Hello on Friday Morning

Dear Friends,



As the month of January comes to a close, our typical January thaw has come to an abrupt end. It is a balmy 4 degree right now with a stiff wind blowing which makes the wind chill about 17 degrees below zero. There is no way that I am going to commune with nature on any frozen pond for the next week or so. We might not even get into the teens today. A day like this might tempt me to spend a few days with family or friends who live in Florida.



Yesterday, we had snow showers. Well, the snow showers dumped a total of 6 inches. Three inches of the white fell at two different times during the day.



The crock pot dinner was okay, but not great. Good thing that we tried it out before we invited any friends to join us.



I did go off and visited Mom yesterday. She was speaking in tongues due to a bladder infection which is currently being treated with antibiotics. Good thing that I was there for her lunch because she had trouble eating lunch by herself.

I did see a former colleague of mine at the nursing home will turn 80 in a few days. He is a past President of our local UNICO group. He was sitting in a wheel chair right outside of the nurses’ station. I had heard that he had some form of cancer. I don’t think that he will ever be leaving the nursing home. His situation is a lot like what my mother and father are going through. He is sick, and his wife is trying to manage his family home. He said that he wished he had sold his place before he got sick.



Social Calendar – Linda is off to her monthly Retiree Breakfast which starts at 8:30 AM. She is not too excited about venturing off in her car with the temperatures being so low. Good thing that she got the heat issue in her car fixed last week.

I will be leaving around the same time to go off to City Hall to pay our property tax. The amount which we pay really cuts into our pension checks.

I then will make my way to Walmart to pick up a couple of boxes of the artificial logs for our fireplace.

We did talk about going to the movies at the downtown Beacon Cinemas. We are planning to go off to see the Mel Gibson action movie which is being released today. I will give you a review on Saturday morning if we do decide to go.



Politics – Most of the nation spent most of the day on Thursday talking about the President’s State of the Union’s speech. We diehard Democrats loved it! The rest of the nation thought that it was “smoke and mirrors” as the saying goes. Time will tell.



Observation – As I was leaving the nursing home yesterday, I was thinking how fortunate that the one my mother is residing at one of the best in our County. Our family can feel confident that Mom is getting the best of care. Everyone that I have been in contact with at the nursing home does a great job with the patients.

Nursing homes are not the place where I want to spend the last years of my life. Yesterday, a lady directly across from my mother was yelling at me as I walked by her room. She said; “Why did I fire two employees” who must have been dealing with the woman. Most of the time, the place is a very quiet one except for a couple of people who rant and rave, and push the call button all of the time.

When I meet my Maker, I just want to go quickly. Of course, I am hoping that this will be about 30 years + from now.



Well, I have to do some quiet chores including reading the local newspaper.

I do have a large pile of snow at the bottom of the driveway caused by the City plows, but I don’t want to wake up the Queen, and neighborhood. I will get to it before both Linda and I head out the door at 8:30 AM.



Have a great weekend.

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad



P.S. There are a couple of events coming up that I am inviting my readers to attend. The first is a Polenta Dinner at the ITAM on March 11, 2010 (Thursday).

The second is a St. Patrick’s Day Dinner (March 17 –Wednesday) at the Italian American Club on Newell Street. This is the second time that the Italians are doing such and event. Last year, I had reserved two tables. Linda’s Jewish Mah Jongg friends have already told Linda that they want to attend the event. They really enjoyed the corned beef and cabbage, the chicken, pasta, the huge loaf of Irish Soda bread on each table.

If anyone is interested in either event, let me know so that I can reserve a table or two.

Both events start around 6:30 PM.