Betty’s Butter

The Second Monday group will get this:

Dining out, Betty wants butter
That sends waitresses into a flutter
When it arrives cold
Complaining’s too bold
Instead, she demurs with a shutter 

Yesterday, Today or Next Week

I went down to the library in my building yesterday, or was it the day before, and there was John …or was it Jerry…you know the guy with the grey hair and glasses. We had a nice talk about all kinds of stuff…anyway…

He’d gone to a movie…was it at Mayfair or was it the Ridge…..anyway……he really liked the movie…..it was the new Top Gun…what’s the name…he couldn’t recall…..it had real good action scenes… and the co-star was one of his favorites……you know the guy….he was in that other movie…couldn’t remember the name…..the one about starting a farm…or was it a zoo….anyway….

Voracious readers that we are, we compared the books we’re reading. His is a murder mystery by that guy who writes all those lawyer books. It’s either John Grisham or that Patterson guy. Can’t remember his first name…I told him about the book I really want to read. You know that best seller by that famous person can’t think of her name…..anyway…

He then told about last Wednesday or was it Thursday…… going with friends to hear jazz….they’ve changed locations…he can’t recall the name of the new place….but it’s on the south side…maybe National Avenue….or was it Layton…..anyway….it has a nice room just for them……They enjoyed lots of jazz………especially that one piece so famous,…..done by that Dave somebody….can’t recall the name…you know the one I mean… Anyway…

As usual we got around to politics and agree on the latest move to ban vaping…or was it to not ban more books…….anyway…

Finally, we caught up on the latest news in our building…..did I know that woman on the third floor has moved…you know the one…her husband died a few months back……….he was either Bob or Bill……anyway…..I think she moved to St. Camillus or was it Mount Mary…..I don’t recall……and that ambulance last week was for that guy….can’t think of his name…you know, the one who wears a hat and is hard of hearing……anyway…..

I enjoyed our talk and went back to my apartment to watch TV. Tonight is a good TV night. That one show I like so much is on…you know the one……..about that funny family…….…they …oops…..I guess it was on last night…..oh well….I’ll be sure to watch it next week….anyway…..

Shoes

My sister, Karla, challenged me to write something funny about the ugly shoes she’s forced to wear due to foot problems. Below is a limerick I wrote to describe her condition:

My sister wears shoes that are clunky
When what she desires is funky
Foot damage refutes
stilettos or boots
No more fun strutting spunky

The Life of a House

In January 2023, Zillow listed the house as a charming bungalow, built in 1923 in the Regent neighborhood of Madison, Wisconsin.  With astonishment, I saw my parents’ former house. For sale. Again.

When they bought it in the 1960s, it was small, compared to the other homes on the block, a one and a half story house crowded with my parents and younger siblings. Two bedrooms on the first floor for Mom, Dad and two sisters, and one bathroom; my two brothers slept in the second story, attic-like room with pitched roof dormers. It was cozy that’s for sure.     

I never lived in the house since I was already in college when my parents bought it.  Dad’s promotion to Captain on the Wisconsin State Patrol made the move from Fond du Lac necessary. I think they paid $27,000.  Dad always bragged about how quickly Mom got it paid off.

The best times of my many visits to that house were in the summer when we congregated on the screened-in front porch. We always knew it was Badger game day when cars parked on both sides of the street; we could hear the cheers when there was a touchdown at Camp Randall Stadium.

During the more than fifty years they lived there, I don’t recall any home improvement projects; it always had that lived-in old-fashioned feel. Much later, when moving was being talked about, I laugh, recalling how Mom was mystified there could be anything at all that needed changing or upgrading. She was clearly from another generation.

Mom lived there alone for several years after Dad died, then at age ninety-five she moved to assisted living. After she died, the house was cleaned out and put on the market. That was around 2016.

The house sold on the first day offered for a remarkable $315,000. Remember, that’s with no upgrades. There were several offers. I guess it’s an example of location, location, location. The couple who bought it were a doctor who said he could now walk to work and the wife who owned her own business. 

Shortly after the sale, my siblings reported a flurry of activity as various work crews descended to take parts down and build it back up again. Our wonder and worry about the house being razed was eased. But we could never have imagined what it would become.  

So in 2023, the sixty-two pictures accompanying the Zillow listing showed it all. The now 3,264 square foot home, includes an added second story, a fully completed basement, an added sunroom off the kitchen and enlargement to a two-car garage.

The sunroom and garage project demolished my parents’ carefully tended vegetable garden. The yard has been reduced to a square, grassy area on the side of the garage. Hardly big enough for two lawn chairs. Add the air conditioning, the new windows, exercise room and office, my parents’ small house has become a three bedroom, three bath extravaganza.  

The brick front entrance and screened porch remain, but with a sparkling new hardwood floor; the built-in breakfront and the fireplace are the only remnants of the past still in the living and dining room. With an added staircase to the second floor and enlarged kitchen, it’s difficult to recall what it used to look like.

My ever-curious sister did some internet researching. Seems the new owners are what’s commonly called house flippers. They buy, renovate, and then sell properties at a nice profit. This couple has done that a few times with at least one other property presently on the market.

My parents’ house, the scene of decades of impromptu gatherings, holiday dinners and family drama, is now sitting empty. As for the present owners, it wasn’t ever their home. It was their project. It’s now listed at $1,185,000.00 A week later, there’s already a pending offer.

After the initial shock settled in, I had to find a way to feel good about that. And I guess I do. It could have been torn down and replaced. Instead, it has a new face, a new future, a new life. My sister mused: wonder what Mom would think of all this. I think she’d just shake her head and go back to her knitting.   

The Day Would Happen

Who knows where it came from…
It’s become my mantra…
for those of us…of which I am one…
who worry…wonder…
perseverate…ruminate…
that we are so needed…so essential…

Such a relief…so freeing…
to realize…
the day would happen whether I got up or not.