination or commitment, and sometimes it is. However, at other times it’s blinder-vision or obstinance or a refusal to admit that one can be wrong on occasion.
Given the media spin, I’m not sure what exactly happened. Did Harriet really write a letter of withdrawal? Did the President ask her to do so, so that he wouldn’t have to pull her nomination himself. Did the conservative Republicans pressure either of them into it? What I am sure of is that I admire Harriet for accepting the realities of the situation. Regardless of how or why it came to be, she is stepping aside.
I studied Miers’ credentials; and, outside of being female, they seemed to be lacking in what it takes to sit for a lifetime appointment on the High Court. In fact, her nomination smacked of patronage. And I don’t believe the High Court should be subject to patronage appointments.
At the same time, it’s ironic that I will probably like the next Bush appointment to the Supreme Court even less than I liked Harriet Miers. This is because the next person will mostly likely be more overtly conservative, more overtly right wing, more overtly moral in tone. I only hope that person is not one of Bush’s intimate circle but rather someone who is knowledgeable in constitutional law and can separate that law from his or her own personal opinion.
I thank Harriet for giving the President that opportunity, even if I won’t like the outcome.
Posted on October 27, 2005
They did it! The White Sox won the World Series in four straight games to become Chicago’s newest heroes. In fact, I heard one enthusiastic supporter say this achievement rivaled the entire six championships the Bulls won with Michael Jordan. That could be a stretch. In fact, I think it’s unnecessary to compare one sport with another, but it is a sign of how excited many in the Windy City are.
I’ve also heard there are disgruntled citizens, mostly residents of the north side who would have preferred that the Cubs were playing in October, rather than their south side rivals. This seems petty to me.
We are among only a handful of cities that has more than one baseball team. And there are enough of us to fill both stadiums, without impacting attendance at one or the other. White Sox fans claim their team doesn’t get its due, especially since it was in first place all season, while Cub fans show up even when their team isn’t a contender. Cub fans root for the culture, if not the score.
But if the team you normally root for has finished playing for the year and the one you normally ignore goes all the way – well, it just seems like good sportsmanship to root for your city’s current stars. It doesn’t mean you won’t cheer your personal favorite next year, but for now instead of being North Siders and South Siders, couldn’t we just be the City of Champions?
See more 10 Minutes in category Special Events
|
Posted on October 25, 2005
They’re ahead, there’s no doubt. The Chicago White Sox have lost only one of the last thirteen games. They’ve made the World Series. And they play in Houston, Texas, tonight with two games up on the Houston Astros.
I can see that the White Sox are not willing to come this far and be called the team that didn’t do it, the team that didn’t stop the march of time. The team that hasn’t won a World Series in eighty-eight years.
But it’s still tricky territory.
In Houston, Chicago’s pitchers have to play an additional role. They have to bat because the National League doesn’t have a designated batter rule. Which means there is no substitute batter for the pitcher. Instead, they have to hit and try to score, so I hope Ozzie is paying attention. Houston isn’t interested in taking hostages. This is one reason why it’s tricky territory.
Another is the fan base. Houston’s fans will scream and cheer and roar, just like Chicago fans did. They will be a secret member of the team. Loud and long.
It’s true that Chicago has an amazing pitching staff. And it’s also true that even if Houston wins three in a row the series is headed back to Chicago for the final outcome. What is also true is that Chicago luck doesn’t always hold up, that the rough and tumble days often end in misery.
Let’s hope that Houston falters on its own and that the White Sox overcome tricky territory to emerge as the World Series Champions. Or, as I suggested in a previous essay, the North American Champions. It’s the same honor, regardless of the name.
See more 10 Minutes in category Special Events, Things to Ponder
|
Posted on October 24, 2005
It’s fall here in southwestern Michigan and it’s magical. Temperatures have dropped, colors on the trees have risen. Orange, red, umber, yellow, magenta – it’s not quite a rainbow but close.
The leaf peepers are out and about too. These are people from other states who come on weekends to view the spectacular show of color. Hotels and restaurants hike their rates for these visitors, as well as for the football enthusiasts who flock to Notre Dame games.
People around here are into haunted houses. Niles, a community two towns over, spends all year creating its Scream Park. Even though only twelve thousand people live in Niles, approximately seventy thousand visitors take a trip each year through “the scariest, creepiest, most-blood curdling attractions this side of the Continental Divide.” There are three haunted houses, a haunted hayride, and the field of screams.
If the Scream Park isn’t enough, many area residents decorate the outside of their homes for Halloween, just like they do for Christmas. A neighbor of mine has a gallows hanging in his yard (Creepy!), while a homeowner a couple miles away has a front yard full of pumpkins, gourds, hay bales arranged to look like giant worms, ghosts, and witches.
Corn mazes are also popular this time of year. For the uninitiated, a corn maze is a real life replica of those paper mazes you did in school. The kind where your pencil roamed down various trails in a labyrinth, looking for the right way to get from start to finish. Around here farmers create six-foot high mazes in their cornfields once the produce is picked. Guests go their way with a flare because if they are terminally lost they can send it up and a ranger rescues them. It’s just that there’s a humiliation factor in not being able to find your way through the maze.
I’ve experienced many autumns in many different places, but there is something special about southwestern Michigan this time of year. It’s definitely life in the show lane, as well as the slow lane.
Posted on October 23, 2005
Every day has its own ritual, and Sunday is no exception. For starters, Earl and I don’t program our clock radio to wake us at 6:30 AM; instead we get up when we feel like it. So far we’ve managed to feel like it before noon. Way before noon.
Then we have coffee while Earl reads esoteric sayings aloud from people like Thoreau, Archimedes, Nightingale. These sayings are in his daily planner and accumulate during the week; so when we get to study them, they’ve stacked up. Earl’s entitled to share three at one time. Otherwise, we’d be having coffee until mid-afternoon.
Next we jump in the car and drive in search of the Sunday Chicago Tribune. If we’re early enough, we only have to go as far as the gas station, three miles up the road. But if we have dallied over coffee or sayings, then we have to check out Walgreen’s, the local supermarket, or some other roadside stand to get news of the Windy City.
It’s not that we’re snobbish about big city newspapers; in fact, we also get the local paper delivered to our mailbox every single day. But the Sunday Chicago Tribune offers a lot in the way of features, in-depth analysis, and connections to our former home that the St. Joseph Herald Palladium cannot.
The rest of Sunday is determined by sports. If the Bears are playing, then Earl glues himself to the TV in early afternoon. If they are not playing, then we’re apt to do something. Visit model homes, maybe take in a movie, walk on the beach. That is, until early evening, when Earl wants to be home for “Sixty Minutes.”
We have dinner somewhere in there. It’s nothing scheduled and often nothing fancy. Because there’s no last minute real estate deals or deadlines to juggle, that means there’s usually no interruptions either. So what the entire day is about is relaxing.
And everyone can use a day like that at least once a week.
See more 10 Minutes in category Things to Ponder
|
