Sunday Stealing

1. You’re building your dream house. What’s the one thing that this house absolutely, positively MUST HAVE? (other than the obvious basics of course) I definitely would NOT build a house, but if I had to have one, I want it to come with no responsibilities for upkeep, staffing, food, or anything else.

2. What is your dream car? I hope the car I have is my last one, but if I did have to get a new one, along with the usual stuff, I'd want a back-up camera.

3. What is your favorite website that isn’t a blog. I regularly check out SeniorLearn, Seniors & Friends, Facebook, and some puzzles.

4. iPhone or Droid, which do you want/have? I'm happy with my Android Galaxy 6.

5. When you’re feeling down or lonely or just generally out of sorts, what do you do to cheer yourself up? Usually work puzzles, listen to music, watch TV.

6. Tell me about something or someone that you love that most people seem to hate. I don't do much as "love/hate".  I like some foods that others hate.  I like having time to myself.  I still like to travel.  I like going to my 7:30 am swimming class.

7. What did you want to be when you grew up? I don't remember having any burning ambitions.

8. Would you go on a reality show if given the chance? Absolutely not!

9. Who was your favorite teacher when you were growing up? (Grade school, Middle School, Jr. High or High School only.) I liked Mrs. Earl, my French teacher, but wasn't really close with any of them.

10. You get one pass to do something illegal or immoral. What are you gonna do? At 80, I think I'm past all that stuff.

11. What were you doing 10 years ago? 2006 - recently over breast cancer. Probably getting ready to go on another trip.

12. By this time next year, I ... Hope I'm still around, doing things I enjoy doing.

13. What is something that you need to do but you've procrastinated on? I still have a couple of boxes that I haven't emptied since I moved.

14. Which fictional, TV show character you would shag anytime? Again, definitely not my thing.

15. What is your greatest pet peeve? On a large scale, intolerance and hate; currently, Donald Trump; on a small scale, bad grammar.

16. Tell me about your most recent trip of more than 100 miles? To the beach and back last month.

17. Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus? The dictionary - on Google.

18. Do you have a nickname? What is it? Mostly Mom or Grandma.

19. What are you dreading at the moment? Not dreading, but concerned about traveling by myself for the first time.

20. Do you have a meme you think we should steal?  (Yes, an old trick. But c'mon now. I gotta give it a shot. It's a lot harder to find memes now. But it's ok to answer "You're lazy" an all it a day.) Sunday Stealing is the only meme I check.

Birds and Reruns

I love watching the birds.  Gold finches picking seeds directly out of the zinnias.  Black-capped chickadees, nuthatches, and titmouses (titmice?) on the bird feeder. Hummingbirds on the crepe myrtles and on their feeder.
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My TV watching today was recorded or Netflix programs - and I did a bunch of crying with them.  This afternoon, I watched my recording of DiNozzo's last show on NCIS. That pretty much did in my afternoon.  And this evening, I watched a couple of episodes of The West Wing.  The second one I watched was one of my favorites and is just a heartbreaker.  If you were a fan, you'll know the Christmas show in the first season.  It's called "In Excelsis Deo", the one when Toby deals with the death of the homeless Korean War veteran.  All in all, a cathartic evening.

Friday Five

1. Good Friday swim class and coffee.
2. Overdue haircut accomplished.
3. My partner and I came in second at duplicate!  After coming in last a week ago.
4. Got my lab values from Monday's doctor appointment.  All good.
5. Got a wheelchair ordered for the upcoming flights.

This and that

Well, they've finished the constructing work on the deck.  One of the guys came by this morning to sand down any rough edges, and to help me put the hangers back up and replace my hanging baskets, bird feeder, wind chimes, and wind catchers.  They'll come back sometime to repaint - and we'll put it up all over again. We got a very nice rain shower this afternoon, too. --------------------- One political note (I'm being SO good)…I've watched the Democratic Convention (and even some of the Republican Convention) on PBS.  It has been fabulous coverage with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff.  It has been totally nonpartisan coverage, calm, and with the only drama coming from the convention participants themselves.  No one who knows me has any questions about my feelings on this election, but the PBS coverage has been outstanding.

Almost finished

The guys are almost finished with the deck.  They didn't get permission to replace the entire thing, but the base was (and is) really very sturdy.  The worst parts have been replaced.  There are new steps and handrail.  The new boards will have to be painted, and then the guys will help me put my hangers and plants and windchimes and windcatchers back up. It's nice to finally get something done - quickly, once they got started.

Finallly!

They started work on my deck this afternoon.  I'd been nagging since I moved in.  But it took the broken step about a month ago and Margaret's getting involved to finally get something done.  They did some partial dismantling, and have started replacing some of the decking floor boards.  And I have some lovely "crime scene yellow tape" across my sliding glass door to remind me not to go out there.

They had stopped for the day when we got a really hard rain shower - about 30 minutes worth.   Not nearly enough, but we'll certainly appreciate whatever we get.  And now the sun is out again.

Good Monday

Still hot here, of course.  On my way home from the Civic Center/bridge this afternoon - a drive of about 15 minutes - I drove through TWO frog-drowner showers, with the wipers going full blast.  And then nothing at all here at home.  Crazy stuff.

I had some good cards today.  We play five 30-minute rounds, changing partners at each break.  A pretty good round would be 600-800 points, standard contract bridge scoring.  I have over 1000 points in each round.  It felt good!

Sunday Miscellany

• The hummingbirds have started coming up on the deck and looking in my doors to check on me.  8^)
• I was blown away by the murals in Philadelphia, as profiled on CBS Sunday Morning today.  Wow!  I'd love to see this done in every city.
• Carol told me today that she had just finished binge-watching The West Wing - all 156 episodes.  She had never watched any of it before.  What a treat to see TWW for the first time!
• The Caine Mutiny is going to be on TCM beginning Monday night midnight Eastern Time.  Set your recording.

The West Wing

I been watching The West Wing on Netflix - starting with Season 1, episode 1.  Damn, but that's a great show!

Five Things Friday

1. Swimming and coffee - good as always.
2. Went to duplicate.  I think we came in last.  I don't think we bid or played very well.  Hopefully better next time.
3. Miserably hot again, but with a quick cool-down shower about 5 p.m.  Only about 0.2", but we'll take whatever we can get.
4. We're having a "meet and greet" next week to meet the new Executive Director of the Terrace.
5. Another tragic shooting in Munich.  I hope we never get to the point where we are not horrified any time a multiple shooting happens.

Wednesday haiku

No sleep last night.  Yuck!

Mani/pedi always helps.

Small nap; early bedtime.

The day after Arthur

I guess I treated Arthur in the most efficacious way.  I took pain medicine, and slept until 8:30 this morning - something I only done once or twice in my life.  I blew off exercise class and the writers' workshop and didn't even get dressed until it was time to go to lunch.  And today's been much better.

Now, if there were only something to watch besides the convention. Well, actually there is an NCIS rerun and an NCIS-NO rerun.  And the Music Channel is getting a workout.

Back to the routine

Back into the routine for me today.  I went to swimming and coffee, then some errands.  Early voting for our state-wide party primaries and county general elections started last week.  I cast my ballot this morning.   At bridge I had a few good hands, but mostly just routine stuff.

For some reason, Uncle Arthur really decided to act up on me this afternoon.  Just about all the parts were achy and stiff.  I didn't even go up to dinner when I got home.  I made some egg salad, and just ate that on crackers - along with some pain medicine.  I'm heading to bed early, too.  Hope tomorrow is better.

Sunday Stealing

The Story-Teller's Meme

1. What are your current obsessions? I don't really have one

2. What are you listening to? TV

3. Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often? Jeans

4. What are you reading? A Nevada Barr novel

5. What’s for dinner? Tonight it was ravioli.

6. What was the last thing you bought? Gasoline on the way home yesterday

7. Guilty pleasure? Double crostics

8. What training did you get and how do you make a living? OJT, I guess.  I worked as a medical secretary/transcriptionist/office manager

9. If you could go back in time, knowing what you know now, and choose a different career path, what would you train to do? I have no idea

10. What’s your best time of day? I've always been a morning person

11. Do you like being on a team or are you a solo player?  I can work either way

12. What’s your favorite way to create art? Painting, knitting

13. Name three items in your refrigerator: orange juice, yogurt, blueberries

14. Tell us about your first crush: I don't remember

15. The first time that I became a boyfriend/girlfriend was with who, when? Edward, in high school

16. Do you remember what you did on your first date? No - at my age, it was probably going to a movie or a football game.

17. How did you meet your current (or most recent) girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife? In the student center in college.

18. How did your first romantic relationship end? We parted friends.

19. Do you remember your first kiss? No

20. What do we still not know about you? Lots and lots.

Home from a special beach week

We're home.  It was a great week.  We didn't have as many people as in years past, but a good group nonetheless.  We all shared in putting some of John's ashes in the Gulf in an area he loved.  We even got a send-off this morning with a rainbow.

Margaret and I were the last to leave.  The trip home was different - mostly  not on the interstate. We were on, then off, then on, then off, our regular route. There were lots of problems with wrecks and torrential rain pockets, and we kept trying to avoid them.  It was a challenge for Margaret (who did most of the driving), but our Google GPS Gal (our "3-G") had a real workout and got us through.

Now to get back to what we laughingly call "normal" (at least for a little while).

Thunderstorms on Tuesday

We had a lovely sunrise, and then a line of heavy thunderstorms roared through.  Lots of thunder and lightning and rain, flickering power (but no outage).  And then it turned off into a beautiful afternoon.  So life at the beach goes on.

Special Monday

Today was the only day we'd have this year's full complement of family and friends, so this was the day we would leave some of John in one of his favorite places.

It was special.

We're here!

We made it!  The Gulf is still here.  Sue says the water is cold, but the breeze is wonderful.  We had shrimp and blue crabs for dinner.  Just a couple more yet to come.  Now to relax.

A quote on this week's events

My friend, Jennifer, said it better than I could…

In other news, watching the news and seeing what is happening makes me feel physically ill. Anyone who can question the rampant racism across this country, or that there is a systemic problem with those who are currently in power, is not paying attention. And people need to stop with the hashtag all lives matter. It's offensive. White privilege is real, and we need to stop acting like it is equal to the problems imposed on others. Instead, let's fix what really does matter. 

Love more, people. It's not that damn hard. 

From <http://www.jensconsin.com/2016/07/tgif.html>

It must be time

It must be time to go to the beach.

I woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep.  I got up for about an hour, then went back to bed.  I wound up sleeping until 8:30 a.m.  It must be time to go to the beach.

I blew off going to Silver Sneakers at 9:30 - just wasn't going to move quickly enough to do that.  I had lunch, and then took a short nap.  It must be time to go to the beach.

Bridge got called off tonight.  I went through some clothes to about taking for give-away, and what to take to wear.  It must be time to go to the beach.

Margaret called to let me know her schedule for tomorrow.

We are SO ready to go to the beach!

Wonky Wednesday

I started writing this, and then did something that made it vanish. So maybe it was a pretty wonky day after all.

The weather was all over the lot.  Clouds, sunshine, hot and humid, thunder, lightning, severe thunderstorm warnings, even some rain.  At least it wasn't as bad as what happened in Nashville and Western Kentucky (sorry, Kate and Jean).

It was a busy day.  Swimming, coffee, haircut, library (pick up a DVD), bank, lunch at Merv's with Vicki.  Of course, I managed to leave my key in the room when I went out for lunch (@#$$#@), so I had to call to get someone to let me in the building and into my apartment.  There was a residents' council meeting this afternoon, which seemed to go well.  These folks are not shy about voicing opinions, and we just hope they're listened to.

I finished the day by watching the movie I picked up today, Steve Jobs.  I didn't  know anything about the history or Apple or Macs, so that was all new to me.  But the acting is superb, and the two hours really flew by.  I'll recommend this one.

I'm definitely getting into beach mode.

Tuesday Haiku

Rain, glorious rain!

Not enough, but good. Dealing

With my deck again.

Monday Miscellany

One of the steps off my deck finally broke last night, but it was just as I was stepping off of it, so I didn't fall.  I've reported it and hope somebody can get to it tomorrow - at least with a temporary fix.  I've been trying to get something done since I moved in, but nothing so far.  Maybe this will get them off their duffs.

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TCM is wonderful!  I watched That's Entertainment, the tribute to the old MGM musicals the other night.  And tonight, I watched all of The Music Man.  What great music and great movies!

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The possums are back.  They got into the hummingbird feeder the other night.  And I ran them off the deck tonight, too.

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Happy Fourth of July!

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Controversial Questions Meme 

1. Would you do drugs if all were legalized? (Not a “for or against” question…) I don't think so.

2. Are you happy that the U.S. Supreme Court once again upheld a woman’s right to abortion? Absolutely yes!

3. Would our country cope any differently with a woman president? I don't know.

4. Do you believe in the death penalty? Not really - although I can see there would be times it would be appropriate.

5. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already? Yes.  I'm not interested personally, but if alcohol is legal and regulated, it's stupid that marijuana isn't.

6. Do you believe in God? No

7. How do you feel now that same-sex marriage is legalized? It's about time.

8. Do you think it’s wrong that so many Hispanics are moving to the USA? No - they just want a better life.  But they should do so legally.

9. A 12-year-old girl has a baby… should she keep it? No, and she shouldn't have had to have it in the first place.

10. Should the alcohol age be lowered to 18? If a person is old enough to die for his/her country, he/she should certainly be able to drink.

11. Should the wars in Middle East be called off? It's not in our hands.  Those tribes have been fighting each other for centuries, and nothing we can say or do will have any effect on it.

13. Do you believe in spanking your children? Spanking, maybe - beating, not.

14. A mother is declared innocent after murdering her 5 children in a temporary insanity case… what do you think? Tragic.  She should be sterilized and institutionalized.

15. Would you want to prosecute someone for burning their country’s flag as a method of protest? Ostracize and ignore maybe, but not prosecute.

16. It’s between you and a person who is being kept alive (with NO hope) by life support machines… one has to die? Who? If I were the person on the machines, I'd want to be the one who dies.

17. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers? I would like to think not, but I have no control over what others think.

Special

I watched all of That's Entertainment on TCM tonight.  It's MGM's 1974 celebration of the old MGM musicals.  It's a fabulous movie, if you're at all a fan of the old musicals.  And I got to see all of my favorite dance number - Donald O'Connor in Singin' in the Rain doing "Make 'Em Laugh".  And I laugh every time I see it.

A special evening!