The other day I went into the kitchen when Husband was there cooking something, and I opened a drawer to get out a spoon to eat some yogurt. I had my phone in my sweater pocket. I exclaimed upon grabbing the spoon “The silverware drawer is disgusting”! It had lots of crumbs and crud in it, as happens with such drawers. I made a mental note to clean it later.
I sat down and pulled out my phone. There in the Google search bar were the words “The silverware drawer is disgusting” and below were many references to cleaning tips and strategies. I was both shocked and amused. I never use the Google function on my phone in which I could ask the phone to look things up for me or search for something. I must have tapped the button unbeknownst when I put it in my pocket. It really felt as though the phone was eavesdropping on me. I plan to be far more careful in the future to make sure I haven’t engaged that function .
Where and when would you have wanted to be a fly on the wall?
Trail Baboon 
That’s funny, Renee, and scary. I wish I could be a fly on the wall of our friend W’s new room, where he will move to this nursing home setting in a couple of weeks. He is now in a rehab room there, temporarily – physical therapy did not improve his mobility… We are spending this week in his old room packing up and flying blind – making decisions about what he can take w/o having seen the new space, because of Covid restrictions. Since my mom was once there in a similar room for a few weeks, I have a vague idea, but know nothing about size of closet, etc…
I won’t be on the Trail much till Sunday or so. Enjoy the warmer weather, Baboons!
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Rise and Shine Baboons,
I did not get to comment yesterday, but I really enjoyed reading all the comments and banter from yesterday. Only on the Trail can you run on all day regarding fountain pens. Sad news at the end about Peter Ostrousko who was my age exactly. Scary.
I would love to be a mouse in Mar A Lago right now, especially during phone calls and meetings with attorneys. Specifically financial attorneys. Especially those with expertise in fraud. I would also like to listen in at the offices of the New York Southern District DA’s office.
Here is hoping for justice.
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Anytime two politicians enter a private room to discuss compromise.
C in O
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One of the funniest moments I’ve known was a phone conversation I overheard in an Oregon convenience store. I probably mentioned this before. I wasn’t eavesdropping, as the woman on the phone was so loud everyone in the store heard each word she said. This woman’s daughter had rushed to a clinic to get relief from stomach pains. When the doctor told her she was pregnant, she was outraged. The doctor said, “Okay, Sally, I must be wrong. So you’re not pregnant. But you better get ready for a baby, girl, because you are in labor and there’s a baby fixing to show up soon.”
The last thing I heard was, “Because of how it happened, Sally’s biggest problem now is she don’t have a name for it. You got any ideas?” At that point I left the store and got in my van.
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I remember once, long ago, being on the bus and picking up this fragment of conversation: “…the trouble is, she scared the rabbits…”
I’ve always thought you could build a whole story out of that.
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Public transport is a great place for eavesdropping.
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And restaurants. I once got up to leave my booth in a restaurant. In the next booth a middle-aged man said to what appeared to be his son, “Actually, I never loved your mother.” Seemed like the seed for an interesting short story!
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Garrison Keillor said he got a lot of his dialogue by listening to others talk in cafes and bars.
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And August Wilson did much of his writing in bars.
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Good Morning-
I went to our CD collection this morning and found all my Peter Ostroushhko CD’s (along with some Dean McGraw, Pat Donohue, and Levon Helm CD’s) and I’m entering them into iTunes. While I was finding them I also found the one Bela Fleck CD I had (Heard him the other day and thought to myself ‘You need some Bela Fleck music’) and three CD’s by ‘Jake Speed and the Freddies’ which is a group I heard as the opening night entertainment at USITT (a theater conference) in Cincinnati a few years back. I bought extra CD’s and sent them to Mike Pengra and occasionally you’ll hear them on Radio Heartland.
Peter and / or Dean would play in Rochester at the ‘Harmony for Mayo’ series. An hour long free concert in or near the Mayo Clinic. I saw a lot of really great musicians there. I think it quit 2 or 3 years ago; didn’t hear much about it since then.
Back in 1999 Kelly’s Aunt Ruth died. I remember being out in the tractor after that and hearing Peter’s music and it was so cathartic and I told him that after one of those concerts. If any of you follow John Kaul on FB, he posted a really really nice tribute to Peter.
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Bela Fleck is married to Abigail Washburn, a gifted banjo player whose style I really enjoy.
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great ted talk
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Thanks, Ben, for sharing John Kaul’s tribute on FB to Peter. He was so much more than a talented musician, and lots of people are grieving today.
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Iy would have been a nail biter listening in to the discussions with the Cabinet and President during the Cuban Missle Crisis.
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One thing I find difficult is being in court waiting to testify and keeping my mouth shut when the person on the stand is lying and I can’t do anything about it.
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i’ve had a google echo or one of those little speakers that listens to you so you can tell it to turn on the news or ask who wrote i got rhythm and it got unplugged
i never did like it but the gang did
must have worn out it’s welcome
in-laws ask it everything
what time
what’s temp
play that song by abba
whatever
we don’t and it’s intimidating when you say in frustration to the gods…
where the hell are my keys and a little voice on the counter says i don’t know
my habit when frustrated is to count backwards from ten
ten nine eight and my grandson age 2 says seven six five and gets me laughing
i would love to hear trumps conversations actually no i wouldn’t it turns my stomach
i’d like to hear obama’s dinner conversation
i just finished michele’s book and did baracks book from his run for the presidency
i like those guys
i like listening to stuff that makes me happy
bob dylan jams
oh peter ostrushkos memory about his recording session with dylan are famous
he got a call in the late evening and was running a fever of 103 or 104 but it was dylan so he went
they played through the night and recorded tangled up in blue and the blood on the tracks album but was really feverish
the next morning he woke up and told his roomie i had the strangest dream last night. i dreamt i was recording with bob dylan and the roomie said you were peter you were
fun people to think about david saderis, lily tomlin, trevor noah, anne lamott, barack, garrison, steven colbert, oprah, ellen,
i bet i could go on forever
can anyone figure out how to pull up that early early conversation with edith where she talked about hearing the conversation about a suitcase full of money and a bus
it was the beginning of all the fun we had and the origin of ljb moniker
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I’d like to listen in on Saint Ronnie and the Iran-Contra conspiracy.
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