The First One

            So here it is!

          The first letter blog of 2019!

          This is my 21st year writing a weekly letter blog. It was a letter for more years than a blog but most everything I've written since July of 2014 is still posted online, so if you missed any, just know you can go read them anytime you want.

          What you won't find there is the story I wrote after Kat died. I was told it was much too personal, so I took it down. If you want to read it again, you'll have to write me for it. Or maybe I'll repost it on one of her deathiversaries. 

          How about letter facts for 2017? I wrote you 58 times! Are you tired of me?

           Printed, it comes out to be 782 pages, but that's with the 3,230 pictures I shared with you too.

          Postage isn't as much an issue as it once was because so many of you are on the internet that I only mail three letters these days. Three letters and one card.

          "One card?" you query.

          Yes, one card. Every time I mail a letter, I send my cute little red-haired sister a card.

          "Christmas cards make me feel loved," she told me some time ago.

          Most of the time it's a Christmas card that I send but I'll mix in the occasional Easter, Valentine, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and birthday card too.

          "How many cards did you get last year?" I asked Diane at the start of 2018.

          "I started out hanging them on the wall," she told me, "but I got tired of 'em, took 'em down and threw 'em away."

          That didn't discourage me from sending her cards; I want her know that somebody loves her — a lot. So I kept sending cards, I just didn't ask for a count anymore. Boy, was I surprised when, at the end of November, I got a note from Diane which simply read, "47 cards!" She saved them this time!

          I wrote LAST ONE!  in the last one for 2018 and she's informed me that she's gotten 51 cards all told.

          "You wrote 58 letters but only mailed 51?" you ask.

          Wow. You guys are sharp! Yeah. I can see your confusion. But here's the deal. There were times when I put more than one week's letter in an envelope before I mailed it, so yes, I wrote 58 letters and mailed them in 51 envelopes.

          Have you ever made homemade soft pretzels? I know my beautiful cousin Shannon makes them from time to time and they look so good I was sure they'd be hard to make. Then a soft pretzel recipe from King Arthur Flour came across my FaceBook page and I read it. It didn't sound too hard and I made them. They were really yummy. That was like a year ago. I don't make them very often but I made them a couple of weeks ago for game night with the Robinsons. I meant to take pictures and didn't. That bothered me. So, this week I made them again. This time for Mike and me. I took a picture as they rested ten minutes before baking.

          Then Mike and I sat to play a game of cards, which we were in the middle of when the pretzels were done. I brought the pretzels to the table, grabbed a couple of paper plates and we ate them as we played. Then and only then did I remember I wanted a picture when they came out of the oven. "This will have to do," I told Mike.

          At some point, I think Shannon made pretzels too and that got me to thinking. I wonder if her recipe is better than this one. I messaged Shannon and she was kind enough to share her recipe with me. The next time I make them I'll try Shannon's recipe and let you know, or maybe she wants to try the King Arthur one?

          Something else Shannon and I have in common this week is we both had our haircut. "Hasn't been this short in ages," Shannon posted.

          Me?

          I woke up one day and decided it's time. I hadn't been thinking about it, the thought just popped into my head and I acted on it. I got in contact with Genesis Salon in Wyalusing and found out they take hair for Locks of Love so I scheduled an appointment and went.

          I recruited Michael with the promise of lunch to take pictures for me and he agreed but wasn't happy about it.

          When I sat in the chair, I told Maria what I wanted. "I want you to use a number three clipper on the sides and back and leave the top about this long," and held up my thumb and index finger with about a half-inch gap.

          Maria's eyes got real big. "Are you sure?"

          "Yep. So I want you to take just as much length as you can."

          Maria was so funny. She kept trying to make sure I knew what I was doing. "It'll be okay," I told her. "You won't make it too short."

          "You've had it that short before?"

          "Yeah. How many ponytails will you use?"

          "Four, I think. I'll be right back."

          She went and got the rubber bands and ended up making eight ponytails, "Since you want it so short."

          "I do."

          "When most women come in they want me to leave as much length on as I can," Maria said.

          Now I understood. "I've worn my hair that short for about 12 years," I told her. "And something else that surprises people when I tell them is that I've never dyed my hair and I'm almost 60."

           Maria was surprised and agreed. "That is unusual. I've had women in their 20's go gray."

          "I know, right! It isn't fair!"

          Maria laughed. "A badge of honor?" she guessed. "You earned it?"

          "Dang right," I muttered.

          The first ponytail came off, then the second and I caught a glimpse of my mother looking back out the mirror at me. I look a little like her.

          "You really are cutting it all off," Michelle, the stylist at the next chair commented.

          When Maria saw I wasn't freaking out, she relaxed.

          Joanna, another stylist came over. "I have to see this." She picked up a ponytail. "Wow! This is some of the healthiest hair I've ever seen anyone donate."

          That tickled me. "Why is that?"

          "A lot of times when they let their hair grow they don't get it trimmed like they should and it's damaged," she answered.

          I did keep an eye on my ends and snip off any splits I saw. Other than that, I don't think I did anything special.

          I donated more than 15 inches of hair that day, maybe closer to 16 or 17. We didn't have an accurate way to measure it. Now I'm back to the old me.

          "I'll see you again in four years," I told Maria.

          "Are you glad you got it cut?" I was asked.

          Yes! Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Long hair is a pain in the patootie. There's long hair all over the house. I'm constantly pulling hair from the inside of my shirt as it tickles me. It's a pain when you're trying to sleep, you either have to ponytail it or braid it. If you don't it's all over the place. Then you have to sleep on the ponytail or braid. Not to mention that there isn't a lot you can do with long hair during the day. Again, ponytail or braid. And I don't necessarily think long hair is flattering on a woman my age either. It was always my intention to donate it so there was no help for it. There's only one time I think I'll miss it. That's when it was down and it would brush across my back as I got dressed in the morning. It felt like a wave of silk. I certainly didn't miss it as I took my camera back from Mike and put the strap around my neck. No ponytail to pull out, no hair to get caught. It felt like freedom!

          Locks of Love, for anyone who isn't familiar with this organization, provides high-quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children suffering from hair loss, free of charge.

          I went looking for exercise videos on eBay and came across an eight DVD lot of Debbie Siebers for about $2.50 a DVD. We love Debbie, Miss Rosie and I do. And I didn't have some of these. So I ordered them.

          "Peg, I hate to tell you this but there's nine DVD's there," you say.

          I know, right! After I placed the order, I realized another eight DVD lot of Debbie had Cool It Off in it and the one I bought didn't. I messaged the seller. "Can I swap one of the DVDs or add one? I'd like to have Cool It Off too." I thought they'd send me an invoice for another $2.50 and I'd pay it.

          It didn't happen. I didn't get any reply from the seller but I did get a ship notice. Oh well, I thought, she hadn't seen my message before it shipped. So I was really surprised when I opened the box and there were nine DVD's in there! They gave me the one I wanted and didn't charge me for it. How cool is that! I never would have guessed that she'd just toss it in for me. I left a great review on eBay for her and she thanked me for that plus gave me a coupon for 20% another purchase from her eBay store.

          I've been working on a couple of projects this past week, one of them being a holder for a penny that has a heart cut out of it. Lou wants to put it on a chain and give it to his girlfriend as a necklace.

     This was the first one I came up with but when I showed it to a couple of people, it didn't go over so well. 

      So I've been working on a couple of other designs. I can't really finish them until I put the penny in but you can kind of get the idea of what I'm going for. This is the front and back and I put a couple of beads on it. I'll twist the rest of the wire around the edge like I did in the first one.

       

   

          Then I tried this one.

            The general consensus is the first one is the best, at least among my FaceBook friends. When Lou comes to pick it up I'll show him what I've been working on and let him pick.

          "Then he'll have to come back for it when you finish it?" Mike questioned.

          "No. Just sit and talk for a while and I can finish it then." Knowing how these guys like to gab, that gives me an hour, easy.

          I have several glass projects in queue but I decided to make Heartfalls instead of sticking to the list.

          "What are Heartfalls?" you ask.

          Hearts, strung together so they hang in a line. They sound so pretty as the breeze stirs them and makes them tinkle. You have to hang them inside or in a very sheltered place because they are glass and can break. I have the very first set of these   I ever made and sometimes I'll hear them even when I didn't feel a breeze. Must be a ghost, I think.

          Speaking of hearing things! Oh my goodness! Mike and I were in the kitchen, just getting ready to sit down to supper when we heard something hit the floor. It sounded like it came from out the pantry way. One of those cats is climbing around where they shouldn't be and knocked something down. "I'll go see," I volunteered. I headed for the pantry, flipping the light on as I went but didn't see anything out of place. I went through to the laundry room and found everything in order there. I even checked the back hallway even though there isn't anything back there for them to knock over. "I don't see a thing," I called as I headed back, turning out lights as I retraced my steps.

           On impulse, I looked in the half-bath and there was Smudge, in the sink. He'd knocked the air freshener down.

          "Really Smudge?" I asked and went for my camera. "Really?" and I snapped his picture. Smudge didn't move. He just lies there with a deer-in-the-headlights look.

          "Peg, what's in his mouth?" you ask.

          I know, right! I didn't see there was anything in his mouth until I got closer.

          "Mike, you've got to see this!"

          Smudge heard him coming and turned to look.

          Then Mike took the roll of toilet tissue away from him. Smudge wasn't happy about that.

           Speaking of critters, I've seen a report on the bear kill this year. 1,993 bears were killed during the four-day statewide hunt. That doesn't take into consideration the bears killed during archery, early-bear, or extended-bear season.

          One foggy morning Mike and I were out and I had him drive up to the overlook since it's been a while since I've taken any pictures from there.

          This is the Susquehanna River winding its way through the valley.

          We made a shopping trip to Dickson City this past week. It's been quite a while since we went down there. The last few times we needed Aldi's or Wal Mart we went the other way, up to Athens.

          Road pictures?

         

          Coming into the little town of Meshoppen.

          We didn't need much of anything but spent plenty of money anyway. We stopped at Hobby Lobby and Mike bought me a couple of 12x12 sheets of stained glass, a roll of wide copper foil, and some chain for hanging my projects. I have tons of variegated glass but what I don't have is solid colors. I picked up one black and two white sheets. They had several sheets that were broken but that doesn't matter that much to me since I mostly make small things.

          "If they discount it, I'd take the broken ones," I said to Mike.

          Mike is a good husband and went in search of a clerk.

          "We don't do that," he was told. "We'll break it up and sell it that way."

          People who make mosaics buy that kind of glass and I've saved all of my scrap pieces with the intention of making a mosaic someday.

          In the checkout lane, I could hear the gal in the next lane say to the cashier, "Here's a coupon for someone else."

          Coupon? "What's the coupon for?" I jumped right in.

          "40 percent off one regular price item. All of her stuff was on sale."

          "Oh. Can I have it?"

          "Certainly," she said and handed it to me.

          "Thank you!" I said as I accepted the coupon. The roll of chain was my highest priced item at almost $13 so the coupon came in handy and I was thankful.

          We had a pizza at Uno's and our server looked interesting. Mike and I know the owner and I asked for permission to interview Zack for my Humans page.

          "What's your Humans page?"

          I know some of you know, but some of you may not. I do interviews with people and try to find a story, then I post it.

          "What did Zack say?" you ask.

          Zack told me he'd been on his own since he was 17 and he wants to be a lawyer. He said he wants to matter and wants to help other people matter too.

          I collected two other interviews that day for my page but I haven't posted them yet. Since I don't post very often I thought I'd spread them out a little.

          The silo is all that's left of this barn and someday it will be gone too.

          We finished our shopping day with a stop at the Wal Mart in Tunkhannock. Their trees were still loaded with red berries. "Do you think the birds don't like that kind?" I asked Mike. They were even falling on the ground.

          Shopping is an all day thing for us and when we pulled into our driveway, the deer were heading out. 

         They stopped and looked then came running back. I think they recognize our Jeep. 

          As soon as we were parked in the garage, Mike went and fed his herd before unloading any groceries.

          I've got pretzels to make for our Sunday evening supper. Let's call this one done!

          And remember, you are all in my heart.