Exciting? Yes indeed. Here's what treats Giant Direct brought me

 

AND Simon's favorite: 

Liverwurst!

Say LIVER WORSHT

Ya know what? I just plopped myself on the floor and read my mail while sipping a hot cuppa coffee with a scoop of BUTTER in it.

Our butter (s) also arrived. 

THE COFFEE DRINKER - KREMP FLORIST - BEAUTIFUL FURNITURE

 

Yep, that's me!

And why dyou drink it? Are you addicted to coffee?

Not at all, she protests.

I love the taste, the way it feels in my mouth, I savor it, like a look outside my front window, where I wonder why the house across the street, has smoke coming through the chimney. They told us they would not be home for another week.

Folks do look after it.

Scuse me while I take another sip. Shall I drain the entire Villeroy and Boch cup?

It looks sort of like this.

I stayed nice and warm in bed all night.

Slept in my warm grey pants, a warm WHITE STAG sweater and slept NOT A WINK.

Ever hear of the film THE MOVIEGOER by Wallace Stegner? He was once very famous. We all have a chance to be famous. Andy Warhol called it our fifteen minutes of fame.

After I woke up, I combed my hair in the upstairs pink and green bathroom, then pulled out my usual white hairs, and then raced downstairs.

Onto the front porch I put them. Go ahead, birds, and make your nest using my fine white hair. 

Did I mention I shared my THREE MAILMEN novel with Rem? They are working him hard at the post office, but he will get to it eventually.

A FINE CUP OF COFFEE

A proper cup with a proper handle

you can cradle in your hand

tiny sips will preserve the flavor

thin as a see-through envelope

you wanna stand up and cheer like a

drum majorette but won't

instead you thank the far-off growers

from whence they came

and promise yourself another cup

tomorrow. 

KREMP FLOWERS JUST UP THE STREET FROM ME

Castlery Furniture. What a lovely bedroom! Double click to make bigger. 

THINKING OF YOU, SIMON

 

Funny how things strike us. Sy loved the holiday season and eating.

Me, too, but I wanna live longer than 68 so I try to take care of myself.

I have a drawer full of photos of the two of us. In his younger years he was a drag racer, I suppose, in his Port Richmond neighborhood.

Sadly he didn't have too much time to spend with his grandchildren. 

Just heard my son/law ETHAN IVERSON interviewed on WRTI-FM. 

Billy Hart joined the Herbie Hancock sextet... you should hear all the GREATS that played together. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/12/christine-mcvie-fleetwood-mac-singer-death/672318/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20221204&utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily

CLICK ABOVE TO HEAR CHRISTINE MCVIE SING 

YOU MAKE LOVING FUN

RAIN - new poem

AMAZON sent me a ream of typing paper, which arrived earlier than expected. Price was quite good tho I have forgotten it. 

I wanted to create something new and type it up, which I did.

However, I was unable to send it to Ellen so I had to retype it.

Herewith:

RAIN

We knew it was going to rain. All the radio stations told us and so did local newspapers.

Yet when the greyness came over the land like cupcake tins, I shuddered and changed into my warmest nightgown, a blue like the

Mediterranean. 

Of course Napoleon and his Josephine were long gone, as was his Desiree, but hardly forgotten and I warmed up under my covers

with a cup of mint tea with a hint of caffeine.

Breakfast was a large block of unsalted butter, two brown eggs which I cracked into my expensive new saucepan, leaving hunks of shells I removed immediately. 

Then licked my fingers clean.

The finishing touch was "spring mix," a blend of lettuce, arugula, and spinach. Be careful, though, it burns quickly in the pan.

I march with it into the living room, sit myself down on the long red couch and see what is happening on our street.

Dog walkers, of course. And outside the window, our bushes - which look as if paint has splattered on them - blow as if they plan to uproot themselves and sail into the sky above.

- Ruth Z Deming

Quickly quickly I walked around the block earlier. Ellen went out first. I walked around the entire block pausing to watch a couple people put up their Christmas decorations.

$16.79 for the copy paper. 

Let me tell you something. I am exhausted. BUT I will go upstairs and keep reading HORSE by Gwendolyn Brooks, an outstanding storyteller. 

My CPAP machine will be on. My nostrils will be distended and I will hate every minute of it but this is what I am supposed to do.

WHY?

I dunno. 

You Should Try Different CPAP Supplies to Optimize Your Comfort

One of the most common complaints from individuals who use CPAP machines is that they are not comfortable to use. If the CPAP isn’t comfortable, you’re unlikely to use it each night.

It’s possible to cure many cases of CPAP discomfort by trying various types of accessories, according to the Mayo Clinic. A CPAP machine typically delivers a continuous stream of air via a face mask. Try different types of masks to find one that suits the shape of your face.

NOWHERE online does it answer the question, What does a CPAP machine do. 

.......

Editors’ Picks

Soledad O’Brien’s Painted Hardwood Floors Spark Debate on a New Trend

How Do Designers Decorate for the Holidays? We Invited Ourselves Over to See.

Holiday Gift Books for Children

Continue reading the main story

BREAKFAST FOR A RAINY DAY

 DELICIOUS!!!

Sure enjoyed my breakfast... 2 eggs, spring mix, and mushrooms.

Scott just left. Makes jokes about walking at the YMCA.

Pullease!

Am sipping what WAS a hot beverage. Now it's iced tea.

Just reheated it.'

One thing I did forget for breakfast was CABOT CHEDDAR CHEESE. 

Am eating a large chunk now.

Ever notice how there's always something going on?

The fire chief, in his long RED CAR, just drove by, turning down SLEIGHRIDE ROAD.

And I, Little Ruthie, am sitting demurely on my RED COUCH from Gamburg's in a lovely, warm nightgown I may have gotten from Harriet.

Ate a frozen dinner from AMY's thother night. WHO shall I send the carton to?

Nancy Myers across the street.

Helene would have loved it, but she is dead. 

And I must do my back exercises. 

Scuse me for a while.

NOT ALL BOUGHT SOUPS ARE GOOD!!!

 Sister Ellen experiments and buys unusual items at COSTCO.

She bought some soup in a self contained plastic container. I was gonna have it for lunch.

Total liquid as if it were bone broth,

I added two raw eggs as if this were egg drop soup and then a couple of slices of Cabot Cheese.

Take a guess about how it tasted.

T E R R I B L E. 

But I gulped down every drop. 

WHO is walking down the street right now with his dog.

We know one person who is not,

Ah choo!  Ah choo!

Yes I will continue reading HORSE: A Novel by Gwendolyn Brooks.

Man, can she ever write !!!!

I thanked Nancy March of the TIMES CHRONICLE for publishing my Letter to the Editor.

Also suggested I write a BOOK COLUMN. 

Gotto go now, gonna work on my novel called THE THREE MAILMEN OF HUNTINGTON DALES.

Also wrote a check on New Directions checks for NAMI for $25. Plus a card to Sister Donna making conversation, AND yesterday wrote my grandkids and made idle coversation.

Hear that screeching? School bus!!!

AND THE MOON LOOKS ON AFTER THE DEATH OF A NOTORIOUS CHARACTER IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

 Waxing Crescent: The Waxing Crescent is the second phase in the cycle of phases. This Moon phase occurs once a month, rising around 9 AM, and setting around 9 PM, sticking around for approximately 7.38 days before going into the First Quarter phase.

After I ate my second bowl of BABY LETTUCE, I looked up the phase of the moon.

I was friends with the father, Luke. Would walk or drive over with a pot of hot chili in my car. Afterward we would sit at his kitchen table and he would pour me a hot cup of Folger's Coffee from the coffeemaker.

Ah, that was nice.

Once he hugged me and I said, If you ever do that again, I'm not coming over.

I took a tour around his enormous house. He was the one who told me that the nun responsible for all those gorgeous figurines was really a man. Forget his name. YOU look it up.

Luke was getting a paunch so I made him walk for two houses, two whole houses. Then his caretaker called me up - was her name Valerie? - and told me Pops is dead.

NOW his second son is gone. First came Bill whose liver exploded. Today twas thother one, Bob. Or Bobby.

Once I was walking down the street and Bob called me, Ruthie, Baby. 

My name is Ruth, not Ruthie Baby.

Settled, mostly.

Remember the song, Hang down your head Tom Dooley, hang down your head and cry.

I met Toothless Pam while walking down the street. First tho I came across LEE, she of the two huge Grand Pyranees Dogs who told me BOB was dead. 

My head spun. Notorious or not, he was part of the neighborhood. You would see him walking with Lulu, the dog he found at the pound. He was a hard worker. First at Produce Junction and then at a brewery, where he could drink his fill.

I would often stop and ask him foolish questions. He would listen and offer an opinion. 

First there was Luke, his dad. Then his brother Bill whose liver exploded. I watched one day when the cops cuffed him after he passed out across the street and took him to jail.

Drama on our street but not like the original drama where a young teen was done away with. 

Bob died sitting up in his driveway, moaning, moaning, moaning.