Dear Nephew

In case you are curious about the way the day went mercy lots and lots of mercy for me. I am grateful.

I obviously come from a different culture a different mindset, a difference.  Where I come from there are rules of etiquette. Boundaries, things that are acceptable and things that are not. I have unfortunately (in my eyes) lived in both places. I prefer polite society where rules and respect are king.

That being said, here is a note to men. I want you to open my doors, order for me, and ask me to dance, drive, and take my arm to cross the street, walk on the traffic side of the sidewalk and every other thing. 

On the incident that had me and mother and several older adults fussed up yesterday….

1.     Do NOT take all five of your grandchildren to the allergist with you.

2.     Teach your little darlings that when someone who is older than they are enters a room, and they are in the only chairs, they are to get up and offer that adult the chair.  NOT sit there playing their hand held device while 3 80 year old woman stand and myself.  The young man in the neck brace even got up and offered up his seat to my mother.

3.     You are raising careless people.

4.     On a positive note they were otherwise quiet and polite.

Now to the man and son who came into the restaurant to eat as I was picking up food and crossed in front of me several times.  I am impressed with your politeness and respect.  I do not know who raised you but I would like to tell them they did a beautiful job. Both of you apologized and excused yourself each time you crossed in front of me.  Not that I minded sir because you are a gorgeous man and I thoroughly enjoyed the inter-action.  I am not sure it was done for me as a female, or because of my age but that charming grin on your face at one point was exactly what both of us knew it was.  Can we cross paths again?

I was perusing the online article yesterday about Jerry Bruckheimer getting his star on the walk of fame in Hollywood yesterday when one of the photos of Jerry caught me off guard.  At some point somewhere in my life I have had an encounter with him. I did not know it was him; it was not like we were introduced, it was more like some random comments shared by a few people in an elevator or at a restaurant. You know, where we have all been privy to some little commotion and all comment on it and laugh leaving each other with amusement as our memory.

Dear nephew,

These letters I print out and send to you are called Breakfast letters. I write them on mornings I am inspired to say something.  They are emailed to a few friends, some I know read them and others I have no idea. I have thinned the list considerably.  This letter is also put on a blog site with the name Breakfast letters.  I put them there actually for me as a way to keep up with them.  I had them on another site as well but have stopped putting them there.  I have opted to print them and mail them to you as opposed to writing to you and hear that you complain you cannot read my handwriting. Their value is entertainment; a glimpse into the swirls of color, texture, velocity, whist, and unlimited playground that is a tiny bit of me.  So sit back, enjoy them, and say out loud if you must that I am crazy, or throw them the hell away!  I will drive down there and smack you!  Twice!  I will be happy with a simple Thanks Auntie I love you too. Someday I will be old and feeble and wearing clunky orthopedic shoes and will need to go to Walmart to buy depends and I will insist you drive me! So just prepare!!!

Have a lovely day everyone!

How?

I am sure by now you may believe I have been avoiding you. That is true in part but I have also been somewhat precluded from writing. 

The wind has been violently blowing, yet I have furled my sails.  Adrift and buffeted by the careless, hurtful remark of that one person I know will say these things and still since we all should view our mothers as home port I attempt to stay the course. Not that I feel drawn to her because she is the mother but more out of a sense of duty. But where, I have wondered these past days, does her duty to me lie? This verse, a commandment from GOD has been part of my childhood mantra since I can remember. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Does this mean I am to allow her to say cruel, thoughtless things and say nothing? Watch her conspire with evil and do nothing? Stand by as she listens to the deceitful rumblings of a creature controlled by selfish and evil motives based on his own fears?  Do I challenge her statement and ask for clarification?  Or, do I maintain a faith in a GOD who lets nothing happen to me that has not first fallen from HIS hands? Is this a test? Will Tamara be quiet, because calm I am not, and let this play out according to MY better plan? I am a captive of my own faith, a prisoner in this cloud of confusion.  My compass is hidden and I am lost in foggy doldrums.  I want to scream out at the injustice. Did Jesus scream about the injustice done Him on the cross?  I will keep this in the foreground of my thoughts; that GODs plan for me is far better than any plan wicked or good they could conjure.

I am driving her to a physician today for testing. This will take 5 hours out of my day. It is also Tuesday and we are having our normal Tuesday evening dinner. How shall I get through this? It has been a week and I am fighting a burning desire to confront her with the cruel words she imparted to me the last time we met. These words and thoughts backed up and affirmed in agreement with her from the person who you all would call my brother. Is this what my father intended? I doubt it. I wish ….. Never mind….

Pray for me as I go today.

Leaving Las Vegas

How likely does this sound coming from a 22 year old who is leaving Las Vegas. 

“Mom our flight was canceled we will be flying into to San Antonio today.” I then asked for the real version. You know the one where they missed their flight.

 Apparently they were to fly out at about 6 or so and they had a plane delay so they got to Dallas and had missed their connecting flight and slept in Dallas. Their luggage went to Austin they will be getting into San Antonio later this morning and I have to drive them to Austin. Not what was on my agenda for Tuesday but it sounds like an adventure. There are things that I need to do for clients, committees and commitments I have made. Or so I thought. GOD the creator of the universe has other ideas for how my day shall pass. I will be stepping through the wardrobe today,

 waking up in Oz,

 taking a ring to Mordor. 

Now that I have thought about it, it has already begun.

  I turned on the oven to toast a piece of the banana bread I made on Sunday. I had forgotten that some had spilled into the oven and I was to have bought oven cleaner and cleaned it up.

 Smoke is now streaming from my kitchen. I am a wee bit surprised and then I remember the spilled bread. I go into the kitchen to turn off the oven when I notice through the window in the oven door flames all over the bottom of the oven.

 I put out the flames and more smoke is pouring into my home. I open doors and turn on fans and make a mental note to purchase oven cleaner this morning.

When I return from my walk I will tell you of the adventure I had there yesterday. It was a forest of creatures. There were large black slugs oozing their way across the path.

We encountered a centipede the size of Rhode Island. 

Deer glared at us from behind tall grass and trees. A huge hawk watched us from atop an ancient Live Oak. A gathering of buzzards stared at us from a scraggly tree. 

Every now and again we would catch the sickly smell of death on a breeze. Rabbits cajoled along beside us on the path near the creek. It reminded me of the scene in the movie Excalibur when Merlin first takes Arthur to spend a night in the forest. It is right after he has drawn the sword. Today we encountered no such beasts; just a few birds and the rabbits again.

On another note…. Sister!!! Really??? You had to wear a black tank top, white booty shorts and clunky white stilettos to walk across the street with your toddler son in tow to get to the dollar store. At what point did that seem right to you?   You could barely walk in those shoes. It was comical and yet I felt sorry for you. Practice sister practice, lots and lots more practice. You have to own the shoes. You were allowing them to own you! Heel toe, heel toe. Walk in them. You looked like a prostitute with achy feet. The effect was NOT glamorous which is what you were going for based on the rest of your chosen outfit. This is a small village not Polk Street. Perhaps a nice pair of sandals would have done you better service.

My bloody flat smells like burnt toast!! As does my hair, my curtains, my pillows and everything else! Lighting candles!!!

Cheers!

Spynie Bell

Every summer my mother would buy me a new pair of Keds shoes. 

 They were always white and though I looked forward to getting new shoes I hated them. Summer was for bare feet or flip flops.  Whatever happened to Keds? Are they still around? Why did my mom call them tennis shoes I never played tennis in them, I wore them to ride my bike or go someplace or at my Grannies and grandmothers homes.

Keds is still around and actually there is a 50% off coupon on their front page at the top of the fold. Taylor Swift even has her favorite picks and these beauties come in assorted colors and patterns now. 

They even have apparel. There is a contest involving Taylor too. Not the Keds your mom wore!

They have been around since 1916 and are the original canvas sneaker. They were quiet, made with rubber soles, so you could sneak up on someone.

The company that introduced them was U.S. Rubber; which later became Uniroyal, them Uniroyal Goodrich, then Michelin bought them and then Stride Rite and now Wolverine World Wide holds them.  The name was originally going to be Peds, Latin for foot but that name already had a trademark.

I remember they came with a SupersonicSpace whistle one summer.

Gabe form the parks Department informed us over the weekend that there is a bobcat in the park and they have seen him in the early mornings after they open the gate and drive around the park. Great! That is when we are there in the morning as the open the gate. He says the cat is harmless. Harmless?!!! 

A bobcat killed my dog a few years ago. I found him gutted; his parts strung out over what became a bloody scene of carnage.  I will never forget the sound of him screaming that night, my dog. Except I was unaware it was my dog. I thought it was one of the coyotes. About 6 times a year that darling pack of coyotes would tree that bobcat and he would scream. The coyotes would set to howling and that would start all our dogs to howling and barking and it would be a symphony. Have you ever heard a bobcat scream? It sounds like a woman, a woman screaming in fear or panic, a long frightful shriek. It is a terrifying sound if you do not know what it is. Probably how Woman Hollering Creek got its name.

Of course this is not as exciting as the ghost stories that abound about the creek. You know the typical ones involving Indians, dead people, murdered children. Like the ghost tales of River Road.  

There is a bell in Spynie in Moray in Scotland with the following inscription …

  'This Bell— For the Pearis of Spynie. Me Fecit, 1637.

  Soli Deo Gloria Michael Borgertwys. '

It was in a church near what was known as Spynie Castle and was the seat for the Bishops of Moray for about 500 years.  Now if I take this and Google translate it means….

'This war-For the Pears of Spynie. I did, 1637.

   Michael Borgertwys Glory to God alone. '

It is not translated parish because that word is paroeciam in Latin however in French it is paroisse and sounds like Pearis.  These were Protestant Bishops right up until 1638. In the 1650s Samuel Parris who was living and thriving in Barbados names a son Bishop Parris.

I was just doing some “light” reading over the weekend. 

I just received a phone call for a meeting in an hour.

Ci`ao

Trekie Grandma

I do not know what is going on in the universe right now but….STOP!!!!

It all started while I was in the theater watching Star Trek with Naomi. 

We were all immersed in the film when the screen goes dark. The sound kept playing for about 15 seconds and stops. We sit there in the dark for a couple minutes when a few of the men in the crowd get up and leave. I relax because it is refreshing to have men behave like men for a change and take care of stuff. They came back in and announced there was a storm raging outside and we must have lost power. The lights we saw were the emergency lights kicked on by the back-up generators. Groovy! Meanwhile a mom tells her two sons they are going to go potty while there is a pause in the action. One child goes along quietly while the other asks loudly what they were doing and as she tells him again he repeats in a very loud voice back to her that …”we are leaving to potty mom. We will be back after we potty mom. It is good to potty during a break.” This amuses some of us. After she leaves a theater employee rushes in and announces in a firm but breathless voice that they had a power loss due to storms and the movie would resume momentarily where it left off. Thanking us for our patience she runs off. A guy in the audience wants to know exactly how long, when it will start.  She is already gone so another man answers “she said in a few moments!” Really??? Because acts of GOD run on your schedule? If you needed to leave because of a time issue then leave, ask for a rain check voucher and come back at another time. This dude probably has a list, plans out his entire life on his Android, maps out his course, schedules his evening around TV. Dinner is the same every week…chicken fajitas on Monday, ravioli on Tuesday, etc…. at the same time every day. I get it; some people need a very rigid structure, but this guy was just being an idiot. He started chanting refund… refund… which no one else chimed in on. But one man did say “Yeah go get a rain check!” So he shut up and the movie started.

This movie had some very humorous parts which we laughed at but it was just Naomi and I the rest of the crowd was quiet. And then Sulu makes his speech to Harrison. I stood up and applauded it was bold, aggressive and determined. Sulu grew up right before our eyes and it was impressive. 

Later we see Spock grow up and that is just as impressive. But the shocker came when we discover Harrison’s true identity. Naomi, myself and a lady on our row all at the same time gasp loudly. It was amusing.

 I start paying a bit more attention to the lady on our row and I realize we are in the presence of a true Trekie. She is not only watching the movie she is evaluating the behavior of each character and the story line. I hear her make a comment to her husband about episode number, whatever, in the first season. She comments on which episode the Tribbles are first introduced. After the movie I realize the Trekie woman is in her 80’s. Unreal! I wonder back in the 60s did she dress as a member of Starfleet for Halloween parties. Did she garb up and go to Star Trek conventions? Was she a regular caller at QVC during a Star Trek 2 hour special? I imagine yes. I wonder what her grandkids think about it. Trek on Grandma!

But here is the weird part. After I got home and locked the door my car horn went off. Just one big loud hoooooonk! For about 5 minutes. I could not get it off. Then it made a half honk honked on and got quiet. It honked twice more in short bursts and got quiet. Then 15 minutes later it honked again and this went on for 15 minutes solid. My neighbor came over and told me car was alarm was going off. Well ….. uhm….., yeah weird huh? It finally died off, honked twice more and was quiet the rest of the night. I probably have a dead battery now.  What the bloody hell was that about? The way my mind works if you are going to throw a mutiny at me you have to go. Bye bye car time for a new one. Maybe I am related to Blackbeard. Did he have children? Anyone want to check that out? Is there any surviving DNA?

I have to do some writing for my blog now. Get back to me about the Blackbeard connection.

The Tesla

I turned on my left turn signal. I pulled up to the red light. I stopped, looked both ways and proceeded on to make a left turn. About halfway through the turn and in the middle of the intersection I realized the light was still red. I lifted my foot to stomp on the brakes and then decided I was committed and the oncoming traffic was stopped so I continued in my turn.  I am now wondering what part of my mind quit functioning and what the bloody hell was I so engrossed in thinking that I had stopped thinking.  I am seriously creeped out!

As I was driving to the hospital last week I came to a stop light (I actually stopped at this one) and happened to glance at the car to my right that was in front on me. 

I saw a very unfamiliar emblem on the trunk. But something about it started to tickle my brain as if I did know what it was and just had not seen one in a very long while.

  I gave the car my full attention and the only other thing I saw was a Te---- . I was further puzzled as my thoughts kept tickling me. The light changed. 

 As he pulled forward I caught the rest of the word Tesla. How bizarre I thought because Nikola Tesla has made an appearance in a book I am reading. 

I looked again at the car. It was a 4 door sedan. Now I remembered and didn’t Tesla make a sporty little car?

Class is in session. What I saw was a 2013 Tesla Model S Sedan. Base price is about $70,000 and all tricked out $95,000.

 Nice!! But since it is just me I would much prefer the 2014 Roadster. 

Build me one! In a deep sparkly sapphire blue, Grey interior. Sigghhhhhh……

I am the white rabbit today….. I must be off…..  

Bud Needs A Holiday

I am struggling today with this.  I have not had the luxury of a pot tea and time to write. My schedule has changed and I feel guilty. Funny! No reason to feel that way but when I get comfortable with the adventure I am on I feel guilty about that. It is all totally irrational. But even that causes me to be fussed up and what is really odd about the whole thing is that I am extremely calm. Acy had a Déjà vu yesterday at the hospital. I was part of it. That was very comforting because it tells me we are all doing exactly what we are supposed to do.

Les is a longtime friend of Nomie’s and he has faithfully been coming to the hospital to visit and sit with him. He does something with Uranium. He tells of his adventures out measuring hole caps and getting an exact GPS co-ordinates for the holes. Now, other than this could be an interesting job wrought with danger, such as rattlesnakes, I have never so much as given uranium a thought. Have you? What exactly is it? Why do we want it? Where does it come from? Those sorts of questions are now in my head. You know what that means? Uranium class.

Here is what I know about uranium. It is a metal. Ta---daaaaa!!!

The chemical symbol for uranium is U.

It is a naturally occurring radioactive element. (Radioactive - being a property of certain elements, of spontaneously emitting radiation resulting from changes in the nuclei of atoms of the element). In case you were unsure. It is one of the heaviest elements.

Uranium can be found in rocks, soil, water, plants, animals and humans.

It was used in its natural form to add color to glazes for pottery. The colors can range from orange-red to lemon yellow hues. For those of you who collect pottery uranium was used to create the brilliant colors of Fiestaware.   Mostly to create the brilliant red but was also found in other colors. This practice has been discontinued.

It has been used as a coloring agent since 79AD.

In 1841 it was discovered to be a metal.

It is commonly found in phosphate based rock structures.

It was named to honor the planet Uranus.

After it is refined uranium looks like a silvery white metal.

99%of the uranium that enters your body whether by breath or ingestion leaves the body through your natural excretion process, through the kidneys and flushed. The remaining uranium enters your blood steam where it will be deposited in your bones and remain for years. 

To simplify the energy from uranium process here it is. Inside a nuclear reactor Uranium is “burned” the heat from this process is made into steam and the steam is converted into energy.

It is used as ballast in ships and aircraft. It is a shield against radiation. It is used in some weapons as ammunition that will penetrate heavily armored structures. It was used in photographic materials which mean my house is probably very radioactive. Especially those old photos starring back at me from the bookcase.

All of this led to wonder what kryptonite was.  It was introduced in June of 1943 on the Superman radio series as having arrived on earth in a meteorite from Krypton.  It was used in the plotline to injure voice actor Bud Collyer time off. Since I have no interest in Superman; that is all I have to say, except. When Superman needs help he called on Batman.

Speaking of all of this…. As I was watching Daredevil I spied with my own little eye…. Stan Lee.

My favorite Kryptonite was made by Three Doors Down.

Enjoy your day!