Death in My Dryer

Death in my Dryer

Old Union Cemetery, Lincoln, IL.

I was doing my laundry. A common, ordinary, everyday thing usually associated with life, not death. But a T-shirt and a book I just finished reading combined to make my thoughts meander down the cemetery path.

"A T-shirt? What's a T-shirt have to do with death? Is it Goth?"

No, it's better than Goth.

It's a shirt for a very special school. I'm sure there are only two of these T-shirts in Lincoln - along with three hoodie sweatshirts.

They read: WORSHAM - COLLEGE OF MORTURARY SCIENCE

Worsham is a privately owned and operated, fully accredited two year school that has been in Wheeling, Illinois for 100 years, training morticians/funeral directors. It is one of the most respect schools of mortuary science in the US.

And how did my family come to have Worsham shirts & jackets?

Because Bruce teaches insurance seminars. Prepaid funeral packages are tied into life insurance policies so the future funeral directors at Worsham need to get licenses to sell life insurance. Bruce goes to Worsham once or twice a year to give them their pre-licensing life insurance seminar.

I proudly wear my Worsham "T" and hoodie. If you get delivery from Guzzardo's in the winter, you may have seen my son-in-law wearing his Worsham hoodie.

A contemplative statue in Union Cemetery

The book I just finished is about the assassination of President James Garfield: "Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President." by Candice Millard.

I love well-written books about historical events more than biographies. With the event books you get a broader view, I think, of the time period as well as learning a good deal about the primary people involved. In this case, you also learn about the state of medicine at a time when Joseph Lister had been promoting the practice of "antisepsis" in all medical procedures but it had not yet gained total acceptance amongst practicing physicians - especially here in the US.

Quite literally, President Garfield was as much killed by his doctor's care as by his assassin's bullet. None of his doctors washed their hands before dealing with the wound. The instruments that were used on him were not sterilized, or if they were they were being handled by unwashed hands so it didn't really matter. Plus, the handles on the instruments were usually wood or ivory - porous materials that don't sterilize well anyway. He quickly developed infections, which the man who assumed the position of chief physician dealt with poorly (even for that time) or did nothing at all. The wound was deep and could have killed him anyway, but many felt then, and now, that with the best care of that day - meaning the use of antiseptic procedures - the President may have lived as there were many Civil War veterans who survived serious bullet wounds, lived and still had the bullet inside them.

The author acknowledges that many of her readers were probably wondering why the president wasn't taken to the hospital? Why was he taken back to the White House?

Back then, in 1881, hospitals were places for the indigent. They were where you went if you couldn't afford a physician who would come and treat you in the comfort of your own home. Hospitals were, because antiseptic procedures had not been well accepted yet, filthy, smelly, vile places. Even more so than today - No One wanted to go to a hospital back then.

You were sick at home.

You were cared for at home.

You died at home.

Your funeral was in your home.

As hospitals improved, all the events of serious illness and surgery began to happen there, more people died there instead of at home, and funerals began to change as well. Instead of the funeral being in your home it was in the mortician’s or funeral director's home. You would be laid out in his parlor and people went to his house to mourn and pay their final respects. Hence the now familiar terms: funeral parlor and funeral home.

And so I've come full circle back to Worsham College of Mortuary Science, trainer of morticians and funeral directors . . .

and one of their school T-shirts in my clothes dryer.

The T-shirt that started it all.

The Conception & Birth of a New Backyard

 When you last heard from me I told you about my becoming a gardener - sort of.

I suppose, technically speaking, if you have plants and you've put them in the ground or some suitable container with soil you're a gardener. Not a good one, perhaps, not an experienced one or a Master Gardener. Just a generic gardener. And that's where I'm at.

My herb garden in a box is doing well and I actually used some of my herbs in a spaghetti sauce. Wow! "Look Ma, I used fresh herbs!" A definite first for me.

"But - - - what about your yard?" you're thinking. "Have you fetched home your plantlings from 'day care'? Have you put in flower/herb beds?"

Well, that's turned into a whole other story.

Once upon a time, Hubby & I bought a little house. The house had a back yard with drop-offs on two sides which are full of trees and bushes giving the yard a nice "country" feel. It also had a wood deck tucked into the "L" shape formed by the back of the garage and one side of the house. A nice deck which the home-maintainance challenged Richardsons didn't take good care of. In the sixteen years since we bought the house, the part of the deck that is always in the sun has suffered greatly. The yard isn't exactly pampered either.

The time has come.

I found I was seriously stressing over the whole "where to put the flower beds" and "what to do with the backyard" issue. Added to the situation is the fact we're on architectual land fill (all the bricks, cement, floor tiles, various fixtures, etc. from the old St. Clara's Hospital).

It is not fun digging in our yard.

Raised beds? Where? Edged with what? How deep should they be? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Finally, I brought Bruce in on this. He lives here too and should have imput into changes.

"Well," he said once we were outside looking at the current yard arrangement, "the deck has to go. I'd like to replace it with a patio using those patio blocks."

All Right! That was exactly what I was thinking we should do. How cool is that, we had the same idea.

But wait - there's more!

Bruce proceeded to walk around and with grand gestures described his dream yard to me - and I loved it.

Behold the plans for the new backyard (drawn by me).

 I'm sorry it won't get bigger than this. The area that reads "15'X15' Patio" is located where the wooden deck was. Off of that will be a gravel path with landscaping rock and container garden areas (I'll be putting a modest sized fountain in there somewhere as well :-) ) which will lead into either the open part of the yard or to a second patio.

Way more involved than anything I imagined! Bruce is way cool!

Work has begun. Of course the only photo I could find that really showed the old deck well is a winter shot, but you can get an idea of what it looked like. (The circle in the snow is a ring for holding a firebowl.)

Here is Bruce with the bench and the fence gone and a few of the "floor" boards gone.

By the end of the day Saturday June 9th, it looked like this - about half the floor gone.

Bruce got the bench and fence out all by himself, I didn't work on the deck until he already had three of the "floor" boards out. (I had been burning brush from trimming the trees and stuff along the ravine.)

We have a long way to go and I'll be posting the story and photos whenever progress is made.

Till then, hope things are progressing for you on whatever project you are working on. :-) Let us know about it so we can all be cheering you on as well. :-) 

Gardener Unawares

I seem to have become a novice gardener in a short space of time.

It started about a month ago when my cousins in Missouri sent plants to me for starting a butterfly & hummingbird garden as a memorial to my mother who passed away last November. It is a lovely thought and gesture. It is something I've long thought would be fun to have, seeing as I love both species.

I just . . . never got around to doing it.

Now I will, though it is being an interesting process as I don't have anywhere already established to put such a garden - or any garden really - other than the beds in front of my house which 1) have horrible soil and 2) are both part to mostly shade type areas not part to full sun as a couple of the plants require.


But that's not all! By getting plants now, you'll double this new hobby! That's right, you'll win a herb garden in a box! Lovely, fresh herbs all planted and ready for your yard in an old ammunitions box with easy to use rope handles!


And, I did.

A friend of mine is apprenticing with her grandmother to take over the business her grandparents have run for around 30+ years - Green Acres Herb Farm in Lowpoint, IL. They have built a new shop building on their farm, they now have a website, http://www.greenacresherbfarm.com/ and they are ramping up their visibility. To celebrate these changes, especially the new shop, they had a grand opening open house.

And I won the door prize!

The large box sitting in front of the Green Acres Herb Farm shop is my door prize.

Until I figure out where to put some gardens, my butterfly & humming bird garden plants are being well cared for by Ray Saul who has a garden with room for some short term plant-visitors. My box garden is here:

Herb garden in a box at the southern edge of our backyard.

I'm enlisting the help of several friends, including Rebecca Van Nydeggen, writer of the Courier "ReClaim, ReCycle, ReConstruct" blog. http://www.lincolncourier.com/community/blogs/reclaim_recycle_reconstruct_blog  to help create my new garden beds in the best locations for both the plants and my yard.

I'll keep you all posted on my progress in becoming a gardener. :-)

Do you garden? Flower? Veggies? Herbs? All of that?  Share your helpful hints and encouragement with me here at Bits, Bobs & Burblings!

Books I've Really Loved

Books I've Really Loved

I came across a blog post by a Tolkien fanfiction friend of mine, Barb, that had a banner at the top saying: "100 Things Blog Challenge". I asked her about it and she sent me to the Live Journal page that explains it - http://100things-index.livejournal.com/. You are supposed to choose one subject and do 100 blogs about that one subject. She is doing "Creativity".

Well, I couldn't subject you to that.

Barb also told me that many people will divide their 100 posts amoung four, five, or ten different subjects.

I may do that.

For now, I'm using the idea lists others have posted to spur my thinking for this blog. I'm starting with Books I've Loved.

Oddly enough, I'm not starting with what many who know me would think is the obvious choice, something by J.R.R.Tolkien. I'm starting with a book written by the famous science fiction author, Isaac Asimov - "Pebble In The Sky." It was his first novel, published in 1950, four years before I was born.

It was one of the first scifi novels I read and it is still my favorite. "Pebble In The Sky" is a time travel story involving an Earth that has been ravaged by a nuclear holocost, which was a huge concern back in the Cold War era. The main character isn't young, isn't sexy, isn't your typical hero. He's Joseph Schwartz, a stout, gray-haired retired tailor living in Chicago. For me that was, and still is, part of the charm of the book. The person you come to care the most about is just an average guy. There is a young, good looking couple as well who provide romantic interest, but they are secondary to Joseph.

The story has a lot of depth and will get you thinking without being preachy or feeling like an academic lecture.

Somewhere in all the moves we've made over the years, I've lost my paperback copy of "Pebble In The Sky". Today, when I'm done writing this, I'm buying it for my kindle.

I hope you'll get it and take a trip both backward and forward in time.

Do you like science fiction? Have you read scifi or only watched movies and TV shows? What's your favorite scifi story?

A public domain image of the cover of the book.

Random Acts Of Kindness BLITZ

Kindness ROCKS!

 To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse  are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too! 

I am BLITZing Mary Rosenblum.

Mary is a gem. A treasure. She has been an encourager to every writer she comes in contact with. She puts out the LRWG newsletter, manages this forum, teaches, gives talks at conferences, works with private clients, wrote the manual for the LRWG novel course, has raised two children and worked a farm. And I’m sure there’s loads more I don’t know about.

She has helped me over and over again. Helped me to laugh at myself and put up with me when I’m frustrated with myself. Because of her, I’m still working on my novel.

MARY, YOU ROCK! :-D

Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way.

Kindness makes the world go round. :) Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness?  Let me know in the comments!

Mug shots

A friend of mine posted a photo like this, mentioning that it is something that is going around right now that she decided would be fun to join in on. I agree. :-)

I use this mug every day. My daughter gave it to me after I decided to pursue a career as a writer. She knows her Mom well - I have a hard time believing in myself - and this reminder to do so has really helped me.

My daughter and I are best friends. She has even introduced me to several authors whose books I never would have read and I now love. She is my first reader on most of my stories and has done a great job with advising me.

Thank you, Sarah, for everything you do for me, but most for being the best daughter in the world!


Do any of you have a mug that inspires you?

Success!

What is it about the peaches growing on a tree in southern Pennsylvania that seems to be causing strange side effects for a young woman and her dog?


In a case of flagrant self promotion I am, with great excitement :-) , posting the link to Abandoned Towers magazine issue #7.

www.lulu.com/product/paperback/abandoned-towers-magazine-%237/13236112

My first published original story, "The Peach Tree", is in the magazine. The issue is available in either a print or a download-able file edition if any of you are interested in purchasing it.

I am so happy! I'm a published author :-D