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.

 

April 12

April 12

St. Julius I, St. Damian, St Zeno (of anglers)

Big Wind Day, Russian Cosmonaut Day

Union Jack adopted as flag of Great Britain 1606

Yuri Gagarin 1^st man to orbit the Earth 1961

Caren and 7 other Vistas arrive in Chicago and meet their neighbors Jim Deignan and Frank McNutt  1966

  

Birthdays:

Henry Clay 1777

David Letterman 1947

Scott Turow 1949

Day of  Societal Awareness

Meditation:  Denial of what happens slows down the process of self discovery

It’s blowing a blizzard out there;
It’s snowing and freezing the air.
The world’s turning white,
So it’s winter, all right.
Just a shame that I’m no polar bear.

 

April 11

April 11

St. Leo the Great, St. Gemma Galgani ( of hospital pharmacists) St Godberta, (invoked against drought and plague), St. Stanislaus, (of Poland)

Barbershop Quartet Day, Eight Track Tape Day, National Submarine Day

Jackie Robinson became 1^st black major league baseball player 1947

Popeye first appeared in Hearst newspaper 1929

Dylan made 1^st appearance at Gerde’s Folk City 1961

 

Birthdays:

James Parkinson 1755

Joel Grey 1932

Day of  the Policy Makers

Meditation: If there is any hope for the world, it  can only be in small acts of personal kindness.

Them bluegrass performers sure quicken
Their pace with their pluckin’ and pickin’
When folks paddle by...
Ain’t got no idea why
It makes all o’ them city boys chicken.

 

April 10

April 10

St. Bademus, St. Fulbert, St Hedda

Golfers Day, National Siblings Day

Bananas first appeared in British stores 1633

U.S. Patent system began 1790

Safety pin patented in US  1849

  

Birthdays:

William Booth 1827

Joseph Pulitzer 1847

Paul Theroux 1941

Day of  Daring

Meditation: Simply seeing is an act of creation

His life was cartoonish, replete
With hilarious scenes of defeat.
When he tried to walk tall,
He would meet with a fall
From banana skins left in the street.