Life in Geezerville: The Day After the Party Edition

Yesterday was "the day after." Someone at the party asked if I was going to lead chair yoga and I thought "Okay--I'll give it a try." Three ladies showed up and all we did was sit and talk. I didn't even try to start any stretches. We were all exhausted. Finally after an hour of talking, Darlene said "are we doing chair yoga?" 

We got into our chairs and did a quick 10 minute session. It was good...then we went on our merry ways. I guess chair yoga has caught on. The stretches are good--the camaraderie is better.

The biggest deal was getting thru "The Event." Three of us pulled off the Thanksgiving Party in the 'hood. How about that!  It was a lot of work. We cooked and cleaned and cleaned again. I cleaned after I got home from the party, as the kitchen was a mess. I think I cleaned the stove 3 times on Thanksgiving....who knew I could still cook that much? You might ask if it was worth it...and the answer is a resounding YES. We had a grand time. I hope y'all survived the day and are ready for the next holiday which comes sooner than you think. Remember, we're all in this together. 

Life in Geezerville: To Spatchcock or Not Edition

I cooked the bird and the other DrC carved the bird and the folks in the 'hood ate the bird. In fact it was pretty well received...BUT...I'm not going to spatchcock a turkey again. Putting a turkey in an oven bag is much easier and the results are just about the same or maybe a bit better.

What was better was the dressing. It was soaked in turkey juices and it was yummy. And, since I made a a double batch of dressing we had enough of it for everyone to have seconds. It would be nice to have the oven bag turkey and the juicy dressing at the same time, but alas that's not going to happen with this recipe.

Our little Thanksgiving celebration in the 'hood was wonderful. The food was abundant. The friendship warm. It was a great day. I have a lot to be thankful for just living in such a wonderful 'hood. I hope you had a happy and joyful day too. Remember, we're all in this together. 

Life in Geezerville: Thanksgiving Edition

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Back in the day when I was teaching elementary school, I would have my kids write about what they were thankful for on this day. The responses ranged from  --  I'm thankful for my mom and dad -- once in awhile I heard they were thankful their parents were not divorced as Johnny's mom and dad got divorced and it's awful--or I'm thankful for my new shoes--or my family--or my cousin Ralphy. Once in awhile I read someone was thankful for a new baby sister or brother. The one I liked the best was a child who was thankful for a baby brother because the brother needed so much attention he could finally get some peace and quiet.

Later, when I taught older "kids" at university level I would ask the same question...and the answers were very similar, but answers like "I'm thankful the rent got paid this month" showed up--or I'm thankful my car is still running--a few would say they were thankful for their faith in God-- others would say they were thankful for a new found love. 

There's lots to be thankful for. There's not a right answer or a wrong answer. It's a time to reflect on what you are thankful for. As I get older I'm thankful for a good husband...good health -- good memories --good family-- a brain that still works -- good friends --- and so much more. What are you thankful for?

Right now, it's the calm before the storm. The turkey needs to be readied--it's been brining for 2 days. The dressing needs to be made, as does the gravy. Soon I'll get all of that into the oven and get ready for a feast with the wonderful folks in the 'hood. My heart is full this Thanksgiving Day. I hope your day is filled with love and hope and joy too. Remember, we're all in this together.

Life in Geezerville: Pickle Edition, Part 2

 Guess what? It appears the Pickle in the Christmas Tree tradition is NOT German. It might be uniquely American. The jury is out as to how the "tradition' started. I'll try to recount a few ways.

One source says that glass ornament factory in Lausch, Germany began making Christmas ornaments in the shape of different fruits and vegetables--including a pickle. These ornaments were sold to many different countries....but some were shipped to the US...and sold at  Woolworth Five and Dime.  In this version of the "story" Woolworths was having a hard time selling the pickle ornament so they developed a legend of the pickle in the tree. The legend caught people's attention and lo and behold the tradition was born.

Another source starts with that same glass factory making various fruit and veggie ornaments. They built a story about the pickle in order to make it more popular.

Another source says that most Germans do not know of the tradition and of those who do, less than 10% practice the tradition. In other words, it's not a big deal.

Another source says it's an American tradition...to honor a man who was imprisoned an Andersonville during the civil war. He asked the guard for a pickle at Christmastime, the guard gave him one, and by some miracle he survived...so a pickle is placed in a tree to commemorate that occasion. 

Clearly, no one really knows how the lowly pickle ended up hiding in a Christmastree. It is probably an American tradition with some German roots. The tradition is not widely practiced in Germany nor the US...but it is fun to talk about. Since I wrote part 1 of this blog I've some fun discussions about Christmastree Pickles in my art class, in the beauty shop, at a birthday party and during morning yoga. Folks who have never heard of the tradition have the same reaction I had..."ya gotta be kidding me" The tradition (if you want to call it that) is "out there." It's fun to talk about. It does no harm. It's all a good thing. From now on, I'll have a pickle in my Christmas tree. Will you? Remember, we're all in this together.

Life in Geezerville: Pickle Edition

Today, I received a very special present. A pickle ornament to hide in my Christmas tree. Do you know anything about the "Pickle in the Christmas tree tradition?" Until two weeks, I was completely uniformed about the pickle in the tree tradition. At that time my friends had just put up their Christmas tree and Linda told me it even had a pickle hidden in it. I said "Why would you hide a pickle in your Christmas tree? What a strange thing to do." All the time, I'm wondering who on earth hides a great green pickle in a tree?  

Slowly, Linda explained the old German tradition. Since my mother was German, why had I never heard of this "old German tradition?" Of course I searched the internet and sure enough there is a pickle in the tree tradition. No one really knows where it started and why a pickle was chosen as the object to be hidden, but it is something of a feature at Christmastime. It seems to be more German than any other ethnicity too.

Last week, at my art class and I asked if folks knew about the pickle tradition and about half of the class did -- the other half were in the dark like me. Do you know about the pickle tradition? Do you have a pickle hidden in your Christmas tree? 

My pickle ornament came with a little story explaining the tradition. Apparently, a pickle ornament is hidden in the Christmas tree, and on Christmas morning the first person (usually a child) to find the pickle gets a special prize. So now my tree has a pickle. So, if you want to have a bit more excitement around your tree, hide a pickle in it. Remember, we're all in this together. 

Life in Geezerville: Spatchcock Edition

I was looking at my favorite cooking program, America's Test Kitchen (ATK), and their Thanksgiving program had a new way to roast a turkey. They spatchcocked it. I know how to spatchcock a chicken--SO--when I saw a new recipe for a spatchcocked  turkey, I thought "why not?" That should not be too hard! I looked at the program several times and I thought I knew what to do.

I was wrong. Spatchcocking a turkey is HARD. First and foremost, turkey bones are not as tiny and fragile  as chicken bones. To spatchcock a chicken I've taken a pair of kitchen shears and cut up one side of the backbone and down the other side. Easy-peasy. The spine or backbone of a turkey, which needs to be removed when you spatchcock a bird, is thicker and has more connective tissue (and therefore tougher) than that of a chicken. My eighteen and half pound bird fought me every millimeter of its backbone. 

First off I tried my "normal" kitchen shears, which seem to go thru anything without a hitch. They just twisted and turned and did absolutely nothing. Next I tried my heavy duty kitchen shears which have never failed me in the past...and I made no progress once again. THEN I remembered that ATK did not show the chef spatchcocking the bird. The program just showed the beginning of the process and a nicely spatchcocked bird at the end. On the program, the cut was very smooth and tidy. There was NO way I could get a smooth OR tidy cut with kitchen shears. That meant I needed a saw or very sharp knife to do the deed. The electric knife came to mind. It's like a mini-hedge trimmer and I thought it might work. I found the electric knife and ever so slowly I scored the electric knife thru skin, meat, sinew and bone and the spine started to separate from the bird. It was a very slow process. The bird fought me the whole way. Eighteen and half pounds of turkey is a fairly big bird...and the weight of that bird seemed to get heavier and heavier as I plowed the electric knife thru the spine. After 20 minutes I had one side of the spine removed and it was time to start the other side.

Technically this should have been easier, but it was not. When the backbone was connected to the bird, the bird was stabilized...now the bird had a broken back. The bird was floppy (for lack of a better word), cumbersome and awkward (I know why ATK did not show the process). Ever so slowly, I carefully cut thru the back of the bird with the electric knife making sure I did not cut me. I did not worry about cutting myself on the first cut, but now the bird is not supported by the spine and it moved in unusual ways. Finally, it was separated. What a job. It takes about 5 minutes to spatchcock a chicken. It took me 40 minutes to spatchcock the turkey! 

The next part of the process was flattening the keelbone. Again, easy to do with a chicken and very hard with a turkey. I finally figured out how to get leverage on a slippery 18.5 pound bird and pressed down with all my might until the keelbone cracked. DONE. Whew...I did it.

Next job was brining the bird. Brining was a piece of cake. Spatchcocking was HARD. Breaking the keelbone was HARD. I was done with my task for the day.

The bird will brine in the fridge until Thursday morning when it will be cooked. IF the bird tastes great, I might consider spatchcocking another one--but putting a turkey in a large oven bag and roasting it, is easier. Spatchcocking a turkey is another way to cook a bird--but you have to weigh all the choices out there when cooking a turkey. It's nice to know that I'm still "with it" enough to learn new things. It's nice to know that I'm strong enough to do them too. I'll let you know how the turkey comes out on Thursday. Remember we're all in this together. 

Life in Geezerville: Printer Rant Edition

As you know we live in Geezerville--but we are also snowbirds. Twice a year, I open one house and close another. When I close a house everything is working--so I expect to be working when I return. This year it was another story with the printer.

Let me start from the beginning.  We bought our first Hewlett-Packard printer about 40 years ago. They have proven to be reliable work horses, printing thousands of pages over the years. I have been a loyal HP printer user. In fact, one time I bought a computer that came with a "free" non-HP printer and that printer was worth exactly what I paid for it. It crashed and burned soon after installation and I bought a trusty HP printer to replace it. My loyalty might be changing.

My latest HP printer is 2 years old. When I first bought it, it was like any other printer I had had...but in the intervening two years, things have changed. This spring I shut the printer down and when I returned I was unable to restart the printer. I could turn it on, but it would not connect to wi-fi. Of course I went to the usual suspects (YouTube and HP Help) to find out what was going on. Seems like there is now an app that the printer needs...and you have to BUY the app. I already bought the printer...but to make the printer work, I now need an app and I wonder why? The app is quite expensive at $9.99 a week, $6.99 a month, or $89.99 a year, but in the small print, I see there's a free 3 day trial--I download the app to my iPhone and follow the directions and guess what? I still can not get the printer to connect to wifi. 

It's time to call in another set of eyes, so the other DrC comes over to help. He finds yet another help page and lo and behold he's told to download the app. We fiddle with settings for another hour getting more and more frustrated only to discover we have NO idea how go get the printer to work. We KNOW the printer works as we used it before we snowbirded away.

Fast forward a couple of days and my neighbor says she's having a computer repair guy coming to her house to fix her computer. I ask if I can piggy-back on her appointment and maybe her fellow can fix my printer. Sure enough, he has the time and after he fixes her computer I escort him to my house while telling him of the problem. 

He's in business so he has the $90 HP app already installed on his iPhone. It makes sense for him to have it (but not for me). He opens the app and the screen is different from the free 3 day trial app--there's a place to enter the password to the wifi. I give him the password and a moment later, my printer is working. How come the free 3 day trial app does not have the ability to enter a password?

What does brand loyalty mean when they change the rules? The free trial app is never ever going to work as there's no way to enter the password. I'm thinking, what happens when I shut down the computer next summer...will I ever be able to "wake it up" again? Probably not. HP wants me to buy the printer, buy the expensive ink and now rent the app in order to make the printer work. NO! I'm not going to do that. When the printer dies the next time, I'm going to buy another brand of printer that does not charge me 3 different ways to use it. It's HP abuse at its most subtle. Buy Buy Buy. I hope other printer companies don't copy the HP model. It's really nasty. Just a friendly (aka rant) reminder...be careful out there--HP is trying to rip us off. Remember, we're all in this together. 

Life in Geezerville: Social Edition

Yes, there is social life in Geezerville...but it's not the social life we thought about when we were kids. It's going to the doctor social life. We all see a bunch of doctors and at the doctor's offices we see friends. I jokingly say if we did not see our doctors we would never leave our houses. That's not true of course. We have to leave our houses to shop (but even that's not necessary with door delivery of just about everything). However, we have to leave our homes to see the doctor as they don't do home "delivery." I used to tease my parents about going to the doctor all the time; now I'm doing the same thing!

By definition, geezers are old--and old folks have health problems (or it seems that way...or is it the other way round--health problems bring about geezerhood? Gee, I don't know?). We suffer from aches and pains and the vagaries of time. Some of us are recovering from surgery while others are waiting for surgery. The doctor is a big deal in our town. Gees---I have a GP, a foot doc, a pain doc, and every other specialist you can think of. A week without seeing one of those specialists is a rare week indeed. My calendar is littered with visits to Dr. X, Y and Z. The same goes with my friends.

A typical visit to the doc goes like this. I talk to the person who checks me in. She knows me from previous visits and we catch up on her 2 year old. All the while, she's tapping the keyboard to make sure that I've completed the "simple" pre-check. Rue the day that you don't do the pre-check. I had checked in correctly (oh happy day) ... she asks a couple of questions and I'm ready to see the doctor. Another person comes in the office, and it's the same routine. We all talk to the person behind the counter--then all of us start talking to each other. It's fun visiting with each other until we're called to see the doc. We commiserate about what's going on and it makes the whole visit a bit more palatable as we have someone there we can talk too...and we learn the latest gossip.

Since our docs see a bunch of ailing geezers all the time, they sometimes forget that we are people too. We used to work and play and have good lives before geezerhood slammed down upon us. Sometimes they ignore us and just give us a dozen pills and hope we go away. BUT we are a powerful lobby...you do us wrong, and we tell all of our geezer friends NOT to go to so and so...and soon so and so will be outta business. We've been successful at running a few docs outta town. It's a phyrric victory, but it's a victory of sorts as we want docs who care about us, as they are so important to us. We don't want to lose good doctors, so we have to play a game of help me and I'll help you.

The doctors are part of the fabric of our social life. We need them and they need us. We are a huge part of their economy. We are reliable patients who want to stay healthy and vital..and our good doctors help keep us that way. One day, I'll talk about the other social life that geezers have, as it's even better than going to the doc. Remember, we're all in this together. 

Life in Geezerville: Chair Yoga Progress Report

Chair Yoga is a success! All of us are feeling a lot better. I'm not going to talk for the others in the group, but I can honestly say, I've not worn a pain patch or used my TENS unit in 11 days! That's a miracle in and of itself. 

Our fifteen minute workout, 3 times a week, is a mixture of simple and "not so simple." I try to introduce a new routine every other day to keep us all on our toes. Right now we are doing box breathing, cat-cow, warrior and reverse warrior, marching, pigeon, windmill and fold. These are all stretches that are used in regular yoga that have been modified for chair yoga. We are also doing some stretches that have Yoga names but I don't know what they mean in English so we've given them funny names to help us remember them.

Since one person in our group has neuropathy, we have a specific neuropathy stretch that she says is helping. This stretch is done while standing up behind the chair, holding the back of the chair. From there,  we stand on our "tippy toes" for a count of five, then flat footed for five, then "tippy heels" for a count of five. This gets repeated 5 times. It's supposed to help balance too. 

In time, we'll be able to do a 30 minute session 3 times a week. We are not there now. I increase our time by one minute a week. I'm using a lot of web resources that show me what needs to be done. YouTube has a gazillion videos that are most helpful too. We all know we are works in progress and it will take time to master this routine...but we're ready for the challenge. In addition we have great fun talking and laughing...it's a social time for us. I'll be reporting progress regularly. In the meantime, we're all in this together.

LIfe in Geezerville: The IKEA Tree

This is supposed to be funny since just about everything you buy at IKEA has to be put together, why not a Christmas tree? This year we're putting together the proverbial IKEA tree. I bought the tree from Amazon at the end of last Christmas season. The price was excellent and I was pleased with myself for getting such a bargain. 

The tree has sat in an unopened box for the last eleven months. It was out of the way and I did not even think about it. Outta sight--outta mind. BUT, 3 days ago we decided put our Christmas tree up early so we could enjoy it longer--and that's when I figured out it was an IKEA tree. Everything had to be put together in just the right order. There are 7 parts and a booklet that almost gives complete directions.

The first challenge was the base. I needed to make the base look like a plus sign and then align 3 holes so some screws could be installed. The first 2 screws went in as directed--but it was a major effort to get the third screw in place. Were there going to be more surprises?

The base solved, we moved right along to the

 3 layers to the tree. The layers have a definite order from wider to narrower. The tricky part is the lights. Each layer of greenery has an analogous layer of lights and they need to be connected in the right order. Needless to say we connected them wrong with a layer of  multi-colored lights, a layer with white lights and a layer with no lights. After much re-connecting, I got a consistent display where all the lights are white. I wanted multi-colored lights, but I took all white lights as a win.

Next came the ornaments. I love my ornaments. I've been collecting them for over half a century and everyone has a special meaning. My ornaments are from friends, family and students. I remember who gave me the ornament and my heart fills with joy. It's a fun day to decorate the tree. The angel is the oldest as she graced the top of my very first Christmas tree as an adult and has had that honor ever since.

Our IKEA tree did come together. While it might not be perfect, it's really pretty. For the next few days we'll decorate the house. Christmas spirit will warm the house and get us ready for the holiday season. Remember, we're all in this together."

It's Veteran's Day

 Thank you for your service. 

Crocheting Geezer

In case you're wondering, I'm still crocheting. I only had 1 pumpkin from last year, so I decided to make some more--but alas, I still only have one pumpkin as I've given a dozen or so away. My little pumpkin is going to be a loner for another year. I did make another lion. I know I said there would not be many lions as they take about 20 hours to create, but a friend wanted a lion, so Roary came to life. Isn't he a cutie pie?

Then a friend asked if I would make an elephant for her two year old. I finished Peppermint the Elephant this evening. He's really cute and all of his parts and pieces are firmly sewn in place, as I want the critter safe for a little one.

My next project is a Christmas tree that I'm copying from one that is already made. I was figuring out the pattern tonight and when I finish it, I'll post it here (if it looks good). I need to keep my mind and fingers moving, and creating critters helps that process. If you'd like a critter, just ask. I love making them.

Life in Geezerville: Chair Yoga Edition

During the summer, in twice a week PT sessions, I became acquainted with "Chair Yoga." For a while, the other DrC and I would do chair yoga together at home. It was a good set of moves that had low impact and seemed to have some results.

I'm now down in Geezerville, and I'm doing chair yoga with my wonderful neighbors. It's great fun. We meet at my house three times a week and we do a series of stretches and turns that are aimed at every part of our body. We try to breathe in and out in harmony; bend over so we can touch the floor; stretch our abs and glutes; and more importantly we try to have fun. We laugh and get off track then we get serious only to laugh again. When our 13 minutes are done, we have coffee and gossip and laugh all over again. We've increased our time from 10 minutes to 13 minutes. Next week we'll do 14 minutes. Soon we'll increase reps from 4 to 5 to 7 to 10. We are taking it slow and steady adding time and reps when we are ready. 

Every yoga move has a specific name...a very long Indian name that I don't know how to pronounce. Lucky for us, these names have been translated into English. All Yoga teachers have to do is say the name of the move, and students know what to do. Chair yoga uses similar names, so we have become pretty proficient at Cow-Calf, Pigeon, Sitting Mountain, Box Breathing, Puppet, Figure 4 and more. We've also given some moves nicknames, not always in the spirit of Yoga...but then we are having fun. 

I love chair yoga with the girls in the 'hood. It's a great social activity. I know I don't have the discipline to do any program by myself, but with friends, we have a "group discipline" that gives us consistency and that's one of the keys to success. Already we've noticed we are more flexible which is a good thing. I've noticed that my back is not hurting all the time. In fact, I've not worn by back patch in over a week! It's all good. 

By the way, if you are interested in chair yoga there are a lot of YouTube videos out there that help explain each step in the process. There's also a myriad of websites for beginners that are most helpful. If you are interested, look up "chair yoga" and see what you can find. Remember, we're all in this together. 

Happy Halloween: Better Late than Never

Halloween came and went and I forgot to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. This time of year, I'm always taken back to my elementary classroom. My kids would plan the best costumes for warm weather but on the day of Halloween the weather always changed. I would see my sweet fifth graders in princess costumes covered by heavy parkas. It was just too cold to be a fairy princess. It never failed...the first day of cool/wet weather was always Halloween.

The day after Halloween was always a nightmare to teach. No matter what the "sugar gurus" say--too much candy makes kids hyper. Then, you have to teach 35 of them...it's not fun! The day after Halloween the kids were "drunk" from sweets and almost impossible to teach. That's when I would do another lesson. It was hands on and lots of fun. I had the kids bring in their old pumpkins and we would do lessons and activities with them. But more importantly, I would lead them to discover the concept of PI, the mathematical constant. The lesson started when one of my students actually discovered the concept of PI all on his own. While we did not figure it out to the 10th decimal place, we concluded that PI was "3 and a little bit" and I was okay with that. To prove that PI was constant, my kids measured every circle they could find from records to car tires to circular waste cans to tree trunks, even round chalk. It was a fun day and believe it or not, it calmed them down. And, my kids knew all about Pumpkin PI. 

Because the day after Halloween was so challenging to teach, somewhere along the line, I stopped giving candy to my local trick or treaters. Instead, I bought rolls of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. I put them in a big bowl and let the trick or treaters grab a handful of coins. I discovered that little hands can only pick up 6 or 7 coins which probably cost the same as a piece of candy. I did not do it to save money, I did it to lower the sugar-high. It was a win-win for everyone. In addition, parents did not have to worry about anything amiss in the goody haul. (One of the local dental offices had a great deal too---they would scope bags of candy to make sure they were safe--and give each kid a free toothbrush too.)

Those days are long gone. I have no desire to go back to teaching elementary school--yet Halloween was always a fun time and the memories are still there. This Halloween we went to a party. I was dressed up in my best Rio de Janiero Carnival hat, which was given to me in Rio at Carnival several years ago. The hat was a big hit and I had a lot of fun wearing it. Kudos to Karen for helping me clean it up.

Thanks for letting me stroll down memory lane. It's important to do that every now and then. Remember, we're all in this together.