A daytrip

Yesterday, we took a bus trip with 48 people, about 5 of them men.  It was a trip organized by UWSP Continuing Ed and featured our usual driver.  It was called “Wisconsin Cherry Pie Christmas” and it was around the vacation spots of Door County, a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan from Green Bay.

One of several Door County shops and restaurants we visited was Tannenbaum Holiday Shop in Sister Bay.  It was the most minutely decorated store I have ever visited, in an attempt to show Christmas and Fourth of July decorations and paraphernalia.  Each member of the group was given a Christmas tree ornament of a slice of cherry pie, to hang on our tree in December.

It was in Tannenbaum shop that I saw my first upsidedown Christmas tree.  It was designed to be for the 4th of July celebrating the birth and history of the United States - many objects and ribbons - all red, white and blue.

Cherries are an important product in that area.

Blog was paused - too busy!

We started early and we just got home.  Blog will resume tomorrow.

Movie: "Song Sung Blue"

We had a quick dinner last night and therefore extra time for tv.  We landed on the movie “Song Sung Blue” about a pair of night club singers who meet, love and marry.  They emphasize songs by Neil Diamond and sing in the Milwaukee area.

I have never been much for popular music but I listened to Neil Diamond often.

I was surprised by my feelings of understanding and sympathy for the couple as they have children and develop careers.  If I had been born with different hearing for music and tones, the story could have been about me.

Supporting cast

We watched all the episodes of “The Closer” starring Kyra Sedgewick.  When she left the show, the story was continued as “Major Crimes”.  I had never experienced the level of comfort and familiarity with the supporting cast of officers in the “LAPD” that I knew from The Closer when Major Crimes became our first program of the evening. We knew the personalities and specialities already.

Early!

I am often early.  I put it down to enthusiasm, with maybe a little fear of being late.  It doesn’t seem to matter what the event is.  I leave to get there early.  I try to allow for the correct travel time but then there are no holdups or traffic jams so I get there early.  My wife is aware of this tendency but she is not sympathetic.  Arriving early is not always welcomed.  It can be awkward.  People are finishing preparation, trying to get properly dressed, and I arrive early.  I haven’t been told to come back in 15 minutes but I read that message in frowns.

Animal and maybe plant detectives

We read “Dog on It” starring a German shepherd dog who has extra abilities solving crimes.  Last night, we watched “The Sheep Detectives” featuring a flock of sheep trying to solve the murder of their human shepherd.  We are on the lookout for stories featuring helpful spiders, insightful octopuses and maybe gardenias that assist or guide humans toward uncovering who dunnit. 

You and I and McWhorter

John McWhorter is an American professor of linguistics.  I enjoy his books.  I just bought one about pronouns.  He writes that his daughter, a toddler, often asked to be carried by saying,”Carry you?”.  He explains that adults often asked her those words when she was carried. So the little logic engine used the same word.  Over time she inferred that she was “me” in this instance and used the pronouns “correctly.”  Humans often learn important things outside of schools and classrooms. 

Initials

It makes sense that people who talk and write about a common subject might develop a short word or set of letters to refer to their subject instead of writing out a long name over and over.  In addition, the modern business world searches for meaningful, memorable product names or tries to invent them.  Google Search, Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Duckduckgo, Apple Safari and other software will search the internet to offer definitions and explanations when I run into an acronym or new word.  They help when my aging memory can’t produce a term that I used to know. 

 “Recognition works when memory doesn't” is a principle that people who 

write tests understand, too.  When I can’t think of my greatgrandmother’s last name, I may be able to recognize it in a list of possibilities.

Would you rather type “antiphospholipid syndrome “  or APS over and over?

Not a normal day for blogging

I normally write a blog post in the afternoon but we are going to be away then.  I suggest catching up on a half finished book you forgot about or a magazine.

The world is full of things

The world is full of things to pay attention to.  Just the birds in our backyard are interesting.  I have dozens of books.  There are something like 300 different “channels” or TV services that we can stream into our TV set using the internet.  I have this blog to write in.  I have 1000 contacts I can write to or phone or, if I am modern and up-to-date, I can ‘text’.  I can follow the example of my wife and her friends and draw or paint or sculpture or photograph.  I can create helpful and inspiring videos.  No wonder I am bored.

All these possibilities put me in mind of this long sentence I met yesterday.  This is from the book “Lion” by Sonya Walger.  She is describing the life as the grown child still living at home:

But how hard to be the one who stayed! The one who packed the raisins but not the nuts, who wiped the lipstick off the piano teacher’s mug, tissue-wrapped the Christmas ornaments, washed the sheets, staunched the blood, ignored the lies and the slammed doors, peeled the stickers off the walls, fought for sunscreen and table manners, made beds, combed out the lice, stapled the hems and later sewed them, kissed the friends, befriended the lovers, returned the books, loaned the car, the house, the denim jacket with the Liberty lining, combed out the lice, listened to the story tape jammed in the car stereo, held back the hair bent over the loo, paid the school fees, paid the tennis coach, paid the airfare, combed out the lice, pushed the swings, paired the socks, allowed the cigarettes, forbade unkindness, packed the trunk, renewed the passports, taught the second tongue, recited the alphabet, churned the ice cream, bought the brads, the Walkman, the wedding dress, learned the names and never forgot them, shared the crossword, the towel, the chewed gum.