But Whose Mind?

My A-1 Heating guy came yesterday for my semi-annual maintenance inspection. He left their latest flyer for my instruction. Here's the part on the benefits of installing a new Navien tankless water heater, which can save me up to 25 percent a month. Note it does not say it will save me 25 percent, just that it can save me up to that much.

But it gets better. And I quote:

"Not only will this help you save money, but you will also have piece of mind knowing that you are conserving our precious energy."

So, top that.

Charlie and the mundone

Jeremy's home this morning. He and Ann have been working in the house, getting ready for their soon-to-arrive company. They also plan to go to Costco. I took Lola over to go with them.

Jeremy comes upstairs rolling his eyes. It's because of Charlie.

Ann: Jeremy got all of the blankets, folded them, and put them in a box. Then Charlie pulled them out again and said, "I'm going to decorate."

Me: Fun. So when are you going?

Ann: Don't know. Edmund's asleep so we're working while he sleeps.

Jeremy, as he goes back downstairs and with emphasis: We're trying to get things done.

Me: And Charlie is getting them undone.

Lola: Mundone.

Ann: The mundone.

Me: Charlie and the mundone.

We're Schiesses. It's how we think.

The Way of Things

In my early teens I would sometimes be in my mother’s room while she dressed. Many times I watched as she pulled on her nylon stockings. (No pantyhose in those days.) First she would put on a pair of white gloves, slide her hands down into the nylons, one at a time, and then pull them up and hook them to the garters that hung from her girdle.

It was the gloves that interested me. I wore nylons, but I didn’t put them on with gloves.

So I asked. Her hands were so rough, she explained, that they would snag the hose if she didn’t wear the gloves. I remember thinking it a quaint practice, one I’d probably never engage in.

I was right. I don’t don gloves before donning pantyhose. But not for the reasons I thought of when I was young.

Because the truth is, now that I'm not young, I’ve thought about doing it, more than a few times. My hands are rough, you see, maybe even rougher than my mother’s hands, and obviously I didn't think they would be. And they do indeed snag my pantyhose so that a new pair doesn’t look new once I get it on my legs. Funny how things turn out, huh.

But I have concluded the gloves would do me little good because of my feet, which are also rough, quite rough. They snag the hose. And I see no help for it. I can’t very well put on socks before putting on pantyhose. Now can I.

FYI

Bedrich Smetana (The Moldau) was deaf when he completed the tone poem that contained The Moldau. Didn't hear the thunderous applause after its performance in 1875. Deafness caused by syphilis. Death nine years later also because of syphilis.

I knew that Franz Schubert had syphilis. He died at age 31 from typhoid fever, they say. They also say that Robert Schumann's insanity was caused by syphilis. Frederick Delius, another composer, had syphilis. And probably Paganini, Mozart and Beethoven, too.

Oscar Wilde had it. John Keats and Guy de Maupassant. Hitler and Lenin, too. Manet, Gaugin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Van Goch.

If you saw Out of Africa then you know Karen Blixen had syphilis, a gift from her husband. By the way, it's a long list of well-knowns who had it. My list here is partial and brief.

What brings this post about? I was listening to The Moldau this morning, a favorite of mine, and heard that bit of information about Smetana. I thought I'd do some research on syphilis, also called The French Disease--who's surprised about that?--but the more I read, the less I wanted to know. It's ugly, and each stage of it causes terrible effects, all of which are ugly, and it is deadly if untreated. It is known to have existed in the 1400s (before that, obviously, but that's when they began keeping records of these things).

I think it was also known as a silent killer because of the shame associated with it. Today, or since before the mid 20th century, it has been treated with penicillin and is curable if treated in a timely manner.

Okay, so this isn't my favorite posting either.

BCLarsen

Happy Birthday to Ben. He's my newest son-in-law, and he's thirty-six today.

I can't write anything of his youth or childhood, because I have known him for only a couple of years. But somewhere back there--in his youth or childhood--he must have done something good. (It's a song, you know.) Because he grew up and got Alyce.

What I know of him now I like very much.

Oh, and by the way, Alyce got him, and she has told me she likes him very much, too.

I hope this is one fine day for you, Ben.