Sophie's Story

   Today is one of those days that gladdens the hearts of those who live in what my in-laws call "The Yankee Deep Freeze". The sun is out. The snow is mostly melted. The temperature is around 30 degrees above zero. Life is good.    I think this is something we need to do now and again. We need to look around and find things that are good and be happy about them.    I'm guessing there are a few of you out there who are thinking that this is attitude is silly, pollyannaish, and disgustingly optimistic. You might be right. There is a lot of darkness and ugliness out there. There's hatred, fear, anger and the Mueller report. You are surrounded by snowflakes, leftists, liberals, heretics, neoNazis, foreigners, communists, socialists, bigots, racists, misogynists and people with strange coloured hair and I'm telling you to be happy. I must be smoking something.   Well, I'm not. (smoking, that is) I have just come off a period of time that had some highs...

   This past Tuesday was the first day at my new job. I was filling in for a pharmacist that had the flu. It was a 12 hour shift. I was told that I'd have tech help until 7 pm. The last two hours would be on my own. I was nervous, I was going to be using new software and it had been a very long time since I worked 12 hours. I was  going to a store I'd never been in before located in a town that I'd never even driven to. Despite this, I was confident. I had a fairly good grip on the software and was told that the techs would be helpful. I can do this.   Devi, the scheduler, had emailed me the location of the timeclock and where I could pick up the cash drawer. She also told me that I could call her if I got stuck and the techs didn't know what to do.    C drove me. We got there much earlier than expected so we had something to drink at a nearby coffee shop. About 20 minutes before it was time to open the pharmacy, I gathered my things and went to punch i...

   It's that time of year again. The time when basketball fans all over the United States gather together to work on brackets in hope of winning money of bragging rights during the NCAA men's basketball playoffs. College teams talk about "going to the dance". Sports bars are filled with people watching to see if their favoured teams will make it to the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight the Final Four or that holy grail of basketballdom the Championship Game.    Usually at this time of year I will print out a bracket and fill it in. Then I, along with many others, watch the games to see how my picks hold up. Most of the time, I wind up frustrated and irritated as my picks fall in the first round. Last year I found myself screaming at the TV and contemplating throwing something at it. This is not a good sign.   This year I decided to reverse the trend. I was not going to fill out a bracket. When you get to the point that you are willing to vandalize your own TV ...

   CBS Sunday Morning contributor Mo Rocca does a podcast each week. Every Sunday he offers a teaser for the next week's podcast. The teaser from last Sunday intrigued me. Since I'm not patient enough to sit through an entire podcast (I've tried, keep getting interrupted to many times.) I took to the trusty internet to get the story.   Toomer's Corner is a landmark in the city of Auburn Alabama. Auburn fans gather at the corner to celebrate wins by various sports teams by covering the two oak trees with toilet paper. Some date this tradition back to the days when news of away game wins would come by telegraph. The employees of a drugstore near the corner would signal the win by throwing ticker tape over power lines near the corner. The more modern throwing of toilet paper started in about 1972.   The trees were poisoned in 2010 by a fan of the University of Alabama which is Auburn's main rival. There were several reasons for Alabama fans to be disgruntled that y...

    I have a new job. I will be doing relief work part time for a small grocery store chain in the Twin Cities area. I'm pleased to be able to work for this company. I had interviewed with the company two years ago, but they had no open positions. I left my resume and a good first impression. Last October a position did open up in a nearby city. Since I already had a job that I liked and didn't want to work two part time jobs, I didn't go after it.   It was a good thing I didn't. October was when my health challenges started to get worse. If I had got the job, I would not have been able to work.   When my last store closed C reminded me about this company and suggested that I send an email asking if anything was open. I did. Lo and behold there was a casual on call float position. Normally I would not have wanted it, but for this company I was sure it would be all right.    The bad weather kept the head of the pharmacy department from getting back to m...

   In honor of International Women's Day, I'd like to introduce you to a pioneering woman that I have just "met". The word met is in quotation marks because I didn't see her or become acquainted with her in person. I actually will never get to meet her because she died on Christmas Day in 2012.  Through the wonders of technology I discovered her and became acquainted with her.    Her name is Jane Holmes Dixon. She was the Episcopal suffragan Bishop of Washington and served as Bishop of Washington pro tempore for a year. She was the second woman to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal church. This fact was the original one that caught my eye and made me want to learn more about her.    She was born in Mississippi in 1937. She went to college in Nashville and graduated. She married and three years later she and her family moved to Washington, where her husband worked in the Justice department. She taught school in the Washington suburbs. ...

   A friend  is going through a tough time. Her current circumstances are aggravating to depression and anxiety she currently lives with. Once in awhile we text each other. If I sense that she's having a bad day, I try to send her some positive messages. Things that can build her up. After one such exchange she suggested that I should use my store of knowledge,kindness, and ability and love of writing to make a little inspirational book.    It's an interesting thought. C has a lot of beautiful pictures of flowers and landscapes that he's taken over the years. It could be pretty cool to do something like that.    It's not the first time that someone has said I should write a book. A couple of people have suggested that compiling the best of these columns that I've written might make a good book.    I toyed with that idea for awhile. I could call the book 'Sophie's Greatest Hits' and put a picture of my Louisville Slugger bat on the front....

   Several months ago I went shopping for toothpaste. Toothpaste isn't something I can just buy when I run out.  Toothpaste and I don't get along with each other, so I have to be a bit picky about what I get. Mint toothpaste gives me horrible mouth sores. I've tried all kinds including those meant for sensitive teeth. Eventually the sores show up and eating and brushing become difficult. I've even tried mild mint and the same thing happens. I also have a low tolerance for slimy textures. I inherited that from my mother. Toothpaste shopping becomes an adventure.    I was determined. I was going to find a non mint toothpaste that wasn't slimy. I wanted to find something that I could buy easily and not have to go across town to a food coop or other special store.   C and I went to Target. I went to the toothpaste aisle. I looked at every single one. All mint. The only non mint one was Close-Up. My search would have ended there except that I've used Close-U...