A lot of things happened today that had an element of irony, so I think I’m going to take them in chronological order.

1. I got up this morning and had a couple of glasses of water.  I tend to sleep with my mouth open because of nasal congestion (I know; TMI), so I always drink water first thing in the morning.  Then I went downstairs and got a couple of cups of coffee.  Then I brushed my teeth.  Then I almost threw up.  The water from the tap in my bathroom was SALT water, saltier than the Gulf of Mexico, even.  We have a Culligan water filtration system, but evidently it was malfunctioning.  I didn’t shave this morning (imagine shaving your face with salt water!).  This being Thursday, our housekeeper was here.  Beth was long gone, so I left to go buy lunch for some friends and take it to them.  I left the garage door open for the Culligan Man.
2. I left my friends’ house around one o’clock headed home.  About 1:10 I got a call from the Council on Aging.  “Are you teaching the computer class this afternoon?”  Oh, my!  I had completely forgotten about that.  I felt so stupid.  I immediately turned my car around in some family’s circular driveway (thanks, guys) and headed back to the Council on Aging.  When I got there, the activity center/computer lab was locked, and nobody was waiting for me.  They had evidently gone home, as I would have.  I mean, they were standing outside, and it was cold.  Again I felt like a complete fool.  Students miss classes, NOT teachers.  I called all three ladies in the class, and I was able to leave messages for two of them.  I’ll call the third lady again tomorrow.
3. Culligan fixed the problem with our water this afternoon.  I made the mistake of asking the repair guy what was wrong, and he told me all the technical details.  The only word I knew that he said was “piston,” and I didn’t really know what that meant in that context.  I was standing outside in a short sleeve tee shirt at the time, and I was freezing.  Not really freezing, but “Florida freezing,” which means it was about 53 degrees F.
4. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a complaint I lodged with the Red Lobster Corporation about my wife and her mother having trouble with their salt and pepper grinders.  Beth was in a cast on her left hand at the time, and her mother, at 91, is fairly weak.  I said they needed “handicapped” saltshakers.  Well, today I got a letter from Red Lobster apologizing for any inconvenience their experience might have caused.  It said in the letter that they had instructed their stores, when they first put in the salt and pepper grinders, to have on hand traditional salt and pepper shakers for those who requested them.  Well, the store Beth and Jane went to didn’t have them.  They said they would work with that store to correct the problem.  It was a real nice letter, and they sent us $25 worth of gift certificates.  This sounds to me like a happy ending to an unfortunate failure to anticipate the needs of all their guests.

That’s it for today.

ED

Tonight we went to the Holiday Party for the Council on Aging.  All of the Board Members and staff got door prizes, and I chose a box of Belgium chocolate.  Beth told me not to open it because she intends to re-gift that stuff.  I had a momentary flash of rebellion and wanted to open it on the spot, but I quickly relented.  She actually told me to open if I wanted to, but the look in her eye told me I really didn’t want me to.

Liza’s Kitchen catered the event tonight, and they served Caribbean pork roast, baked chicken breast with glazed onions, roasted red potatoes, carrots in butter sauce, and fried green tomatoes.  They also had a salad.  The desserts were ugly but tasty.  Liza’s Kitchen didn’t provide the desserrts.

This is the third or fourth time Liza’s Kitchen has catered an event for the Council on Aging, and every time they do that my heart swells with pride over what my daughter, and her husband, have accomplished.  They fed 95 people a fantastic meal tonight.  They gave the Council on Aging a special price because of me, but they made a profit tonight. And you can’t get much better than that.

ED

During the Christmas Parade Saturday night, Liza needed to use the potty.  He told her grandmother of her need, so Grandma took her to the potty at the back of the store we were in.  Once Liza was situated, she said, “Grandma, would you mind stepping out.  I need my privacy.”

Liza’s four years old, and she wants privacy.  I think it’s hilarious that she even knows that word.

ED

I just heard a report on our local news that there’s an outbreak of TB at one of our local high schools.  I thought that was a disease we had conquered decades ago, but apparently not.  I think TB is eminently treatable, but still.  Who gets TB these days?  Ironically, that particular high school has only a handful of minority students (who would be the usual suspect for something like that), most of whom were recruited under the “freedom of choice” policy to play football.  It’s a very middle, to upper-middle-class institution, and it’s the last place I would expect to find tuberculosis.  Who knew?

ED

Liza took a two and a half hour nap yesterday afternoon at our insistence so she’d be rested and fresh for the Christmas Parade last night.  She was perfectly behaved, as she is when she’s rested, but it took a little while to get her to sleep last night.  We were fine with that, and we stayed up pretty late, too.

This morning, Beth woke up at ten o’clock, and I was still asleep.  She bolted out of bed because she was sure Liza was in her room, crying her eyes out because she thought she had been abandoned.  Beth raced down the hall to Liza’s room, but her room was empty.  There was a note on the door that said, “I’ve got Liza.  Love, Cat.”  Her mother had come to get her before any of us were awake (including Liza), and they were gone by the time we got up.  I didn’t wake up until 10:30, way too late to go to 10:15 Mass.  Oops.

Beth and I trained our children when they were small not to wake up their parents.  Apparently that lesson took with Catherine, and this morning it was much appreciated.  We rarely sleep late, but we did today.  Ironically, I’m almost ready at 11:00 o’clock to go to sleep again.

ED

Tonight was the annual Christmas Parade, and Beth and I took Liza.  One of Liza’s Grand-Godmothers (her husband, really) owns a furniture store where the parade begins, so that’s where we were.  There was food and drink in abundance, but, most importantly, there was warmth inside the store.  There were quite a few people at the store, including a bunch of kids ranging in age from 4 to 13, but Liza held primacy of place with Aunt Judy and Uncle Larry (Liza’s grand-godmother and her husband).

Liza had a fantastic time.  It was cold enough for one woman to say to me, “We lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for seven years, and I can’t believe how cold it gets in Florida in comparison to that.”  It was bone chilling tonight, and I’m sure the fact that we were mere feet away from a bay added to the chill.  Liza and Beth sat out on the curb for a while.  Liza came in to ask me to “hang out” with them outside, and I did for a little while.  I got cold, though, and went back inside.

Beth and I reconnected with a couple we first met through Judy and Larry about 35 years ago.  He has lung cancer from Agent Orange in Vietnam.  He’s never smoked.  He’s a clinical psychologist, and she’s a nurse.  I think she’s retired now, but she was a psychiatric nurse for many years.  Their son was there with his wife and three beautiful children.  The oldest one is in the eighth grade, and that boy talked to me about his high school and the program of studies he’s going into next year like an adult would.  He was extremely impressive.  I told him I was the AP English teacher for 15 years at his future high school, and I also told him to call me if he needs help on his essays.  Talking to that kid let me know he won’t need or accept my help on his essays.  He’s a very smart guy, but he wasn’t haughty or arrogant in any way.  He was just one of those great kids that our country continues to pump out.

In talking to that couple and their son and his wife, I mentioned that my daughter and son-in-law have Liza’s Kitchen.  “Oh, my God!  I love that restaurant,” they said, in more or less the same words.

“Well, that little girl over there is the real Liza,” and they acted like she was some kind of celebrity.  At that moment, Liza happened to be jumping on one of Uncle Larry’s sofas.  She actually slipped off that thing onto the floor as I was saying that.  Some celebrity.

ED

Beth and I took Liza to two Mardi Gras parades last spring, and she had a fantastic time.  Tomorrow night we’re taking her to the annual Christmas parade, and we’re anticipating that will be fun, too.

When Beth called Catherine to see if Liza could do that with us and spend the night Saturday night, Catherine was enthusiastic about the idea.  She and Mike don’t have any catering responsibilities Saturday night (for a change), and it’s a chance for them to have a night totally to themselves.  They can go out, hang out, and do whatever they want, with no concerns about Liza.  Santa Clause is coming to town tomorrow night for Liza and the kids, but he’s also coming to town for Cat and Mike.  It makes me happy to know that our being happy to have Liza makes them happy, too.  As hard as they work, God knows they deserve some time off.

ED

One of Liza’s grand-godmothers (one of her mother’s godmothers; she has 4) gave Liza a Shelf Elf for Thanksgiving.  The Elf is a little doll, and the way it works is you keep it on a shelf in the child’s room or somewhere else in the house.  Every night the Elf goes to the North Pole and reports to Santa on the child’s behavior for the previous day.  To make it look authentic, the parent is supposed to put the Elf in a different place every morning before the child gets up, and that’s how the child knows that the Elf made an overnight trip to the North Pole to see Santa.

This is charming, and it should be great fun for the whole family.  Unfortunately, Liza figured out that the Elf is a snitch, and it’s living right there in her bedroom.  Liza does not like the idea of some Elf tattling on her to Jolly Old St. Nick this close to Christmas, thank you very much.  She’d just as soon have that Elf stay put on his shelf, where he belongs (the mantle piece in the living room).  Last Saturday Liza told us she’s not going to be afraid of Santa this year, like she has been the last couple of years, but she prefers for Santa to judge her in a face-to-face, where she can at least defend herself, if she has to.  I think this is too funny.

In Other News:

• I had a phone call first thing this morning from a very close friend to tell us his daughter gave birth this morning to a bouncing baby boy.  His name is Logan, and he weighed in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces.  He’s 21 inches long.  His dad is about my size (5’8″), but his mother is no bigger than a minute.  He’s now part of the Big 8, Little 6, and now Very Little 6.  When his cousin is born in a few months, it will be the Big 8, Little 6, Very Little 7.
• Beth had her Christmas Store today for the Bay Education Foundation.  Once a year, a few weeks before Christmas, all the Scholars (middle school and high school students) of the Foundation have a chance to buy Christmas gifts for family and friends using “money” they earn by making good grades, having good attendance, and showing a good attitude (read: good school conduct grades).  The BIG thing this year was a Wii video game, but they had computer printers, i-Pods, and a ton of other, smaller things.  I stopped there to have lunch, as I do every year, and the kids had eaten every slice of the 20 large pizzas they had bought to feed them.  I got one small and very dry cookie.  Once again, though, the Christmas Store was a great success.  Update on 12/04/09:  Last night two local TV stations had great coverage of this event, and this morning the local newspaper ran a front page story about it, with some great photos of the kids.  This is a wonderful program, and I’m glad to see it’s getting the good publicity it deserves.  And no, I’m not a bit biased.
• This afternoon I had my first computer class for the Council on Aging.  I had 3 ladies as students (ages 60, 65, and 82), and it was quite an experience.  All three of them claimed to know nothing about computers, and, after about ten minutes, I knew they hadn’t lied.  We started working on mouse skills by playing Solitaire, and one lady never could master using the mouse to move cards on the screen.  They’re delightful people, of course, and I know I’m going to have fun working with them.  They wore me out, though, in an hour and a half, which just goes to show how out of training I am. 

ED

In my last post, I passed on the prediction that we would have bad weather today, and I also predicted I’d be called to fill in to deliver Meals on Wheels.  They didn’t call me to fill in, but we did have a very bad storm.  We didn’t have any damage or downed tree limbs, but the wind and rain were sort of terrifying.  At nine o’clock this morning it was as dark as night, and we lost power for an hour and fifteen minutes.  I had a Coleman lantern and a battery-powered radio to listen to, but the Diane Rehm show this morning was about President Obama’s speech last night about Afghanistan.  It almost put me back to sleep.  And, true to form, it kept getting colder as the day progressed.  It’s typical winter weather in our parts, and it’ll be temperate again by next week.

ED

Winter has come to North Florida.  The weather for the Thanksgiving weekend was perfect, but late yesterday afternoon the rain started.  This morning the temperature was in the low 50′s, but it’s been raining hard all evening.  Today is what we in Florida would describe as a “raw day”:  drippy clouds, temps in the low 50′s, and then late this afternoon and all of tonight, heavy rain.  Tomorrow is predicted to be a bad day, and I’m sure it’s going to be a cold, rainy day.  I’m not scheduled to deliver Meals on Wheels tomorrow, but I bet I’ll get a call if the weather’s bad.  And I’ll take it, if they need me.

Actually, the Weather Channel is predicting heavy rains and thunderstorms tomorrow in the 70′s, with lows in the 50′s tomorrow night.  Who knows?

ED