My aunt passed yesterday. My father's sister, the one in the family who was there for me as I stumbled [often] through those years gone by. She was on her way to give me a call and make sure I'd weathered the storm of the century when she suffered a heart attack and fell in the kitchen. They found her in the afternoon next to the table with the news channel still playing on the tv.

She lived a full and long life...an active life. She was still hiking the trails in the high mountains of the Rockies well into her 80's. It bugged her no end when she had to stop. 

There will be a gathering of the clan in Denver over the next few days. I won't be attending. I no longer travel. She'd be fine with that. My cousin is fine with that. I just spoke to her, my cousin...the eccentric one of us [which is saying something, believe me]. She always makes me laugh even in her pain she makes me laugh. At the moment she's dithering. It's one of her more accomplished talents__dithering. My aunt would allow her to dither for just so long and then she'd snap out some sharp statement meant to to get my cousin to refocus. It rarely worked. Watching the two of them was like watching a comedy. 

Today my cousin is cleaning what is, I can assure you, an already spotless apartment in preparation for all the influx of relatives and visitors. 

'I just realized I can put a plant in the middle of the table now."

"Ok."

"No you don't understand. I couldn't before. It might scratch the finish on the table."

"Ok."

"You're still not getting it."

"What?"

"It's my table now.

"And the cookies."

"What about the cookies?"

"I don't have to hide them anymore."

"Maybe you should still hide the cookies."

"Why?"

"Well, because you might burn some calories looking for them."

"Do you hide Your cookies?"

"Yes."

LOL.

And that is funny because she was crying/laughing while she was saying this.

I asked my aunt [in my head] what she wanted me to do for her funeral. Flowers? No__don't spend the $. I went through a short list of other things. Finally I was left with 'Call your cousin.'  I have and I will continue to do so.  My Aunt__She was the last of the old guard.

Rant__Last night , as on so many other occasions since taking the office of President of the United States, Barack Obama once again endured, with good grace, more bad manners aimed his way. I have watched this happen over and over again to this man and to this office since he was sworn in and it absolutely sets my hair on fire.

It wasn't during the debate, although there were times I felt like smacking Bob Shieffer for his disregard but that is neither here nor there in this rant. What I am referring to is after the debate when one of the Romney sons stood with Pres. Obama  on stage and had his hand on his back like they were cronies. It was insulting. Completely.

I don't care if you're in the upper 1% and float on dividends, you have manners, use them. You are in the public eye. You are representatives of what are supposed to be our finer examples, so start showing some. If we are so concerned with how our youth are acting then by the graces, give them the examples to be inspired by.

And start at the top.

You wish to instill this trickle down theory well here's a chance. Each and every day you and your fellows can show how you are to act in respect one to another and to the highest office in the country instead of these not so subtle undermining maneuvers you use. They diminish you and they diminish us. Stop it.

The cat calls on the congressional floors, the snickering asides...it is childish and unbecoming of any adults let alone elected officials who are there to represent our best.  If you disagree, fine, say so. But stop this petty back-stabbing. This back-street theatre. This makes us appear more third rate than anything else. Bring it out of the frat houses and onto the international stage and grow up. Our president is an adult. Treat him as the top elected official in the nation and get  over the fact that he:
won the last election
is black
is an adult and acts like one
and does his level best to govern well

Theories are divine. I believe this. They are bestowed. This is why they come in more than one electrical package of arrival. They can be a tingle of awareness__'Oh, isn't that an interesting idea?'__to a cataclysmic blast__"Holy Sheet!! Where did THAT come from!?! I can't believe I thought of that!?! I can't believe I never thought of it before!?!"

Yep, out of the clear blue, or grey, or dark and booming sky can come the strangest of notions. The one that arrived this morning with my second cup of coffee and the kick-in of my migraine meds was the reason we have such a problem with weight these days. It isn't our diet. It's escalators. I lay all the blame on Nathan Ames who came up with the original patent design for the revolting__I mean the revolving stairs in 1859. There were later designers but he is the first on record for the patent so we'll blame him.

[This is actually a Reno escalator but, hey, one must settle for what one can find]

Anyway, back to business. Stairs. Take them out of the back, dank, grey, enclosed, echoing enclosures and make them centerpieces of art. Make them user friendly.

  Entice people to use them. Open up the idea that steps walked under ones own power is a good thing. Heck, half the the time the escalators don't work right anyway. Yes, yes, I know there may be some who might have a problem climbing 26 floors of stairs in the high-rises they work and live in. Well, that's what elevators are for. Escalators don't run there anyway. I mean if you think about it the increase in national waistlines came with the increase in escalators not elevators.

The one little itty bitty problem I can foresee might be the handling of speed...or lack thereof. We might need lanes. Possibly separate cases altogether to alleviate staircase rage. And there might be some whistling and air-horn action going on with the move it or lose it bunch

 but over-all I think I'm on to something here.

Song ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪


Why can't I be normal like Ella or Grace all wrapped in their friends and their lives
Happy , yeah, happy
Why can't I be regular like Jaz or Misa or Nik all slick__ and together, things all in order
Sliding along, yeah
How's it that my hair's way long or so short or too fuzzy or dark
Creeping around my face, yeah
A total disgrace
So out of place
Why can't I feel normal like all of them do, always dressed in big smiles
Showing no miles, yeah
While all I wear are the sighs
Why can't I be normal for maybe a day and feel what it's like to float around
Just that way, yeah
Is it too much to ask for only a day of friends and some smiles, maybe less miles
A step danced in jest, yeah
And hair done the best
For only one day, for only one day
Why can't I be normal like Ella or Grace?

As cold weather sets in and thoughts turn to things like raking leaves and mulled cider and baking, mostly baking, the kitchen comes to the fore.

There's a great deal of focus on the kitchen here in the states. On all of the home improvement shows it is the main room in the house. If you're thinking of selling your home you need to upgrade your kitchen [so say the experts]. If you only have a certain amount of money to work with then put it toward upgrading your kitchen. Cardinal rule. http://www.thekitchn.com/how-much-did-your-kitchen-reno-149500

For years you needed to have stone or hardwood floors, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. It was in all the magazines. On all the shows. Everyone was doing it. De rigueur. Nevermind the cost. Or the inconvenience. Or the fact that it all scratched or was a pita to keep clean, especially stainless steel. It was what was demanded by the industry. One, afterall, must succumb to the demand.

Now, after 25 years the trends they are a-changing. Stainless is giving way__but it has no clear replacement. What will be the new trend setter? They don't seem to be able to make up their minds. Black? Well, no, maybe not. White? It's so stark. God forbid we return to harvest gold or avocado from the shadows of the 70's. [shudder] So what does that leave us? I have it all figured out. http://realestate.msn.com/what-comes-after-stainless

Clear.

Yep. Glass or lucite fronted refrigerators, glass top and glass door ovens and glass freezers. We can see all our food 24/7. No more wondering if we need milk. We can see w/o having to open the door.

And

There is a huge business in selling these machines second-hand from commercial outlets.

Of course you may have a Coca-Cola logo on your refrigerator but, hey, it adds a little color, right?

When my sons were very small I gave up painting in favor of sanity. I however kept sketching. One of the projects I worked on was an idea of doing simple line illustrations with the idea of having them printed in a raised process for blind and partially sighted children...a sort of art in braille. When I had a variety of illustrations together I approached some people at the Maryland School for the Blind [we were living in Baltimore at the time]. I was informed that most reading material was being provided through computer now and there was no more need for hard-bound books, braille or my idea. But if I was still interested in pursuing it I could try to find a publisher somewhere. To say I was disappointed would be understatement. Simple-line may sound simple. It isn't. It's a distillation, a honing, and it's more often than not a process rather than just slapping a couple of lines on paper and saying Voila!

What turned out to be an even greater challenge was trying to find someone who could print using a raised line process. At that time, the late 70's-early 80's, the only people I knew of were the Japanese. I sent off proposals. Many were returned with polite refusals. Some were returned unopened. Some, never returned. Ah, well.

I thought of greeting card companies later but never followed up. They use the process on cards, afterall but life happened and well, enough said about that.

Anyway, I still think it's not a bad idea. I think all kids would enjoy feeling the picture. What brought all this to mind was a post by Carl,  http://www.guidingeyes.org/. They were working with the Maryland School for the Blind and The Columbia School for the Blind out of Wash DC. Amazing people.

Here are some examples. They're all I can find of the old work. Who knows where it all went? LoL. It has been many years. Anyway, the first two are simple covers from the neighborhood newsletter. In the one, it has Santa as an Arabber. This, as far as I know is a custom unique to the neighborhoods of Baltimore. http://www.baltimorestories.com/main.cfm?nid=4&tid=157  And the last two, illustrations from a children's book about a neighborhood baseball team about kids from an inner city area who have a team but no uniforms. The first of these pics show the kid getting hit with an idea just before he gets hit with the pitch and then the second the coach making sure his arm is ok. As you can see none of these are great illustrations in and of themselves. They weren't meant to be. They were meant to be templates for the process of raised line printing.  But it never came to be.

It was an idea that was born at the end of the printed era and the beginning of the computer age. But I thought I'd share. Just a little nostalgia from yesteryear. 

On the road again. It's been many years since I've traveled the highways as much as I've been traveling them of late and I have noticed a disturbing trend. The truckers are becoming an aggressive and dangerous presence on the road. Oh, that isn't to say all of them, or even the majority I'm sure, but those who are make their statements in such blatant and alarming a fashion that it seems like they are the majority.
~~~~~~~~~~~
picture of rt. 81 w/o insanity

~~~~~~~
Each trip I take north up the interstate in my 90 + mile round trip to see the doctors for the various things going on with me medically these days I find myself entangled in some altercation with a trucker. I am a careful but not timid driver. I have driven a great deal in my life and for part of it made a living behind the wheel. Yes, I am older. I am, however, aware of my limitations on the road. Most of them have to do with becoming easily fatigued. I account for this. I am not the wandering old lady toddering down the road.

I also try to show respect to other drivers__especially truckers. They're out there making their living. I was born and raised out west where the open road was long and the truckers were always respected. It is becoming harder to show this respect.

Today I had a trucker get on the bumper of my car in heavy traffic. When I opened space to allow another truck to come into the lane in front of me [w/o decreasing speed by much or putting on my brakes just very minimally backing off on the accelerator__there was no decrease in the flow of traffic] the trucker on my bumper went absolutely ballistic. This had not in any way caused him to slow down or put on his brakes__he was just being an asshole. He then got even closer to the back of my car. So close that all I could see was his grill and his brights. And he was honking. Now, there was no place for me to go because there was traffic in front of and next to us. We were already going 10 miles over the posted 65 mph. At this point all it would have taken for a major pile-up would have been for one driver in either lane to wobble, weave or become distracted.

I was livid!!

The trucker I'd let in moved over as soon as he could and then eventually more of the left-lane traffic moved right. As soon as I had an open and clear lane I downshifted and took off. Until that point I had this guy on my bumper driving like a maniac focused on one thing and that seemed to be running me off the road.

One of many pics of truck accidents on interstate 81
~~~~~~~~~~~

When I'd put a substantial amount of highway between us I settled back into my usual, sane driving pattern. What did he do? As soon as I took off to get away from him he got into the right lane. Immediately. What was he thinking? Probably that the cops would be showing up shortly and he didn't want any part of that. If they had I would have had a lot to say.

I don't know what's going on with these guys. It's more than a little disturbing. Last Friday evening a trucker on the same highway killed two local residents driving home because he was distracted. He was uninjured. They are dead and another driver is still in the hospital. I have to drive this road again next week. I feel like I should be strapping on armor.

And it makes me mad.

Punkins.  It's the season.

This year they say the fruit is smaller because of the drought here in the states. I don't know if Canada was hit as badly as we were so maybe the pumpkins up north are bigger and will be better for carving but down here what they're going to be good for is cooking.

There are the traditional seasonal punkin dishes__

And the not so traditional ones__

[mmm__stuffed pumpkin].

I went looking for a few new recipes. Here are a few I found that I thought I'd like to try.

Pumpkin Garlic Knots
http://www.handletheheat.com/2010/10/pumpkin-garlic-knots.html
~~~~~~~~~~~

Pumpkin Chili
http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/10/06/pumpkin-chili/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
and__

Pumpkin Brownies__:)
http://smallhomebigstart.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-brownies.html

There are a few more but I resist an inundation. I just picked up a small punkin and am eager to try the knots and the chili. I think that'll be all the meat from this small fruit I'll have to work with. I wonder how well pumpkin meat freezes? I really don't like to can.