BLOGAVERSARY 15th -- THANK YOU

Blogaversary -- my 15th on October 24th  -- Where have all the years gone?

I want to tell all of you how much I've come to appreciate getting to know you, along the way.   As I've aged, I've mentioned in recent years how my once large family and wide number of friends here and across the country have been, surprisingly to me, dying in significantly increasing numbers.   How very inconsiderate of them -- a thought with which most of them if still able would laughingly agree!

Never in my wildest imagination did I ever anticipate I would be deprived  of the presence of so many in my life as has occurred with contemporaries and especially those younger than me.  Somehow, though I knew differently on some level, I expected in my old age that most people in my life for whom I cared would be around at least as long as I was, especially my husband, or probably even longer.

After my husband died, I finally was able to begin participating more in some local interest groups to possibly form new friends filling the gap left by the death of the many friends I had acquired in moves about our country through the years.   I was surprised to discover new social relationships did not evolve as readily as they had in my earlier years.  Given the shortened remaining time in our lives can challenge building relationships.  That said, I recall one older long gone friend once told me, there are no friends like old friends.  

This proved to be true for socialization with any participants beyond the monthly meeting times of groups I joined, such as Night Writers, which ended several years ago.  Then, as the years passed, most aging members, even much younger ones, began moving away, or had to devote more time to their loved one's needs, with a few developing serious medical issues, others dying.

In another example, some book club members I learned were caregivers of a spouse or another, and this outing was their only respite time, a situation with which I could identify.  Others hardly had enough time and energy to sustain involvement with local family members, old long time friends, or those new ones they were developing in their nearby retirement community, so they regretted inability to predictably incorporate new people from outside their world into their lives.  Couples circulated almost exclusively with other couples.  All of this is understandable.  I discovered other bloggers reports of encountering similar situations where they lived, thwarting their efforts to form a new local social network.

When I stopped my part time work at age 79, after a couple years some unexpected complications aging can bring began gradually slowing my activities, surprisingly to me at what I thought was my young age.  Had I anticipated this I would have retired sooner, but life is unpredictable.  Of course, like all of you, the pandemic has impacted my life, altering my situation somewhat more and my further socialization efforts as I continue living in place in my home.

Blogging, when I began,  I had perceived from others was believed to offer a multitude of untapped benefits to many including opening the world to older people via the Internet, as well as providing an opportunity to participate in a community, especially for those who live alone or might not have family close by. This was a concept with which I agreed, though not necessarily thinking of blogging being that important to me at the time.  

Little did I anticipate or realize that blogging would, in the years ahead for me, become much more significant in my social life.  So, I genuinely and sincerely offer an inadequate "thank you", to every one of you for writing your entertaining, often informative, occasionally humorous blogs, taking the time to comment on my own conglomeration of thoughts, and offering the blogger community virtual friendship we all enjoy.

On to the current world in which I live .....

I had my annual medical examination with my doctor concluding I was still alive -- just as I thought.   I received this year's protective flu injection.  The end of this coming week I'll be the recipient of the Pfizer Booster jab in my other arm.  Then, I'll be all shot up for however long all that lasts!  ha

If you saw news reports or read about the "Bomb Cyclone and 'Atmospheric River'" lambasting California last week, that rain and storm was elsewhere, not where I live, just below SoCal's foothills.  I did observe we received only a very limited, meager, dripping-off-my-house's-roof amount of rain.

Now, we actually have summer again for a few days with temperatures pushing into the eighties, to be followed soon by cooling into the seventies.  There's even a hint (10% chance) of moisture for several days which will do little or nothing to lessen drought in our area, if the rain really arrives.

Never fear, I believe fall is still trying to come on the scene!  A favorite song of mine seems appropriate here as I think of fall, my favorite season -- the spectacular colors of changing leaves from Aspens golden yellows to Maples rich rusts and deep reds, plus color variations from other trees and shrubs most observable at higher elevations than my own and more profoundly in other parts of our country where I once lived.  

There was that memorable overwhelmingly colorful fall driving trip my husband and I made up the eastern Atlantic coast through states including New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, into Niagara Falls and Canada.   This was my husband's birthday month as well as my own and others in my family.   

I'm also reminded of Eva Cassidy whose vocal talents were just becoming recognized when she died much too early in her young life.

Autumn Leaves (official video) 

 Eva Cassidy & the London Symphony Orchestra

https://lnk.to/evacassidy.      https://blix-street.lnk.to/AutumnLeaves

Then there were fall memories after our family was started, taking our children to a pumpkin patch at what was predominately a nut farm the rest of the year, near what was then called the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park, to make their selections for later carving.  One pumpkin's flesh I made into a family favored pumpkin pie.  

Many years later after I became a widow, fall trips to Michigan included visits to a cider farm reminding me of when as a young girl in Ohio we had an apple press from which we made our own cider a couple years. 

Another year in Michigan, when my grandson was younger we had come full circle with a trip to a pumpkin farm that included more cider and a challenging walk through a corn stalk maze.  

And then there's Halloween's ghosts and goblins along with the distributing and gathering of all those goodies!

Perhaps fall has special memories for you, too, and blogging has made your life more enjoyable. 

Thanks again to one an all bloggers and especially those I've come to know here! 

BLOGAVERSARY -- MEMORIES -- INDIAN SUMMER

BLOGAVERSARY

Eleven years ago this week this blog was unintentionally launched onto the Internet.  Frantically searching into the wee morning hours, I was unable to find Blogger directions for removing that content I had been writing experimentally.   I couldn’t phone friend or family at that hour either for help.  I understood so little about digital technology then as I was still teaching myself how to use a computer which I had acquired for the first time earlier that year.   I panicked at the thought my words were irretrievably “out there”, which I’ve long since realized hardly mattered at all.  But, given my Internet naivety I reconciled myself there was nothing I could do but continue with the blog to save face, so to speak. 

AUTUMN MEMORIES

Writing for my blog, coincided with a major life change following my husband’s sudden death earlier that year.   Natural reminiscences prompted by his loss, my gradual aging-related recollections with the increasing passing of family and friends, has often stimulated my thoughts to reflecting on my feelings and life experiences. Often when I’ve sat down to write a blog post I’ve gotten side-tracked with some of those tangential tales.

So, I began writing those stories as they emerged, but in no particular sequence.  I’ve recounted a few, or portions of them, here, but the rest I consider personal, to be more appropriately appreciated for sharing with my adult children and, likely their children one day.   One fond memory, in abbreviated form here, often comes to mind when I think of fall -- and especially Indian Summer.  

INDIAN SUMMER

October, or autumn, has also happened to be my favorite time of year.   Living many years in a Great Lakes State we were treated to fall’s magnificent leaves colors of golden yellow, shades of flaming reds to rust and rich browns embracing the trees before gently falling to the ground in preparation for winter’s snows.   I looked forward to those years when late in the season we’d experience a period of cold temperatures or frost, then unexpectedly a brief episode of unseasonably warm, dry and calm weather would suddenly intrude ….. Indian Summer arrived…..as has this memory in subsequent years.

I had ended a relationship the previous year and a lengthy period followed before I began to notice in the Spring the presence of a nearby resident to whom I had previously never paid any attention, when he and his parents had moved there from out of state many months earlier.  I now became aware of this handsome young man who had a light olive complexion, short dark hair slightly receding at the temples, that said to me he was older, possibly close in age to my 23 years. 

He had a physical build one would expect to see today on someone who regularly did body building, though his 5' 11" trim muscular stature was just natural.  Few men engaged in exercise workouts then that I knew, as many do today, nor had he, I later learned.    I didn’t really date that much and didn’t really think of him as the type I expected to date. 

   

I was quite pleased though when almost simultaneously with my awareness of him, he phoned me for the first time.  That spring and summer we enjoyed each others company in as many fun activities as were available in the small town environment where I was living then.   I remember the increased rush of feelings I felt on those occasions when he began periodically coming to transact business where I worked instead of where he previously had gone, though we had no direct contact in the business place.   

We sometimes played penny ante poker with my parents.  He was clearly gambling card savvy, generally winning, and my strong suit of bluffing seemed not to work with him.   There were afternoons and evenings swimming at a large spring fed lake nestled in the hills outside of town.   Sometimes, we just walked together, talking or in silence, holding hands, sauntering past stores on the few short blocks of the downtown main street, only a short distance from where we each lived. Sometimes we visited the one popular darkened interior atmospheric watering hole, or further up the street there was the attraction of the local Isaly's ice cream store – which, coincidentally, has returned to the marketplace this year.

Television (black and white only, as color came years later) was becoming accessible with cable installations enabling more people to receive broadcast signals from the distant stations.  Their reception had previously been unavailable due to topography interference.  I don’t recall that we watched any TV, however.    Little did I know, though it had always been in the back of my mind, that before the next year ended I would be employed at one of those commercial television stations -- in spite of the fact Public Broadcasting was what initially interested me most. 

High Fidelity was being enhanced to stereophonic sound on our long playing (LP) vinyl records for the music we enjoyed.   Occasionally we went to the local movie theater.  Then there was the annual County Fair with those colorful “Dancing Waters”, rides including a Ferris Wheel, Tilt-O-Wheel, the fun wandering among the various animal barns, treating ourselves to the fast food only available at traveling fairs and carnivals. 

We experienced the always surreal to me Indian Summer that year after the summer turned into fall.   I remember those occasions when we lost track of time as conversation and our friendship took a more serious turn.   I think this may have alarmed both of us, since we each had quite different plans for our lives.  Just as suddenly as we had started dating, we stopped.  I had mixed feelings, but neither of us reached out to the other.  

Indian Summer inexplicably signaled the finality of more than just the season after a very special spring and summer.   There have been times over the years when I've wondered what became of my bronzed young friend.  I do know that though we would not have been a good long term match, fall seasons that have an Indian Summer are very special to me.

Here’s Sarah Vaughn’s rendition of a favorite “Indian Summer” jazz melody: