marius

I LOVE forgetting about gift certificates and finding them later! Such a wonderful joy! Sounds like Baldur and Robert had a festive evening, and another one in the waiting!

In general, spouse and I prefer gift certificates. We have enough "stuff" so we prefer consume-able gifts: food, candles, gift certificates, anything that doesn't stay around.

One exception, last summer a friend gave me a bath pillow. She knows I love hot steamy baths, with candles and music. I thought it was the pillow was silliest thing I'd ever heard of, until I tried it! You blow it up, inflate it ... and then, ahhh. What magnificence!

Unfortunately, the cat with claws found said pillow, liked it, and now it's permanently deflated. Will have to find a new one. : (

Robindcr8l

I have a good friend who is in her sixties, and she and her husband are both lucky enough to have retired early while they were still healthy. Her motto for gifts is: "If I can't read it or eat it, I don't need it!" I pretty much stick to that motto for gift-giving with EVERYONE now, cuz there is some truth in that for us all!

Dragon

I love the bath pillows as well. They just make laying back in the bath and relaxing so much easier. I had one once that was kind of fuzzy on the front. It was nice to lay against but after several baths it started to take on the colour of my bath salts and look dirty. I usually find mine at the dollar store, they are quite as high a quality but they're cheap and they work and that's about all I ask out of them.

marius

Ohh - the dollar store! Had checked on-line, some selling for $14! Thanks for the tip Dragon. I am on my way ... well after dinner. : )

marius

Robin - like "if you can't read it or eat it." Funny!

marius

Dang it - I posted the following in the wrong place. I'm blaming Baldur because his "answer channel" confused me. (tee hee hee) Okay, okay, I take full responsibility ... just this one time!

Regarding cursive writing (versus Baldur's accursed puzzle - giggle) .... I emailed friend who teaches 4th grade and told her what belladonnis said, asked if she'd heard of trend to NOT teach cursive. Her reply is below.

"Oh, yes. This has been an ongoing issue for with us for 3 or 4 years. We have 'officially' been told not to worry about cursive as long as they can legibly write something. I, however write cursive on the board, so my students have to learn to read it. We (4th grade in my building) also send cursive handwriting practice pages once a week as homework. We require that they write the “daily language” sentences (two a day) in cursive, but we do this on our own. It is a crime, don’t you think?"

Yes, I do.

10 points for accursed, even if the adjective is a slight exaggeration. : )

Baldur

'All Baldur, All the Time'

Has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of matthew lately?

sheftali52

Yes, Baldur, the lack of matthew has indeed been noticed. Hope he's okay, and that business in the pool hall is booming.

Baldur

Perhaps you are right, he could be just racking up his balls so often there is no time for creativity.

Baldur

did Baldur just say that?
I refer of course to billiard balls

Baldur

I also need to crawl into bed to assuage (+6 points) my aching muscles.
Baldur spent the day sawing tree limbs, moving large stones and prying very old railroad ties out of the ground. In the process I dislodged several very large and active ant colonies.
Ant annoying was not part of the game plan but sadly it happened.

Good Night

sheftali52

Well of course you meant billiard balls! I'm sure the Baldur estate is benefiting from your outdoor labor. Too bad about the ants. At least they're not the fire ants that seem to be marching north. Good night, Baldur.

Baldur

Good morning,
all that work was not on the estate of Chez Baldur, it was on a neighboring property.

An elderly man had built a raised flowerbed on the corner as a memorial to soldiers stationed overseas, he vowed it would remain until every last one was brought home again.
It was framed in huge wooden railroad ties and had a solar lantern which was his version of the eternal flame.
He passed away and his widow cannot maintain it as it was now rotting and falling to pieces.
Baldur cleared a bit of land around it and is constructing a circular stone flowerbed 10 feet in diameter and slightly taller than the original. I couldn't totally demolish the old one until enough of the new one was built to hold the lantern, I shifted the lantern over yesterday afternoon and the last bit of the original structure was removed. That way the continuity wasn't broken.
Another neighbor is a scuplptor who designed a 9/11 memorial for a neighboring town, he wants to install the prototype of the statue in the new garden, the entire project was his idea.
I was the one who went to the widow and asked her permission to alter her husband's work.
She was actually quite happy to have it done as the condition of the original was rather sad.

sheftali52

Baldur, as a retired military person, Sheftali salutes you for the work you have undertaken on behalf of the memorial on the widow's property. I like the idea of the solar lantern. Speaking of memorials and such, Sheftali has had the honor of laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. That was a sobering and memorable time. I congratulate you and all who contribute to the memory of our military at home and abroad.

Login

I'm sure sheftali speaks for many of us.

Dragon

I think too many of us have fallen out of the habit of being neighbourly. I'm including myself in this as I live in a building with 12 units and I would be hard pressed to tell you the name of a single one of my neighbours. Baldur, it's so wonderful to hear you telling your tale of helping a neighbour not for any personal gain and without even having to be asked, just because you're a good neighbour who saw a chance to help out. Kudos to you for being the kind of guy who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty to help someone out!

belladonnis

Baulder you sound like an awesome neighbor! If you guys ever want to move down south there is a nice lot right beside my house!

marius

Baldur does sound like an awesome neighbor. My spouse does things like that too - always helping out the neighbors, friends ... he's like the "Radar O'Reilly" ... when people want something they ask him.

I suspect that description might also apply to Baldur? Seems like he keeps supplies running to those who might need them ... Matthew of -----?, and probably others.

marius

And ... where is our host this evening? It's been a good day and was hoping to cap it off listening to BR.

marius

Since there is no one to tell us about life in Rhode Island, here's a scene of life in Missouri. It was a tad bittersweet to pick the last of this season's tomatoes today. We saved the green ones for Mazie and hung them in a bag on her fence. Later, perhaps tomorrow, there will be a card on the fence, or perhaps something else.

Spouse cut down what remained of the tomato plants, I cut down my small cut-flower garden. My flowers in that patch were mostly done. The large cut-flower garden goes untouched for as long as possible - there are still numerous dahlia's, sunflowers, zinnias, and other assorted flowers in bloom. Hope to arrange at least two more gigantic vases before the flowers fade away for good.