300 Words: Thoughts of a pretired French Teacher

Nothing like a wood fire in the fireplace.

Some Saturdays have no stress and do nothing more than provide a good time and happy moments.

We got up at our usual time; I was up and out of bed by 7:00 AM and enjoying my coffee and toast after walking the dog.

Toward lunchtime, we were visited by a dear colleague from Oakton and by mid afternoon, she was speaking in French to our grandson. I always enjoy it when we are able to have moments like that because some time I think that our grandkids think that I am a person speaking French in a void. They don’t encounter French people all that often and it looks, as my mom might say, that ‘Papi is off his kook.’ We even got our little prince to say a few words back to her.

We went to lunch at That Little French Guy and had a great food moment as well as friend moment. It is always nice to put aside the busy times that we inhabit and actually be able to have a normal conversation with others that we know. It is so enriching to our lives that we can do this.

While there, the bakery-café went from being slightly busy to very busy. The place was decorated for Christmas and for Hannukah, and we ogled the wonderful breads and treats in the area of the counter. We managed to buy the last pain de mie that they had, MK being smart enough to ask them to put it aside. She somehow knew it was the last one they had. Benjamin’s pain de mie never goes bad in our house and it never gets mold.

Our dinner is going to be with some relatively new found friends who used to live in Deerfield but now live in Evanston.

What a wonderful day!

My pre-Thanksgiving Christmas Cactus.

It is an exquisite morning. I have already walked the dog and despite the cool temperatures hovering around freezing, it is beautiful. The winds are not employed by ‘Nature Mama,’ therefore it is not overly cold to be in. There is a beautiful frost coverng the rooftops and the lawns. I walked by and thought that so many people are not really privileged to be able to witness this short-lived beauty because they never take a walk. That is sad. They just don’t know what they are missing.

I must admit that it is always the last thing I want to do in the early morning. I so want to have my cup of coffee but Stewart forces me out. Once out, I want back in, but in a perverse way, I am thankful to Stewart for forcing me out. He, on the other hand, is so desirous of getting on with things. In our house, you could rate us for early morning energy: Stewart, me, then Mary Kay. I pretty much don’t need my coffee for real energy, it is more the psychological aspect for me.

I love the quiet.

Normally, quiet is not my thing. I revel in noise. As a kid I would always have the television and radio on when I did schoolwork, something considered to be a bad thing. For me, it was a method; I tune out the background noise. For whatever reason it seems to be a comfort to me. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that as a child, I was often alone in the house, my older sister being elsewhere, my mother as well. Friday nights were more often alone than not, my mom going to the Aragon Ballroom in Cleveland to dance and my sister out with friends. I remember making pizza from a box, adding pepperoni, making popcorn later. I watched the Flinstones and the Jetsons. In retrospect, it was a great time.

I truly need to restate my title. No, it doesn’t make me angry; it truly pisses me off! In my head,, that is a stronger statement, although maybe I am wrong. Nonetheless, Stewart and I make a pass by what I call the Chinn House, a house where the Chinn family once lived right around the corner from our home. Each time, the bile rises in me and I feel like doing something out of character for myself.

This home is one of the former clients of our son’s snowplowing business. This is a house whose driveway was plowed and at least one of the walks shoveled. This is a house where the inhabitants have not paid their bill.

Let me make this very clear, our son is very good to people. If he knew of some sort of issue within the household that was preventing payment, he would let it slide. As of right now, there is nothing making that even seem like a remote possibility.

At the end of the season, they had a couple hundred dollars of bill left. They were sent numerous bills and didn’t pay. I think it was late spring, almost early summer where they were reminded once again and even sent in a check. The check bounced. They were reminded again and just didn’t respond and didn’t respond to any phone calls or messages.

I see them when I walk the dog. I almost mentioned something numerous times. To be honest, it really isn’t my business. The are a young family, three cars to the household, children, and living in a very large home, the largest home in the neighborhood before the McMansions came into the picture. They don’t appear to be having any issue although one never knows. I feel bad, but I still feel angry each time I pass by. Meanwhile, I saw markers go up for their snow removal this winter, clearly from another snow removal company.