Nightly Reflections – Saturday, October 30th, 2021

Ok. It’s not even eight in the morning and I am beginning this now cuz I am NOT going to be trying to write tonight, late, after we’ve been out all day. It’s a cloudy start to the day and 42 degrees. The three of us are awake and just about ready to walk around back of this place to check out the lake and such. So begins Day #2 in the northwoods of Wisconsin 🙂

The morning began slowly. I was the first to shower. We had ESPN College GameDay on the tube. We had a few items for a treat before heading out for the game. I finally had the chance to check out the back of the place where we’re staying. See tonight’s pictures for more on that. Very nice place. I could easily return to this place for a week with my laptop where I could just write. I love being in this part of the state. I wish I had a place to escape to like this any time I wanted.

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It is now 7:00 in the evening and after a full day out and about, we are back at the cabin, we’ve eaten and are settling in for a night of Ohio State and Penn State. We were hoping to watch the Series but this establishment apparently doesn’t have a contract with Fox Sports. So, we were out of luck as to watching the fourth game. My sister was especially not happy as she’s not keen on watching college ball if it isn’t Wisconsin.

In any case, we had a fun day. A couple more pictures from the beauty of the day. It was incredible. I was told by folks in my neck of the woods that the burbs were seeing similar weather. So nice on October 30th,

First we stopped at The Gin Mill in downtown Tomahawk. There were two people in there at the time of the Badger game. It was the kind of bar you probably would see in Mayberry. The bartender was an older man, larger and slow moving, but friendly. We had one beverage there…I started with soda today but that would change quickly enough…and after watching the first half. I suspect we had two beverages now that I think of it. Still, just soda ;-P

From there, we went to The Thirsty Giraffe. That was sort of a ghost town but there were signs a Halloween party was brewing for the evening crowd. It was here where we spotted the slogan that is in tonight’s second picture. Typical sight you’ll see in any Wisconsin bar out in the boonies. Kinda funny, but I know…inappropriate. I don’t think bars worry about inappropriate here too much. We actually ordered two appetizers at this bar and then left for The Tilted Loon, my sister’s request. That’s where the lake pic came from. My sis and her hubby stayed inside, but I had to go out and sit on the deck, looking out onto the water. The Badger game was essentially over with Wisconsin beating Iowa. I was ready to bask. And bask I did. I finally went inside, only to have us head out to the next destination, the final destination. BillyBob’s. It’s the place we were at the longest last night. It was a fun place then, but today, we knew it would be less people and more sane. And we were right.

While we were there, we chatted about a lot of things that pertained to our younger years. Reminisced, I guess 🙂 It was simply a nice afternoon. I told the two lovebirds I’d buy pizza to take back to the cabin and so, upon the completion of our final beverage (I had long ago given up on the soda idea) and we took the pizza back to whence we began.

Having finished dinner, we were all kinda tired. We continue to be reminded we just aren’t the young pups we used to be. When we finally settled into our respective spots in the living room, we discovered the sad news about the baseball game. I gave my sister my phone so she could watch it there. I was able to access thanks to YouTubeTV. I finished this Reflection and was more than happy to settle in.

Inspirational Quote of the Night: “Without inspiration, we’re all like a box of matches that will never be lit.” – David Archuleta, vocalist.

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – ON LOCATION, Friday, October 29th, 2021

Well, here it is 11:00 in the evening and I am first sitting down to write. There’s a good reason for this. I haven’t been near my laptop until now. Why? Read on.

I told you last night this was going to be ON LOCATION and that’s exactly what is happening. I am presently in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, and I’m in a cabin with my sis and her hubby. We are spending a quick weekend here for fun. My sister had reserved the place, a beautiful place I might add, and she asked me if I was interested in driving over to spend the weekend with them. My older brother and his wife would have possibly been here but they will be at Camp Randall for the Iowa/Badgers game at 11 in the morning. So, here I am!

I drove here today, leaving the south burbs around noon. I had just about reached 35E when I got a text that my CPap supplies arrived at my door so rather than leave the box there, I returned to the house, pulled it inside and then took off again. It was a three and a half-hour drive. Most of it was pure clouds. It started to rain at the very end, but only a light drizzle.

I pulled into the place and was greeted by the brother-in-law. Walked directly into the place from the parking lot. I was told it was the only cabin that was multi-level. It’s really nice. There are two big king-sized beds in the two bedrooms upstairs with a loft that has a bunkbed. There’s a little deck that extends off this little social area where you can look out over the lake. Lake Aire. Again, quite nice.

We sat around the kitchen counter chatting for a while, christening the weekend with a drink made by the Bartender otherwise known as my sister. Finally, we were ready to being Night #1. Our first stop was a little place called the Tilted Loon Saloon. It was a nice little place on the water. It looked like an average Friday night in the northwoods of Wisconsin on Fish Fry night. We had a drink there before heading to the next place where we’d ultimately have dinner. That place was called Bootleggers. It was a fun supper club. It was built in 1926. Phenomenal. We enjoyed a couple more cocktails before heading into the dining room. I was hoping you’d see what my meal was but I am now learning that I can’t seem to access my email on my laptop which means this post, and likely tomorrow night’s post, will be without pics, which kind of sucks. I’ll keep trying but MSN has already locked me out of my account. Not sure how I manage to break back in. Frustrating.

In any case, after dinner, we returned to the road that would take us back to our cabin, but we stopped at a place called BillyBob’s. Yes. A bar. Surprise. And it was there where we parked ourselves and watched the third game of the World Series. My sister and her husband seemed to make new friends at the bar. Not a surprise. People in these places out for a Friday night are in a good mood and more than willing to talk with total strangers. The game went sort of late and then we headed back to the homestead for Night #1. I couldn’t wait to return to write and now can’t wait to crawl into bed. I’m really tired. There’s likely more I had to share, but I’m too damn tired to write any more. I’m lucky to have produced this much. It’s time, however, to prepare for Day #2. No telling what craziness we’ll discover in the town tomorrow, the day before Halloween, and the morning of a Badger game.

So, as I sign off, I am going to still see if I can figure out this email thing so I can include pictures but now you know why there aren’t any if there aren’t any. lol Am I tired? Dear God, yes. Goodnight. Or Good morning.

Rather than rewrite or delete words, I’ll just tell you I managed to recover my access to my email so the pictures arrived for me to incorporate into tonight’s post. The meal I had was the same as my brother-in-law. They were referred to as Sliders. Three little sandwiches. Prime Rib sandwiches. With fries and cole slaw. I wasn’t keen on the slaw, but the sandwiches were really good. Only ate two. Brought one home to the cabin. So did the bro-in-law. And the meal was only $12. Gotta love those prices. Ok. Now I’m done. I head the bed calling from the second floor. I suspect my sister is already dead to the world and her husband has crashed in front of the TV in a recliner. Similar to what happens in their home in Beaver Dam. lol

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “If you try to get rid of fear and anger without knowing their meaning, they will grow stronger and return.” – Deepak Chopra, author

G’Night!

It’s Anybody’s Guess: “Teaching Writing Was Such Fun” – Thursday, October 28th, 2021

This past week, on Tuesday, when the writing group got together, we were talking about several members’ writings they’ve recently done. And the conversation went in multiple directions. However, I was able to chime in when they hit certain topics, and I shared some of my experiences over 33 years as a writing teacher. As I sat and listened to their conversation, I began to think…I’ve never really explored this area in any of my writings here for the past six-plus years. Consequently, I’m exploring it tonight. I think it will be more amusing than it might sound at the moment. Stick with me.

In most cases regarding writing an essay, regardless of what the essay was, I had several steps in the process. First, I taught the paper, be it a literary analysis or a research paper or possibly a personal essay. Whatever the purpose, it had to be taught. Once I felt the kids had enough of my information regarding what the assignment was, then the writing began. Ultimately, the first product I saw from the kids in most cases was a first draft. In many cases, until the later years, the paper was hand written. That was delightful…receiving 100+ sophomore essays in individual hand writing. When the day came where the drafts were in-hand, we’d have a peer editing session. Students would pick other students to read their paper. I gave them a bit of a map to follow as what to watch for in the first draft. Once we were through that process, (I usually gave them three days), they’d bring in the first draft with student evaluation sheets and a second draft. I usually requested the second draft be word processed/typed. The peer editing continued with NEW readers so, before they handed in the final draft, they should have had six pairs of eyes reading their papers. I gave student editing forms for the student readers to follow and on which they could give the writer input regarding thesis or supporting information or grammar or whatever. The students, before the process was done, would have handed in two different drafts with six peer editing sheets. Points were given for EVERYTHING. Points motivate students. The points were minimal but students still killed to achieve these points.

The day before the final drafts would be due, I would try to give the kids final advice regarding their work. One of the most important steps for me as a teacher who had to read these papers was “PROOFREAD YOUR PAPERS!” Seriously…when I had to read well over a hundred multi-page papers, I did NOT want to waste my time or have my reading time slowed because of errors the students COULD HAVE CAUGHT on their own if they cared enough about their final product. I told them to print out their final draft when they believed it was “perfect.” I said, “Then, read your essay out loud. Do it in your bedroom with your door closed so there’s no distractions. Read it slowly.” My reasoning for that was they could catch a lot of careless errors (missing words, obvious spelling issues, confusing sentences, etc) that they didn’t need ME to tell them existed in their work. I got to where I told them I’d give them TWO proofreading errors but then, a third and more would cost them ten points on an essay worth 75 points or more. I hated proofreading errors! Was that clear in what I just wrote? lol

One of the areas where I told the kids they could improve their writing, especially if it was a personal essay, was to avoid certain words. For example, the word “very.” We use it in our speech all the friggin’ time. And because we talk it, we write it. Most people use conversational tone in their writing. That might be fine for some assignments, but it’s not what you’d want in a literary analysis or a research paper. I’d try to help the kids understand. “If you write, ‘She was VERY pregnant,’ exactly what does that mean? She wasn’t JUST pregnant, but she was VERY PREGNANT? Oh my,” I’d say, “That’s REALLY pregnant.” The kids would laugh and I’d get my point across. I told them if she was the size of a house, then say it. But one person’s “very” is not another person’s “very.” The word “pretty” is used in the same fashion. “It was pretty cold.” Really? Wow. That’s really cold, dude. Ugh. I did what I could to help the kids work on their word choice and to improve their writing by being more descriptive. It sometimes came down to SHOW US, DON’T TELL US. Show us how cold it was; show us how pregnant she was…be specific. I often would take their graded work when it was all said and done and I would go through various examples of writing that needed attention. I usually tried to do it with a bit of a tongue-in-cheek approach so kids wouldn’t be upset. I never identified who the writer was and I’d tell them NOT to reveal their writing when I was sharing or it was their fault. I always got away with it and I think it was effective for kids to hear their mistakes. I also did the opposite with strong sentences and passages from the essays.

A college professor once told a class I was in that the word “that” is 99% of the time unnecessary. Of course, we were put on alert when we had to write anything for him. But it seemed he was right. Usually, the word “that” wasn’t even necessary. Sometimes, it was the wrong word. “She was the person that ran the business.” I told the kids as we were told, people aren’t thats. They’re whos. “She was the person WHO ran the business.” I have had kids over the years write me to tell me that was something they couldn’t shake in their adult years and professions. They always caught themselves when they used the word needlessly. I would laugh when I’d get those emails. As I said, we write like we talk. My Nightly Reflections are all that way. I’ve said it numerous times. I write not for you but for me. I need to write every day to stay in tune with my writing skills and it disciplines me to be the writer I want to be. I’m proceeding on my screenplay because I’m disciplined to do so. I credit that with my daily writing exercises.

When I wrote my weekly column in the newspaper, my writing was totally different. This time I was writing for an audience. And I needed/wanted it to be decent writing, especially considering I was an English teacher on display for all to see. Each week, I’d take my final draft and send it to an English colleague of mine. She can do grammar rules in her sleep. If there was going to be an issue within my column, she would catch it. Usually, the column was clean, but often, she managed to help me save face because of something that was easily fixed. I appreciated her for that every week for years. I guess she was my copy editor. 🙂

Teaching writing is NOT something I miss. Not because I didn’t like teaching it. I did. I hated, however, that it would result in a ton of papers that needed grading. And of course, there were students who had inflated opinions of their writing. And moms who had no training in writing, yet they knew far more than I did about evaluating a piece of student writing. I’d grow weary of that after a while. Actually, I have a great story about that I will share with you. It was the worst parent phone call I have had in my career. And that’s saying something 😛

There’s so much more I could say about this writing at the high school level, but it’s been a long day and I’m kinda over it now, so I think you get the idea. 🙂 Tomorrow night, a special treat. For both of us. Tomorrow night I’ll be ON LOCATION and I don’t mean Beaver Dam. Stay tuned. Until then, enjoy the heck out of your Friday. The sunshine is supposed to return and the weekend, ending with Trick or Treats, promises to be great autumnal weather. Then, next week, Brrrrrrrr…….. Now I have to mentally prepare for what promises to be a tough Packer/Cardinals game. The Cards haven’t lost a game, it’s on their field and we have key players out of the lineup thanks to Covid. Time to pray. (lol)

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “How quick and rushing life can sometimes seem, when at the same time it’s so slow and sweet and everlasting.” – Graham Swift, author

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Wednesday, October 27th, 2021

Happy Happy HumpDay! I never know exactly if I should write “Hump Day” or “Humpday” or HumpDay” or “Humpday.” So, I change it up each and every time I use it. Works for me 🙂

Regardless, happy Wednesday. And welcome to another truly autumn day in late October. I was out and about earlier today and as I was returning home on Pilot Knob, seeing all the trees still with leaves that are turning, and the gray, overcast sky…it was just screaming October. And there’s something about those kinds of days that are comforting. However, the rains are nearly upon us and will be with us, supposedly for at least 12 hours. We shall see if that pans out, but that’s the word on the streets, so we’ll wait and see.

Today had one item on the agenda. And now as I write this, I can think of another that could have been on the list, had I remembered it. I need a haircut and I should have made that the second stop I made today, but I didn’t even give it a thought after the wonderful lunch I had. Let me tell you about my lunch.

Today, as you might remember from last night’s Reflection, I was going to meet up once again with my track coach from this previous spring’s gig I was doing for the Eagan Athletic Association for kindergarten through sixth grade kids. This woman is also from the very first class I ever taught at RHS. She was in my Advanced English Nine class. As I told her today, I am so glad we have reconnected after all these years. She was a great kid and a great student back in 1982, and now she’s a great adult as well as a leader in her community and a good wife and mom of four kids. Last spring’s announcing job I did for five weekends was only made the better because she was in the booth with me. For five Friday nights and Saturday mornings, we enjoyed working together for the EAA track program. Today, we met at 11:45 at Granite City. When we made the luncheon date, we had hoped it would still be patio weather but that was not in the cards. It didn’t impact the delightful lunch we ended up having. We covered a lot of ground, including the upcoming track season once again this April and May. It seems like a long ways away, but soon enough, we’ll both be hanging together to some extent. She had given up her role as the lead person for this program for many years. She will be on hand for a bit to help the new leader. That woman was with us last spring, learning the ropes. Now, this year, she’s my new “boss.” Hehe…they get younger and younger. LOL

When I got home from lunch, it was all about chilling a bit and doing one load of laundry. I also did some writing and watched a show from my library of recorded network TV. Finally, it was time to start writing this. The radar is showing a ton of rain just inching its way closer and closer. The system seems to be moving directly north and slowly, expanding to the east. Watch radar in motion some time. I think it’s fascinating. 😛

It feels like a fireplace night, so I cleaned out the area from Saturday night’s fire. If you look at next week’s forecast, days where we’ll be happy to see 40. Yup. The cold….she’s a comin’! And with tomorrow’s rainy forecast, I am thinking it might just be the day to sit in a movie theater. We’ll see what the reality of the day’s weather brings in the morning, but it’s an option, for sure.

It’s already Wednesday, which means we had Tuesday yesterday and I didn’t even step foot in the bookstore on the one day when new books appear on their displays. Not bad, eh? Will I make it through the week being able to say the same thing? I think there’s a really good chance of it; however, if the sun comes out tomorrow and the day is anything but wet, all bets are off!

Good thing I have a new iPhone coming in a month. My case on this phone I presently continues to fall apart, piece by piece. The rubber molding around the case continues to peel off. Today I lost another strip of the molding. I just laughed. My case is beginning to look pretty pathetic. Another month and it will all be good again. Hehe.

Tonight, Game 2 of the Series. Last night’s game started with a homerun from the first batter for the Braves. The Astros never were in the game from about the 3rd inning going forward. And the Astros lost their ace pitcher in the third inning. In the second inning, he was the target of a 102mph ball coming off the bat of a Brave. Hit him in his right fibula. He faced three more batters in sixteen batters until his leg gave way. It was broken. And the guy was apologetic to his teammates and coach for not being able to throw more. If you don’t admire a man who wants so badly to win and to win for his team and fans…well, it’s a remarkable story. May be the story of the entire Series. I certainly was impressed. And I felt bad for him because his Series is now done. They’ll have to win this one without his assistance. But what better motivation to win. The old expression was “Do it for the Gipper.” Now, it may go to “Do it for Morton.” The pitcher’s name was Charlie Morton.

Ok, we’re done here. Tomorrow night’s edition of It’s Anybody’s Guess” might interest my English colleagues. At least they’ll identify with what I plan to explore. Not sure how it will play out, but I’ll start to write it tonight to see if I think it’s going to work. In 24 hours, we’ll find out if it worked or not 🙂 Until then, ladies and gentlemen, stay dry and warm. Have a great Wednesday evening and a better Thursday. See you in 24!

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “We can be friends. We can be anything we want to be.” – Muriel Barbery, author

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Tuesday, October 26th, 2021

One day closer to November 1st, eh? 🙂 But we’re still in October and we have a holiday to celebrate before I can begin to go full force into the Yuletide! However, for the sake of everyone who is in Halloween mode, I shall stroll along that path with ya.

I didn’t mention yesterday that when I had been at the grocery store, I bought my first and last Halloween candy before the season ends. Despite the fact I have NEVER had kids come to my door here, I always have candy. I always took it in to my classroom after the day was done to share with students and colleagues. I didn’t buy THAT much this time. My point in bringing this up, however, is that I bought three bags…Milky Way, Three Musketeers, and Snickers….and threw them all into a bowl. With company coming Sunday for the Halloween movies, I thought I should have candy for them too. And since I opened them mid-afternoon yesterday, I haven’t touched a one! Oh, I’ve thought about it and I’ve come close, but nope. We’ll see how long my self-restraint holds out.

My day was one of those that needed a shot of adrenaline before I finally left at 2:40 to meet my fellow writers at the Steeple Center for the first time in maybe two years. We huddled up next to the fireplace and began a really good discussion of both writing and books. Unlike the park where we’ve been meeting, this place has sort of a time limit and they like to close up at 4:30, so we had to be a little more careful about staying on task and watching the clock. I can say that from this group today, I may have Thursday night’s topic for It’s Anybody’s Guess. I have to give it more consideration but my initial thoughts are it would be a fun topic. We shall see.

I have battled my neck issue all day. It was really bothering me at the writing meeting. I’ve put on two coats of the CBD cream. I’ll be applying more tonight once I’m done with dinner. I didn’t get my nap in today. I’ll blame the writing group for that 😛 I DID, however, return to my salads today. I first took out the head of lettuce and shredded it and put it in a container. Then, after layering the base of my salad bowl with lettuce, I cut up half a cucumber. Slices all around! Then came the radishes. Followed by the diced ham. I added some onion and carrots and voila’…I had my salad. Later, I boiled some eggs so I could add that to the mix this week. Why am I suddenly returning to salads this week? I’ll fess up next week 😛 I also had a bowl of chicken noodle soup today. So, yup. I had Soup and Salad today for lunch. Took me fifteen minutes to make that salad! The soup was a nice balance. Filled me up. Tonight for dinner…either a ham sandwich or fried chicken from Cub that I bought yesterday. All cut up and in the fridge section. It should be good for one more day for sure.

I have to keep in mind that tomorrow I have a lunch date, and I would like not to have to throw out any of my deli ham but that stuff is only good for four days. Sometimes, it’s a delicate balancing act. I think it comes with the territory when you’re alone. Hard to buy food in one trip and then to schedule it out throughout the week based on the shelf life. Gets annoying at times.

I received some work from my writing partner. He called me on my way home and he and his other writing partner have a second episode just about ready for their television series they’re pitching. He made changes to the first episode based on what they’ve written in the second, and so he called to ask me if I would be ok to edit the changes in the first episode. I’ve read that numerous times, but now there are some slight changes and I said, “Sure.” So, I will be doing that this week, for sure. The English teacher puts back on his English teacher hat. I’m good with that 🙂

Tonight? The World Series begins. I do not have a preference for a team; however, I have a friend who is excited about his Astros being in the Series, so I can cheer for them as well as the other team. No matter what, it’s the World Series and if ya love baseball, I would think they would be watching these games. I’m excited to do so.

For now, I’m heading to the kitchen. I hope the second day of your week was splendiferous. Tomorrow, I have the pleasure of having lunch with my Eagan track boss. I’m in her husband’s football pool and I owe her money for my entry fee. She has some things to share with me regarding the next season, beginning on the weekend of April 22nd, 23rd. That will be so fun to do again. Now all I have left is to hear from the Minnesota Pride folks. I’ve been seeing posts on FB by this Minnesota women’s football team. They’re getting all ready for another season next spring as well. I think they will be asking me back, from what was said at the end of this past season. Something else to look forward to 🙂

I’m outta here. Take your umbrellas with for the next two days. Gonna get wet! Until tomorrow night…

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “Roam abroad in the world, and take thy fill of its enjoyments before the day shall come when thou must quit it for good.” – Saadi, poet

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Monday, October 25th, 2021

Two months from today is Christmas. There. I said it. 😛

Happy Monday. And welcome to the week that ends with Halloween. Boo and all that stuff. One week from today, Christmas begins in my household. And I am quite excited to bring back into view all my Christmas decor, little by little. And then there’s the candles. I’ll tuck away the fall scents and break out my Christmas scents. I even bought one at Kohl’s when I was back home recently. My sister and I each bought a Balsam Fir. If it smells as good lit as it does not lit, it will smell like a Christmas tree is in my living room. And since I have an artificial tree, it will be quite a treat 🙂 But, I get ahead of myself. We still have six days in October!

This morning, I received my track schedule beginning in April already. I look forward to five more weekends with my former student as well as all those kindergartners through sixth graders. Can’t imagine it right now as we’re only on the precipice of winter, but soon enough, as we all know, it’ll be here before we know it. Something to dream about for the time being 🙂

I reached two major decisions today that have been awhile in coming. The first one, and the cheapest one…I have always been against purposely sitting down to nap. If a nap was ever going to happen to me, it was going to happen by accident. Today, that ended. I was really feeling tired around 4 and figured a short little nap would get me through the rest of the night. I sat down and purposely closed my eyes after putting the recliner back. Next thing I know, I’m waking about thirty minutes later. Once I had a chance to take inventory, I realized I felt better. And with the onslaught of winter before us, what better time to surrender to the concept of taking a nap than now. I will be doing this far more often, I think. Wait til the snow flies. I’ll be in my den’s recliner, watching the snow fall until the actual artistry of Mother Nature lulls me to sleep for a while. Sounds damn inviting as I write this. 🙂

Now, the other decision…well, that was a little pricier. I’ve been playing around with this decision since being given the numbers. I’ve told you that our first book, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas In Rosemount, which had been reprinted four different times from the first year it was a reality, was now almost unavailable. Actually, I have been down to one book. I know a woman who graduated from RHS in 1980. She has told me she would buy ten of them if they existed. I’ve also been bothered by the fact we don’t have extra copies anymore after all these years. The book is now a little slice of history. The front of the school as well as the school’s parking lot are illustrated in the book. Since that publication, both the exterior of the school and its land for the student cars has been altered. Well, I shared with you this summer that I looked into how much it would cost me to reprint yet another 100 books. I truly would like to have extras on hand so I can have copies when the opportunity arises to sell them again. I felt like the community had seen its share of me after three books and being on hand at various Rosemount events, selling them. Yet, I discovered this summer there’s a population in our community that has no idea we ever did these books. This woman, for example, who wants ten for sure, wasn’t aware. So today, I drove back over to Cornerstone Printing, and based on the quote they gave me for the 100 books, I ordered them today. What I will do next week is snap a couple of pictures, one of the school’s front and another of that parking lot, and display them with this post. It’s one way I will once again advertise, in time for Christmas, the books for anyone who still doesn’t have them and wants them. Because they’ve been around, I likely will do a deal like buy two, and get the third one free. We have enough of the other two publications to be able to do that. Plus, I don’t see a huge rush on the offer. But I would like to make the money back to at least pay for the printing costs I will incur. So, on that front, stay tuned. I know many of you have your own copy of the first and likely the second and third books in your home. Some people have told me they read the first book to their kids on Christmas Eve. That might have been one of the most flattering comments I received at the time. It’ll be nice to have copies of the first one again. 🙂

I also ran to Cub to pick up yet another $40 worth of groceries. Before that, I ran into Menards and picked up two cases of the Duraflame logs. Right now, they have 11% off everything. And I am going to need these for fireplace starters in the weeks ahead. So, I’m set. At least for fourteen more fires in my fireplace. I still have two from last season. And a few pieces of actual wood. The fire I lit Saturday night was so very nice. How I love a fire this time of year.

My first stop for my errand running began in the parking lot of RHS. I had four new books to give to my buddy in the main office. She’s always such a delight to see and converse with. The day was decent enough where we could stand outside in the parking lot and chat without getting overly cold. As we did just that, several of my former colleagues were walking out as the end of their day had arrived. It was kind of fun to see them too since they popped over to say hi on the way to their cars. But my friend was happy to see me and to receive four new reads. She’s a great friend and someone who has her own personal challenges right now. We both felt it was great to see each other, and as I drove off, I figured I need to stop down here more because she makes me happy. And she’s going to need the hug of a friend sooner than later. I can explain that when it’s appropriate to do so.

The evening will likely be Monday Night Football. A friend of mine allowed me to use his Peacock membership for yet another stupid streaming service in my life! The reason he was charitable was I asked for it, actually. lol This Sunday, my horror movie buddy is popping over to celebrate Halloween with me by watching the original Halloween as well as the final one released in 2018. It is a lead-in to the movie in the theaters right now…Halloween Kills. Well, Peacock is also showing that film and it’s one I wouldn’t mind seeing in my living room versus seeing in the theater. I doubt we can fit in three of those films Sunday, but if he doesn’t have time in the weeks ahead, I will watch it. His mother is joining us, despite her lack of horror movie appreciation. lol She just doesn’t want to be home this Halloween. Her reasons are valid. So, we’ll be whooping it up here! Whoop! Whoop!

I hope you had a super duper Monday, boys and girls. Last one in October 2021. More nice weather tomorrow before the rains come for two days. So, enjoy it while you can. By Friday, the trees may be fairly bare if the rains come with winds. And likely that will happen as it’s that time of year. SO, enjoy the sunshine tomorrow! I’ll be sitting inside with my fellow writers for the first time in two-plus years. It’ll be too cold to be in our normal park location. So, we return to where we started…The Steeple Center. I have a couple of books to share that I’ve been wanting to share with you, so tomorrow night, you’ll learn what those titles are 🙂 Ho Ho Ho.

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all. Be patient and tough; one day this pain will be useful to you.” – Ovid, poet

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Sunday, October 24th, 2021

A Sunday with no sunshine and chilly temps. Oh well. One week from today is Halloween and then we’re in November. I see highs are in the 40s in one week. The predictions for a colder and snowier winter are out there. Maybe that begins soon. Someone sent me a map put out by Sven regarding a COMPUTER FORECASTED snowstorm in nine days. Sven points out it’s a silly computer forecast, but is it? Will we see white sooner than later? Will we be wearing winter coats long before we really want to? So many questions, so few answers 😛

Happy Sunday. What kind of a day have you had? Mine began with a realization that I am going to need a plumber. Soon. When I run water in my kitchen sink, my spray hose leaks like crazy. This sink and the fixtures are not that old. Within ten years old. The one before that lasted twenty-plus years. So, I am hunting down a plumber to come visit and give me the harsh news of what this is going to run me. So much fun. Not.

Last night, I watched two episodes of Foundation and watched the Braves move on to this coming week’s World Series. A good night as Saturday nights go. Then I watched SNL with Jason Sudeikis. It was a lot of fun, but I only lasted, as is usually the case, until the Update skit was done. I couldn’t wait to crash last night, and I slept rather well. Had one of my longest dreams I can ever remember having. School related. I suspect proctoring might have had something to do with that. In any case, I got back the sleep I missed having to wake up Saturday morning extra early. Next weekend…gonna be pretty sweet. That news won’t happen until Friday night’s post. Stay tuned. I think you’re gonna like it.

I didn’t get to tell you yesterday that during the proctoring, I was working on a scene in the screenplay. This scene is one that begins the build-up to the climax. As I wrote, new ideas came to me in how the scene was going to play out. That’s so exciting. I went into the scene basically knowing what I wanted to achieve, but then these roads suddenly appear for me to choose to go down or not. If the road looks like it might be the right road to choose, I do it. If it doesn’t work out, I return to the point I made the decision and go down a different road. For me, writing, and especially creating something specific, is exciting as to see something appear that didn’t exist when I began to write…well, I can’t articulate how fun that is and how exciting it is to see a new idea take flight. So, today, I finished the scene. I’ll be reaching out to my writing partner so we can FaceTime this week and he can give me his feedback. I know that it’s going to require a little work reformatting because I’m still new to this screenwriting dialogue and action, but it’s slowly coming for me. Fun, eh? 🙂

Spent the first part of the afternoon watching the Packers beat Washington 24-10. That’s six wins in a row. They started the season looking like no one cared, but since then, they’ve been kicking major buttocks each and every week. They next play this coming Thursday night. At least no stress next Sunday 🙂 And they’re playing the Cardinals, who as of this moment, haven’t lost a game yet. Should be a good game. In the Cards’ stadium.

The second half of the afternoon was spent reading and writing and accidental napping 🙂 Nothing too horribly bad about that, eh? After a disappointing second game on CBS between Chicago and Tampa Bay, I went to It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! I love that I can access this show any time in October. Actually, all year, but let’s get real. This is a pure October gem. And I’ll likely work it in every day this week, leading right up to next Sunday’s holiday! And then, the next day, you know what’s next. So excited!

Episode #4 tonight on PBS of Grantchesterchester. This is such a good show. And it’s so short. I believe next week is the end once again, making it only five episodes long. For those of us who love it, that’s not anywhere near long enough. It’s a classy production with a thoughtful and intelligent script.

It will be strange not to watch a baseball game tonight. Now we wait until Tuesday night for the Series to begin. Should be a competitive match-up. I’m sure the networks would have preferred Boston and the Dodgers, but nice to see these two teams going at it. Atlanta has been coming on all playoffs, so I’m thinking they might be the team to beat. In any case, it’s football tonight, Grantchester and that will likely be it. The week to come is light in the commitment department. Writing group and lunch with my track boss and I believe that’s it. Come Friday, however, well, as I’ve said…stay tuned 🙂 Right now, Halloween has me entertaining my horror movie buddy and, believe it or not, his mother has shown an interest in joining us. Can’t believe she wants to sit through the original Halloween and the most recent movie before the one in the theaters right now. She hates horror films, but she must know what she’s doing, yes? Hehe…I told them it’s also the evening when the Christmas tree makes its triumphant return to its rightful place aside my fireplace. How excited you think I am for that? Ha!

All right. Time for me to get creative with dinner. In the meantime, you have yourselves a nice Sunday evening and may your week begin on a positive note. Mark and John…let tonight’s quote speak to you. I love these words.

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “Others may write from the head, but he writes from the heart, and the heart will always understand him.” – Washington Irving, author

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Saturday, October 23rd, 2021

I begin writing my post once again far too early in the morning. However, I am sitting in front of fifteen students, mostly seniors, who are taking the ACT test. It’s the first opportunity for the year. The next one comes the Saturday after I’ve turned 66 in December. And I am sure, if I’m in town, I’ll work that one too. And the two that follow in the spring. But, I have to tell ya…when that alarm went off this morning at 6:00, my initial thought was, What the hell was I thinking? Dang, this is too early to be productive and useful.

In any case, this is unusual. Twenty kids were assigned to take the test with me and five didn’t show. That just means they’ll do it later, but they lose the money they paid for this testing date. Seems kinda silly but who knows why they aren’t here. We’re all wearing masks (some of us really are hating it) and being safe. One young lady asked for one since she didn’t have one. Then she asked for a bottle of water. That was pushing it. We don’t give out bottles of water. Pencils, yes, but not water. Sort of weird request, actually.

I arrived around 7:20, went directly to my room, dropped off my stuff before walking down to the counselor’s area where I needed to pick up the supplies for the testing. After doing that, I got my room ready and was settling in when another proctor came in, informing me I was in his room. Good God, Brooks! I was two rooms away from mine. What a pain. I don’t think he had done this before because there were all these kids in the room already and he had only checked off two. There’s a system and it was definitely not mine that he was using. Oh well.

The morning begins by me trying to show them my human side. I tell them my history with RHS and the numerous times I’ve done this test proctoring thing. Once we’ve waited long enough for stragglers, I begin. The instructions are very precise and I have to read a ton of stuff to the kids. They listen, or pretend to listen at least, and then the first test usually begins around 8:25. And that first test is English. We are coming up on the completion of that first test, and as always, the kids are great and diligently doing their duty. They’ll do one more test, the longest one, math, before receiving a break. Then two more that count and one that doesn’t. It’ll be nearly noon by then . At this point, I have only three hours to go. YAWN.

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Well, it’s later now and the four hours with the kids ended on a positive note. It was an uneventful morning and one where I made enough money to pay for my three flannel shirts and CHAMPION pullover I bought a few weeks ago which I shared with you. It was a WIN-WIN today. We get paid by the folks at the ACT organization. When it’s all said and done, it’s about $22 an hour, give or take. I arrived at 7:20 and walked out about 12:20. So, five hours of “work.” When I bought my shirts and pullover, I hadn’t even been thinking about this morning and how it would work nicely to pay for the new purchases. I had forgotten this was coming until just this last week. So, that’s nice. On Thursday, I’ll receive an email from ACT, indicating there will be a deposit in my account Friday morning. It couldn’t be any slicker. Proctoring the test is just as slick. We do it with the assistance of our laptops. Aside from the ungodly hour at which I wake, there’s nothing I dislike about this quarterly gig. And, I definitely am reminded how much I miss being with kids. It fills me a little on many levels 🙂

When I got home, my first focus was to preheat the oven in preparation for that Mrs. Smith’s apple pie I bought yesterday. For an hour, it sat in the oven and baked. When I pulled it out, the house smelled like Thanksgiving morning. So nice. While it was baking, I cleaned out the fireplace from the last fire of the season last February or March. I lit my first fire around 5 today. The picture should tell you all you need to know. So nice again. I spent the afternoon, primarily, watching the Badgers take on Purdue in Purdue’s stadium. It was a real autumn afternoon in my house today. I did, finally, catch the final episode of Hulu’s Murders Only In The Building. Absolutely entertaining. A satisfying finale to this ten-episode series. And they give viewers every reason to believe a second season is coming. Steve Martin had me laughing out loud in this episode. What fun.

I felt like I could take a nap all afternoon too. I was working on about six hours of sleep. Tonight, that will be different. Looking forward to SNL tonight with Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) will be the host. I’m curious to see his non-Lasso personality. I expect him to be funny. Between now and then, if I don’t land on a football game, I will watch at least ONE Foundation episode on AppleTV+. With the release of the new series, Invasion and the movie release of Dune, I’d like to get caught up with the Asimov story before starting anything new. Plus, I just wanna watch something different from sports and network television. The Braves/Dodgers game tonight will be difficult to ignore too. Just not enough hours in the day for all the viewing options.

How was your Saturday? Hoping it was as satisfying as mine was. Considering how I often feel about Saturdays, mine had a lot of good things about it 🙂 Let’s reconvene tomorrow night and see how the second half of the weekend played out. Packer game tomorrow and I can actually watch it. At noon. Thank you Vikings for taking the week off 🙂 Ciao.

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “Too many people out there tell us what we can and cannot do but … they don’t know who we are, what’s put in us.” – Alex Rogers, author

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Friday, October 22nd, 2021

Welcome to the start of your weekend once again. And let me tell you…since I returned Wednesday, life has been anything but slow. Aside from the Wednesday and Thursday night posts, there’s a whole lot more to tell ya. Nothing over-the-top exhilarating, but still stuff to share 🙂 I can tell you the theme of spending certainly has continued. Ugh.

There’s no doubt that fall has arrived and is planning on staying. The forecast for the next ten days has nothing higher than a 59. The 60s might be a number we won’t see again until April or May. Patio time is done at most restaurants and coffee shops, which saddens me, but it’s not like I didn’t make the best of it while we had the weather for such an activity 🙂 So, no regrets. Just an acceptance of life’s cycle. The leaves are falling, the winds are blowing, and it’s just a matter of time before the white stuff arrives. The forecast for the winter is snowier and colder than in previous years. El Nina. Thank you. I hope it happens cuz last year, the winter barely made an appearance!

So, allow me to tell you about my first full day back in the neighborhood, which was yesterday. I had a few errands to run, and that’s an understatement. Even I didn’t realize how many errands I had until I was knee-deep in them. I even ran home to use my bathroom before returning to more errands.

Maybe I should begin with how nice it was to sleep in my own bed once again. Nothing wrong with the bed in my sister’s spare room, but it’s always nice to come back to one’s own bed. Gave me the energy I’d need to accomplish all those errands! For starters, once the morning ritual of nostalgia was behind me, I headed to school. My first stop was going to be a pleasant one. I had four Christmas candles to deliver to my friend in the RHS main office. She came to the car to reimburse me as well as claim her products. Whenever I do this, I have her smell each one, just to make sure I picked the ones she enjoys. And she never doesn’t enjoy them. She always makes me laugh. With each lid off, she sniffs at the candle, often two, three inhales. And sometimes, she lingers over the candle, taking it all in. This time’s stash included Hollyberry, Winter, Bells and Cedar, and finally Old St. Nick. She loved them all, especially Winter and Bells and Cedar. She looked at me with apprehensive eyes and asked if I’d be returning again sooner or later….I laughed. She wanted about eight or nine more of theses. So, we shared laughs and hugs and she took her candles into the office. I told her she didn’t need to decide EXACTLY which scents she wanted, but I’d let her know when I was returning and she could put in her order then. Too funny.

From there, I was off to get some milk. I had nearly a full gallon of milk in the fridge. The date was still good for two more days but my fridge is cold and I never have issues. However, my milk upon return was tasting funky at best. Thus, the new gallon needed. And then, Target! It was time to get more groceries. I mentioned I’d gotten some when I came into town on Wednesday, but I knew I’d need more. Well, I got ’em. Money spent. And, since I was at Target, I ran to Dunn Bros. to get coffee beans cuz I was in need. Another day and I’d have certainly been without. While there, I popped into HyVee to see if they had any apple pies. I’ve done nothing but obsess over the damn apple pie I left in Beaver Dam. I was so looking forward to apple pie that night and since it didn’t happen, I’ve been a little obsessive about the thought. However, HyVee’s pie was nothing like my grandmother’s. I always loved Baker’s Square pies. I got an apple pie every Thanksgiving I found myself here alone. I know there’s a Square in St. Paul, but I haven’t obsessed about that enough yet. I suspect I will, however. lol

It was then I decided to drop off the groceries at the house, use the bathroom and then head back out for Errands, The Sequel. This would turn out to be more expensive. It began with a stop at Abdallah’s. Just wanted to check on their Imperfects counter as well as pick up a box of the month’s special,. I still have caramel apples in the fridge so no need for that. 🙂 And yes, I spent some money.

I next had to fill up the gas tank. Ka-Ching. And then Verizon had been haunting my thoughts for a while so I thought I’d grace them with my presence. My phone is now three years old. My battery is beginning to show its age. And my phone case is slowly deteriorating. So, I thought I’d stop in to see how much this and how much that would be. Guess what. No later than December 3rd, I’ll have the newest iPhone available to mankind. I still have no idea how that happened. More money, however.

ELF! I was excited to go to Hallmark nearby and pick up my ELF ornament. Check out tonight’s pic. They have a selection of various new ornaments for the tree this year. I never buy these, but I had to get the ELF one. My sister and I share a passion for this movie and it’s only fitting to have the talking ornament. More money.

From there, it was a trip to Fresh Thyme. All I wanted was veggies. Time for salads again. Mission accomplished. More money. From there, off to Burnsville. First stop was to run through the ATM drive-thru to deposit the check I had received earlier that morning for the candles. After, I drove through the Starbucks drive-thru for my first hot beverage in months. It was cold yesterday! Soon, the white peppermint mocha will be all the rave! And then, off to Toyota. I needed to ask about my next visit and whether or not I’d be needing front brakes. More money. However, he said, based on the last visit, he didn’t think I’d need to do that quite yet. Relief. Finally, no triple digit costs at Toyota for a visit. I shouldn’t say that until the visit is over and I’ve paid, but it’s looking more promising now. Didn’t make an appointment yet but in about 2000 more miles, I will.

When I got back into my car, I took a big old breath and was happy to realize I was going home to make lunch and sit still for the remainder of the night. I had done everything on my list. It felt good to have it all behind me.

Friday, I thought, would be far more relaxing. And it was, but it wasn’t. I can say that today was productive. Truly. For days, I’ve been contemplating something and today, it began. I did yet another book purge. By the time I was done, I had two more bags of books for the Friends of the Library in Rosemount. I had to begin the cleanse of my fireplace mantle cuz in ten days, Christmas arrives to my living room. My mantle is all about Christmas. Ironically, I saw a book last night in the New York Times book section. You can check out that pic too. I bag up well over twenty books, and then I go out and buy another. Darn near bought two. I have it bad! However, you know it could be booze, or drugs, or gambling….but, with a book addiction, the library wins because it’s where my books go to live eventually. I can live with that 😉 Call me Mr. Charity. Hehe.

The night will be me sitting and watching the sixth playoff game between the Astros and the Red Sox. If Houston wins, Boston is done for another season. And I’m cheering for that. Tired of Boston. And then when I go to bed tonight, I’m setting my alarm for the first time in many months. Ya know why? Tomorrow morning I’ll be waking by 6:30 (YUCKYUCKYUCK) so I can shower and be at school by 7:30. I’m proctoring the first ACT test of the school year tomorrow. I’ve told you before. It’s EZ PZ but the worst is the hour and the fact I’ll be wearing a mask all morning. I’ll feel ok about it this next Friday when my payment is in my account from the folks at ACT. And then, I’ll come home and before the afternoon turns into evening, I’ll be lighting the first fire in the fireplace of the season. I am so very excited for that 🙂

That’s all I’ve got for ya. I hope your Friday was peachy keen and that the start of the weekend is even peachier and keener. How’s that!? Great. See ya Saturday night!

The Inspirational Quote of the Night: “Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.” – Rashi, Bible scholar

G’Night!

It’s Anybody’s Guess: “Did You Ever Eat…?” Thursday, October 21st, 2021

I’m not exactly sure where tonight’s topic comes from. Maybe it’s because of the fall weather and my mind is always in nostalgic mode from September through December. The romanticism of the fall and early winter claims control over my emotions and I can’t do a dad-blamed thing about it! Or, maybe it’s because of what I enjoy having for lunch from time to time. Whatever jump-started my mind, tonight I wanna talk about our tastebuds when we were kids and how they may have changed over time. I think the topic has merit. 🙂

So, when I have a sandwich for lunch, it will usually be accompanied by chips and a few sweet gherkins. I love sweet pickles. I hate dill, however. When I’m at a restaurant and if I order a burger or something comparable, I always tell the waiter/waitress to make sure no pickles accompany the meal. The juice inevitably runs into the fries or the bun itself. Who a) likes a moist bun and b) a bun tainted by the taste of dill? “Not I,” said the goose. So, when I’m eating my sandwich and I take a sweet gherkin in before the mouthful of sandwich is down the pipe, that’s when I’m reminded of something I used to love as a kid. One of my favorite lunches when I was a little boy was bread, butter, bologna and sweet pickle slices. Man oh man, did I love that combo! My grandma pickled both dill and sweet pickles. The sweet pickles sliced in little discs…I lovingly placed them on my bologna and covered them with the second piece of bread. Handling that monster, however, with my little hands was always a challenge. The pickles would offset the balance of a sandwich only with meat, and they’d inevitably slide out one side or another as I lifted the delicacy to my mouth. However, I was never defeated. I just replaced the fallen slices and proceeded to down the entire bologna masterpiece. Man oh man, how I loved that sandwich! Haven’t had that little treasure in decades.

Speaking of bologna, I had a secondary sandwich I would often choose if we were short on pickles. My grandmother also made her own raspberry jam. My grandmother lived with us, so we had our own little Fort Knox in the basement when it came time to homemade products. Mmmmmm…. Well, I used to love bologna on top of butter and raspberry jam. This sandwich was much easier to manipulate. Nothing falling out of anywhere. Just a non-stop meal from first bite to last! So, did you ever have either sandwich in your early years? Just wonderin’. You likely had your own version, I bet. 🙂

Here’s one of my favorite meals in my high school years when I had more freedom as a young man to go here and there, and I also had my own spending money. I’d go to a little diner right on the main street in downtown Beaver Dam. The diner was there for years and continues to live on thanks to the son of the man who ran it back in the 60s. His son, actually, was in my class. Well, I’d walk in and John (the name of the place was Chili John’s) would immediately refer to me as “Brooksie!” And he’d know every time what I wanted when I walked in. The best chocolate malt ever and his daily fresh-cut french fries. He’d serve both up and then, gathering the attention of some folks if it was their first time being inside while I was there, I’d dump the fries, one by one, into that thick tasty ice cream beverage. Man oh man…lip-smacking good! I remember taking one of my best friends, Ellie, down there once because she had said she wanted to see what all this Chili John’s talk was about. She wanted to try the banquet that was fries in a malt. And when she did, her reaction was similar to the one of the Hanna Barbera cartoon dog after he’d receive his treats. I can’t even explain his reaction to you, but take my word for it. She liked it too. Maybe a little less excitement over the duo but she still couldn’t deny enjoying the meal. I was just a little salesman, well ahead of my time 🙂

My tastebuds were probably the most unique of the Brooks offspring. I was not a fan of standard food items like ketchup, mustard, onions, cheese, (never was a fan of beer either, and the powers that be nearly took away my Wisconsin birth certificate). While everyone loved root beer floats, I turned up my nose to them. Just give me a bowl of vanilla ice cream and a canister of Hershey’s syrup with a can opener. I was happiest then 🙂

Oh, I was a lover of chocolate milk. Absolutely loved it. Mom usually made sure we had some in the fridge. I would make toast, butter it, spread that raspberry jam all over it, cut it in half and dip it in the chocolate milk. Man oh man, was that tasty! Never tasted anywhere near as good with white milk. One year, when we had the mild dispenser built into the cupboard because we were a family of three adults and six kids, I had a gift from God…or someone who had liked me but had left the earth. The milkman accidentally left a box in the cooler that was chocolate milk, but we didn’t know it until we cut the tube and lifted the handle and out shot brown liquid! It was my LUCKEEEEEEEEEEE day! Mom wasn’t happy, but I told her I’d empty it soon enough so we could get back on with our lives and white milk. I believe we, like most folks in those days, were drinking whole milk. Yuck.

Speaking of yuck…I was 15 and working at a grocery store for my first job. It was a good job and I liked it and the people with whom I worked. We’d get a 15-minute break and what did I always have for my break? A little package containing a chocolate fudge brownie and I’d buy a quart of chocolate milk. Man oh man, did I love that little duet of sugar. Today, the idea of that “treat” nearly makes me wanna throw up. Chocolate Overdose!

My father had an ulcer as time rolled along and his tastebuds were far stranger than mine. Many people, I have come to learn, enjoy ketchup with scrambled eggs, so I can’t really use that one, but I can use this one. Dad liked saltine crackers. Mom would tell us when we’d say, “How can Dad be eating that?”, she’d explain it helped his ulcer if it was acting up. A Tupperware cereal bowl…pour some milk in it….crunch up a handful of Saltines….add ketchup. Man oh man…GAH-ROSSSSE! So, there. Now you can’t say much about my childhood food leanings. 🙂

Here’s something in the food topic that many of you, I bet, can identify with. And this would drive Mom crazy. My plate needed sections. I was never happy if one food met another food while on my plate. My mom’s reaction? “What do you suppose happens when they reach your stomach? They all get mixed up anyhow!” Nope. I wasn’t having it. If the corn got mixed in with the mashed potatoes or the juices from the pork chops, I was done. No way could I eat it any longer. I can’t even tell you how old I was before I finally moved away from that hangup. At St. Patrick’s, we had trays and no one food ever touched another food item on that plate! Of course, much of it didn’t matter cuz I hated some of the stuff they served us. My least favorite? Baked beans and sauerkraut. The very very worst! Humorously, I now encourage my foods to blend together while on my plate. Go figure. Man oh man, how I’ve matured. LOL

I could take you down other roads with my tastebuds, but you’ve endured enough this week. I’ll return tomorrow night with more Reflection and less Guess. Can’t wait to tell you about the Thursday I had. Man oh man… 😛

The Inspirational Quote of the Day: “We are, all of us, exploring a world none of us understands…searching for a more immediate, ecstatic and penetrating mode of living… for the integrity, the courage to be whole, living in relaxation to one another in the full poetry of existence.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Sentor

G’Night!