Hello on Wednesday

Dear Friends,

Our Tuesday went as planned. I dined with the Mah Jongg ladies before I took an afternoon nap. The hamburgers and hot dogs were a big hit as well as Linda's cucumber and garden fresh tomato salad. One lady, who has had heart issues in the past, did not partake of the hot dogs and hamburgers. She brought herself a sandwich.
Linda was not so lucky playing Mah Jongg. She exhausted her $5 maximum limit as the games ended a little after 4 PM. A good time was had by all.

After Linda put away her snack food which she had set out for her guests, and freshened up, we headed off to our next event which was the Berkshire County Jimmy Fund Polenta Dinner at the ITAM. Our table of 10 grew into a table of 15. The tables were long tables and not round ones so adding an extra person or two was not a big deal. Some of our friends were "Newbies" because it was the first time that they ever had a Polenta Dinner. I did invite these people to become part of the Curley's Polenta Dinner circuit. The Polenta Dinner was great. My friendly back door neighbor and his wife were in charge of the preparing the dinner. Some UNICO members and Jimmy Fund members formed an assembly line and dished out the Polenta and brought the bread, salads and the polenta dinner to each one of us who attended the event. The bread became an issue for the guests because it was served without butter. The head guy doesn't serve the bread with butter because he believes that there is enough butter and cheese that goes into the polenta to clog the arteries of the healthiest people who attend the event. Well, our table of 15 asked for some Italian salad dressing just to dip the bread into, and they adjusted quite well. There was dessert and coffee too.

Out table also celebrated the birthday of a friend who had rotator cuff surgery a couple of weeks ago. We warned her that the recovery would not be easy since we have several friends who have gone through such an ordeal. If you are wondering how old this friend is just let me say that she is not eligible for Medicare for a few more years. Currently she is sleeping in a lounge chair, and she is not physically able to sleep in her bed yet.
I am picking her up from Physical Therapy around 9 AM this morning. Linda and she will eventually do a few errands before she will need some pain medication as well as some rest. Right now the woman has her arm in a sling which puts a damper on what she can or can not due. Oh Darn! We friends can feel the pain which she is going though.

Texas Fires -- Over 700 homes have been destroyed with the recent rash of forest fires. I can't imagine seeing your house (that we have all worked so hard to maintain) burned to the ground with the foundation the only visible thing that is left. We have been so fortunate in Berkshire County to have escaped the natural disasters which you see or read about in the news. We have had some flooding which is minor compared to the devastation which took place in Vermont and in New York State due to Hurricane Irene. It is raining out right now which are the remnants of Hurricane Lee. Our grounds are so damp, and the forests around her are so wet, that a forest fire wouldn't have a chance of starting. Texas on the other hand is like a tinder box since they experienced months of 100 degree temperatures.

Linda and I are actually looking forward to fall like and eventually winter. Some of our friends think that we are crazy. We know many people who are already booked into places or have second homes down South because they dislike the winters so much in the Northeast. If you were raising a family, wouldn't you want to have your children go sliding, or learn how to ski on snow, or build a snow fort, or have snow ball fight, go snow shoeing, cross country skiing, cutting down a live Christmas tree, etc. How about taking the kids ice-fishing?
We had an exchange student from Spain with us for a full school year when our youngest son was in high school. We took Ramon with us to a Christmas Tree farm in a nearby by town. He got down on his hands and knees and cut down a Christmas Tree. It was the first and the last time that he had ever done so. I say last because Ramon was no fan of the cold weather.

If you grew up in a place that has all four seasons, you should have grown up being taught activities to make it through these seemingly long winters.

Linda lived for a short time in California when she was growing up. A pool party for Christmas is not the same as having a fresh pine sent from a real Christmas tree permeating the house.

Social Calendar -- Linda has her Wednesday night Knitting Group gathering at Panera Bread at 6 PM. I have an informal UNICO Board meeting at the Italian American Club at the same time.

Have a great day at work or play!
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad