Friday, August 31, 2007
Leaving for Mexico
See you! I don't know if I'll find an Internet cafe or not. Probably. Seems like everywhere has one these days. If so, I'll blog a few times so you know I survived those cenote dives...
Monday, August 27, 2007
Need a new monitor!
So, yesterday I added some money onto my Starbucks card online. $20, I thought. Later in the day when I used it to buy coffee, I discovered I'd added $50!!!! That's enough to last me for months. Maybe six or seven or more, even. I prefer local coffee houses to Starbucks, both because I prefer the coffee and because I like to support local businesses; however, some places Starbucks is just more convenient. I know it's not my eyes, because I just had them checked two weeks ago. Must be my monitor. It is getting kind of fuzzy. Sigh.
I saw "Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical" last night at California Music Circus in Sacramento. Very, very freaky. A bit like Phantom of the Opera, but with not so cool music. Plenty of music, just not as good. Some awkward and strange lyrics - a bit stilted sometimes.
JEKYLL: How can I pursue the truth, When they can block each step I take?
UTTERSON: Henry, you have come too far - Remember what you have at stake!
JEKYLL: John, I know I'm right! I must let my vision guide me! I'm so weary of the fight! There's so little left inside me!
UTTERSON: If you know that you are right, Then you've got to see it through, You've got to see it through!
JEKYLL: Seven years ago, I started out on this alone, And it's alone I'll see it through To its conclusion!
Who are they To judge what I am doing? They know nothing Of the endless possibilities I see! It's ludicrous I'm bound by their decision!
UTTERSON: Seems vision Is a word They never heard!
JEKYLL: If it mattered less, I'd treat them with derision - It's absurd!
UTTERSON: And yet, the fact remains, Those bastards hold the reins!
("Pursue The Truth" lyrics)
Phantom on steroids.
Bumped into my friends from Stockton, Andy & Leslie, while crossing the street back to the parking garage. One of those "it's a small world" moments. What were the odds?
I saw "Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical" last night at California Music Circus in Sacramento. Very, very freaky. A bit like Phantom of the Opera, but with not so cool music. Plenty of music, just not as good. Some awkward and strange lyrics - a bit stilted sometimes.
JEKYLL: How can I pursue the truth, When they can block each step I take?
UTTERSON: Henry, you have come too far - Remember what you have at stake!
JEKYLL: John, I know I'm right! I must let my vision guide me! I'm so weary of the fight! There's so little left inside me!
UTTERSON: If you know that you are right, Then you've got to see it through, You've got to see it through!
JEKYLL: Seven years ago, I started out on this alone, And it's alone I'll see it through To its conclusion!
Who are they To judge what I am doing? They know nothing Of the endless possibilities I see! It's ludicrous I'm bound by their decision!
UTTERSON: Seems vision Is a word They never heard!
JEKYLL: If it mattered less, I'd treat them with derision - It's absurd!
UTTERSON: And yet, the fact remains, Those bastards hold the reins!
("Pursue The Truth" lyrics)
Phantom on steroids.
Bumped into my friends from Stockton, Andy & Leslie, while crossing the street back to the parking garage. One of those "it's a small world" moments. What were the odds?
Saturday, August 25, 2007
My mother's memorial
As a family, we had a graveside service for my mother last Sunday morning. It was really lovely -- thanks to Jeannette for putting it all together!
In the afternoon, we had a memorial service at the Herzstein Memorial Museum.
The pastor Bess referred us to was excellent. He could not have been better! Part of the memorial included an opportunity for anyone to get up and talk about my mother. Jeannette and I were the only ones who did.
I think everybody was crying by the time we were both done, and nobody could imagine putting together a coherent sentence.
I hope Jeannette will post what she wrote and read. It was ... wow. Absolutely incredible and wonderful.
When she started, she said she was a writer, not a speaker, so she was going to read what she'd written.
[edit: here's a link to Jeannette's Blog - Darlingtonia Californica: Funeral Observances on August 19]
After she spoke, I got up.
I said ...
Jeannette says she's a writer. Well, I would say she's organized. I left MY notes at the hotel!
You may never have noticed, but we never actually called our mom "Mom." She was Mama or Mommy when we were little, and later we graduated to calling her "Mother." I never made the leap, though. I always called her "Mommy."
One of my greatest memories is how she would always worry about us.
I know when I drove down to visit, she expected me to call when I left so she'd know when to expect me.
Invariably when I'd arrive, she'd say, "You can't possibly be here this soon!"
Soon, I learned to call her twenty to thirty minutes before actually leaving, saying something like, "We're just about ready to hit the road."
I was trying to compensate a bit for my lead foot, and I really was telling the truth!
In spite of all that, I still very often would hear, "You can't possibly be here this soon!"
And now, what I want to say to my mother is ... "You can't possibly be here this soon."
In the afternoon, we had a memorial service at the Herzstein Memorial Museum.
The pastor Bess referred us to was excellent. He could not have been better! Part of the memorial included an opportunity for anyone to get up and talk about my mother. Jeannette and I were the only ones who did.
I think everybody was crying by the time we were both done, and nobody could imagine putting together a coherent sentence.
I hope Jeannette will post what she wrote and read. It was ... wow. Absolutely incredible and wonderful.
When she started, she said she was a writer, not a speaker, so she was going to read what she'd written.
[edit: here's a link to Jeannette's Blog - Darlingtonia Californica: Funeral Observances on August 19]
After she spoke, I got up.
I said ...
Jeannette says she's a writer. Well, I would say she's organized. I left MY notes at the hotel!
You may never have noticed, but we never actually called our mom "Mom." She was Mama or Mommy when we were little, and later we graduated to calling her "Mother." I never made the leap, though. I always called her "Mommy."
One of my greatest memories is how she would always worry about us.
I know when I drove down to visit, she expected me to call when I left so she'd know when to expect me.
Invariably when I'd arrive, she'd say, "You can't possibly be here this soon!"
Soon, I learned to call her twenty to thirty minutes before actually leaving, saying something like, "We're just about ready to hit the road."
I was trying to compensate a bit for my lead foot, and I really was telling the truth!
In spite of all that, I still very often would hear, "You can't possibly be here this soon!"
And now, what I want to say to my mother is ... "You can't possibly be here this soon."
* * * * * * *
Rebecca provided the music -- she'd downloaded some of our mother's favorite music onto her i-pod. We heard part of "Four Seasons" and closed the memorial with "On Eagle's Wings."
And God will raise you up on eagle's wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of His hand.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
I'm smart and witty
That's what my fortune cookie said, so it must be true! I went to Panda Express while my oil was being changed. I guess Dave Wong's has spoiled me completely, because I found Panda pretty darn mediocre. The food tasted like it had been sitting in heating dishes for a long time, and I was there only a few minutes past Noon.
I also got my eyes checked. I went to a different doctor this time, and I like her a lot! My uncorrected vision is perfect for reading, so instead of fitting me with a distance lens and a near lens as my previous guy did, she suggested I just wear one lens for distance and go lens-free in my near eye. What a concept! Half the price!
I was short a bunch of stuff for actually living in my own house, so I had to go buy a few things -- laundry detergent, shampoo, cotton swabs...
This is sort of pathetic:
Thursday night I had to go buy an air mattress to sleep on because I've never gotten around to setting up the king-sized bed I bought a couple of years ago, and there's no way I can do it by myself. I totally did not want to sleep on the sofa with Lucy (my dog) sticking her nose in my face every 17 minutes all night long!
When I got home and started to blow the mattress up, I discovered the pump requires batteries, so I had to go back out to get those as well. Whatever happened to putting "Batteries Not Included" on the outside of the box?
I also got my eyes checked. I went to a different doctor this time, and I like her a lot! My uncorrected vision is perfect for reading, so instead of fitting me with a distance lens and a near lens as my previous guy did, she suggested I just wear one lens for distance and go lens-free in my near eye. What a concept! Half the price!
I was short a bunch of stuff for actually living in my own house, so I had to go buy a few things -- laundry detergent, shampoo, cotton swabs...
This is sort of pathetic:
Thursday night I had to go buy an air mattress to sleep on because I've never gotten around to setting up the king-sized bed I bought a couple of years ago, and there's no way I can do it by myself. I totally did not want to sleep on the sofa with Lucy (my dog) sticking her nose in my face every 17 minutes all night long!
When I got home and started to blow the mattress up, I discovered the pump requires batteries, so I had to go back out to get those as well. Whatever happened to putting "Batteries Not Included" on the outside of the box?
Friday, August 03, 2007
Goodbye to my mommy
Ruth Isaacs, who retired in 1993 after teaching 30 years in the Lancaster Elementary School District in Lancaster, California, died Monday, July 30, following a long battle with cancer. Before her illness made it impossible, she served along with her husband Bob as Southern California Representative for the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association.
The daughter of Irvin Peffley and Grace Currin Peffley, Ruth was born September 1931 in Denver, Colorado, and moved to Amarillo, Texas as a small child. She met Bob Isaacs of Clayton, New Mexico at Amarillo High School, and they were married in 1951 at Polk Street Methodist Church in Amarillo. Ruth graduated from Texas Tech University in 1958 in spite of having three small children by that time. She taught school in Lubbock until Bob completed his degree and moved the family to California in 1959.
Ruth is survived by her devoted husband of 56 years, Robert Wolfe Isaacs; her son Robert Philip Isaacs of Hiram, Georgia; her daughters, Jeannette Darlington of West Hills, California, Charlotte Frye of Stockton, California, and Rebecca Bruno of Fremont, California; and her only sister, Dorothy Amos of Columbus, Kansas. She also leaves four grandsons, five granddaughters and a great-grandson.
A memorial service will take place at the Herzstein Memorial Museum in Clayton, New Mexico. In lieu of flowers, Ruth requested that donations be made to the Union County Historical Society, P.O. Box 75, Clayton, NM 88415.
Published in the Los Angeles Daily News on 8/3/2007.
The daughter of Irvin Peffley and Grace Currin Peffley, Ruth was born September 1931 in Denver, Colorado, and moved to Amarillo, Texas as a small child. She met Bob Isaacs of Clayton, New Mexico at Amarillo High School, and they were married in 1951 at Polk Street Methodist Church in Amarillo. Ruth graduated from Texas Tech University in 1958 in spite of having three small children by that time. She taught school in Lubbock until Bob completed his degree and moved the family to California in 1959.
Ruth is survived by her devoted husband of 56 years, Robert Wolfe Isaacs; her son Robert Philip Isaacs of Hiram, Georgia; her daughters, Jeannette Darlington of West Hills, California, Charlotte Frye of Stockton, California, and Rebecca Bruno of Fremont, California; and her only sister, Dorothy Amos of Columbus, Kansas. She also leaves four grandsons, five granddaughters and a great-grandson.
A memorial service will take place at the Herzstein Memorial Museum in Clayton, New Mexico. In lieu of flowers, Ruth requested that donations be made to the Union County Historical Society, P.O. Box 75, Clayton, NM 88415.
Published in the Los Angeles Daily News on 8/3/2007.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
