thefouramigosblog

What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?

I will start with Valentine’s Day! It’s the day I became engaged to my husband so it will always be special because of that. This year we went to a dance and my husband and I danced away the night.

St. Paddy’s Day. Although in not Irish, I grew up in New York and had many Irish friends. One year, we marched in the parade and then had a wild party at my loft. We kept a keg of beer on the fire escape to keep it cold. So fond memories.

Memorial Day was a day to get off from school and yes, more parades. Any holiday where I had time off from school was great.

July 4th. More parades but for many years I lived on a lake and we would have July 4th parties at our house. And fireworks around the lake to top off the holiday!

Labor Day not so much because it meant going back to school.

Halloween was always fun. When I was a kid we’d map out our route for trick or treating. It’s been a few years since I costumed up for this holiday.

Now I come to my favorite. At least it’s my favorite at this time of my life. Thanksgiving. My husband and I do the cooking and our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter visit so she can have her mama’s home cooking.

I usually make about a 20 lb turkey. I make sausage and apple stuffing which I stuff in the bird. Creamed onions and creamed cauliflower along with green beans almondine are on the menu. I used to make the green bean casserole but it was too rich with all the other veggies and everyone preferred the green beans almondine.

And what’s Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes and gravy? And of course sweet potatoes. Another one I scaled back from a sweet potato casserole to baked sweet potatoes. I also serve freshly made cranberry sauce.

For dessert, I make a pumpkin and apple pie and sometimes a cheesecake. Before dinner we usually have cheese and crackers and sometimes shrimp.

I get up early to stuff the bird and get it started. We watch the Macy’s Day Parade and then the dog show while the turkey cooks.

I usually have a few guests including my sister and her husband. My sister always helped me cook. She died in October so this past Thanksgiving was the first one without her. She was greatly missed. I usually have a few more guests so we are a party of 10 or 12.

I love the leftovers and make pot pies and hot turkey sandwiches. Everyone usually gets s doggie bag as well.

And last but not least is Christmas. My husband and I used to chop a tree down and have a village under the tree. We would set up a train, skating rink, churches, shops and houses. We even had a ski lift. But as we aged, this task became too time consuming and so we bought an artificial tree, gave the village to one of our children and now have a simple Christmas.

We do go to church on Christmas Eve and that is always lovely with the singing and pageantry. And often we are invited to someone’s house for dinner.

I know I left many holidays out but these are the ones that I like most!

Have you ever been camping?

Back in 1976, I traveled around the US for two months camping in many National Parks. From Shenandoah to Mount Ranier, my two-man backpack tent was all I needed.

So skip to 50 years later, I have this great idea to go camping again. We bought a two-man tent and a blow-up air mattress because I realized at my age I just can’t sleep on the ground.

We decided to test it out in Myrtle Beach where our friends had a camper by the ocean. We set up our little tent right next to their beautiful camper.

As you get older, your bladder is no longer as kind as when you are young. The first night I woke at least three times and so did my husband. As we walked across the campground towards the restroom, I could see with a yearning heart a Marriott in the distance. But, oh well, I was going to give this a shot.

The second night was way more challenging. Before we settled into our little temporary abode, the news was reporting bad winds and rain. We helped our friends secure their outside furniture and take in their awning.

I was sound asleep when suddenly I was feeling drops of water hitting my face. At first, I squinted and pulled the covers over my head. But a booming thunder and a flash of lightning made me sit up.

My husband woke and we watched as our tent was going in and out, as though someone was breathing life into it. We decided we better get out of the tent and go to our car. As we looked outside the tent, a river of water ran around us. And, yes it was a raging river.

I saw my friend’s light on in the camper and she was motioning us to come inside. We gathered the most important things and headed to the camper.

I made it in fine. But my husband weighed down with all our valuables, fell backwards into the river of water.

He finally made it in to camper soaking wet. My friend put on the coffee and we stayed there through the storm.

We sold the tent at a yard sale a week later!

When do you feel most productive?

It depends on what I’m doing. . When I was younger, my most creative and productive moments came between the hours of 1am and 3am. All was quiet and I could hear myself think. My mind was allowed to freeflow through insights, beliefs and truths.

When I worked as a writer, after lunch was my most unproductive time. Food made me sleepy and my wits dull. To avoid this I usually spent the time in the gym working out. The workouts stimulated me and my brain.

I think productivity can be measured also by how much you enjoy something. For instance, when I’m planning a trip, I’m very productive. I can work for hours researching places to stay and reading reviews.

But I hate housework. So I’m slow to start and find a million excuses to take breaks, and therefore it takes me much longer than someone else. That’s also called procrastination.

Lately, I’ve been looking forward to these little prompts. I write them during my morning coffee and read others as well.

One of the things I’ve learned in life is that whatever you decide to do, choose passion over pay. If you love what you do it will never be work!

What are your favorite emojis?

These are a few I use 👍🤗💕🙏🤣but that’s about it.

👍To say ok to whoever I’m texting with.

🤗 💕 for hugs and love at end of a text

🙏 if someone needs prayers I usually text the words first

🤣🤣🤣How I feel about this prompt

Ridiculous!!🤣🤣

What topics do you like to discuss?

Sometimes I love to play devil’s advocate when discussing a particular subject. Point counterpoint. If you like something I take the other viewpoint. It’s fun and engaging. It also expands the mind because we are not locked into our preconceived notions.

I don’t watch news that only supports my viewpoint. This way I’m well-versed in the topic.

With family we discuss history. Do you remember this or that? That happens with long time friends as well.

With everyone I discuss how we travel luxuriously on a budget. That’s always a subject with lots of questions for me.

Politics not so much unless it’s with people who don’t tear their hair out or attack when a viewpoint other than their own is expressed. I’m not crazy about radicalization on any side.

Spirituality and healing are great topics. That’s usually a calm insightful topic unless it heads in the direction of religion which is fraught with tension if the person is too rigid in his thinking.

But above all discussing anything is great fun if it’s filled with humor and compassion.

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

Many years ago I met a man. We had conversation and he was very nice. He was well spoken and smart.

One day I ran into him at my daughter’s school. She was 11. I said hi to him and making small talk, I asked “do you have a child in this school.”

His response was, “I have children in the memorial school, central school, middle school and high school.”

I said, “Wow! How many children do you have?”

His response, “five!”

My response, “nice seeing you.”

However, he pursued me and I took a risk. We have been married over 30 years and have built a wonderful life together. And all our children are grown and we now have 9 grandchildren.

Life is good!

Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?

I’m not sure how to address this since often I took action and regretted it. Often I needed to pause before I responded. But mostly this is with words.

But let me think back. Last year my dear sister died. She hadn’t looked well and had lost a lot of weight. Of course, she wasn’t much for doctors and it took my cajoling to get her there. Her doctor ordered a chest scan but it came back fine. No cancer. He told her he would see her in six months. She died two weeks later.

A part of me wished I had taken her in my car to an emergency room. Instead, we did nothing. She died on her couch sitting next to her husband.

So should I have taken action? I’m not sure. She died peacefully without tubes and tests or being a guinea pig for the doctors. It was peaceful! But I miss her and wish she had stuck around a little longer.

What makes you nervous?

Nervous? Sometimes everything. Sometimes nothing.

When I’m getting ready to go on a roller coaster at Universal Studios I can feel my stomach do a little flip flop. But I actually love the thrill!

When I was a kid and knew I had to present an oral book report in school, I would get so nervous I missed school. I still get nervous doing public speaking but have done it quite a bit during my life. I always feel nervous. Nobody can tell or at least that’s what they told me!

I used to get out and out frightened when I saw a worm. Yes, a teeny weeny worm. I could wrap a boa constrictor around my neck but a worm would send me into a panic attack. If it rained, I wouldn’t leave my house because all the gushy worms were all over the sidewalks.

But then one day later in life, my mother and I were talking about it. She said when I was little, about 2, my brother and his friend put me in a hole in the backyard that had lots of worms in it. Alas, the answer to the worm problem. Today I still don’t like worms but I can leave my house and walk on the sidewalks. Just don’t ask me to touch one!