Sophie's Story

  Several weeks ago I stumbled onto an old TV show called "What's My Line?" It is a game show where a panel of four experts/celebrities try to guess the occupations of the guests brought before them. They can dig for information by asking questions that can only be answered yes or no. For every no answer the guest gets five dollars. Once a total of $50 dollars is reached the game is over and the guest wins. (Sometimes the guest wins if the panel runs out of time and has not guessed the occupation.) On every show there is a mystery guest who is a public figure of some kind. The panel is blindfolded and has the guess who the mystery guest is using the same yes and no questions. This show ran from 1950 to 1967.   One of the things that struck me is the manners of the panel and the host John Charles Daly. The women on the panel are always introduced at the beginning of the show as Miss. During the show first names are used. The cards in front of the panel say Mr....

  As few months ago a young couple I know expressed the opinion that World War II was started  so that large business could make money. Since I heard it second hand, I hoped that I had heard it wrong. I find it hard to believe that two people in their thirties with  good educations could come to such a ridiculous conclusion. I was seriously offended. My father-in-law and two great uncles had fought in that war. Part of my father's family was displaced by that war. The thought that these two people would think this would all be done in the name of profit made me beyond angry.   As much as I wanted to think otherwise I was fairly certain that this was their true belief. It fit in with a lot of other beliefs that they've expressed.   Then I realized something. This couple is in their early thirties. That means they were born in the middle 1980s. The chances that they would have spent time with someone who was directly impacted by the war was unlikely. All they ...

  Last week Morley Safer, reporter for the show 60 Minutes, passed away at age 84.   At first, I didn't like 60 Minutes that much. It was the boring show that we had to watch on Sundays before anything good came on. As I got older, it became more interesting. I remember Andy Rooney, Point-Counterpoint and Morley Safer.    Safer was my favourite. He was the quiet one. He didn't have the hard boiled reputation of Mike Wallace, the folksy demeanor of Harry Reasoner or Andy Rooney or the flair of Ed Bradley. Nevertheless he was there week after week doing an assortment of stories from Vietnam to an interview with Betty Ford to a piece on modern art.    His even temperament one of the reasons why I liked him. He did interviews like he was talking to the person, not like a bulldog shaking it's prey. It was almost like he was trying to make them feel secure enough to talk. He had a storyteller's delivery.   I did a little resear...

 Hi! This is Scamp.   Quite awhile ago I was trying to learn how to roar. I later found out that as a non-large cat, (I am Not a small cat) I am unable to roar. I was bitterly disappointed,but was told that large cats cannot purr. I also realized that as the resident therapy cat, responsible for the well being of my humans, purring is much more useful than roaring.   Purring is a very soothing sound. According to several things I have read on the internet, purring can help heal bones. I guess there is something about the vibration of purring. It can also help heal injured muscles and joints. Purring has mental health benefits too. It lowers stress levels and promotes a sense of well being.   Because of this I decided to study purring. We cats actually purr differently depending on the situation.   I prefer a loud lusty purr. I use it when my humans pet or groom me. I also like to purr loudly when I wake C up in the morning. I believe that he...

  We got an early morning text message from Carrie on Monday. Her friend, Robbie, had drowned in a river near his home. She was flying to California to be with his family.   I was grateful that she had let us know that she was travelling. A few years back we had told her that she needed to let someone in the family know when she was travelling for her own safety. Hard on the heels of the gratitude was shock. We knew Robbie. It was way too soon for him to leave on his next journey. I felt bad for all his friends that he had made all around the world. I felt especially bad for his parents and sister. They were a close family who lived and ran a winery in California.   I'm not sure how Robbie and Carrie met. My first meeting with his was many summers ago. He was biking across the country and wanted to visit Carrie who was living with us at the time. We had plenty of room so he stayed with us. He was a lanky young man with dark curly hair. he had a handsome face and ...

  While we were travelling home from another wonderful trip to South Carolina, I was thinking about what to write about this week. Much of it was things I have written about before. A lot  of our time was spent driving from one place to another. While on the road I was thinking of things I just don't understand I'd like to share a few with you.   While walking on beach at Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach we noticed that there were several jellyfish that had washed up on the shore. I wondered why it was just jellyfish and no other fish. How long can a jellyfish live on the land? Do they get carried back out to sea when the tide comes back in? How long does it take for a jellyfish to dry up and what does it look like when it does?   Why does it seem like it takes longer to get someplace than to return from that place? It seems like it took all morning for us to get from Minnesota to South Carolina. The trip seemed to drag on. The return trip was much quicke...

   Every year when we go to South Carolina I resolve that I'm not going to shop. We have quite enough stuff thank you. This year I decided that it would be nice to hit a yarn shop or two. I figured since we are in a state where cotton is grown, I might find some yarn made from locally grown cotton.   A few days ago we were driving in North Myrtle Beach when we saw a hat store. We drove past it but made a mental note to go back if we could find it and it was still open. As fate would have it, it started to rain. We drove around and found the shop.   It was lovely. There were all kinds of hats in all sorts of colours. There were some lovely yellow hats and a great variety in navy blue. There were pink hats,green hat and white hats. There was even a section of red hats for members of The Red Hat Society. There were a couple pink and lavender hats for those of us too young to join as full members. I found a simple white hat with a spray of flowers and tried it on. It...

    We were exploring Myrtle Beach on a rainy afternoon when we drove past a mall. We were both hungry and since malls usually have food courts we decided to stop in.    We found the food court comprised of three restaurants one of which was closed. We got something to eat. C mentioned that he wanted to buy a summer dress in southern style for me. We were headed toward Belk.   Belk is a department store located in several cities in the south. It would be like J.C. Penney's, Macy's or Nordstroms. Thier tagline is Modern. Southern. Style.   We walked through the men's department where C found an Under Amour section. Since he really likes that brand we stopped there so that he could look around for anything that he might need. He found a charcoal grey ball cap with the Under Armour logo in blue. The gentleman that rang us up tried to talk us into getting a Belk credit card. Since Belk doesn't have any stores in Minnesota and since we have a strict limit o...