Matchbooks

I am in the midst of baking cookies for the first time in at least 17 months. Granny has made herself scarce. She even had a football game on earlier. You know things are bad if she's watching sports. I've been searching the cupboards for the things I need to bake and I've had to text my sister several times to figure out where sugar is, measuring cups, bowls...the mixer. One cookie tray was in the oven when Granny came in to give me the third degree about the cookies and how to use the oven. When I wasn't to responsive she left and then came back about the time they came out of the oven. She exclaimed in her 86 year old voice, "You'd think you could get some news around here with the temperature, the weather, and what time the sun goes down." Since I was standing looking outside the window I thought, the sun is going down and the thermometer is right there. However, I kept my thoughts to myself. It was in her next comment I realized she wanted to light the Menorah. No, she's not Jewish, but her husband was. So after contemplating out loud about whether or not she should light it before sundown, she got out her matches to light it. She had some difficulty trying to light the matches. At first I was thinking perhaps it was due to her age and I was about ready to step in when she asked if I thought it was due to the moisture in the air. I didn't think so because it feels quite dry to me, but I told her it was possible. Although seeing as how she keeps them in a ziplock bag I really didn't think so. Without any pomp and circumstance she lit the candle for a couple minutes, blew it out, and then went back to the living room. I've now just looked at the matches and realized they most likely are hard to light since they were purchased in 1985 on their trip to Canada for my Dad's graduation. There was one in their from Bandon, Oregon which means those date between 1976 and 1980. Then again it could be the moisture in the ziplock bag.