Sophie's Story

We went to a local guitar shop to drop the Alvarez off. C thought that the lack of humidity had done something to the neck and it needed to be adjusted. After we dropped it off we looked at the guitars hanging on the walls. One of them was a Tanglewood 12 string. You don't see many 12 strings in guitar shops. I think most people are afraid of them. She was hanging from her hook patiently waiting for someone to give her a good home. C approached her and gave her strings and experimental strum as he does with all guitars. The notes rang out like clear drops of sound into the air. C was pleased. He removed her from the hook, sat down and began to play. The sound was lovely. She had a good upper range and a nice firm lower range. C's fingers moved up and down the frets. His face took on a peaceful look. I knew that look. He was getting into the music and not thinking about the people listening to him or anything around him. Those are the times when he is truly relaxed. People comin...

George Carlin once said there are no bad words. There are bad thoughts and bad intentions, but no bad words. He's right. It isn't the word that's bad, it's the meaning that is given to it. Words are pretty nebulous when you think about it. A few letters, a few sounds strung together, nothing more than that. It's amazing how much power such a small thing can have. A few years ago I noticed my coworker, Lana, was upset. I asked her what was wrong. She'd received a note from her daughter's school. It seemed that Meg was having trouble in school and they suggested that Meg attend some special education classes. Lana was upset about this. "I don't want my daughter in a class with retards," she said. I smiled inwardly, I knew just what to say, "I was in special ed." "Wwhat?", she spluttered, "You?....but you're a pharmacist. You went to college! You're smart!" I nodded my head at the compliment. "True, but I...

Late last week C mentioned that he wanted to buy a juicer. We have an agreement that purchases over a certain amount must be discussed before the money is spent. I knew that a coworker had been preaching the benefits of juice to him so I wasn't surprised. I told him that I had no problem with buying one as long as it is used. I'm not a fan of decorative items. I prefer that everything we have be usable in some way. (Yes, my teapot and cup collections fall under this rule as well.) Justin, who works with C, has been telling him all about the benefits of juice. According to C he and his brother are very much into health and fitness and do quite a bit of research on this subject. This is good. I'm very much in favour of people who do take charge of their health. I don't agree with all of the things that some people do. For instance, the juice fast. A juice fast is where you prepare a concoction of juices that gives you all of the needed nutrients and that is what you consu...

I have a few Valentine's Day traditions I have started now that I have a real valentine of my own. I put on a cream coloured sweater with the big red heart in the middle of it and wear it all day. I also wear the solitaire garnet that C gave me when we were first engaged. I give the cats a special treat with their breakfast because I love them too. Today in honour of the day, I would like to share with you ten reason why I love C so much. These are in no particular order. 10. He would never make an anatomically correct Jello heart covered with cherry syrup as a Valentine's Day present. (Yes, I did have an ex boyfriend who did.) 9. He is tall,dark and handsome. 8. He has a cute accent. 7. He has good taste in clothes and has even picked out some nice things for me. 6. He plays a 12 string guitar. 5. He likes Frank Sinatra, Keely Smith, Rosemary Clooney,Bobby Caldwell and Blackhawk. 4. He can cook. 3. He likes football and doesn't mind that I occasionally yell at the TV set. ...

"Someone is following us..." The minute I heard those words I knew what was coming. Patricia was Grammarian/Wordmaster at last week's Toastmaster's meeting. The word of the day was "inconceivable". The first thing I thought of was a part of the movie, "The Princess Bride". If you haven't seen it, you should. The part that I was thinking of was the part where someone uses the word"inconceivable", but doesn't know what it means. Patricia was doing the scene from the movie to use the WOD (word of the day) in a sentence. I started to laugh. I tried to stifle my chuckles, but couldn't. By the end of the scene, I had my face down on the table in front of me laughing so hard that tears were coming out of my eyes. Patrica is the most put together person I know, her clothes and makeup are always perfect. She is well read,well travelled and extremely well educated. The last thing that you would expect her to do is a scene from "The...

A few weeks ago I went into a favourite tea shop of mine. I was low on a few of my favourites and needed to restock. I approached the counter with my empty tins. The sales person looked and the tins and handed one of them back to me. "We don't carry this one anymore," she said. I took a deep breath. It was a cocoa ginger flavoured herb tea that had become one of my favourites. "Why is it that I find something I like here and then you stop carrying it," I said. I went on to list three or four other flavours I liked that they the quit carrying. I told the sales person that I could understand that sometimes things are in short supply for various reasons, but I was tired of never knowing whether I'd be able to get a kind I liked a second time. I asked her if they were still carrying two other flavours that I liked, but didn't need at the moment. She said yes. My rant over with, I asked her what they had that would be close to what I couldn't get. She loo...

C and I have a five year "Question a day" journal. Every day there is a question to answer. The same question is repeated again the following year on the same day. A few days ago the question was, "Who do you want to be?" Unlike some of the other questions in the journal this was an easy one to answer. In fact, I thought it was sort of a silly question. There was only one answer. I wrote it down. Me. Having said this,I do admit to the fleeting thought that it would be interesting spend a little time as someone else. It would be interesting to be Marie Curie, for instance. What would it be like to discover an element? (Actually I think she and her husband, Pierre Curie, discovered a couple of them radium and polonium if I remember correctly.) What would it be like to be Florence Nightingale for a bit or maybe Helen Thomas? I would not actually want to be any of these women. I would just want to be able to experience some of the things that they experienced from their...