Booming Banter

This morning I read a great little article from back home in Belfast. The idea is a Disco for “older” people who are lonely to have some fun.

Typical of the Northern Irish sense of humor it’s called the Slipped Disco!

It’s funny because only yesterday my friend Terri and me we’re talking about the lack of places for kids to go dancing these days.

The Slipped Disco plans to play lots of ABBA, Barry White, Cool and the Gang and so on. I’d love to go.

There wasn’t a week when I was a teenager that my friends and I didn’t dance. When we were young teens it was at the youth club and when we hit sixteen it was the disco. Oh and we got all dressed up for it too often like ABBA in PINK!

Kept us all fit too. We’d belly wobble the night away even when we had no bellies to wobble.

Whose up for a new hashtag #BRINGBACKBOOGIE

Blessing # 445 – Dancing Days

When we lived in France there was a summer street fair in our village. They were selling all sorts of things from the standard cheese and wine to local crafts and antiques. I bought a plastic pink handbag!

It was a steal at one Euro and for me it’s better than any Gucci. It has become my trusted summer companion in the twelve years since. Krishna loathes it with a vengeance and each time I take it on vacation he groans and says « not that plastic thing again »

You see he does not understand, no matter how many times I explain, that this is ideal for anywhere near the water. It is deep as Pandora’s box and you can pile it full of books, magazines,  towels, sunscreen and so on and they won’t get wet. Better still it has a detachable purse that holds cell phones and cash safe and dry too.

Summer pool season comes to an end on Monday so Pinky is having her last days out before it’s time for hibernation.

Before that though was today’s last session of water aerobics. We started this class end of May as soon as the pool opened and have been working out for an hour twice a week every since.

We had such fun with our instructor who is hilarious as well as driving us hard to burn the calories and build up the muscles.

Today in addition to our cardio and isolation we played around like big kids and had some games and prizes.

In addition to winning a pack of pistachios two little plastic ducks came home too!

PINK would you believe and matching so well with their new nest it’s like they were made for each other.

Blessing #444 – New Fun Friends

This morning on the People Helping People spot of the Today program there was a great story about LEGO.

For a start did you know that LEGO is the Danish word for play well? Makes sense and is certainly true to its promise.

Aaron was a fanatic of LEGO when he was younger and many of his constructions are still intact in his room.

Even now each Christmas he gets a LEGO in his stocking, the most recent was the sky scape of Berlin.

These puzzles small and large gave him great joy as they have for millions maybe even billions of children everywhere.

What though for kids who can’t read the instructions? Today’s story covered a breakthrough the launch of LEGO with Braille instructions.

A young man called Matt was interviewed who had contributed to the development. As a child he always wanted to construct a LEGO like his friends but being blind he couldn’t do it. That is until a family friend stepped in and wrote eight hundred pages of Braille to explain all the details for a Puzzle.

What patience this lady must have taken and what a wonderful gift that she gave him that day.

More recently Matt contacted LEGO and learned they were working on a project to bring LEGO to all the blind children of the world. What his friend and he worked in really helped and so now we have it.

Blessing # 442 – Play Well for All

The little town where we live is very cute. It has a downtown full of old buildings that house restaurants, bars, boutiques, antique shops and multiple ice cream and beauty parlors. People come to visit the town for a day out and it’s got a real good vibe.

The council takes great care of the “Historic District”. In late spring they plant many annuals and each day there is a crew that tends them.

Under each mail box there is an absolute profusion or PINK. The plants start out just like ones any mortal like us might plant but with the daily TLC they get the petunias become a carpet.

It’s truly a joy to see them it does the heart good. They will flourish until the first hard frost and by then it will be time to get ready for the holidays. Out will come the fairy lights, the fir branches and the holly.

Too soon for that yet though many more weeks of color ahead before we see the white stuff.

Blessing # 441 – Summer Sensation

If you watched the British Open Golf from Northern Ireland this summer you’ll remember how happy the local golfers were that the Open has come back to the province after so many years.

Northern Ireland has produced many great golfers including Rory McIlroy. He was disappointed with his performance at the Open but he made up for that yesterday.

He won the FEDEX Cup and a cool $15 Million and would you believe it, because I couldn’t, he wore PINK!

This reminded me of a time some years ago when Aaron was at a party with us. One of our colleagues Juergen was returning to Switzerland after spending several years here in the USA.

The party was to say farewell to Juergen who was wearing a pink shirt that day. Aaron made some comment about this and Juergen said to him Aaron my friend only real men wear pink! This stuck with Aaron and one of his favorite shirts is, as you’d expect pink too.

Juergen made such an impression on him that when he had to choose a name in his German class you can guess what he choose; Juergen of course!

Everyone loves Rory! He is definitely a real good man! He is known to walk around the town he grew up in talking to everyone just as he did as a young lad. He’s also a UNICEF ambassador so does a lot for those less fortunate as well as for his homeland.

Yesterday he had the luck of the Irish on his side when a vital shot narrowly missed going of course by hitting a drainage hole instead.

Just goes to show that if one day things seem to be going down the drain the next thing you know another drain turns out to a hero!

Blessing # 440 – Lucky Breaks

The Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg has been in the news over the past few days. She has been treated for pancreatic cancer and thankfully is recovering well.

This is not the first battle she has waged against cancer. She’s  already beaten the disease twice.

Thanks to the recent movie On The Basis of Sex many of us have learned what a mighty warrior she is.

One of the first women ever to be admitted to the prestigious Harvard Law school she married her true love Martin also a law student. Shortly after they had their first child he fell ill with cancer.

While Martin recovered Ruth attended classes for him as well as her own. They both went on to be very successful lawyers he in a firm and she at first in academia because it was so hard to break through the prejudice shown towards woman of the time.

She took on inequality not by fighting a woman’s battle but rather a mans. Thanks to her achievements the playing field was optimized but for sure she’d agree it’s still not entirely in favor of the pink players!

As the second female Supreme Court judge she has been an amazing force. Tiny in stature with the heart of a lion. Always feminine always courageous. An inspiration to generations that we need more than ever today.

Blessing # 439 – A Woman in a Million

Since the end of the alphabet cycle has been reached the old mind has been searching for a new theme.

The decision is we’ll have a month of  Pink Power!

This weekend we were invited to our neighbors daughters wedding.

My first idea was to wear a dress all covered in flowers thinking that would be suitably bright and jolly for an outdoor summer event.

Krishna didn’t approve. His  comment was « have you nothing better than that! »

Talk about feeling deflated?

So after a quick tour of the closet and a scramble around all that was suitably colorful, a dress was picked and approved.

Thats when a little dip of serendip stepped in.

About three years ago Auntie Helen bought me a gift set that comprised a cosmetics bag stuffed with lotions and potions to help the aging skin!

The bag was so lovely it was kept with the idea that one day it would make a fine evening purse.

Bingo!

It turns out to be just the same color as the dress and better still it has those flowers that give a lively little lift. The men of the house gave it the thumbs up and we were in business.

Thanks to that snooze in the sun even my nose was coordinated.

Blessing # 438 – Matchmaking

If you’re English it’s  Zed if you’re from the US it’s Zee which causes me no end of problems!

In Hebrew its a name meaning wolf. Please enlighten us if you know of other meanings.

In French a ZZ (zizi) is an important little appendage associated only with males of the species so it must have something to do with that Y chromosome from a few days ago.

We owe a lot to the ZZ because none of us would have made it to planet earth without it.

There are many other ZZs out there including some pretty plants like the ZZ from Zanzibar. Thank goodness for abbreviations as it’s botanical name Zamioculcus zamifolia is a bit of a mouthful!

One not quite so pretty gives life a lot of spice and is always in our home because no Indian can live without it. It imparts pungency to so many things from chai tea to chutneys. It is the adorable zingeberace

It got its name from the Sanskrit word for horn singabera and is adorable in its cuddliness.

According to my pal Maggie there’s a pop group with the name of ZZ Top. Have only very vague memories of that name. Just shows what a sheltered life I lead compared to some wild ones who are still rocking all over the world!

A ZZ that again is essential to life and that is loved by so many is sleep. There is nothing as sweet as a sound slumber that alas becomes less frequent as the years roll on.

There is of course the equally adorable and much needed afternoon nap. What better thing than that to start the weekend especially if it’s taken at the pool.

Blessing # 437 – Snoozing in the Sun

Train buffs will associate YY with double yellow lights and the need to slow down and prepare to stop. In spite of many train journeys over the years never knew there was such a thing.

Nor have I ever come across the use of YY in texting. It has multiple meanings ranging from the quite logical Yes Yes to YES Why to the hard to fathom expression of hopelessness!

The YY I thought of was Yo-yo. There are probably as many yo-yos in the world as there are people. Is there one of you who NEVER had one.

They are the second oldest toy, the first being dolls, and date way back to 1000 BC. Like many things they find their origin in China with the Diabolo which somehow looks to be more fun.

Yo-yos always seemed to find a way into the bottom of Christmas stockings. Did any of you like them? Some people can do all sorts of tricks with them.

What I’m really quite good at though is yo-yo dieting. I can loose ten pounds and put it back on again like a champion.

Bit like the stock exchange what goes down must come up again!

Blessing # 436 – Nothings YY

 

 

Bet you all remember school days when we had to learn Roman numerals. X was ten so XX was twenty. It all looked so beautiful and evoked images of Ben-Hur but it got a bit too challenging when you added in the Cs and Ls. Didn’t quite flow like the old 1&2s! Thank goodness we switched to the Arabic system!

You will also remember from the much anticipated biology classes about the birds and the bees that women have a pair of XX chromosomes while men only have an X and a little Y.

Isn’t it amazing all those difference between the sexes is down to such a tiny thing! That extra bit of genetic material woman have must surely explain their greater intelligence!

The Irish among us will forever associate XX with a certain black nectar known to fortify the blood. Although it seems some other breweries have a lighter option to offer.

These liquids might very well fuel a little romance if your not careful. No sweeter way to end than a XX

Blessing # 436 –  Kisses