4-H Camp

OK so here's another nice thing about being retired....

You can help your friends with stuff whenever they call.

Today I spent a few hours helping Elsie get the flyers ready to mail. It's time for folks to sign up for this coming summer's 4-H camp....but first the flyers need to be taped, stamped and have the correct label(s) attached......2000 of them..give or take a few hundred.  This year we are using Harry Potter stamps- something the kids might enjoy if they see the flyer before their parents register them.

I was never a 4-Her myself and I ended up working at camp in a very round about way.

I had spent the previous 2 summers working as a VISTA Volunteer at Hull House in Chicago. In 1968 I was back in college hoping to be a social worker,(we know that didn't happen) and in need of a summer job. Butch Brzezicki, a long time family friend, suggested I apply at 4-H camp. He had volunteered many hours and was involved in 4-H activities and his son, Mike, was in charge of the waterfront. I found out that the summer staff had already been hired but I might be able to get a job via the work study program. I applied for that at the college and was told that our family income was too high for me to qualify.??? That really was ridiculous but I didn't know what to do about it. Luckily a friend had a friend who owed her a favor. I don't know his exact position in the town, but all of a sudden I had an "Uncle Frank" who wanted to know why the college wouldn't approve me for work study. Just like that they did.

I spent my first day at the Cooperative Extension office and then I think it was the next day that Ed Merritt drove me down to camp to introduce me to Elsie. The first time I heard her laugh, I knew it would be a fine summer.! The first night there we planted lilac and forsythia bushes in the rain and I began the first of 3 wonderful summers !  Of course it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other. But that is a story for another post. Today's camp flyers are being sent to the children and Grandchildren of campers and staff members that I knew way back when.....

 

 

 

Alektorophobia and Taurophobia

We'll get back to the phobias in a bit. Hint: If you read your horoscope daily, you might be able to figure out the 2nd  and the first is somewhat related.

This is week 3 of the real deal. Retirement for sure and it started to make me sad that I did not say goodbye to my co-workers for the past year and a half. At the time I only had a subconscious awareness that my last night to work would be just that so I left for home that night as quickly and quietly as I could. It took a week for me to realize that I just did not want to do that job anymore and  two more weeks to realize that retiring was the sane decision and I will continue on quite well. I finally pieced together a goodbye card to my co-workers and a thank you to my manager whose kindness in my last week there was an unexpected blessing.

Today's phobias from the phobia deck seem appropriate.

Taurophobia....Taurus ....the astrological bull....fear of bulls fit right in. So much of what one deals with in difficult work situations is a bull byproduct.

Alektorophobia is from the other side of the barnyard....fear of chickens. Well there is usually lots of their byproduct at work too, isn't there.
 
Neighbors on both sides of us kept chickens when I was growing up. Once in a while we ventured into the coops in search of eggs. I was quite afraid of them ...especially the "bantys"  that would fly up at us with little or no provocation.

In recent years I have had a chance to watch young 4-H kids handle and show their chickens as the judging occurs in the tent where we eat lunch after we have judged the "fine arts" category of entries.  Seeing how calm those birds are and how easily the kids handle them have changed my chicken outlook. (Lots of possible word play here)

I hope that in the future I will only deal with animal byproducts in a form that will fertilize the gardens.

KOINONIPHOBIA and AUTOPHOBIA

Last week I cut the cord and after months, nay years of weighing the options I retired. Looking back, the decision was like so many others I have made ...a non-decision. I didn't decide to retire. I decided I no longer wanted to work where I did. So here we are.  Day 2 and plenty of time to explore the phobia deck while I begin to reinvent myself .

Today's phobia's appeared to be mutually exclusive so initially I thought I cannot possibly hope to have as a claim to fame suffering from every phobia ever named.( I will have to settle with having never changed a diaper and never ever watched a football game. ) But it's after dark and that makes it much easier to imagine suffering from both....

Sorry it's late and I haven't come up with a cute pair of picture cues for you so let's get right to definitions.

Koinoniphobia  is the fear of a room full of people

Autophobia- is the fear of being alone.

So as long as one manages to endure a room with a few people, one could conceivably suffer from both.

Poor Groundhog Phil got lost in all the chatter about that football game.

Phalacrophobia and Peladophobia

Right off let me tell you that, unless you are a phobiaphile, neither of those are what you might think they are....

For Christmas my BFFZ gave me a deck of phobia knowledge cards....just in case I should run out of phobias I now have all I need to know about more????

Since the phobia card refers to Dwight D. Eisenhower, I will use him as a clue.

For those of you who have no need of phobias or information about them....here's a pic/clue for you

I don't intend to offend any one by being silly about phobias, but having been a participant in so many of them, I figure I can say what I want. Humor is the cheapest coping tool.

 

 

 

PHALACROPHOBIA IS FEAR OF BALDNESS OR  GOING BALD

 

PELADOPHOBIA IS FEAR OF BALD PEOPLE

 

 

Today is National Popcorn Day and no, right now I do not know if there is a name for fear of popcorn....hold on, I'll go Google that....well I didn't find an official one but some folks at Yahoo Answers had a few suggestions and I ran into a list of REALLY weird ones for us to investigate later.

 

For those of you who have bigger problems today is the feast day of St Ulfid who was apparently martyred by Swedes having destroyed with an ax a statue of the god Thor. 

 

One last note:  If you click your mouse in the fish tank you will give the fishies some food....go try it now.

 





Saturdays by the River

The picture was taken at Bart's, well actually The Beanery, a long time eatery next to the Farmington River. It's a town institution and the present owners are definitely not getting rich from profits and keeping the place open is surely a labor of love. The mural was painted by Jan Dagenhart, (in the black shirt on the right). We were celebrating a visit from our youngest quilting friend, Amanda (black shirt under the red car) who was up from Texas. The rest of the gang are some of the regulars who meet for coffee just about every Saturday morning. 

 When the weather is good we meet outdoors...sometimes at the picnic tables but mostly in lawn chairs that we bring along and set up in the shade of some rather young trees so that we can face the river  and watch the chipmunks scurry in and out of the stone walls.

 

I am not sure exactly when we started doing the regularly. I think it was soon after I started working at the hospital and was required to work every other weekend. After the layoff from Philips, the change to a hospital job was stressful. I was thankful to start a new job immediately as I was too young for Medicare, too old for other group policies, (I was told that since I was older than 64 1/2 no one would sell me a policy) and too cheap to pay COBRA.  The hospital does offer insurance to part timers so I jumped at the job.  Working weekends was nothing new. During all but the last few years we provided a 24/7 service but this being a new job...well it was different.

 

Spending a few relaxing hours each Saturday morning with my friends set the tone for a calmer weekend.



 

 We bring along knitting or hand sewing or projects that might need advice. We plan projects, workshops or the day's errands. We chat with the dog walkers and watch canoes and kayaks and kids poling by on boards. We've had our cars washed and drooled at the aroma of Bear's Barbeque. Most of us don't take the time to just sit down in our own yards. Even if you try, you spot a weed or something annoying to attend to. The phone rings or you just remembered you need to._____
By the river it's just that. Sitting. Enjoying.    No Subjunctive....just the present tense....a place we spend far too little time.

I love these ladies. They are indeed family.  We would drive each other mad should we actually live together, but a kinder, more helpful, creative group need not be wished for. I hope to include some of our activities as we go on here.

And you know what? I have ANOTHER Saturday group that shares history. Some of them made their appearance back when I started writing this in 2011.   More about that great group soon1

Quiltyfish vs Retirement or an Agoraphobe attempts to lose the subjunctive.

It's been nearly 2 years since I posted here. Been spending time on Facebook and Pinterest waffling about retiring and being annoyed about minor insurance silliness. (Silly because no claims are involved and no one so far has been harmed by the inefficiency of what to many is life support)..... Anyway this does appear to be a more appropriate venue for longer posts.

Let's bring you all up to date. The above wall hanging designed by Donna French Collins shows Spike's trip to the beach.  I am Spike. The story is how my career in telemedicine came to an abrupt end.  The truth is, Spike has better color than I do but, unlike Spike, I was not alone when that school of Philips blue piranhas arrived.

I recently listened to a series of TED talks that NPR has combined into a Podcast named Spoken and Unspoken.  If you go to NPR.org you can still listen to it. I was especially intrigued by the section by Phuc Tran, " Does the Subjunctive Have a Dark Side? " This really got to me. If a whole culture can survive without the woulda, coulda, shoulda that keeps many of us awake far too long some nights, why can't I ?

This will all make more sense as time goes on and if it doesn't, well just move on. There's someone out there for us all to follow.

Today I will end with  Caren's Rules of Retirement  So Far

1) Do not go into hermit mode and let the agoraphobia win
2) Do regular community service
3) Organize, clear out or clean something every day
4) Do something fun/creative everyday
5) Eliminate the subjunctive

All that stuff about eating right, regular exercise and flossing come under Rules of Good Health and have no place here right now.

April 13

April 13

St. Hermenegild, St. Martius, St Ursus of Acosta (invoked against faintness, kidney disease)

Scrabble Day – So I guess it’s also Words With Friends Day?

Pony Express made 1^st delivery to Sacramento 1860

Handel’s Messiah first performed 1742

Sidney Poitier became 1^st black actor to win Oscar 1964

       

Birthdays:

Thomas Jefferson 1743

F.W. Woolworth 1852

Day of  the Iconoclast

Meditation:  On the verge of life, a change of scene can further the action. (???? Hey folks, I just copy what’s on the calendar)

The Arabic alphabet’s read
Right to left (Roman’s left-right, instead).
The part I forget is
Its actual letters—
Their numerals, I have in my head.