The nerve of people who write all over envelopes

 Apparently, one of the best charities in Philly is still operational. 

The Bread and Roses Fund. 

No money from me today. I sent out one check to the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. They TOLD me how much they wanted from me.

I do not like dat, so I sent out what I wanted.

I belong to one bank, a credit union. 

On the envelope, here's what it says:

DON'T WRITE A CHECK. USE YOUR ONLINE TELLER TO PAY YOUR MASTERCARD BILL.

The nerve!

Then - bingo - they learned that Black people bank there.

So in their online notes, they feature Blacks.

I have a very important goal for today.

Change my sheets.

It usually takes an hour.

Ya know what?

I'm not even gonna eat anything. 

No procrastinating.

Resubmitting WORLD BIPOLAR DAY - Inquirer email address letters@inquirer.com

The Times Kron, for reasons of its own, would not publish WORLD BIPOLAR DAY which was on March 30. 

So I sent it to the Inquirer. I could not for the life of me find their email address. Rem found it for me.

letters@inquirer.com

It was a well-wrin short essay. 

Oh! I drank Almond Milk while submitting and munched on crunchy Snyder Dippers. 

...

Earlier today, Kalie escaped.

The entire neighborhood joined in a race to catch her.

She was having a blast!

Hello Kalie. She has a beautiful face. Her favorite thing is BARKING BARKING BARKING

Let's find more about an Eskimo dog.

About the American Eskimo Dog

The American Eskimo Dog comes in three sizes—standard, miniature, and toy—standing as tall as 19 inches at the shoulder or as short as 9 inches. Distinctive traits include a dense, sparkling white coat with a lion-like ruff around the chest and shoulders; a smiling face, with black nose, lips, and eye-rims that convey a keen, intelligent expression; and a plumed tail carried over the back. Some Eskies have markings with the delicious color name “biscuit cream.” They move with a bold and agile gait.

Eskies are social animals and can develop problem behaviors when neglected or undertrained—they insist on being part of family life. Among the most trainable of breeds, the clever, kid-friendly Eskie practically invented the phrase “eager to please.”

****

I redid my short story Don't Spill Milk on the Piano. Rem was my guide.

When he approves it, I will submit to Literary Yard.

AND NOW, IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, UPSTAIRS I GO, my lords and ladies, to snuggle under the covers in my bed, and read.

Klara and the Sun

Encounter

And that Martin Amis novel whose name escapes me.

BYE FOR NOW.

Walter, for Chrissakes where are you? Born in 1918.

TO MY FRIEND WALTER STRAUS

How I remember our visits
at the Regency Towers
Oblivious of your age
you felt insulted when
you fell a few times
then got pneumonia
and almost kicked
but Amy saved your life.
Now you dwell with her
and her family in
Germantown. You have
forgotten me
utterly.

I want to remember you
when I'd come over and
you'd set the table with
placemats and serve me
a fruit salad, with tiny
cherries, and a glass of
red wine, "just a tiny
amount, please, Walt."

We'd go out on your balcony
where breezes would blow my
dyed red hair and you'd adjust
your black glasses, then
bend down and pick me some
cherry tomatoes to take home
in a baggie.

Walter I miss you. A man so
learned, a great judge of character but
life made a fool of you.

If only we could go back in time.
You'd pull out a book of poetry
and read to me in a soft voice I
thought I would have forever.

Farewell Sweet Prince - Prince Philip is dead at 99

 

Good night Sweet Prince. Read more info here. 

Off goes Prince Philip and Duke of Earl, I mean of Edinburg, at age 99.

Born in 1921, on the island of CORFU, he was described as a figurehead but he traveled the world to shore up the British Crown.

I shall write a brief fantasy of when he came to visit me on Cowbell Road.

A long black Continental pulled up in front of my house a couple of years ago.

My first thought, not surprisingly, was it was someone delivering groceries from Instacart.

I tied on two blue masks and put on my gloves so I wouldn't have to wash hands upon re entering house.

I couldna believe my eyes.

Quickly, before he entered, I stuffed all my mail under one of my Red Couches and ran into the kitchen and put my Bradford Tea Kettle on to boil.

Come in, come in, I said, with a slight bow.

He towered over me. And what a smile he had! A genuine smile with perfectly white teeth. 

He grasped my hand and I noticed his sparkling blue eyes. 

I bid him sit down on the Red Couch that gave view to the bird houses on the front lawn.

Note to Ruth - Ask the Boys to mow.

The teakettle eeked out its cheery whistle.

Earl Grey, I offered. And would you like cream with that?

With slightly shaky hands I carried in two cups of tea in my best cups. On the side I placed two pieces of small Dove chocolate.

What I noticed about him was how curious he was. He looked me straight in the eyes and asked all about my life.

On the living room window sill he wanted to know about my favorite objects d'art and I mentioned the wooden stork, a gift from Ralph Nelms before he passed of ALS.

Marvelous tea, he complimented me. 

I had a photo of Sarah and Ethan on the wall behind me. 

He held her in his arms, their marriage photo.

Yes, I carried Lizzie like that, too, he laughed.

Meanwhile I was wracking my brain of a gift I might give him when he left.

As we shook hands goodbye - and what a strong grip he had - I pressed the secret gift in his hand.

Never never never to be forgotten.

We love being outdoors on these spring nights

 I tried to email this to Ron Devlin, but no dice.

Dear Ron,

Hope this reaches you. Had a terrible time making out your tiny email address.

Your story of the "2 prominent historians lost"  read like a chapter in a novel.

How amazing that these men, who I've never heard of - Earl Ibach and Dick Shaner and also George M Meiser IX - went to such great lengths as if they were discovering where the Mississippi River started.

And though we can no longer buy cigars at Burdick's Newsstand in Hatboro, PA, which folded, I have a fondness for them and appreciated Ibach writing a history about "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," as Sigmund Freud said.

I can just see 91-year-old Jay F. Miller sitting on the backyard patio, maybe with a nice cold glass of lemonade, reminiscing over the good ole days that sadly will never come again.

Warmly,

Ruth Z. Deming

If you watched the PBS EVENING NEWS HOUR tonight, you saw a segment about Gabby Giffords who was shot in the head 9 yrs ago.

We have all wondered how she is doing.

She is married to wise guy astronaut Scott Kelly whose book ENDURANCE is one of 70 books I am currently reading.

Gabby, who is 50, has aphasia, which makes it difficult to get words out of her head. She understands everything, though.

The French horn helps her. 

Born in 1970, here is what WIKI says about her.

Thank you Wiki for your help. 

BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE

That would be neighbor George from Columbia bouncing his basketball after he erected a new basketball net on our street.

A nice healthy sport.

The size of the net can be adjusted so the growing taller girls who live next door can also play with him. He also is a soccer player.

SCOTT and I walked for a mile or so at Pennypack's THE LORD'S NEW CHURCH. I wanted to sit down on a bench and ponder the many imponderables, but he said, I came to walk, not sit.

Thank goodness it was only a dream !

 Ever have a dream but didn't know you were dreaming?

I was in charge of a very big project. Can't remember all the details but will do my best.

Had to put captions on various articles.

One was from the WSJ.

Then I had to prepare lunch for an enormous group of people.

I was outside at a market selecting fruits and breads.

Where would we hold the gala dinner?

Where else but Meadowbrook Farm in Rydal, PA. 

Glorious Day in April - eating out on the front porch

 

Later on, I will make cornbread muffins. Scott bought me the mix. Lynn's above are streusel, for her 'kids.'

Judy was here to collect NINE STORIES and FRANNY AND ZOOEY, I purchased thru Amazon.

And yes, I read both of them until the very last minute, last night and this morning.

I couldn't open the door for her until I put on my mask.

Then we stood outside and talked.

We had both watched the series on Hemingway.

I thought it was terrible and so did she.

He was mentally ill. The way his parents raised him was really crazy. 

Then when he finally took his own life, it was lied about, saying he had a hunting accident. What? In the foyer of his house?

Judy brought me some nice soap. 

I told Judy I read the part where Seymour kills himself a couple of times. It was so well done. 

He was a homosexual, she said.

I did not know dat! 

While Judy and I talked, Linda from across the street was yelling at her dog. It was horrible. 

He's just a little white dog who loves to bark and has the prettiest face.

This could be Kalie. 

Charlie must be writhing in his grave. 

EATING OUT ON THE FRONT PORCH

My cereal tastes like custard

A little bit of this

A little bit of that

Oatmeal from the farmer's fields

in Scotland

Cream of Wheat from the Deep South

where Uncle Ben earned a good name

among the folks who once owned

plantations

Eat hearty, eat healthy, until the moment

you are no more.

GUESS WHAT?

Wayne was just outside walking Kalie.

I ran out in my brown shoes from Clarke's

and thanked him. He really appreciated it.

Called Judy to tell her and she said There is nothing

better than complimenting someone.

She used a Jewish term - she and her mother know

tons of them - that mean an honest compliment

not a fake. 

Reading J D Salinger once again

My friend Judy ordered 2 books. One is Franny and Zooey.

The other is Nine Stories.

She will pick them up tomorrow and I am reading them until she gets here.

I immediately noticed that with Franny and Zooey, the Centennial edition, the pages were not cut evenly. Looked it up and here's what the Internet said:

It used to be deckle edge was unavoidable due to the cost of manually trimming. Then they found a way to automate the trimming and for a while both deckle and trimmed were common - the trimmed was considered high end, the deckle cheaper quality. Then everything was trimmed and people became nostalgic for the old days and deckle was marketed as high end, even in the later 19th century. This notion of deckle as high end has stuck and is still the case.

132

level 2

foxpassed

Science Fiction

6 years ago

follow-up question -- I read an Italo Calvino novel where he says something to the effect of using a penknife to separate pages of a book. Do books sometimes come with unseparated pages, or did I misread stuff since I was reading in the original Italian?

Is it possible to write a short poem right now?  I await 8 pm when a multi part show will be on about Ernest Hemingway.

Not enough time. Go, girl, and watch Hemingway.