Boomer Chick Musings

I was weeping as I went to pick up my son, his wife, and their new(er) baby boy. I was listening to some favorite church hymns in my car.  The kids came in two days before Thanksgiving. That was really smart.  They beat the traffic at the departing and arriving airports.  The babe was on his first airplane flight and the SWA flight attendants all signed a certificate with his name on it!  Very cool...and good for biz. I was overwhelmed with gratitude...not just for this lovely time together, but for the world as I saw it. And I admit that I see things a bit wonky.  But in my book Thanksgiving is one of the most meaningful (read holiest) days of each year. Black Friday, on the other hand, to me, is a disgusting day.  Shopping for anything on Pre -Black Friday except for forgotten Thanksgiving Day food items, is a sin in my book.  Sure I get that people like to get good deals...but can't the advertisers just kind of leave it alone for a few hours on Thanksgiving Thursday? Ca

Rain...it's actually falling from the sky! Rain...I've turned off the sprinkler system. Rain...I even ride my bike in it (unintentionally). Rain...it is so gentle...not blowing sideways. Rain...I got a call from a neighbor tonight who wanted a roofer to check out her cottage. Gave her a name. Rain...Maybe we appreciate it more...when we've gone so long without it. Rain...don't waste it! Rain...I hope any snow sticks in the mountains...it seems so warm next to the San Francisco Bay. Rain...it's been so long that the drivers and cars don't know how to handle it.  Once again..we are weather wimps. Rain...we complain about our weather.  I have a client in Washington DC.  She has a right to complain...yesterday they set a new low temperature of 20 degrees.  Broke that this morning.  Went down to 13 degrees. Rain...it changes how we walk, run, talk.  It makes us act weird. Rain...I took a golf lesson today in the golf shack ..but even with the re

I can do this.  They say I can do it.  I opened the box and sighed.  Another device.  What was wrong with the one I've had for years? Nothing.  But here's a new modem from Comcast. I've had this box sitting on my office floor for almost two months.  I thought about doing it.  I read the instructions.  And I said 'fagitaboutit." Here's my thought process: If I do this, how long will it take me?   Hours .   Maybe days.  Without the internet? That's a problem. If I do this, will I be happy because of it? ~No, the victory would be only personal .  Who wants to listen to me telling a fascinating story about changing a modem?   Nobody. What else could I do in the meantime? Most anything, including: ~making lemon bread in my new Kitchenaid standing mixer (those Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons and the other 2 $5 coupons really paid off)!  Plus I would share the results!    ~OR I could finish cleaning the house (am still working on that after t

The first time I took a whiff of a gardenia was when I received one in a corsage from the guy who took me to the homecoming dance when I was a sophomore in high school.  He was on the varsity football team.  From that moment on, whenever I catch that scent I am immediately taken back to that moment. When Carl and I chose a landscaper to makeover our backyard this is one of the flowers I wanted. And it's one of the plants that still remains over twenty + years ago. I've been watching my gardenia plant for the past seven months.  And it has not been fun.  The plant looks scrawny, leafless, and not good at all. (The photo was taken some years ago of the same plant, when it looked much better.)  The thought had crossed my mind to toss the plant.  Maybe I had killed it.  Maybe it just got tired.  But - maybe didn't get it done..so I didn't do anything. But this Tuesday...the gardenia had blooms on it! They are small but fragrant.  And once I walked by it I had to sto

This request came when the flyboys (I think there were two of them with me that time), and I were flying new planes to San Jose, CA from the East Coast.  We each flew a plane.  Often it would be more convenient to set down in an airfield near a small town, as long as the weather wasn't wonky or predicted to be wonky.  ("Wonky" is my current term for weird and it didn't exist back in the day).  We wouldn't be bothered with getting in line behind large commercial aircraft, waiting for the company to meet a schedule. Sometimes we needed to land because we needed fuel.  This was a time of 'gas-shortage-in-America' to the extreme.  Many small airfields didn't even get fuel deliveries because of the shortage.  But I do remember that the weather wasn't wonky, wouldn't be wonky, and it was time to set down for the night. I loved the small airports, flying across and over them, low and slow (well, as fast as the plane could go). And in the middle of

Dyson...Bed Bath Beyond...Hidden Connections....Jay Caldwell....Eddie Audi....Ethan the Plumber "You only cry once."....This was a dear friend's thought process, and adopted by Carl.  This is why they chose to buy quality. When I think back to when I've cried over and over and over again because I've purchase junk...I could just...cry. Some examples of businesses that treat the customer right:: Dyson   When I first got my vacuum cleaner (could have been 2-3 years ago), I decided to clean it out within two months of my purchase.  Then I went online and I found a guy who shot a u-tube video who had never cleaned his Dyson vacuum for the 7 years he owned it!  I followed his lead, cleaned the thing, and have only emptied out the crud that the sucker sucked up.  I didn't even think to clean it again.  But just recently I cleaned it again. It worked just fine before and after.  But when I started it up again last week, it had a very loud pitched squeal and I

Late at night I get zoned out and I flip the clicker through the TV stations.  My 'new-to-me' favorite show is Airplane Repo . I watched this and thought..is this for real? Yes, it seems to be!  Why do I like it so much?  I touches my heart.  I did some airplane repos myself. No, I did not heist a Lear jet, or an amphibian.  Me and my flyboys just took single engine planes.  This was after a huge boom in the industry...and after huge booms there are often huge busts.  Anyway you look at it, there was flying to be done.  Piper Aircraft hired us to get the planes (because they financed them) and return them to the place they wanted. These pros fly planes like we used to, every once in a while. Not every plane is a high end aircraft. But they also get paid for bringing it back to the owner/company/bank.  Big bucks. Not so much for us. What we usually did was take planes from local flying schools.  The schools (i.e. airports) were mostly abandoned and the planes would be si

I don't know where the gene comes from that makes people love shopping.  I don't remember liking shopping when I was young much less as a teenager. During my recent trip to Newport Beach, I realized that I left some of the face stuff I use, at home.  That was fine since I didn't know anybody that I had to impress, as I made my way down the Pacific Coast Hwy for the first 2 days.  Heck, nobody cares anyway. But once I hit the scene in Newport...one can only guess where one will find someone he/she knows. I made a couple of calls to see where I could find the face stuff.  Oooh..that's not so bad..there's parking at the small shopping center and I can get in and out quickly.  Ummm, no. Not so much.  That store didn't carry the full line of makeup... but good news!  South Coast Plaza does!  Not good news to me!  I left the store rather deflated. I've only been to South Coast Plaza once in the last 3 years specifically looking for specific items...like

...in the public toilets along Huntington Beach. I rode my bike from Balboa Island up to the Huntington Beach pier.  I was almost there and I saw the gentleman cleaning out the restrooms about 4:30pm.  These stalls are placed in permanent rows up and down the beach waiting for people in long lines to use them.  But on late Monday, early in the fall, to find them empty and clean is a wonder to behold.  So hedging my bets...I asked if I could step in.  He said "Si." I remember two or three years ago, that I had plopped my phone  (which was safely nestled in my jacket pocket) into a toilet at work.  How embarrassing.  I cried.  That event made me a bit cautious regarding this venue. I placed the phone on top of the metal toilet paper roll holder. After a quick trip inside...I got on my bike and proceeded up the path.  After sitting for about 30 minutes at the pier, watching volleyball teams warm up in front of me and a bongo player beating pretty good drums behind me, I

The one good thing about flying anywhere is that you need to be at the airport on time.  Often you may have to wait for the plane to arrive, or it may need some mechanical attention thus it will be delayed, or (like me last February) I was there in plenty of time and I let the plane leave without me. I needed to change something about my rush routine.  No more rush rush rush to get down to my second 'home away from home.'  I will take (make) some time to drive Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to Newport Beach. The one bad thing about driving...is there is always one last thing to do...I need to drop this at the post office, and this at church, and get my tires inflated, and blah blah blah. So instead of me getting away at 10:30am, I got out of Dodge at noon. But hey, that's not so bad.  No bridge traffic, no traffic through the city. I'm heading out! I found a place through either the AAA Magazine or Sunset Magazine that talked about Central Coastal to

I have a friend, name Joe.  We are both real estate brokers.  When I was finished having coffee with a potential client and I was getting ready to hop on my bike...I saw him in his office doing 'floor time.' That's when you answer questions that folks typically ask about real estate.   So we were sitting around jawin' at his office.  No calls or people came in. I think I was responding to a text and I complained about having 'man hands.'  I don't do texts very well.  I think you have to have small hands and be very quick.  That lead us into a story about his daughter, Gaby, that took place in July 2007. As is a typical teenage girl, this one has flying fingers.  The phone plan that Joe and Laura (his wife) had at that time offered unlimited texts for everybody in the family for $30.  "Well, that works for me", said Joe.  At the same time, he went ahead and canceled the paper bill, shifting to online instead. Since the bill didn't vary too

Carl told me I slept through the radio once it went off.  I did get up.  But I still didn't know what had happened.  I guess I'm rather selective about what I listen too. Then he told me what had happened at the World Trade Center.  Passenger planes had been taken over by foreigners and crashed into the huge buildings, had been hijacked over mid America and crashed. Our daughter was out of college and our son was in college.   (I'm sure my kids will correct me on this....I lose track of time for all things family - I simply love them for who they are.) Just a few years before our family had gone to the WTC, on a larger trip to the east coast including Washington DC (the Smithsonian and capitol), taking trains into New York and watching the amazing view from above, looking out, and down.  We were visiting with friends, Helen and Ralph, in Connecticut. Explain to me Carl, what had happened there?  I still could not comprehend it.  After crying, we decided to each go t

This was a classic and actually very real saying by a gentleman, a real estate broker,  who has since passed on but   I know his daughters very well!  They are family to us.  Jack wanted me to come work for him as a new agent, but the group seemed a bit too clicky for my taste and rather old school, all those years ago.  So off I went to a newer office, to establish myself as part of the new breed of agent in town. But Jack always had a very special place in my heart and he was very helpful to me. He was very serious about roofers doing time. I mean really, how many times have you personally gone up on the top of your house and looked around and even knew what to look at?  (My family did head up to the roof on the 4th of July when we wanted to watch fireworks being blown up at Disneyland when I was a little kid.) Today I had the opportunity to sit and jaw with my good friend, Bill Wong, my best roofer and solar installer ever.   What started at 3:30 lasted until 6pm.  The man has s

Our family went through the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, for the most part, with flying colors. Both kids were at soccer practice at different fields (I know my daughter is going to correct me on much of this), and my husband was driving home on the Nimitz Fwy (aka now as the 880), and I was showing a house to some prospects from Florida, relatives of one of my clients. The kids were safe but were trying to figure out why the balls and ground were moving without any help from them.  Carl thought that he had a simultaneous 4 tire blowout as he was driving.  And I knew what was happening but my buyers did not.  I calmly said we were having an earthquake and rounded them up like a hen does her chicks. The Floridians did not buy anything in Alameda, much less CA.  I'm sure they had big stories to tell. I recall some of my earlier earthquakes.  We lived in the San Francisco North Bay when I was 11 years old.  We heard about the earthquake in Alaska and my dad took us down to see t

...and I'm going to take it back.  I do not like shopping...for anything. I go to Costco.  Once I'm there I go direct to the spots where my items are located.  It seems silly that one person buying food for one person would go to Costco.  But I do. I get the paper towels, but not the toilet paper. (Somebody told me recently the most purchased item is their t.p.) I buy the roasted chicken, but not the fish, except for the cooked cilantro shrimp in the meat section.  I buy the shampoo but not the conditioner.  I buy the frozen chicken but not the eggs. (frozen stay frozen, eggs do not). When I go to Maui, I buy my annual Tommy Bahama beach chair...then give it to tourists who may have a few days of vaca left, once I've made it through my last day. I buy the loaves of bakery bread, and freeze what I don't use.  I buy some of the cheese, but only what I can use..otherwise it will spoil. I buy their fresh peaches...they are delicious in the beginning of the seaso

Who I am, what I was, what I want to be..... Kid - very friendly; moved a lot so had to make friends quickly. Sister - probably not so good.  I once told my brother (next to me in age)...don't ever think of acknowledging me at or during school. I will not admit to knowing you. Student - Good, sometimes great, but mostly decent. Girl Scout - Constant...was a GS for over 10 years, and the moving around made GS a predicable pattern. Cheerleader - third try and then I was 'in' my senior year as President of the Pep Squad.  Very risky.  Very senior-itis. Too much freedom.  Should re-think my answer as a 'student'. Wife - Good; very supportive of my husband's dreams; wanted a life of my own and achieved that because of my husband.  We were very good partners.  I miss him. Mother  - Decent.  My flying around the US made the job of mom and dad very interchangeable for Carl and me.  Like my mom, I would stand up for my own kids, when they deserved it.

How much do you take?  Is it a lifetime or five minutes?  When do you reach your limit? This is rather silly.  But this week, after about two years of static...I made the call. My FM radio receiver was making so much extra noise. I listen to NPR these days, when I can bear the racket.  I tried moving the slim cord around...and that would settle it.  Until I moved myself around.  That made it un-settling, and un-nerving.  The static was always where I was. So Kevin, from Hidden Connections , came over today to check out the status of the 'static.'  He has become my new BFF since the company installed music/video/TV flat screen/BluRay/Smart Hub/extra TVs etc. And he brought a new device..just in case. I am way back in the line of those who do not become 'early adapters.'  I'm a very late adapter. I'd rather be sure that all the other people have fixed, identified, and worked out the mistakes before I try anything technical. Now I have Sonos .  If you are

I have my email account divvied up into categories.  One of them is promotions, so I don't have to mess with them midst emails that are really important or even mildly amusing. This is what I think of the machines and/or people who write this stuff, junk, whatever. How stupid do they think I am?   I think they think I am really stupid!  Despite my eliminating them by placing them into my  'spam' bucket,  somehow they just keep showing up. From Briggs and Riley (this is an excellent travel case company...about the best for no-hassle warranties, and quality of workmanship)   Summer savings, just for YOU!   Really? Just for me?  How did I get so lucky? From Hulu Plus  Marilyn, give us another chance!  We'll give you two weeks free!  You're our person!   Really?  I'm your person?  I tried you for one night and it was a nightmare just getting to find some programs.  Why don't you make your system better and let me hear about it from the grapevine instead

Grandma. Granny. Mimi.  Moma.  Nana.  Tutu.  These are just a few of the names I've considered for the next act, version, era, and/or iteration of my life. I guess I really didn't think much about this next section.  I try to stay in the moment, not dwelling too much in the past on things I can't change, and not dwelling too much in the future, on things I don't really want to know. I don't consider the future a mystery....rather it's more like chapters in a book.  Some chapters are great page-turners, some are not, yet I do have some control over what is mine to write, based on what and how I think.  That's the kicker...how I think, what I think, is the key to.....everything. But now this event has happened. My quite new grandson deserves something simple that he can call me. My mom loved hearing her second name, Nana, from her grandkids.  My dad loved hearing his second name, Papa, from his grandkids.  I guess I could mess up Cadel, my grandson, and

When I'm riding my bike in town I need to be sure that I'm watching for car doors opening; watching out for holes of pavement debris on certain streets, so I don't get snagged in them; watching out for rear lights on vehicles to see whether they are turning (or not);  watching out for brake lights to see if vehicles are stopping, pulling over or slowing down; listening for vehicles backup sounds (beepbeepbeep); watching where I'm going; and.... ....NOT watching  for notes in the street. But this week I did see a note that was obviously tossed off a car windshield, and I circled back to pick it up. This is about the kindest note I've ever seen, to a stranger, who has taken too many parking spaces in a town where parking is considered almost as valuable as a decent rental unit. It says Dude.  It calls a spade a spade.  It says nicely what needs to be said.  It's written so the Dude can read it.  And it says "thanks!" with a rather happy exclama

Who hasn't wanted to be a rock star?  It really doesn't matter if it takes the better part of a lifetime to do that, or if you are a one-hit-wonder.  It's so romantic in so many ways! No, it is not.  BUT if you have a bit of an opportunity on one particular day, with some limited background in rockin' good music, maybe it can be done. I just had my day...last week.  Crowds were lining the streets!  Everybody was happy!  Everybody was wearing their favorite colors!  Everybody was waving! I did have two lessons in three weeks.  Who wouldn't be prepared coming in with that?  Our main-man-leader offered his skills to train folks who wanted to ride on a flatbed truck, and play drums.  I don't know how to say the name of the drums...but they are exotic and he owned them.  I watched that local Realtor advertisement for a couple of weeks, thought about it, and decided I could do that . The day of the parade came.  We needed to decorate the float, practice, and t

This week was a bit strange.  I looked outside, and people on either side of our house were moving! Suddenly I thought....'was it something I said?' I knew my wonderful neighbors to my left were moving this week.  I had watched them struggle to buy a house here, but then family ties and obligations ended up pulling them towards the midwest where their relatives live. I've come to love Joi and Mike and their daughter, Emma.  They are the best people and parents.  I've literally watched Emma grow from a small child into a lovely, considerate kid! They been wonderful watching the house when I'm gone: picking up mail, and newspapers.  Since Mike worked at home, he had become my personal alarm. And Joi was so excited to grow her own rosebush!   I was so disappointed when she told me that she couldn't take it across state lines.  This was her first rose baby and it had grown so much in that pot! She offered me the rose, but I felt so sad, because she had turn

A parade...like the New Year's Day Rose Parade.  The creativity makes my mind....well I guess it just kinda blows my mind. Another parade...the longest in the US, I'm told.  Alameda Island's 4th of July Parade.  This was Carl's fave because it was so... home-town!  Several times he missed it because he was racing yachts to Hawaii....same time but in a very different space.  I believe I'll be playing back-up with others, behind the main man, who plays a mean hand-pounding big time beast!  Can he ever get tone out of his various drums! Bed Bath and Beyond - the other day I took a shower curtain hanger, just one, back to the local store, because it just wouldn't connect properly when I hung the whole curtain up.  I had tried different locations all along the shower curtain...it would just fall off.  And I also just about fell over, when the manager was willing to exchange it for another hanger.  You rock, BB&B!  Oh and I didn't have my receipt and had i

Because I often work on the weekends, when I have downtime, I watch some non-thinking TV, like when I'm ironing.  Yes, I do iron. But this was not the case last weekend.  Yes, I did work, and yes I watched TV in my downtime, and no it was not non-thinking TV.  It was the PGA U.S. Open Golf Championship.  I set up the media system to record the event on Saturday and Sunday.  No recording took place.  I didn't get the memo that this was the weekend for my cable box to flake out. Once I described the symptoms (as in the screen freezing, no earth to TV contact with the remote, and pixels dancing in strange forms) my media expert did remind me that the device is a computer.  Oh. Because I was working and I didn't have the time to deal with Comcast, I paid him to take on that privilege. So on Monday afternoon, he turned in that cable box and brought back a new one, which was on Comcast's dime (but I pay the monthly fees so it's really on my dime).  He hooked it up,

I had been at Safeway.  Well, it may have happened (it did) before I went into Safeway (not during).  I couldn't get my bike lined up to get my bike lock right, so I think (know) I just kind of moved the bike (stuffed it) into a spot that triggered the unwanted (unintended) hassle (consequences). I started tracing where the bike brake line went (tugged on it), pressed the brake handle (no difference) and started looking critically (what have I done?) at the situation. After about five minutes (of getting out of peoples' way), I figured out what wire looked different from its counterpart on the other side (left vs right).  I discovered (not me, it was the grace of God) that one brake wire was quite different than the other (as in sticking out 90 degrees).  Ah ha!  All I needed to do was to gently get (force) it into the proper place (I prayed), and then slide it into the notch it came out of (force it again).  Yes, it worked just fine (relief). Which brings me back around

I appreciate the owner who came over from the Shade Shop and hung my new blinds.  He said my house is always neat.  I'm dying a slow death because all I see is the dirt. While the house seems clean to him it's what's behind the cupboard doors that kind of shock me.  Like most people (I think), if I don't open them, I won't see any surprises!  If I don't open them, then they are just as I want them to be...perfect.  My thinking is it's something like TV's  "Let's Make a Deal" where I choose Door #1, #2, or #3.  Somebody's gotta choose one! My chance to choose which door, was this week.  I was digging through one of the kitchen cabinets the other day.  I do not know what happens, when it happens, or why it happens, but once I open one of those doors and really look at what's inside of it ..argh!  While I have no intention of starting to clean, I find myself....cleaning. I started pulling stuff out, placing the pasta in a drawe

Have you ever had a day that you say to yourself, "Self, there must be a better way!"  This happened to me last night. The day before, at a meeting, it was pointed out that a perfectionist never gets anything done.  He/she is always working to get to perfection.  I'm not a perfectionist, far from it. BUT I am a control freak.  In my measly world, it seems I need to be in charge, controlling all the parts to make them work together perfectly.  Oops, there's that word...perfection. Here I was: stepping over, tripping over, climbing over those who know exactly what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and have the demeanor to get it done just fine, with a variety of other people who do the same thing I'm trying to do. Allow me to digress.  When I was a sophomore in high school, I took a very basic art class.  Don Tredway was the teacher's name.  He made jewelry in his non-teaching life.  He really was an artist.  I saw him at a Laguna arts festival, workin

I can get amused and/or frustrated easily. -Back in the day (as in last year?), Google had a homepage that I could customize.  Mine had a "French word-of the-day."  I really liked it! I was able add various times-around-the-world on that home page.  Now it's all gone - nada, nothing, kaput.  Too bad. -Linked In...doesn't really do much for me. Recently, a friend sent me a link on Linked In saying this is how we could find out about somebody.  Uh, no, it didn't!  What it did do was to seek out all the people in the world who, IMHO (in my humble opinion) had a first and a last name.  I have decided I really hate Linked In. I need to get rid of either Linked In or the folks around the world with first and last names, who have joined my 'club' or whatever it is.  I will do exactly that, when I'm not busy.  ugh! -Speaking of Linked In, I have a friend who had a recent announcement, courtesy of Linked In.  She was congratulated for a work anniversary:

It was a quiet night.  I'm not sure what time of year it was.  I don't think we had to bundle up to be outside. Sutter must have been at a friend's that night.  Carl may have been out sailing on a race or may have tied up at a dock waiting to come back the next day. Hhmm.  Me and Evan.  This could have been what they would now call a 'teachable moment.'  I did what all good moms would do for a kid.  I gathered up some supplies and said said we were going to the car. About a mile and a half later, we pulled up to Mary's house.  It was quiet all around the street..and certainly at her home and yard.  We got out of the car.  It was time.  I was teaching my son how to T.P a house. I said we needed to be very quiet. He was a bit timid.  He took a roll of toilet paper and proceeded to pick off one piece at at time and lay it on the hedges.  No!  That's now how we do it!  This is how... I took one of the rolls and threw it over the roof, streams of tp run

Sports brings couples together...or can drive them apart.  I've seen marriages break apart under the guise of sports.  But I think today is different.  Those that play fair together, stay together.  Kind of like life! Back in the day when Carl and I were first married, we played ice hockey in San Francisco, weekly, with a bunch folks in the sailing biz, after work.  It was vicious!  His boss would threaten me with his (hockey) stick and make rude remarks just before we faced-off.  He was a jerk.  And Carl couldn't skate so he kind of walked with bent ankles in those boots.  It was painful to watch. A Fireball...not me..but you get the idea. The next thing we did was to race Fireballs together on SF Bay.  I hung out on the wire while he drove.  He wanted to crew and be out on the wire, and have me in the skipper position but I said "no."   I was afraid of losing control of the boat.  I could trust him not to lose control of that boat. It was still fast and ver

I looked into the sky recently....and once again I am taken back to a time gone by. I was with Carl, who was starting out as a yacht designer.  And I was starting out as a wife.  He was 25 and I was 21. While he was analyzing the boat, I was analyzing the clouds.  I had begun working at the glider field and had the day off, so off I went with him.  I was laying on the dock, looking up to the sky and watching clean, white puffy clouds form and dissipate, form and dissipate.  I had no idea about what would happen in the next years.  But it didn't matter. I was literally in that moment. I had been previously employed as a part-time Clerk-typist II.for the State of California, in Oakland, at a youth center. Every time I built up some time for a half day off, I took it.  It was a horrible job.  I worked in an office that had some type of plexi-glass windows that surrounded us... and kept us from the kids.  The men and women who worked there were continuously ripping off the stat