YES, the rain will be here soon

 

RAIN is scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

What if we lived in South Carolina or worse, Tampa, Florida. Those videos are horrible to watch.

Scott will have a BBQ today at 3 pm on his deck, which is on the second floor. 50 minutes to go.

Since Ellen stays in my bedroom while she awaits her own place, many of my old folders are in there.

When I worked at Bristol Bensalem Human Services I had a DAILY SCHEDULE. 

Before I throw it out, lemme tell you who I saw.

Since I am a trained Group Therapist - MGPGP - I had half a dozen groups.

As well as individual clients.

I will not of course use their real names. 

WOMENS GROUP

Jenny, Lettie, Wanda, Cathy, Ellie, Marcy. 

FIFTY-PLUS GROUP

Five women.

WOMEN'S ANXIETY GROUP

Four women. One of them I looked up recently and she has passed from cancer. She loved dolphins.

CHALLENGE GROUP

Many women were on probation. They would never admit this but I always requested their paperwork was forwarded to me.

SCHIZOPHRENIA GROUP

6 men and women. 

Next to each person's name was their phone number. 

One woman could not admit that her grown daughter had killed herself, so we rarely discussed it. Why make her miserable. She had brought me a video tape of the police coming to her house and wanted me to listen to it. I never did.

When our agency closed down, the tape went with it.

....

One fellow, from overseas, watched pornography. His wife was divorcing him. 

I STILL KEEP IN TOUCH with one of my clients. 

JP. I wrote him an impassioned letter beseeching him to eat healthy foods.

Did he take my advice?

Dunno!

And now, I will get ready to go to Scott's for a BBQ. 

That man is a healthy eater. 

Gun violence in the 'city of brotherly love'

 

New film out about Marilyn Monroe. 

She knew exactly how men treated her. As if she were a dumb blond, vulnerable. "After the Fall" was a screenplay written by her former husband Arthur Miller. 

....

The Beatles from a Life Mag photo

High Schools in Philadelphia are not safe anymore. How do we protect our kids? Writes the Inquirer.

The latest: Nicholas, 14, was killed in a shooting Tuesday afternoon and four of his teammates were shot after a football scrimmage. They were ambushed by five unidentified shooters.

• At least one teen victim was targeted but the shooters remain unidentified.

The tragedy has shaken the city but it’s not that uncommon. So far this year, 178 children have been shot and 23 have died in Philadelphia. The kids, frankly, are not doing well. Students have told The Inquirer how they’re both scared and numb, as they process yet another display of violence.

Our lead story follows educators who are trying their best to comfort students, but aren’t quite sure about what’s next.

What would YOU do, Dear Reader, if this happened at your school?

....

New film about Monroe. 

Simply awful.

I watched 22 minutes on Netflix and stopped watching.

Pictures from Pennypack Trust AND my front yard

Look, the bark is peeling off the logs AND mushrooms are growing. 

For several years ornamental grass has been growing.

Akuba shrubs stay green all winter, which is why I bought em at nearby Galbally's. 

Watering the pot is why they stay green. 

Pennypack Trust. 

Can you see the greenery growing at THE TRUST? 

Ah, the springhouse. 

Dainty wildflowers akin to daisies. 

We climbed up steep hills and found ourselves among still-growing flowers. 

Scott is way up ahead. We did see about a dozen people today. 

The terrible lantern fly which is impossible to catch or even step on, which will eventually kill ash trees.

Myrtle, used as a ground-cover, at people's homes. 

Thank you Scott for driving me there and uploading my photos. I have GOT to learn how!

In a moment I will be drinking MATCHA TEA. 
 

 New research shows that if you sleep on your SIDE you are more protected from Alzheimer's disease.

Whew! Glad I got that in, before I die from something!

Wrote a terrific short story yesterday called THE BEWILDERED COYOTE which was rejected from Loch Haven Review.

I was shocked!

Woke up this morning at 7 am but did not feel like getting out of bed.

Didn't feel like reading any of my books on my newly-changed sheets. 

What a chore that is!

Was gonna make an appt to have my hair cut - it's white and puffy and wild - but changed my mind.

I like it this way.

Of course I shouldn't feel bad for getting my story rejected. But I do.

Here's a famous cover by Margaret Bourke White.

She died of Parkinson's disease. 

She was a daring photographer!

Ellen's got this really loud podcast on.

I will now dress for the day - something warm - Lynn's jeans do not fit me, Harriet's pants only go down to mid-thigh - I do have warm slacks I will wear - and so off I go.

BREAKFAST s'ils vous plait.

Made with butter and a pinch of salt and - ahchoo! - pepper.

EASY LIVING, a 1949 film on TCM and more

 

Scott and I usually watch NOIR ALLEY on Sundays, which is followed by other films on Turner Classic Movies.

I just woke up now at 1 am and vividly remembered the 1949 film EASY LIVING starring Victor Mature, with his slick-backed black hair and his vain, greedy wife named Liza, played by Lizbeth Scott.

The costumes were fantastic and that includes football jerseys. In the film Victor, once a top player, was going downhill, and kept missing passes or overthrowing the ball. His teammates made fun of him.

In the film Victor goes to the doctor as he's feeling terrible and is diagnosed with a heart condition. He learns if he plays football now it will kill him. 

So instead of his demanding selfish wife - who fancies herself an interior designer, though she has no talent - he decides not to play the last game which would help them win the playoffs.

He slaps her face and says, I should have done this before. 

Lloyd Nolan plays a wealthy man who asks Liz to decorate his pad. 

... 

Part of the film was based on a story by Irwin Shaw.

Short stories[edit] from WIKI

Shaw was born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in the South Bronx, New York City, to Jewish immigrants from Russia.^[2] His parents were Rose and Will. His younger brother, David Shaw, became a noted Hollywood producer and writer.^[3] Shortly after Irwin's birth, the Shamforoffs moved to Brooklyn. Irwin changed his surname upon entering college. He spent most of his youth in Brooklyn, where he graduated from Brooklyn College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1934.

Shaw was highly regarded as a short story author, contributing to Collier's, Esquire, The New Yorker, Playboy, The Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines; and 63 of his best stories were collected in Short Stories: Five Decades (Delacorte, 1978), reprinted in 2000 as a 784-page University of Chicago Press paperback. Among his noted short stories are: "Sailor Off The Bremen", "The Eighty-Yard Run", and "Tip On A Dead Jockey". Three of his stories ("The Girls in Their Summer Dresses", "The Monument", "The Man Who Married a French Wife") were dramatized for the PBS series Great Performances. Telecast on June 1, 1981. This production was released on DVD in 2002 by Kultur Video.

In 1950, Shaw wrote a book on Israel with photos by Robert Capa named Report on Israel.

Irwin Shaw - nee Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff - who was only 71 when he died. 

1913 - 1984

When I learned about Irwin Shaw I thought, WOW, I would really like to read his short stories.

...

Remember I wrote about our flash flood yesterday?

Two rabbits were running through one of my flower beds.

So what did I do?

I reserved the book RABBIT HILL by Robert Lawson at my library. I also told Ellen that he wrote a great book called SMELLER MARTIN, where the protagonist could smell things from miles and miles away.

I do remember my dad once saying, Wouldn't it be amazing if a man could run faster than any other person in the world. 

....

When I woke up just now, a young woman was being interviewed about turning a pro soccer player at only 16, youngest age ever. Her name is Olivia something. .

She was interviewed by Geoff Bennett. I could not think of his name yesterday so I am glad I saw that clip from the Weekend News Hour.

MORE SALTED NUTS PLEASE - We had a 10 minute downpour! - I ran out to put away my lawnchair

 

An artist named ROBERT JANZ published this photo of Rhiannon as a dystopian photo.

Golly, say it isn't true.

Click on it several times to enlarge. It is really a beaut !!!!

The magazine is W, a British publication.

Here in the states, we used to have WOMENS WEAR DAILY. 

AND, for THREE ENTIRE DAYS I was trying to think of the name of a singer. 

NINA SIMONE. 

Alexa was playing DION AND THE BELMONTS she she popped into my mind.

N I N A   S I M O N E. 

Whew! I thought I was gonna forget it again. 

....

How Often Should You Wash Your Sheets? 

"In my home washing sheets is a weekly task," Becnel says. "I do this every Sunday to all the beds in the house so I never forget, and there's nothing better than climbing into bed with clean sheets on a Sunday evening to fight those 'Sunday Scaries.'"

Beyond the allure of having freshly cleaned sheets to start your week off right, Becnel says that there is so much hiding on our sheets that is missed by the naked eye. According to UC Santa Barbara, humans lose approximately 500 million skin cells a day, and when we spend a fourth of our day asleep, that's a whole lot of shedding that occurs on our sheets. Plus, Murphy notes that oils, lotions, and creams that we use before bed can seep into sheets and pillowcases which will have a negative effect on our skin, especially if you're going for prolonged periods between washes. 

Loaded: 100.00%

Current Time 0:23

/

Duration 1:14

0

My Comcast or Infinity emails

 It took me THREE HOURS to write my short story THE GIRL ON THE COVER OF LIFE MAGAZINE.

But Comcast would not let me send them.

You need a special code, it said.

Finally I reached a man named NEIL who helped me.

My sister Ellen's phone number was listed instead of mine.

He asked, with my permission, to disable the VERIFY feature.

We set up a new password, which right now I must enter into my ADDRESS BOOK.

Done.

....

STEP LIVELY, STEP LIVELY, I told myself as I walked around the after a lunch of frozen reconstituted chick wontons, and later, two brown eggs, spinach, and a golden apple from the original Garden of Eden. 

Balance Exercises and Brain Exercises

Colorful cones with Tetris in background

Today is Friday, 9-23-22 and we can hear the Band practicing at the Upper Moreland H.S.

Guy Cooper to the rescue

My upstairs bathroom sink in the vanity

Apprentice Jake is below. Since he is short, he fit inside the tiny space below the kitchen cupboards. They used FLEXIBLE pipes.

The scale used by Simon Baniewicz for weighing packages to mail. He once had a website called AWESOME WHEELS. 

When I went off lithium, I became suicidally depressed so I visited flea markets with "Si" as he liked to be called. 

AND ANOTHER REPORT ABOUT BEATRIZ

I visited with Beatriz today. I got a chance to speak with her stepdaughter and got an update from her. Beatriz was not aware at all that we were there. According to her stepdaughter Beatriz only has rare short moments of clarity (once she even didn't recognize Steven. She does partially care for herself (feeding herself, getting up and going to the bathroom). 

 .....

This was from Barbara.

WALK AROUND BLOCK - WATCHING MEMORY ENHANCING PROGRAMS ON TV

Woke up at about 6 am with my drapes offering light. Ah, it was the sun! Apollo the sun god. 

I ate a big breakfast - 2 eggs, asparagus, and spinach leaves.

Delicious! Left out the cheese as I wanted to begin my morning quickly. 

Just came inside. 

Wore a warm jacket that Eileen Adams had given me. She is at a nursing home and can barely remember a thing. My memory is not too good myself!

Looking out before I left, it looked daunting!

Wind was blowing. Plopped a rain hat on my head and out I went.

Shocking!

Walking quickly was the only way to bear the wind. So I did.

Now I am drinking hot Camomile and Honey Tea.

And from my upstairs office, where I am typing, I see the wind blowing through the trees.

Scuse me as I sip again.

....

So my friend Beatriz Moisset is in hospice at one of the Sunrise Buildings, in Abington, I believe.

Before she went, I said to her, My friend's mother was there and they paid no attention to her. So, Ada, got her mom out and put her somewhere else.

....

As you know, Scott tucks me in at night, fastening my CPAP machine, so I can barely move. Started watching TV, where Dr Amen was on - his latest book is YOUR BRAIN IS ALWAYS LISTENING - and his wife Tana has written a book about facing your fears and trauma. 

They SEEM like a great couple. Greg Armstrong was promoting them.

And then Dr Joshua Axe was on with his Ancient Diet. Didn't wanna hear him talk about helping his mother defeat cancer using age-old natural ingredients and how he and his wife Chelsea often have pumpkin flavored pancakes for breakfast, using honey as a syrup.

I thought I'm about to go crazy b/c there is nothing good to watch. And none of my library books interested me. Not THE GUEST LIST nor THE LAST HOUSEWIFE but then I saw TASHA, by Bruce Morton, whose mother was half Jewish and half Irish.

Reading it saved me. His mother made up the name "Tasha" and Bruce's wife is Heather, who helped clean up the hoards - and yes - hoards they were - and I spent the remaining hours reading with the machine on.

....

As I walked around the block, a huge wrapper from TWO REESE BARS - yum! - sat on street. At one point when I rounded the block and onto Greyhorse, the wind really picked up. 

....

PASSCODES

I now keep them in my address book. 

....

TODAY'S GOAL: September 23, 2022, Get rid of the little slips of paper lying all over the room.

Will put on a Scarlatti Sonata I heard last night. The harpsichord had three keyboards!

Beatriz is on her last legs - Ellen drives me to Creative Writing Group

Below is an email I got from THE BEEHIVE, our writing group. It is very sad as our Leader is dying.

I called up several friends to see if this was good care. It is not!

 I went to visit Beatriz today, and I got to meet up with her family. She is deteriorating more now. She’s not talking much at all, less than what she had been, and she hasn’t been eating much or sheets very little at her meals. She does thrush in bed a lot as she’s very  Uncomfortable She’s got some bruises on her arms too. What I’m trying to bring out is if you had been thinking about going to visit, now would probably be a good time. Continue praying for her. A lot of her family spending time with her this weekend. But I was able to visit. And that was good. Barbara of the Balloons.

Sent from my iPhone

 I went to visit Beatriz today, and I got to meet up with her family. She is deteriorating more now. She’s not talking much at all, less than what she had been, and she hasn’t been eating much or sheets very little at her meals. She does thrush in bed a lot as she’s very  Uncomfortable She’s got some bruises on her arms too. What I’m trying to bring out is if you had been thinking about going to visit, now would probably be a good time. Continue praying for her. A lot of her family spending time with her this weekend. But I was able to visit. And that was good. Barbara of the Balloons.

Sent from my iPhone

......

Attended my CREATIVE WRITING GROUP this morning, driven by sister Ellen. I called my piece SIGN AND DATE HERE.

Attendees were Eva Priestly, head, who really knows her writing, Stacy and the continuing saga of her homeless daughter - dunno if it's based on reality, which is possible....

Rhonda who painted a lovely autumn picture

Helen, who wrote a colorful story of living at Married Student Housing - where I cannot remember - but they were all terrible - bug and roach infested. Possibly in Virginia. I mentioned I lived in Married Student Housing at the University of Texas at Austin.

There I saw the BLIND POET OF THE ARGENTINE, Jorge Luis Borges.

Joanne read something she had just finished this morning, like me.

Al also read from his enormous black tome with holes punched inside. 

Vern was there with emotional caregiver dog Abby, a darling.  

,,,,,,,,,

What? 3 pm already!

What will be my next brilliant move? 

Oh!  Our teacher Eva read something brilliant. A chapter from her book TRAVELING WITH MY SISTER. 

........

Kalie across the street is barking. That means the Mailman is on his way.

And I will go outside - it is very bright - and read one of my new library books.

....

Actually I read my mail on the bench on Scott's porch. 

The executive director of the Abington Library is Elizabeth Fitzgerald.

Just came inside from reading RIVERMAN outside plus poem A Proper Burial

 I had to drag the lawn chair - very heavy - to a part where I could see in order to read.

Altho I don't wanna cast aspersions against the subject of the book RIVERMAN: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath, the guy is more than eccentric. Is mentally unbalanced a better term?

The neighborhood kids were playing basketball down the street.

Only watched half of the PBS News Hour. Judy Woodruff wears spiked heels when she interviews big wigs and doesn't let them off the hook when they prevaricate. Is that the right word or as we say en francias le mot juste?

Riparian is a word I must look up. I did not bring my pocket Webster's outside. 

My income taxes arrived in the mail from Joquin. They really do a great job organizing everything and even putting STAMPS on the envelopes. 

Will mail everything tomorrow and will put a FOR SALE sign in front of my house as I'll be bankrupt. 

Ghantous told me to double my Tacrolimus morning and night.

My bookmark in RIVERMAN is a leaf, now dried up. 

The book lacks a bar code. 

A PROPER BURIAL

For two days a honeybee
lay unblinking on the sidewalk

Bending down, I cradled her
in my hand, then gently
put her on the grass.

No prayers needed.
I believe in the sanctity of life
and she will be at one with the earth.

More about the KEN BURNS documentary about the Holocaust

https://www.pbs.org/video/us-holocaust-episode-2-yearning-to-breathe-free/

I am not able to post a single scene from the KEN BURNS and LYNN NOVICK documentary about the HOLOCAUST.

For the trial which occurred at the end of the film, we saw Eichmann, who was kidnapped from Argentina in 1960  by Mossad agents from Israel and brought to Israel for his trial. 

He never said he was guilty.

He was known for the Jewish solution and responsible for millions upon millions of deaths of Jews and other undesirables.

In a well kept secret, his wife Veronika, saw him before he was executed by hanging on June 1, 1962 in Ramla, Israel. 

....

As I walked around the block this morning, I thought, I'll bet not a single person watched the documentary. 

Was sitting outside reading and wondered WHAT DO YELLOW JACKETS EAT?

 

What Do Yellow Jackets Eat? (Diet & Facts)

by American Tarantula & Animals

Have you seen some Yellow Jackets buzzing around your yard lately? Are you wondering how they’re finding food in your neighborhood?

Yellow Jackets primarily eat plant nectar and fruit, although they’ll also snack on sugary human food and drinks if left outside. When feeding larvae, Yellow Jackets will also eat meat, fish, and other insects – both dead and alive.

Let’s learn more about the characteristics and eating habits of these bold insects.

Just got home from walk around the block

 Guy M Cooper will be here shortly.

Brushed my teeth in the upstairs tub.

Fun?

No comment.

Nice to talk to folks. So the guy, who is walking a leashed dog, says to me, How ya doin?

Have you recovered from your surgery?

I haven't had surgery in years, I said. 

Was he a prophet?

Back in the day when I worked at the Intell/Record, I wrote the HEADLINES for Polly's Pointers and Dr. Gott.

I looked em up. They are real people, Polly changed her name, but Dr Gott is still in practice.

Who gave me the assignment? Joan Bastel. Is she around? YOU look her up, pas moi.

I do know her beloved husband died. 

Finally finished reading the current edition of THE TIMES CHRONICLE. 

Long time reporter BOB KEELER died.

Who?

The paper gave him a terrific write up.

He was only 66.

Took a shower this morning, very very carefully.

Stood on the rubber mat which had suckers on the opposite side.

Washed my hair and body with some shampoo Ellen gave me by Guarnier. 

And, yes, I did watch last night some high stepping gentlemen who will accompany Queen Elizabeth II to her final resting place at ....

I think the place is featured in CANTERBURY TALES.

Last night while wearing CPAP machine I read much of the book THE LAST HOUSEWIFE by Ashleigh Winstead. 

Simply awful but I read the spoiler this morning.

Have I lost my taste for reading?

Or I could do what my former client "Bonnie" did... read juvenile books.

WALK WALK WALK

I choose these Clark's shoes, bought years ago at Faherty's.

Barking dogs, leaves on sidewalks, leaves falling down in random patterns

What will the plumbers find today

I feel like Noah on the Arc

Watch me sail away, sail away, sail away. 

Finished the Guest List by Lucy Foley

 

Scott and I walked at the YMCA, a great walk. Of course it was dreadfully hot but I was prepared for it having drank a large glass of water.

He loved the walk.

Sat outside by our garden and read The Guest List. Napped and read, napped and read. Seemed like in the background someone was canvasing for the Democratic Party.

Cars began driving by. All these people live on my street, Cowbell Road. Do they think, as I do, it's an unusual name? 

The book is quite violent. Not that I'm opposed, I just dunno what is going on!

And cursing! Whoa, baby, loads of dat!

Okay time for the PBS Evening News. You know, Ukraine, Putin, AMTRACK strike.