500 Miles

Hello,

At the library I answer the phone, “Ely Public Library, Paula speaking.” On Monday the response from the caller was, “Send Malinda out. I am out front waiting for her.”

I glanced at the three people in the library at that moment. No one called Malinda seemed to be there. I hesitated before telling him that, as one of the people is not well known to me, so she could use a middle name Malinda that I had not heard before. I told him, “No one here has that name, but perhaps Bernice is the one you are looking for?”

He sighed and said, “I am in front of the Ely Nevada Library waiting for Malinda.”

I laughed and said, “I am in Ely, Iowa Library.”

He did not laugh, but commented, “It is only about 500 miles away.”

Looking up phone numbers on the internet puts Ely Public Library in Iowa at the head of the list for Ely, MN and Ely, NV. Technology is both a help and an interesting side trip for the unwary.

Now if I could just get my Christmas letter written, the maelstrom in my head would calm down. Maybe I should contact one of the other Ely Public Libraries to see if they have brilliant ideas about finishing the job. Some of you people are so good and I do not understand how you get the job done on time every year, but good for you. At least Leroy is not ahead of me although he is also talking about it.

Paula

Not a Drying Day

Hello,

I was excited when Leroy said that temps were in the 30’s and it was to be in the 40’s. Sounded like a great day to hang out clothes. I quickly got our sheets in the washer along with some other whites. They were on the line before the sun was fully up.

The sun put in an appearance for a short time before it hid behind the clouds. With almost no wind and dampness in the air, the clothes made little progress toward a sense of dryness. Because I am working this afternoon/evening, I realized I had to change plans. I brought in those partially dry things and hung them up on the racks. The note to Leroy hopefully will make sense so we have some dry bedding to get into when we are ready for it.

I am not sure why, but often my note or instruction to Leroy makes perfect sense to me, but he finds it totally baffling. How that can be I do not understand as I am surely numbered among the most logical, clear thinking people on earth. Does that mean that Leroy’s mind is a total muddle? Certainly that must be the case rather then that I am not precise.

For some reason I kept thinking we were returning from UT on the 26^th while Leroy thought it was on the 27^th. We had the info in our email and did not print it off. This morning we checked, Leroy was correct and I was a day early. I suppose it helped him to be more accurate because he was the one who booked the tickets. Or could my mind be a muddle? I was happy to read that the airline has gathered pilots for all but a few hundred flights during this season. Should I be hoping our flight is one with a pilot or not?

Paula

Singing

Hello,

I do like all of the singing that we do in choir, especially close to Christmas. It keeps me focused and breathing. Always after practice I feel lifted up and energized. This afternoon we did a lessons and carols service with another church. Leroy and I were almost late because we got half there and realized that we did not have our music. At least it was not miles and miles, but it still took some time to retrace our distance and come back once more. Someone asked if we had walked. We did not because it probably would have been about two and a half miles. I did not see anyone come in after we arrived. At least we did not miss the entire practice.

The service was very nice. I was happy to be there. Leroy seemed to like it as well, but we had to leave almost immediately after it was over because he wanted to eat something before he headed off for his night meeting. It is the last session so his Sunday night will be free until something else comes along to require that time.

I am fortunate I have the night off. I got the dishes washed as well as cleaning up some lettuce that I have over purchased the amount we need. We have been eating it a short step ahead of spoilage.

For lunch, I came home and cleaned up the rest of the broccoli that I had picked as well as some of the kale leaves. There is still quite a lot of that kale on the steps that lead up to the cool/cold attic. For now that is our root cellar. I am pleased to have produce from the garden at almost the middle of December. At this time the bugs have ceased to be a problem. Guess I should learn to grow more things in the winter time. One of my friends told me today that he has started lettuces and other greens in his cold frame. He expects to harvest in March. I do not want to plant yet, but it seems to me a cold frame would be a nice move to get some early greens. When we have more leisure we will work on that.

Paula

Old, Who Me?

Hello,

Today at work, a book salesman was showing his children’s book samples to those who will make the choices to buy or not to buy, when he took a break to get something letting the deciders confer. As he came past the desk where I was working he told a story that involved an elderly librarian of at least 65 or 70 years old. I was astonished that he was telling this to me in this way. But then I wondered, “Perhaps he has no idea that I will be 70 in just two and a half weeks.”

That is possibly the way it is even though people have generally thought that I am older than I actually am.

I also felt a twinge at labeling people who are 65 or old as elderly. I do not consider myself elderly even though I consider myself older. Interesting how it all changes and the term used makes a difference. In my view finder, people in their late 60’s or early 70’s used to be quite elderly, but now they are in the prime of life.

I do not know just how old this man is, but I thought he would be late 50’s or possibly even into his 60’s.

Maybe with age, I just look younger and younger. I do not believe that, and it does not matter. What is, is. I am just happy to be alive and well. I expect to be working for a bit of time yet.

Although Leroy commented last night after we went to bed and he was so tired, “I am getting ready to retire soon; at least one of my jobs is enough.”

If he only retires from one job and we stay longer, I will probably keep working as long as I feel like am doing a good job.

Paula

Bargains

Hello,

At a garage sale, last summer, Leroy found some sports/ski goggles. He got them to see if that would help him to ride the bike in cold weather without steaming up his glasses. He wore them this morning. He was so excited about it he had to call me when he got to work. “They worked! I could see just fine with no fog on my glasses. I should have had on warmer gloves, and warmer socks, but the rest was all good.”

Those functioning goggles are a bargain indeed as he paid just a small fraction of the original cost. On that same garage sale trip around the community, I found some glass storage containers that I have been using at least every week if not every day. The price differential is not as great, but the amount of use makes it all worth it.

On that trip we also got the water kettle which I have not really liked, but have used since then. It has been a good teacher showing me the features that I liked about my former water kettle. I consider it a cheap education. So am happy with my new water kettle even though we have not yet opened it. I am pleased with all that I see on the box although I do wonder about how far the lid opens.

It is all about that idea of one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Now if we could just figure out how to make the match all of the time there would be a lot less in our trash bins in this country.

Paula

No Dusting Here

Hello,

There was a time when I cleaned every Saturday because that is what mom did or rather mom had my sister and I do it when we became old enough. I still remember feeling a bit insulted that I was not considered good enough to clean downstairs. My sister was three years older and she got that prestigious position. My bother did not have to do any house work which also seemed unfair, but I do know that he did plenty of work outside even helping to milk cows before and after school while I was more of a free bird. Carolyn and I did have to feed the chickens, pick up eggs, and run the separator. However, I do not remember doing those chores all of the time.

For some reason I find Saturday cleaning much less demanding than I used to. Perhaps I can blame it on the mentality that occurs when we only stayed in a place for a year so it seemed much less important.

This weekend I had a great excuse for ignoring any dust bunnies, how did they get that name anyway?

Saturday, we headed off to the museum for their old world Christmas market. Not as old world as Leroy and I have seen, but still nice. It was nice to visit with anyone that we knew as we met them. I do like that about living longer in one place. The number of strangers tends to decrease, even though there were plenty of people that I did not know. From there we rode the trolley over to the area across the river where we inspected more buying options. Leroy wanted to buy some tea for a co-worker which he did. When ready to head back to the car, the trolley was not there so we walked back across the river which was quite fine.

In the afternoon we went to a band concert at the closest college. This included performance by the percussion ensemble. They played a selection that I quite liked. This was followed by a jazz band that played four pieces. I do not always like jazz, but I liked this as well. This school has a good music department. In the evening we went back for the orchestra concert. I consider it an added bonus that we can walk to these venues. Health, beauty, and entertainment all in one package is great.

Paula

Christmas Shopping for Leroy

Hello,

Leroy and I must have few wants because neither of us can be of much help for the other in terms of what to get for gifts. Leroy told me last week, when he was wearing a sweater, “I would like to replace this sweater because it is looking shabby and it is too big for me. I want about this same color as I do not have much that is this color.”

I was out shopping today. I was in one big box store, but they did not have piles of sweaters. In fact, the only ones I saw were on display hangers over shirts. No one was around to ask so I just considered that I would look elsewhere. In the second big box store, there were no sweaters to be seen. “Do you have men’s sweaters?” I asked a person stocking a shelf.

She took a while to think and then she said, “No or we only have the rather ugly Christmas sweaters.”

“Have men’s sweaters gone out of style?” I then wondered out loud.

“Perhaps,” she replied, “we did not have any last year either.”

I will look at some other stores because I know have seen them. While in the first store I serendipitously found a water kettle on sale. It had many of the features that I like. Leroy also likes the water kettle and I thought I could buy it for him. I bought it, but later asked Leroy, “Are you still planning to get the water kettle repaired?”

“Yes, but I just have not done it,” he sighed.

He then called the repair shop in our neighborhood. They told him that they did not do that and they did not know anyone who would.

After that Leroy started looking for water kettles on the internet. He found one he really liked. At that point I thought I had better confess that I had already bought one before he purchased another. I revealed my thought to give it to him for Christmas. He laughed while owning up to the fact that he had planned to get it for me. I extracted that box from its hiding place, gave it to Leroy, and with a big grin said, “Merry Christmas.” We agreed that the one in hand had an additional feature that we liked, it not only had variable temperatures, but it looks like we can set it exactly to our desires. What more could one want? Now should we wrap it and put it under the tree addressed to both of us?

Paula