When did it become necessary for us to abbreviate everything in our lives? I’ve been pondering the situation and the earliest abbreviations that come to mind are FBI and OSS. More recently, Good Morning, America has become GMA.

Then, Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC, and just recently Dunkin’ Donuts has chosen to change all their signage to DD. Jennifer Lopez became JLo, and her main squeeze was ARod. I’m sure there are dozens of other examples. I just don’t know why.

Are we supposed to be saving seconds of our valuable time by just voicing the letters? I assume that they feel they are so familiar that they don’t need to have the words said to be identifiable. Will all newcomers to the United States be left to wonder what the letters stand for, or will they catch on by watching TV ads and trailers?

I’ll admit that I am old-fashioned. I don’t care for change. I’d be happy to say the words. Most days I have the time.

I have been a GREAT sleeper all my life……well, until the past few years. I battle getting to sleep, staying asleep, and getting to bed early enough so that I can get eight hours. A lot of this problem is of my own making.

FIrst, I am a tea drinker. I drink it all day long. I like it hot; I like it iced. I prefer back tea, but I do drink some of the simpler flavored teas. Have you ever had apricot tea?? It has a delightful scent, but is very light on the apricot taste. Just the thing for early morning or after dinner.

I’ve talked with a number of people about this, including my doc. It seems that I need to shift from tea to water at NOON if I want to work off the effects of the caffeine in time to hit the hay. So far I’ve given it up starting around dinner time, and I can see the difference. I need to drink more water, so I can see the writing on the wall.

Second, I am a reader. I love mysteries and historical fiction and things on quilt making. On occasion I read non-fiction, but I really prefer fiction, and my favorite authors are those who are prolific in telling an on-going story. Dana Stabenow’s two series set in Alaska, Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, Donna Leon’s books set in Venice, and Louis McMasters Bujold’s space fiction are examples of books I love to read. This morning, my husband was reading through the “Bas Bleu” catalog and found a nightshirt with a grandfather clock and the words “Just one more chapter” repeating down the front of the shirt. Boy, that’s me. I just HATE to put down a good book, and that is known to ruin my sleep.

Thirdly, I need a bed that doesn’t bounce me around when my husband shifts while trying to find more comfort. Kim, at the salon, tells me there is a bed that is made of two beds with a connector piece that might help me. I’ll just get to sleep and Dear Husband will fight the battle of “trying to get comfortable.” My eyes pop open and I won’t be able to get to sleep for a couple of hours. I used to do bookkeeping when I was tired. Now I do crossword puzzles. I’ve been thinking about going to the basement to quilt. It would be more productive!

And last, we watch TV and I use my Kindle after dinner. I understand that the light emitted from my Kindle may be keeping me from settling in time for bed, AND the news certainly is not soothing. We have begun to cut back on bedtime news. After all, we saw it at 5:00 and 6:00. If anything serious has changed, we’ll hear about it the next day.

I do know what I need to be doing, it’s just making the consistent effort so that these things become second nature that is the issue. I had a good night’s sleep last night, and it makes such a difference in how I face the day, that it’s worth it to make these changes.

I hope you’re all good sleepers, and I wish you comfort when you sleep!

I’m positive that the term “pen pal” is anachronistic. I believe that younger people don’t write letters. I doubt they even write e-mails any longer. But I have two pen pals, and I’d like to have one or two more.

My mother had scads of pen pals who shared her birthday. Mother would get out her ink pen (not a ball point, a real honest-to-God ink pen) and she would faithfully answer each letter that came to the house. They mostly talked about family, and what was new in their lives, and these friends began to feel like family to her.

I came to understand how Mother felt about her pen pals when I tripped into my pen pal’s life, probably more than fifteen years ago. At the time I was trying my hand at blogging. My friend’s husband was a blogger, and I met her through his blog. Neither of us realized that we were starting an on-line friendship that would last years.

We visit via e-mail. (If I had to use an ink pen, she would never be able to read the letters.) There have been times when we posted once every week to ten days, but lately I have been needier, and I’ve sent notes every other day, and sometimes twice a day. (Note: that’s likely due to covid-19 and the need to shelter at home.) She’s been very gracious about the flurry of notes. We chat about weather, and she shares her cat’s antics with me. (I am without pets, sadly.) We talk about politics and recipes, gardening and news in general. We talk about our children and grandchildren. I share my husband’s terrible sense of humor and she encourages him. She’s become family.

I wrote to her about ennui, and she was very encouraging. When I feel down, she lifts me up. When I am ebullient, she celebrates with me. I hope I do the same for her.

I think it might be difficult to find another pen-pal as perfect as she. I’m happy to be following in my Mother’s footsteps.

Ennui is a word that I rarely use. I tend to be a happy person, or at least, I rarely feel sad. But just lately I’ve been feeling a bit down. Ennui describes it well.

I’ve lost my oldest sister, we’ve been sheltering at home for what seems like forever, I miss getting hugs, my arm hurts and I’m working on some health issues. I think I have a right to feel a little ennui. But, between you and me, I’d like it to go away.

I want to be that person who rises early and enjoys the morning sun. I want to watch the birds and squirrels while I have breakfast and be entertained by their play. I want to feel energetic, and ready to take on organizing the pantry or making more quilts, or even cleaning!

We have finally made it to March. The snow is melting away and warm temperatures are forecast for the next couple of weeks. Soon, I’ll be able to get out and visit the nurseries and choose plants for the gardens. I hope by then I will have managed to ditch this ennui.

I welcome suggestions on how to go about perking up my attitude.

I just received a call, ostensibly from Amazon.com to tell me that “someone” had recently made a charge of over $500 on my Amazon account. If I had not made the charge, I was to call them back at the number they gave me.

Okay, I’ve gotten to the point where I’m skeptical about everything on-line. I didn’t bother to write down the number they gave. After all, it was a recorded message, and in all the time I’ve been shopping at Amazon, they have NEVER called me, or sent an email. Generally, if someone wants you to verify their call, they don’t give you a number to call. You are supposed to look the number up for yourself. I’ll bet anything that if I had dialed that number I would have been connected to one of those telephone scams where you are charged hundreds of dollars for just accessing the exchange.

I went to my Amazon account and checked my orders. Of course there was no $500 charge. I checked all the tabs and there was nothing! Just because I have gray hair doesn’t mean that I don’t pay attention when it comes to scams.

I wish Amazon had some place where we could post information on these scams. I suppose they don’t want to pursue the scammers, but it would be good to have a record we could review about recent scams.

The scammers are brazen, and with each passing day we need to be more and more vigilant. Don’t get caught.

I’m up in the middle of the night, AGAIN! I think there are several parts to this problem. I have been reading a lot lately, and I think that I am not getting enough exercise. I’m going to have to tire myself out for several days in a row, and reestablish an earlier time to rise and go to bed. I think consistency in my day is important.

It’s also possible that this sleeplessness is related to depression. I’m still grieving for my sister, and probably will be for a while. When I see the doc I’ll ask whether melatonin might help in the short term.

I’m also disturbed by the unbelievable scenes of the mob breaking into the Capital building. I am astonished that any of them thought their behavior was appropriate, and I worry what will happen on January 20th. I really think that the inauguration should be held inside the building. (Note to God: Dear Sir, would you please provide foul weather for the day to drive them inside?)

And, we are in our tenth month of sheltering at home (mostly). We’re all tired of the separation, lack of touch, missing special events in our families, the fear that we might catch the virus after all our efforts and the grief for all who have been lost.

Some of that I can’t control but I suspect that more exercise is a good part of the solution to how I feel about all of this. I just wish I could do it sitting down.

Wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds. Stay six feet away from EVERYONE. Wear a mask! It’s very little to ask to prevent the spread of the virus, and maybe I’ll get a little sleep.

I have the oddest pattern in my life. I go to bed, and a couple of hours later I’m wide awake. So, I get out of bed and do the crossword puzzle. It helps to pass the time until I am tired enough to go back to sleep. Well, maybe not the Monday puzzle, which is pretty easy, but certainly the other days of the week.

I’d really rather be doing the puzzle over breakfast, with Dear Husband there to share it. Sunday morning I couldn’t remember the name of Hagar’s dog, and DH came up with it: Snert. I suppose I would have gotten it eventually, but it amazes me what he is able to remember or sound out.

I’ll tell DH the number of spaces and what letters (if any) I might have. Without seeing the grid he can come up with possibilities. He’s quite good at it. Unfortunately, he’s a creative speller, so he won’t bother to do the puzzles on his own, but he seems to be content to start the day helping me.

My mother used to do crossword puzzles in ink. I’m not willing to work on puzzles unless I can do it electronically. I use the option that tells me when I put in a wrong letter. I suppose I could do it my mother’s way, but it would take me all day.

When I was first doing puzzles as an adult my favorites were those by Eugene T. Maleska. He was the editor for the New York Times puzzles. He and I thought about language the same way, and I was more likely to finish one of his puzzles. Now, the editors are not requiring information in the clues such as “two words.” I don’t think the clues are as clever as they used to be, so when I come across a good one, I share it with DH.

I’ll have to put Maleska’s puzzles on my wish list and see whether any of the kids can find them for me. Perhaps I will be doing puzzles like my mother after all.