JUMP ROPE

Did you play "jump rope" when you were a kid?  I was thinking about that today.  We had recess twice a day at school, a 15 minute break in the morning and in the afternoon.  There was also a longer noon hour, but most of us walked home, had lunch, and then walked back to school.  There were several games we played on our macadam playground.  No soft wood chips for us!  When we fell we got up with bloody knees and elbows.  Scabs were almost universal.

Jump rope was a popular recess pastime.  We had several chants to accompany our jumping.  I was remembering one that went this way: (using the name of the next girl in line while the current girl was still jumping): Vote, vote, vote for Margy.  Margy's waiting at the door.  Margy is a lady and she has a hundred babies, and we don't need Linda anymore!"  Linda jumps out of the jump rope and Margy jumps in.  The chant is repeated with the name of the next girl in line. And they were always, only girls.  I think the boys played mostly marbles. If I had music score paper I could write down the tune.

Another sing-song chant went like this: "Down in the valley where the green grass grows, there sat Judy as sweet as a rose.  Along came Dale and kissed her on the cheek.  How many kisses did she get that week?"  Then the girls holding the ends of the rope whipped it around at double speed while Judy tried to jump successfully as often as possible, with the other girls counting, 1...2...3....  And that, supposedly, was how many kisses Dale gave Judy that week.  (At that point in our lives, not one of us was being kissed!)

I often think of these old time things.  Also of songs that I learned as a child, such as "Barney Google, with the goo-goo-googlely eyes!  Barney Google had a wife three times his size.  She sued Barney for divorce.  Now he's living with his horse.  Barney Google, with the goo-goo-googlely eyes!"  What fun nonsense!  We would put our faces right up against each other, close our eyes, and say, One, two, three, google eyes! And open our eyes, staring crosseyed into our partner.

There was a nice little gang of kids who lived within a few block radius that hung out together.  We played softball on a dead end street.  We rode our bikes to Franklin Park, a mile away to go swimming in the summer--free, in a city pool with life guards.  We played hide and seek and "ghostie" a twilight game played around the outside of a house, preferably with shrubs and other places to hide.  We liked to scare each other.  We also played "eenie, einie over" in which we were on either side of a house, preferably the back extension which was just one story high.  One group threw a ball over the house and the group on the other side had to catch the ball, run around the house (the mystery was which was to run, which way those who were "it" would come from) and try to catch the kids on the other team.

There was a kind of naughty song we liked to sing:  Oh, I wish I was a little bar of soap, Oh, I wish I was a little bar of soap!  I'd go slippery, slippery, shiney, over everybody's heinie, Oh I wish I was a little bar of soap!  Actually, I think the verb form was: I wish I were....  The subjunctive was still then a recognized and respected verb mood along with indicative and iussive.

My sister (two years younger) and I were fortunate to have as friends two sisters who matched our ages.  We did so much together!  I remember all sorts of card games, monopoly, Chinese checkers, Parchesi, passing many summer afternoons and evenings with the four of us.

Well, those were the "golden summer days of youth" all right!  Nice memories to have, now that we are the "old folks."

A REALLY GOOD MEAL

I picked up a bag of prepared salad yesterday.  It has broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, and chicory.  For supper tonight there was a large half chicken breast thawing in the fridge.  In the freezer were four cheese biscuits (homemade) left over from Wednesday evening's dinner.  These were heated up in the microwave.

The chicken breast cut into four pieces and breaded was ready to go on the George Foreman grill.

To the salad I added the packet of dried cranberries and roasted pumpkin seeds that came with it and then also added some fresh, fat blueberries and some ripe strawberries that I cut up.  A packet of poppyseed dressing was included.  The crowning glory of the salad was some little lumps of goat cheese.     
                         

It was a very tasty, healthy meal, very easily prepared.  Just how I like to cook and just how we like to eat!

MORE PROBLEMS

No pictures this time.  The glass doors on our shower stall fell off the clamps.  Everything here is getting pretty old.  The condo was built in 1987.  It's possible that the walk-in shower was put in later, but I don't know about that.  The doors were held on by two fairly small clamps that were connected to the shower stall with rollers in the top bar.  It was a poor design.  The glass doors were very heavy and the clamps were not very big.

We had the same problem a few years ago and a handy man fixed it up for us then.  They didn't seem "fixable" anymore, so they went to the recycle.  I took the tension bar and shower curtain from the second bathroom and put them in place of the glass doors.  Tomorrow I need to go shopping for another tension bar and shower curtain.

Hope we're finished with that sort of problem now!

PLUMBING PROBLEMS

Our place here was built in 1987 and sometimes it shows.  The bathroom with the main bedroom has been having toilet troubles.  Shortly after we arrived I turned the water on at the point where it comes into the condo and then flushed the toilet and heard a big bang!  It scared me.  I wondered what was wrong.  The cause was air in the water pipes.  Once I figured that out, I didn't worry about it.

But later when I went into that bathroom, I found the floor flooded with water--clean water fortunately!  I turned off the supply to the toilet and investigated.  That initial big bang of air from the water supply more or less blew the control of the float valve off, so it continued to run.  BIG PROBLEM!!!

I went into the second bathroom and examined the toilet there.  I saw that the arm of the float valve that turned off the water could be screwed back on.  So I did that and turned the water supply back on.

OOPS!  When I happened to go there again later the floor was again flooded.  What happened?  I think maybe the connection to the float arm had been stripped.  I turned off the water supply again.  Things were pretty busy just then, so we left the toilet turned off and used the second bathroom.  A few days later I got in touch with Dennis and he came over to fix the toilet.  I had bought the parts needed at Walmart and he installed them.

It was a real struggle for him to deal with the old, rusty screws and other parts in the toilet.  He sweated and grunted and persisted--and finally the job was done.  Now another problem has showed up.  The tank sits too loosely on the base and that's leaking.  He's coming back tomorrow to see if he can add some washers to those connections.  Otherwise, it looks like we need a new toilet.

On another topic, this past Sunday our pastor preached a very good sermon based on Psalm 8 and dealt with "earth keeping" -- very timely.  We try to have a small footprint.  Back home in Alberta we are able to keep our trash to the very minimum--just a few garbage cans of trash go to the dump each year.  All of the organic waste (and we create a great deal of that!) goes into the compost.  We recycle everything else possible; styrofoam is the one exception that cannot be recycled there.  So I buy eggs in cardboard cartons, and try my best not to bring home any other styrofoam.

We use reusable bags for our groceries.  I do that here, also, but this morning by the time I got to the checkout I realized I didn't have those bags with me.  I parked the cart and went to the car to get the bags.  Oh, Oh, they weren't there, and then I remembered they were still by the living room door.  So I went through the checkout with my rather small load of groceries, and they came home in these: 12 FLIMSY PLASTIC BAGS!  Several things had been double bagged.  Some items were one in a bag!  I hadn't been watching closely enough as the cashier transferred them to bags.

                             

Have you been watching the PBS News Hour series this week on The Problem of Plastics?  I'm am just appalled to be part of that problem today!

JONATHAN OKSENIUK, A VERY FINE AND VERY YOUNG MUSICIAN

I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful concert this afternoon: Jonathan and Victoria Okseniuk performed on violin and piano at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City West, AZ.  Victoria, 10 years old, accompanied her 12 year old brother on just one song: a lovely hymn arrangement.  Jonathan starred in the whole of the program, on both violin and piano.

We didn't have a printed program, so this is the order of the music from my sometimes faulty memory.  Jonathan began with a Bach unaccompanied partita, I think it was #3, the Minuet and one other movement.  We listeners were awed at his facility and nuance in the performance.  He followed that up with a movement of a Mendelssohn violin concerto, accompanied by his piano teacher (whose name I don't have).  Again we were amazed that a 12 year old could perform at that level.  That was followed by three numbers: a Fritz Kreisler piece (lots of fireworks) a Chopin Mazurka, performed on piano by Jonathan, and a piano duet with his teacher, written by Mozart.

Jonathan then played a lovely hymn arrangement (forgot which hymn) and then Victoria accompanied him as he played a violin arrangement of another hymn (likewise forgotten, even though recognized and enjoyed in the hearing of it).

There was a short quiet time as a collection was taken up to help support these young musicians and their parents.

The program was concluded with a piece by Saint Saens, another brilliant display of mastery of musicianship by the very accomplished and very mature young violinist.  The concert was a "rip-roaring success" as proved by the very enthusiastic and sustained applause of all present.

There was opportunity right afterwards for photos and I was able to capture a few:
Jonathan, the piano teacher/accompanist, and Victoria:

The Okseniuk family:

I give a great deal of credit to Mr. and Mrs. Okseniuk.  No young musicians reach this level of mastery without the total and complete support of their parents.  As Mr. Okseniuk remarked to me: Most of the credit goes to their mother!  As a retired Suzuki violin teacher, I recognize the depth and extent of their support of and involvement with their children.  Congratulations all around!

IN THE WARMTH

Well, we are in warm (sometimes hot) Arizona once more, and just in time!  Back home there's been snow and the thermometer struggles to get above freezing during the day.  We had a few days of rainy weather, sometimes heavy rain here.  That's always welcome in a dry area!  But it meant that we didn't take advantage of the pool here.  Jim did get there today and yesterday, but I had choir rehearsals both days--and an orchestra rehearsal on Wednesday morning.  SO NICE to be back in music activities!

So we've been busy, first packing up, then travelling, and then unpacking.  I didn't do such a good job this year.  We both have just one pair of shorts to wear, so we need to go shopping.  I also forgot to pack my "concert clothes"--a long black velvet skirt and a nice black velvet top.  Fortunately there are lots of places nearby to shop for clothing.

Not much else to report now, but I'll be posting as, hopefully, some interesting things happen.  Have a good fall season!  To my Canadian friends, have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!