WWW.WEDNESDAY

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz. I just finished a gritty, at times depressing, book that could only take place in Miami. How should I follow it? I'll go west! To San Francisco, a city that reminds me not at all of Miami. The Spellmans are many things, but they are not remotely gritty. So this just may be the change of pace I'm looking for. 

 

Isabel Spellman is the oldest daughter in a ridiculously dysfunctional family of private investigators. Izzy drinks too much, watches too much TV and never ceases to disappoint her parents. Yet she is actually quite competent at her job. She's also a very good, very funny narrator.

 

We've all heard of cozy mysteries, but these are zany. As in the other Spellman books, Isabel is juggling legitimate casework from a paying client (a wife who wants to know how her husband spends his days) and her wacky family. This book introduces us to Gertrude, her boyfriend's mother and Izzy's newest drinking buddy. These books are funny but also very affectionate. Loony as they are, I wish I'd been born a Spellman.

 

2. What did you recently finish reading? Act of Betrayal by Edna Buchanan. Coco Chanel famously said, "Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off." I wish Edna Buchanan had taken this sentiment to heart and eliminated one of the subplots in Act of Betrayal.

 

Our heroine, Britt Montero, is a reporter on the crime beat for a major Miami daily. She's covering a car bomb that killed a local media personality, trying to find what linked the disappearances of junior high school aged boys, and working on a profile piece about a charismatic Cuban who has become a mover and shaker in Miami politics. Speaking of moving and shaking, a hurricane is coming. That's the thing about weather: it's a force to be reckoned with, whether you have time to deal with it or not.

 

That's plenty to keep a reader engaged. Yet Buchanan loads the book up with newsroom gossip, her best friend's unsatisfying love affair, and Aunt Odalis' health problems. It was too much. It annoyed me to be taken away from the real action. Buchanan should have made like Chanel and lost at least one of these subplots.

 

Also, one of the stories Britt is working on is, as they say, "ripped from the headlines" and based on one of Chicago's most notorious crimes ever. Britt is wrong when she says repeatedly that this is the biggest story of her career but because of the hurricane no one will notice. I'd like to assure her: we have many weather events here but the name of that real-life perpetrator – I won't use it here because I don't want to spoil the book for you – won't be overshadowed. Maybe in 1997, when this book was written, no one foresaw the industry true crime would become. (In real life, the home of that monster became such a national magnet that after it was demolished, the address was changed to discourage gawkers.)

 

But these are quibbles. I found the end of the book, once the storm hit, truly un-put-down-able. 

3. What will you read next? I don't know.

 

  

Gratitude Challenge: Day 30

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 30: Myself. I am grateful for my life and the opportunities offered every day. I don't know why God granted me with the gift of making friends easily, but He did, and it's a wonderful thing. 

I miss Henry. I miss John. I miss my oldest friend, who is still alive but really no longer an equal participant in our relationship. Because I have had so much loss in my life, it's easy for me to feel bad that I no longer have "that person." There was a line in Grey's Anatomy that has stayed with me all these years. Cristina said of Meredith, "She's my person. If I murdered someone, she's the person I'd call to help my drag the corpse across the living room floor."

OK, so I don't have "my person" anymore. There really isn't anyone I feel I can count on to know me, accept me, love me no matter what and that leaves me lonely.

But I have people. I'm 68 years old, a time in life when people have trouble making/maintaining friendships. Yet looking over June I've socialized with eight different people, and they all reached out to me. I'm grateful for that, and I mustn't lose sight of it.

  

 

Gratitude Challenge: Day 29

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 29: Self care. I started my week with attention to my feet. First, my summer pedi. Then a trip to the chiropractor for an adjustment and what I envision will be the last laser treatment on right heel. The Achilles tendonitis only bedevils me first thing in the morning and I predict that, with exercise, even that will fade. When I think back to the April pain and limp, I am so relieved and pleased with my progress. We could have taken the easier route but I've done this without meds or injections and I'm so pleased.

  

Sunday Stealing

Meme Schmeme

Complete the thought:

I LOVE TO be lazy. 

I SOMETIMES wish there were more hours in a day for TV, books and baseball. 

I FEAR losing my independence. 

I MISS my friends Henry and John. They died within two months of one another in 2024 and not a day goes by that I don't wish I could pick up the phone and talk to one of them.  

I CRAVE savory more than sweet these days. I wonder why.  

I CHERISH my cats, Constance MacKenzie and Roy Hobbs.

I AM IMPATIENT WHEN I feel misunderstood.  

 

 

Gratitude Challenge: Day 27

 
I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 27: Kindness I had lunch today with my friends, Nancy and Paul, and she did just the nicest thing. She gave me a manila envelope filled with newspapers and magazines from John Lennon's murder. She was going through a filing cabinet in her home office and decided that she wouldn't toss these things, she would put them aside for me.

I am grateful for people who think of me at times like that, when they're just going about their lives. I appreciate it very much. 

  

Saturday 9

 
Saturday 9: Cadillac Ranch (1981)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Bruce Springsteen sings about taking his father and his aunt to see The Cadillac Ranch. Have you recently taken a road trip? If yes, where did you go? Golly, it's been years since a friend and I hit the road by car. I've flown to Grand Rapids and Los Angeles in the past six months, but I don't think I've traveled any real distance by car since my friend Elaine and I drove down to New Salem in 2023.

2) The Cadillac Ranch is real. It's an outdoor art installation in Amarillo, TX. Tell us about a statue, mural, or other piece of outdoor art in your community. We have so much here to choose from! The Picasso at Daley Plaza, the Chagall Mosaic, Cloudgate (aka The Bean) in Millennium Park ... But those are all well known. This is smaller, more intimate. It's the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fountain on the Chicago River Walk. Tucked away at the end of the bars and restaurants, it gives us a quiet moment to reflect on those who sacrificed for us.

3) Not only is Bruce singing about a real place, he mentions three real people. The first is "James Dean in his Mercury 49." That refers to the 1949 Mercury driven by James Dean in his first starring role, Rebel Without a Cause. Though he remains a legendary star, Dean made only three movies before his death at age 24. Have you seen any of his films? I've seen two of the three. I know this is an unpopular opinion in some quarters, but I think he's staggeringly overrated.

4) The second is "Junior Johnson runnin' through the woods of Caroline." Junior Johnson was a folk hero, famous as a NASCAR driver and notorious for running moonshine through North Carolina. He was the inspiration for "Midnite Moon," an animated old Ford in the 2017 Disney movie Cars 3. What Disney movie did you enjoy when you were growing up?

5) The third man Bruce sings about is "Burt Reynolds and his black Trans Am." This is a reference to Burt's biggest hit, 1977's Smokey and the Bandit. Burt also had success as a restaurateur. He co-owned Burt and Jack's, a popular steakhouse at Port Everglades, right on the water. Tell us about a restaurant that offered both good food and a memorable view. I had a great lunch in Washington, DC at the KC Cafe. It's the cafeteria at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. I had soup and sandwich, my favorite on a rainy day and it hit the spot. But oh! The views of the Potomac! I wasn't expecting to have such a lovely time on such a gray day.

6) For decades, Cadillac was the gold standard of luxury. For example, an eatery referred to as "the Cadillac of restaurants" would be best or most prestigious. Think about your neighborhood. Tell us about a restaurant, hotel or business that is "the Cadillac" of your community. There's an old-school steakhouse not far away called The Golden Steer. It's wood paneled and cramped and noisy. But the prime rib and onion soup are to die for!

7) Since he's been singing about America and cars for decades, it should come as no surprise that Bruce Springsteen has a collection of classic American cars. For the cover of his autobiography he chose a photo of himself leaning on his favorite, a 1960 Corvette convertible. Think about your favorite photo of yourself. What are you doing? It was last Christmas. I am holding my little great niece, Violet.

8) In 1981, when Bruce released this recording, Dolly Parton had a hit with "9 to 5." What's your favorite Dolly Parton song? I get a kick out of this one. "Better keep your hands off my potential new boyfriend."

 

9) Random question: When did you last DIY and fix something around your home or yard? I was tempted to call Comcast/Xfinity for a service call, but no, I set up my new TV all by myself! (Bows deeply.) I love my voice remote and all the cable channels and streaming services, but I do kinda miss the olden days where all you had to do with a new tv was turn it on.

Gratitude Challenge: Day 26

 
I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 26: Stillness Today was a quiet day. Except for a trip to the bank and grocery store, it was a stay-at-home day. I had lunch with my old friend Mindy yesterday, I'll be seeing Nancy and Paul tomorrow ... I need days like this to recharge. So I'm grateful for the stillness.

  

Gratitude Challenge: Day 25

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 25: Movement Today I walked .7 miles between my train and the restaurant and it took less than half an hour each way.* This is a big deal because, frankly, from the waist down I'm pathetic. Spinal stenosis, arthritis in the right knee, meniscus tear in the left, and Achilles tendonitis that extends to my left heel.

Yet today I was fine! For that I am grateful.

No pain killers to mask the pain. Just yoga stretches every morning and a trip to the chiropractor every week (or every other week) for an adjustment and laser treatment on my heel.

As recently as March I was icing my knee or my ankle, or my knee and my ankle, and applying an OTC camphor/capsacin/methol cream every night (much to the chagrin of my cats and their sensitive noses). I was worried that I wouldn't be able to comfortably get around at the TCM Film Festival in late April. 

Today I was walking at a brisk pace in the sunshine with few ill effects. My knees are still bad when I take stairs, but I am 68 years old and my original parts are wearing out. Shit happens.

But, as my yoga instructor tells us, quoting Ghandi, "Movement is life." I'm grateful I work with her and listened to her. I'm better for it. (And so are my kidneys because daily ibuprofen can't be good for them.)

  

*Actually I wish it had taken a little longer because it was a beautiful day and I miss The Loop.

Thursday Thirteen #468

Platinum edition. Within the world of classic film nerds, Marilyn Monroe has been all over the place this month in honor of her 100th birthday. I am fascinated not only by Marilyn, but why she endures. Even if you've never seen a Marilyn Monroe movie, you're familiar with her image. Children not yet born will see the picture of Marilyn on the subway grate, her white dress blowing up.

Yet Jean Harlow is not recognized or remembered outside the classic film world. That's not only too bad – because she was luminous and funny – it's confusing because her filmography is of much higher quality than Marilyn's. Marilyn made quite a few high-profile, crappy movies, Harlow did not.

So here are 13 facts about the original Platinum Blonde. 

1. Jean Harlow was born Harlean Harlow Carpenter, but throughout her life, friends and family called her "The Baby." 

2. She dropped out of high school at 16 to marry a very wealthy boy when he turned 21 and came into his inheritance. They moved to Beverly Hills, where she envisioned life as a socialite. But they were very young, with too much time on their hands and too much money. The union lasted less than two years.

3. As her marriage was ending, she helped out a friend who needed a daily ride to work at Fox Studios. Her good looks got her noticed and she was invited for a screen test. At first The Baby refused, but her friend called her "chicken" and bet she wouldn't go through with it. You know what happened. 

4. She was renamed Jean Harlow and today she's #22 on the American Film Institute (AFI) list of greatest film actresses of all time. 

5. She became a star at age 19 in 1930's Hell's Angels, where she uttered the famous line about slipping "into something more comfortable." 

6. She was famous for her curves, her pencil-thin eyebrows and most of all, her platinum hair. While the studio refused to reveal how this white-and-bright shade was achieved, rumor had it that a combination of ammonia, Clorox bleach and soap flakes. Unfortunately, fans tried to do this at home, with predictably disastrous results. 

7. She was among the most profitable stars of the decade, ranking as one of the top box office draws 5 times between 1930 and 1937. She was making $4,000/week at the time of her death. That's $5,000,000/year in today's dollars. (And remember, Jean was making $4,000/week during The Depression. That was the annual income for couples back then.)

8. Jean Harlow made many top quality films, and in 1933, 1936, and 1938, her movies were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. She was paired with the biggest stars of her time – James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, William Powell and Clark Gable. Though never romantically involved in real life, she and Gable were a great screen team and made six successful films together. She was working with him when she died.

9. Reading about her, I'm struck by how beloved "The Baby" was by those who worked with her. Directors praised her professionalism. Crews found her approachable. With other actresses of the period, especially Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy, she was friendly and not at all competitive. There's little if any gossip/controversy surrounding her professional life. Which I guess balances out the plethora of scandal and tumult in her private life.

10. She and actor William Powell were engaged at the time of her death. He would have been her fourth husband in 10 years. The first was Charles McGrew (see #2). Her third husband was cinematographer Harold Rossen. Naturally so many trips to the altar caused pearl clutching and tsk-ing. But it was her second husband that caused an earthquake of a scandal that reverberates to this day.

11. Her second husband was studio executive Paul Bern. Balding and more than 20 years her senior and, even though they made an odd-looking couple, she adored him. Just two months into their marriage, he was found dead in their home. Nude and shot in the head. It was officially ruled a suicide but, since Jean was one of the biggest stars in the world, rumors abound. Is it true he killed himself because he couldn't perform sexually with The Blonde Bombshell? Was the long-time lover he tossed over for Jean really the one who pulled the trigger? To this day, there is controversy.

12. Jean was the world's premiere sex symbol when she died of kidney failure at the age of 26. While her death seemed sudden to the public, she had been ill for months (though she continued to work). As with Bern, rumors blazed about Harlow's death. Could she have survived but for her mother's adherence to Christian Science and refusal to get Jean medical help? Did all those years of dangerous hair dye damage her kidneys (see #7)? The likely truth is less sensational: Like many in the 1920s, she had scarlet fever as a kid. As a result, she suffered from high blood pressure for the rest of her life and it's not unusual for scarlet fever to damage the kidneys. However, since forensic medicine wasn't that advanced in 1937, it's impossible for us today to know for sure what killed The Blonde Bombshell.

13. When I watch her movies (and I've now seen three), I'm impressed by her way with comedy. She delivers rapid-fire monologues with perfect diction and just the right emphasis. And her walk! She enters every room like a force of nature. Onscreen, she's a sweet, smart, funny dame. I'm just sorry that The Baby didn't find more joy in her own short life.

Here's the lady herself. I look forward to seeing more of her work.

 

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

 

Gratitude Challenge: Day 24

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 24: Intention I wrote two emails today with intention. They were messages I might have just dashed off not that long ago, and I'm grateful that retirement has given me the time to be more kind. The first was to my oldest friend. My frustrating, troubled, ineffable oldest friend. The second was to my newest friend, Christine from movie group, who has been asking me to visit her home in some faraway burb. 

As far as #1 goes, she's going to continue to make bad decisions and I can't change her, so I didn't try. I just made a couple jokes, attached a photo of Baby Violet, and reminded my friend that, when she finally gets her insurance situation ironed out,* I will be happy to pay for her first two months of therapy. 

For #2, I know it's hard for people our age to make new friends and appreciate it takes optimism and courage to reach out like Christine has. She began inviting me before Christmas and I've been putting her off, which is insensitive of me. She finally quit asking and it occurred to me I may have hurt her feelings. So I asked her – would she mind if, when the mercury hits 95º or higher as it inevitably will, I could spend the day with her and take advantage of her air conditioning and her DVD collection and play with her dog in cool comfort. She answered – SNAP! – immediately.

As I'm writing this, I think of that Brownie song: Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold. 

 

*It's been at least three months. A paperwork snafu with Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program. 

WWW.WEDNESDAY

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Act of Betrayal by Edna Buchanan. This is the fourth of the Britt Montero series and it's a thrill ride from the very beginning. Britt is a reporter on the crime beat for a major Miami daily. She's had a helluva morning, covering the death of a grandmother found in her own kitchen and a van accident that killed immigrants being transported illegally to a work site. She stops for lunch and as she contemplates the empanada purchased from a street vendor, Britt hears an explosion. Being a reporter, she doesn't run away, she runs toward it.

 

And we're off! The Britt Montero books are not cozy mysteries. They are shocking and violent, but also very human. Miami-born Britt is a thirty-something single, looking for love but not as hard as she pursues leads. Her best friend is Lottie Dane, a statuesque crime photographer transplanted to Miami from Texas. I like these women and their friendship.

 

Buchanan is a good writer, successfully creating a specific time and place: 1990s Miami. Very Crockett and Tubbs. Newspapers were still thriving, though very aware of competition from local news stations. Britt keeps a quarter in pocket all the time so she can use the nearest pay phone to check her office voicemail. (I kinda miss those days.)

 

2. What did you recently finish reading?  Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto. There have been more than 100 books written about Marilyn, her movies and her legacy. I'm glad I grabbed this one. Donald Spoto takes her seriously as a woman and an artist. He doesn't ladle on extra sensationalism or victimization because 1) those are baked in and 2) he respects her and us.  

 

This is a reread for me and I came away with a different emphasis this time. First, Marilyn worked very hard and kept improving. Because she was fired from her last movie and then died at 36 just weeks after, it's easy to assume she'd peaked. It's impossible to know, of course, but she had two new films on her horizon* and it's possible that, like Elizabeth Taylor, she could have become more than her looks and kept getting better. 

 

Second, she kept evolving as a person, too. Around the time she got a part in The Asphalt Jungle, she was struck me as selfish and unlikable. She was 23 and (to slip into today's vernacular) was couch surfing and using people. All exigence and ambition, anything to get by, anything to get a part. Over the next 13 years, she learned about herself and others. As she became more comfortable in her own skin, her generosity of spirit emerged and by the end of the book, I mourned this sweet woman.

 

Unfortunately, Marilyn's death seems to have become more important than her life. This book walks us through her final days and puts to rest many of the more tenacious and lurid rumors.  

3. What will you read next? I don't know.

 

  

 *Both movies were made with other actresses. Carroll Baker played Harlow and Shirley MacLaine starred in What a Way to Go.

 

 

Gratitude Challenge: Day 23

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 23: Peace We just had our quarterly condo board meeting and I'm glad there was no drama. Everyone played nice. Because of new lending guidelines, we are almost assuredly going to have a big increase in monthly assessments for 2027, and we wanted to get the word out and let people starting planning now. The attitude seemed to be, "Oh, that's 6 months away." I'm grateful those in attendance were sanguine about it because there isn't anything we can do to change this.

 

Gratitude Challenge: Day 22

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 22: Purpose I do what I can, when I can. On Monday I did a pair of Letters Against Isolation cards and wrote out Postcards to Voters. Over the weekend, I made a political contribution and supported the public library book sale. 

My purpose here is to make my country a better place. There's something grating about MAGA believing that they own patriotism. I am grateful that I am able to work toward making ours a more perfect union in my own way.

 

Gratitude Challenge: Day 21

 I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 21: Passion Today was a quiet rainy Sunday, no baseball, so I indulged my passion for movies. I discovered a new podcast series – Ringer Movies – and got lost in it. Then I caught To Kill a Mockingbird, presented on TCM for Father's Day. Now I'm watching Marilyn flirt with Richard Widmark and go slowly mad in Don't Bother to Knock. 

I'm grateful I live now, when I've got YouTube and broadcast cable and streaming that gives me such easy access to something that makes me this happy.

 

Sunday Stealing

Shopping Day. What's on your shopping list from ...

1. Target or Walmart, or other superstore? I need new underwear, and Walmart carries my preferred brand.

2. Dollar Tree or Dollar General, or poundstretcher/99p store? Dollar Tree carries my favorite toilet paper. (Toilet paper and underwear! Such a glamorous shopping list!)

3. Best Buy or any other electronics/appliance store? I just bought a new TV, so I'm good there.  I suspect my refrigerator is on its last legs, so maybe this would be a good opportunity to check my options.

4. Book/music store? The buzzy new Maggie Haberman/Jonathan Swan book.

Bonus question! Where do you want to stop for lunch? Unlike the subject of the Haberman/Swan book, I haven't had McDonald's in forever. Let's do that.

 

 

Gratitude Challenge: Day 20

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 20: Something I accomplished today I took 13 books over to the library for the book sale. 4 hardcover, 9 paperbacks. I didn't volunteer today,* but I did on two previous Saturdays, and each time I went I donated CDs (32 in all). While I was there, I perused the donations and the work that had been done since my last stint. So many board games and jigsaw puzzles had arrived and this made me happy. They are a new addition to the book sale and I'm happy to see our community responded.

While I was wandering about, a very tall bearded man stuck his head in and asked what this room was. I explained and gave him one of the book sale flyers. I'm glad I was there for him. He's a schoolteacher from a nearby suburb and asked if he could participate. Of course! He said he has some of his own books to donate and was excited to buy games for his classroom. I showed him that on July 12, the last day of the sale, everything is free to schoolteachers as well as hospital and nursing home workers. I was going to show him the drop-off for donations after library hours, but he explained that since he was a school teacher and in summer, his time is all his own now, he can easily make the two trips – one before June 30 to drop off books and another on July 12 to pick up free games for next fall's students.

I'm grateful I was there for him. It gives me pleasure to help out my neighborhood library branch.

 

 *My chief contribution has always been to build boxes. We need countless boxes for sorting the books, and I am an artist with the tape gun.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: The Men in My Little Girl's Life (1965)

 

 Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. Chosen for Father's Day.

1) In this song, a father shares the story of his daughter's life through first the boys, then the men, she brought home. The first is Rod, a little kid who wants to play in the backyard. Who were your playmates when you were young? Did you find it more fun to have them over to your home, or to go to theirs? I preferred going to their homes because I was curious about how other families lived. Example: Mail. My oldest friend lived in the apartment building across the alley and I enjoyed it when we went all the way downstairs and outside and then used a key to unlock their unit's mailbox. My other favorite playmate's family had a really cool mailbox on their front door frame and the mail slid directly onto their living room carpet! Our mail was shoved through a slot in our screen door. Our front door was so thick that I never even heard it. Ah, the stuff that fascinated Little Me!

2) Then his daughter asked if Lee could carry her books on the walk to/from school. During your junior high years, how did you travel to school (bus, bicycle, car pool, shoe leather)? We walked to school. It was only a couple blocks away and took about 10 minutes if I wasn't distracted. My older sister was a year ahead of me and policed me. She was a drag.

 

3) Throughout this song, the father recalls that his daughter alternately called him "Daddy," "Dad," "Popsie," "Pop" and "Father." How did/do you address your father? Dad.

 

4) The song ends with the daughter asking her father to babysit. When did you last look after someone else's child? About 20 years ago. My nephew was still very young (like 5 or 6) and heard me say I didn't put my Christmas tree up because it was too much of a hassle. He offered to help and I was so touched by his eager little face that we had a sleepover and made a night of assembling my tree and trimming it.

 

5) This record was a Top 10 hit in the US and it made the Top 20 in Canada. Much of its success was attributed to Mike Douglas' TV popularity. From 1965 to 1981, he hosted a daytime talk show. Do you watch much daytime TV? I've got the news on most of the day. Shit moves fast these days and everything feels important.

 

6) Mike Douglas was a father himself. He had three daughters, including twins. Are there twins in your family? Nope.

 

Now about Father's Day ... 

 

7) Retail chains like O'Reilly Auto Parts, Auto Zone and Jiffy Lube are all promoting gift cards and car-related gifts for Father's Day. If you got a gift card from one of those stores, how would you upgrade your ride? I don't have a car. But if the gift card was from O'Reilly or Auto Zone, I'd use it to stock up on wipes. Really, you can get the most effective multi-surface wipes and glass cleaning wipes at auto stores. Jiffy Lube doesn't really have much of a retail section so I'd regift that one.

 

Trust me on this.

8) Dick's Sporting Goods also enjoys a spike in gift card sales around Father's Day. Have you more recently given or received a gift card? At Christmas, I sent my oldest friend a Domino's gift card. Because that's her favorite. (Don't ask me why. She grew up in Chicagoland and should know better.)

 

9) In days gone by, ties were the #1 Father's Day gift. But as today's workplace has become more casual, fragrance has taken over the top spot. Dove Men+Care offers gift sets with shampoo/conditioner, body wash and antiperspirant. Think about your shower routine. Are your shampoo, body wash and antiperspirant all the same brand or the same scent? Nope. Right now I've got lavender shampoo and mint conditioner. Oatmeal body wash. My deodorant is "powder fresh." All different brands.

 

 

 

  

Gratitude Challenge: Day 19

I first took this challenge in November 2014 and I think now is a good time to revisit it. Click here for a list of the Gratitude Challenge prompts.

Day 19: Something that fills me with love My cats. Fur brings out the best in me, I guess. I am at my kindest and my most patient with critters. The world is filled with people who annoy or anger me. I can't think of a dog or cat who has ever stirred anything but empathy and affection.

 

 

Oh, Gal, SHUT UP!

From the day I became verbal to the day he died, my dad knew how to press my buttons. (It must be said it was mutual.) One thing he did that especially set me off was to make self-evident comments as though they were proclamations. Example: Instead of telling me not to jump on the sofa, he would pedantically announce, "This is a living room, not a jungle gym." To this day, that brand of condescension brings out the worst in me and makes me want to respond as if I were the author of Mad's Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. 

But now I'm nearly 70, not 7. I should have matured and moved past this. Yet I have not.

Tuesday I requested Christmas week off from the card shop. I thought I was being swell, giving the store manager more than six months to plan around me. Plus, it isn't even a full five days off. I am never available to work on Tuesdays and Christmas Day is Thursday and the store is closed, so we're really only talking three days: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also, it must be noted that I don't get paid for time off. It costs no one anything when I take myself off the calendar.

I was shocked when it came back on Wednesday "DENIED."  

I was certain it was a mistake and brought it up to my manager on Thursday. It was no mistake. She told me that her boss, Eric, has "blacked out" that week and told her she cannot approve any vacation time.

It took me a moment to absorb this. "But I will not be here that week. I will be in Michigan." 

I could tell she was parroting back exactly what Eric had said to her: "This is our busiest week and it's all hands on deck. No vacation requests are going to be approved. This is retail."

This is retail? Really? I thought we were hanging drywall.

This is retail? Really? I thought this was a Christmas Carol and I'm Bob Cratchit. 

I did not say any of this. But it was bubbling oh-so-close to my lips. Instead I said, "Well, I'm physically not going to be here that week, and now we know what to expect of each other." We left it at that.

What is likely to happen is that she won't schedule me. After all, we're talking about three days and many of the other girls want more hours, not less. If she does schedule me – and I hope she gives us enough notice – I'll just ask one of the others girls to take my shift. 

Or I will quit, and quit with a clear conscience. Because she knowingly scheduled me when she knew I was going to be away on Christmas with my family. 

At any rate, I'm glad I bit my tongue. She does not want to deal with this. I could tell her life would be easier if she could approve my time-off request. But this is her job and she's doing what she has to do to please her boss.

Sometimes, shutting up is the better part of valor. 

 

Photo by Fotos on Unsplash