How Do They Do It?

I spent the day on Thursday running errands with my best friend. She is crazy busy so one of the few ways we can spend time together is riding in her car picking up and dropping off. We talk and ride and then talk some more. We mull over our children's situations, complain about a couple of particularly obnoxious businessmen in our small town, and generally unload until the next time.

One of our errands involved my freind getting her fingernails repaired and filled. She's the nervous sort and she had a really bad night on Wednesday so she picked the acrylic stuff right off every nail on her left hand. The Asian nail technician tut tutted over the damage and told her it would take at least an hour to repair so instead of picking up a magazine I decided to "git me some" of those purty fingernails.

I chose "Solar Nails" because I like the look of a french manicure; no polish, just a lovely white tip and pretty pink nailbeds. The process took an hour and involved files, and sanders and a dremel tool that reminded me of a dentist's drill. The whirring nearly made my knees weak. One sniff of clove oil and I would have started sweating.

I've had the new inproved nails for four days and I think I have become disabled. Just to show you what I mean I'll type a sentence without backspacing. I cfan't pick up a penny off the counter at work and I have to ask strangers to open pop[ cans for me. See what I mean?

How do women function with fake nails? I've been fignthing the urge to soak them off all day but the forty dollars I spent getting them keeps calling out to me. My hands are lovely. I could offer my hands to photographers for bridal hand shots.

I'm sure the camera guy wouldn't mind opening my can of Diet Coke.

Two Days and Counting

Let the Harry Potter games begin. J.K. Rowling's newest book will hit the shleves and the mailboxes on Saturday. I love HP and the gang because they completely take us out of our world and into another. There will be a party at every children's department in every bookstore worth its salt this weekend and in Novemeber we'll get to see another HP movie. Despite my admiration of Rowling and my general enjoyment of the hoopla I have a dirty little secret about the HP books.

Gulp. I keep ordering the books from Amazon and loaning them to my friends and grandchildren, but I quit reading them a long time ago. They're imaginitive and clever and they allude to classic tales and characters but honestly, they just don't hold my attention. Don't know why. I've read everything from Janet Evonovitch to Victor Hugo but I can't read an entire Harry Potter book.

Maybe I'll give it one more try so that I can cry at the demise of Harry's Godfather with my daughters and stay on speaking terms with my oldest grandchild. Maybe I'll read Les Miserables again instead.

Oliver Rufflebottom 

Thank You, Bangor Maine

Last week in our local paper a woman's letter to the editor seemed as if it was written just to illicit a reaction. In the letter she described those little magnetic yellow ribbons expressing support for our troops as useless. She suggested their only purpose was to decorate carwash floors. I agree most carwashes could use a little decorating help but I disagree about the value of those little patriotic ribbons.

My son is a Marine Corps officer. He returned from a sixth month deployment in Iraq just yesterday. Those tacky little magnets meant a lot to me when he was there. It meant that someone else was holding our troops in thier heart if only for the moment it took to place the ribbon on the car. I think people want to do something, anything to support the folks who chose to serve. A bigger, bolder gesture may be appropriate for some people, but those small acts of respect and gratitude make a difference.

I think people do what they can to show support and according to my son, the folks in Bangor Maine did thier part last night to welcome fifty marines back onto American soil. Even the late night hour didn't discouragae the thirty or so people who showed up to thank the marines. They offered hospitality and free cell phones to call home. I know one marine who was really touched by the welcome and I thank you, Bangor.

Dancing girls