Poem for Walter Straus

Scott, have a good evening at the salt mines, as he calls his job at SEPTA.

Years ago, Walter Straus gave me this 'lantern' in case of Lights Out.

The battery got all yucky, so Scott and I threw it out.

We have no idea what happened to Walt, if he's dead or alive. Born in 1918.

What a history he has.

Will someone write his obit if he's dead?

HOPING

Walter and I met at the Willow Grove Staples
where he was buying a Scrabble dictionary.
He wanted to know if 'dipshit' was a word
he could use, dipshit as in idiot, but with
much more oomph.

I always loved Walter as a friend. He told me
about his three marriages, the suicide by plastic
bag of his favorite wife, who described him as
my moon, my stars and constellations, but her
diabetes was as painful as a double amputation
in the Civil War, with whiskey as a painkiller.

I'd visit him in his Regency Towers apartment
where he welcomed me with a glass of cranberry juice
a yogurt compote with fresh fruit, and readings
he produced from his walls of books.

Intelligent, debonair, refined, and always
attracted to members of the fair sex, I wish you
well, Walter Straus, wher-ere you are.

....

Bettering my short story renamed CARJACKED

Linda and Rem were here. Linda read from her ongoing novel. Rem loved all the action but told her to slow down a bit. Too hard to follow what was going on.

Rem wrote anudder episode of Randy Package which featured Randy as his usual salacious self. Monks had actually known since 1178 that the moon is hollow.

What am I - little Ruthie - gonna do with that information?

Was thinking of writing my township commissioner Valenza and asking Is the world gonna end soon, but thought better of it.

Yikes! I am uncannily warm now. Wearing my usual PJs and eating my usual pretzels.

Had gone to the libe to take the second of three yoga classes.

There isn't one today, said Amber.

It's on the first day of each month. Left my pink yoga mat in the trunk.

That thing is darn heavy.

Two new books came in. One is for our reading group and is called "We are all completely beside ourselves."

Started reading it and it is Fantastic. So far.

Author Karen Joy Fowler has won almost every award there is.

One of my readers, sister Lynn, did not like the story.

She was right!

So I rewrote the whole thing. Judy wanted to hear it over the phone. She said the only word for it was "powerful," not my word.

Then I got on my bike and watched Doc Martin with

Alexander Martin Clunes

• Alexander Martin Clunes , OBE (born 
• 28 November 1961) is an English actor, television presenter, film director and comedian. He is best known for portraying Martin Ellingham in the ITV drama series Doc Martin and Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly.

....

As I watched, it all came back to me.

...

Doc Martin is an amusing series.

...

Question: Where shall I read my new library book?

Two poems: Trust and Humpback Whales

Well, I thought, I'll just smear this JASON body lotion over my face and arms since I won't be eating any time soon.





Yum! Just ate a great snack... Campari tomato wrapped in American cheese.

Altho nuffin can compare with the famed Jersey tomatoes, which, of course, are seasonal, growers have figured out how to get a damn good tomato shipped all over the country.

From Wiki --

Campari is a type of tomato, noted for its juiciness, high sugar level, low acidity, and lack of mealiness. Camparis are deep red and larger than a cherry tomato, but smaller and rounder than a plum tomato. They are often sold as "tomato-on-the-vine" (TOV) in supermarkets, a category of tomato that has become increasingly popular over the years. Campari tomatoes can be produced from different varieties, such as Mountain Magic.^[1][2][3][4] As a hybrid, the seeds cost around $150,000 per pound.^[5]

The company Mastronardi Produce registered the term "Campari" as a United States trademark for its tomatoes in 2003; however, the trademark was challenged in 2006 based on claims that "Campari" is actually the general name for the tomato variety bred in the 1990s by the Dutch company Enza Zaden.^[6]

Characteristics[edit]

A typical campari cultivar is globe-shaped hybrid, with regular leaves, and exhibits resistance to the tobacco mosaic virus. The plant grows 6–8 feet (1.8–2.4 m), and matures in 70–80 days.^[7]

TRUST

Farm to table fruits and vegetables
could be deadly, toxic, but they're not.
I'm reminded of the vichyssoise disaster
years ago. A can of this Pepperidge Farm
delight killed several, and I wondered
Why not me?

Now, at 2 am, before I go back to bed,
my mind harks back to when I lived
in Austin, hilly country, and deadly
quicksilver floods drowned six people
in a car and I thought,
It could've been me!

.....

I do enjoy blogging but at any minute, this whole entry can disappear.

Life is as tough as walking a tightrope without a net below.

....

I did poke my head outside to feel how cold it is.
C... O... L... D !!!!

Aunt Hy, I miss you!

Her photo is on my bulletin board upstairs.

On Amanpour:  Iranian-Americans detained as much as 12 hours at border crossing from Vancouver to their homes in Washington... View Lt Gov of Washington State here




Harry and Meghan will go it alone...

Say Christiane several times to get it right. Then she mentions Hari Srinivasin and calls him at the end Harry, not hahri.


HUMPBACK WHALES

In Ocean City New Jersey
Scott and I went on a whale watch.
Not a single whale was to be seen.
I watched a whale of a girl in a
tie-dyed shirt and suffering from
seasickness, I grabbed an ice cream
sandwich from the cooler.

We will try again when next we
visit the seashore, collecting
shells and conchs and starfish
of every variety.

Whales forgive us, says the
television show. We nearly
harpooned them to extinction
but Ahab with furrowed brow
went down with his ship
Pequod not Typee.

All the other photos came out side ways. 

At the Adams bird feeder, six birds were enjoying their breakfasts, while I had my oatmeal soaking for 20 minutes.

I made a good start in my new short story I WILL TESTIFY, based on a true story I read in the Times Chronical. 

Also began a new crossword puzzle. Very helpful for my brain. 

What's a bishop's hat called, or something like dat.

I do these upstairs in bed with a pen.

Sitting here on red couch it is very cold.

COLD

Drafts seep inside as I refuse to cover my China-made

pajamas with nearby bedspread, as I await the music

of Mailman Dante. Earlier this morning I saw

birds peeking in my bay window, feathers fluffed out

I am simply terrified that when I open my red front door

they will fly inside and chase me the hell out.

Gotta keep busy when we cancel because of the snow - Poem: Eating my cheese omelet in the dark

Ada called and we cancelled New Directions bc of the snow.

And yes it is coming down, slowly.

She said it's snowing in DC and heading our way.

I phoned the usual suspects who attend. And lastly called Nelson who will head over to the church.

Thankfully I have everyone's phone number.

For dinner I made lentil pasta and marinara sauce. Let's find it online, shall we?



Earlier today I went to CVS. My insulin cost $503, the beginning of a new insurance cycle.

On Friday I will run out of tacrolimus, the generic for Prograf.




My kidney doctor called it in but did not list my diagnosis.

I went there twice, before and after I visited my friend Beatriz from our writing group.

Here's our Beehive Writing Group.

C
Hello Ethan!

It was so good to see Beatriz again.

She has lymphoma, I think it's called, and didn't think she'd be alive for this long.

Her doctor called Fox Chase Cancer Center and they came up with an old drug that works!

At recent meetings, Barbara Custer came, as did Martha Hunter, Linda Barrett and Ken Ivins.

EATING MY CHEESE OMELET IN THE DARK

Tired of reading,
the words made no sense at all,
I slipped on my fraying clogs
and walked carefully down the stairs.

You will not fall.
You will not fall.

Stood a moment on the slippery porch
Not a sound pierced the air
and stared at my snow-covered car

Silence
total.

Went in kitchen
clop of two eggs on counter
Psh! In the pan they go
Then add mushrooms, garlic,
and thick piece of Cheddar
on top.

Sit on red couch, stare out window
at Patrick's lamp post twined
with spectacularly colored
Christmas lights

and dig in.

The chili powder on top
is the icing on the omelet.

Welcome to my home, Joan!

Joan Effel visits her cousin Nancy across the street and then comes over to see me,

She lives in a mobile home and worked at Disney World, the Animal Kingdom, until she was 88.

Then sciatica struck.

She's very outgoing and talks to everyone,

Remind you of anyone you know?

She's gone back home. First she visits her three sons, who promise to call her but never do.

Sound familiar?

Just got home from Scott's where we watched a series of crime fiction on YouTube, including THE HITCHHIKER.

Now THE SHOOTIST is on. Gonna give it a shot, so excuse me.

Wrong name, dang!

Visitors to my Mini-Barnes Museum - my newest sculpture - Study in Aqua poem

 Neighbor Eileen stopped over with her friend Jill

 Jill loved all my artwork but said she was too conservative to follow suit. Oh c'mon Jill.

 And, in answer to your question, I don't get tired of my previous work. If I do, I simply toss it,

 I spread out a sheet on the floor and assemble what I'd like to consider and then affix them all.

In the center is Aunt Sylvie and Uncle Maury. I broke open, with a scissors, a turquoise laptop box. What a great color!

Robin Franklin from the Giant gave me a lovely b'day gift - many different items - which I used - like this tissue paper.

BTW, it took me nearly half an hour to find where to download everything onto me blog.

What shall I title the mobile?

Certainly not Donald Trump is an a'hole who is putting us all in danger in the Middle East.

Study in Aqua is the name of the mobile.

You'll wanna know what I had for dinner. Salad with American cheese yellow, spinach, two slices Tavern Ham.

Simply delicious.

Gotta write Rem and see if we're having our Writing Group tomorrow.

I have anudder deadline - from The Bookends Review.

STUDY IN AQUA

Down goes the sheet
on the carpet
It's been a good four years
since I fashioned artwork
to surprise myself and others
from the far reaches of my mind.

With scissors, stapler, Scotch tape
and half a dozen colorful flex straws
I hold it high above my head and gaze.

Need a star photo from Siggi's Yogurt,
there und
there
Scott bustles over
We march through the house
deciding
deciding

The Family Travis left hooks
and we found one in the kitchen
Scott climbed up my painted ladder
and with his agile hands
hung it on the ceiling
of The Vatican.