I am very pleased to report that each of the three elderly ladies in my apartment building gave me Christmas cookies this year!
That's right! It's the Christmas cookie hat trick . . . the triple crown!
Pearl and Hazel placed little Christmas bags at my door (and I haven't even met Hazel yet).
But of course 90-year-old Arlene, from across the hall, stopped by (w/her hair in curlers!) to visit when she brought me cookies. Arlene never misses a chance to chat and tell stories:
"I told everyone to get me gift cards for the book store for my birthday and Christmas. I read till 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning every night"
Me: "I still think that it's all of that reading that keeps you so sharp"
"I think you're right. But I am getting so old [reaches up to her face] Oh - I forgot I had these curlers in - I'm getting old. Sometimes when I look in the mirror I say 'Arlene? . . . You sure are getting ugly!'"
"You know Pearl downstairs just lost her husband so I try to get her out some. We went to the opera last week [makes a sour face] - that's what Pearl wanted to do, plus it was at her church. But it was a good opera - a jazzy one. My toe was tapping the whole time. I always move my feet when I listen to music. I taught tap and jazz dance for 30 years."
"My husband was 100% Chicago Irish and he had a Ph.D [can't believe I didn't ask what field of study - next time for sure]. He was a perfect husband. It was an adjustment when he retired from teaching though. I started buying a bottle of wine every week until I got use to it. I would mix it with ginger ale to make it last"
This Arlene gal can flat out talk some shit. :-)
We ended our chat with an agreement that I would take her trash bags downstairs and out to the garage every Wednesday. Arlene has two replacement knees and has been hauling two bags of trash (sometimes one bag at a time) down the stairs every week(?!)
I hugged her good-bye and gave her a smooch on the cheek:
"How tall are you?!"
"I'm six foot six"
"I'm five-feet tall . . . *exactly*"
(this note was attached to the two trash bags that Arlene set outside her door the following morning)[for an introduction to Arlene see the blog entry for 11/28 titled "A Belated Happy Thanksgiving Day Wish"]
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2 comments:
your public DEMANDS more Arlene!
how wonderful to talk with the older generation...such interesting people indeed...I was blessed by working for them for a year or so...best time....
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