Pretend Conversation with the Editorial Page Editor of the Intell - Poem: The Great Eternity of Forever

This refreshing nightcap is sustaining me right now, along with the Johnny Meister blues show on WXPN. Reminds me that I bought a ticket for the upcoming Buddy Guy performance at the Keswick, sometime in September.

Was gonna NOT go b/c of my boot. And was gonna ask Jim P or Barry B if they wanted to buy my ticket.



But, maybe I can just park in the regular lot, get there early, and hobble in.

Foot is now elevated on smashed-up box in my upstairs office.

Wanna work on my short story about the Air Stream trailer.

We'll call the editor Alan K, which is his name.

Am waiting for my Aging column to get in the Intell. Guess it won't come out the morrow, Sunday, the biggest reading day.

I really like reading the Intell but I don't have a subscription which means you can't read the darn paper online. You only have 24 hours to read it and then you're advised You need a subscription to read.

Am now making my case to Alan of why I don't subscribe. Remember, it's just pretend.

He recently won a prestigious award.0

Before I entered Hahnemann for my master's degree in psychotherapy, I had worked for the Intell for five years. I worked in Horsham at the Record, a part of the Intell that folded. Loved that job.

Lisa Smith was my boss as I wrote headlines for the Advice Columns.... Dr Gott, Polly's Pointers, and Dear Abby.

Polly has just written a book and it's waiting for me at the Upper Moreland Library when Bigfoot and I can get there.

I did get gas tonight - 90 cents off - and shopped at the Giant where I bought that new Califia Almond Milk Mocha Coffee.

Will write them a fan letter after I finish this post.

It's always nice to do something that makes people feel good, not to mention voice your opinion when things get out of hand. Excellent story in the Times about the early racial prejudice of Trump. We closely follow our family beliefs unless we have the fortitude to think for ourselves, which Trump does not.

Skim the story here.

Sorry to editorialize, but it's disgraceful!!!

And a must-read!

Alan, I do not have a lot of money. And I scrutinize everything I buy. The rates to subscribe to the Intell are exorbitant.

$23  per month!

The NY Times is $15.

Mom once advised me to keep $8,000 in the bank for my funeral.

I'll let my kids bury me. They've got the money. Cremate me and throw my ashes in the Pennypack Creek or other nature center.

Gosh, we're here for such a little while.

Quick poem:

NEW DRINK AND I VISIT THE STARS

Stepping out on the front porch
Darkness enfolds me like a cloak
The French Lieutenant's Woman

Once again on this clear night
with the crickets and locusts
for music

I stand on the sidewalk watching
for Meteor Showers
head upturned like the
Queen of the Nile

Two millennia ago
queens, butchers, lovers,
turned their eyes toward the sky

Everything remains the same
in the great eternity of Forever. 

Grace's Sixth Birthday Party - Happy Birthday Grace Catherine

 

 Dan insisted I come, even with my boot. The yellow egg drop soup is actually a cup of Coors Light.

 
 I asked that the driveway be cleared for when I pulled up.

"Hello Mr Carter," I said. I was trying to remember his name and did by the time I got there. It's really Mr Carter Bump Bump.

What a busy street! You shoulda seen the finagling as everyone left.

Mine's getting busy right now. My next door neighbor, who's voting for Gary Johnson, libertarian, will probly BBQ and swim.

I'm not allowed to swim, said Bruce Brushkoff, my foot man.




After the pizza, let's gather round the dining room table for cake n ice cream. 

 

 Crowd shots please!

 Newborn baby. Our family vegetarian baby will be born in January. Jade, here's some names you can choose from...these were kids - M and F - at the party

Evan, Austin, DaVessa, Chloe, Seamus, Jackson, Hunter, Kieran...that's all I can remember. Plus two Grace's.

Hmmm. I wonder how she liked my poem. Amazingly, her fish Esmeralda is still alive. 

 She loved playing with the Animal Clinic. Each door was locked and she unlocked em with a key.

 The Booted One prepares to eat Vanilla Ice Cream, cleverly served in a cupcake cup.  Alice and I shared a story about Bassett's Ice Cream at the Reading Terminal and about Nilla Wafers.

ai

 Evan recently learned to walk. Are they playing ping pong?  Or is this the Train Table that draws all comers.

 Nicole's big bro Sean Toohey, wife Alice and Ayla Shannon, 15 mos. Ayla is a family name from Alice's mom in Maine, where she and the baby visited for two months.

 The kids' parking lot.

The bouncer. Dan pumped it up.

 Aunt Kat looked lovely. She works two days a week at the beauty salon after suffering a mishap. If you look closely at the picture, it looks like she's carrying a little puppet of a man.

 The birthday girl.

Crowd shots.

 The boot and I are eating three things - pizza, fresh fruit and a glass of Coors Light. Barbara - aka Mom-Mom - served it to me. Her family - The Youngs - were here. Tom flew up with his sister Kat from Florida. Ah, Florida, of the sweet-smelling air. As kids we flew there every winter.

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 Hello Barb and fun-luvin children.

Will laboriously walk upstairs in my boot and send down the b'day poem. I also stuck a $10 bill in the Grace envelope.  Orig'ly I wanted to put in $6 for Grace, $3 for Max, and $2 for baby Ayla.

Ruthie, must you tell every little thing?

Why not? Okay.... here goes.... Scott has NINETY FUCKING CENTS off gas at the Giant and I'm heading there shortly.

TO GRACE CATHERINE ON HER BIRTHDAY

And my son Daniel Paul

brought with his wife Nicole

a baby girl upon this land.

And her name, they announced,

shall be Grace.

Grace Catherine. With a C

of course.

Wherever I am, I can see her.

Just close your eyes and there

she is on her high bed in the

land of Pennsylvania

she is tired and rests a

moment. Thinking. Reflecting.

What is the meaning of the

world. What part do I have to play?

Mommy is a teacher. Dada a funster.

Little Brother Max is a brown-eyed

terror with those eat-me-up arms that know

exactly what to do with a train

or a fire engine or Olympic legs

that tear across the room faster

than dropping a Cheerio on

the floor.

She looks around her room. When

she’s older she’ll have other rooms

of her own, but none so beautiful

as this. Princess posters, a window

where she can view the vast expanse

of Argyle Road and the sky above.

My eyes are closed. I see Grace

Catherine in a long green field

holding her arms up to the sky.

Flowers grow all around, purple

pansies, gold daylilies, white daisies.

Hallelujah, she calls to the

heavens, hallelujah, thanks for

making me be born.

PART TWO - New Carpet from Specialty Flooring - Finished in a day - Poem PUTTING A CARPET OVER THE BASEMENT LINOLEUM

 Tom remembers being here.

His ecstatic grin after I told him I needed his photo.

Oh, he said, I'll be all over FB.

No, on my blog, I said. He remembered.

His buddy is Brian.

Can you hear him clinking and clanging now with his tools? He's at the top of the stairs.

You can see the previous rug the Travis Family had.

Ah! Just remembered the name..... a shag carpet.

I replaced it when the laundry basin overflowed and the entire downstairs had quarter-inch of water.

My late neighbor Charlie Myers across the street helped me. He knew just what to do. Brought over newspapers. We both stomped them down, absorbing the water. That man knew just about everything. Taught me unforgettable things with the garden. He took early retirement from Proctor and Gamble which was over on Warminster Road bc he had poor circulation in his legs. Smoked Virginia Slims.

Jeepers! The door to my My Charlie Myers compartment just creaked open.

The torn newspapers are in pretty good shape.

 I think Mom helped me choose the pink carpet at Sears. I believe my homeowners paid for it back then. We went a little over the mandated price but we paid the difference bc we loved the carpet so much.

I love these white van work trucks. The two fellows have worked for Nick for many years.



Hard to see. This is linoleum on the basement floor. CLANG CLANG

Black floor with colorful dots.

Kinda looks like the evening sky. Hmmm. Is there a poem in this?

Mom had a pain in her arm, she told me last nite. It's been there four straight days. So I drove her over to Warminster Hospital where she got an X-ray of her arm.

Ellen went too. Ellen's car is suffering from auto-destruct. She'll be driving and suddenly it does strange things like stop running.

We were only there a lil over an hour.

I came home to see the new carpet.

Smooth as pudding.


PUTTING A CARPET OVER THE BASEMENT LINOLEUM

I am a relentless payer of homage
to things that will disappear
For my newly passed Winnie I have
poured strong coffee grinds over
the plant she gave me, and plucked
off the dead leaves so new ones
can grow

Not so for the basement linoleum
black with tiny colorful spots
that might - we never know -
lead into a parallel universe
where boundless mysteries are
planted, and where, the Almighty
lives on a Golden Throne.


Lucky for us, he is taking questions
by appointment only. Stay where you
are, tilt your head upward, and
whisper, Are you there, sir,
are you there?

PART ONE - The idea I had is happening today! New carpet from Specialty Flooring

 The Willow Grove Bible Church around the corner is asking for "Americana" art work, so I whipped up this American flag made from an egg carton.  Linda B drove me over. I also donated my funky patterned sneakers and the postcard to the Khan Family - the Gold Star Family - that was returned

addressee unknown.

Hope all my readers are doing well. A little problem w my mom, we're trying to take c/o.  
This is the long-ago Ruth Deming with her two children, Sarah and Dan. Hard to get lil Dan to sit still for the free K-Mart picture.

Sarah is coming to stay with me, using my home as a Writers Retreat.

The Cowbell Inn.

The Family Room, where she'll stay, has a lovely pink carpet I bought at Sears, after the previous one flooded from overflow from the laundry tub.

I began fantasizing on Monday buying a new carpet.

Stop it! I told myself. There isn't enuf time and your tax bill is coming up soon.

Be quiet, I ordered myself and called Nick from Specialty Flooring.

On Weds, today is Friday, his man Jerry came out to measure. And brought out samples. Truthfully, none of em great, but they're all in stock and will be 'cheap.'

The one I ordered is the 'best' quality, said Nick, will last longer than I will - I only have about 20 mindful years left - and the cost is less than 2 grand. Of course I was hoping for less.

Samples from Jerry. I really dug the grey.... but Nick said I needed a bright color for the basement. (He's always right.)

 Mauve or purple blue.

 Gold which I'll have installed today.  At 4 am, I woke up and backed my car outa the drive. Also put up the September sked for New Directions. Then went back to bed.

In

Am getting the downstairs ready in my Tugboot.

Ready for The Installer and for Sarah Lynn. She'll share her stories about Rio with us. When I called her last nite she was having a small dinner party. Not feeling too well.

When she left for Rio I called her and asked if she was worried about anything. No, she said. She was finishing packing, which is always the worst.

 Vacking the once lovely pink carpet.

.

 Back porch with Judy's white wicker sofa and table. Actually Bob's Home Improvement set up everything this way when they were putting on a new porch roof. See Exhibit B-13.

My Art Studio is on the end.

Worked hard last nite removing what I could so the Installers had a clear way.

"Buy ClearWay Gloss" for a gleaming wooden floor.

 Mayhap Sarah could use this makeshift table to put her laptop on.

Bathroom privileges! Two Russian guys retiled the bathroom floor about 7 years ago. One was saving money to attend Penn to become a brain surgeon. He is now enrolled.

RIP Winnie Bannigan - Thank you podiatrist Bruce Bruskoff - Poem: Thank you Dr B

Winnie gave me this philodendron when she moved out of Moreland Towers. It's weeping now since Winnie died this morning of cancer.



Winnie in hospice at her sister Tony's house in Glenside.

Her niece Michelle, an RN, called me.  Michelle had called me yesterday and said Winnie was holding her own.

I guess that was a warning.

I visited her a couple of times at her sister's house in Glenside, PA, where they held hospice.

Michelle said the hospice workers from Abington hospital were terrific. She was never left alone for one second. Read more about her on my blog. Here's another blog entry from her last home at Moreland Towers.

Z blog knows all.

Scott drove me to the podiatrist for my 1 pm appt. Got there early to fill out paperwork. Bruce Bruskoff and his staff are courteous, efficient, kind and have an X-Ray machine there. You simply hobble over in plastic booties.

I have anudder appt in four weeks. You should read what's on the bottom of the appt sheet... it's a big sheet, not a tiny card.

We enjoyed serving you and hope to bring you Happy, Healthy Feet.

I compare everything to how we make people feel in New Directions. Oh, I hope Char checked the phones today. 

 What a chair! Like a dental chair. Hello Dr Joe!

 Plastic foot.

 This little piggy .... actually it's a stress fracture. My sister Ellen, a superb researcher sent me a Mayo Clinic link. Who has time to look?

...

 Tiny crack on leftmost bone.... little toe.

 Dr B.... I forgot I had my close-up button on. Brain befuddled by foot pain.

 Dr B cut my nails and this woman polished them. People w diabetes should get em professionally cut. 

26 bones (One-quarter of the bones in the human body are in the feet.); 33 joints; more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments (Tendons are fibrous tissues that connect muscles to bones and ligaments are fibrous tissues that connect bones to other bones.).

My great friends Freda and Bernie Samuels recommended Bruskoff to me. Look! I finally spelled Bruskoff right.

Finished off the last of the fresh tomato soup for now. Lots more tomatoes awaiting. Scott or me might try making our own tomato sauce for our homemade pizzas.

My daughter and kidney donor Sarah Deming got her first story published in the NY Times. Read it here.

Good comments, you can read on the upper right of the story.

Many folks say boxing is a brutal sport. It doesn't have to be, though. There are mismatched boxers and sometimes the referee doesn't call the game soon enuf.

Many of the kids at Atlas Boxing Gym learn self-esteem for the first time in their lives.

e

Scott said Sports taught him self esteem.

In his neighborhood, he was put down bc he was a Jew and short and had big ears. Softball, street hockey and other sports made him feel good about himself.

Have brewed breakfast blend coffee and will go to my upstairs computer to finish - hopefully - my Intelligencer story on Aging.

I called Mildred C - view yesterday's blog - and told her I wouldn't be swimming in her pool anymore due to my Boot.

Me blog isn't complete w/o a poem. Hold on. It's 7:33 pm now. Poem done at 7:51 pm.

Rem Murphy from my writing group said he'd put my foot on his Prayer List.

Thank you so much, Rem!



 \THANK YOU DR B

They all wear blue in the office
Every single doctor, nurse, aide,
secretary, certified X-Ray technician
and the walls, too,
are blue.

I am small, not even five feet,
and my left foot throbs with pain
The questionaire asks to describe
the pain, check it off

Stabbing throbbing tingling.

I am that soldier in the
Afghan, whose foot has been
shattered by an explostive
I lie in the mud, sobbing
softly, heaving, foot's
still attached, take it
off for godssakes
I can't stand the pain.