by jphilo | Jun 7, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
Literature is the unifying element of this week’s three thoughts, which makes them sound high brow and slightly intimidating. Until a little investigation reveals three of the four literary genres are science fiction, comic strips, and fairy tales. More low brow than high brow, which makes me, and hopefully you, feel right at home.
- When we read one of Ray Bradbury’s short stories in eighth grade English class in the late 1960s, I assumed he was an old man. Or maybe already dead. So yesterday’s announcement of Bradbury’s death at age 91 shocked me. If I’ve lived 40 plus years with that misconception, how many others need to be revealed?
- As was mentioned in previous Thursday thoughts, the new biography of Catherine the Great is quite the expose on princesshood. If little girls find out what palace life is really like, sales of tiaras, pink boas, and sparkly shoes will plummet. I wonder if the talking suits in charge of the Disney fairytale princess division are considering damage control?
- The other day, when the back surgeon showed Hiram the MRI of his spine, I felt like Charlie Brown looking at the clouds with Lucy and Linus. (Linus saw a map of the Caribbean, the profile of a famous painter, and a tableau of the stoning of Stephen. Charlie Brown saw a duckie and a horsie.) The surgeon and Hiram saw bulging disks, the spinal cord, and a disk fragment near the sciatic nerve. I saw black stuff and grey stuff and white stuff.
How about you? Have you had any profound, or not so profound, literary thoughts lately? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | May 31, 2012 | Family, Three Thoughts for Thursday
Mom’s here for the week, so Camp Dorothy is in full swing. Hiram’s missing all the fun, laid up as he is with sciatic nerve problems. Therefore, this week’s three thoughts are a complimentary gift from the camp nurse activity director.
- Between shower time at Camp Dorothy and running for Hiram’s, I am very thankful for a 25 year career in teaching rather than nursing.
- As a kid, I would have begged Mom to let me watch shows like America’s Got Talent and Judge Judy. Now, thanks to Alzheimer’s, she’s hooked on them. All I can think as she watches her shows is, “Where do these people come from?”
- Every night during Wheel of Fortune, Mom announces, “They don’t allow close ups of Vanna anymore. She’s over 50, you know.” Whoever “they” are, I’d like to hire “them” to enforce the same restrictions for me.
Gotta go. It’s time for a hot game of Uno.
by jphilo | May 24, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
The hubby’s nursing a back injury this week, and watching DVD episodes of the old Smothers Brothers Comedy hour helps him pass the time and led to these three thoughts for Thursday:
- I think Tom and Dick changed from blue jackets to black jackets to red jackets to yellow jackets to show off 1967’s amazing new technology: color television!
- In 1967, all the political, sexual, and drug-related innuendo went over my eleven-year-old head. In 2012, I wonder how the innuendo went over the censors’ heads.
- Tommy Smothers is a comedic genius, living proof that laughter is the best medicine.
Are you a Smothers Brothers fan? Leave a comment about your favorite memories or thoughts.
by jphilo | May 17, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
For the past week, the weather has been perfect along our gravel road. The daisies, phlox, and peonies are blooming, the trees are in full leaf, and the grass in the ditches is a rich, luxurious green. Maybe that’s why these three thoughts for Thursday are mostly about my favorite season – spring.
- Mom had her springtime doctor’s appointment in Des Moines the same day Mitt Romney spoke a few blocks away. What a relief to not see the fella and tell him in person that I can’t be his running mate in the fall. I’m not sure he would understand that being a first time grandma leaves no time for politics.
- Apparently, there’s a blue jay convention in our town this week. They are everywhere. Talk about noisy, uncouth, overbearing tourists!
- My teacher friends are trying to motivate kids to learn their multiplication facts, study the three branches of government, and conjugate Spanish verbs on this beautiful spring day. The thought makes me want to bake cookies for them.
Who would you bake cookies for on this fine spring day? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | May 10, 2012 | Out and About, Three Thoughts for Thursday
We arrived home safely yesterday evening from a road trip to see our Ohio kids. The four days with them flew by. But since our return, the boring business of unpacking, sorting, laundry, plant-watering, grocery shopping, and figuring out what I was working on before we left continues with no end in sight. All these menial tasks left plenty of time to think up this Thursday’s three road tripping thoughts:
- Surely some mechanical person could invent a washer/dryer unit to attach to car engines. Travelers could start a load during every potty and gas break on the trip home, fold clothes in the back seat, and check laundry off their to do list when they pull into the driveway. YES!
- There’s nothing like entering the house after a long trip and realizing the cleaning lady left shortly before you came home.
- No matter how hard I try, I’m not a good packer. How could I know there wouldn’t be time to read the two books tucked in the suitcase, but that the Road Kill Cookbook and Granny Clampett would have come in handy after Hiram nailed a possum strolling across the highway?
Have you been traveling lately? What thoughts do you have about your adventure? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | May 3, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
Tornado season has arrived in Iowa. Between the stormy weather debut and our garage apartment renters, these three windy thoughts blew in.
- The good news is that Hiram and I slept very soundly Tuesday night. The bad news is that we slept through the tornado sirens and the tornado that hit the north side of town.
- The good news is that we live on the south side of town and sustained no damage. The bad news is that the mice who rent apartments in our garage used my car as their storm cellar.
- The good news is that Hiram and I are buying a weather radio for our bedroom. The bad news for Mickey and Minnie is that we are upping their rent and not using the extra cash to buy them a weather radio.
Have you got a tornado story or a terrible tenant? Leave a comment!
