Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Remembering my father, Paul William Liles, on his birthday. Paul William Liles, born in McRae, Arkansas, in 1906, would have been 120 years old today, but alas, God called him home 56 years ago; his life and legacy remain deeply meaningful.
He came from humble beginnings in rural Arkansas at the dawn of the 20th century. With limited formal education (9th grade), but with determination, character, and uncommon perseverance, he made his way to California and built a remarkable life. Through hard work and true grit, he rose to become General Manager of a medium-sized dime store chain that would eventually grow into “The 99 Cent Store.”
He was an extraordinary man, and I remember him today with gratitude, respect, and love. He was kind and generous, had an amazing sense of humor (you can blame him for my actions), and a fantastic mind for mathematics (he was a human calculator). He left this world much too early, and I often imagine how he would have taken to Mary.
I always heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away! Did you know?
The saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” comes from a 19th-century Welsh proverb.
One of the earliest recorded versions appeared in 1866 in Notes and Queries, a British periodical. It was reported as a Pembrokeshire saying:
“Eat an apple on going to bed,
And you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.”Over time, the wording became shorter and catchier. By the early 1900s, it had evolved into:
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
The idea behind it is that apples were seen as a simple, healthy food, and eating fruit regularly was associated with good health. It’s not literally true that apples prevent all doctor visits, of course, but the phrase became popular as a general reminder that good diet helps maintain health.
So we tried eating a lot of apples, but we still had to see the doctors!
Well, the old saying isn’t entirely true, because we have been eating apples like there is no tomorrow. Today, Mary and I have doctor’s appointments across town at the same time due to scheduling conflicts!
I offered to delay my appointment and take a crash course on YouTube and save a lot of money butt Mary turned me down!
Mary is going to a colonoscopy in Yorba Linda while I am getting my lungs checked in Orange. Dianne is taking Mary to the procedure, and if I get out near the same time, we will all go to lunch!
Mary was ready to go!
She looked pretty brave in advance, but then there was recovery! Instead of anesthesia, they gave her two glasses of wine! Hey, it worked!! She is a real Sleeping Beauty!
Dianne, Mary, and I met at Benji’s and relived this morning’s moments. We laughed and giggled and told ghost stories (we were in the dark bar and Halloween is near).
From Benji’s, we headed to Suit Zone to get my zoot-suit shirt altered. Apparently, a shirt with a 19½-inch neck is designed for someone built like a refrigerator with cufflinks. I’m a size 46 with the same neck, so the tailor is removing enough fabric to make a second shirt—or possibly a fitted car cover for the neighbor’s VW.
Then it happened: I was shanghaied by Dr. Mary.
She’s been trying to get me into new clothes for years, and I finally surrendered—partly because she’d spent the morning in extreme pain, and partly because I was tired of trying to button an 18-inch neck shirt like I was defusing a bomb with my throat.
Every time I got one fastened, my face turned bright red, my eyes bulged, and I spent the evening looking like a well-dressed tomato fighting for oxygen.
After buying two new suits, a new tuxedo, and five new dress shirts (my size), I have no idea what else we walked out with! Then Mary thought about how I looked, and she asked for a refund! In my case, clothes do NOT make the man; a large plastic trash bag hides the man!
The owner of the store is Lebanese and got to jabbering about food, and he suggested a Lebanese market close by!. So, what did we do? We then shopped at Fresh Choice Marketplace. We had fun going up and down each aisle, and our basket filled up with goodies, including four pounds of candied dates, YUMMY!!!!
We finally made it home, but not without some interesting pictures! I had a nightmare about the fish heads!
n Lebanese cooking, the dish most associated with using fish heads is sayadieh / sayyadieh — a spiced fish-and-rice dish.
The fish heads and bones are often simmered to make a rich stock, which flavors the rice and the sauce. The finished dish is usually served with fried or baked fish, caramelized onions, and sometimes a tahini-based sauce.
From the market, we went to CVS to get some meds and other “supplies”.
Finally, we got home at 7:30 om and realized we had been on the go since 8:30 am this morning, eleven hours straight. We called Robin and did our nightly bat-phone hookup and coordination session. A week from tomorrow, we head to New Hampshire to visit Colleen and family! Robin sounded like it was a trip to see Santa Claus; she was very excited about it!
We tried to watch TV, but alas, I could not keep my eyes open, so I headed to bed a little early. Mary took a short afternoon nap after lunch and had slightly more energy than I did.
A quick tribute to my ex-father-in-law, whose birthday was yesterday. Charles H. Feltz was a wonderful man whom I enjoyed knowing for twenty years. He rose through the ranks at North American Aviation and Rockwell to become a division president, where he worked on many amazing space programs!
It was 10:35 p.m. when I declared myself crashed!
