Wednesday half-and-half

It started off as a normal Wednesday - swimming and coffee.  I left early, though, and headed downtown for an appointment with the attorney.  After sharing some receipts, signing a paper that was notarized, writing a check for $14.00 to the court, and a substantial check (not unexpected) for the attorney's fees, the estate was officially closed. Now it's time to meet with the financial advisor to decide what to do next.  On the way home, I stopped at Walmart for an infrequent stop to stock up on important things like yogurt and coffee.  Then home and lunch. 

I finished the newspaper and computer stuff, watched some Olympics, and complained about aches and pains.  By midafternoon, I decided to pack it in for the day, change into soft clothes, and eat supper at home (I had picked up a salad at WM).  I finished off my day with some more Olympics, news, and a recorded Rizzoli and Iles.  How exciting can it get!

Back to Monday

I've been lots creakier than usual.  I've never associated any of my problems with weather before, but maybe that's changing.  Back into my routine today - swimming, coffee, hanging out at the library, and bridge.  My cards were really awful at bridge, but at least we quit a little early today.  LOL  The rest of the week is pretty easy.  I did get a massage appointment set up, but unfortunately, not until Friday.

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The Sculpture Fields at Montague Park - where some of John's ashes are buried in a tree planting - was featured in a local TV stations news recently.  If you can get to it, his tree shows up at 1:47 minutes and 3:15 minutes.  The tree has our ribbons tied on it.  I'll try to post a link.

http://newschannel9.com/this-n-that/sideroads/sideroads-visits-the-sculpture-fields

Working on the routine

I was sound asleep before 10 last night, and slept until 6:30.  Not that I needed it.  Two loads of laundry was exciting to start the morning.  It was a good night's sleep, but it didn't keep me from an hour nap before lunch. Singing in the Rain and Brigadoon used up the afternoon - the Olympics for the evening.  It's back into the real routine tomorrow.

Home again!

 I'm home!  I got up about 3:15 this morning, left the ship about 4, for a flight out of Portland at 6 a.m.  It was a bit late leaving, but made up some time on the way back to Atlanta.  I got in, got the shuttle, and got to my apartment about 12:30.  By 1:30, I'd had a bit of lunch, unpacked, and was in my chair, reading the paper and watching some Olympic diving. 

It was a great trip.  I loved being able to travel again with Ann & Al.  Plus it was a fun trip.  The stops were in neat little Maine towns - each with its own personality.  Unfortunately for me, I found out I had more limitations than I was expecting, so didn't get to explore the towns at all.  But it was a great experience and lovely scenery. We met some wonderful people, and the food was incredible. American Cruise Lines is a well run organization and will do anything possible to make your experience a good one.  I signed up for a trip with them next August in Alaska with Margaret. 

An interesting observation about the other passengers - there were a lot of handicapped people on the trip.  I was concerned about my lack of mobility, but in the event, I was probably in about the middle of the 95 passengers.  There were two folks on scooters, and a lot using walkers. One lady even came with her caregiver. There were also several groups - families of 50-60-year-olds accompanying one or two parents.  They all seemed to be having a good time. In any case, it's always good to get home. 

Our temps here are predicted to be in the low 90s and high 80s next week.  And we had almost 3" of rain while I was gone.  That's a good thing!  Lots of wash to do tomorrow, and I'll still be resting up to get back into the routine on Monday.

Rockland, Maine

Rockland is a place of good memories. Schooner trips on the Isaac H. Evans with Anne and Nick in 1990, and on the Stephen Taber with Andy and Sarah in about 2004. Didn't see the schooners this time, but did recognize some places, even with all the changes. It's been a good trip. Stops in Bath, Castine, Belfast, Camden, trip to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Great trip and food all around. Even made reservations for Alaska next year. Home on Saturday.

From Portland

Our various modes of travel went without a hitch. Car, shuttle van, wheelchair, airplane, wheelchair, and taxi. And tomorrow onto the boat.

Another good day

We went to the museum (the Hunter Museum of American Art) today, and spent most of the morning there.  The traveling exhibit and the permanent collection are very nice, and we enjoyed it. Next we went across the street to a very nice art gallery (fortunately we didn't find anything we couldn't live without).  And we had a nice light lunch at the nearby coffee shop.  After driving by the sculpture garden, we came back to my apartment to hang out for the afternoon.  We talked about the various excursions offered and make some tentative decisions as to which ones we want to do.  Fortunately, as traveling companions, we've never felt that we were "joined at the hip" and had to do everything together.  I know I won't be doing any of the guided walking tours, but will probably do some by myself - and do a couple of the museums and bus trips.  Time will tell.

And a new wrinkle in travel, devices, technology, and old folks. I got an e-mail from Delta that I could check in.  I followed the trail through the different instructions, and got to the place where it asked if I wanted them to send the boarding pass to my mobile device, send me an e-mail, or send me something to print.  Since neither Margaret or Al could get my computer to talk to my printer yesterday, I said send it to my mobile device and gave them my cell number, and clicked "next".  My phone promptly told me I had a text, and there was a square code thing-y that I assume will work for my boarding pass.  'Twill be interesting.

A busy day

I do enjoy being with Ann & Al - they're really special folks and family.  I picked them up this morning and brought them back here to see my place and just visit a bit.  Then we drove over to the Sculpture Fields so they could see John's tree and the sculpture in the park.  They enjoy that kind of thing, so even with the heat, they walked around a little more than I did (while I got the a/c going to cool down the car.  We had a nice lunch at a nearby local bakery/sandwich shop.  We all got salads - Ann & I got the daily special - fresh local greens,  fresh peaches, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds - delicious!  Then back home for a while.

Margaret came over and we went downtown to take a late afternoon ride on the Tennessee Aquarium River Gorge Explorer (hydrofoil catamaran).  It goes downriver from the downtown dock, into part of the Tennessee River Gorge - a really neat trip.  We saw a number of ospreys and great blue herons, but not a lot of other wildlife.  Probably too hot for them, too.  We finished off the evening with a nice dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant, and then called it a day.  No specific plans for tomorrow.  We leave on Friday for Portland, and board the boat Saturday morning.

Getting ready

Getting ready to

get ready to travel. Ann

and Al tomorrow.

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.