Big is better...or NOT

Someone “may” have said, “why use a small word when you can use a large word.” I Google’s it and I couldn’t substantiate this contention. Quite the opposite...I found multiple references to advocating the opposite or use small words in short sentences as the best way to make your point.

Well I would have to agree with that, unless you are trying to purposely obfuscate an issue and test your audience’s attention to your ramblings.

Case in point...recently I posted on my Facebook account... ”For those of you who track esoteric bits of minutia...my A1C is down from 9.6 to 5.5”...thinking no one would notice.


“Esoteric, minutia and A1C...what is he talking about?...move on!, he’s rambling again.”

And indeed I was bloviating...obfuscating, or attempting too...however, It didn’t deter a few responders, who in turn added to the twist by responding in equally obscure terms, one questioning how many "stones" I've lost?"....”way to go.”

Long arm qulting table

The trip down retirement’s twisting road hasn’t been a solo journey. My co-pilot of forty five years has patiently suffered the away time (as I was off flying around the world). So now we are realizing some of her dreams.

I have always been aware of her many talents, in the kitchen, genealogy and quilting (actually all the sewing arts). But, I had no earthly idea how complicated quilting was!

First...this is not your grandma’s quilting!” Second...it comes at a price that would have bought grandma’s farm, two horses and a wagon load of hay. Third...the space required to set up this myriad of tables, machines and store the materials (fabric, threads, bobbins, and various other sundry “necessary” items) would take up ALL of grandma’s cabin.

Now I am not complaining, actually I am fascinated by the engineering that goes into the marvels of computerization, joinery and roller bearing gliding parts and pieces. The centerpiece sewing machine is a big screen television (some exaggeration here) mounted into a sewing machine (you have to have a slew of course on how to just turn this thing on!)

And then there is an embroidery module, and on and on. Attachments?...did I mention attachments? Well there are more “hoops, loops, stand alone serger, another sewing machine for “piecing” and other “essentials.” Thread...of every imaginable color in the rainbow. Material...there is enough stored with precision detail to colors and other criteria to make a thousand quilts! (more exaggeration). The quilter’s mantra is “she who dies with the most fabric wins.”

Her room bulges with “necessary” items. The room glows like a NASA control room with computer screens, and the hum of precision and intricately engineered motors.

Ok ...I am almost done.

The last piece to this array of “necessary” equipment is a quilting arm (long arm to be precise). This takes up a whole room! The “pieced” quilt, batting (the middle) and the backing are rolled onto this monster, across to the receiver and the computerized “big screen” sewing machine in mounted on top. After more computer programming, proper tensioning you are ready to go...I think? I say that because I hear mumbling and a few expletive deleted coming from the “control room”...so perhaps this technology and engineering precision has a “learning curve.” Hey, I haven’t bought her anything she didn’t ask for!

DISCLAIMER....the author of this article has no earthly idea what he’s talking about and it has not been approved by the aforementioned “co-pilot” / master quilter.

Christmas Storage

FINALLY! The boxes are starting to return to their hiding places, under the stairs, nestled in the attic and “hanging” out in the rafters of the garage.

There is, however, an annual mystery about this event...every year the amassed array of ornaments, garlands, beads, nativities and our “blue santa’s” (many of which have their own box) seem NOT to match up with the box or bin they arrived in?

Well actually they do...BUT the dedicated boxes seem to eventually be found in another tub (every different type is assigned to a tub). So the mystery is really how we can (we think) carefully unpack and display this plethora of Christmas decorations, carefully segregating the myriad of dedicated boxes and bins...only to have then ”re-arrange” themselves?

Eleven months of the year they quietly and patiently stay where they are assigned during the storage process....but for that one month they are collectively stored in one bay of the garage they celebrate this gathering (in one place) by playing musical chairs, then laughingly enjoy the consternation of the packers as the try to corral this assemblage back into their assigned boxes and tubs.

So...for now they are quietly resting in their assigned place...waiting for the game to begin again next Christmas...”Merry Christmas.

“HOPPIN JOHN”

For those of you who read the blog you will note that 2010 certainly held true to the title “The Ramblings of a Retiree.” And that is the fun part...taking life one day at a time and waiting to see what’s around the next bend. I believe it was Yogi Berra that said...”when you come to a fork in the road...take it”...and we have!

Someone else coined the phrase “water under the bridge” and that now applies to 2010, good bad or indifferent it is now history. It will, however, be a most memorable year! One that will easily be one of the road markers that defined our passage along life’s road.

That being said and not wanting to “wax philosophical” we move on with the excitement and anticipation of what is around the next bend.

Today we start that journey with a southern tradition, eating “hoppin john”, black-eyed peas. The dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when, according to tradition, it was hawked in the streets of Charleston, South Carolina by a crippled black man who was known as Hoppin' John.

Or... traced back to a legend that during the Civil War, the town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, ran out of food while under attack. The residents fortunately discovered black-eyed peas and the legume was thereafter considered “lucky”...there are more,your choice ).

So however you celebrate the New Year...we wish you a most prosperous, health and happy 2011.

Reindeer Droppings:

As reported earlier this year has flown by!

Our life this year has been a real “As the World Turns”, full of those at the end of each show moments that leave you thinking “what next!” Thanksgiving was upon us and flew by (turkey’s do fly ya’ know) and Christmas (which had started waaaay before Thanksgiving) seemed to be on us like a summer storm, full of flashing lights and loud noises.

Finally the decorations were up (inside and out)...all 90+Santa’s holding court on their appointed shelves, mantel, and display cabinet. The presents were wrapped and looking royal as they were artfully arrayed around the Christmas tree (Mrs. Clause is really creative).

Finally Christmas Eve was here... We all attended Christmas Eve service and grandpa “gifted” everyone to supper at Carrabbas, (wasn’t that nice of me?)....no one ever reaches for the check?? On Christmas day we opened presents, Bobbie fixed a great brunch (ham with a marmalade crust, cheese grits, egg casserole, orange flavored French toast and onnnnn and on!), and watched movies, Schreck (I may have dozed off a few times...I tried to just “sample” her offerings...really).

THEN we had the desserts, yes desserts, three of them, varied and decorated like Christmas presents!

Well that was last week.

Santa the reindeer were last seen heading north...we, on the other hand, have finished cleaning up after the reindeer (present droppings you know) and are enjoying the "afterglow" of the memories.

The lights are still up, however, everyone’s stocking are no longer crowed across the mantel, so we can have a fire in the fire place again, and it crackles merrily as we contentedly watch movies we’ve been meaning to watch for months.

So...”Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.”

Blue Santa's

In my last installment I mentioned our “Blue Santa” collection.

From its humble beginning, a single Blue Santa carved and painted from a cypress knee, it now fills four cabinets (oh...and this doesn’t count the ones on the Christmas tree) and numbers in excess of ninety!

From small, less than two inches tall, to floor models that tower nearly four feet tall. Each has a story, as do most collections, and are from almost every country I traveled during my flying career.

They are made of everything from glass, porcelain, metal, wood and elaborate cloth versions. The themes are also various, serious to comedic, cops, pilots, doctors...all are represented.

Eventually friends started finding and giving us Santa’s...that is when we lost control and the numbers soared. “Thank you, thank you...but please stop!”

We still are on the lookout for that “truly unique” one and suspect that more will come...100! is getting closer each season...so time will tell.

Christmas decorations

It has been a tradition for twenty years to haul out the Christmas decoration the day after Thanksgiving.

At first that wasn’t much of a problem...they all were stored in one place, under the stairs. Well as the years passed, the collection grew, pieces bought on our travels, gifts by friends and on and on. As the collection grew so did the requirement for the number of cabinets and trees to hold this growing collection.

Did I mention the “Blue Santa’s”? Years ago we bought a clever “Blue Santa’s” carved and painted from a cypress knee. That one grew into 90 (that I counted yesterday!). This collection alone requires the empting of every cabinet, shelf and piano top.

Oh...remember the storage under the stairs? We now store the boxes and crates (twenty plus) there, in the attic, and the guest room closet...and that is just the inside decorations.

The garage attic holds all the outside decorations... and that's another whole blog entry.

We are a week into the process and are just about finished and ready to put away the boxes and crates and enjoy the display.