The joy of children

Once again I spent Halloween on my neighbors' front porch--I don't like to be home alone giving out candy. Besides, they traditionally make a wonderful stew for supper. I contributed a pumpkin dessert dip that was pretty darn good if I do say so. So we sipped wine, ate well, and watched Jay give out treats to a constant stream of children and not a few adults.
Ours is one of those neighborhoods known for its generosity, so families comes from all over the city to trick or treat. It's a pleasure to watch most of them--the parents are watchful, prompting for that thank you and cautioning, 'Only one piece." The children are polite a few with a quick quip. My recognition of a Minecrafter figure impressed Jay--he had no idea what the kid was supposed to be. We were all impressed with the amount of parental work that had gone into the costumes, like the Minecrafter or the child who was an X-Box or something with a big box over his head topped with sparkling lights and a clear panel for his face. Best line of the evening came from an adult dressed as a banana. When Jay complimented him, he asked, "Did you find me appealing?" Sent us into giggles. Maybe the best adult costume was the woman who wore a sign around her neck--clearly an enlargement of the Heinz Mustard label--and a homemade headdress that looked like the squirt end of a mustard bottle.
The little children are amazing--some so determined they walk right up, others so shy they hang back. Many infants in mom's arms--clearly they wouldn't, or shouldn't, get any of those treats. One tiny tyke kept wandering off into the garden and had to be physically returned to the walk. A middle school girl, asked what she was dressed as, replied, "A nerd."
By 8:15 we were out of candy. Jay figured he and Susan and given out $200 worth of candy (I contributed about $25 to that total). Susan's dad and I, being the old folks, sat back and let the two of them do the work. But it was fun. At nine, the streets are still crowded, and Sophie is barking her head off about all those intruders. She's sure we're under attack. I haven't turned the porch light on yet, but do have some inside lights on. Poor Sophie--I meant to crate her and put her outside a bit before I was going to go, but then Susan came to see where I was and I left Sophie out--indeed, forgot her. She survived nicely, though I do worry about pets on Halloween. I've never heard of any malicious mischief in this neighborhood.
It was a nice relief to a tense day. My cell phone barely rings, and if I were to call you, you could barely hear me. It's either repair or upgrade, and since I'm eligible I decided to upgrade. Spent at least two and a half hours on the Web and then the phone with AT&T. Their web site kept giving me incomprehensible messages--200 MB version wasn't available. So what? I was requesting 300 MB! Three techs tried to get me through it, then transferred me to the phone where I learned, belatedly, that Apple has not released that many iPhone 5s to AT&T and the local store could only provide me with 64 GB--I don't need that much and don't need to pay $200 more for it. Finally ordered it through Apple, which was less complicated but still a lengthy process. I can pick it up tomorrow, but apparently tomorrow is a launch day for an iPad upgrade and the store will be a madhouse. Hate this kind of frustration.

Life without a computer

My computer went crazy about four o'clock last Friday. The cursor took on a life of it's own, darting all over the screen and ignoring my mouse efforts, both remote and on the laptop. If I did manage to coax it into position, clicking on the close sign did absolutely nothing. I called a friend's computer guru who recommended a shop that seemed halfway to Weatherford to me. Took it in Saturday--and there, oh sob! was a weekend without a computer. I literally live at my computer when I'm home and not doing household chores; I read with the email on; if I eat alone I do so in front of the computer. I start my day with emails and Facebook. OK, I'm a junkie, but this was pretty tortuous.
I made do with the iPhone and the Nook, emailing and reading Facebook on both, and spending a lot of time reading mysteries. Finished Julie Hyzy's wonderful Affairs of Steak, the newest in the White House chef series, and started Lucy Burdette's debut novel, Appetite for Murder, about an aspiring food critic--and a murder--in Key West. Hoped the computer would be back Monday but no such luck.
Monday night, the Nook and the iPhone both ran out of battery at the same time; the Nook takes 15 or 20 minutes before it can power up again, and it had the book I'm reading on it. Five minutes later the TV in my office went out. I was stranded in an electronic wilderness!
Today, I got a great review by Terry Ambrose at http://www.examiner.com/crime-fiction-in-national/skeleton-a-dead-space-would-be-realtor-s-nightmare and I could't print it, etc., a friend emailed to be sure I was not sick (nice that people notice when I'm missing) and another, by phone, said, "No wonder you were so quiet all weekend." I got an email that I have a guest blog due in two days. And I had by today compiled a little list of things to clear up once I got the computer back on.
Hurray! this afternoon Jacob and I drove in one of those cold drizzles all the way out Camp Bowie past Cherry Lane. With my back-roads routes, it was a bit of a journey and a cold one because it's one of those days when the car fogs up and you have to defrost with the a/c. Besides, Jacob complains about the heater, says it smells bad.
There's always, for me, a bit of trepidation when I first re-hook my computer, but all is in order, except of course my GoogleSearch history is gone, there's no list of recently viewed files. Oops, I have to see if all my stored email addresses are gone--so far I've just been replying.
But I'm back in the electronic world and happy about it. Tomorrow, I'm staying home and talking nice to my computer all day.

Triva--a bit of Chritmas, a bit about food, my iPhone, and a rant against editing Mark Twain

This is Santa Mac, my newest Christmas decoration--Santa for obvious reasons, Mac for my father, R. N. MacBain, who was always called Mac but never wore a kilt in his life. Jeannie picked this up somewhere and said when she saw it she just knew I had to have it. When I was taking Christmas down, I was hesitant to pack Santa Mac away, so now he's on my bookshelf. It's okay to talk about Christmas one more day since tomorrow is Advent or Twelfth Night. I have also excused the people whose outdoor lights are still up on this basis. More about Twelfth Night tomorrow.

Betty and I went to Hot-tubs last night--she heard me rave about it and wanted to go. I had the sliders again, gave one to her and still only ate one and a half. Those little cups of complimentary beans are filling. When we looked at the menu, we really meant to split white chocolate blueberry bread pudding for dessert, but when it came to it, we just couldn't. Next time I'll remember: Life is uncertain--eat dessert first. The people at the next table had the bread pudding and Betty asked me if we could ask them for a bite but I nixed that idea. We had a nice young waiter who ended telling us he graduated from TCU in '09 and played football with members of the team that won the Rose Bowl. That strapping young man said the victory made him teary. Nice to see young people not afraid to cry, from joy or sadness, and admit it.

I've been in appointment mode--a haircut, the dentist, and today the audiologist. But the absolutely exciting, neat thing about all this is that I can take my new iPhone. In waiting rooms I can read e-mail, check Facebook, and even read the currenet book on my Kindle. I can't tell you how excited I am by that (okay, I know half the world is ahead of me) or by the fact that I'm learning to do all those things and more on the phone. A most appreciated gift.

Heard on the news tonight that there's a move afoot to make Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer politically correct. One "scholar" has rewritten the works, changing the n-word to "slave." Can you not just hear Mr. Twain's reaction? My own is pretty vehement. You don't change classics, for starters. And I always remember my good friend C. L. Sonnichsen, the below-the-salt dean of southwestern historians (honest, that's how he described himself), who claimed if a word or thought or action was true to time and place, it belonged in the work. Elmer Kelton used to say we couldn't blame our great-great-grandparents for plowing up the prairie because they didn't know any better. Well that same generation used the n-word freely, and we should recognize that its use gives us a clearer picture of the culture. Another scholar was quoted tonight as saying the use of the n-word illustrated exactly what Twain wanted us to see in those books--that folks as different from each other as could be were able to form strong and important relationships. Edit Mark Twain? The mind boggles.

Too Old to be a Tekkie?

I got a new iPhone for Christmas, Lisa got an iPad and, and I was learning to add RSS feeds to my Outlook--big learning curve for both of us, Last night, Colin was going crazy, as one or the other of us called out, "Colin, I need help!" He declares that the problem with both of us is that we are impatient and want instant results. When I said I'd lost the Facebook icon on my phone, he found it. Today, he patiently walked me through adding an RSS feed again, and now I'm proficient at it. Well, sort of. I added Facebook to my phone all by myself, can take and send photos so I think I'm pretty good. I've had lots of trouble with the keypad--my fingers are too big. I bought a stylus and still rely on it a lot but I noticed today my fingers are doing better. Last night Lisa stayed up until 1:30 learning her iPad but before I went to bed she gave me a tour (on the iPad) of Central America. Then Morgan tried to show me Houston, and we got hopelessly lost in North America until we both collapsed in giggles. Jordan has announced she got a laptop for Christmas and she expects Colin's help with it tomorrow. Colin actually brags on me that for an old lady I'm a pretty quick learner for tech things--ah, triumph!

We decided we were housebound yesterday and had cabin fever, so today we went shopping--for fireworks, no less (Yes, I frowned in disapproval) and then to a clothing store where I bought a cute top I think I'll wear a lot. Later, we got out for a test run of blowing up their gingerbread houses that Colin and the children make from scratch. Apparently for the Houston Alters this is a tradition on New Year's Day, but they decided to do it early this year for the benefit of nephew Sawyer who loves explosions. I'll try to post the video below. We drove to a levee, far from houses, and did the test, which made Lisa scream and then laugh. But then everone looked for sparks that might ignite dry grass. We heard fire engines in the distance and had a moment of panic, but they were headed elsewhere. Quite an adventure for a grandmother who does not believe in fireworks in any shape or form. Besides, unless you were in the sun, it was cold as blazes out. My dog will sleep inside again tonight--too cold for even a heavy-coated Aussie.

It was a grand explosion, which has caused Colin to rethink his plan for the major explosion. The picture is of Kegan and Morgan with the test gingerbread house, the one Morgan made. She seemed quite philosophical about offering up her creation--and it was blown to smithereens. Here are the gingerbread houses before and a link to the video.