How sweet it is!

On a phone call from New York my year and a half old granddaughter wishes me 'Ha-pee Noo-ga' (Happy Hanukkah). She says it so sweetly and carefully I break out in a big smile on the other end of the line. She speaks more clearly with each passing week. My mother was right...she told me I would see how enjoyable the grandparent/grandchild relationship would be. I remember when we took my other granddaughter (now three and a half) around the village center in Scarsdale and she would point and exclaim "..n'orah!" (menorah) whenever she would see one in a store window or in the park. Charming. And I have to hand it to my son's mother-in-law who lives with them and tends the children and has done a great job in being with the oldest child in furthering her Jewish education. She's quite a person!

Close call

I had such a close call this morning. I'm still trembling in my hands a little bit from pulling so hard on the emergency brake.
Last night, rainy and warmish for this time of year, a raccoon took up residence in an opening in the roof between the garage and the house - as it has done may times in the past. I went out about 8 am to have a look which meant setting up an 8 ft stepladder. To do this I had to meve our 11 year old Volvo out of the garage so I'd have enough room to look into the opening from a little dustance in case the animal tried to jump at me.
It was hard to start the car as the battery was weak but I backed it out and decided to drive around the street to recharge it a little. Just as I was turning down one street the accelerator stuck to the floor and the vehicle started hurtling ahead faster. I pressed on the foot brake and pulled on the emergency brake with all my strength but the car wouldn't stop and everytime we hit a slushy section I could hear the tires spinning at high speed. So frightened I had stopped breathing I finally realized that all I had to do was turn the key off. Which I did and the car came to an almost immediate stop. Somehow I got the car back home gingerly, realizing that I could have injured or even killed someone walking in the road. At one point in my confused thinking I thought I would have to crash into a house in order to stop!
Back in my house (my wife was out for her morning walk at the time) I made myself an espresso and thought 'maybe the raccoon was trying to tell me it was useless to try and dislodge it and that I'd better leave well enough alone.' So now I'll just try to live with the noise if it happens. After all, my house stands in the coon's native habitat.

My newest love

Nothing beats the thrill of being able to complete a challenging crossword puzzle. That's right: I said crossword puzzle. Monday through Saturday our local paper, the Burlington Free Press features a crossword puzzle that grows increasingly challenging as the week goes on. A little over a tear ago I was satisfied to be able to do Monday...then a few weeks later Tuesday. Finally, I can now do EVERY day of the week. It gives me something to look forward to every morning! Sometimes they take six hours, or more, to complete even with the smart input of my wife. I'd say it's our most enjoyable together activity of all time. You can actually observe how your brain works to associate and recall and it's fun to have a PC nearby to aid in the research of facts. Oh the feeling is satisfying when the letters fall into place to form the correct word or phrase. Sometimes I even raise my fists in the air and pump like when an NFLer catches a pass and scores a touchdown!
Now my next challenge is to learn how to do the Sudokus...

Our latest visit...

My daughter-in-law (DIL) is a very candid (i.e. shockingly blunt) person and I just have to share this latest gem with the rest of you:

I went shopping at Whole Foods with my DIL to get some bread and at the same time pick up a mirror she had ordered at Fortunoff. Then, in a brazen act of defiance toward her skinflint husband, she said she wanted to go to some furniture stores to look for a new sofa. Enjoying the thrill of being out with another profligate shopper (me) she went in a couple of stores and tried out all the easy chairs and sofas as though she could buy anything she wanted. On the way home I asked her why she didn't want to get something used on Craigslist (as she had already done with some of their other furniture.) "Because I don't want everybody else's farts in my sofa before I buy it, I just want mine!"

Take that! (I don't think she and her spouse got on that well after he tried to humor her out of the purchase.) It remains to be seen what happens.