What's The World Coming To???

I was driving in to town today when a box truck drove by and I have to say, I almost had a wreck caused by laughter.  There’s a lead up to this story, so hang in there with me.

I am 77 years old and I now understand, really well, why my parents used to say things like, “Remember when??” and then go off on some ramble about how life used to be. 

Some times it wasn’t a ramble but rather a rant…. like the time Dad got incredibly upset because I put large daisy stickers on the back windows of my 1968 VW Bug.  I think maybe he got scared that I had suddenly turned to ‘sex, drugs and rock & roll”.  I don’t know, just a guess. 

Anyway, now I do kind of the same thing.  There are things that happen in every day life that trigger my response of “Remember when…?” and I start to ramble (in my mind) about how things were when I was a kid. 

Like, just in general, life was a lot simpler….there were no computers, no cell phones, only 4 TV stations available that you didn’t have to pay for.  You could go to church, or a bar, or hang out with friends and happen to meet someone who really suited you and the next thing you knew, you were dating…no computers involved.  We weren’t as aware of environmental impacts.  Wars were still a thing, but then they have been since the day humans evolved.  Cars were much simpler to drive, not nearly as many buttons and buzzers distracting you as you drove.  You get my point?

So, I do realize I am not a genius, and there are many, many topics that I have absolutely no knowledge of.  BUT, can someone please explain to me the following phrase?  It was on the truck that was passing me on my drive into town.

What does “Automated Cooking Oil Management” mean??  Really??  Is there something more going on at McDonald’s or Wendy’s or Arby’s or any restaurant that serves French fries, something more than turning on the heat, bringing the oil to a boil and then throwing in the potatoes??  Does cooking oil now need to be managed by computers?

Sorry if this doesn’t crack you up like it did me….but, geeze, as my parents used to say, “What’s the world coming to?”

 

Green Is It!!!!

You know those goofy surveys that get posted on Facebook?  The ones where a friend wants you to copy, paste and complete a survey …. just so they can get to know you better?  Have you ever skipped school?  Ever ridden in an ambulance?  All that stuff?

I usually participate, I like to see what friends say, and usually enjoy the questions.  Sometimes they ask “What’s your favorite season?”  I always answer  “all of them”.  Which is true for me.  As each season rolls around, I love them all.  I like the cold, I like the flowers, I like the birds, the trees changing colors…all of it.

If one of those surveys came up now, I would say Spring is my favorite season!!  Even though I live in the Great Miami Valley, and our weather can be schizophrenic, ie. 80 degrees one day and 34 the next.  We can have gorgeous spring time weather one day and the next have 2” of snow on the ground.  I still love it.  Right now, I am obsessing over the color ‘green’.

We live in a small neighborhood, with lots of trees all around.  In the winter, after all the leaves fall, we can see through the trees to the major highway down the road.  Everything is gray or brown, and here in our area, we have bunches and bunches of gray, overcast cloudy days.  Again, I don’t mind at all….BUT when spring arrives, we go from that brown and gray to brilliant green, everywhere!!!

It really is a huge difference and I love it.  One doesn’t think about the huge variety of the color green until it is in your face, day in and day out.  Each type of tree has a different color of green leaves.  The neighbors all have different types of grass in their yards that are different shades of green.  All the plants that are popping up everywhere are different shades of green.  Put that against the glorious blue skies that we have on the rain free days, and you have an artist pallet of fabulous colors.   

I know, I’m a bit goofy and nerdy, but so help me….right now, GREEN is it!!!

 

PS - From last weeks post, I do have a lunch date set with Marilyn for 4/27.  This should be fun!!!! 

I'LL LET YOU KNOW!!!!!

A really cool thing is going on right now…..

Yesterday I was hanging out on Face Book when a profile popped up that caught my attention.  The name on the profile was familiar from a time before 1957.

In August 1957 my family moved from Lebanon, Ohio to Pinellas Park, Florida.  I was 9 at the time.  We moved because Dad had some health issues that the doc said would be helped if he lived somewhere warm.  So, he sold his appliance store, sold our house and off we went to Florida.  

 

Me, maybe 3 years old 

Prior to that move we had lived on North Broadway in Lebanon where we had a very nice little neighborhood.  There were several kids who all were with a year or two of my age.  So, there was Larry and his two sisters, Bev and Cindy.  Ann who was the daughter of the local bank’s president and she had a sister, but I don’t remember her name.  And there was Marilyn who lived about four houses down the block.

We all played together as much as time would allow.  There was a creek that ran below our houses and where we tended to hang out.  I remember Mom telling me over and over to stay away from the creek, but back in those days, if the parents weren’t right there, it was a hard time to enforce rules.  So, we played in the creek a lot.  

 

There were times when we got in trouble.  I remember being kind of the ring leader and if there was an issue with the parents, I was usually the first point of contact.  Like for instance the time someone spread tar on the floor of Ann’s basement.  I don’t know why, but I was punished for that, even though I knew nothing about it….really!!

Mrs. Lincoln lived next door to my house and she had peonies in her yard.  One year someone in the group picked all the flowers off her bushes just as they bloomed.  Turned out that she was a widow and always took those flowers to her husband’s grave on Memorial Day.  Yep, that was a big deal and I think Larry and I took the fall for that one.

 .  

 Kindergarten Sue

We played hide and seek a lot.  Dressed up in different costumes and walked up and down the sidewalk getting honked at.  There was a Dairy Queen just a few blocks down from our houses and we went there a lot.

Anyway, to get to the point of this post, the profile that popped up was for a ‘Marilyn’ with the same last name as my former friend.  The profile said she was from Lebanon and still lived in Lebanon.  The profile picture looked nothing like the Marilyn I remember, but that was 69 years ago so time does change things!!

I wrote a Face Book message to her, asking if she was the same person and she came back almost immediately saying she was.  I think this is soooo cool. 

She is currently in North Carolina, but will be home soon and we hope to get together sometime for lunch.  This is either going to be very awkward or a whole lot of fun.  I'll let you know!!