I Dare You to Yell at Me or Isn't This Excuse the Greatest?

Yeh, yeh, I know......I appear to have abandoned all you lovely people for my own fatuous,selfish pursuits.

Bad Lois!   No, no, not true.

Now, what will you say when I tell you that I, feeling that I had absolutely nothing of interest to communicate, decided to spend all my blogging time reading and leaving praiseful comments on blogs I loved, admired, envied and even a few that I disagreed nicely with.  Knowing the joy and bliss of receiving comments, I decided that, as long as I was not inspired enough to amuse you one way, I would just sneak around and tickle your feet.

If I didn't get around to everyone, don't despair.  I'll be there when you least expect me, and perhaps, hopefully, when you need me most.

And, one of these days, I WILL blog again.

You Must See This

 I am still reeling from a video a friend sent me this morning, I think it is the most amazing and blooming wonderful thing I have ever seen.

One part of my mind keeps telling me it must be a brilliant magic trick but I have watched it over and over and cannot figure out how it could have  been done....  unless the conjurer is God.

Not only is the execution amazing, but the quality of line is exquisite and the overall  result is breathtaking and awe inspiring, the intellectual process astounding and...... I don't know what else.

Knowing me, you know I believe totally in the godliness of every creature and living thing on the planet (including rocks....don't you dare laugh) but if this is real there is no longer any doubt that we do not own the world..


If you can expose this as a trick please let me know your arguments.  Perhaps I am too gullible.

Watch and  decide for yourself and be prepared  to be thrilled to your core.

http://fun.mivzakon.co.il/video/General/2344/2344.html

P.S. to the New Bedford Story

I was so gratified at your response to my blog about New Bedford and my Uncle Harry Bloomingdale, and tickled pink that you all loved the house as much as I did.

There is a link to the story that was written about his Department Store and his many achievements and am including that below for those of you who like history, especially when there is a string connecting it to someone you know.  Elyssa of "Fancy Pantalons" and the one you can than for all this great research
sent help in her comment as follows:. 

fancy pantalons said...

Hi all, Try this link: http://bit.ly/e6tL7F and scroll down to the "Harry Bloomingdale" section. Fascinating stuff!

A_History_of_New_Bedford.docx 

A Gift From Out of the Past

  

There have been a myriad of wonderful surprises and delights that have come to me from this blog and  it seems they just keep coming.

I recently had an email from a wonderful woman named Elyssa of the blog "Fancy Pantalons", a follower who had some kind things to say about my blogging, and she happened to mention New Bedford, Mass.  I got all excited because one of my Uncles whom I have blogged about, my Uncle Harry, lived for many years in New Bedford and I had wonderful memories of the grand old Victorian house there.  I mentioned the address to Elyssa and told her about him and, wonder of wonders, the next day she sent me a photo of the house (she had driven by and found that it was still there) and an article she had located telling all about my Uncle and his achievements.

 I haven't been able to upload the article but I have managed to get the photo pulled up and, behold, here it is.  I can't quite say "in all it's glory" because the house is a bit faded, but still gorgeous, I think.
(Oh, what I could do with it if I were only 20 years younger.)

 I sent the photo to two of my young cousins and they were both tickled to see it again too. They had both been there with their parents when they were young and had fond memories.

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


Comment from cousin
Rob Kapnek

Lo-

Amazing!!!

I remember many trips there, visiting

Harry, Essie and Flora, throughout

my childhood.

The house was like a living museum

to me, replete with antiques, pianos, brass

beds, silver and objects, all

of which seemed hundreds of years

old, at the time.

Essie was permanently hunched in

two, from carrying Harry up and down

the stairs, on her back.

When she was nearly 100, she was still

climbing the apple tree in the back yard to make us a pie, when we visited.

I think he was the founder of the Kiwanis Club and was always visited and lauded for his philanthropy. 

Flora was their adopted daughter and lived at home with Essie to care for Harry, wheelchair bound for more

than 60 years. 

Dad and Lew loved them and they all were really devoted to each other.

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

Comment from cousin Bruce Morton

Thanks for sending this. As I recall, my Dad took the family up to Cape Cod for a vacation when I was a senior in college and my brother Ken was a freshman, and we stopped in New Bedford en route to see my 2 cousins at the house in New Bedford. They were both female, around 88 and 93 years old as I recall. When we arrived, one of them was up on a tall ladder replacing a light bulb, and the other one was doing house repairs. I was stunned at their vibrancy for their age.  We got a tour of the house, which was full of original woodworking art.

Great, fascinating..............

Thanks.

Love,

     Bruce
**************************************************************************************************************

I am incredibly grateful to Elyssa for her research and zeal in bringing back these wonderful memories.
The wonders of blogging will never cease to amaze and thrill me.
e.

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Sat, Mar 26, 2011 12:48 pm

A_History_of_New_Bedford.docx   

The Aftermath and the Epiphany

The blissful state of being warm and the delightful prospect of being able to get clean have  induced me to wax poetic......

           
               There are interesting side effects to not having any heat or hot water
               And the main one is probably that you don't get to bathe as often as you orter.
               But if anyone dares to hint that I am odoriferous or, shall we say, smelly
               I will, promptly and  forthwith, kick them in the belly.



Just want to report that I now have not only heat but blessed hot water and I am not only still calm but hellishly grateful.

And, strangely enough, rather than being filled with blind rage at the MF Plumber who, for whatever evil or stupid  reason, misdiagnosed my heating system as being deadly with carbon monoxide gas, I am content and pleased with having made plans to deal with my 22 year old unit before it crashed on me at a less opportune moment.  This is not Pollyanna speaking either.........it is, I  believe, the newly enlightened Lo.  I have been working for years toward being able to cope with disasters without exploding with emotions all over the near environs  and ending up a spent but still vengeful victim.

The fact is, that I could easily have cancelled my order for the new system once I discovered  that this old one was NOT leaking deadly gas fumes into my living quarters and could have spent days  and much precious energy venting my rage on unscrupulous people and shady business practices, but, upon thoughtful rumination, I realized that I could not expect this 22 year old wonder to continue functioning indefinitely without problems....it's days were certainly numbered.  I had already endured the discomfort of  being without.  I had already transferred the funds into my checking account.  I was already mentally prepared for the thing to be done, so why put it off for some less convenient time when the price will no doubt be even more exorbitant .  Just do it and forget about heating and cooling problems forever. .........and that is what I am doing. And it feels good.

Now, excuse me everybody while I go in and take a long hot shower.  Ahhhhhhhh! Ummmmmmm!


P.S   I want to make it perfectly clear that I am NOT getting my new heating system from the MF Plumber creep who triggered this whole epic, but from the same folks who installed my current system 22 years ago.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Just a quick update for those darlings out there who have been worrying about me being without heat and without hot water.    Got the heat back!

Naturally, it is a long story and I am not ready to tell it  yet, but, suffice it to say,......(what a stupid, meaningless, tortured  phrase that is.....I apologize for using it).....as I was saying, what I have done is gotten a carbon monoxide monitor and turned the heating system back on.  I did this yesterday around midafternoon.  The heat is blissful and the monitor has stayed strangely silent.  Hmmmmm.

Now, I am beginning to wonder if that MF Plumber who told me about the crack in my heater and the carbon monoxide was just pulling a big con on me.........I am taking a while to think about that.....I am still fairly calm but I am afraid that if I relax for just a moment I will have to rush out and murder that MF Plumber......

Meanwhile I am both calm and WARM.

Someone Told Me Job's Last Plague was Boils....

For anyone who has not read my last blog, this one will not have the proper effect, so do go back and catch up on my latest adventure.

Hi there all you warm, dry people with running hot water...........this is day 5 or 6 (I am not sure) of Lois' Sore Trials........

Just to bring you all up to date, on Sunday we had a positive deluge for at least 12 - 15 hours and the roof of the sun room (added separately from the regular roof) just couldn't take the punishment so we can add Leaking Roof and 2inches of water in the sun room to my list of afflictions which  still include no heat and no hot water and incipient bills of  $6K to $8K.  I  am grateful that I inherited my Dad's supply of towels some years ago (and being the packrat that I am kept them all for an emergency)  so that I had enough to sop up the water without having to use my own bath towels.

I have grown accustomed to sleeping and living in several layers of sweats augmented by a fleece Hoodie and occasionally a blanket or afghan draped tastefully around my shoulders.....  And, would you believe, just when you need them, those damned cats refused to huddle in bed with me to keep me warm, choosing instead to stay in the living room where I have a little electric heater going which manages to bring the temp up about 3 degrees.

I want you to know that I have NOT been idle. I am constantly on thephone making arrangements and mopping puddles..   My handyman finished laying a new floor in the water heater compartment and I have had the installers out yet again but have only progressed to the point of having them leave me new water heater.... in carton..... sitting on the bricks outside the water heater house where it ultimately will live. There are so many adjustments that need to be made to accommodate the new unit that the guy advised me to save the installation and improvement fees and have my handyman do the work.  He is, as we speak, at the DIY store getting supplies.

Meanwhile, the heating company cannot schedule to install my new heating unit until we get a day of no rain.  Right now that looks like it might not be till Saturday.....this is Tuesday.  And can you believe it.....I still remain calm.  I think I have finally got the knack of coping gracefully.....or I am so exhausted and used up that I can't feel anything anymore and cannot remember the words to the appropriate ditty,  "shit, piss, fuck".

All  this and I still haven't told you about yesterdays bonus adventure in which one of the hummers, in a frenzy to get breakfast,  flew into the house and jetted around the atrium until, as usual, it fainted.  Because of all the hoods over my ears I didn 't hear it and only found out when two cats refused their breakfast in lieu of climbing the spiral staircase in the atrium and peering fixedly  at the little windowsill 8 feet up off the floor.  When I finally located the little creature on the sill I didn't give him much of a chance.....  still I rushed to the garage, schlepped in the 6 foot ladder, clambered up it (in spite of my previous resolutions not to ever do that again) (well, I DID scream for Florence, my caregiver, but she was outside feeding the  birds and didn't hear me and time was of the essence.)  Happily I was able to reach the critter and cupped his limp body gently in my hand while I rushed to grab a full feeder and plunged his beak into it.  It seemed to take forever  before I saw any signs of life but then I saw signs of swallowing and little by little the body firmed up and after about 3 or 4 minutes the wings flapped and off he went to the nearest hanging feeder to finish his breakfast.  Whew.
  I was so thrilled it took several minutes for me to begin shaking. (I had postponed it during the emergency).

 I did get Florence to take a picture while I was feeding the little critter and, while it is not art it will prove my story and give you an idea of what the scene looked like plus what this incredible hulk looks like currently.  I shall now attempt to retrieve it.  Eureka!

So......and how was YOUR day?