Mother at breakfast

It may be hard to believe, but I was never the most fun person to be around in the morning. My mother worked until 11PM at the hospital and woke up the next morning to her two grumpy children needing breakfast and to go to school. I would sit there staring at dry cold cereal and it was then that I was treated to Mother's stories of growing up in East Texas during the depression. 

Once she surprised me when she told me, "You know, when I was a little girl I had a friend up the street and she had this old woman living with her family who had been a slave."

"Really, I said where did she sleep?"

"In the kitchen."

Then there were the stories of nursing school. Apparently they had some wild times in nursing school. Once they tried to call Eleanor Roosevelt on the phone. The next day the girls were visited by someone from the Secret Service. 

They drank bottles of Coke in the morning, trying to beef up for a long day at Charity Hospital. Charity Hospital was in Shreveport and didn't have air conditioning in those days. 

Of course making fun of Papa's family also came with the orange juice and frosted flakes. As an eight years old I knew what were the natural color's of all of my aunt's hair. 

So here's to all the mothers out their with their testy charges. Enjoy your presents. 

Dog breath

What a great commercial. I've yet to see it on the tv but it's on Youtube. Now I know why I don't have a dog.

Haircuts

You should get a haircut every three weeks. That way you always look neatly shorn and nobody knows when you've gotten a haircut. I get a haircut three times a year. It's great because I go from a short haircut to looking like the drummer for Mott the Hoople. Then it's suddenly, unexpectedly back to a short haircut. Suddenly,  I'm Dobie Gillis.  It's a minor holiday at work. Wow! Mr. Mustache got a haircut!  After a few days, the excitement wears down and my haircut looks normal.

I go to an old fashioned barbershop. There's a barber pole, an all male staff. All male customers. Men talk about sports, their kids and their cars. Once a woman told me that men go to barbershops to discuss how many women they have slept with. Sorry, women are usually not discussed in barbershops, unless they're in the hospital. It's a good thing I travel so I have things to talk about at the barber shop.

The progress of a generation

Baby boomers have progressed since the sixties. In the sixties we grew our hair long, discovered fm radio, pot, and war demonstrations. In the 70's we discovered yoga, hiking,  and Saturday Night Live. In the 80's we moved from hippy to yuppie. We married, gentrified neighborhoods, and traveled the world in search of Hard Rock Cafes. The 90's and 00's we raised children. A little grayer, we were long on childhood gratification and short on discipline.

In the teens now we have discovered TED talks. TED talks represent the baby boomers aspirations today as we start thinking seriously of our lives, our world, and our retirements. TED, film festivals, Atovoristan  and podcasts. It's great being a baby boomer. 

In case you may be a little behind, here is the link to TED. They are also on public radio on weekends.

Editor's note: The writer has a certain sense of guilt in never fully exploring yoga or Hard Rock Cafes in every port.

So what did I learn in Ireland

I always say that I travel so that I have things to talk about at parties. People with kids can stay home, because they can always talk about their kids. Childless people need to travel.  Here are ten things I learned on my trip to Ireland.

1) There's nothing like a  nice Irish breakfast. They serve them in bars and the white pudding (looks like a meat patty but is grey) is edible. The black pudding (a black patty) is definitely an acquired taste. 

2) Ireland wants to be seen as a cosmopolitan nation and for that reason tries to give the impression that it is bilingual. All the signs, railroad recordings, bus tickets, etc. are written in Irish and English. There is even a tv stations that broadcasts in Irish. I never heard anyone speaking in Irish. America speaks English and Spanish, Canada English and French, Ireland wants to be seen as speaking English and Irish. 

3) Irish bars are like traditional American bars except the beer taps are larger, they serve breakfast, and sometimes they have live traditional music at night. The beer sits a minute before the landlord gives it to the customer. They have the tv going during the day so it's difficult for tourists to eavesdrop. At night at local places, patrons really do burst into song. 

4) The best food in Dublin is Thai and Middle eastern. Had a nice falafael there.
5) Television features a lot of American shows, BBC channels, one channel in Irish and two Irish channels that have a lot of sports, talk shows, and a soap opera.
6)Young women wear leggings in Ireland.
7) There are panhandlers in Ireland.
8) There are bookie shops on Irish streets.
9) Ireland raises a lot of sheep with a few goats and cattle thrown in. Irish sweaters are expensive. I bought a cute pair of Irish made socks.
10) Irish women go into comic voices when telling a story.

Editor's note: Temple Bar in Dublin. Home of the backpack and guitar set.

A brief history of school prayer in America

Since the Supreme Court decision of 1962, school prayer has been banned in American schools. Thinking back to my childhood and those happy days at Fanny Hillers School, I can remember when we said the Lord's Prayer at the start of the school day. I remember it was the one time of the day when the three religions represented in the classroom, the Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant religions attacked the prayer differently, much to the consternation of the teachers.

When we said the Lord's prayer, the five Jewish kids had to keep silent. As a Catholic I was obliged to say the Lord's prayer up to the last sentence then stay silent for the most poetic part of the prayer, "for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever" but could join in for the Amen at the end. Vatican II allowed for this extension to the Lord's prayer, but by that time it was banned in schools anyway. Looking back it must have seemed strange for half the voices to be cut out at the last sentence.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all the children in the classroom except for the two Jehovah's Witness kids who had to sit and keep quiet. As children mature the Pledge moves from the loud sing songey declarations of the early grades to the mumbled voices of high school.

Who would have thunk it

Just went onto the David Bowie website to find out about his new album. The album in CD costs $11 but if you want it in vinyl it's $26. Now back in the 90's I was told I should get rid of my albums and replace them with CD's. I was told the sound was so much better that soon all vinyl albums would be obsolete. Who would have thunk it. Now people are paying double to get the same songs in vinyl. If only I had kept my bell bottom blue jeans.