Guests galore today! Used our Frigidaire dishwasher - what a thrill

Sarah and I make Michael's Brownie Explosion Coffee from Coach Iris

Guillermo Resto's gift for us. A skateboard of the late Basquiat.

Ethan Ubered over. Yay! Ethan is here.

Grace, 9, we missed you and Max, 6. His fave class is Library and hers is History.

Nicole got a great new haircut!

I used to do this to Sarah and Dan when they were little. I also had them sit on a small end table!

My sister Ellen bought me an outdoor mat from Walmart and removed the old one she had given me. It is beautiful!!!

Holiday cards strung up on wall. Thank you Scott!!!

Ethan playing background music as we strung up the cards.

He said most people don't like their mother in laws but he loves his!

We used the dishwasher for the first time in - what? - a year?

Scott has an all-new kitchen but w/o a dishwasher.

 Sarah uses my old-fashioned rotary blender for the caramel icing made with butter, brown sugar, confectioner's sugar and lots of vanilla, including an old bottle from Penzey's spices.

RZD in her fake smile.

Marcy, nice chatting with you earlier. One of the above cards is from The Marce. Say hello to your mom from all of us. She was on speaker phone.

Mom called to wish me Happy Birthday.

Sarah finished the caramel cake. Ethan asked if he could lick the batter and realized his late mother Cara must have made more cakes than he thought. Like me she had diabetes.

How great having Sarah at home

I got so many Happy B'day cards! One was from my friend Yin Liu. I always thank folks by sending them an email, but I did not have her email address.

This morning I re-read my short story about her, totally true. Grief.

I'd sent Quail Bell a number of short stories but they're so behind I stopped.

I make a lotta noise here at home bc I'm all by myself. This morning I used my Water Pik. OMG, I thot, I'll wake Sarah.

The noise was deafening!!!

I have two bathrooms.

I used the one downstairs and while I was seated I thought I saw something lurking behind the cabinet.

NO, I shouted. It was anudder jumping spider.

Quickly I grabbed the plunger caught most of him underneath except for one tentacle.

Just stay away, goddamit, so I won't have to kill you and feel guilty.

Sarah and I just made coffee - Coach Iris's gift to me: Michael's Brownie Coffee.

Oh, I wish you were here with us so you could have a cup.

Nuffin like warming your hands on a cup.

This cup was a gift from Sue Abernathy. Many of my cups are from my sister Donna when she moved from her flood-ravaged townhouse to her lovely place in N J.

Sarah and I slept well. I was on the red couch where I read GRAVITY, savoring every minute and enjoying the metaphors and analogies and various permutations of our family members and her friends. Hello Cousin Melsy.

Late at night we Ubered to the Willow Inn and had a superb meal. She had eggplant parm and I had shrimp scampi w angel hair pasta.

Dessert for this diabetic?

Mais oui. Rice pudding with cinnamon on top.

Went on bike for 20 minutes, as Sarah and I chatted.

THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS

From inside the house, the winter sun
rises over my beloved dead Charley's house
In Philadelphia they pronounce it Cholly,
please!

He thought my Sarah looked like a princess
I couldn't agree more, Her Highness the
boxer.

A jogger in a pulled-down cap runs by
My clock ticks 9 am
and soon Baby Jesus aka
Ruth Zali Deming
will be born.

Gas is fifty cents off

Ellen and St Anthony couldn't make it for lunch since she had a flare-up of her bad foot. "Bad" means excruciatingly awful.

Good film noir this morning. I'm sure, I said to Scott, I won't fall asleep. Next thing I knew I was waking up but most of the film CASH ON DEMAND was still on.



Eddie Mueller loved it and mentioned the hierarchy at the bank.

This is one film I'd watch again.

Went to get gas this morning. Where's the gas station, I asked sleeping Scott. He told me Terwood and then make a left.

I got fifty cents off.

Pulled into the busy station, you never know which lane to get into, but a sign said "Extra long hoses" so I tried to stretch the hose into my gas tank to no avail.

A nice fellow named Wayne helped me.

A woman came out and said you'll have to start all over again.

Wayne, do me a favor, I said. Please back up my car.

He did, scrunching into the front seat.

////
From my friend Rem: Just got back from my sister's. Met my nieces, their hubbies, my grand niece and grand nephew, and their dog Tonka, and my sister's Jack Russell, Moose. Dinner was great--salmon! The Sam's Market cheesecake and pumpkin pie were a hit.--Rem

///////

Ate at Mom's. Lynn made a scrumptious lunch. Her usual but also with holiday cookies. Oh well, I thought, I'll go on my bike when I get home.

Will do it when Pride and Prejudice comes on PBS.

//////

Since I got YE OLDE GAOL CELL published by Pure Slush I needed to scan it and send it back signed, dated, with my address.

He's very good at this. Then Linda Barrett came over with her mom and he did it for her, too.

Should I go upstairs and watch the horrible news?

The Law Professor and more are published - Poem: Begging for Money

So I'm at the Giant and I pull in head-first next to a car where an older gent is getting into his car.

Don't worry, says I, I'm not gonna bop you.

He laffs and we start to talk.

I show him my cardboard box and tell him that instead of bags, I use this for my groceries. I also mention I'm reading THE FIRST BOOK OF QUANTAM PHYSICS.

Steve tells me he was a chemist all his life, made good money, but then was downsized. He wasn't worried due to his savings account, but could not find a job.

He was quite unhappy. Finally he found a job at the IRS. Terribly boring but it was a secure job with great benefits.

We said goodbye to one another.

<>

THE LAW PROFESSOR is my newest short story. Rem critiqued it, tho I sent it to my sister Lynn, who didn't understand the ending. Now she does, tho. Also sent it to Ellen Rosenberg who loved it and said it flowed very well.



Here's our late friend Ron Abrams. He was so depressed I would call him and give him assignments like ride your bike and I'll call you later to make sure you did.

I added a few extra touches and then mailed it to Scarlet Leaf Review.

Roxana emailed me the very same day - last night - and told me it would be featured in the next issue of Scarlet Leaf.

Fabulous, just fabulous.

Gotta run downstairs now and put the sheets into the dryer.

Done! My dryer is the original from when I moved here in 1989, a Whirlpool.

Sarah and Ethan will be here today. So will Ellen Rosenberg and boyfriend St. Anthony.

<>
This morning I got the okay that my short story YE OLD GAOL CELL will be published in Pure Slush.

Whoopie!!!

Am eating my delicious omelet now. Everything's in it including some eggshells, good for calcium, methinks.

Wanted to leave early to check the ND post office box but a sheet of frost and ice is covering the cars here in Huntington Dales, the name of our development.

BEGGING FOR MY MONEY

In the cardboard box
where the rejects rest
until garbage day
are the Morris Dees'
Southern Poverty Law Center
UNICEF for impoverished children
another request from WXPN
Herb Lamb, my newspaper carrier.

Is this the world the Lord hath made?

Would my Quantum Physics book
even know if there's a Lord?

Still, I lie in bed and pretend
God answers our prayers.

I was up until 4 am and then I heard a strange sound - GARBAGE MORNING

These photographs are from the NY Times. At Willets Point in the Bronx a shantytown junkyard employs men who are illegal aliens, have no passports or papers, but the junkyard will soon be torn down to make way for the usual suburban sprawl of townhouses, grocery stores, restaurants, etc etc.

I

I forgot to save the photos I have, so I'll just post this one.

I got interested in junkyards when I used to drive young Dan to a comic book store near Montgomery Mall.

I also visited Bullock's in Warrington and Biello's in Elkins Park.

They let me in since I said I was a reporter, which was true.

< >

Am making great progress in watching DIRTY JOHN. There are 8 episodes, so it is not endless, which it seems.



Great acting. Based on a true story.

Can't wait to see how it ends, Oh, says Edward Espe Brown of Tassajara, it's the journey that counts, don't be in a rush but cherish every moment.

Yes SIR, I mean your highness. I mean your monkness. Oh, I think he's a brother.

Pardon me, he's a Buddhist priest.

an

GARBAGE  EVE

In my clogs and polka dot pajamas
I dashed out the front door and eyed
the yellow plastic bins as brutal
winds sought to suck me into the air
and send me sailing into the eye
of the hurricane.

Luck was mine. But when I curled up
in bed I felt like I was in a two-seat
privy with chattering teeth and
frostbitten toes.

<>

They're making a new film of Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott.

I never read the book, so I went online
and read the first chapter. She's an excellent writer
with excellent characterizations.

<>
I also pulled out my book 100 best reads for a single night.
What a great book, so well written. Half the books I've
never heard of. It's by two brothers, John Major and
David Major.

I had to go upstairs three times as I couldn't remember their
names.

Just gave mailman Dante a Xmas gift - $20 in an envelope
reading Happy Holidays. As I was running to catch him in
his parked mail truck, I thought, I should have written
Dante Alighiari.

AND NOW, if you'll excuse me, it's Dirty John to the finish.

New Directions Holiday Meeting 2019 - Today's Poem Coca Cola

First, we discussed our challenges and asked where would each of us spend Christmas, my 74th b'day.

The phone rang just now. I hoped it would be my son inviting me over. It was CVS.

I wore my Chico's sweater and read my poem about it

MY CHICO'S SWEATER

In a suburb of Beijing
neutral colors of Polyesters
move slowly in the mid-day sun.

Different styles they have
mine has matching ribbing
along the cuffs and the wide bottom

Remarkably silent the herd of
Polyesters have only one purpose
in life: to attract a woman from
the UK, New Zealand, Dubai, Ethiopia
and everywhere a discerning woman
can be found

They make her feel loved whenever
she puts it on. Soft as cashmere,
soft as Charmin or newly washed hair by
Portia at the Hair Cuttery and that
was truly spectacular!

When we left the meeting - and Ada does a great job driving me home in the dark - we left Nelson some holiday treats.

Carole's outstanding Spinach Dip with crackers n dark pumpernickel to dip with
Margie, wearing a Santa hat, brought many different foods including COCA COLA,


delicious cookies with glitter on top, and I brought my remaining cornbread, which I'd made with my next-door neighbors.

BTW, the caffeinated Coke had no effect on me. I immediately composed a note to our group, writing BRAVO to Ed Lakota for his SINGALONG. He gave us all red sheets for the lyrics. Boy, did I ever enjoy that!

After the meeting I biked for half an hour.

I haven't a single greeting card to send anyone. I may have to fashion one myself.

COCA COLA

What a thrill to hold a can of Coke
and twist open the lid
Would it spill open like the
Fountains of Versaille

First, I thought, I'll drink it
ladylike out of a cup, and then thought

Hell, no, and tipped back my head
to suck the warm delicious soda
straight into my awaiting throat.

At least it wasn't snow - Poem: Chico's sweater

Thwack thwack thwack, the sound of my window wipers at top speed. Look if the people at Keystone Screw could make it to work in the cold and rain, then I can drive to CVS Pharmacy.

Wore my Storm King cap to shield me somewhat from the hard-hitting rain.



In addition to Losartin, to protect my kidneys, I bought diabetic socks and a darling over-the-ears hat for $10.

When I awoke, Cowbell was a sheet of ice and so was my car.

While waiting for the ice to melt, I watched a YouTube program about the killing of the Russian tzars. Since they were so secretive no one knew why they employed Rasputin. The youngest boy had hemophilia and the mysterious Rasputin - such a Dostoevskian name - helped Alexei.

I had terrible dreams while watching. I had to fill out paperwork and crossword puzzles.

<

After CVS pharmacy I pulled into the STAPLES parking lot.

Friendly Dave helped me find my calendar for 2020.

He even asked me how my writing was coming along!!!



Rich n Ada bought me this lovely sweater from Chico's. I'll be wearing it at tonight's ND meeting.

Yawn. Bet you think all I do is eat cornbread, nap while watching great free YouTube films - currently an award winner from Sweden called PARKED - where strange things are going on for the main character.

MY CHICO'S SWEATER

In a suburb of Beijing
neutral colors of Polyesters
move slowly in the mid-day sun.

Different styles they have
mine has matching ribbing
along the cuffs and the wide bottom

Remarkably silent the herd of
Polyesters have only one purpose:
to attract a woman from
the UK, New Zealand, Dubai, Ethiopia
and everywhere a discerning woman
is to be found

They make her feel loved whenever
she puts it on. Soft as cashmere,
soft as Charmin or newly washed hair by
Portia at Hair Cuttery and you better
believe, Girl, I ain't
lying to You !!!