Five for Friday, Edition #29

I keep a list of blog topics on my phone so when ideas pop in my head, usually when I'm walking our dog, I write them down. And right now the list is sort of out of control because I keep writing about books instead of life things. Let's not talk about my coping mechanisms right now, okay? So here are the five I'm tackling today. 

1) Rosemary Kennedy - I always knew that Rosemary Kennedy was given a lobotomy and then shipped off somewhere so that the Kennedy family never had to acknowledge her. But I was scrolling reddit like normal and I saw a headline that said she had been a resident at St. Coletta's in Jefferson, Wisconsin. YOU GUYS. That is the next town over from me. Jefferson is the town with the boring German Days parade. North to south it's Jefferson, my town, and then the town where I work. (Please don't come at me with geography, locals.) And I checked Wikipedia and learned the further detail that Rosemary Kennedy died in the hospital in my town. 

I guess I'm just sort of surprised I'd never heard this fact before. Do you have any local lore from your town?

2) It's the best television time of the year! Taskmaster and the Great British Bake-Off have new seasons! I'm not going to sugarcoat it, though, I think both shows are having sort of lackluster seasons. Hopefully they turn around!

3) My SIL has a podcast - I don't brag about my sisters-in-law very much, but they are all really accomplished women. They're smart, they're hard-working, they're amazing mothers and wives, and they are all, to a one, hilarious. So when my sister-in-law Katie (this is my husband's youngest sister) that she was going to do a podcast, I was all in. She's an internist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and she's the one I go to with all my medical questions. She and her friend Katie, a fellow doctor, have a new podcast (video episodes are also available on YouTube) called Heroic Herstories: Women in  Medicine with the Katies. 

Katie and Katie interview women doctors in Iowa. In the first episode they interviewed a woman whose career was up and down and all over the place and since I teach our Careers class, I was interested in how she talked about the curveballs in her career. She discussed how her career progress wasn't linear and how she sometimes got unexpected opportunities and even though that's not how she had envisioned her career, every step taught her important lessons and skills. I thought it was such an important lesson!

In the second episode, they interviewed an epidemiologist who was a young doctor during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and a well-established doctor during the COVID crisis. I thought it was super interesting to hear her compare the two. 

Even if you're not in the medical business, I think these are very interesting and important conversations! (I'm not just saying that because my SIL is there, I promise. I am obviously biased, but I also wouldn't even bring it up on my blog if I didn't think it was worth listening to.)

4) I think I have the sort of face that makes me people just start talking to me. Let's talk about three times in recent weeks I've found myself in conversations with people in public that I didn't start. 

A) I walk up to the almond flour because I need to make cookies. I have never purchased almond flour before, so I'm looking to see which brands are gluten free and then I'm comparing the unit prices. Another lady comes up and starts talking about how the almond flours have different numbers of carbs and how is this possible. I shrug, but then she starts talking about other nutritional factors (calories, types of almonds) and before I know it, this lady and I are DEEP in the weeds about almond flour. Dr. BB had been in a different aisle and he shows up and rolls his eyes. 

B) I was browsing some thrift shops with TJC when she was in town. I wander over to the rack of dresses (of course I do) minding my own business and the wedding dresses are the next rack over. Out of NOWHERE, this lady says to me, "do you think this is a wedding dress?" clearly pointing at a table runner. I shrug, but she keeps talking to me. "I'd thrift everything if I got married again. Ha ha! I just wouldn't get married. Ha ha! Just kidding! I love my husband!" Hey, lady, I'm just trying to see if any of these dresses would be appropriate for me to wear. 

C) TJC and I are eating lunch at a local hotspot. Some ladies sit down next to us. One of them makes eye contact with me. "Hey, what's good here?" We proceed to have a discussion about how it's the best place in town and everything except the Irish Bread Pudding, which is repulsive and dry. 

I don't know. I don't mind, really. I used to think I had resting bitch face, but I think I truly have friendly face. 

5) We took the plunge and test drove some cars last weekend. We are not wowed by any of them. But I guess I don't have strong preferences about cars unless we get one with the tail lights that look like penises. 

Here's something you probably don't know about me if you haven't been in a car with me at night. I have STRONG FEELINGS about tail lights. I hate the ones that go all the way across the car. HATE THEM. It's only a pseudo-rational reason. It makes it really hard to see if a turn signal is on. Also, they're ugly.  I have had this discussion with my husband eight thousand times and he's over hearing about it, so now I'm here telling you. There are lots of acceptable tail light arrangements, so why are there dicks and bars? I have questions!

****************

Okay, take it away. What's your local lore? Do strangers talk to you? Do you have feelings about oddly specific parts of car design?