Well, it was great to be off the grid for a while: no email, phone or other communication. The whole family was up at the cabin, and considering the cramped quarters, complete lack of privacy and number of people, we were respectful and gracious. We also had a lot of fun, and swam and canoed and barbequed our butts off. The temperature was perfect, and the weather was a gift to us. My husband and I had a wonderful early birthday party, and our kids cooked us a feast to remember. And now we're back to ordinary life, which has a lot of great moments also. Our older son took us to see Virgil Thomson's and Gertrude Stein's "Four Saints in Three Acts", and it was delightful. I've always wanted to see it. I was lucky enough to see "The Mother of Us All" at the opera house a couple of years ago. I am such a fan of Thomson and Stein.
So today I'll catch us with cleaning and organizing the house, and figure out what generally needs doing, and maybe think about a movie this week. And most importantly, catch up with my friends.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Old Age Day by Day August 12, 2011
We're packing up to go to the cabin for a week. It always seems we need a U Haul to take all the supplies up. And especially this time, with a family reunion, I could bring up the contents of a grocery store, and it would still get eaten up. But what a happy occasion, and how rare these days, and I am super appreciative of the gathering of the clan. My best memories in childhood include picnics in a park where my mother's huge family would assemble, we kids would run around like wild mustangs and the row of dishes would stretch a mile. Jello salads, macaroni, potato and every kind of thing pumped full of mayonaise, fried chicken, roast beef, fresh sliced tomatoes from the gardens, corn, green beans, pickled beets, plump dinner rolls. A feast indeed. And the cakes and pies! It was always bit disconcerting to see my aunts, in whom I recognized my own features, cousins with whom I was shy for a few moments, and the babies and toddlers whose names I couldn't keep straight.
My own family is not so huge (my mother was one of thirteen kids), but it is getting bigger and all of us delight in that fact. And at the cabin, we have master games of scrabble, put puzzles together, swim, fish, take out a party boat, and just enjoy the air of the mountains and the huge trees. And the lake. So I am one happy camper.
My own family is not so huge (my mother was one of thirteen kids), but it is getting bigger and all of us delight in that fact. And at the cabin, we have master games of scrabble, put puzzles together, swim, fish, take out a party boat, and just enjoy the air of the mountains and the huge trees. And the lake. So I am one happy camper.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Old Age Day by Day August 11, 2011
Today is a friend's birthday, and we always figure out something to do together that is a little get-away, but this year it is really going to have to wait. I have a busy few weeks coming up, and I'm still struggling to get over my cough. Being kind and gentle to myself must include not doing some fun things until I'm better. I used to be a workhorse, plowing through no matter how I felt. But, as I said to another friend last night, I'm no spring chicken any more. I respect my age, and how easily a cough becomes chronic. So I'll do one or two errands today, and keep reading my mystery, and pack for a week at the cabin. Slow and steady.
If this sounds like a woman who has finally realized she must rescue herself, and has stopped waiting around, you're so right! I take care of myself as I wish someone would take care of me, and it feels great! Turns out being kind to myself is just as warm and fuzzy and when another does it. Maybe better. Because I know that Throat Coat tea is just the ticket, and how to walk to my mystery book store and select just the book, and that BLTs are good enough if I'm not feeling like cooking. I'm my perfect nurse!
If this sounds like a woman who has finally realized she must rescue herself, and has stopped waiting around, you're so right! I take care of myself as I wish someone would take care of me, and it feels great! Turns out being kind to myself is just as warm and fuzzy and when another does it. Maybe better. Because I know that Throat Coat tea is just the ticket, and how to walk to my mystery book store and select just the book, and that BLTs are good enough if I'm not feeling like cooking. I'm my perfect nurse!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Old Age Day by Day August 10, 2011
I got up early today to take our daughter to drop her car off, then stopped to have something fixed on my car, picked up prescriptions, got gas and cash, and now it's nine am and I feel like I've been up for hours. Well, I guess I have. I hardly know what to do with myself for the rest of the day. The vista spreads before me as a vast plain, with many possibilities. I see in the newspaper that "The Help" is out, and I really want to go, and I have lunch with a friend for her birthday, and there is the option of doing a Target run. Really, the world is before me.
Last night I called a friend and after we'd caught up a while, she said she was eating frozen yogurt on a bench overlooking the lake, and it seemed so delightful, that I felt I was there on the bench with her, watching the people stroll by and seeing the lights reflected in the water. She had her little dog with her, and I was transported just imagining her there, while I was on my bed at home. It was a lovely moment.
It was sunny from the get-go this morning, and it's affecting my mood in the most positive way, and having the stock market not go to zero yesterday definitely helped. London is disturbing, and much suffering is occurring, and I'll pray for everyone, but live this day lightly, in gratitude.
Last night I called a friend and after we'd caught up a while, she said she was eating frozen yogurt on a bench overlooking the lake, and it seemed so delightful, that I felt I was there on the bench with her, watching the people stroll by and seeing the lights reflected in the water. She had her little dog with her, and I was transported just imagining her there, while I was on my bed at home. It was a lovely moment.
It was sunny from the get-go this morning, and it's affecting my mood in the most positive way, and having the stock market not go to zero yesterday definitely helped. London is disturbing, and much suffering is occurring, and I'll pray for everyone, but live this day lightly, in gratitude.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Old Age Day by Day August 9, 2011
Our daughter just stopped by to borrow our large car, because she and her boyfriend found a sofa on the street. Very enterprising, those two. They just moved very close to us, and have a bigger space and are adorably excited. On my trip I bought them cat pot holders and a kitchen towel. It's fun to be fixing up a new place.
I got back from my trip last night, and all went reasonably well, except I was sick with a cough and had to take Tylenol non-stop the whole time. That meshed pretty well with my friend's leg injury, so we were companionably inert a lot of the time. We did see her granddaughter and mine, and took a ferry to an island for the day, but mainly we took things slow and easy. I was also attempting to avoid the news, but my friend likes to be in the know, so there was a background anxiety for me about the economy, London, and the general instability at this moment. It went well with my own malaise quite well.
On the flight back, a man was almost evicted before the plan took off - I guess he'd been arguing with his girlfriend, but he was also generally belligerent and on drugs or alcohol. The crew separated them, and he ended up in the seat in front of me, so I heard a lot of warnings by the crew, his mumblings, and it generally made for an anxious flight. They didn't arrest him at the gate, and at baggage claim I heard someone say he'd caught up with the girlfriend, so that sent a little shiver of fear for her up my spine. I wished she would have escaped, since she was up front as we were exiting, but she probably lives with the jerk and has no help.
I've still got my cough, but I feel pretty good, and soon we go to our cabin with our family and dear friends. I'm excited.
I got back from my trip last night, and all went reasonably well, except I was sick with a cough and had to take Tylenol non-stop the whole time. That meshed pretty well with my friend's leg injury, so we were companionably inert a lot of the time. We did see her granddaughter and mine, and took a ferry to an island for the day, but mainly we took things slow and easy. I was also attempting to avoid the news, but my friend likes to be in the know, so there was a background anxiety for me about the economy, London, and the general instability at this moment. It went well with my own malaise quite well.
On the flight back, a man was almost evicted before the plan took off - I guess he'd been arguing with his girlfriend, but he was also generally belligerent and on drugs or alcohol. The crew separated them, and he ended up in the seat in front of me, so I heard a lot of warnings by the crew, his mumblings, and it generally made for an anxious flight. They didn't arrest him at the gate, and at baggage claim I heard someone say he'd caught up with the girlfriend, so that sent a little shiver of fear for her up my spine. I wished she would have escaped, since she was up front as we were exiting, but she probably lives with the jerk and has no help.
I've still got my cough, but I feel pretty good, and soon we go to our cabin with our family and dear friends. I'm excited.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Old Age Day by Day August 2, 2011
My female dog just came up and pushed the door open to my studio to see what I was doing. She's kind of Houdini-like, and knows how to get in and out of her crate, and open most doors. Sometimes I look around for her, calling her and running up the stairs, then hear something at the front door and open it to see her sitting there, exasperated, looking like: "I knocked, what's wrong with you?" She isn't supposed to get out of the back yard, but that evidently is just a formality.
I hope Congress doesn't think they're heroes because they passed this terrible deal that is satisfying to no one. It's like children expecting you to have amnesia when they finally get up off the floor after a tantrum and act cooperatively. The whole show leaves residual anger and a bad taste in the mouth. I really don't want to see or hear any of them for a long while. I mean, with your kids, you forgive, but these are supposed to be adults.
Tomorrow I go on a visit with my best friend, and I'm so looking forward to it. I hope to avoid the news in every way possible. I just want the REAL news: what is happening with my friend, and connecting again. That's how I get along in this crazy world.
I hope Congress doesn't think they're heroes because they passed this terrible deal that is satisfying to no one. It's like children expecting you to have amnesia when they finally get up off the floor after a tantrum and act cooperatively. The whole show leaves residual anger and a bad taste in the mouth. I really don't want to see or hear any of them for a long while. I mean, with your kids, you forgive, but these are supposed to be adults.
Tomorrow I go on a visit with my best friend, and I'm so looking forward to it. I hope to avoid the news in every way possible. I just want the REAL news: what is happening with my friend, and connecting again. That's how I get along in this crazy world.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Old Age Day by Day August 1, 2011
My husband is babysitting a rental truck while our daughter and her boyfriend are moving. Ah, the joys of being retired. I just had a friend cancel lunch, so now I am free to do a couple of errands before having tea with a friend at 4. Our lives are pretty breezy and good. I love the band of friends I have and feel blessed. We have some of our grown children nearby, and we live in a great area. I am so fortunate. Time is moving very swiftly for me. It's the beginning of August, and I think I missed July. We're hurling toward Fall, and I need a little more sun and sandals before I give in.
I took my husband to see "Buck" the documentary about a horse whisperer, and he loved it as much as I did. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be changed from seeing it. It contains the profoundest life lessons, and a portrait of an ordinary man who willed himself to be a better person than his background would suggest. It is that old cliche - inspiring.
I took my husband to see "Buck" the documentary about a horse whisperer, and he loved it as much as I did. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be changed from seeing it. It contains the profoundest life lessons, and a portrait of an ordinary man who willed himself to be a better person than his background would suggest. It is that old cliche - inspiring.
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