Together...still...

As near as I can figure, Kate and Bob were the first people I met 55 years ago when we moved from Montana to the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.  They had a corner grocery store one block from our new house…an old fashioned corner store just like the one my parents had owned in Great Falls.  They had a son a little older than I and a daughter my brother’s age and their family has danced in and out of my life ever since then.

My mother worked part time at their store for a while.  I went to school with the kids.  When their son married a girl from Great Falls we discovered her grandmother lived a block from our store at the reception in Kirkland.  After I was married and in a home of my own, my closest neighbors and good friends turned out to be great friends of this couple.  As we had children, they played softball together.  When the son married for the second time, my daughter sang at his wedding.

When Kate and Bob left the store they moved to my block and for many years I watched Kate take her afternoon constitutional down our street…and I watched Bob come up everyday to pick up the newspaper he shared with another neighbor.  If I was out working in the yard, they would stop and chat.  Kate was a hoot and Bob was an old smoothie.

Today I went to a memorial for Kate and Bob.  In death, as in life, they did it together.  At the ripe old age of 96 they passed away within 14 hours of each other.

Rest in Peace, Kate and Bob.

What's the Opposite of Rant?

There does not appear to be an antonym for the noun 'rant'.  Lots of synonyms: bombast, harangue, tirade and many more.  The best they can do is 'calm' or 'quiet' - neither of which will do.  Regardless of this semantic problem, I want to say something good in an emphatic manner, so call it what you will...here it is.

Last week I bought 2 pints of blueberries at a local farmers market.  I ate them both straight out of the box (yes, I washed them first), one on the second day and the other on the third.  Here is the wonderful and amazing thing: from those two pints, I had to throw away exactly ONE blueberry.  Even that was a close call, my mother would have eaten it in a heartbeat.  Now I ask you, when was the last time you ate even one pint of blueberries that had been so carefully picked and handled, and so rushed to market, that every single berry was good.  And they were all truly ripe!

And so in celebration of this wonderful and strange happening, I will break my rule of not naming names in hopes that it may do them some good.  The berries came from Crawford Farms in Prosser, WA and I bought them at Yakima Market on Bothell Way.

As I write this I am munching blueberries out of another pint I bought yesterday and at this point they all look perfect.

Maybe I need to coin a word for the opposit of a rant...how about a 'laud'. I have just written a laud...sounds good, I like it.  (Just looked it up and it appears it is already in use as a noun, but if it catches on I'll take credit for it anyway.)