Tourists

Hello,

Yesterday was tourist day. After we dropped the girls off at school and pre-school we headed downtown. Sarah had gotten us passes to go up in the Washington Monument. We followed instructions and a map and went the shortest way from the closest Metro stop. It was a cold windy day, although not as cold as Iowa, but still noticeably cold. We did not stop to pick up the tickets at the proper place so Leroy gallantly ran down and back up the hill with them. We were told to go inside for the tour. I told the guy, “Our ticket is not until 10:00.”

He laughed and said, “If you want to stand out here for another 15 minutes, go ahead: otherwise go on in.”

It was great to be there on such a day when many stayed away. Not only did we get in earlybut we could spend more time at the less crowded windows taking in the clear view. I remembered when we went to the Eiffel Tower; it was cold, gloomy, and rainy. There was rain at the ground and snow at the top with little view available. I am still glad that we went as there were almost no people so we could wander at will.

Back in Washington, on the way to the library of Congress we stopped off at the Freer Art Museum. We saw some Muslim, Japanese, and Indian art. It was quite interesting. I am no art aficionado but I could still enjoy it. There was no painting, but objects of various types.

At the Library we saw the Magna Carta which is on loan through December. I certainly learned a lot of history about it. Ignorance was rampant. Name recognition was about all that I had. Leroy had more, but still learned some things. It was certainly an old looking piece of paper which I could not possibly read.

Before we left the library, we looked at the Big Bible of Mainz as well as the Guttenberg Bible. Then we also walked around Thomas Jefferson’s collection before heading back.

We figured that we walked possibly eight miles because of taking the girls to school too. Maybe it was only six miles, but it was sufficient. We will admit to being tired, but happy.

Paula

In DC

Hello,

Even though I have done a bit of traveling, I am always relieved and excited to get where I intend to be and in one piece. Our bus ride to the airport went just fine. Both of the drivers were quite friendly with greetings and smiles. I wish more people rode the bus so more times would be available. At no time were we the only people on the bus and I consider that a good thing.

I think we might have managed if we had taken the later bus, but I guess we did not have to worry about getting on the plane even though it was oversold and they asked two people to give up their seats for a voucher of $500. As slow thinking Leroy and I were considering this, two women literally ran up to the desk to grab those possibilities. All of us watching and waiting laughed.

Leroy and I speak a different language when talking about planes leaving. I always think we are talking about when they take off and he is talking about the boarding time, consequently there is a little disconnect. That tends to make us be there earlier than I feel is necessary, but closer to what Leroy likes.

Even though the Atlanta airport is large we got from one end to the other with the help of the train. It was not difficult to have some time to relax. When we landed in Atlanta, our plane did some usual flopping from side to side. Not enough to worry about, but enough for a surprise. I was happy that we leveled out before the wheels touched down.

In DC we navigated the Metro like pros. When Leroy and I came pulling our bags down the street towards Sarah’s house, we could see two little girls standing on the step waving. It was great to get such greetings. This morning Lexi told me that she was so happy I was there. It warmed my heart and colored my day bright.

Now here we are getting used to another hour earlier time zone. “Body you can do this! It is just an hour and just for one week"

Paula

Plants

Hello,

I have been putting plants in a bucket with water so hopefully they will be happy while we are gone. I just love to look at the sun coming in the window and hitting the green leaves or the blossoms. I have a Mandevilla that I am trying to save for next summer and it still has six blooms and more coming. Then the yellow primrose has one blossom open. My colorful coleus are at church where I can see them if I think to go in that area.

I have two oregano plants of different varieties. One of them was in the community garden. It is so low to the ground that it makes it difficult to harvest. When harvested the leaves are often quite dirty. The rain must have hit the ground and pushed soil into the air.

I could ask my landlady to water the plants, but most of them will be quite satisfied for one week. There are some that I water more frequently, but I believe they will live.

Yesterday Leroy helped me and we froze the last of the leaves in the refrigerator. We stowed away brussel sprout leaves. I have not eaten any, but they look good surely they will be delectable. Then it was on to broccoli leaves and flowerets. Collards we did the day before. The freezer is full and the refrigerator is almost empty. As Leroy said, “It now looks more normal.”

We certainly do not eat the same things that my family did when I grew up, but I have followed my mother’s habit of not having much in the refrigerator at any one time. However, now I am storing many of my granola ingredients in there as I have purchased in bulk and have enough that I do not want them to go rancid even though they are a dry and shelf storage item.

I also have dry falafel as well dry hummus mixtures in there. It would be interesting to learn what is kept in refrigerators. Does that indicate something about a person?

Paula

Plans

Hello,

We had planned to go visit my sister as she is in the hospital in St. Louis. The plan was to drive down and back in one day. We both worked yesterday so that did not a two day weekend make. The problem was that we both did some slipping and sliding on the way home from work last night.

I zoomed along on the blacktop because the cars ahead of me were traveling at almost the speed limit, maybe a little above that. When I got to my turn off, even though I had slowed down quite a bit, I slipped a little. After that I adopted turtle speed. Tracks in the snow/slush indicated others sliding at the next stoplight. In the rearview mirror I could see the car behind me slipping over into the next unoccupied lane and then coming back my way. After crawling around downtown, it was clear at the bottom of the exit ramp that someone had been unable to stop and leaped the curb by the stop sign. I was happy to shift into lower gears.

Leroy told me he spun his wheels when starting up after every red light for which he had to stop. Because the report said more snow today we cancelled travel plans and felt ourselves lose tension.

Tuesday we are going to fly to DC to be with Sarah’s family. Because no snow or other bad weather besides cold is predicted I am confident that those plans will be met.

Leroy and I are going to use the bus to get to the airport, but it tempting to call on someone else to take us because the bus does not get there at quite the time we would like so that means being a little late or being quite a lot early. At this moment we are planning to do the quite a lot early. Surely we can find something to talk about that is interesting and stimulating.

Paula

Grappling

Hello,

I am grappling with greens of all kinds. First there are all those green things I picked from the garden. I gave one stem of brussel sprouts to our landlady. Check! That has been taken care of.

I froze quite a lot of celery this morning. At the same time I took out the ice cube trays and some coconut (for granola). Check! That has been taken care of.

Last night I cooked all of the leaves on one collard stem. The heap of leaves in the pan diminishes to about an eighth of its original size. There was enough for leftovers. Check! That has been taken care of.

I have more brussel sprouts, parsley, collards, kale, and broccoli. I eyeball the space in our freezer above the refrigerator and know that more will go in, but not all. Can I can any of this? Would we eat it if I did? Do I need to share more and if so with whom? If in the refrigerator will it be good to eat when we come back from DC?

Next it is on to that other green stuff, money, do you know it? At church we are to turn in our pledge for the coming year. I generally figure that. Last year was an up and down year with Leroy losing more than half of his work and then gaining a half back that actually pays more. And I got a raise midyear. So I can barely tell you what we made let alone what we should have given to God. This year, however, seems to be less cloudy. But when I added up what our last check amounted to and assumed that could be for the future, I see we are not paying a tithe as I thought we were. It is quite a bit less. Then I started to think about the problem. One thing came to mind. When Leroy was full time in the church, taxes were not taken out till after the check was in hand. He paid them as if a self employed person. Now taxes come out before the check is handed to us and I had been just figuring on that amount of money. Then the question is, Should one tithe before or after taxes?

Also, when he was with the church,  we did not pay for any of our health insurance and now we pay all so we did not tithe on that money, but we do now because we pay that bill from earnings.

Well, one thing I know for sure, we will raise the amount that we give, whether it is a tithe, I simply do not know. I can see why the Pharisees created all sorts of guidelines for living. On one level it made the answers clear, not necessarily right, but clear. Sometimes I like easy answers.

Paula

Winter is here

Hello,

Those last greens in the garden are calling out to be picked. I phoned one of the people I met in the garden last summer. She said she would like to meet me there and named a time. As per my character, I was there about five minutes early. I hunkered down to get out of the icy wind and to pick some of the last arugula that seems not to notice the cold as much as I do. When that was picked I moved on to the broccoli snagging the last little heads that might make a meal for us. Then I moved on and dug up a celery plant looking for a root such as we could buy at the farmer’s market in Slovakia. This root was a rather anemic cousin that might not yield anything eatable.

At this point, keeping my back to the chilly wind, I dug my phone out of my pocket to check the time, it was about five after our designated meeting time. Then I realized that I did not have this woman’s phone number with me and she had my home phone number. I pulled up one more brussel sprout, stuffed it in my large bag that I would carry hanging from the end of my arm. The rest of my bounty was tucked away in my backpack. As the cold was seeping into my being, I decided to walk on home.

The house was a warm haven that I am not so anxious to leave again for a while. I will work on putting some of these pickings in a good storage place. That means washing most of it and some will go in the freezer. 

There are a number of things in front of the house. The collards look wonderful, but I do not believe they will survive the expected cold temperatures. There is also one cabbage, two broccoli plants (I will eat the leaves.), a few carrots, two brussel sprouts that have only babies attached, as well as one kale plant. I suspect I will just pull all of these things, bring them in the house and deal with much of them tomorrow. How many greens can we eat in the next six days? How much can I get into the freezer?

That brave Leroy rode the bike to work today at the museum.  I suspect he will be cold when he gets home in spite of the face mask, hat and gloves.

Paula

Together Still

Hello,

Leroy and I are still together and the air is better after “kiss and make up”. Luckily what finally happened, as it frequently does, one of us started to laugh about the absurdity of the situation. Amazing how that clears the air and creates a bond. Is group laughter more important than kissing? Or maybe it is because it leads to kissing?

We are almost ready for our presentation on Thursday. I have checked with my boss and it is fine with her if I take some time off in the afternoon and then work the evening for her. I suspected she would be quite happy to give up the evening work. None us seems truly excited to work those dusky hours. Actually it is deep darkness now when I drive home.

At least this week I am working on Saturday so I do not work three nights, but only two. When we work on Saturday we do not work another scheduled time.

I hear that deeper cold is soon coming so I am concerned about the plants in the garden. On Saturday I pulled up one of the brussel sprouts and Leroy and I have eaten two meals from these oddly shaped growths. There will be one more meal before they are gone. I am happy about that. It must not have been a good year for the brussel sprouts. The ones in our front lawn garden are so small that it is difficult to harvest. They are about as big as a large pea. The ones in the community garden have been odd shaped, as they mostly have opened rather than forming a nice head. They are also a little stronger tasting. There are still two plants out there, but I will wait until tomorrow to harvest them. Maybe someone else will take them.

Paula