TECHI I'M NOT

TECHI I'M NOT

Today was a day of either hitting the wrong keys or just plain not knowing how to communicate.  Strange, if you are thinking of buying something usually you only have to push a key and you are immediately in contact with 4 pages of addresses who can offer you many varieties and prices for the very same thing.  If you want specifics, knowing the firm's email address is essential and other than calling the business on the phone I haven't apparently found one Google recognizes for this particular item.  So guess what....    I finally just called the company direct on my land phone and left a complete message as to what I was requesting.  Of course when one calls the company you have several extension nos. to choose a specific person or subject.   Then like as not you are asked to wait for the tone and leave a message.  And you eliminate Google.  Frankly I was considering a separation which would involve as much emotion as a marriage.  (I exaggerate)  But seriously, are we making a preference for machines over people?

So we are into my own future of bells and whistles which I only imagined as a child.  I can easily make contact with numbers of people in various countries who are interested in similar subjects.  Wow! I can even play bridge on-line with partners across the sea.  I can get information on any subject that I want to study anytime.   I can see the person I am speaking to.  I can send videos of what I am seeing or photos.   And sometimes someone in another land decides I would be a soft touch and tries to make a bad sell.    BLOCK is the word we use.  Yet your own doctor, you are lucky to speak to much less have more than 15 minutes.   So many patients and so little time.  And not another Medicare!  You know there are many examples of care for the poor under charity systems.  Most of these like the old poor house my parents used to show us children as they drove by the Provo bench, and the other charities connected to churches or specific groups had their own rules as to who "were deserving poor."  I digress.  Please excuse me.  Its the social worker coming out of retirement again.  I hear that we will in the future communicate directly with our Doc by computer.  Or maybe the computer will be the Doc.  doing diagnosis, surgery and the whole sheebang.  

Yesterday the hubby & I played golf with another twosome we had just joined.   I was happy just to keep up with three guys who were such gentlemen and gave me lots of space and encouragement.  At this time of the year my drives are good, my fairway shots are fair,  but the chips and putting put me in disgrace and high scores.  I guess grey hair gives you a bit of leeway AS WELL AS THE FACT THAT YOU NEVER EXPECT TO BE A PRO.    My friend, Janet, and I signed up for a fund raising competition.  We have joined together on several competitions and usually we have done well.  Most of all it is the laugh=joke=cry over the course of the day's play.  I consider myself extremely lucky just to be out on these spectacular courses surrounded by desert beauty.  RED HILLS has over 127 women who each is  fascinating in her own way.   Over the years most of us have played other courses in this area and now are finally choosing to play with a nine hole group.  A reunion of sorts.  Usually one good hole, a chip-in, a birdie, or a par can raise one's spirits even if the final score is a wash-out.  I like to watch the golf channel and the new players heading the leader boards.

I would like to encourage my grandchildren to play golf.  My grandson does, but the two granddaughters are too busy raising the greats to take time off.  We each have our time to play etc.
I plan to make the most of it  and hope they will have the opportunity someday.

THE IDES OF MARCH

Now that daylight saving time is here I am almost asleep at this computer.  Dawn in the desert brings an alertness to silence and the gradual awakening of a bird, or a dog, or distant cows in their corral.  The red rock crevises and shadows fall away gradually to growing lighted clouds and individual sun rays that shoot across the valley.  More green on the mesquite trees, some budding under dry leaves of last years lantana, and yellow buds force their way atop leaning cactus.  Utah agave and mormon tea appear to have survived again.

We plant less these days and Ed has become the major gardner, overviewing the drip system, the plants that have wintered over under the garage window and those that must be replaced outside.  A cold, cold winter was 2012.  For the state as an entirety and don"t mistake this as a complaint.  Water reservoirs need what little moisture this cold and dry snow has given.  Snowplows, snow blowers, shoveling and spreading salt and sand were a major factor in our move south.  Some visitors came over the last two weeks to get respit from the clogged northern Utah air and repeated snowstorms.  Brother Gary and his wife Julie, and following them, daughter Pat, granddaughter Lisa and great grandchildren Jude and Leland Forester.  Jude is a thriving running young man who can be both a challenge and a joy.  His little brother, all smiles and chuckles, is content and quiet.  We found a grand play ground over on Dixie Drive.  Whoever planned the site for children must have brilliantly noted the fire station directly across the road.  It may have been wash day for the fire trucks that pulled in and out of that station all shiny and bright.  A great safety factor for climbing kids and a major attraction for them to watch.  So much fun for us all.

Sometimes the mailbox nearby makes up somewhat for the lonesome aches that begin as I watch their cars pull away and hear the gravel crunch as they back away from the house.  Today was a marvelous surprise.   Among the huge, normal amount of travel brochures and envelopes was a very large manila folder addressed to me.  Not a free lunch offer for attending and investment seminar as I first thought, but a pulitzer prize winning story from a new writer, undoubtedly talented, imaginative and bright.  Ava, Ava, Ava.  Her first production at age 8.  The Girl Who Loved Music ,  illustrated and also
 written by her for me, and "she hopes I like her story. "  Like it?  I treasure it!  Her story has a plot, a protagonist, action, emotion and a conflict resolution.  The happy ending while a fantasy reflects every young performers wish for stardome.  Not at all bad for budding author.

We have four great grandsons, Slade, Cruse, Jude and Leland.  Ava is (to this point) the only girl and she also helps guide and play with the boys.  She is incredibly talented and I am so proud of her.  One can only hope that these years for us will be filled with all that these youngsters can produce.  The boys chase geccos and bunnies when they are around the desert.  We are thinking a miniature horseshoe pit and over to the Sand Hollow pool as they visit again.    They keep everyone of us on their toes and their knowledge of computers, phones and ipads amazes us.  Getting older is a gift that keeps on giving.