Frozen 3
You might recall that right before we left for AZ to attend my niece’s wedding, our refrigerator went kablooey. Well, actually it was our freezer. I took everything out of our freezer and carried the frozen goods (of which there was a considerable amount) to a few loved ones who had room enough in their freezers and who loved me enough to share their space. We returned 10 days later, but before I could say defrost, I was in the hospital. So I finally picked up my frozen food the other day. Now I have to figure out how to use some of the frozen food that will no longer fit in my freezer. You know how your clothes fit in the suitcase when you begin a trip but no longer fit when you repack to come home? Same reality.

Cattails Ala King
Did you know that you can eat cattails for survival in case of a world disaster? I learned that from Pinterest which still apparently thinks I am preparing for Armageddon as they keep feeding me survival tips. There is a park in a nearby usuburb named Cattail Park. I will merely have to walk to the park and beat off the rich people who live near that park to survive disaster. Good to know.

Frying an Egg on the Sidewalk
While not even coming close to the 115 degrees “enjoyed” by my Arizona family, Denver’s high yesterday reached 100 degrees at DIA. One of the lead stories on the local news wasn’t Biden’s meeting with Putin. Nope, instead the reporter tried to fry an egg on the sidewalk (unsuccessfully), bake cookies in a car, (unsuccessfully), and make s’mores in a pizza box covered with aluminum foil (marginally successful. It really was hot. My outdoor plants were very glad to see me and my hose.

What’s Up, Doc?
Bill had his long-overdue appointment with his PD doctor on Tuesday. For the most part, he was pleased with Bill’s health. The disease, of course, continues to progress, but it seems to be taking its sweet time with him. I think he simply stays so busy that it can’t catch up with him. One takeaway is that he has to undergo a sleep study to diagnose sleep apnea. They really could save the time and money and just ask his loving wife. I listen to him breathe all night long. Sometimes he holds his breath so long that I’m flying over to the other side of the bed to shake him, just abouty the time he takes another breath.

Ciao.

After The Bucket List movie was released in 2007, everyone wanted to put together a bucket list. The idea of having a bucket list became so common that I don’t even feel the need to explain the term bucket list. Even I — the world’s least ambitious human — started thinking about the things I would like to do before I die.

That, however, was some 16 or 17 years ago. A lot has changed since then. The biggest change is that I am 16 years older than I was when the movie came out. While I might have considered paragliding in my late 40s/early 50s (yeah, right), I certainly wouldn’t do it now. Not only is paragliding dangerous and terrifying, the idea of putting on a swim suit is nearly as dangerous and terrifying.

So, I decided that it was time to update my bucket list. Here are five bucket list revisions…..

1. I was determined to write a novel sometime before I died. Unfortunately, every time I would read a really good book, I would set aside that goal because I simply didn’t think I was good enough to publish. I’m downgrading that particular goal to, instead, simply figuring out a way to use the word fortnight correctly in a sentence. I read a lot of British literature and watch a lot of British television. The characters think nothing of throwing fortnights around like confetti. I am determined that the next time something is going to take place in two weeks, I am going to use the word. Maybe I will even schedule a doctor’s appointment for two weeks from today so that I can say to Bill, “I am seeing Dr. Hoolihan in a fortnight.” Boom.
2. One of my son Court’s bucket list items was to see a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Take me out to the ballgame and all. He achieved that goal one time during a business trip to Boston. As for me, I wanted to visit Madison Square Garden in NYC. I didn’t particularly care if I saw a basketball game or a circus. I just wanted to be able to say I had been inside Madison Square Garden. While that goal is still possible, I think I need to be more realistic and set my goal to my own garden in my backyard. The thistles are nearly as big as the pine trees. They need to be pulled.
3. And speaking of Madison Square Garden, top of my bucket list was to attend the Westminster Dog Show at MSG just one time. As the years tick by, that seems less and less achievable. This year the dog show wasn’t even held at Madison Square Garden. It was held upstate somewhere because of COVID. So if I want to see Westminster anything, it will probably have to be Westminster, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. They have a butterfly pavilion that Cole has wanted to see.
4. Another heartily-wished-for bucket list item was to fly somewhere — anywhere — first class. I am pretty sure I’m the only person left on this earth who hasn’t stumbled upon the good luck of being upgraded to first class. Now that even my short legs are in my face when I fly, being able to fly first class, drinking champagne and eating truffle omelets sounds delightful. Unfortunately, it appears I’m going to have to lower my goal to receiving a personal letter from someone bearing a first-class stamp.
5. A few years ago, while visiting our Vermont family, we road tripped to Portsmouth, NH, and took a whale watching trip. We had a very good time. Not only did we see numerous whales, but a pod of some 100 dolphins followed our boat most of the way. They were funny and delightful to watch. I decided that swimming with the dolphins would be a great adventure. That, unfortunately, was never a realistic goal because I can’t swim a single stroke. So, my much more realistic goal is to put my head under water sometime this summer. Think large or go home.

There you have folks. A much more realistic bucket list.

I mentioned yesterday that when I have recovered from one of my bowel obstructions, I have to slowly work my way back to eating regular food. Generally, while still in the hospital, I start with clear liquids, move to full liquids, finish with regular food.

For a long time I wasn’t clear about the difference between clear liquids and full liquids. For once thing, coffee is included in the clear liquid category. Thank heavens, by the way. But coffee is certainly not clear in color. What I learned is that clear refers to the thinness of the liquid. So coffee is clear; milk is full.

The other clear liquid that shows up regularly on my regime in the hospital when I’m taking my first food baby steps is Jell-O. Also not clear in color, but definitely clear in texture. And for reasons about which I am uncertain, the Jell-O is always green or orange. Not that it makes a lot of difference, because they all frankly taste about the same, but it would be fun to see some blue or red show up once in a while.

Jell-o tastes bad. Maybe it tastes fine if it is accompanied by vodka. I’ve never taken a Jell-O shot, so I can’t confirm or deny. But when you haven’t eaten for a few days and you’re starving, Jell-O is definitely not the answer. Jell-O makes the ubiquitous chicken broth taste like beef wellington.

I’ll tell you what does taste good is cranberry juice. I’m not sure why, but after taking nothing by mouth for two or three days, the tart flavor of cranberry juice tastes wonderful to me. Like Jell-O, it would taste better with a shot of vodka and a lime, but I am very happy when cranberry juice shows up on my initial food tray.

When I graduate to full liquids, I’m guaranteed to have a little dish of orange sherbet. Orange sherbet makes me happy. It doesn’t need to be accompanied by vodka. A little vanilla ice cream, perhaps.

But back to Jell-O. The trade name Jell-O was trademarked in 1897 by Pearle Bixby Wait and his wife May. Someone else came up with the idea way back in 1845 to add flavoring to sugar and granulated gelatin. I don’t know who came up with the original idea, because apparently the idea went nowhere until the Waits stepped in.

The Waits never sold a single box of Jell-O, however. Instead, they sold the idea and the name to  Orator Francis Woodward who owned Genesee Pure Food Company. Woodward marketed the product by calling it America’s Most Famous Dessert. The French would shudder.

This led to that, and finally the dish ended up on every American Thanksgiving table filled with fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, or (God forbid) shredded carrots. Not necessarily as a dessert; more of a special salad treat.

My mother’s holiday table was no exception. She never EVER used shredded carrots. Instead, she used fruit cocktail. She also never owned a Jell-O mold. She did, however, always make a Jell-O salad for Thanksgiving. She made it in an 8×8 square pan. She would put the little squares of Jell-O on a small salad plate, nesting on a piece of iceberg lettuce. She always put mayonnaise on hers. If you were lucky, your Jell-O square included the red maraschino cherry.

I’m pretty sure I have never served Jell-O at any of my holiday meals. And I certainly will not start now. For the rest of my life, Jell-O will always mean hospitals to me.

I’m taking a break from Nana’s Whimsies and will return soon.

Bill and I returned to Denver yesterday afternoon from our trip back to AZ for Brooke’s wedding. Between packing, grocery shopping, and general housekeeping, there was no time for a blog post. Enjoy this one from a year ago…..

I read recently in an AARP publication, and then again on Next Door, that there are bad people who are taking advantage of us in new and inventive ways. I think scammers are kind of like the people who sell umbrellas in metropolitan areas like New York City and Rome. A few drops of rain, and within minutes, the streets are full of people offering umbrellas at a ridiculously high price.

Scammers, like umbrella salespeople, react quickly to whatever tragedy is happening in the world. As soon as the word PANDEMIC hit the air waves, people were apparently getting phone calls or email messages about the coronavirus. We have a cure. We have masks for sale. We have an herbal vaccine. We have toilet paper. I’m happy that I never got such a call. Not because I would have fallen for it, but because it would have made me so angry.

The ink wasn’t even dry on the legislation that created the economic stimulus package, whereby many Americans received loot to use to stimulate the economy, before the scammers were making phone calls again. Give us your account number and we’ll invest your money and make you a millionaire. Someone got your check instead of you, but we can fix it if you give us all of your personal banking information. I’ve got some swamp land in Florida I will sell you.

I am very careful about texts and emails that I get. In fact, I don’t answer my telephone if it’s a number I don’t recognize. I always figure if it’s legit, they will leave a message and I can call them back. Also, my email provider does a cracker jack job at recognizing spam. Oh, they get it wrong once in a while. Poor Café Rio can’t get a break from Comcast. But mostly they get it right.

I checked my spam folder yesterday, and learned that someone named Daniel Sullivan was alerting me to the fact that the government discovered they owe me $4.7 million dollars. What a boo-boo. Unfortunately for me, a woman named Annette Stillman was masquerading as me and trying to get my money. The nerve. However, Mr. Sullivan smelled a rat and was going to foil Ms. Stillman’s efforts. He wanted me to give him my bank information so that they can deposit my riches into my account leaving poor old Annette penniless.

Here was the first paragraph of the email, verbatim:

Dear Beneficiary,

We apologies for the delay of your payment and all the inconveniences we might put you through, while we were having some minor problems with our payment system which in all case not meeting up with fund beneficiary payments, we apologize once again.

Obviously, I was totally unconcerned about the fact that the sentence made no sense, nor did it contain any punctuation at all. Bankers, after all, are left-brained and worry about dollars and cents and not commas and correctly spelled words. Ha!

Seriously, these people are evil. But they are also stupid. I know there are, sadly, people who fall for these scams. But I am puzzled by anyone who can read the above paragraph and not stop and wonder.

I’m letting my $4.7 million go unclaimed.

Last night, our youngest niece Brooke married the love of her life, Alexander. My brother proudly walked his youngest down the aisle. We are all so happy for the newly married couple. The celebration made me smile…..

Have a great weekend.