Category Archives: emails

A pleasant surprise!

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photo of Mrs. DeWitt C. Owen
My great grandmother, author of cookbooks “Nellie.”

I had a welcome surprise the other day. I received an email from a stranger who was cataloguing a huge collection of antique cookbooks. He read my blog posts about my great grandmother’s cook booklets and said he ran into copies. We exchanged a few emails. He said he was impressed and they were a good representation from that era. We’re talking late 1890s to early 1900s.

I mentioned there was one booklet that I didn’t have. “16 Studies in White and Gold,” which are egg recipes. He scanned and emailed it to me. A week later he said he found an extra copy, asked for my address and mailed it to me! I was thrilled. Since he doesn’t have “Sick Room Necessities,” I scanned it for him. Also, I found several letters and photos of Nellie’s as well as her husband’s obituary, scanned those and sent them to him. (FYI, Nellie went by her married name as a cook booklet publisher extraordinaire, Mrs. De Witt C. Owen. Her real name was Ella Upton Leighton Owen.)

Nellie’s husband De Witt was first a printer and then a newspaper publisher. Eventually they left Dixon, Illinois for the “far west” moving to Anacortes, Washington where he was publisher of another newspaper. They settled in Marysville, Wash. when he took over that town’s newspaper. My namesake grandmother Elizabeth Owen was their only child. When my mom Mary Ella (named after her grandmother) grew up in Marysville, Nellie lived next door. She was in my mother’s memory a loving and kind grandmother, the most nurturing person in my mom’s life. Nellie died in 1948, so I unfortunately never met her.

Nellie was a strong woman and set the type herself for her cook booklets that she sold across the nation for 10 cents each. Her market was ladies’ church auxiliaries. The booklets were used as fundraisers, much as our kids sold gift wrap to raise money for their school. My aunt told me that at times, Nellie supported her husband and daughter with her cook book sales.

If you want to read more about Nellie and her cook booklets, I wrote about her HERE.

Here’s an except from “Sick Room Necessities:”

Have a wonderful Easter weekend! Any plans to celebrate Easter, Passover or Spring?

I found a few photos of Ella Leighton Hunter (Hunter was her maiden name, Nellie was her nickname) in an old family photo album. It includes photos of Rose Hunter and A.J. Blethen. Blethen founded The Seattle Times and the family still owns the paper generations later.

I found postcards from Rose Hunter Blethen writing that she was looking forward to seeing Ella at Christmas. Ella was adopted into the Hunter family after her parents died. Dr. Hunter, Rose’s dad, thought Ella was so cute and always thought well of her. She was adopted as a young child. I’m enjoying researching our family heritage and am impressed that as a journalism major, I’ve got lots of newspaper history in my blood!

A Free Bugatti?

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Here I am minding my own business, taking photos of quail and working on my photography presentation due Wednesday (today). Then I checked my email and I’m receiving dozens — no make that hundreds — of emails about a free Bugatti.

What’s a Bugatti, you ask? I googled it and this is what I found:

Everyone on the spam list is replying all with “remove me” to more colorful expressions that begin with the letter “F.”

I was on the phone with my son and told him what was happening. I’m trying to block the sender and move them to my junk folder. But they come in faster than I can click.

One reply made me laugh out loud. “This looks legit. Can I send you my bank account number and mother’s maiden name?”

But I’m literally receiving hundreds of emails every hour. I mark them junk and block or mute the sender. They’re coming into my Apple email folder and the culprit is from China. Not good. I’m worried I could be hacked.

I may turn off all my email devices like laptop and phone until tomorrow!

More QUAIL:

“Where’s she going?”

What a beauty this poppa quail is.

Here he is again! I think…might be another guy.

Busy times on the birdseed block. I can now navigate the stairs that go down to our sunken pool bar which I used earlier this year — prior to my broken ankle — as my bird blind. I can now take photos on level again with the critters.

Have you been spammed like that with hundreds of emails? Have you been hacked? How did you handle it?

Fatigue sets in

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The other evening, I sprinted — or walked — up to a vacant spot in our neighborhood to catch this view of the sun setting.

After a few super busy months, I feel fatigue deep in my bones. As much as I’ve wanted to do nothing for a few days, I haven’t had that luxury. First, there are those pesky household duties like laundry, grocery shopping and cooking. Plus, we have friends staying with us for a week. They said that I didn’t need to worry about them. They’re here to scout out a local lake for a spearfishing competition in April.

But not fussing over them is not in my nature. I cooked corn beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day. Tuesday was salmon, spinach, shishito peppers and rice. Wednesday, they treated us to dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Thursday was surf and turf. Haven’t figured out what to do tonight. Sleep instead of eat?

Things happen. Like a leak in the ceiling after four days of rain. It’s in my office and my husband looked up at the ceiling and said, “I’ve never noticed those stains before.”

When we stepped a few feet away, we spotted at the top of the wall next to the ceiling, hanging plaster and paint.

I walked outside with my trusty camera after taking pics inside. I went outside to see if I could see the problem on the roof.

It was in plain sight. The damage was done exactly where a solar panel support is anchored into the roof. I spent a few hours looking for paperwork online from doc-u-signs during the solar purchase and install. I read through the warranty and small print. None of this is helping my fatigue, by the way.

We went through Costco for solar. I wrote them a letter yesterday about our current roof issue. Plus, the first experience with this vendor. I wanted to contact Costco first — and not their solar vendor — to see if our problem can be solved.

When the solar panels were installed, they had to redo the breaker box. The vendor installed 220V into a kitchen outlet under the sink where the dishwasher and garbage disposal are plugged in. It should have been 120V. The dishwasher motors blew, but thanks to that little red button on the bottom of our garbage disposal, it was saved.

I paid for a repairman for the dishwasher. He said it was cheaper to buy a new one than replace the motors, which I did. Then I paid $190 for an electrician to fix the circuit. I emailed and called our rep at the solar company to tell her about our problems. She said they were so sorry! I asked the company to reimburse me for the electrician only. (The dishwasher was old and I didn’t think they should buy me a new one.)

She said they would reimburse me for the electrician. I got bounced from department to department for seven months for $190!

One day, an email arrived into my inbox from our rep, who was promoting solar to Scottsdale. The email cc’d all the solar companies in our area. I replied all and wrote about my experience with Costco’s vendor. (How many companies would love to have that contract?) A few days later, I got reimbursed.

Enough about my roof and solar issues. As Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day.”

I remember my mom and what she called her “mung” days. She’d spend the entire day in her Lanz flannel nightie.

Right now, I’m thinking I would love to do that. (Hint to self — or family reading this — a Lanz flannel nightie for Mother’s Day?) I don’t have my Mom’s super power to “mung” all day. I think her manic depression as it was called back then — especially in her down cycles — helped her accomplish “munging” to level I’m not able to do. Yes, I miss my mom. I need to take a few pages from her life’s book and take a day or two off!

What is your favorite way to rest and recharge when you’re feeling over tired?

Teach the children well

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kids and their dog
My children at the beach with Angus our best dog ever.

I like an idea I read about in an article in the Wall Street Journal by Anthony De Leon.

Here’s the title and excerpt:

600 Kindergartners Were Given Bank Accounts. Here’s What They Learned.

How San Francisco and other cities are trying to boost financial education and college savings

Tierra Ferrand started saving for college when she was in kindergarten.

She and 600 other low-income public-school students in San Francisco were each given a bank account with $50 in 2011 as part of a program that expanded the curriculum from reading and writing to interest rates. Now 17 years old, she has more than $1,500 banked and is off to Grambling State University in Louisiana this fall. That balance may be small, but Ferrand and her mother, Aisha Brown, 44, said the account changed their approach to money and saving.

“Outside of this account, we don’t have other college savings accounts,” Brown said. “We don’t have those advantages that some other families may have.”

San Francisco’s Kindergarten to College Program, which now gives $50 in savings to every student, has 52,000 active accounts with a total balance of $15 million—$10 million of which came from deposits made by the students and their families. The program aims to be both financial education and a small start to college savings, and has been replicated in 39 states across the country. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-savings-fund-san-francisco-85d32bf5?mod=life_work_featured_pos3

I’ve often thought there are many things we need to teach our children in school — or at home. I remember talking to my son’s fourth grade teacher.

“Can you give them a lesson on how to write a letter and address an envelope?” I asked. I discovered my son didn’t know where addresses went on an envelope. I was sure he wasn’t the only one.

That’s because kids use email and lost ordinary skills that we took for granted. Banking, savings, credit cards and compound interest are lessons that are being taught in some classes in San Francisco along with the $50 deposit into a savings account. I say “some” because in the article I learned that not all teachers use the savings account lesson plan. They said they were busy enough with existing curriculum.

Another thing I realized my son didn’t learn was how to pay for gas and fill up the tank. I homeschooled my daughter for middle school and I included lots of “adulting” lessons. I thought my son would pick up things naturally from observation. But he was always reading — every free minute — like on car rides. He was oblivious to the world around him.

Changing a tire is a skill my dad taught me when I got my first flat. Of course we have AAA now, but isn’t that a good thing to know how to do if you don’t have cell reception?

What other basic life skills do you think should be taught to our kids in school or at home?

I hope you’re enjoying my new M W F blogging schedule.

Teach the children well from Crosby Stills.

Life’s too short

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Sunset in Puerto Penasco
Sunset in Puerto Penasco.

This week I went out to lunch with two graphic designers I used to work with when I was in public relations and advertising. I’m talking about the years before I had kids. My oldest is 30!

Last month, I met graphic designer #1 for coffee. She moved out here about 15 years ago. She lived a few blocks from me in Palm Springs. When I was moving out here, a fellow swim friend reminded to contact her.

I’m so glad I did. At the time, COVID was raging and we didn’t get together. But she sent me an email with lists of restaurants and grocery stores nearby. She also told me to keep my cat inside! She recommended the YMCA that is five miles from our house as a place to swim. All her help made our move easier.

This time for lunch, graphic designer #1 asked if it was okay if she invited another graphic designer from my past life. When I had my own PR firm, I felt a lack of loyalty from graphic designer #2. It was a work related incident that is meaningless now.

Today, I have a totally different perspective. I can see where I was at fault, or maybe I was reading something into a situation that didn’t exist. She may not even realize that I was upset!

I felt work that I created was mine — but in fact it belonged to the company who hired me. I didn’t have ownership, just pride in my work.

Amazing what 30 years can do for clarity and common sense.

The three of us had a delicious and leisurely lunch, caught up on decades past and agreed to make this happen on regular basis. I was so excited to see and connect with both my old co-workers and friends. They’ll add a great dimension to my new Arizona life.

Here’s to ongoing friendships, a sense of community, and understanding that life is too short to hold onto hard feelings.

What examples do you have where time has changed your perspective over your feelings or relationships?

Is it that time already?

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Roadrunner.
Roadrunner on my patio. They are vicious to other birds.

When I picked up my phone this morning, I discovered something really annoying.

Text messages. These weren’t text messages from family or friends. These were from politicians or campaign staffs. I had 20 of them!

Didn’t we just have an election? Why did my infrequent random texts from politicians turn into a stampede? 2024 isn’t that close. Do our politicians do anything besides raise money?

I’ll admit if there’s someone I support, I’ll donate a little money. But I mean “a little.” Then my info gets sold to other campaigns. Sold and sold, over and over. I guess it’s another way for campaigns to raise money.

Then I find more than 20 text messages on my phone from people I don’t support and would never support.

I can’t imagine what it will be like a year from now!

Any suggestions on how to get off these campaign text lists?

More good news

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Sunrise
Sunrise in our backyard.

When I went to lunch last week with a ladies group I recently joined, I sat at table with three of my neighbors. One is a board member for the group and the other two are my friends and new members also.

This group is fundraising for The Phoenix Dream Center, which is a facility to rescue and help victims of human trafficking. I wrote about that HERE.

The board member/neighbor at our table said “You’re the one with a background in PR.”

I thought to myself, “Did I really need to share that on my membership application?”

She slipped a spreadsheet and a press release across the table to me. “Can you help me get out our press release?” It was for an upcoming fundraiser.

“Sure,” I said.

“I just need you to fill in the blanks on the spreadsheet. I haven’t been able to find the contact information for some publications.”

The next morning I googled the publications with missing contact info. I was able to find some of them and I either filled out online forms or sent emails to them with the press release.

Within 30 minutes I got a response from a magazine publisher who has high end magazines for high end neighborhoods.

“I’m sold. I love The Dream Center. Can you take a call in two hours?” his email said.

I quickly texted the board member/neighbor to ask if she’d take the call. I’ve been to two meetings in two months and don’t know much about this group — like how long it’s been around, how many members there are, if they have a budget to buy ads, etc.

“I’ll be at the dentist,” she texted.

“Okay. I can do it,” I replied.

Later I got a phone call from the president of the group who said she’d take the call. Whew!

Fast forward and the president called me back to say they had an excellent call and then had a meeting the next day. They are getting free advertising from now on each month! They are getting a VIP listing and perhaps a feature article.

I’m so thrilled I helped open the door. I’m also relieved I didn’t have to take the initial phone call. I was smiling the rest of the day.

What has made you smile recently?