COMPUTER on the BLINK

My computer is on the blink. Most days I use it for trivial searches, to read papers and shop. But this week I needed it to do some important work. My best friend recently got a Pomeranian pup. So to honor her new adoption, I bought her a cute magnet, hand painted by an artist, on the East Coast. He sent it to my friend directly… instead of sending it to me, to send to her. The Post Office, via a tracking number says it got delivered yesterday. She checked her mailbox and says it didn’t arrive. I need the computer to send her all the documentation proving it did, so she can present it to her local branch and complain. If I can’t get online, I can’t do that task. To add insult to injury, another package I ordered from overseas, arrived leaking holy oil last Friday. (a message from God, no doubt) The bottle inside was half full and the box was stained. Apparently the lid had cracked in transit. Since this was a gift I contacted the seller to lament about the disappointment I felt receiving it in that condition. Of course they wanted proof, so I had to take photos of the damage. I need to download, and then process those photos, before I forward them to the company I ordered the product from. This takes time… and I need the computer. But with my intermittent computer problems, I can’t do that either. I also need to authorize a prepaid Visa card, at their website, so I can use it. But that’s also put on hold. So I sat down to write this and complain. Without the computer, I’m lost, floundering around, with no way to do… what needs to be done. My husband has other issues, he’s bogged down with… at the moment, and helping me get back online, is not… at the top of his list of priorities. So I sit here, wringing my hands in frustration. If and when this post appears on my blog, you’ll know the problem has been temporarily resolved. To fix it permanently… I may have to buy a new computer… which will only add fuel to the fire. Because… at this stage in my life, that’s a learning curve I don’t want to tackle. Fingers crossed it doesn’t come to that. Don’t you hate when your plans are thwarted by the unexpected? I think I’m going to get in my van and head to the grocery store later today and forget all about computing.

Thread The Needle, Singer and Covid19

Back when I was seventeen… decades ago, I owned a vintage Singer sewing machine from the 1800’s. The kind made before electricity. Found it at a roadside sale. Family was trying to raise money after the death of a loved one and put it out there for passerby’s, hoping to make a deal. Cost $20 or $30. My husband at the time, bought it for me, so I could sew baby clothes. You had to use a push pedal to power it and it was a daunting task. So using it, I was never a great seamstress, but I managed to turn out a thing or two. A few years later, my Nana bought me a more modern sewing machine, that got the job done much faster. I loved it. Used it… mostly to make hems and repairs. The old Singer languished away in the corner of the living room being ignored. When I got divorced, the babies and the sewing machines came with me… but the machines remained unused in the back of my parents garage… until I figured out what to do with my life. I eventually went back to school and worked as a store detective to pay the bills. One night… I met my current hubby at a party, and the rest is history. We’ll be married 40 years this July and will be together 42 years in October. Now you can guess my age. Anyway, he adopted my daughters and we went on to make a good life for ourselves… taking the sewing machines with us. I never touched them again until our daughters got into the Girl Scouts. Then… there were badges to sew, projects to do etc. However, when my hubby suddenly lost his job and we were strapped for cash, we were going to sell those sewing machines. But… thought otherwise, and shipped them back East to my parents, instead. My Nana was thrilled to have the modern machine and sent me some cash. My mom displayed the old Singer in her living room. Time passed, the kids grew up, my Nana died, and my mom no longer wanted the Singer. So her and my dad, put the two machines in the van, and drove them halfway across the country, to give them back to me. The modern machine got put up in the attic, out of reach. I had begun taking everything to a local seamstress. But… my hubby wasn’t thrilled about the vintage Singer sitting in our living room again, since my first husband had given it to me… so we gave it, to our older daughter, who had recently got married. Her husband didn’t like it either, so it got stuffed in the back of their garage, left untouched for ten years, until my daughter got divorced too. Then we had to move it to her new house. She didn’t want it inside either. Time and neglect had taken it’s toll on the old Singer and it wasn’t in good shape at all. I encouraged my daughter to find an antique buff, that might buy it, to restore it. But that suggestion fell on deaf ears… and it ended up in a big old barn, full of varmints... on her property, that she uses for storage. That’s where it still is. Sad... when I think about it, remembering all the times I used it as a young woman starting out. The reason it came to mind again, is because of Covid19. I bought a handmade mask a month ago, sewn by a nice lady, somewhere here in Suburbia, using her sewing machine. She made it with love, to help those of us, vulnerable to the virus. I loved this mask, until I discovered the elastic holding it in place over my ears... has frayed on one side, barely holding on by a thread, making it unusable. Without my old sewing machines readily available… I had to tackle the situation, using old weary hands that have neuropathy, to fix it. I went into my Nana’s old sewing tin and found an ancient wooden spool of thread. Being older than dirt… and needing new glasses, it took about 25 minutes for me to thread the needle. But I eventually did. And I’m here to say, my old sewing skills kicked back into place, and I fixed that mask with the same love that made it. So… thankfully I still have protection of sorts, from the Grim Reaper. But this exercise… reminded me of long ago… when I did stuff like this, on a routine basis, with little or no trouble. It makes my heart ache for simpler times. So much has changed in the world. My old vintage Singer is rotting away…. in a dark place, far removed from the hustle and bustle… of a technically advanced society, that has all but forgotten... this important relic of the past. But sitting here in my humble abode, I NEVER will. REST IN PEACE, my dear SINGER. Rest in Peace.

God Help Us All.

STAY SAFE

during these 

TUMULTUOUS

times.

Police Brutality

is NEVER okay.

In my life,

I've felt the brunt of it.

There are MORE than

a few bad apples.

A militarized police force

is NOT helping.

They've become 

desensitized.

What is happening 

to Blacks and 

the Mentally Ill

at the hands of cops

across this 

country, is wrong,

it is criminal.

And needs to be addressed.
George Floyd

deserved better.

He was murdered.

We must not allow

this kind of injustice to stand.

PEACEFUL PROTESTS

are being undermined.

Please 

STOP  

looting and burning 

down all that's been built up

over the decades.

More violence is
NOT 

the answer.

Those that are  

tearing it all down

with their actions,

brings tears to my eyes.

This is not just Antifa 

as some would like us to believe. 

It is all the
HATE GROUPS
crippling our country right now,

throwing wrenches into 

otherwise peaceful demonstrations.

The White Supremacists,

 White Nationalists and 

Neo Nazi's are out in full force

carrying their political signs

and spewing their hatred,

as they instigate this unrest.

They are the ones responsible. 

Americans are vulnerable,

they are hurting

and they are hurting

real bad, right now.
We are at a crossroads

as a nation.

We have been fighting 

a killer called 

Covid19, with thousands dead.

We have economic despair,

millions unemployed

and now this happens.
There is no leadership

only partisan divide.

We need unity,

not divisiveness,

not threats of more violence

by invoking

martial law, 

and calling people to arms

over second amendment rights,

so ‘authoritarianism’ rules...

as military tanks and helicopters

line our skies and streets.

This is America.

First Amendment rights count too.

All of us working together

can overcome this systemic racism.

America has lost 

her moral compass, it is true...

but we are better than this.

And we SHALL overcome.

GOD HELP US ALL.