Coming up, the day of love...

Coming up this week is a day many people love and others speak of hating. Perhaps it's true, Valentine's Day has been commercialized way out of proportion. Case in point: The other day I saw the perfect Valentine for my husband with the shocking price of $7.79!! I thought to myself, I could buy two lattes with that kind of money. So I put this high-priced card back in the rack and remembered that I can write my own poetry for free. For instance, my children loved (?) this:

FRUITS AND VEGGIE TALES

by Firstelle

I fell in love with a PICKLE,

But it was really no big DILL;

I fell in love with a BANANA,

Until it lost its apPEEL.

I fell in love with an APPLE,

It was such a DELICIOUS affair!

Then I fell in love with a FIG,

Until I found out it was really a PEAR.

I fell in love with a PEPPER,

But I just didn't ring its BELL;

I fell for a shy PEANUT,

But I couldn't get it out of its SHELL.

I fell in love with a TOMATO,

It was really quite diVINE;

Then I fell in love with a GRAPE,

But I couldn't stand its WINE.

I fell in love with a POTATO,

But we didn't see EYE to EYE;

So I'm giving up FRUITS and VEGGIES--

I think I'll give GRAINS a try!

***************************************************************

If you don't like this poem--if you think it's CORNy--I don't CARROT all PEAcause I had fun writing it. I've BEAN interested in writing poetry since childhood, and even if you criticize me, I'll stay cool as a CUCUMBER and refuse to be BEETen by your lack of support for my poetic talent. You may TURNIP your nose to my prose, but please don't SQUASH my enthusiasm! LETTUCE not argue over it, because when criticism SPROUTS up, in THYME the whole thing MUSHROOMS. When you become ARUGULAmentative, I become MELONcholy. I know I am PARSLEY to blame because I allow myself to get hurt by it, but you know that I YAM what I YAM.

I should probably heed some SAGE advice and CURRY your favor by not making this blogpost too long this week. But since it is the week of LOVE, I want to express mine to each of you, BVG's, sisters of the Sisterhood, friends forever................................................Love us!

BVG's: The Next Generation

As previously noted, I was the last of the Bethel Valley Girls to become a grandmother. My two grandsons are soon to be seven and four months old, and although one lives in Hawaii and the other in California, we were all together in California at Christmas and we Skype to keep connected. It's a new year, and I don't know when or if I will see either one of them in person during this coming year. After family trips to New Orleans, North Carolina, Greece, Hawaii and California three times in the past year and a half, we're staying put and they'll have to come and see us in 2013. This may or may not happen. But they are always close in my heart.

So God bless all of our friends who live close. God bless the Bethel Valley Girls! Girls??? In two months, 50% of us will turn 65---Hello Social Security! Hello Medicare! Is it time to 'pass the baton' to a new generation of 'girls' to carry on the BVG tradition? Do we have a legacy to pass down to our sons and daughters? Have they learned important things from us that will help them navigate through the 'Blur Years' of marriage, child-rearing and careers? Have we set good examples for them? These things are on my mind on this rainy morning.

As my readers might have guessed, I love BVG demographics. I already wrote that 50% of the BVG's turn 65 in two months. The other 50% are still in their 50's. However, as of this July, 75% of the BVG's will be in their 60's and only 25% will be in their (her) 50's. A full 50% of the BVG's have three children, while the other 50% have two children. Elletu is part of the first group, with two daughters and one son. I am also part of the first group, and I have two sons and one daughter. Interestingly, j has two daughters and Cool has two sons. To me, this is beautiful symmetry. In the grandchildren department we're pretty spread out. Elletu has ten of them, and yet she is the youngest of the BVG's. I have the two grandsons, as does j, but she also has a granddaughter, which I don't have, but Cool does have. Only Elletu has grandchildren living close to her, but she also has three grandchildren living far away in a foreign country, so we all do grandparenting from afar.

Alas, our child-rearing days are over, done with, we've moved on to a new season of life. We can only hope and pray that our children will be blessed to find lasting friendships like ours to carry on after their child-rearing days are completed. I think that's happening in my daughter's life, so I've made a mental note and I'm praying over her and her friends Nicole and Katie. It's not Bethel Valley, it's San Mateo, so I'll dub them the SMG's and picture them as grandmas years down the road. They'll be old and exhausted too and will need that yearly Spa Day to look forward to (ours is coming up in two months---yay!).

So Angela, Nicole and Katie are the SMG's (San Mateo Girls)--sort of like the BVG's: The Next Generation. Angela worked with Nicole years ago in California and then later with Katie as a different company. At some point he introduced them to each other, and the three of them became fast friends. Nicole and Katie were both married but childless at the time. Angela was "never going to get married, and I'm never going to have children"---clearly, she is not clairvoyant! When her job took her to live in London, I was sad to see her leave all her close friends behind, especially Nicole and Katie. Fast forward to last year: Angela moved back to California from London,and she moved in to a house just five minutes from Katie's. Then she had her wedding in Greece, and Katie was her maid-of-honor, Nicole her bridesmaid, and her other bridesmaid was a London co-worker, her friend Leslie who was there with her husband and their two-month-old son. Sadly, both Nicole and Katie had divorced, but Nicole had since married a wonderful, wonderful man. I got to see my daughter with a zillion of her awesome friends from truly around the world, but nothing was closer than her bond with Nicole and Katie, and Leslie seemed to fit right in with that tight trio of friends.

Now Angela is not only happily married to her soulmate but she is an awesome mother. I wondered if this would throw a monkey wrench in her friendships, but then the most amazing thing happened: Nicole announced she is pregnant, and what joy, she's expecting twin girls three months from now! As if that's not exciting enough, she and her husband realized their third story condo in a Victorian in San Francisco wouldn't work well with twin babies. So they found a fabulous smaller Victorian home to rent in San Mateo, and Angela is over the moon because they are going to be two blocks away from her. With Katie five minutes away, that makes the three of them exactly as close as I was to the Bethel Valley Girls when I was raising my children. Hmmm...could history be repeating itself?

My daughter said to me the other day, "Mom, when I go for my daily walk with my baby, I can walk over to Nicole's and see her twin daughters." She was excited at the prospect of this, and immediately this conjured up visions of me getting Angela and her two brothers strapped in to the car and driving the five minutes over to Bethel Valley Lane to play with the Bethel Valley kids, the children of Elletu, Cool and j. The kids played, we moms bonded, and what we realize now but didn't realize then is that those bonds were irreversible. Right now I'm praying a good man in to Katie's life, with healthy children to follow. I want these three friends to have what we BVG's had at that stage of life and have today. And why stop there? I'm bold--I'm praying that Leslie, the other bridesmaid, and her little family will move back to the States and choose San Mateo. The thing is, IT COULD HAPPEN! I was gone to Hawaii and Virginia for 11 years, and here I am. If the BVG's are a group of four, I think the SMG's should also be a group of four. So I pray big, realizing GOD CAN DO ANYTHING HE WANTS!

And that's what's on my mind on this rainy morning in..........well, here. And if we BVG's are here, it doesn't really matter where here is.

Rainy Days and Mondays Never Get Me Down

It's Monday morning, and it's either been raining in our little town or it's going to be raining. I learned long ago not to let that depress me. My daughter, a characteristically and delightfully cheerful soul, nonetheless finds gray weather gets her down. For her, moving from London back to California was a godsend. We chose to leave sunny Hawaii and sunny Virginia to get back to here, so I will not complain. The sun will come out.........................no, not tomorrow, but someday. And until then, I will use these 'punnies' to keep me cheerful. I didn't write them, but I know the BVG's will love them:

I tried to catch some Fog. I mist.

When chemists die, they barium.

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.

How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.

I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I can't put it down.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

They told me I had type A blood, but it was a Type- O.

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

PMS jokes aren't funny, period.

Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.

Class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz.

Energizer bunny arrested. Charged with battery.

I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it!

Did you hear about the cross eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

What does a clock do when it's hungry? It goes back four seconds.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!

Broken pencils are pointless.

What do you call a dinosaur with a extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool .

I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

All the toilets in New York 's police stations have been stolen. Police have nothing to go on.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.

Velcro - what a rip off!

Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy.

Venison for dinner? Oh deer!

Earthquake in Washington obviously government's fault.

I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.

And now that they are laughing their heads off as I did when I first read these---and might I say, I'm really missing that head about now-----I'll just add that our monthly get-together, which was last Wednesday night, was as fun as ever. I like that, no matter what, we work the time out so we can meet here for dinner once a month. They are even more fun than a list of 'punnies'---and that's saying something!

May we never take this special Sisterhood relationship for granted!

 

Resolutions

Where has the time gone? We are 22 days in to the new year--2013--and I'm just getting around to writing about New Years Resolutions. Isn't it obvious what I should write?

In 2013, I resolve to be more faithful in keep up with the Bethel Valley Girls blog!

Tomorrow night we are having our first dinner meeting of the year. I'll be serving Coq au Vin. Since we're all on some sort of a diet, I prefer to call it 'Diet Coke au Vin,' but whatever. Anything with 'vin' in it sounds good to me!! After all, 'vin' is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy. I know we will all be happy to get together tomorrow.

So much has happened since I last posted in the blog....now, if I could only remember what that is. Hmmm. Well, I know this: 50% of the BVG's have had surgery since then. How's that for BVG demographics? I had the privilege of picking Elletu up at her house in the wee dark hours one morning and took her to a small hospital in an undisclosed area (because we work hard to keep our anonymity online) for surgery 'of a personal nature.' It was quite the bonding experience to be with her in her time of need. She was cute in her little gown in the pre-op area. I couldn't get over how fun all the people working there were. They said they were mixing up a little 'cocktail' for her. On the other hand, I only got free Tully's coffee in the waiting room during her surgery. But hers knocked her out completely, and I kept my wits about me, which is good because not only was I her 'family' that day, but I was her designated driver as well, also her caregiver back at my house after she was released---on her own recognizance, I believe they said.

I was amazed at how alert and perky she was after her surgery, so much so that we went out to lunch at the local tea room on our way back to my house. Once home, we each took a recliner, curled up with blankets and watched some chick flicks. I had ginger ale for her, orange sherbet, things like that, and when we watched the movie "Chocolat" and she got a craving, I even indulged her in that area. Eventually, other fans of hers came by to pay their respects (lured by the offers of free wine, I suspect), and her daughter came to claim her and take her back home. She had to solemnly swear to follow doctor's orders before I would allow her to leave.

When j had her recent nose surgery, however, I was away in California. All I could do was pray---for her, and also that I would not laugh at the pictures she sent of her with her nose all bandaged up. I would like to have made her some chicken soup or something. She apparently did okay without me. I'll be anxious to hear how she is doing when I see her at tomorrow night's meeting.

The big thing for me at the end of 2012 was being able to look back and realize that we made it through all of our big trips we had to take during the year. Actually, in a year and a half we had major trips to New Orleans, California (3 separate driving trips), North Carolina, Greece and Hawaii. During that time there were three family weddings and two grandsons born, so we have been clearly blessed many times over. But I'm tired from all of the traveling. Staying home this year will be fun, and for the first time, we plan to see the horrendous balance on our credit card go down instead of up. So that's another resolution:

I resolve to stay home this year and to pay our credit card bill down!

Then there's the usual:

I resolve to get healthier!

I remember back in the early '70's---no, not MY 70's, the 1970's---when I had about 20 pounds to lose and was so disgusted with myself. My New Year's Resolution was this:

I resolve that you will see less of me this year!

But I don't want the Bethel Valley Girls to misunderstand me. I want to see more, not less, of them in 2013. I was thinking of this as my husband and I were driving back from California after two weeks of family Christmas fun with the families of two of our three children. This included our two baby grandsons----what incredible fun! Yes, it was hard to say goodbye, but as we drove home I realized how much I had also missed my friends while we were away. We said goodbye to our family, but our friends are family to us also, and no one more than the Bethel Valley Girls. So this year:

I resolve that I will let the Bethel Valley Girls know how much they mean to me and my life!

Everything.

Uses, Excuses, Ruses and Muses

USES
I now have in my possession a Theracane. I didn't know what a Theracane was until j introduced me to hers. One night when the Bethel Valley Girls were hanging out at her house I grimaced because of some back pain. She asked, "Don't you have a Theracane?" and I asked, "What's a Theracane?" It turns out both j and Cool have one, and since they work together, they also have one at work. Too bad Elletu doesn't have one yet. We should add that to the BVG Demographics:

75% of the BVG's have a Theracane
25% of the BVG's do not have a Theracane

Anyway, although it sounds like a flu medication, it is actually a device that takes the place of my husband's elbow, freeing him up to do other things with his spare time. You see, for a long time I have been plagued with intense upper back/shoulder pain when certain muscles tense up, and the only way I could get any relief was to have my husband dig his pointed elbow in to the muscle and move it around for as long as he could stand it. He's a good sport, but his elbow gets tired. With the Theracane, I can reach it behind me from the front, and the round end can do the digging into the painful muscle. To try and describe the Theracane, it looks like a green cane for a dwarf, with some extra little thingies sticking out of it that serve as massagers.There is a pamplet that came with it that describes and illustrates the USES for the Theracane. I discovered another USE for it on my own and want to post it here: The Theracane is a perfect cane for walking upstairs, and in this house, our bedroom is upstairs. That makes this a multi-tasking device and well worth the $35 I spent on it.

EXCUSES
Elletu was supposed to have surgery last Thursday. It had been postpone by her doctor before and then rescheduled for that date. I was ready to be her ride to the hospital and friend-in-waiting, as in the waiting room, and then I agreed to sit with her in recovery and to go so far as to hold the turquoise kidney-shaped bowl for her should she become nauseated post-surgery (hence the Barf Subway Art in a previous post). But the surgery didn't happen. Elletu fell the Friday night before and cracked her ribs, and the doctor can't operate until she is healed. Of course all the BVG's were anxious to hear what happened with the fall---Where? When? How? Why? (Sorry if that's not in the right order, but it's been over 40 years since I studied journalism and I'm a bit rusty with the rules and formulas.) She would not tell me until we got together in person. We did, and she did, and now she doesn't want me to tell the real story. After a few tries she came up with something worthy of being published. So here is her EXCUSE for the fall the last time I asked her:

You don’t want to hear THAT story again!? OK – I was dressed up and en route to the gala. I was a little preoccupied with my handsome escort (should have been paying more attention to my surroundings) and as I was getting out of the limo, I caught my toe. Luckily, my date caught me in time but I hit the Bentley’s door. It was all so quick…thankfully none of my expensive jewelry broke or anything. The flash of all the paparazzi slightly dazed me - - but you know how THAT is!! J

 

 RUSES

 

That's a RUSE if I've ever seen one!!!!! But I'm printing it here for her benefit. Now we have to wait many weeks for the surgery. However, I printed up the Barf Subway Art on premium matte paper and framed it in a beautiful rich dark wood 11"X14" frame with gold edging. Presumably it is now hanging over her toilet, ready to encourage her if and when that surgery finally happens. Remember Elletu, "You'll Never Barf Alone"! 

 

MUSES

 

In Greek mythology, The MUSES were the goddesses who were the inspiration of literature, science and the arts. They were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. We Bethel Valley Girls often refer to ourselves as being a Sorority, and as most people know, in North America Fraternities (for guys) and Sororities (for girls) are social organizations that bear names made up of two or three Greek letters, often the initials of a Greek motto. When naming our Sorority we thought of Beta Veta Gamma to go with BVG, but then found out there is no V in the Greek alphabet, so the V translates to a B. Thus we went with Beta Beta Gamma, BBG. When I researched that, I found there was actually a Sorority with that name at the University of Hawaii of all places, and it was established in 1948, the year I was born. Both of my sons graduated from UH during the nine years we lived in Hawaii. This just solidified our choice of names. So first came the Bethel Valley Girls, then came Beta Beta Gamma, then came this blog-----a fine specimen of great literature if I do say so myself-----and so it came to me, perhaps we should refer to ourselves as The MUSES. This Greek thing means a lot to me right now, just five days past the birth of my Greek grandson.  My daughter is married to a wonderful Greek man who is much-loved by our whole family, and now they have brought a precious little guy in to the world.  Bowing to Greek custom, they waited three days to name him, as it is said that on the third day a baby boy receives all of his 'attributes' and then a fitting name is chosen. Our grandson has been named Perseus Theodoros, after the Perseus Constellation--which was named after the Greek hero Perseus-- and our son-in-law's father, Theodoros. I've done my research on Perseus, and now after reading about The MUSES, I was interested to read that they are half-sisters to Perseus! Yes, Perseus is the son of Zeus and Danae.  The MUSES and Perseus have the same father, Zeus. However, I suspect this Greek mythology is nothing but a RUSE. That's something I could MUSE about in a future blog post, but for right now that's an ABUSE of my time, because I'm getting ready to go meet my grandson Perseus in California. Can't wait to hold him in my arms.

 

*************

 

And I guess I've MUSED long enough, with USES, EXCUSES, RUSES and ABUSES. But when I don't add to this blog, everyone LOSES!

Day of Joy, Day of Sadness

It's pathetic when the joy of my second grandchild being born today is overshadowed by the news that the coffee shop I have loved for 16 years is closing its doors forever this Sunday. But you know what they always say: "When God closes a coffee shop, He opens a uterus." Well, maybe it's not exactly that, but it's something like it. So as I mourn the closing of our local Tully's coffee shop, I am also celebrating the birth of my daughter's first child, a boy born by emergency C-section in California at 2:40 a.m. I'm going on two hours of sleep, so I really needed that last Tully's latte. Yum! Bye bye, Tully's (sniff sniff), hello.....................Robotaki?

Actually, the baby doesn't have a name yet and might not for a day or two. Since she never wanted to know ahead of time the sex of her child, she decided she'd think of the baby as a little robot (even though I assured her babies are never ever robots). From that the robot became Robotaki, and that's what we've all called him. If my daughter had had a girl, she would have been called Amelia. I love that name and relished the thought of being able to say it often. My son-in-law is Greek, and he gets to pick out a Greek name for the boy. Have you seen a list of Greek names? (This is where you might say, "They're all Greek to me." Of course they are, if you're referring to lists of Greek names.) There are lots of letters in them. Their last name has nine letters, so how rough is it going to be on this kid learning how to spell and write out his name? At least his birth date is sequential and easy to remember: 10-11-12. I love that. His parents are both math geniuses, and I suspect he will be too. He better be good at writing long names as well.

So that's all good, but this coffee shop closing, not so good. Sixteen years is a long time. I go there every Thursday morning at 8 a.m. to meet with three friends. Two of them are retired teachers, and they taught two of my children for many years. Even when I lived away for 11 years, any time I came home on a trip I would meet them in Tully's, and when I moved back three years I took up where I left off. I meet other friends there too, and my husband and I also go there on occasion, not just for the lattes but also for the ambiance. I order the same thing every time: "Grande Latte, please," I say, but then all of the baristas know me and often stop me by asking, "The usual?"

What is it about someone saying, "The usual?" that makes a person feel so good inside? You feel recognized, known, like you matter. It is a sense of 'belonging.' Belonging to a coffee shop? I know, it sounds weird, but it's true. I have a rewards card!! And this is how they reward me, by closing the doors this Sunday and never opening them again?

So I went to say goodbye to Tully's today. My friends and I hugged the baristas, who were crying. One has been working there since it opened in 1996. The other one took a picture of the four of us around 'our' table. I sat in Tully's once at another table with my daughter 14 years ago. She was home from college on her spring break, and while we sat sipping our coffee she was working on writing out a song for her then upcoming senior recital prior to receiving her degree in composition.

Today my daughter produced something much better than a song. She's written oodles of compositions, and none of them took nine months to produce. I won't be able to hold my new grandson for a couple of weeks, but I tell you, he is already playing his song on my heartstrings!

So welcome to this world, with incredible joy, Robotaki. And, sadly, RIP Tully's.
P.S. BVG's FOREVER!

Diversity

It isn't often that I make two blog entries in one day. Come to think of it, this has never happened before. After reading my post earlier today, both Cool and Elletu responded. Cool was cool with me being an Honorary BVG. Elletu pointed out that they accepted me as a BVG even though I didn't live on Bethel Valley Lane way back then--31 years ago to be exact--and did so to 'diversify.' I love it! So the BVG's were into diversity before diversity was cool. What trendsetters, and what an inspiration! They did not have to go through any 'sensitivity training.' They also didn't receive any federal funding for accepting me. They didn't say, "Sorry, you don't live here, you're not like us, now go away."

And that's how LL Cool j came to be, even though they were really L Cool j. It was meant to be.

Thanks again, BVG's!