Whew!

This "Tuck and Roll" stuff is getting to be ridiculous. Fran fell and told me she thought the whole tuck and roll idea had to be learned from childhood... at her advanced age it wasn't easy to develop. Since I have HAD experience since childhood, I am the expert.

Well, in the Chicago Ohare Airport I was juggling a carryaboard up an escalator and I lost my balance. I tucked and rolled... and rolled... and rolled, until someone turned off the escalator. A woman came over to try to help me while I was still rolling shouting frantically, "Oh, my God" over and over. God heard her because another woman shut the escalator off.

The airport personel came over to see if they could help me. Poor George had been in front of me and could only look down powerless to help. He soon came to my aid, too. They sat me down and I kept protesting that I was relatively ok. I wanted to catch the airplane. I said I had a lot of experience of falling!!! and I was pretty sure I was good to go.

I have a contusion on the back of my head (don't have to worry about that because I am a hard headed Norwegian!) and it only bled a little. Oofta. Otherwise none the worse for wear... except I broke two fingernails! Now that is serious... now that I DO have fingernails to break. I imagine I will have a few aches and pains tomorrow, but my glasses were unscathed, as well as my new ears, so all is well.

John and Hannah met us at Dulles Airport, we went out for lunch and then drove home to meet Matthew. (He had to go to school, poor guy, and didn't have the fun of the long drive.) John, Hannah and Matthew are now out for a walk and George is snoozing.

Well, I couldn't wait to regale you with the latest tuck and roll story. Take care.

wahoo

We had a very busy day yesterday trying to get ready for the trip out east to visit our family there. Got our flu shots, voted, got our eyes checked out, did some shopping, and stopped for coffee.

It is a relief to have voted. We no longer have to pay attention to the political ads, etc. And, of course, the flu shot will keep us well. Right. And I found out that it wasn't my imagination, my eyes were not doing as well as they had been. In six months we will do a bit of correction as needed.

We will be gone during Halloween. Shucks. I love seeing the little kids all decked out. I will be able to report on how they celebrate in Virginia. We also will be gone for the big voting day, and I am glad we remembered to do an absentee ballot.

Our beautiful Maple tree in the back yard is shedding its leaves at fantastic pace. I is about half bare and the ground is more or less completely covered. Wow. Fall is here. Is that why it is called "Fall." Because all the leaves fall? Anybody know?

Take care.

Hi ho

I don't know if you are of the same mind as I am, but I am so sick of some of the political ads on TV I could barf. Can we stand the ickiness until November 4? I guess we'll have to, or swear off TV. Which wouldn't be such a bad idea. I am definitely addicted to TV... and reading. The picture of the flag in the wooden vase from Brazil raises my spirits a little. I remember the thrill of seeing that flag in front of the embassy while we lived in Brazil. I was amazed at the wave of emotion that washed over me.

I suppose that we will survive. This campaign is so disappointing to me. It seems to wallow in divisive rhetoric. I feel so ashamed of some of the people involved. Sigh. Just two more weeks. Whatever you believe, be sure to vote.... Really. Vote.

When I look at some of the stuff on Facebook and other spots, I think there is no longer just a generation gap... there is a generation chasm. Can we still manage to hang on to our basic beliefs? We hold these truths to be self evident... ALL MEN (AND WOMEN) ARE CREATED EQUAL. Black white whatever.

I have faith that our country will survive. The fiscal crisis is shaking us back down to reality. All this bloated spending will come to an end. They are beginning to offer "Layaway" again at stores. Don't use your credit card, use layaway and pay as you go with the money you have. People must be reeling with the financial crises and also the scary election. This is not the time for scare tactics. In my not so humble opinion!

Take care.

OK already

I know I should blog another blog, but I don't feel very well. So you will have to cut me a little slack! Our book club was fabulous as ever. Those who wish to stick to the subject (the book) find our freewheeling discussion frustrating I imagine, but - hey - it's so much fun.

The vote is in! "The Shack" is a fantastic book. Get it, read it, give it to others. It will make a great Christmas gift. We had a wonderful time discussing it, but the book is so rich that one just drowns in any one part of it... in other words... it is hard to get all the fantastic parts talked about. We all agree we love our book club.

I'll try to write another blog about my propensity to fall. I have a whole lot of them to relate.

Take care.

Tuck and roll... not

I was looking for a picture of Naomi building bookcases in the garage and got this instead. Go figure. ANYWAY, when Naomi was here building bookcases in the garage, we decided to go to Kraemer's (now defunct) for supper. The streets were getting torn-up, so while George drove the long way around to take the car home, Naomi and I decided to take a leisurely walk home, arm in arm, chatting amicably as we went. We got to the stretch in front of the Covenant Church where there was (coincidentally) a flaw in the black top like that shown in the above photo. On that tiny flaw yours truly tripped and fell.

Now.. to the crux of the matter.. I do not lift my feet high enough! I managed to stop the forward motion of my foot long enough to lose my balance and crash to the ground, nose flattened on the blacktop, blood spurting in every direction. Quite dramatic.

It is true that I did not tuck and roll. I had my hand in Naomi's hand.. blissful togetherness.. which impeded my tuck and roll just enough to land flat on my face.

You are lucky that I cannot locate the picture of my face after the accident. It is a glorious example of how much I like to show a picture of myself with various ugly injuries. Go figure.

Take care.

oops

I was entranced by the photo of Fran hiking in the Montana mountains which was featured on the last blog. She has her two walking sticks, back pack and fabulous hat! She's really into it. I was glad to realize that someone was walking behind her because it was they who took the picture. We both have hilarious stories about falling precipitously with no apparent reason, so the sticks are reassuring, to say nothing about someone at the ready to help, if necessary.

She tells the story of walking along in Washington, D. C., and falling with no apparent reason. Her family members were chatting just in front of her and didn't even realize she had fallen and continued on their way for some time. She was helped up by strangers, if I have the story right.

And then there is the time when she took me to a week-long rug hooking event out east. We roomed together in a room in a Campground type place. We were reprimanded for being too loud! Who, US? Impossible. Anyway, we were walking along and she proceded to fall without any appreciable cause. The times that the two of us have done this are countless. Old fumble feet, that's us. (I suppose that should be "that's we"... but how strange is that?)

One of these days I will write about the times I have fallen. I will have to do it in installments, however, as the list is long. Tuck and roll.... that's the technique I have developed... Tuck and Roll.

Take care.... and TUCK AND ROLL.

Dynamo!!!!!

That intrepid hiker in the foreground is Naomi's dynamo aunt! Wow. Way to go!

Our book club bunch got together because Tamar, Carol Jean's daughter from India, wanted to meet us all. You have to be pushy to get a word in edgewise, but we have all developed the fine art of interruption. I know Emily Post would be horrified, but I say - whatever works.

We don't meet as a club for a week yet. It is interesting to get a little taste of the differing opinions on THE BOOK. I will report on that later.

George is still coughing. I am pretty well. Life proceeds! Take care