Monday, April 8, 2013
Kids These Days...
Hi, I’m Toni’s Grandma Ruth. I’m a “retired” journalist.
Good journalists don’t retire they fade away…like type in an old book. I’d like
to think my pages aren’t that yellowed…yet. Since I was given a mandatory
retirement, I’ve taken up publishing my own blog. Newspaper stories aren’t
written like they used to be. I remember standing in the rain for hours waiting
for a contact to emerge from their office. Then there was that time there was a
blizzard and I tromped through five-foot high drifts up hill both ways to get
to the office to type up my story and turn it in on deadline. Those were the
days.
Nowadays kids simply take out their phone and write a query
and poof all the public records at their fingertips. If you ask me, they’ve
gotten lazy. No one talks to each other any more. Except us senior citizens. We
aren’t home all day for no reason. We have stations and times set to keep an
eye out the window and see what’s going on in the neighborhood. If anything
seems amiss, we call each other and find out what’s going on.
It is the senior network that provides me with the most
interesting local news and human interest stories. All those youngsters want is
to “go viral.” Well, we’re here to tell them that there is more to life than
pictures of cats or the latest “reality” stars ridiculously written
escapades.
I was up for a Pulitzer once but that Guy—what’s his name?
Something White took the Kansas votes. Can’t have two Pulitzer winners in a
state as backward as Kansas. It wouldn’t look good.
Besides, I was the first and only female reporter at that
time. Sure, there was the household tips columns, but even those were written
by more men than women.
Times have changed and I’m all for keeping up. They took
away my driver’s license but I don’t let that stop me. I’ve got my scootaround
and I know how to drive it. You can usually find me at the courthouse in the public
records section, or at the health club in a water aerobics class or at the
Oiltop Senior Citizen Center. That place serves good lunches and there’s
nothing like a game of cards after to keep the mind going.
That’s my life in a nutshell. I should say that was my life,
until my baby died and left the homestead to her daughter Toni. Now I love Toni to
death but that girl went off to the big city and came back with some weird
notion that eating wheat was bad. Even though we are surrounded by wheat
farmers she set up a gluten-free, wheat-free bakery. I tried to warn her but she didn’t listen and the whole
situation turned to murder. Thankfully my connections in the community allowed
me to help Toni investigate. (Honestly the investigation got my journalistic juices
flowing.) I’ll get back to it once I take a nap. After all I am retired. Are you part of a neighborhood watch? I know I'm not the only one. Well, I’ll leave you with this
old fashioned gluten-free dessert – baked apples. Until next time~ Ruth of Blue
Castle.
4 apples - cored
2 tbl butter
2 tbl brown sugar
Cinnamon to taste
Heat over to 350 degrees F. Wash and core apples, leaving the peel intact except for the top. place 1/2 tablespoon butter in each core. Place 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar on top of butter. sprinkle with cinnamon to taste. Place in a butter pie pan. Bake for 60 min until soft. Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
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Hi Grandma Ruth! You sure manage to keep yourself busy and young. Good for you! Looking forward to reading the story.
ReplyDeleteHi Grandma Ruth, it's nice to meet you. Looking forward to reading your blog and your report on this murder. Say hi to Toni.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. Can't wait to find out what you're researching in the public records section of the courthouse...
ReplyDeleteHi Aurian,
ReplyDeleteI like to keep busy. Thankfully my scoot-around goes inside and out. Just because they took away my driver's license doesn't mean I have to wait around for someone to drive me. It does get a little nippy in the winter, though, so I wear an extra coat.
~Ruth
Hi Dru,
ReplyDeleteI'll say hi for you. Sorry Toni couldn't visit. I've got her making me some gluten-free donuts.
~Ruth
Hi Willow,
ReplyDeleteThe public records section is a journalist's best friend. I've been there so often they treat me like an employee. You can discover the most interesting things there.
~Ruth
So nice to meet you, Ruth. I bet you're going to be a big help to Toni. Your senior network probably knows everything that's going on!
ReplyDelete~Krista