Random NotNews!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

 

Have been endlessly hearing about the Pope's retirement.  I was raised in a mostly Catholic town of French Canadians so I never had good "church friends" but I sure had Catholic friends.  In fact my Missouri Synod Lutherans were pretty much anti-Catholic and vice versa (but not anti-person)!  We were told not to step foot in each other's churches except for a wedding or funeral.  But I have been to Rome a couple times and saw the Pope twice (Pope John Paul in 1998 in the "special window" where Popes appear).  In 2009 I was able to reserve free tickets to the papal audience where thousands of people sit in chairs in St. Peter's Square.  This was Pope Benedict on the big screen after riding down the aisles in the Popemobile.  It is one of life's memorable moments in spite of not being Catholic.

 Alex had a day off school yesterday and chose to spend it with us rather than playdates with friends - lucky Grammy!!!!  He was a great helper in preparing for our prehockey family dinner.  Made the umbrella centerpieces and the butterfly place settings for everyone and then topped them with a leftover chocolate Valentine heart.  What a sweetheart!

I also went to Lucy's first dance show and it was so great.  All the little 4-5 year olds doing so well and Lucy was the loudest tapper in the tap dance part.    Alex was sitting beside be and admiring my dark red corduroy jeans.  He noticed if you rub one way and then the other the look changes so I had to explain what a fabric "nap" was - hmmm pretty hard to explain to a 7 year old boy.

I'm reading a book about Julia Child - very interesting and thick and on a waiting list at the library.  She was raised wealthy in Pasadena and her father attended Lake Forest Academy, IL in 1895.  That got me thinking that Ross' mom attended Ferry Hall in Lake Forest, IL.  Turns out it was attached and was the "girls' school".

Funny thing:  We met with our financial planner a couple weeks ago - we have been with him since he started and now his kids are in college!  He showed us a columned table called Uniform Lifetime Table after mentioning our ages as 66 and 70.  So combined we have 27.4 years to live on average - we will have to fight over who gets the most I guess:)

China:  Just read that Shanghai has a population of about 17 million people - woohoo.  I like cities but I won't be traipsing around this one by myself!

I'm trying to fix a blog problem that suddenly appeared where words are highlighted and underlined (NOT BY ME) and when you click an ad pops up - they need to be gone gone gone!  Excuse the mess please.