Month: January 2013

A Club

The Big Daddy started riding with a group of guys every Saturday morning a couple of years ago.  When the weather turned colder, they’d retreat to the warmth and comfort of their suburban homes and put the spandex away until spring.

But not everybody.

The BD found out that one guy continued riding every Saturday morning, regardless of temperatures, and decided to join him.  For The BD does not let anybody outman him without a fight.  Off he’d go to meet his biking buddy, and even if he came in stiff as a popsicle wrapped in lycra, he’d say that he and Joe had a great ride.  Or at least that’s what it sounded like he was saying.  It was hard to make out because his lips didn’t move until he’d stood under the vent for a spell.

Before long, they named themselves The Polar Bear Club and he’d set the alarm every cold Saturday to go meet “the club.”   I was confused.

Just how many people did you say are in this club?

Well, there’s two of us.  Me and Joe. 

That’s not a club.

Yes it is.

No……….a club is a group of people.  

We’re a club. 

The Shriners are a club.   The Loyal Order of The Buffalo is a club.  The International Order of the Friendly Raccoons is a club.    Captain Kidd and the Mateys?  Club.  Two guys on a bike in January?  Not a club.

Two people can make a club.

Yeah, but it’s not really legit since a club is a group of people.

A club is in the eye of the beholder.  We’re beholding The Polar Bear Club.

And so it’s gone these past winter months this year and the year before.

This weekend, five bikers showed up to ride before the sun came up with a temperature at 35 degrees.  Some snow.  Some ice.  Some wind.

Some crazy fools on bikes getting their club on with no lodge in sight.


Preheating the Oven

We just got back from a trip to see The Queen Mum and the family.  For the last few years, The Big Daddy and I split up for the duration.  Mallie Bee and I sleep at Mom’s house, Mark, Will, Maggie and Nathan sleep at my sister’s.

Trouble in Paradise?

The Big Daddy and I used to sleep together on our visits, but The Queen Mum likes her house nice and toasty throughout the year.  She keeps her thermostat at 72 degrees in the winter.  Just like Florida.  In the summer, she keeps her air conditioning at 80 degrees.  Just like not turning on the air.  Sometimes she’ll get a chill and say, “Is anybody else cold or is it just me?”  It’s just you, Mom.  Then she cranks up the heat some more and we all lounge around like animals in the zoo waving our tails once in awhile to feel a breeze.

The Big Daddy and I would try to sleep in a bed with flannel sheets and sweat, while every few minutes the furnace would blast more hot air into our already stifling room.  Some nights we’d open the window, regardless of the frigid Chicago temps, just to feel some fresh air.

By morning we were zombies.  Sleep-deprived, baked zombies and so he moved across town to the digs of my sister and her husband who like their house a little chillier and a lot more internet accessy.

Mal and I stay at Mom’s where there is no limit of good snacks and a remote that jumps between QVC,  Say Yes To The Dress and the soaps.

While it is still too warm for my menopausal self, The Mum always keeps at least two bottles of her homemade moonshine……………Irish Cream in the fridge.  A couple of shots of that, a closed vent and a wobbly ceiling fan and it’s just like vacationing at your favorite sweat lodge.

The Grandmas

This is a repeat from awhile back.  We went to Chicago for a few days and I saw my aunt and uncle – the brother and sister of my dad.  My aunt moved to Florida and so it is rare that her and I are in the same place at the same time.  She says she reads my blog and this one is her favorite, so this is for my Aunt Alice.  She took me and my sister to our very first movie………….Mary Poppins, and that’s when I started believing in magic.

The first time my mom went to my dad’s house she thought his family was rich because their house was so nice.  Not even close.  My grandpa was a mechanic for the city bus line.   My dad used to say that my mom’s mom could make a ten course meal at the drop of her hat.  Not so, but she was able to pull things out of her fridge and put them in little serving dishes so that lunchtime looked like a tapas restaurant.

I have no idea how financially secure either one of them were but like most women of their generation, they had the ability to make something out of nothing.  A long time ago, that virtue was tossed aside so we could dive headfirst into consumption which doesn’t seem to be giving anybody great results.

I keep pictures of both of my grandmas close by.  Like one, I love to decorate.  Like the other, I can make something little look like something big.  They left this earth many years ago but their spirits remain nearby, teaching me that making do has always been about making a life.

A New Year

I have never been one to make New Year’s resolutions.   This is due to a combination of arrogance (what do I possibly need to change about me????) to laziness (there’s so much wrong with me I don’t know where to start).  I’ve been thinking a lot about resolving some things and so my 2013 mantra is………..

Pay attention.

Pay attention to…………………

1.  What I spend.  If it’s on sale or at the thrift store and I am madly in love with the price point then I need to walk away. 

2.  What I eat.  My tank is compromised with sugar.

3.  What I say.  Though snarky runs in my blood, it’s not necessary to haul it out for every occasion. 

4.  To creative urges.  I have traded the joy of being creative for a paycheck.  There is a balance to be struck and I need to find it.

5.  To wasting time.  When I have a day off, I need to not surf the computer most of the day and instead work on #1 thru #4.

6.  To listening more than talking.

A new year, another dance around the sun and a fresh start…………lucky be thy name.