farewell and hail at wns

I no sooner got in line at WNS than I hear an enthusiastic shout of "Tina!"

When I turned around, arms wrapped me in a hug!!!

It was Susan Daggett.

Goodness, I have not seen her or heard of her in over a year!

She told me where she was sitting and I headed over there with the beef stroganoff, baby carrots, and a dessert plate of blackberry cobbler, then went for salad.

That's when I saw the reason I had come tonight.

 

So, first things first: catching up with Danny Beam.

That meant handing off items I no longer wanted.

Finally!

I had been cleaning out closets - after all, October is one of the months for this loss adjustment in my life - and had come upon the two t-shirts.

I also had a sticker for Bi-Polar Bears in the car.

I have not heard word one from the running bear since he contacted me about tentative election results and I yelled at him about it.

No need for me to hold onto these fundraiser items -

but what to do with them?

Take them to Goodwill?

Throw them into the trash?

That's when I contacted Danny on fb last week.

Was he still in touch with Kevin?

If so, would he mind getting these to him?

He gladly agreed, so then it was a matter of getting them to him.

Putting them in my car assured they would be handy when I was at Asbury.

And so, tonight, after several hugs and kind words, Danny took them off my hands.

i thank You, God.

Salad in hand, I returned to the table with Susan and met two friends.

Candace sat with us, too, so that was nice!

And, I've promised Susan to come and visit in two weeks.

Maybe we'll play one of the card games she and Ron used to have for the MENSA games nights at their house?

We'll see!

tina tuesday with 2 with boo and 2 with tiffany

"Who's Tiffany? I know that 'Boo' means Barbara. You have a new amiga from one of the meetups?"

Nope! I was talking about Tiffany Haddish.

"The comedian? I remember her. As I recall, you had been quite taken with her acting in that movie with Oscar Isaac. "The Card Counter", right?"

So it was, seen while I was having a mini-golf vacation in Hilton Head during the fall of '21. I had no idea she could truly act until that film. Most directors are content to just let her do her raunchy comic routine. You know, like they did with Melissa McCarthy for years.

"Yeah, I agree. So glad they broke free from that mold!"

Well, maybe not completely. On this Tina Tuesday, I had an unintended double header with her. In the first one, watched with Barbara, Tiffany was the single mom of a son who grew up loving magic. That was set in Las Vegas and really made me hungry to return there! Plus, I was recently talking about Vegas with the ex and with Jayme of Savannah Stage Company, and I have so many good memories of my trips there! That was fall of 1983, as mentioned last week; March of 2007, with Mother Pat - and Tom Jones! - for what would be her last birthday; May of 2010, with the week split between Paul and Cathy, and my bff Sam; October of 2013 for a fall break with groupons and belated bday55 with Meat Loaf; and July of 2018, for bday60 with Elvis Tribute Artists and more!

"Um... that was a pretty long ramble..."

Oops! Sorry! Like I said, Vegas has been calling my name, so maybe I should go. I'm not sure where to stay, now that I'm done with Diamond, but I found a good deal about a month ago. I'd wait until October, right, as it is too crazy hot there to go now. Heck, it's crazy hot here! It's after 9 PM, right, and the temperature is still 85F... but with the heat index, it's damned near 100F!!! The back yard needs cut, again, but I can't do it with that kind of heat. My heart just won't handle it, as I found out the last time I mowed the front. I get it, I do. Once you've had a heart issue, your body forgets how to regulate its internal temperature. I only realized on Sunday what had been amiss.

"Hey! You better be careful with that! Maybe you need to get one of those alarm systems, something that can call for help if you can't. Doesn't your Medicare plan have one of those? And isn't it a free service for you? You should look into that tomorrow!"

Honestly, I'm okay now, I am. But I promise to check with UHC about that.

"Tomorrow. Check on it tomorrow."

Yes, ma'am. I promise. I will.

"Okay. I'll stop fussing at you, but I'm watching you. Now, get back to your story about this Tina Tuesday, will ya? Like, it looks like you had a nice luncheon?"

I did! Barbara and Sandy were to come to the Vegas movie with me, but Sandy bowed out, saying she hoped to join us for lunch at Olive Garden. Then she bowed out of that, too. She has yet to start using her prescribed C-PAP machine, so her sleep apnea has not improved.

"Her loss. I know how you had hoped to have both amigas there with you!"

I was! It seems like forever since I had an outing with mi tres amigas! Still, Barbara and I had a lot of fun laughing at "Back On The Strip" and watching the fellows shake their tally whackers! Then we had a grand lunch, with a very good waitress. I just had the soup and salad, but doesn't it look so fancy in that photo?

"Yeah, it does! Very nice to have shot it on the angle, with the light from the window."

Thanks!. That's what Boo said, too. She, by the way, couldn't hang out for a second movie, as her AMC A*List hit its third with that movie. Mine still had one more slot, and, given that last week I only saw the one movie, I was determined to see three this week!

"And that's why you decided on "Haunted Mansion" again? Because Tiffany was in it?"

I had not remembered that at all. I was just looking at movie start times and that was one of three possibilities starting between 4 and 4:30. I chose it because I thought it least likely I'd be watching it on National Cinema Day with family. Plus, I recalled that it had a really great cast of supporting actors: Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson. But, somehow, I forgot about Tiffany as a medium... and had totally missed that the other medium was played by Jamie Leigh Curtis! But, note to self: noisy teenagers were out of school and there, too, at that time. They sat right behind me, too.

"Yes, I guess they would be able to go at that time of day. Plus, it's Tuesday, when the movies are cheaper, you know. That's how you first started having these Tina Tuesdays, right? Because the running bear was loathe to spend an extra couple of dollars on tickets?"

That's correct. I do hope he is doing well. His 41st birthday was last week, on the 17th.

"Really? Yeah, I guess that sounds right. So, when was it that you saw a second movie with Barbara? Isn't that implied in your post title?"

Indeed! That was on Sunday, two days ago, when we saw "Blue Beetle". I hope to see that one again, too, but maybe not this Sunday. Too many of the kids I want to invite would be lost with all the Spanish in it.

"Actually, it might be a good exposure to another culture for them."

That's true... but I'm leaning toward the TMNT movie. I don't know, there's another kids movie that's supposed to start on Friday, so I'll see if we get that one. I'm keeping all out options open!

"Good girl! Okay, go watch "Don't Forget The Lyrics"! I know you like that one."

I do! Bye!

bi-polar bears for a shoemaker

Somehow, when I wrote about this shirt in July, I had thought I had written about the meaning behind it.
Now, I find that I had not.
Let me remedy that.
You see, this shirt is not a mass-produced item, available at a store near you.
That's because the design on this shirt is unique and has only been printed on a few shirts.
I know because I know the artist and I know how much this design means to him.

Kevin Crabtree created The Bi-Polar Bears design to bring attention to the Shoemaker Psychology Scholarship.
Aubrey Della Shoemaker, his teacher and advisor at Walters State Community College in Tennessee, died unexpectedly on March 8, 2019.
Almost immediately he sought to create something that would help others while also honoring her memory.
The scholarship at his alma mater seemed to be a fitting tribute.

Now, how to fund it?
Clearly, a mascot was needed to draw attention.
The mascot needed to be appropriate to the subject matter taught by Professor Shoemaker, but also should bring a smile to the faces of the observers.
In other words, he needed something humorous to attract a spotlight to a serious topic.
The Bi-Polar Bears, modeled after a classic king of hearts (get it?) playing card, filled the bill very nicely.
Colorful, richly detailed, and with a comic twist - superb!

That brings up the next issue: how to garner attention to the cause?
The Ride On Ryan Sprint Triathlon was held on May 9.
By that time, Kevin had the design created and printed on t-shirts and stickers and a banner.
Barely two months had elapsed since Professor Audrey Shoemaker's death and he had completed all of that.
Moreover, he had found two men to complete the team for the three components of the triathlon, to be the swimming bear and the biking bear to his running bear.
They even won their division, as I recall, so that was especially good for catching the public's eye and imagination!

Tonight, I had the pleasure of meeting the biking bear, Chris.
I had worn my Bi-Polar Bears shirt and Kevin had worn his, to double the attention, so to speak.
We had traveled across the Savannah River to pick up his half-marathon race packet for the Rock'n'Roll Marathon this Saturday.

Kevin ran into several folks he knew, of course.
That was hardly surprising, as this is his sixth year with this race series.
Along the way, he talked about the scholarship, distributing stickers and buttons and smiles.
Folks were very interested in helping to spread the word, naturally, and had one question.
They wanted to know how they could contribute.
Well, let's go ahead and settle that question right here and now.

Walters State Community College, like all educational facilities, has a foundation to handle financial gifts.
Contact can be made with the staff there through this link.
Here is the address for checks and money orders.

Shoemaker Scholarship
c/o WSCC Foundation
500 S. Davy Crockett Parkway
Morristown, TN 37813

I know Professor Shoemaker's family will be grateful, as Kevin will be, too.
I wish I could have met the woman, but I never had the opportunity.
She was just a few years older than I am and I think she and I would have become friends.
I think that partly because of what I have heard from Kevin, but also based on a peek into her life, through a video released by the Greeneville Greene County History Museum.
The museum had interviewed her just a short time before her unexpected death, so the video truly does capture her spirit and joy of life.