WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER

As they say, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

When we were younger, if I needed to wash and wax the kitchen floor, we would take the table and chairs out to another room. Today, I just shove them from side to side.

When we were younger, we’d wash the windows at least twice a year – he on the outside, me on the inside. Today, the outside windows get washed when the house gets washed every other year, and the inside windows get done on rare occasions.

When we were younger, we handled any little chore ourselves – changing the light bulb in the high porch ceiling, changing the air filters, even fixing the low hook on the screen door. Those are on my “honey do” list. Today, we depend on a crew of two young sons, in their hale and hardy 50s, to help us with the things that are just beyond our capabilities. We are so pleased that they’re living nearby, not just for the helping hand, but just for their presence in our lives.

LIFE'S LITTLE CHORES

As I was changing the toilet paper roll in the bathroom this afternoon, I thought about how many times I’ve done that before. Then I got to thinking – I wonder just how many times have I done so many other little chores before:

Put in a new roll of toilet paper, a roll of paper towels, or a box of tissues

Done a load of laundry

Changed the bed

Washed the dishes

Prepared breakfast, lunch, or dinner

Vacuumed, dusted

Shopped for groceries

Proved the bank statement …

Well, that’s getting a bit far out there, but those day-to-day jobs are adding up. Did you ever wonder about things like this? They say you can't know everything, and I know that I can make an estimated guess, but I'll never really know how many times I've changed the toilet paper. Ah, well - that's life. 

"AN OUTING FOR THE OLD FOLKS"

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Years ago, after we retired, Frank and I shopped at a little, local, IGA store in upstate New York. Before then, when Frank was paid, we’d always shop on Thursday. We were barely seniors – Frank was 55, and I was 43, but happened that the store gave a 10% discount to seniors on Thursdays, so we had a good reason to keep our traditional shopping day. One snide, thirty-something clerk there always had a comment about cheap seniors taking advantage of the discount. She said, “but it makes a nice outing for the old folks.” She repeated it often enough that in the years since then, any time Frank and I go a bit far afield, we always say it’s “an outing for the old folks."

On Wednesday, we really old folks, Frank’s 88, I’m 76, had an outing. We headed south on an hour-long trip along lovely rural roads, to McBee, South Carolina, to McLeod Farms. A colleague of mine from the magazine made the same trip a few weeks ago, and wrote a mouth-watering article about it. What better reason to go than the strong recommendation of a friend.

Along with the farm market, there is a great little museum of interesting stuff from some great old cars, to dolls, farm equipment, and miscellaneous items that are fun to see again. Here's the link to their website, macspride.com

We went, we saw, we bought peaches – among other great produce. I’ve been looking at my stash of peach recipes, and I think I’ll make peach custard bread pudding this afternoon. This morning I’m having a juicy peach for breakfast.

BRITISH ACCENTS

Why is it that advertisers who want to have their products viewed as the best available, use announcers with British accents to gently and genteelly present their wares? It began with items like luxury cars or watches.  Now I hear the dulcet British tones touting things like replacement windows, food products, over-the-counter medications, household cleaners, even CPAP machine cleaners

I don't dislike it, I just wonder why they see a need to go fancy. There's nothing elegant about CPAP machine cleaners. A straightforward ad will do.