THE WEISS CHRONICLES

One Idea Worked; One, not so much

(Mishloach Manot)com

Anyway, a few minutes after that, all 14 blogs were recovered including images. It is the fast of Esther 5772 today - hence the title.

Unloading Done

The J&K Moving Service helped out today getting the heavy pieces in to the house. They were good and efficient and also quick but not cheap. One of them hurt himself helping us hang a big 40 pound oval mirror and I got him antiseptic and bandaids.

Return to Maryland

Ann and I left Atlanta on Feb 22 and arrived back on Feb 23. We stayed overnight in Dublin, VA along I-81 (I did the I-81 path because it was 'recommended' by google map, mapquest and one of the people at the Lenbrook and also because I didn't want to drive along I-95 between Richmond, VA and Washington, DC with that vehicle).

Along the way, Ann got a cup of coffee at a Subway in Georgia that for reasons unknown to us told her it was on the house. We also saw a nice rainbow going over the ridge line on the way the Shenandoah valley. Oddly, the electronic dash board odometer reading suddenly changed to "Service Tire Monitoring System" on several occasions. The first time it did this I was a bit frightened and pulled off to check the tires. They all felt equally firm. I called the U Haul hot line and after some discussion, they said they thought it was a false positive.

The trip was about 660 miles.

Remarks at Memorial Servie for Kathleen Lindsey-Byers are posted in the blog we have established for her.

Lenbrook Helps Us

We've been packing Kathleen's possessions for pick up by charity or giving it away to Lenbrook staff or taking home.


Today, one of Kathleen's neighbors spent about 4 hours helping Ann do this.

Her husband had loaned Kathleen some items which we, unknowingly, placed in the discard list. Even after this, the woman helped Ann.

About two or three dozen people have expressed their affection for Kathleen to us.

The images are the street level entrance to Lenbrook (top) and a view from the top floor of the Lennox residential tower (bottom) where Buckhead high rises are in the foreground and Atlanta midtown high rises are in the background (on the left).

A Dream with Anachronisms

I dreamt that we were trying to get Soda Cat's picture on a USPS stamp. George, who was about 8 years old in my dream, went to the office of Senator Barbara Boxer and gave her a hug in return for her support in this effort.

Anachronisms:

George was 13 when we first got Soda.

When George was 8 (1991) Boxer was only a Representative, not a Senator.

Possible dream catalyst. We've been in Atlanta a while now and we discuss our cat with George almost every day. Also, going through Kathleen's possessions, I saw a US stamp dedicated to various cats (or it might have been an address label).

Kathleen Byers Lindsey 1916-2012

obit is posted at the blog we established for Kathleen

Sir, You dropped the good Stuff

I went shopping at Kroger today. It is only a few blocks from the Lenbrook where Ann and I are staying while Ann's mom adjusts to being in the health care unit there (she had been in the independent unit).

I took a Lenbrook shopping cart to the store, filled it up and was taking it back. I had a 12 pack of MGD 64 in the bottom shelf of the cart. The top part of the cart was also pretty full.

Evidently, as I went over a bump in the sidewalk, the beer slide out and I didn't notice.

A guy (an employee of Lenbrook as it happened) was walking behind me. He pickup up the 12 pack and brought it to me and said, "Sir, you dropped the good stuff." (or something close to that).

KBL visits Beth's Apartment in Ramat Gan

Well it was by IPAD and Skype. The IPAD and Skype assistance was provided by Jamie Bell whose parents are good friends of KBL. KBL was in Piedmont hospital after having a heart attack. Jamie had asked us to let him know if there was anything he could do for us and voila. We asked. Ten points for Jamieclaw (or possibly Hufflejamie).

Your Pornography Catalog is Here

For some years, I've been referring to the many plant catalogs we get as plant pornography. Thus the phrase in the title was used by Ann recently while sorting the mail.

This is because one of the definitions of pornography is:

"the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction pornography of violence".

The actual plants rarely come out anywhere as nice as they look in the catalogs. Tulips especially because they only seem to produce good bulbs for a few years and even then, you have to protect them from the deer and rabbits that infest our neighborhood.

Tulips from the Michigan Bulb catalog.
Definition from the online Merriam - Webster dictionary.

Beth Buys a Car

Beth bought a 1997 Suzuki (obviously used).

She was getting worn out from some of the Jerusalem to Ramat Gan trips.

Like in some neighborhoods in our region, there is a residential sticker program so residents can park in places near their homes (while those without resident stickers who park there during working hours are subject to fines).

It took several hours and provision of many documents (citizen papers, auto ownership papers, apartment lease, etc.) to acquire the sticker but it was only 20 sheckels (about $5).

She named her car 'Dilbert'.

"That's Alleged Slaveowner"

George is working on a case defending a Peruvian embassy employee. He is being sued (a civil case) by a domestic employee. That person alleged that she is working in violation of various laws (e.g., fair labor standards) but in the plaintiff's complaint, she implies that she is, in effect, a slave (G points out that, in the evidence, there are images of the plaintiff at Disney World and other non- harsh places).

Anyway, when he came home a few nights ago I asked him how he was doing defending the Slaveowner.

As implied by the title of the post, he responded,

"That's Alleged Slaveowner"

The title of the image is "How the Spaniards Abuse Their African Slaves" according to this site.

No Coffee with the Battery

I went to Sears Auto today to get a new battery (the old one was about 4 yrs and 9 months into its 5 yr life).

This is our 'go to' place for batteries since the cost is about $40 less than getting it from a service station or $30 less than at a specialty tire store and they (Sears) always have a battery.

However, unlike the other places, they didn't have coffee in the waiting room. The manager apologized for this and explained the situation. This Sears Auto Center sits at a MetroBus and Ride-On Transfer station and the bus drivers had been coming in for the coffee and some of them even took the occasion of filling up a large thermos for all day use. Thus, the task of making fresh coffee was taking up an increasingly large amount of time and they discontinued coffee making and put in a pay-for-item soda machine.

Sigh.

Five Handed Sheepshead Game Here

We had a 5 person game today. Walrus (who had high score), Arthur, Berg, myself and a woman named Shana who is a friend of Alben Goldstein who lives near here (Shana was visiting; she lives in San Diego. I had seen her a few days ago and when she said she was from Milwaukee, I asked if she knew how to play Sheepshead and she did - that's why we had the game (the image shows a perfect 6 card hand).

Shana hadn't played in about 30 years but relearned pretty quickly.

We had lots of types of beer to choose from (including some non alcoholic Beck's beer). A lot of it was left.

First Valentine of the Year

The person at our house who received the first valentine of the year was my father. Dad died twenty years ago but the American Heart Association sent him a valentine day card (addressed to our house).

Of course this was a fund raiser.

We plan to send the card (which has useful health hints on the back) to someone. I think Dad would approve of that.

Common Cold Strikes

I don't think I had a cold since about 2007 but I got a doozy of one this past weekend.

It might have something to do with the airplane flights to and from Atlanta -- restricted ventilation and lots of people.

As in the past (e.g., see the Aug 29, 2011 post), I tried vitamin C mega doses, steamroom visits, etc. but this time those didn't work.

Ann and M were at the Strathmore for a Gershwin night.

Getting to the parking area was an issue because the show started at the end of pm rush hour.

Question from Atlanta

Ann and I were in Atlanta, Jan 2-4 visiting Ann's mom who is 95 (and was having some dental work done and we thought we could provide some moral support, and based on the comments, this was correct).

The place where Ann's mom lives is called the Lenbrook and each morning they have free coffee and pastries. I was having coffee and some people asked me to sit with them.

We engaged in some idle chat ending with me saying that I used to work for the US government and we live in the Rockville-Bethesday-Potomac area.

Then one of the women asked the question that is presumably on everybody's mind in this highly controversial election year,

"So, how is the shopping up there these days"?

The image is of Bethesda Row. The map shows the location of Bethesda Row on Bethesda Avenue between Arlington Rd and Wisconsin Ave.