Sciatica's My Attica

**I'm on a roll, poetically speaking, this morning---a trilogy of poetry!

 

 

                     SCIATICA’S MY ATTICA

                                    ----by Firstelle

 

Sciatica’s my Attica, I’m imprisoned by the pain,

I wish it would go away and not return again;

I’ve only suffered the past few years, if anyone recalls,

I wrote about the cause of it in “The Legends of My Falls.”

Forget the shots and surgery, the thought of those makes me ill,

For I would rather self-medicate when I’m desperate for a pill;

I don’t want to be a complainer, for that is not my style,

But acknowledging it in a poem? That can make me smile.

I took the step to write of this, and now you know my issue,

And if you’re feeling sad for me, go ahead, grab a tissue;

But the BVG’s, all of us, we are so afflicted,

We use laughter instead of drugs so we won’t get addicted.

We know our bodies are wearing out, we’re old---who can deny it?

We can take a little of an ‘organ recital,’ but not a steady diet--

Of whining and crying and bemoaning our lot in life, for we are so blessed:

We have each other to help lift us up, and God takes care of the rest!

Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's Forty! (It's a BVGO!)

**As previously noted in a post this morning, this is Elletu's birthday. But she is not the only one within the BVG family celebrating a birthday today. This is a momentous day in the world of the BVGO's as the first one enters her 40's. In honor of this milestone, I present this poem:

CAN IT BE?

TODAY THE FIRST BVGO TURNS FORTY!

ON SEPTEMBER 9 IN '74,

J DID SOMETHING SHE HAD NEVER DONE BEFORE.

SHE HAD A BABY, AND SHE PAVED THE WAY

FOR AN ELITE GROUP TO FORM SOMEDAY.

THE BVGO's, ONCE SO SMALL,

NOW ADULTS, ONE AND ALL.

MAKES US ALL FEEL SO OLD

WHEN WE ARE TOLD

THAT LORDY, LORDY,

J'S DAUGHTER IS NOW FORTY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO JODI,
AND REMEMBER, FORTY ISN'T OLD IF YOU'RE A TREE!
(At least that's what all the signs said when we turned 40 so very long ago---that and,
I'D RATHER BE OVER THE HILL THAN UNDER IT!
And probably my favorite,
THE OLDER THE VIOLIN, THE SWEETER THE MUSIC!

Ode to Elletu on Her Fifty-Ninth Birthday

  

                            ODE TO ELLETU

Happy birthday, Elletu, our younger Sister Divine,

Today is your special day, you turn fifty-nine!

Fifty-seven was heaven, fifty-eight was great,

And now fifty-nine is fine---time to CELEBRATE!

To make this day special, tell you what we’re going to do:

We’ll take you to lunch, we have presents for you.

Hope you don’t mind us making such a fuss,

But you are incredibly special to us!

 

Happy birthday ‘baby’ Sister---we love you!

BVGO Pool Players Grow Up

I posted the top picture previously. And 30 years later they took their pool playing public, with the younger brother along to play----and also to be the Designated Driver??? Funny story.....the pool table did double duty when that younger brother was a baby!

Home Goods Field Trip

On Thursday j and I went on another field trip, this time to the brand new Home Goods store in Gig Harbor. That's j in the shadows in the picture above. We each spent $5, but she is taking her purchase back. We weren't tempted by much else. I did like one of the signs in the window though. It had a Halloween theme, with a tombstone that had RIP on it. On the bottom it says "High Prices." I give them a thumbs up for being clever, but I didn't find the store to be very enticing. Lunch was, though--Lele, my first Vietnamese food, again going with the 'field trip' theme. Vietnamese Curry with Chicken, YUM! Visiting with j: FUN! The weather? SUN! Next field lined up? DONE! We'll be going to the grand opening of the new Hobby Lobby store in Tacoma, now that the Hobby Lobby in Lakewood is old news to us. But before that comes the BVG celebration of Elletu's birthday. She'll be 59, and what do the rest of us call that? YOUNG!

Soup of the Day

I saw this outside a cute little shop, Laurie's, in Hoodsport. I texted this photo to the BVG's, and Cool's response was, "My favorite soup!" What a gorgeous day on Hood Canal--it hit 90 degrees in Seattle today--and I want to give a thumbs up to Hoodsport Coffee Company where my husband and I went for lattes after shopping at Laurie's. I love the décor, the lattes were good, and then there is the issue of the ice cream. Oh my, so many awesome flavors to choose from. Honestly, we didn't go in for ice cream, we went in for the coffee. We extended our stay and tried both. My husband had Jack Daniels Caramel Swirl, and I tried the Tiramisu. This became our cocktail/dinner/dessert rolled into one cup, right next to our coffee cup. Best thing, though, was our long chat with the new owner, a friendly woman who, with her husband, opens up the place to Seahawks fans on game days/nights. She added a flat screen TV to the décor for just that reason. She told me their motto is: "Community Through Coffee," and they are going to have that added to their Hoodsport Coffee Company mugs. Would love to join them for a game sometime. While our destination today was Brown's Creek Campground, time spent on the canal was my favorite. All along the shores we saw people on beaches, out in boats, in parks, at resorts, in campgrounds, at outdoor weddings, on their home decks and docks..................enjoying to the fullest this warm summery weather that just keeps on keeping on. All too soon, I'm quite sure, typical fall weather will arrive in the Northwest. When that happens, when it gets colder and breezier, we'll bring out the fall décor, start wearing jeans and coats again, not to mention shoes and socks, and what will be serving for dinner? SOUP!

The Duke Joins Me on Route 66

On August 30 my husband----in BVG talk, The Duke-----joined six of his closest friends, including me, on Route 66. He is the last of seven of us, all members of the Class of '66, to turn 66 in this past year. He is four months younger than I am, and for four months each year he points that out to me. That only bothered me when I was in my 30's and he was still in his 20's, and then for each decade after. When we both turned 65 last year, it was our time to sign up for Medicare. This year we are journeying together on what my sister pointed out to me could be called Route 66. I took her suggestion and expanded it to the point that, in honor of my husband's 66th birthday, I threw a Route 66 party for him. Hence the cake pictured above, thanks to a friend of ours, a fellow traveler on Route 66 this year.

Both j and her husband are on Route 66 this year, and they were at the party to welcome my husband aboard. Cool and her husband were here, even though it will be a few years before they start their own journey on Route 66. Elletu, though invited, was unable to attend, but there were 13 partygoers, more than half of which are 66. Our motto for this year: It is better to be 66 than 666!

My Brain Quiz for this event was all about Route 66, and I could tell everyone had been studying all the information I e-mailed to them over the past several weeks. We all learned so much that now we want to get out there and travel that route from Chicago to L.A. But alas, it's not all still there. The parts that remain are designated as Historic Route 66. The U.S. Interstate Highway System replaced the route, but interest in this highway, which was established in 1926, has only increased.

So the party was lots of fun, and we did some reminiscing per usual. This same group of friends came to our house 27 years ago for another party, a Jack Benny Party, the year we all turned 39. We could not have predicted that 27 years from then we would reconvene for a Route 66 Party. But I will state this now: Here's hoping (and praying) we can all be together 11 years from now for--what else?---a 77 Sunset Strip Party!