June is bustin' out all over

So, there are Broadway songs for two months in a row! Look back on the May post - The Lusty Month of May. And since today is Saturday I cannot sing at work. Such a pity! Though I'm not sure I might be inspired to do that when I am a lone ranger.
Allergies are first priority today. I was awakened this morning with sneezing and had to take an Allegra. I had to get up in the middle of the night and turn on the air conditioning because I was sneezing. Apparently some pollen or other is really bad right now. My main suspect is oak. My roses are in their first full flush - soon to be a memory - all too soon I'll be spending time every day pruning the spent flowers so new ones will come. But there is never such a riotous display as that first flush!
Also I went back to the Ear, Nose Throat doctor. The one I saw in 2006 who discovered my bruised vocal chord had retired, so I had to see one of his partners. Dr. Goldstone was a nice man, but I was disappointed with his assessment. You see, I can sing, for a while, but I almost always wear out after a time. My voice rehab teacher says it is not my vocal production. Dr. Goldstone says he believes it is slight acid reflux. I don't trust that diagnosis because I've been there before. The first time I saw a ENT doctor, that's what he said, acid reflux, and I wasted 6 weeks taking pills with no improvement. I fear that is exactly where I am going to be now. And we know I hate pills! Dr. Goldstone also wants me to get an allergy work-up, something I thought I should do for years, but my primary care doctor believed is unnecessary. I have decided I'll give it a month, but I'm not going to wait 6 weeks. If there is no improvement in a month, I'm going back and demand the same detailed exam that found the bruise, if they have to knock me out to do it! (I have a strong gag reflex and my throat fights the strobe scope that found the bruise).
But, with having to turn on the air conditioner and get into the Allegra this morning, there obviously is some veracity to the allergy contribution. Yes, June is bustin' out all over - especially with pollen. And my big plan for the day is to work in the garden. But I already have my Allegra dose, so I should be fine! Let Jun keep bustin'! It's better than January!

Some good news?

A recent study conducted by Harvard University found that the averageAmerican walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study by the American Medical Association found thatAmericans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year.

This means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.

Kind Of Makes You Proud To Be An American.

Gloom and Doom

Work has been, shall I say, challenging, lo these past so many months - a new state administration and the death knells of a fading federal administration.
But, alas, and alack, my bestest ever bud at work told me this morning that she is retiring June 30. This is major devastation to my psyche. It is a source of hithertofore unkown psychological maladies. Can I go on working when the last of my original buds leaves me in the dust of the state bureaucracy? Dies irae, dies illa. Gloom and doom!! Come weep with me, past hope...
Get a grip? Of what? This really makes it difficult to let shine this li'l light of mine! I need Harry Potter's magic mirror so I can see things as I would like to see them. Gloom and doom!!! I'd best hie me to study some lemonade recipes. Gloom and doom!!!

Color Choices

Grandma had an eye for color. The horoscope believers would say it was a Libra trait. I'm not a Libra and I don't seem to have inherited Grandma's eye for color - just her dental curse (along with one from each of my other grandparent's. I expect I'll have full dentures by the time I'm sixty! Oh, joy!!) Since I don't have an eye for color, when I bought my house and began decorating it, I headed for those jewel tones. I figure you can't go too wrong with green, blue, and burgundy. But since I am also cursed with a somewhat creative mind, I am also always looking for a way to change things. Now, understand I never venture far. Changing the bedrom curtains and the shower curtain, bathroom rugs and kitchen rugs are about as far as I can venture. For one thing, I don't want to have to store a bunch of seasonal stuff and for another, I don't much care about having to change things at certain times. So, I have gone to changing the bathroom with the seasons as being my most ambitious effort for changing things. I found a wonderful French flower mart poster shower curtain that said spring to me - on sale, of course. I also found some rugs with some green and brown flecks. As there is dark green trim and a gold and green border in the bathroom, one needs to be careful with the greens. Now, one of the less prominent colors in my French flower mart shower curtain is an icy blue. This is a color I had never considered in my bathroom, but one that intrgued me for spring. So, I went looking for something to highlight that. Fearfully, I bought a very small ice blue mat for in front of the toilet and a larger randomly striped rug of olive, ice blue and taupe. To my surprise it worked. The taupe is the predominant color in the striped rug and as a neutral does not conflict with the dark green and other colors already in the bathroom. The small amount ice blue is refreshing and bright! I look at my unpredictable color combination and think Grandma is probably smiling from heaven with pleasure. You could have never convinced me that ice blue, olive and taupe would go with dark green and gold and black and white and not look like a kaleidoscope pattern. Of course, now that I am really liking my spring bathroom, it will be time to go to the summer decor in just a few weeks. Summer is simple gold and white. You see, I have no confidence in my own color choices. Grandma was so good at it. It just mystifies me - in spite of several successes of my own - witness my pink kitchen. I was convinced I had lost my mind the entire time I painted the kitchen. Now I cannot imagine it any other way other than white. So much for my color choices. It is probably more fear and lack of confidence rather than actual incapacity to choose colors harmoniously.

He Said She Said

Well, I suspect that only the most hardened political junkie (and perhaps a few people in Montana or North Dakota who still have to vote) can be even slightly interested in the democratic primary race at this point. And if the media hasn't lost its way, just look at what we are reduced to now - he said she said ad nauseam. The media folks need a serious review of the most basic lesson in what constitutes news reporting rather than repeating every he-said-she-said that can be collected in the course of one day - or even a few hours, for that matter. Didn't someone say, "Talk is cheap"? No wonder TV is mostly free! And what a scandal to live in the US and have to go to BBC news to get real news in English. Perhaps soon the Spanish stations will begin providing surtitle translations and then the English-only crowd will be able to have a few choices for real news. Quelle scandale!!!! I usually like the Spanish newscasts. The commentators speak very cleary. However, el presidente Bush sounds comical to me every time! Of course, that begs the question, does anyone take the man seriously any more? Does anyone take the American media seriously any more? Who me, cynical?

Pink Carnations

I am a little behind on this, but computer problems denied me access and my life has been too hectic to write. At church, on Mother's Day, they gave pink carnations to all the mothers in the congregation. Pink carnations on Mother's Day always invoke a fond memory of Grandpop making sure each of us got a pink carnation to wear in honor of our mother for Mother's Day, with the yearly reminder that pink was for people whose mothers were still living and white was for people whose mothers had reached their eternal home. It was so civilized and even a steelworker could make sure his grandchildren all wore carnations for Mother's Day. Today we've pretty much lost the ritual. Why I even heard more than one person complain about the woman that "invented" Mother's Day. Nostalgia, I think, is not so bad as long as one does not wallow in it. I think any reason for celebration should be relished. All too soon those pink carnations turn to white.

May Day and other firsts

Tra la, it's May, the lusty month of May,
that lovely month when everyone goes blisffully astray.
Tra la, it's here that shocking time of year,
when tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear.
It's May! It's May! the month of great dismay,
when all the world is brimming with fun, wholesome or "un" -
It's mad! It's gay! a libelous display
Those dreary vows that evryone takes, everyone breaks,
Everyone makes divine mistakes - the lusty month of May!

I sing it every year and everyone at work wonders. It is good at my age to have people wonder.
It's such a shame Ameicans can't/won't celebrate with the rest of the world. Surely we don't want to give appearances of relishing something associated with communism. Oh, but in my own little corner my first rose is blooming; my goddaughter is having her first birthday; the first fruits in my gardens are showing: apricots, nectarines, cherries, strawberries, apples and blueberries. The blackberries will bloom soon. REALLY fresh produce is showing up in the markets. I had my first post-cancer check-up with everything wonderful. There is so much to enjoy and we all should make every effort to enjoy every day of the lusty month of May - and yes, I encourage even something lusty - it's good for everything! And all too soon the weather will be hot and sticky...and I won't finish that sentence! Tra la!