Used to deliver papers from my first car, a 61 VW bug. Up and down hills, almost floating at times when the storms were heavy and the curbs were high, 7 days a week, rain or shine (hey, it was an upgrade from a bicycle)! “You can have a car when you can pay for the car payment, gas and insurance”. Paid for lots of good times.
My parents bought my younger sister a car and paid for her insurance and gas. I didn’t feel at all cheated, it was what you did for girls in those days.
Looks like a ‘new’ 1960’s build ‘slum clearance’ block of flats given the very newness look to the paint on the steel rail on the balcony. Small terraced houses, the smoke from coal fires, and the cars, also lend evidence to this. Probably somewhere in the Midlands, or North of England.
A picture of the actress VIOLET CARSON in her role as Ena Sharples in “Coronation Street”.
The city is 1968 Manchester
The photograph was taken by John C. Madden. THE STORY BEHIND IT
For the first time in over a year, i have a break.
My client got a very short notice yesterday that someone was going to pick him up this morning (the 2nd) and take him to the V.A. Hospital in Seattle. Over a year later he is going to get his new chair! Woo Hoo!
The problem is, i have no idea when he is going to come home. It could be tomorrow, it could be after the weekend. Something is better than nothing, i guess. But it’s hard to make plans this way.
At any rate, my phone is silenced and i’m not getting up until an animal makes me get up.
Good night people and pets.
Alexi,
Happy belated birthday! Bring us up to speed — some details are in order. Apparently you’re from Canada (should we have some poutine in the feast?) Anglaise ou Francais? You sound male, but are you fussy about it in birthday greetings? Older or younger than dirt? Since Susan didn’t know, then I’ll try to help her flesh it out for next time.
Thank you.
Yes I am indeed a male.
My avatar is another name for Hercules (although I’m far from Herculean).
To get back to the exact spot of my birth I’d have to travel a little under 14% of a light year — that way.
Don’t hesitate to give someone with a stroke any sensual input.
Be it music (downloaded beforehand and transferred to any mobile device to be played offline) or reading to them, smells (most potent input ever; maybe from our stone-age heritage or earlier), whatever.
Doing nothing is the worst. I never hesitated giving CPR, either.
I know of one thing that would make her heart soar would be to have her meet a doggie.
Ever since her beloved Max died Stel has been completely alone and she talked about him often these last couple of years. I don’t think she even had the opportunity to have any interaction with a doggie at all since then..
That’s what I was wondering all along: Any of Max’ stuff (with his smell on it) still around?
Maybe handing that to Stel would help – she’d break out in tears for sure, but tears get stress-inducing hormones out of your system.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, she’s in a regular hospital, not a convalescent or care facility.
The good part is that she’s continuing, for now, to get a lot of therapy, which is helping to bring her back, but we don’t know how far it can go, or for how long they’ll keep her.
Hospital nurses, and even aides, are very busy, often overworked, attending to physical needs.
They don’t get to spend much time plaything music for people, or reading to them, when they have to help them with everything else.
….
And sadly, I’ve never seen dogs allowed in a working hospital.
If and when she’s transferred to a nursing home, dogs might visit, but her constant care and therapy will lessen.
…
Her sister lives almost 1000 miles away (as does Nighthawks).
Her niece lives closer, and visits, but probably not every day, as she works more than full time, and is a single mother.
Candi doesn’t have and can’t hold or use her electronic devices. Her speech is very basic and not easy to understand.
I talked to her, and her longest sentence was three words.
She was tired, because the hospital staff asked me to wait to call, so maybe sometimes it’s a bit better… But still, she mostly responded, rather than initiating thoughts.
I’m pretty sure she can’t yet express herself well enough to tell anyone about the Cleo site, or give them her email password. Her niece and sister wouldn’t know those things, and don’t really communicate with me, just a bit with Nighthawks.
…
I’m not saying all this to be gloomy.
I won’t stop hoping for a complete turnaround, however long it takes.
But meanwhile, she’s a very close friend, and it breaks my heart, seeing all these good suggestions that for now can’t be implemented, and comments she can’t read.
It’s frustrating being almost as far away as is possible in this country… 3,000 miles or so… with no way to visit or help her.
Her sister is ready to get rid of her stuff but not to play a little song to her? – I don’t think so.
And I wasn’t talking about dogs, but about Max’ belongings and his smell on them.
Her sister is 1000 miles away, and can’t visit in person!
Her niece is not a kid, but a working mother, and is very busy, and 10 or 15 miles away from the hospital.
They’d mostly hire people to “clean up”, not sort everything themselves.
..
Right now, nobody goes to Candi’s house and picks things up for her; she’s not in condition to make requests, and you can’t keep much stuff in a hospital room.
Nobody there knows about or reads the Cleo site.
This is hard enough… please don’t invent and insist on details of a situation and relationships for which you have little information.
And I’m trying to give you more information, which you haven’t read here.
Noone with any knowledge of the situation has posted here that her sister visits her.
Or that anyone there sees the Cleo site and relays messages to her…
though Nighthawks and I have both told her on the phone, at least in general, that she’s very much missed here.
And no one has posted that there’s anyone available there to play her music, or bring Max’s belongings to the hospital, or who can even see these suggestions.
Once again: None of that is currently possible. I truly wish that weren’t so.
I have no idea why you would still insist otherwise, but I’m not going to argue.
I’m doing the best I can to update the news, and I’m sad enough.
nighthawks: “I spoke with StelBel on the phone last night!
Her niece held the phone up to her so she could
speak. It was a stilted almost one-way conversation and she was able to answer only with monosyllables but it
was far more progression than anybody expected. I couldn’t get any details about long term prognosis but this is extremely encouraging”
It’s way better than when she could hardly move, and couldn’t speak at all, and nobody knew whether she could understand anything
But it isn’t great.
…
Nor does that post contradict anything I’ve said above, and it was 2 weeks ago besides.
That was her niece, not her sister, helping her. I never said her niece doesn’t visit her at all. She does. Not full time.
Nighthawks’ description of his conversation with Stel on Oct 21st sounds the same as the one I described having with her a couple of days ago, so it unfortunately hasn’t changed much in 2 weeks.
He and I have already communicated to each other about any new interactions or information before we post any of it here.
Thank you for the birthday wishes yesterday and today.
Susan, I went looking for your email to me, (I don’t check on a daily basis because I know when to expect mail in that box and those are the days I check) I didn’t find it. I get all your other emails, but that one seems to have disappeared.
Today’s Songs:
‘ Sunshine Superman,’ ‘Susie Q,’ ‘Superman’s Song,’ and ‘Sweet Dreams,’ and the ‘Cheap Thrills Cuisine’ recipe ‘Braised Leek & Fennel (low carb).’
That’s Jimmy Page playing lead guitar for Donovan (I just found out he’s Scottish).
The cover by C.C.R.. The original was released in 1957 by Dale Hawkins and was inspired by Susan Lewis, the daughter of Stan Lewis (owner of ‘Jewel/Paula’ records. That’s her in 1996 at age 39 in the photograph below she’s now in her mid sixties.
‘The Crash Test Dummies’ are another group from Winnipeg. ‘Superman’s Song’ did release in the U.S. but its highest charting was 56 (it only made 87 in Australia) so you may or may not have heard it. It’s a good song though.
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart wrote ‘Sweet Dreams’.
Fennel is a relative of carrots, and leek of onions (the drawing of the finished dish in the strip reminds me of an elephant).
A very simple but tasty hardboiled egg sandwich filling from my own head.
At least two hardboiled eggs (medium or large / small are too small / extra large are too big).
salt and pepper to taste
1Tablespoon of sweet salad dressing per egg (recipe below / I don’t know if the type is still available commercially / if it is, it works, meh)
1/2 Tablespoon of horse radish for every two eggs
1/2 of about a two-inch onion chopped fine (if you want to, grate it, that works even better)
Once the eggs cool to room temperature peel and mash them thoroughly in a deepish glass bowl (a four or eight cup glass measuring cup work well too).
Mix the salt, pepper, salad dressing, horse radish and onion into the mashed eggs.
Seal the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least an hour (within reason, the longer the better) so the flavours get a chance to mix in.
This makes one thick sandwich, or two normal sandwiches.
Side note:
Always use butter on the sandwich’s bread not margarine (yeeecchh !).
Here’s the kind of salad dressing.
This is good !!
From:
My mother’s cook book. Credited to her friend: Mrs. Snyder.
Salad Dressing
yolks of 2 eggs
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
Add:
1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup milk (whole milk 3.25% milk fat
2 tablespoons melted butter
Cook in double boiler until thick.
Delicious !
Now instructions for which you do not have to have watched my mother make this.
Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly.
Add the egg yolks to the milk and beat in; pour into dry ingredients and stir them together.
Stir in the vinegar.
Cook in the double boiler, whisking to keep from settling.
An easier way these days is to put the thoroughly whisked dressing in a micro wave proof glass container and cook for 3 minutes (based on 700 Watts). Check and cook for a minute more if needed.
I’m happy to not see her pointy parts.
NOSE?
,
You couldn’t find a cuter one?
I can’t disagree with you. 🙂
NOSE!
I feel pretty good about this one. As usual, I’ll put my guess in a spoiler & leave it up.
Of course 😁
Yay I recognized the grown up star picture.
Got the adult this time.
no way!
.
She blends right in. Looks very much at home.
Another Lupin look-alike.
A very dangerous place to blend in. Don’t be there when I need to pee at 2am.
I took a photo of a dog I was taking care of that looks a lot like this
You win.
NOSE!
Try having a very small black dog that clings to your every footstep if you get up in the night.
….
From the time I was very small, I found it easier to go back to sleep if I didn’t wake myself up with strong light.
Probably by kindergarten, I’d taught myself to get up and go to the bathroom in the dark.
After all, it’s not completely black in the house, and you know the way.
Until, that is, 50 years later, a little dog the color of night circles your ankles and pops up under your feet without warning.
By the time she was gone, I’d unlearned my ability to walk about in the darkness, and I still turn on the bedroom and bathroom lights.
NOSE!
,,
Who are these people in a VW bug, and why are there pterosaurs in the air?
Dang old hippie finds some back back country…
Used to deliver papers from my first car, a 61 VW bug. Up and down hills, almost floating at times when the storms were heavy and the curbs were high, 7 days a week, rain or shine (hey, it was an upgrade from a bicycle)! “You can have a car when you can pay for the car payment, gas and insurance”. Paid for lots of good times.
My parents bought my younger sister a car and paid for her insurance and gas. I didn’t feel at all cheated, it was what you did for girls in those days.
“The Lost Road” By: Paul Gribbin “While traveling in the Australian outback, a small car gets lost …”
LINK TO SOURCE OF CAPTION AND MORE OF HIS WORK
I guess I shouldn’t complain about Highway 1, along the California coastline.
At last it has 2 lanes and a shoulder.
I like 1. It’s a fun drive.
It doesn’t usually scare me when I’m driving…
But sometimes when other people are driving, I get nervous.
Especially southbound when the drop is right there… AND you’re on that side of the car.as a passenger.
Northbound there’s another lane between your car and the edge.
,.
Can’t wait to hear the background story on this one.
Looks like a ‘new’ 1960’s build ‘slum clearance’ block of flats given the very newness look to the paint on the steel rail on the balcony. Small terraced houses, the smoke from coal fires, and the cars, also lend evidence to this. Probably somewhere in the Midlands, or North of England.
Good work!
A picture of the actress VIOLET CARSON in her role as Ena Sharples in “Coronation Street”.
The city is 1968 Manchester
The photograph was taken by John C. Madden.
THE STORY BEHIND IT
aka daleandkristen
She resembles the evil mother in The Goonies.
Yes she does! 😀
.
I’d be happy to watch it again!
Not bad, and it least it was Sean Connery. Great gadgets (thank you, Q) and look at those hair styles. I’ll bet they drove Susan Sunshine nuts!
I was too young for 1960s hair styles to drive me nuts!
At least as a hairstylist.
But I was already much more “Bohemian”, as we probably would have called it then, and never would have worn them.
Actually, my hair was rather like the last one’s, lying down…
But not teased behind the headband.
Quite a big clue!
For the first time in over a year, i have a break.
My client got a very short notice yesterday that someone was going to pick him up this morning (the 2nd) and take him to the V.A. Hospital in Seattle. Over a year later he is going to get his new chair! Woo Hoo!
The problem is, i have no idea when he is going to come home. It could be tomorrow, it could be after the weekend. Something is better than nothing, i guess. But it’s hard to make plans this way.
At any rate, my phone is silenced and i’m not getting up until an animal makes me get up.
Good night people and pets.
Let’s hope his chair fits easily into your conveyance! Sleep well, and we all hope the animal that wakes you isn’t just delivering spam!
Enjoy your break. I get my break starting tomorrow. Today is my last day ☺. I am retiring.
Congratulations!
I got a couple more years.
The good news is, you get to be relatively young for a couple more years.
Congratulations!
May you have a long and happy break!
Happy retirement!
Wanted to wish Alexi a belated Restrained, Dignified Birthday.
Alexi,
Happy belated birthday! Bring us up to speed — some details are in order. Apparently you’re from Canada (should we have some poutine in the feast?) Anglaise ou Francais? You sound male, but are you fussy about it in birthday greetings? Older or younger than dirt? Since Susan didn’t know, then I’ll try to help her flesh it out for next time.
Thank you.
Yes I am indeed a male.
My avatar is another name for Hercules (although I’m far from Herculean).
To get back to the exact spot of my birth I’d have to travel a little under 14% of a light year — that way.
Happy birthday! I hope it was nice!
Happy belated Birthday. Though if you were traversing that 14% of a light year over the past day, It’d still be your birthday.
Don’t hesitate to give someone with a stroke any sensual input.
Be it music (downloaded beforehand and transferred to any mobile device to be played offline) or reading to them, smells (most potent input ever; maybe from our stone-age heritage or earlier), whatever.
Doing nothing is the worst. I never hesitated giving CPR, either.
I know of one thing that would make her heart soar would be to have her meet a doggie.
Ever since her beloved Max died Stel has been completely alone and she talked about him often these last couple of years. I don’t think she even had the opportunity to have any interaction with a doggie at all since then..
That’s what I was wondering all along: Any of Max’ stuff (with his smell on it) still around?
Maybe handing that to Stel would help – she’d break out in tears for sure, but tears get stress-inducing hormones out of your system.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, she’s in a regular hospital, not a convalescent or care facility.
The good part is that she’s continuing, for now, to get a lot of therapy, which is helping to bring her back, but we don’t know how far it can go, or for how long they’ll keep her.
Hospital nurses, and even aides, are very busy, often overworked, attending to physical needs.
They don’t get to spend much time plaything music for people, or reading to them, when they have to help them with everything else.
….
And sadly, I’ve never seen dogs allowed in a working hospital.
If and when she’s transferred to a nursing home, dogs might visit, but her constant care and therapy will lessen.
…
Her sister lives almost 1000 miles away (as does Nighthawks).
Her niece lives closer, and visits, but probably not every day, as she works more than full time, and is a single mother.
Candi doesn’t have and can’t hold or use her electronic devices. Her speech is very basic and not easy to understand.
I talked to her, and her longest sentence was three words.
She was tired, because the hospital staff asked me to wait to call, so maybe sometimes it’s a bit better… But still, she mostly responded, rather than initiating thoughts.
I’m pretty sure she can’t yet express herself well enough to tell anyone about the Cleo site, or give them her email password. Her niece and sister wouldn’t know those things, and don’t really communicate with me, just a bit with Nighthawks.
…
I’m not saying all this to be gloomy.
I won’t stop hoping for a complete turnaround, however long it takes.
But meanwhile, she’s a very close friend, and it breaks my heart, seeing all these good suggestions that for now can’t be implemented, and comments she can’t read.
It’s frustrating being almost as far away as is possible in this country… 3,000 miles or so… with no way to visit or help her.
Her sister is ready to get rid of her stuff but not to play a little song to her? – I don’t think so.
And I wasn’t talking about dogs, but about Max’ belongings and his smell on them.
Did you read my whole comment?
You “don’t think so?”
Her sister is 1000 miles away, and can’t visit in person!
Her niece is not a kid, but a working mother, and is very busy, and 10 or 15 miles away from the hospital.
They’d mostly hire people to “clean up”, not sort everything themselves.
..
Right now, nobody goes to Candi’s house and picks things up for her; she’s not in condition to make requests, and you can’t keep much stuff in a hospital room.
Nobody there knows about or reads the Cleo site.
This is hard enough… please don’t invent and insist on details of a situation and relationships for which you have little information.
I’m referring to things I’ve read here.
And I’m trying to give you more information, which you haven’t read here.
No one with any knowledge of the situation has posted here that her sister visits her.
Or that anyone there sees the Cleo site and relays messages to her…
though Nighthawks and I have both told her on the phone, at least in general, that she’s very much missed here.
And no one has posted that there’s anyone available there to play her music, or bring Max’s belongings to the hospital, or who can even see these suggestions.
Once again: None of that is currently possible. I truly wish that weren’t so.
I have no idea why you would still insist otherwise, but I’m not going to argue.
I’m doing the best I can to update the news, and I’m sad enough.
nighthawks: “I spoke with StelBel on the phone last night!
Her niece held the phone up to her so she could
speak. It was a stilted almost one-way conversation and she was able to answer only with monosyllables but it
was far more progression than anybody expected. I couldn’t get any details about long term prognosis but this is extremely encouraging”
Yes, and we’ve both spoken to her since then.
It’s way better than when she could hardly move, and couldn’t speak at all, and nobody knew whether she could understand anything
But it isn’t great.
…
Nor does that post contradict anything I’ve said above, and it was 2 weeks ago besides.
That was her niece, not her sister, helping her. I never said her niece doesn’t visit her at all. She does. Not full time.
Nighthawks’ description of his conversation with Stel on Oct 21st sounds the same as the one I described having with her a couple of days ago, so it unfortunately hasn’t changed much in 2 weeks.
He and I have already communicated to each other about any new interactions or information before we post any of it here.
I don’t get your point whatsoever.
Please stop.
You implied that no-one visited her who could play some music to her. EOD.
thanks for the update, susan! it is most appreciated!
You’re welcome.
Nighthawks wanted me to post what I know, but it’s difficult.
♥
Thank you for the birthday wishes yesterday and today.
Susan, I went looking for your email to me, (I don’t check on a daily basis because I know when to expect mail in that box and those are the days I check) I didn’t find it. I get all your other emails, but that one seems to have disappeared.
It’s possible that it wasn’t an email, but something I responded to here on the site. It was last year or maybe even the year before.
I only remember the conversation, not necessarily the means.
I remember it wasn’t very near your birthday… I think it was a picture you posted, on some random day, that you said was taken on your birthday.
I don’t really consider that the same as writing to me and telling me your birthday, so I’d have an idea of what you wanted.
But I did look at the link, and I think it took yet another step to get the date.
….
I remember talking to Stel about whether you were saying you wanted a birthday on Cleo. I don’t usually bother with such indirect requests…
But one way or another I’m pretty sure I asked you anyway, and got no answer.
If by any chance I didn’t, I meant to… My memory of such things isn’t perfect.
‘ Sunshine Superman,’ ‘Susie Q,’ ‘Superman’s Song,’ and ‘Sweet Dreams,’ and the ‘Cheap Thrills Cuisine’ recipe ‘Braised Leek & Fennel (low carb).’
That’s Jimmy Page playing lead guitar for Donovan (I just found out he’s Scottish).
The cover by C.C.R.. The original was released in 1957 by Dale Hawkins and was inspired by Susan Lewis, the daughter of Stan Lewis (owner of ‘Jewel/Paula’ records. That’s her in 1996 at age 39 in the photograph below she’s now in her mid sixties.
‘The Crash Test Dummies’ are another group from Winnipeg. ‘Superman’s Song’ did release in the U.S. but its highest charting was 56 (it only made 87 in Australia) so you may or may not have heard it. It’s a good song though.
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart wrote ‘Sweet Dreams’.
Fennel is a relative of carrots, and leek of onions (the drawing of the finished dish in the strip reminds me of an elephant).
In general I don’t like songs with repeating lyrics, but I make an exception for this Eurythmics song.
I’m glad we don’t have those in real life!
.
Wish I could find a FatCats cartoon with one of Leo’s sky high sandwiches.
One had snow on the top, it was so tall.
No pickle?
A very simple but tasty hardboiled egg sandwich filling from my own head.
At least two hardboiled eggs (medium or large / small are too small / extra large are too big).
salt and pepper to taste
1Tablespoon of sweet salad dressing per egg (recipe below / I don’t know if the type is still available commercially / if it is, it works, meh)
1/2 Tablespoon of horse radish for every two eggs
1/2 of about a two-inch onion chopped fine (if you want to, grate it, that works even better)
Once the eggs cool to room temperature peel and mash them thoroughly in a deepish glass bowl (a four or eight cup glass measuring cup work well too).
Mix the salt, pepper, salad dressing, horse radish and onion into the mashed eggs.
Seal the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least an hour (within reason, the longer the better) so the flavours get a chance to mix in.
This makes one thick sandwich, or two normal sandwiches.
Side note:
Always use butter on the sandwich’s bread not margarine (yeeecchh !).
Here’s the kind of salad dressing.
This is good !!
From:
My mother’s cook book. Credited to her friend: Mrs. Snyder.
Salad Dressing
yolks of 2 eggs
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
Add:
1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup milk (whole milk 3.25% milk fat
2 tablespoons melted butter
Cook in double boiler until thick.
Delicious !
Now instructions for which you do not have to have watched my mother make this.
Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly.
Add the egg yolks to the milk and beat in; pour into dry ingredients and stir them together.
Stir in the vinegar.
Cook in the double boiler, whisking to keep from settling.
An easier way these days is to put the thoroughly whisked dressing in a micro wave proof glass container and cook for 3 minutes (based on 700 Watts). Check and cook for a minute more if needed.