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Why I’m glad my son is not a surgeon.

2/17/2014

Parents want the best for their children. They want them healthy, happy and financially secure. Some parents dream of their child becoming a doctor or a lawyer, or something equally rewarding.

I can honestly say that I’m very happy that my son is not a surgeon. If he was, I would be very worried about his patients. Why? Well, let me put it this way …

A few days ago I started spring cleaning and asked Dieter to take the crystal bells off the chandelier in the dining room.

I washed the crystal bells, and then asked Dieter to put them back. A few things happened that prevented him from following up on my request right away, or even in the next few days, but today was the day that the chandelier would be restored to its former glory.

Dieter put some bells here and there and slowly but surely the chandelier started to look like it did before it was taken apart.

Everything went fine until Dieter said “Euh mom, can you come here for a second?”

Oh oh, I knew from experience that I was in for a surprise. Something I wasn’t going to like.

In the dining room I found Dieter looking up at the chandelier. I joined him and yes, the chandelier looked good again, all clean and sparkly.

Dieter had a pensive look on his face though, like he saw something he didn’t like.

“Yes?” I asked, “Why did you call me?”

“Look,” he said.

I was looking, and I liked what I saw.

“It’s nice,” I said.

“Nice, yes, but look at the table,” Dieter pointed down.

So I looked, and I definitely did not like what I saw. On the table lay six crystal bells. Oh oh, leftovers.

Dieter didn’t think it was a big deal. “The chandelier looks good as it is, a few missing bells isn’t going to make a difference.”

In that moment I was so glad Dieter is not a surgeon. Can you imagine … him … in an operating room? I can just picture it …

A patient going in for an abdominal procedure. Dieter cutting the patient open, doing what needs to be done and sewing him back up again, only to have the assisting nurse say … “Doctor Manero, what is that on that tray?”

“The patient’s kidney.”

“Shouldn’t that be in the patient?”

“He has another kidney, people can live with one kidney, he’ll be fine.”

Dieter, a surgeon … I think not.

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The end of a bookstore

2/15/2014

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A friend closed her bookstore this week. She took this picture after turning off the lights for the last time. Sad, isn’t it? It reminds me of the movie 'You've got Mail' with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, when Meg Ryan turned the lights off for the last time at her bookstore and had a vision of her and her mother twirling.

Many years ago I wandered into a bookstore. I can’t remember if I was looking for anything in particular, but I do remember that I didn’t have much time.

After looking in the ‘A’ section, and not seeing anything I liked, I moved onto the ‘B’ section and noticed a thick paperback book with a cute cover … a boy and a girl sitting on a beach by a rock. The title of the book was ‘Light a Penny Candle’, the author, Maeve Binchy. I liked Maeve’s style from the first page and over the years I read everything she wrote.

While awaiting a new novel from Maeve Binchy, I returned to the book store again and again, and when she didn’t have anything new, I strolled along the display cases looking for something else to read.

Along the way I found Anita Burgh, Louise Bagshaw, Tilly Bagshaw, Erica James, Sheila O’Flanagan, Lesley Pearse, Penny Vincinzi, Dan Brown, Joy Fielding, and a few others.

Four bookcases and close to 500 books later, I’m running out of space and was considering switching to e-books.

This attempted switch was disappointing to say the least. For starters, the book I was looking for (The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax) was priced $7.35 in paperback, but $14.35 as an e-book.

Now this doesn’t make sense to me. There’s no paper and ink involved in an e-book, so how can it cost more than a paperback book?

I went looking for another book, but couldn’t find anything that I liked.

“Type in new releases,” Dieter said. So I did, but I didn’t like anything in the list that popped up.

“Try bestsellers,” he advised. I did that, but I still didn’t see anything that grabbed me.

Now what? How was I going to find a book that I liked? It wasn’t like I could stroll the aisles of Amazon, look at books and pick up titles to read the synopsis. I had to sort of know what I was looking for.

And that’s exactly the difference between buying electronically and buying in an actual bookstore. One can wander around and find a new author by accident. As I did with Jilly Cooper and Karen Swan. I didn’t know them. I had never read anything by them, but they had nice thick books and they appealed to me. As a rule I don’t read books with less than 400 pages.

Other than books one finds other things in a bookstore too. People for example. You both reach for the same book at the same time, and after an awkward moment start a conversation. Next thing you know you’re having coffee together, exchanging emails and become friends.

I’ll bet some couples reminisce with their children and grandchildren on how they met in a bookstore.

To me, reading a real book is very different than reading an e-book. I like the weight of the book in my hand, turning pages, and the smell of the paper. I miss that sensation with an e-book.

Other than that, can you imagine sitting in this location with an electronic reader?

This is the most perfect setting for enjoying an evening of reading, old-fashioned reading. All it needs is a pot of tea and a porcelain cup on a saucer.

Now can you imagine sitting in one of these chairs, in front of the fireplace, with a kitty for company, with an e-reader! No, no, NO, it’s just wrong, wrong, WRONG!

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How to clean a crystal chandelier

2/5/2014

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Some people start spring cleaning on March 21, others whip out the cleaning materials when the weather warms up, me … I got started last weekend.

Over the past few months our condo saw a number of changes. Honey colored parquet floor was replaced by cherry red hardwood, the bathroom got updated, wallpaper made way for paint, the doors got a lick of paint too and window dressing was updated.

In the process picture frames, ornaments and knick knacks were washed until everything was perfectly clean.
All except the chandeliers, they hadn’t been touched.

Last weekend I thought it was high time for them to get cleaned too. I thought this job wouldn’t take too long, but I was wrong – very wrong.

Taking the crystal bells down took well over an hour. Cleaning the crystals didn’t go as expected either.

I tried the following:

·       Soaking the crystal bells in warm water with detergent.

·       Soaking the bells in hot water with detergent.

·       Soaking them in warm water and white vinegar.

·       Soaking them in a mixture of warm water, vinegar and baking soda.

Nothing worked, nothing got them clean. I moaned and groaned … me and my bright ideas. Why did I go and buy a crystal chandelier with hundreds of little bells? Why not go for a normal chandelier, one that was no mess no fuss when cleaning.

Eventually I grew desperate and turned to my Facebook friends for help. I got some good suggestions, but none of them worked.

Eventually, someone suggested putting the bells in the dishwasher, or in the absence of a dishwasher, soaking the crystal bells in the dishwasher liquid.

That’s when I got creative. I don’t have a dishwasher, but I do have a washing machine. When I put in a load of sheets, I added one of the crystal bells (just to give this cleaning method a try). This bell came out perfectly clean.

My next step was filling a bucket with warm water, adding laundry detergent and a bit of baking soda, and soaking the crystal bells overnight.

When I check a few moments ago, all the bells were sparkling clean.

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Why I’m glad my son is not a surgeon.

The end of a bookstore

How to clean a crystal chandelier

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