Category Archives: Whimsies

Remember That?

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One day last week, I prepared a key lime pie to serve as dessert that night to friends who were coming over for dinner. I whisked the egg yolks, I added the sweetened condensed milk and the Joe & Nellie’s key lime juice. I poured the mixture into a prepared graham cracker crust and put it in the preheated 350 degree oven. I set the timer for 15 minutes.

And then I promptly forgot about the pie in the oven and left for Walmart. I remembered it some 45 minutes later as I was driving home. As I raced down our 25 mph street at about 45 mph, I was envisioning the house in flames, or maybe even already burned to the ground. Hey, it’s my nightmare. I can envision the worst if I want.

My house wasn’t burned to the ground. In fact, despite the oven being at least 20 years old, it was smart enough to have shut itself off. It was flashing the words HOT HOT HOT. You see what I’m saying? My antiquated oven that positively SCREAMS 1992 is smarter than I…..

This stove is so old I’m surprised the time isn’t in Roman numerals.

I subsequently drove to the grocery store and purchased the necessary ingredients to remake the pie. I put it in the oven and sat at the table and stared at the timer as it counted down so as to not make the same mistake twice in one day. I like to dole out my stupidity slowly.

My sister Bec had kept one of her remote controllers in a pen holder in her kitchen for a long time. At some point she decided that was a silly place to keep the remote, so she put it in a sensible place. You see where I’m going, don’t you? Yep, she hasn’t seen the remote since.

I reckon everyone over the age of 50 starts to worry about dementia any time they forget where they put their remote.  Many of us – particularly Baby Boomers – have stories like the ones I just told. When I told Jen about my key lime pie stupidity, in very sisterly fashion, she comforted me. “You just have a lot going on right now,” she said. I nodded in agreement. And then it occurred to me that I have absolutely nothing going on in my life. I’m retired, so no worries about work. At the time the event took place, all of our kids and grandkids were not even in town, so I couldn’t use that as an excuse.

I wonder, however, if we Baby Boomers overthink our situation. According to an article in the April/May issue of the AARP magazine, the risk of dementia is actually 27 percent lower today than it was a mere 18 years ago. The drop is attributed to our healthier lifestyles.

By the way, the article goes on to say that there is some evidence that being a tad overweight actually protects the brain, at least after the age of 70. Since I’m 64, my being overweight simply means I’m eating too much. But in a mere six years, I can happily announce that eating endless amounts of chips and salsa is good for my brain!

But back to overthinking. It occurs to me that there were very many times when I was a young adult that I couldn’t figure out where something went. Many years ago, my mother put together a photo album for each of her kids that featured pictures of each of us as we were growing up. What a great idea! And I loved that photo album. And then I lost it. I have never been able to imagine where I would have put it. I have many other photo albums. I have pictures of me in college. I have countless photos of Court and all of his cousins throughout their growing-up years. But I don’t have the pictures of Bec and Jen and Dave and I sitting around our Christmas tree or feeding the chipmunks while on vacation. It’s up to my siblings — all who still have their photo albums — to share photos with me. Thanks Jen…..

At the end of my life, when I am facing St. Peter, I hope he asks me if I have any questions before he tells me where I’m going to land. Yep, I will say. Where is that photo album with all of my baby pictures?

His answer? It’s with your sister Bec’s remote.

Fathers

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I’m going to tell you something that I think will astound you.

Father’s Day wasn’t officially recognized until 1972, when President Richard Nixon (himself a father of two girls, if you’ll remember) signed a proclamation naming the third Sunday of June Father’s Day. Tricia and Julie Nixon probably groaned. Daddy, you just did this to get a present.

But seriously? All those years in my youth when I would gather my money and head down to the Rexall Drug Store to buy my father some Brut after shave, and it wasn’t even an official holiday. That money could have been better spent on wax lips and pixie sticks.

I remember that it used to annoy my father to no end that the priests (according to him) at Mass on Father’s Day would barely recognize them, while on Mother’s Day, they were applauded and honored with special prayers. He claimed, in fact, that one year the priest reminded them that they wouldn’t be fathers if it wasn’t for their wives being mothers. Little did he know that it was lucky he was getting any recognition (not to mention Brut) at all because Father’s Day was simply a word-of-mouth celebration.

Mother’s Day became a holiday early in the 20th century, after Anna Jarvis successfully lobbied Congress and the president to officially honor mothers with a special day. Apparently Catholics in Europe had been unofficially celebrating Father’s Day since the Middle Ages on March 19, the feast day of St. Joseph. But efforts to replicate this official honoring of fatherhood just never found legs, especially after Mother’s Day became so commercialized.

So leave it to Tricky Dick to finally make the whole thing official. I hope his daughters gave him a good present that year.

As for Bill, this year he had kind of a quiet Father’s Day, as half of his children are not around. Heather and her family live in Vermont, and Dave and his family are driving around in an RV. Court and his family returned yesterday morning from a week-long trip to Disney World. He stopped by on his way home from the airport to give Bill a hug, and Cole happily wished him a happy Father’s Day from the back seat, while his sisters slept. He got a Face Time call from Heather, and Father’s Day wishes from Joseph and Micah. Dave called to wish him a happy day as well.

Allen (Bill’s eldest) and Emma came over for dinner and a celebration featuring barbecued ribs, baked beans, southern-styled green beans and banana splits for dessert. You can’t get much more American than that, and Tricky Dick would have been proud. The highlight of the meal was watching everyone make their own banana splits…..

I offered vanilla ice cream with caramel, hot fudge, and strawberry toppings, in addition to bananas. On the side were maraschino cherries, nuts, and squirt whipped cream. As we made our banana splits, Allen asked Emma — who was born and lived most of her life in Paris, France — if she had ever had a banana split. She admitted there was something similar in France, but with only one scoop of ice cream rather than three. Welcome to the U. S. of A, where we would never have one when we could have three. And I must admit the squirt whipped cream threw her a bit, but not for long…..

As a Father’s Day gift from God, we got a nice rainfall in the afternoon. Bill and I spent a bit of time on our patio enjoying the cool weather following our week of temperatures in the upper 90s……

I think that Bill would call this a nice celebration of fatherhood. What more could a guy want than hugs, phone calls, and visits from all of your kids. Oh, and banana splits.

Saturday Smile: The Happiest Place on Earth (for some)

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My daughter-in-law Alyx has a gift for being able to beautifully capture her kids’ personalities in photos. She told me recently that her success is because she takes about a thousand photos, and out of those thousand, one or two are good.

I’m sure she’s being too modest. There is certainly skill involved. That’s how she can capture moments such as this…..

While the Disney photographers are undoubtedly skilled, I would imagine they aren’t particularly patient. After all, there are scads of people waiting in line at any given moment. So while the photos taken of the Zierk family this past week during their visit to Disney World are wonderful, and flattering of everyone else, Cole seems determined to not give in to the happiest place on earth propaganda, at least in photos. There’s this…..

…..and this…..

…..and this…..

…..and this, where he’s tolerating the attention, barely…..

Despite evidence to the contrary, the entire family seems to be having a great time. I can’t wait to hear their stories.

And Cole always makes me smile.

Have a great weekend.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Great American Read

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I consider myself to be an avid reader. There’s never a time when I’m not in process of reading a book. When I used to commute for my job, I always listened to unabridged books on tape. So at that time, I always had at least two books going at all times.

I’m also a fan of PBS, particularly their mysteries. I believe I’ve watched nearly all of the detectives solve hundreds of murders. Inspector Lynch. Inspector Morse. Inspector Lewis.  Inspector  Foyle. Every Agatha Christie from Miss Marple to Hercule Poirot.

And yet. AND YET. I knew nothing about the fact that PBS is sponsoring The Great American Read. Thank goodness for Facebook. It seems when they aren’t busy prying into our private lives, they actually can deliver some worthwhile information. A feed from which I learned about The Great American Read is an example of worthwhile information.

Kicked off late in May, PBS is giving readers the opportunity to vote for what they consider to be America’s Favorite Novel . There was a process out of which came a list of 100 novels. Readers are allowed to vote once each day through October 18, for a book from this list. Ultimately, readers will choose America’s Favorite Book. Ta da!

I enjoyed going down the list to see which books were selected as the top 100. I was surprised by some (50 Shades of Grey?) and nodded my approval of others (Rebecca, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Grapes of Wrath, Little Women). I wondered how certain books could not have been selected (Plainsong, The Good Earth, My Antonia).

Criteria included: only works of fiction, must have been published in English, and only one per author.

Perhaps my biggest surprise was the number of books on the list that I had NOT read. In fact, a quick count told me out of the 100 books, I have only read 37. And I read a lot. I was comforted somewhat by the fact that I had heard of all of the books, and most of the books I haven’t read were by choice. For example, while The Hunger Game series and the Twilight series are undoubtedly good, I have no interest. And Left Behind? Nope.

Take a gander at the links I have included, particularly the link to the 100 novels. How many have you read? I would love to hear your feedback on books chosen, books not chosen, and your personal favorites.

As for me, I have already put a couple of the books I haven’t read on hold at the library!

Thursday Thoughts

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Can You Justify Cheating?
You’ve probably heard that some sore losers are accusing one of the other horses in last Saturday’s Belmont Stakes of being a bit of a bad sport by perhaps blocking the competition in Triple Crown winner Justify’s race for the crown. The horse being accused (and I recognize that I’m making it sound like the horse was making these decisions all by himself) is trained by the same man who trains Jusify, thereby giving the accusation some credence. While the amount that I know about horse racing could fit inside a thimble, I will say that I reckon there’s no rule against being in front of another horse during a race, even if you’re blocking him. Still, I told Bill before the race that I was not going to root for Justify because I believe that Triple Crown winners should be remarkable horses; I simply can’t put Justify in the same category as Secretariat. But see above: I know next to nothing about horse racing. After watching the race, however, I told Bill that I was happy Justify won because maybe he was remarkable after all. So I’m a bit disconcerted to read that perhaps he got a bit of help, putting him once more in the unremarkable category.

And They’re Just Teenagers
As I have reported previously, this year I went a new route on my tomato growing. I have grown tomatoes in pots on my patio before, but this year I went with a new fancy-dancy system that was recommended by an acquaintance. She proclaimed that last year, when she used the growing system, her plants were thiiiiiiiis high. So I gave them a try. As you can see, my plants are enormous and full of flowers. And there not even close to being full-grown. They’re only teenaged-size. I’m very optimistic that I am going to have a great crop of tomatoes this year. I planted roma and grape tomatoes. My mouth is watering already…..

Slurp
Our 13-year-old grandson Alastair loves fish and seafood. If he goes to a burger joint, he is just as likely to get fish-and-chips as he is a burger. Maggie Faith is also a fan of most seafood. She seems particularly drawn to scallops. But even more so, she is game to try anything. The McLains (who, as you will recall, are traveling via RV around the western United States) have currently landed in Seattle. The other night, they all went to a seafood place, where they enjoyed calamari and crab cakes and shrimp. And oysters on the half shell. None of the kids had tried them before, but Alastair and Maggie were game. Alastair proclaimed them to be “interesting,” but he had a smile on his face as he slurped them down. Maggie seems to be enjoying them a great deal…..

As for Dagny, she has no interest in any kind of fish or seafood. In fact, according to her mother, she informed her that “I don’t eat anything from the sea.” So there. I’m sure there was some kind of meat on the menu, and undoubtedly, that’s what Dagny and her dad enjoyed.

Wall Plated
I finally got the plate hangers — a task not as easily accomplished as one would think. It took three Targets before I had the proper number of plate hangers. I was determined that this time we would use the metal holders, because we have used the decals that stick to the back of the plate before, and it was an epic fail. But Bill started hanging them, and I’m very happy at the way they look. I will post photos when we’re finished. That kitchen wall has been blank now for three or four years. Joanna Gaines, I’m not.

D Cup?

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Two things happened yesterday that made me smile.

The first was that I received my package of goods that I had ordered from The Pioneer Woman Mercantile last week when Jen and I journeyed there. Five plates that will form a wall decoration in my kitchen on the off chance that I actually remember to buy plate holders from which to hang them. I was somewhat concerned that they might have gotten lost because Jen also purchased some items, they arrived within a couple of days.

After opening the box, however, it became clear why my package took longer to arrive. There was no way that any one of those plates could have gotten broken in the mail. I have quite literally never seen such effective packing of breakable items. It took me 20 minutes to unwrap five plates……

But they were packaged with love. I know that because it says so right there on the box. They were undoubtedly packaged by the Pioneer Woman herself…..

The second thing that made me happy was that I was reminded about why I love my husband. Yesterday he had his six-month appointment at his movement doctor’s office. We have gone every six months since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease nine years ago. After he was put on a couple of really effective medications about eight years ago, he has really not struggled a lot with symptoms.

However, lately, we had both noticed some change in his mobility. Not huge changes, but noticeable. And being as active as he is, it sort of drove him crazy. But the nurse practitioner with whom he meets every six months took it all with a grain of salt. Your symptoms haven’t changed that much, she said. You are just experiencing your symptoms more when your medications wear off. We can deal with that.

The thing about the medications for Parkinson’s is that, because they mess with the dopamine in the brain, the side effects can sometimes be as bothersome as the meds themselves. Still, 30 years ago, the medications for PD were mostly ineffective, so it’s a blessing to be able to function almost normally as does Bill after being diagnosed almost a decade ago.

But here’s why I love my husband. He goes with the flow. He never complains. He’ll even eat pho with me if I catch him at a good time. He has accepted his physical limitations without complaint. So when his NP told him that there are options to improve his mobility, he was all ears.

What she suggested to him was that he participate in a clinical study in which he will wear a pump measuring about 3 inches square and an inch deep. The pump will give him a continuous flow of what are basically the same meds he’s currently taking. Since the flow is continuous, he won’t experience the problems that result from meds wearing off.

Bill asked her how people wear the pumps, since it must be worn 24 hours a day. She told him that people have come up with creative ideas. She excitedly told him about one man who wears a woman’s sports bra and places the pump inside that. Bill physically blanched at that notion. Nevertheless, she mentioned it several more times. I finally said, “Vicky, stop with the women’s sports bra. It ain’t happening.” Bill might go with the flow, but wearing a lady’s bra is his break point.

I’m not sure which word scared him the most: Bra. Women’s. Or sports.

M-I-C, K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E

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While our family went on vacation every year, my childhood remained somewhat unfulfilled because we never went to Disneyland. To be fair, Disneyland wasn’t anything more than a little spark in Walt Disney’s imagination until the early 1950s, and it didn’t open for business until July 1955. Since I wasn’t born until December of 1953, and using the theory that you shouldn’t take kids to Disneyland at too young an age because they won’t remember it anyway, I’ll give my mom and dad a pass. I’ll blame my personality shortcomings on a terrifying horseback ride when I was 10 instead of a lack of opportunity for a youthful bonding with Mickey.

I did, however, love to watch the Mickey Mouse Show, featuring Annette Funicello (who made boys pant and girls jealous) and Bobby Burgess (who later went on to breaking hearts on the Lawrence Welk Show. In more recent years, most of my grandkids and great nieces and nephews got hooked on a newer, updated Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and the gang. The theme song of the new version was stuck in my head many a night, but watching “Mi Mow” was a great way to distract Cole when he was 2.

In fact, I didn’t visit the Magic Kingdom until Court and I went to visit my girlfriend who at that time lived in Orlando. Court was probably about 5, and we went to Disney World. I guess it’s safe to say that I was hooked from the get-go.

Back in those days, Disney World offered the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Period. That was plenty, however. You had your joyful fun and adventures at the Magic Kingdom, and then you had your stab at something a bit more educational at Epcot. I will never forget the first time we visited the World Showcase, giving guests a feeling of traveling around the world. Food-wise, we never really got past Germany, because Bratwurst. But hearing the mariachi band in Mexico and seeing the red phone booths in the UK made me feel positively worldly.

Since that time, I have visited Disneyland maybe two or three times, and Disney World maybe another couple of times. I had the good sense to marry someone who — much to everyone’s surprise — loves Disneyland too. And I have clearly passed on my love for All Things Disney to Court, as he has visited both Disneyland and Disney World a number of times, even as an adult. In fact, when he graduated from high school, as part of his graduation gift, I told him I would take him anywhere in the continental United States – along with his cousin B.J. Anywhere. San Francisco. New York City. Los Angeles or Dallas or Atlanta. He chose Disney World. That’s my boy. He has taken his three kids to Disneyland twice, and yesterday, they left for Disney World.

I drove with them to the airport at – quite literally – the crack of dawn, so that I could drive their car back to their house. The three kids were quietly excited. Five days of sunny Florida weather (except for occasional rainstorms), visits with Mickey and Minnie and (my personal favorite) Figment, a long-standard at Epcot, swimming and water slides, fireworks, and parades.

Fingers crossed that they don’t run into an alligator. And I’m not kidding.

At the same time the Zierks are heading east, my McLain grands are driving (with their parents) west towards Alaska. And what with my two boys living in Vermont, I am – for the first time in a very long time – grandchildless in Denver. I don’t quite know what to do with myself.

Maybe I’ll watch Beauty and the Beast or Mary Poppins. It’s the least I can do…..

 

Welcome to Her Frontier

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I always tell people that I grew up in a small town in Nebraska. The town where I spent my formative years had somewhere around 10 or 12 thousand citizens – give or take – when I lived there. Population specifics don’t really matter, however, because what I learned during my recent trip to Oklahoma is that Columbus, Nebraska, wasn’t really Small Town America.

Pawhuska, Oklahoma, is Small Town America…..

When you see little towns portrayed on television, they are generally lovely little communities with thriving small businesses adorned with striped awnings and flower boxes, and friendly people who greet one another with smiles and waves. In real life America – especially in rural areas in the bread basket of the United States — small towns are almost always sort of sad-looking, with crumbling abandoned buildings, and struggling businesses, there only out of a vital need. You know, grocery stores, hardware stores, a saloon or two.

I imagine that is the way Pawhuska, Oklahoma, looked three or four years ago. But no longer, thanks to renowned blogger and Food Network star Ree Drummond and her husband Ladd. Ladd Drummond grew up on his family’s ranch outside of this northern Oklahoma town. His ranch – which has likely been in his family for decades — consists of literally hundreds of thousands of acres of land, and innumerable heads of cattle.

At some point a few years ago Ladd and Ree decided that it was time to breathe some life into their little rural community. I don’t know who said the words first, but one of them said to the other, “Let’s revitalize Pawhuska.”

They purchased a building that was crumbling, and breathed life back into it. Their efforts – and money – has resulted in The Mercantile, a store so bright and cheerful and full of life that it nearly hurts your eyes. It certainly takes a toll on your pocketbook. And trust me when I tell you that there are very many pocketbooks in the Merc on any given day, and the people carrying those pocketbooks are spending lots of money. What’s more, they’re having fun, and little Pawhuska is the beneficiary…..

Being great fans of The Pioneer Woman, which is the moniker by which Ree Drummond is most well-known, Jen and I checked off a bucket list item last week and paid the Merc a visit. We flew into Tulsa, and drove to Bartlesville, which is the nearest sizeable town to Pawhuska, where we bedded down for the night. The next day (and half of the day after), we lived and breathed All Things Pioneer Woman.

We drank the delicious coffee, including a wonderful concoction called the Spicy Cowgirl. It is a blend of strong coffee, chocolate, and rich vanilla cream whipped into a frenzy and served over ice. The sassy beverage is served over tiny ice cubes that magically don’t melt, and finished off with a sprinkling of cayenne pepper……

Other treats we enjoyed included cinnamon rolls sprinkled with crackling cinnamon sugar that the Merc Bakery calls sugar buns, and Jen enjoyed a pancake breakfast with a variety of syrup choices, including orange clove, vanilla, and caramel that I wanted to eat with a spoon.

One of the things we most wanted to do was take a tour of the Lodge, and we were able to do so the first morning. The Lodge is where the Food Network program The Pioneer Woman is filmed. It takes about 30 minutes to drive to the Lodge, and you drive by the Drummond ranch on the way…..

 

And let me tell you, what you see on her television program when she’s driving into town isn’t fake news. The road to the Lodge is gravel, and requires slow speeds and great concentration…..

According to a woman whose job was to make sure visitors didn’t make off with the silver, the Lodge had been built some years ago to provide a place for people visiting the ranch to stay. The kitchen was added about the same time that the show began appearing on FN. It was great fun to see the place in which we watch Ree cook each week; however, the really fun part was that, as we walked around the Lodge, we came upon the place where the cooking is actually done…..

Ree’s television kitchen (l) and the working kitchen (r). Notice the pots and pans, which look just like mine.

I will admit to being tickled by the fact that the enviable Pioneer Woman’s pantry stays so clean because there is a REAL pantry behind the scenes…..

The Drummonds haven’t ended the revitalization of Pawhuska with only the Mercantile. They recently opened an eight-bedroom boutique hotel that we also were able to tour. The hotel is adjacent to the Merc, and part of the building that they rehabbed. There are two floors of four rooms each. Ladd supposedly was responsible for decorating the third floor while Ree gave the second floor her touch. The difference in styles was notable. But even more impressive was the fact that as the work began on the rehab, they unexpectedly came across an amazing mural that was decades old and part of the original pharmacy. Rather than painting over the mural, they painstakingly cleaned the mural and left it as part of the wall decoration…..

The Merc’s food was amazing, and served by the nicest people you could ever hope to meet….

Jen and I split a spinach salad and brisket that was so tender there was no need for a knife.

Who wouldn’t enjoy this delicious skillet that was tasty and had just the right amount of kick?

It’s astounding to think about the number of people being employed — both as staff, and as construction workers as the rehab efforts continue. They have a pizza place scheduled to open any second now that is in a building across the street. There are also plans for a steak house and a saloon. The economic boosts just keep on coming.

In fact, now that the Drummonds have started their revitalization efforts, investors in a building across the street plan on opening a 20-unit hotel in July…..

Me, being of a nervous nature, can’t help but wonder what will happen if and when the Pioneer Woman brand goes south. As well-planned and well-run as everything is, I am keeping my fingers crossed that there are long-term plans as well.

In the meantime, we enjoyed our little two-day adventure very much, especially the Ladd-sighting that we had one morning at breakfast. It was nice to see that the Drummonds actually maintain a presence.

As for Jen and me, on to our next adventures…..

The view from the Lodge in our background.

This post linked to the GRAND Social

 

 

Saturday Smile: Small Town America

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If you looked up Small Town America in the dictionary, you are liable to see a photo of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Pawhuska is a very small town in northern Oklahoma. It is so close to the Oklahoma state line that you could practically throw a stone into Kansas. Jen and I spent a couple of days this past week in this little town for crazy reasons about which I will explain next week.

In addition to being a perfect example of Small Town America, Pawhuska is also the headquarters for the Osage Nation, giving it a true western flavor. As we made our way around this community (and it doesn’t take long to get from one side of town to the other), we ran into a few things that tickled our funny bones…..

In Cattle Country, which defines this part of Oklahoma, you’d better have a beef-sounding name, even if you’re serving pork.

While it’s referred to as the ORIGINAL, I’m pretty sure there aren’t a lot of offshoots.

Hail to the cow! And the piano, I guess.

These aren’t the election signs we’re used to seeing. They are common, however, in the Osage Nation.

Such a deal!

As the two of us drove around in our rental car, whenever we would connect our iPhones to charge it up, the radio would come on and play a song from one of our playlists (depending on whose phone we were using). So, from my phone, here is the song that kept popping up as we were driving around the prairies of Pawhuska…..

Not only was it Christmas music, but it was sung by Bing Crosby. Yes, people, it’s true. I listen to Bing Crosby at Christmas time. Neither one of us wanted to listen to it in June in Oklahoma, however.

Oh Bing. Oh Nana.

Have a great weekend.

First Time

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When was the last time you did something for the first time?
Yeah, let yourself go, follow that feeling
Maybe something new is what you’re needing
Like a real life, let your hair down, feel alive
When was the last time you did something for the first time? – Darius Rucker

Before we even got back to Colorado, I had begun thinking about my summer. I decided that I was going to issue two edicts to myself when we returned to Denver. The first was that I was going to make my summer work easy. My days of pulling hoses around the yard are over, as I tripped over the hose too many times last year.  This meant that I changed the foliage in our front yard to drought-friendly plants. My flowering plants now are in the back yard where they are easier to manage.

The second edict I issued to myself was to take the words of Darius Rucker’s song to heart: When was the last time I did something for the first time.

I don’t know exactly what this means, but – as they say – I’ll know it when I see it. As a matter of fact, we’ve already started. A couple of weeks ago, we got tickets to see a comedian at the Comedy Works. Bill and I both like comedy. Bill, in particular, loves watching good comedy specials on television or via Netflix. Netflix, in fact, is where we came across the comic we saw – Nate Bargatze. By the way, should he visit a comedy club near you, get tickets. He’s family friendly and funny as hell. We both literally laughed until our sides hurt.

We also have arranged to do something in which we have been interested for some time. In July, we are boarding an Amtrak train and taking the California Zephyr to San Francisco, where we will meet up with Dave and Jll and the kids who, as you know, are driving around the western United States in an RV. I am always eagerly optimistic about train travel, never failing to picture Hercule Poirot in a tux in the dining car. My limited U.S. train experience thus far hasn’t met those expectations. Still, it may happen this time. We have a sleeping car arranged, which includes our meals in the dining car. We won’t go so far as to put on a tux or a gown, but we nevertheless have high expectations.

We are tentatively planning on traveling with the McLains from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe, and will board an airplane to return to Denver. By the way, the McLains are unaware of any of this, so if they are reading my blog, well….. Their itinerary may change!

I can count the number of big concerts I have attended in my life on two hands (maybe one, sigh). But a few months ago, Jen called me and said, “Would you and Bill like to go see Keith Urban at Fiddler’s Green in July?”

It only took a few beats before I said, “Hell to the yes!” I am packing my flat vodka pack and Bic lighters as soon as I finish this blog.

Finally, as you read this blog post, I am busily doing what is perhaps the kookiest thing I will do all summer. Jen and I are flying today to Tulsa, Oklahoma – where the wind comes sweeping down the plain – and getting in a rental car to drive to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Tomorrow morning, we will drive to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where The Pioneer Woman lives, films her Food Network television show, and operates her store called The Merc. We will spend the day shopping at The Merc, taking a tour of The Lodge, from where her TV show is filmed, and being all-around cowgirls-for-a-day. We will return to Colorado Thursday night.

When I question my sanity, I remind myself about doing something for the first time.

Stay tuned for stories about our adventures. In the meantime, Nana’s Whimsies will not be posted for a couple of days. See you on Friday.

And ask yourself, when was the last time you did something for the first time.