One Sentence Tells It All

White blossoms clinging to dry branches on trees.

Yesterday morning the scenery was beautiful. 

A deep blue sky sparkled in the frosty world.

Trees were covered with spots of white frozen on each branch. 

Roads had been cleared after a big snow storm.

  I was warm in my car.

Snow Softly Falls To Spoil Our Trip

For a couple of months, fifty-five persons waited patiently to take a bus to Breckenridge, Colorado to see the snow sculptures. Forecasters were predicting a storm coming in and it would arrive on the very day we were scheduled to visit the sculptures. All we could do was wait and see and play it by ear.

On Monday, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to listen to the weather reports. I flipped from channel to channel and all of the local stations were reporting the weather and driving conditions. I opened the front door and could see snow falling. The driveway was covered. At 7:15, I checked in with the bus company.

"This is not a good day to go to the mountains." I was told, "One of my drivers took one hour and forty minutes on a run that usually takes twenty minutes."  The trip to Breckenridge was cancelled. I called the Outside Activities person of our Young At Heart group and between us we called the fifty-five persons to let them know the trip was cancelled.

The group I called was prepared to go and they told me how they were already dressed in their warmest outfits. Many were disappointed but agreed that the weather looked pretty bad. This excursion will now be planned for next year. I always remember the saying in Spanish: We can make plans but God decides.

There was more snow than had been predicted and I was happy I would not have to go out in the bad weather. Yet, by noon the sun was trying to shine and the snow was beginning to melt. "'That's Colorado weather" is our favorite saying! Here are two sculptures made from twenty-five tons of snow!

"We build statues out of snow

and weep to see them melt."

Walter Scott

Binge Watching

A few times, when I have been out with friends, I have been asked if I watch Grace and Frankie. I tell them I don't and they say, "You should." Then, those that have watched the show burst out laughing.
That made me curious and when I saw the name come up on Netflix, I clicked on it. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are the main characters; Jane being a sophisticated woman and Lily is more of a hippie type. I watched four consecutive episodes and wanted to continue watching more but it was past my bedtime. From when I began watching the hilarious story about seventy year old women who are divorced by their husbands because the husbands have become lovers, I cannot get enough of the series.

The series has been on for awhile because season five is coming up. After all the episodes I have seen I am on season four so I still have many more to go! The series began in 2015 and it makes me wonder where I have been that I had never heard about these two crazy women until last month? Each episode has cameo appearance by different actors and the show is produced by the Executive Producer that also did Friends. Friends was also a show I enjoyed!

It surprises me that words like homosexuals, fuck, religion, dildo, love, affairs, masturbation, vibrators, plus other choice words are tossed around and somehow I do not find them offensive because they are used in humorous ways. In the fifteen or more episodes there has been only one that bothered me and that one was on assisted suicide and I think it could have been left out.

The two women have to deal with trying to deal with their divorces from their homosexual husbands, their grown children, child-birth, knee replacements, funerals, finding romance, alcoholism, starting a business of vibrators for older women, strokes, Alzheimer's, drugs, AA, friendships and learning to live with each other because they are exact opposites! The series covers many subjects that older women have to go through as they age. Maybe that is why I enjoy the story because I can identify with some of the things the two women face in their lives.

I will not say anymore about Grace and Frankie. It is a series that I am sure if watched, it can become an addiction. I know I am certainly addicted to the show!

From the Internet

"I am not dating anymore.

I am eighty and it is only

over when you decide it is

going to be over."

Jane Fonda

I Love A Bargain

The other morning I was at the King Soopers on 80th Avenue and at the entrance were bins of Christmas wrapping paper. Ninety percent off made each roll ten cents. Even though I do not do that much wrapping for Christmas I could not pass up the bargain. I find that decorated paper bags are much easier than wrapping. I also notice that gift cards do not need wrapping, but the bargain before me was too good to pass up! One lady who was also looking at the wrapping paper said, "And to think, I used to think that paying $1.50 after Christmas for wrapping paper was a bargain!"

Many sales may say they are sales but they are not. I have thought I was buying a sale item until I realize that the price had been raised and the sale is what it should have sold for in the first place. So, when I saw the ten-cent wrapping paper with the price tag of $2.49 I knew I was getting a bargain. It even beat the Dollar Tree prices!

"Human nature says you want a bargain

whether you want the goods or not.

You think something is a steal,

you'll buy it."

Jason Statham

Scammed

On January 3, 2019, I saw a Facebook item informing me that Savannah Guthrie was leaving NBC to pursue her skin care line. Usually I am cautious and do not fall for such advertisements but I thought, if Savannah Guthrie is behind this new skin care, it must be good. I ordered the Radiance Skin Care and the Rejuvenating Eye Serum and all I paid was the shipping of $9.94. See my Blog of January 5, 2019, I Did A No No to get some background of why I ordered those items. I really believed the ad
to be true.

Today at lunch with ten friends, I mentioned my purchase of skin care and from every side of the table I heard, "That's a scam or you have been scammed." One person told me that Savannah Guthrie announced on television, this very morning, that she has never been involved with any skin products. My hopes of thinking I had escaped being scammed in my life time came crashing down. When I arrived home I looked on the Internet under skin care scams. Sure enough, there were a few skin care scams and the explanation of how they pick well known figures and begin touting that the famous people are behind the product. When in fact, the well known persons know nothing about their name  being used.

When I got home, I immediately contacted my credit card bank and informed them of my being scammed. I was told they cannot put a hold on my card but gave me two numbers to call to see if the order could be canceled. Audrey, from Customer Care, was very nice, cancelled my order, and sent me two e-mails to that effect. I hope I have solved my problem.

I feel so dumb/stupid that I was taken in by something like this just for an item that probably does not even work. Though, someone at lunch today told me that I did have a glow about me.  If she had told me before I mentioned the scam, I might have believed her. I think she felt bad I had been scammed and wanted me to feel better.

Beware of ordering anything from the Internet because you never know who is honest and who is not. I never order stuff because I don't believe the different ads, but this time, I was fooled and bit into the announcement that Savannah Guthrie was leaving her position to work full time on her skin care products. Sounded feasible. I guess the old adage of live and learn is coming true for me!

"The product might actually work,

but getting out of a billing cycle

 or even getting a refund can be 

next to impossible."

Internet Information

My Six Month Tomato

See my blog for August 4, 2018, titled The One Month Old Tomato because this is when the saga of this tomato began. Today it is January 16, 2019, and here is what that hardy, old tomato looks like  six months later.

"I love judging food by its smell, feel and taste. 

The healthiest tomato isn't always the perfect

one that's been covered in pesticides."

Sheherazade Goldsmith

God's Advice For Me

Sitting at mass
I watch people pass
and many times spot
something I don't like
that they've got.
I ask myself,
why am I so critical?
Who am I to say
what is wrong or what is right?
Even when I don't want to be
there is something making me disagree.
Ideas rush into my head
feeding my brain
with thoughts I wish to shed.
Even when I try
to erase those nasty thoughts
they penetrate by mind
and those  thoughts make me feel bad,
or sad, as they go through my head.
Are my eyes causing me pain
seeing others with such disdain?
A thought enters my mind,
Did God put it there
because he does care?
He said to me,
"Blinders would do the trick
to make you look straight ahead
where your eyes should be
adoring me
and not looking  around
with your sinning eyes.
Blinders would end those thoughts
that are all your fault
to a speedy halt!"

Picture From the Internet

E. Moscoso
January 14, 2019