The Goose is Back

Mother Goose is back. After a much needed sabbatical, I’m rested and recovered and revived and ready to tell some brand new stories. Who can ever tell why a goose must take a break from her blog? Who can explain the sudden aversion to the compound word, WordPress? How do some writers keep writing and some need to fall off the wagon for awhile?

Obviously, life for these past six weeks have been jam-packed with adventures — to be sure, my life has never lacked for subject matter. We had a lovely Christmas holiday, a fun and surprising New Year (yes, Mother Goose woke from a deep sleep and jumped off the couch at exactly midnight, surprising the family with a dance that included much jumping and flapping and merriment!) and January has proven to be one theatrical performance after another.

Whew! The goose has been on the loose!

Did you make a New Year’s resolution? How’s that working for you? It’s been nearly a month since January 1, and my resolution is still holding strong. And here is what I resolve for 2014:

Always dance in the Kitchen.

In the home of Mother Goose, the kitchen is the place where most of the action takes place and most of the goslings hang out. What better place to dance? One of the priceless gifts I received for my birthday last month was a G-Pop wireless and bluetooth audio speaker, and so I simply connect my favorite Pandora stations to the G-Pop and CRANK IT UP.

Pandora radio is such fun! I have created nearly one hundred channels! So much selection, so many favorites, so many thumbs up! Since the beginning of the year, I have been mostly listening to the Family Road Trip station and the Lenny Kravitz station. Yes, I know — eclectic tastes for a goose, indeed.

Anyway, imagine the scene as Mother Goose is preparing the meals:

There is twirling and whirling, stepping and stomping, dipping and tripping, wings extended and tail wagging.

There is giggling and wiggling, peeking and winking, oblivious to the stares and intensity beyond compare.

Mother Goose has found the perfect combination of exercise and entertainment — it’s good for the goose and good for the gander!

They may laugh at my moves, but in the long run, they will remember this has been a very Happy New Year.

I hope you’ll return tomorrow to hear the story of Mother Goose and the Phantom of the Opera, opening night at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago….oh my gooseness!

The Night Goose

We could almost call this The Lost Weekend of the Goose! The fun of the wine tasting party was just the beginning of a wild weekend for the Gooses — the good times just keep rolling on and on!

Yesterday was a glorious 63 degree day in our fair town — Mr. Goose found it appropriate to get his golf bag out one more time and enjoyed time chasing the little white ball around the course with his friends.

Of course, Mother Goose deemed it much more to her satisfaction to apply her “mystery shopper” skills to an afternoon in the city — I successfully spied on many grocery store employees, coercing them with many prompts for product knowledge, samplings and escort services within the store. I am still amazed and grateful that they pay me to do this!

After going our separate ways for the day, we regathered in the Goose home and prepared for the next big adventure — dancing the night away with friends, Michael and Amy.

When Michael informed us that we’d meet at Venuti’s Vlounge at 10:00, we had some reasonable doubts about our ability to meet this social obligation. The bedtime of Mother Goose hovers around 9:30 any given night of the week! However, I love a good challenge and was feeling spunky. Mr. Goose was not feeling quite as energized as Mother Goose, but after a long soak in his whirlpool tub with the extreme jets pounding into his aching muscles, he recovered nicely and put on his dancing shoes.

Away we went!

Mother Goose assumed that we would be dancing to the music of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and maybe some swing tunes. After all, this is a place called Venuti’s, obviously Italian, obviously suburban, obviously a place for an older crowd (late middle-age…) to gently kick up their heels and waltz gracefully around the dance floor.

Classic Italian architecture, so festive for the holidays!

In other words, we were not prepared for the DJ mix at the Vlounge or the flashing disco lights or the steady pounding and pulsing beat of this modern dance club.

But we had a great time nonetheless! One thing about Mother Goose, she can easily adapt when her expectations are skewed by her reality. I tasted a nice glass of pinot grigio and shouted some nice conversation with Amy and Michael.

Amy and Michael

Showing off their modern moves…

As soon as I heard the remix of Prince’s “When Doves Cry”, I dropped my glass and went charging out on the dance floor. (Prince sounded good thirty years ago, and no matter how you remix him today, he still gets my heart pumping and my knobby knees thumping.) In my zeal, I knocked over a couple of thirty-something women. They were tossing their bleach blonde coiffure and showing off their shapely young legs and moving with all the latest gyrations.

“Look out!” Mother Goose honked at them and stepped over them. “It’s my favorite song!”

Mr. Goose and I stayed on the dance floor until Prince was finished with his song, and then the music morphed into some other heavy beat but we didn’t even notice because we were lost in the magic of the moment. Smiling happily and moving somewhat in time to the music, we each went into our own private worlds of old school dancing. There’s a time for dialogue in a night out, and then there’s a time for just being cool and showing off. Mother Goose tossed back her head, threw her wings in the air and acted out all of her nightclub fantasies there on the dance floor.

Of course, the dance floor immediately cleared out, giving Mother Goose more room for her private dance show.

I remember applause. I remember seeing stars. I remember thinking that maybe I was the star of Dancing With The Stars.

I remember Mr. Goose quietly leading me back to the table whilst the other dancers applauded and cheered. We said our goodbyes to Amy and Michael, and I waved happily and smiled for the cameras of the paparazzi as we left the Venuti Vlounge.

You may know me as Mother Goose, but some call me The Night Goose…

Mother Goose barely broke a sweat in all of her dancing exertions…

Mother Goose Takes the Family to the Zoo

The family of Mother Goose loves animals so it was not huge surprise to see us at the Brookfield Zoo last week. It was very pretty with all the Christmas lights. I must admit it was a very big surprise to learn that there were no animals on display. I guess they were all hibernating or they’d migrated south for the winter. We’ve had a mild winter, and I had expected that we’d see some wildlife. Mother Goose was right.

The family of Mother Goose WAS the wildlife at the zoo. And THAT’s a blessing!