CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

 

This week, the week of Thanksgiving 2024, a very interesting event surfaced that was not planned or expected.  It began with one simple phone call.

I was sitting in my favorite chair, reading, when my phone rang.  It was my friend and golf partner, Deb.  We visited for a few minutes and then she asked…”Have you seen or talked to Judy in the last few days?”  I had not.  Deb shared that she had texted Judy the night before and left her a voice message this AM.  Judy had not responded.  This was unusual because Judy is typically very prompt in responding to either.  We discussed the situation for a few minutes and then I offered to call Pat, who is also a close friend.

Pat had not heard from Judy in a few days.  So, I called Cecelia while Pat called Bonnie.  No one had heard from Judy.  So, this launched a circle of concern.  Judy lives alone and quite a distance from the rest of us.  She has some health concerns, but nothing actually critical, but as I’ve said before, you just never know.

So, this launched about a 3-hour time of wondering where Judy was and if she was okay.  Bonnie offered to drive to Judy’s.  Cecelia ended up calling a colleague of Judy’s and I’m not sure, but she may have called the police.  Deb called Judy’s niece, who lives in the condo directly above Judy, but she drives a school bus and it was driving time so she couldn’t answer her phone.

Eventually we found her, safe and sound.  She had had a busy day, did not have her phone around her for the day and was totally surprised, and I think a little embarrassed, by the commotion we all created.

But there is a moral to this story, and a very large element of thankfulness.  She has a circle of friends who were looking out for her.  A circle of friends, who were concerned and took action.  What more could anyone ask for??

Happy Thanksgiving…..in a very real way.

OUTLANDER DROUGHT IS OVER!!!!

 

How in the world does one get so addicted to a TV series???  Seriously, I worry that I won’t live long enough to see or read everything Outlander!!!!

Last Friday the most recent season released.  I was so hoping that all the episodes would release at the same time so that I could do a binge watch.  But, alas, (as the Scots would say) it was not to be.  I have to wait for the next 7weeks for one episode a week. 

I was not disappointed, the 9^th episode of season 7 was excellent in my opinion, with a shocker ending that I did not see coming.  I recovered, then decided to go back 5 episodes into the previous season to refresh my memory.  So, this weekend I have spent refreshing my memory, getting very emotional on occasion and quite excited on occasion. 

Part of the fun for me is that in 2019 I took a 13-day tour of Scotland that was Outlander themed.  So, I got to see the hill where Claire first passes through the stones. (Stones by the way are fake, created by the production company.)  I’ve been to Lollybrock, to the Culloden Battlefield and to Jamie’s printing business in Edinburgh. 

Its hard to believe that the first episode aired on 8/9/2014….10 years ago!!!  I have no idea when I first started reading the books, but am very grateful that I did not find the series when it first launched because I would have been bald from pulling out my hair waiting for each book release.  In my case, if I remember correctly, I got to read the first 5 novels one after the other…. from there on out I had to wait for each book to be released.  They came out fairly quickly, but the last few have slowed down.  The 10^th and final book is expected to be released sometime between 2024-2026…..they say there will be a happy ending….. geeze, I hope so!

As for the 8^th season of the TV series, there will be 10 episodes and it will be the final season.  Not sure how they will do that when the 10^th book is not yet released, and I’m fearful that I might be 90 years old when the final TV season airs.

I’ve got my fingers crossed!!!!

So Long Old Friend

 

It’s a sad time in the greater Cincinnati region.  There is a business closing down across the area that has been an integral piece of Cincinnati culture and personality that has been around for a very long time.  Frisch’s Big Boy restaurants are a foundational piece of who we are.  And slowly but surely, they are disappearing from our landscape. 

In 1905 Samuel Frisch opened the first Frisch’s Café.  Not a direct ancestor of the current chain, but sorta like a great, great aunt.  There were originally 85 Big Boys across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.  That number shrunk to 78 over time, but now, due to business dealings that did not work out, 20 of the sites are either closed, or soon to be closed. 

For many Cincinnatians the Big Boy chain was/is a large part of our everyday activities.  My brother, for instance, after the family moved to Florida, where there were no Big Boys, every visit back to Ohio, first thing for him was a Frisch’s Big Boy. When he moved back here for the final years of his life, almost every day it was a Big Boy for lunch.

For me, one of my earliest childhood memories was Dad, in our brand-new Studebaker station wagon backing into a light pole in Lebanon’s new Frisch’s parking lot.  Boy, was he upset…. had to be, for it to be such an indelible memory for me!!

Pete saying farewell to Big Boy

I was never a big fan; the Big Boy didn’t hold that allure for me.  But I did like their Sunday breakfast buffet.  So, when Pete learned that our Big Boy was closing down last Sunday, we went for our final breakfast.  It was sad, waitresses were crying, customers were hugging them, everyone was asking why?? 

But the inevitable came at 2 PM…. our Big Boy closed their doors for the last time.