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!

One of those days

Ever have one of those days?

Today was weird!  I did Thursday things, read the Thursday paper, ate the Thursday meals, etc.  And all day kept thinking it was Friday - even to the point of wondering why the TV programs I usually watch on Friday weren't on.  Sheesh!  I think I've finally got it hammered in now.  Thursday!  Thursday!

Meeting

The Terrace has a new management company (as of April), and an interim executive director (after they fired the existing one).  This afternoon, the interim director had a meeting with the residents.  I think it went very well.  The room was crowded (YEA!) and the questions and comments were pretty much kept to generalities (usually meetings get bogged down with specifics).  She spoke well, explaining the immediate plans and some of the long-range plans, and answered the questions satisfactorily.  I think she was able to put some of the residents' minds at ease, and definitely opened the lines of communication.  One of the things I appreciated was how she kept referring to The Terrace as our "home" - which indeed it is.  I hope this was a sign of good things coming.

RIP Coach

Pat Head Summitt - 1952-2016

There will be many words of praise  and remembrance spoken about Pat over the upcoming days.  And they will all be well deserved. 

But, in my opinion, there's only statistic from her life that should be listed first - that every one of the young women who played for her for four years graduated from college.  EVERY ONE!

Occasional flashes of smartness

I got an e-mail late last night from a second cousin (our mothers were first cousins), saying she was in the area and wanted to  know if we could meet today.  We thought we hadn't seen each other since we were children (maybe 65 years ago), and hadn't even had e-mail contact for about 10 or so years. My day was literally planned from dawn to dusk, so I asked if we couldn't make it another day. She responded, maybe Wednesday, but we'd talk.

By this morning, I realized I was being stupid.  Meeting up with a long-lost cousin was more important than playing bridge, so I started trying to get in touch with her to see if we could indeed meet this afternoon.  I didn't get in touch with her until 11:30.  But she said, yes, we could do it.  I asked about timing, thinking we'd go for 1 or 2.  Then she texted, it'd take them about 2 1/2 hours to get here, so how about 4.  What?  Where were they?  And who are "they"? Turns out this is Lydia and her son Christopher, and they're coming from Spring Hill, TN - which is south of Nashville!  They actually want to drive over here to have coffee with me, and then drive back this evening.  Well, Son of a Gun!

Knowing this, I suggested we meet at the Cracker Barrel east of Chattanooga on I-24, and said for them to contact me at some point to let me know an ETA. When I hadn't heard from her by about 3:45, I texted.  They were tied up in heavy traffic, and headed into a hard rainstorm, now ETA was about 5.  I headed out to get there at 5.  They finally got there about 5:30.  We went in to eat.

We stayed there talking for a couple of hours - getting to know each other and about our families.  We realized we had met one time as adults - at my Aunt Sally's burial in the family cemetery in East Texas (that's another funny story).  But we also agreed that we wouldn't let it be so long before meeting the next time.

She lives in Kansas, but will be back in Tennessee for her grandson's graduation from Mississippi State in December.  We're going to try to get together then - maybe somewhere in between the next time - maybe even at Margaret's.

I'm glad I can show occasional flashes of smartness.

Heat, humidity!

Thunder, but no rain. So dry!

And lots of fun bridge.

Sunday Stealing

1. Would you post a picture of you for us? Nope

2. Would you date an 18-year-old at the age you are now? Good heavens, no!

3. Do you prefer to work with women or men? Why? I haven't had a job in 30 years, but I had no problem working with anybody.

4. Do you have any opposite sex friends? Yes

5. Can you commit to one person? Does a 60-year-long marriage count?

6. If you’re married or in a relationship have you ever een tempted to cheat? No, I wasn't.

7. Do you think your life will change dramatically before 2018? I hope not.  2015 was quite enough, thank you.

8. If the person you are interested in says they like someone else, what would try to sway them? Not an issue here, but if the person were interested in someone else, I'd tell him to go be that that other person.

9. Are you good at hiding your feelings? Pretty good - at least most of the time.

11. When was the last time you cried? A couple of weeks ago.

12. Have you ever fallen for someone you didn’t expect to? Obviously these questions were meant for someone a lot younger than I, and in a very different life situation.

13. What is something you have to do tomorrow? The laundry.

14. Name something you dislike about the day you’re having. Just the heat - the official temperature was 98* at 6:30 p.m.

15. Have you ever wanted more from one of your best friends of the opposite sex? See the answer to #12

16. Have you ever wanted someone you couldn’t have?  Again, #12.

17. Who was the last person you talked to before you went to bed last night? Virginia on our way to our apartments after bridge.

18. Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell everything to? Unfortunately, no.

19. When was the last time that you were jealous in a romance situation? Probably about 65 years ago. LOL

20. If you had to delete one year of your life completely, which would it be? Definitely 2015.

21. Did you have a good day yesterday? What did you do? Yesterday was a good day - exhausting, but good.

22. If a person you had wished you could have a relationship with for a long time and you suddenly found yourself together alone, what would you be doing right now? There isn't anybody who fills that bill.

23. Do you replay things that have happened in your head? Sometimes, I guess.

24. Don’t tell me lies, is the last person you texted attractive? Yes, she is.

25. Is your life anything like it was two years ago? Is it a good or bad thing? It's definitely different.  And "It is what it is!"