Sound Barrier
Listening to: Boston Pops with Arthur feidler - Christmas
Reading: Jewels of the Sun Nora Roberts
Weather: 35, sunny WINDY!!!!
Trivia:Who first used the freeze-drying process?
The process of freeze-drying was first used by the Incas of Peru who stored their vegetables near the peaks of high mountains. There,they froze solid. Over time, the frozen water sublimated into the thin mountain air (converted directly to vapor without passing through the liquid state), leaving behind the perfectly preserved, desiccated vegetables. Modern freeze-drying started during World War II to preserve blood plasma for use at the front lines. Today, freeze-drying is done using flash-freezing and vacuum dehydration. Freeze-drying preserves almost all the nutrients of foods, as well as the important flavor elements.
Cool word:dunnage [n. DUN-ij]
Dunnage can be loose packing material that is used to fill and level off a ship's hold before the cargo is added, or it can be your personal baggage. It can also be the padding in a shipping container, like styrofoam peanuts or bubble wrap. Some sources claim that the origin of this word is unknown, listing various theories. One theory says the word comes from Low German "dunne twige" (brushwood), since that was often the material used as dunnage in ship's holds in the 1800s. Another theory is that it comes from Dunlop, a town in Scotland. However, the American Heritage Dictionary says the origin is Middle English dennage, from Middle Dutch denne (flooring of a ship), which makes sense to us. The dunnage room of a ship is where the crew is bunked, and it used to be where the dunnage was stored when not in use.
Did anyone hear the sound barrier broken this morning? It was me driving down the Mass Pike. If I’ve driven too fast in the past, I reached a personal best today. I was absolutely out of control!
Fortunately, speed traps weren’t part of the police agenda for the day.
I managed to get to Northampton, buy the two cemetery logs, go to the cemetery and place them on the two headstones (which are located in different parts of the cemetery) and be in the downtown area in less than an hour and a half.
Putting logs on the headstones is a thing my mother insists on. I think it’s an Irish-Catholic thing, so we do it every year. It was much easier during the ten years I was living in Northampton, but now it requires planning and an excursion.
I know it’s important to my mother, so it gets done. Catholic guilt is a wonderful thing.
So I went downtown and I found a parking spot (on the street!) that I could just drift into, didn’t require any parallel parking skills, which is a good thing as I don’t possess any.
Downtown Northampton is full of funky little shops that often have neat doo-dads. It is very un-malllike and it’s fun to wander there. I love to go to the art store to look at the paper they have, and to check out any new inks or other toys that mike be fun for stamping and collaging.
I found an interesting import store that had beautiful Christmas ornament, many of which had a legend attached. Like the spider, which I didn’t know about. So I got my mother a spider web ornament. I got Dee a guardian angel.
I spent about an hour and a half wandering, and got a new stamp (I know the shock waves are resounding here) and some neat wrapping paper that I’ll sue for card backgrounds, not for wrapping.
You don’t have to tell me I’m strange. I’m well aware of it.
I then decided to go to the mall, which I knew might be a mistake. It was. Only in that it took about forty-five minutes of frustrated driving around in search of a parking space. I did find one, which was closer to Timbuktu than it was to any stores.
I really wanted to check out the new Target store. What a disappointment! It’s not nearly as good as Wal-Mart. I didn’t buy a thing.
I did go to the craft store, as they had been carrying stamps I was interested in last summer, but didn’t buy, as I assumed I’d be able to find them at the branch that I normally shop at. But the local store never stocked them.
So I bought two. If there are any stampers out there, they are the Elizabethan animals from PSX. Really cute.
I also went to Sears to get jammies and a robe and silk underwear(Longjohns) for my mother. I ended up buying a sweatshirt, three turtlenecks and a dress for myself. The dress is really too big (!),so I’m going to go to our local Sears today to see if I can find one in a smaller size. If I can’t find one I’m going to keep the too big one and swim in it. It’s a very comfortable pale blue knit jumper and I’ll get lots of use out of it, big or the correct size!
I also did the obligatory trip to the Christmas tree Shop, and got some things like gift bags. I didn’t spend my usual arm and a leg.
At about three forty-five I left the mall and was home by five. I drove fast, but not as fast as I had on the trip out there.
As for my father, they’re waiting until Monday to see if they can get him to a hospital. It’s way too complicated to explain. But I think his doctor is a quack. He hasn’t seen my father in over four years, yet continues to prescribe medication. How can he do that? My father has lost weight, and is going to be eighty-five in two weeks. Shouldn’t the doctor insist on seeing him?
Of course this is the doctor who LIED to me about the care he was giving my mother after she had her stroke ten years ago. It wasn’t until after her car accident five years ago that I was able to convince her to dump him.
Unfortunately we can’t get my father to do the same thing.
I’m jumping on the on-line journalers bandwagon here. Anyone want a Christmas card via snail mail? If you do just e-mailAnyways if you want one, let me know. Even if you don’t live in the U.S. Distance is no object!
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