Words of wisdom from my DM:

Time proven sayings repeated to me by my dear mom.  These wise words have come back to me many times over the years and, had I paid attention the first time, I would have saved myself a lot of misery.

"Less said, easy mended" (How often this old saw would have saved me from some really nasty interpersonal difficulties.)

 "Idleness is the devil's workshop" (Yep!)

"A fool and his money are soon parted" (I'm still guilty of this one!)

"Laughing turns to crying" (This was a hard one and I think it is a vote for moderation in your emotional life.)

"A stitch in time saves nine." (Why do I hate to drag out that old sewing box?)

"Always get your stuff ready the night before.  Then you won't have to rush the next day." (I still do this - every night I lay out what I will wear tomorrow.  If you are lucky enough to have a house with radiators - all the better.  Who doesn't love to put on toasty warm snuggies on a cold morning??)

Back around 1962...

My best friend, Mary Alice,  and I used to stop by "Hanley's House of Happiness," an Irish American tavern at 79th & Bishop.

It was, mainly,  a hang out for the Irish "just off the boat" crowd.  We were seniors at Visitation High School at the time and being first generation Irish American we would be known as  "narrowbacks" -  a somewhat perjorative word supposedly reflecting the fact that first generation men were not as strong doing manual labor as the Irish fellow who recently left the Ould Sod.

Jack Hanley, the owner,  was from the same area of Galway as my dad so he was, for sure, a "regular" at the bar.  When Mary Alice and I would go in dad would take us around and introduce us to his cronies who would always want to buy us drinks.  Pretty soon we 17 year olds would have a  table filled to capacity with 15 to 20 glasses of "highballs" and "7 & 7's" - the ladies drinks of the time.

Hanley's was the southside Irish "place to be" in its day, especially after the St. Patrick's Day parade but, also, on any weekend with the standing room crowds,  the live music and dancing. 

How great would it be to stop by once more and see dad sitting at his favorite bar stool in the middle of telling one of his infamous "tall tales" and see his face light up as Mary Alice and I strolled in, all dolled up in our sheath dresses, high heels and beehives and 'have him introduce his "little girl" around again.

What did the "little woman" do around the house today...

besides surfing the net, that is?
Well, its too miserable to run SO she washed the kitchen and lower bathroom floors, swept the house, washed down the counters, cleaned out the fireplace, and baked a loaf of honey wheat bread in the bread machine.  Now its time for the Photo Shop lessons.
Is is cocktail hour yet??

Spring is on the way!

I couldn't resist 'em.

What do you look like after running for 40 minutes

with a 12 degree windchill?  Like this and crabby as hell (sorry, running buddy!)

Running when its 14 degrees...

First of all, it takes twice as long to find all your stuff and put it all on.  There is a certain nervousness/anxiety involved that isn't there in normal weather, anticipating the misery about to come. How bad will it be - horrible, terrible, miserable or, maybe, tolerable.

We dodged a bullet yesterday - it was bad but not horrendous.  At least it wasn't icy until the very end where I almost slipped while we were looking for some squirrels to feed.  Our "regular" guys weren't out yesterday - too cold for them.  Very few folks out on the trail, also, just a few walkers all bundled up and a runner or two.  It was good to finish up. I wonder what today will be like?