Blue skies and sunshine in Columbus

My husband is creeping along on Rt. 4 about 10 miles an hour. Says it is very slick and icy (called to let me know where he is). He's returning from Lakeside and four hours of leaf raking, a fall routine he's had for 10 years--although most of our neighbors there close up on Labor Day and reopen in April or May, and don't worry about leaf pick up schedule.

Gorgeous fashions! I was watching El Gordo y La Flaca last evening and their guest/side kick Steve(?) had a clip of a fashion show interview he'd done. Oh my! Clothes so feminine and graceful and fabrics so lush they recalled old 30s movies, or trimmer times of the 1950s. I certainly hope that trend will spread. Not that I could afford them or have a place to wear dressy clothes, but there is a trickle down effect. I don't know enough Spanish to catch the event or the designer, but let's hope it catches on. So tired of sloppy and casual. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back the news was on. Those info-babes on Spanish language TV certainly dress differently than ours. Eye popping, if you get my drift. The man, however, was completely covered.

Also flipping through the channels I got the last few minutes of the Republican Governors Conference last week on c-span. They do seem excited about Bobby Jindal, and were praising him for the Gustav response. We keep passing out my homemade Palin-Jindal 2012 pins.

Feels like I might be coming down with a cold. I'm overdue. Haven't had one since September 2007. So I've been trying Zicam--a friend swears by it. If I could get 1 week colds like other people, I'd be happy. Mine usually last 3 or more weeks.

I had a long chat with one of my uncles last night and caught up on the family news. I think he's closer to my age than my father's--maybe 10 years older than me. He mentioned some grandchildren I didn't know about and a change of address for one of my aunts in California, so I suggested he write down the children's names and birth dates and mail them to me. I seem to be the only person in the family that does much with genealogy. Doesn't make much sense to know who was where in the 17th century if you don't know where the 21st century cousins are. I don't care much for my new version of Family Tree Maker 2008. I don't seem to be able to do the old functions I knew under the 7.0 version.

I volunteered at the Senior Center lunch room yesterday. They really have nice lunches--we served choices of hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken salad, an Italian soup, broccoli soup, creamed chicken on toast, applesauce and usually someone brings in cookies or cake for a dessert to share. Although I have a regular service day, I've subbed a number of times, so don't seem to have a regular partner yet. Harold, my Tuesday partner, says I'm good. I think it's my experience at Zickuhr's Drug Store counter when I was in high school and college coming back to me. I have worked a few times with a woman who has a disabled daughter, and hope to help her out a bit so she can get out of the house more. On both Thursday and Friday there is line dancing right before lunch, and I enjoy watching them. I'm not going to figure this out, since even the medical journals can't, but I notice all the dancers are trim. Now are they trim because they exercise, or do they exercise because they're trim? One woman is 92 and seems to be having a lot of fun.

Advent's just around the corner, so I'll be helping on Wednesdays at church with lunch and communion. You don't ever want me in charge of the kitchen, but I can set a table and stir the soup.

Note: Here's an interesting Google trick. If you type "Zickuhr drug store" into Google and click on images, the first batch of photos that come up are all from my blogs, although I think only one is a photo of the drug store. I guess the other photos are on the same page as an entry about Zickuhr's.