Month: June 2017

Ireland on the Horizon

I’ve been planning for our trip to Ireland since the day Studly Doright brought home an informational packet and dropped it in my lap several months ago. He’d told me that our trip to Scotland, four years ago, was probably the last time the wives would be invited on a golf trip, so I was shocked and pleased at the prospect of another European vacation.

Like all looming vacations, this one felt so very far away until all of a sudden it’s staring us right in the face. In just a week we’ll be winging our way over the Atlantic to the city of Shannon, where we’ll meet up with the rest of Studly’s golfing buddies from Great Bend, Kansas, for an eight day adventure. 

I know there are wonderfully unique sights and sounds and experiences waiting for us, and I’m looking forward to every single minute. If I don’t post for a few days, starting on the 21st, just know I’ll be engaged in discovering the wonders of the fabled Emerald Isle. 

Keep us in your thoughts as we travel. I’m kind of absent minded and will appreciate all the good vibes my friends send my way. Thanks!

Peace, people!

When Things Change

We age, first in slow-motion, will we ever ride a bike, drive a car, kiss a guy, marry well, bear children?

Then in a blur of wrinkles and gray hair,
Burgeoning numbers of bad cholesterol
Measured in blood tests,

Weighed against stress tests, when we thought our testing days were done. The numbers now matter

More than did our percentages on history tests and English exams. We only thought those were matters of life and death.

Gadget Girl

I got called “Gadget Girl” today while shopping at TJ MAXX. After thinking about the title, I decided to own it. I like gadgets, especially those that make packing and traveling easier. 

A woman in the store had asked where I’d gotten my handbag (ebags.com) and I showed her all of its little pockets and clever features. After my demonstration, she said, “Why, you’re just a regular gadget girl!” 

What kinds of gadgets, you might ask? The bag is geared to keep thieves from casually unzipping the main compartment and removing a wallet or cell phone with locking devices at every opening. Plus it has RFID pockets built in to reduce the likelihood of someone scanning my credit cards and passport. The bag also cannot be easily sliced open and the straps are reinforced to prevent a thief from snipping one off. 

Of course it could always be stolen, but that would mean a lapse of vigilance on my part. We all know how vigilant I am. (Studly Doright is crying tears at that statement.)

A couple of weeks ago I ordered some items from a company called RūMe. I’d seen their ad on Facebook, and thought, “Wow! Cool travel gadgets!” I didn’t pay for expedited shipping, though, and was beginning to worry that my items wouldn’t make it in time. So, I found a “contact us” link and shot off an email. They got back to me within 24 hours and provided a tracking link. 

After several days, the package still wasn’t moving, so I sent off another email. This one was answered immediately, and I was promised a speedy delivery. True to their word, I received my products Saturday morning, in plenty of time to practice packing for my upcoming trip to Ireland. Yay!

So what did I order? The product is called a Garment Travel Organizer. 



It allows for one to carry up to six items on hangers, and additional items in the mesh pockets. Supposedly, when one folds the packed organizer in thirds, it will easily fit into a carry on bag. There were several patterns from which to choose, but I’ve been on a blue kick lately, so I ordered this navy and white number.


I also received this trio of Tech Tacos to keep cords from tangling. Cute, eh?


And a trio of bags, one of which was a freebie:


I’m extremely pleased with my RūMe products. They look good and were reasonably priced. And the RūMe staff was responsive to my needs. I’d order from them again. My Gadget Girl status remains intact.

Peace, people!

(Oh, I received nothing in compensation for this review. I just wanted to praise a good product.)

Snapshot #187

I folded towels fresh from the dryer. After putting away towels for the master bathroom, I returned to find Scout Elizabeth had made herself comfortable. I call this one, “Peel Me a Grape.”

Emergency calls in Britain

Notesfromtheuk.com never fails to crack me up.

Ellen Hawley's avatarNotes from the U.K.

What constitutes a crisis in Britain? Not much, if you ask some people, so periodically the ambulance/police/fire/coast guard emergency number publicizes a handful of the weirder calls they get in a—doomed, I’m sure—effort to make people get serious about this. They’re being tweeted at #ThinkBeforeYouDial!

So here we go: a quick visit to what the emergency number—999—deals with.

Someone wanted to borrow a charger for their phone’s battery.

Someone complained that the groomer had shaved their dog instead of trimming it.

Someone asked when the betting shops close.

Irrelevant photo: wild gladiolus–also called whistling jacks in the Scilly Isles.

Someone complained that McDonald’s didn’t give him a Monopoly sticker with his drink.

Someone asked, “Will I get arrested if I move my housemate’s banana?”

Yes, almost surely.

Someone said, “My TV is broken and Eastenders in about to start.”

Someone wanted the number for British Gas.

Someone’s hamster was sick.

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Tell Me Two Things

Studly and I have been discussing pop music as we drive the back roads around Doright Manor. Well, I’ve been discussing music while he pretends to listen, just occasionally asking, “What?”

I recently told him that I think the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby has the finest lyrics of any pop song from the 60’s, perhaps the finest of all time. 

“What?” Studly asks, then after I repeat myself, “Oh, yeah, it’s got a catchy tune.”

“Don’t you even listen to the lyrics?”

“Not really,” he said.

How have I managed to stay married to this man for 40+ years? Oh, I guess there is that crazy little thing called love. 

So, readers, tell me two things: 

1)Which pop song from the last five decades has the best lyrics? 

2)Does your significant other understand what lyrics are?

Eleanor Rigby
The Beatles

Lyrics

Ah look at all the lonely people
Ah look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie, writing the words
Of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks
In the night when there’s nobody there
What does he care

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Ah look at all the lonely people
Ah look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
And was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
From his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Songwriters: John Lennon / John Winston Lennon / Paul Mccartney / Paul James Mccartney

Eleanor Rigby lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Donald Trump’s War on the Middle Class

Every single person in the U.S. should read this. Even babies. Teach them to read quickly because their futures depend on it. Great work from alotfromlydia.wordpress.com.

alotfromlydia's avatarA lot from Lydia

I touched on this topic a couple of days ago, but I think it deserves more attention.

In 2006 Donald Trump said he “sort of hoped” the housing market would collapse. If there is a bubble burst “people like me can go in and buy like crazy.”

Two years later the real estate bubble did burst. It was the equivalent of a sink hole in the U.S. economy. The poor were largely unaffected, because they didn’t have anything to lose, but the rich got richer— at the expense of the middle class.

  • Home values plummeted.
  • Stocks tanked.
  • Retirement savings were halved.
  • 529 college savings plans virtually disappeared.
  • “Upside down mortgage” became a common phrase: The drastic drop in housing prices, resulted in people owing more on their mortgages than the homes value. Many of those homes went on to foreclose, further bringing down real estate values.

People like Donald Trump…

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Understanding the UK election

This is hilarious.

Ellen Hawley's avatarNotes from the U.K.

Apologies for the extra post, but this is too good to miss. If you’re trying to understand the recent U.K. election, read this. It explains everything–and more.

With thanks to A., who sent me the link.

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The Winds

The Winds
by Leslie Noyes

Can you see the winds?
Or merely the dust they move?
Motes dancing on air


Particulates swirl
Rising high on thermal waves
Swept beyond borders


Across the oceans
Your specks mingle with my own
Touching the same light