Category: The DayBook

A little over a month ago, I drank a Cosmo and enjoyed the optical illusion that “my” ship was going to run into the Baltimore Key Bridge. It didn’t cross my mind that 6 weeks later that bridge would be a total wreck at the bottom of the Baltimore Harbor. 

The bridge isn’t that old as far as bridges go. 1977.  (We have a Francis Scott  Key Bridge in DC it’s from 1923)

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can still do origami. That requires functioning eyes, fingers, and some brain cells.

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Yesterday I gave myself an assignment: Come up with a plan for life’s last act.

I went to in-person yoga this morning. That took 4 buses and a little walking. So, I had time to think about “old age”. Or specifically “old Peg”.  First I have to be able to say:

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. Not: elderly, mature, aged, older, senior, advanced in years, up in years, getting on, in one’s dotage, long in the tooth, gray, gray-haired, gray-bearded, grizzled, hoary, past one’s prime, not as young as one was, ancient, decrepit, doddering, doddery, not long for this world, ripe, senescent, senile, superannuated, venerable, octogenarian,  past it, over the hill, no spring chicken or even longevous. Hello, my name is Peg and I am old.

It shouldn’t be hard to accept that I am old. I see myself in the mirror. I feel my creaky bones, I have pains that never abate. I have to work at keeping my brain on task. I can not drink nearly as much as I once could. Some foods “don’t agree with me” anymore. I have “morning pills” and “night pills”. Hello, my name is Peg and I am old.

I was very very happy at the end of yoga class when two of the “younger” students remarked how hard the class was. When I started with this class it was a too easy class that I took in addition to several harder classes. Now this class is my hard class. Hello, my name is Peg and I am old.

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. – That is as far as my plan for my last act has gotten today. Working on acceptance. Hello, my name is Peg and I am old.

According to my watch, I only walked a couple of miles today. My watch hasn’t a clue how hard yoga is. So, it is nagging me to get in another mile today. I don’t think so dear watch. I don’t think so. 

The bleeding heart is carefully sneaking into bloom. Wondering if it’s really spring. I feel the same way. There is still a hint of chill in the air.

As you may recall Carlton was a fanatic about picking up coins. I almost walked right by these bashed-up pennies that I saw in the street. But, no. Carlton is just sending a message from wherever he is. I had to pick them up. 

The Twilight Zone

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Damn, I wish I were 50 years old again. With decades ahead of me. With energy to spare. With a man to love. With summer jobs in parks. And winters in Hawai’i. 

How am I going to survive life’s last act? Figure it out as it plays out I presume. Or take up drinking.  Strike that. 

Note to self: Come up with a plan. 

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The donuts are usually OK. Not nice hot out of the grease donuts. But, still pretty good. Never tried the prunes. And the muffins are fine. 

The sun was back on the job today. 

There it is. Soichi Noguchi’s UFO model which he assembled on the International Space Station back at the turn of the century.  As mentioned, I don’t need to do this one again. But, I am glad that I made it. 

KitKat bars were actually “invented” in England in 1935. It was 1970 when they made it to the US. SO. KitKat bars are even older than I am. 

A great day for doing nothing. And I do nothing really well.

After dinner with my friends and a couple of glasses of wine – the sun came out just in time to set.

I did finish the model later today. I am pretty sure that I’ll not make another one – unless I get to be an astronaut. But,  I am glad I made it.  I think this is the first model I ever figured out just by looking at the finished product.  I am too lazy to take a picture of the model tonight. Leaving that for tomorrow. Then I’ll pitch it out the window.

 

Winter is hanging on. Did a very little work on my garden box. It’s supposed to rain a couple of inches over the next few days. So, this seemed to be a good time to finish planting the plants that arrived a week ago. The box looks barren. I have to remind myself that the plants will grow. And fill up the empty spaces. If not this year. Next year. The goddess willing.

A retired doctor was a breakfast this morning. He mentioned that this fine ice cream was on sale starting today at the grocery next door. He also remarked that on occasion he borrowed storage space in a neighbor’s freezer so he could store extra ice cream. Ice cream. Just what the doctor ordered. 

The addition of ice cream to my freezer reduces the space available for soup. I am hoping that soup season is coming to an end.

The Twilight Zone

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Anthony Bourdain wasn’t able to escape his demons. Nevertheless, he left us with some great advice. “Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a Negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.”

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Didn’t go on a formal brisk walk today. But, I did enough running around to get in a little over 2.5 miles. Plus some good aerobics.

Alexa just said “This is a reminder Happy Hour”. Always obey Alexa.

Feeling irresponsibly boring today.  I didn’t go out in quest of anything unboring. Today I just “was”. 

I did get my yoga stretches in. And a short very brisk walk. It was cold. Just barely made 2 miles today. 

Think I will put the other half together and then try to get the halves together. I believe that is how Soichi Noguchi did it in his zero-gravity video. Perhaps I’ll sail it out of my window when I am done. That might get me kicked out of the joint! Maybe I could put a small helium balloon inside of it. That might get me arrested for violating the Capital Area air space. All manner of things I can do that will not be boring!

Can you imagine how boring it must be to spend months on the Space Station? Think I’ll put Scott Kelly’s book on my to-read list. Don’t know why I didn’t read it when it first came out. Guess I was “too busy”. 

I wanted to be an astronaut. But I was a girl. 

Another nice day. But the chill is expected back tomorrow. Today’s main event was wind. Made my 3 mile walk without any problem. 

The Twilight Zone

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Had to make a new entry in my Learning To Be Old List
10. No excuses – 5 minutes of yoga stretches every single day.

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Turns out that one of my favorite DC Cherry Trees is loved by many and it is scheduled to become mulch (along with 150 other cherry trees) later this spring. Nothing nefarious. A seawall needs to be replaced.

I got a nice picture of the tree last spring. That’s better than going down to see it this year and knowing it’s “the last time”. Remember, I don’t like “last times”. There is a second lesson: Nobody is promised tomorrow. 

I am temporarily stymied. But remain optimistic that I can get it together. If not then off it goes to recycling. 

This shot would have been better with a “real camera”. I didn’t nail the focus. I am not even sure that I could have. And the fake bokeh is really bad. 

The Twilight Zone

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Rite of Passage: Turned in my driver’s license last week. Got my state ID yesterday.

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In 2005 Soichi Noguchi, a Japanese astronaut on STS-114, assembled a model he called “UFO” and tossed it around the space station for a couple of days. That model is my next challenge. I know what it looks like. And I know the 32 parts are correctly folded. It remains to be seen if I can get them together. 

20° cooler than yesterday. But nice and sunny. So, no complaints. Also, no excuse to not get outside for a small “brisk” walk. 2.5 miles.

Mostly today I thought about going on a trip. And I attacked another model from my new origami book.

First, fold the structural members. I am feeling pretty good right here. How hard can it be to get them into a cube?

These things can only go together one way. I have no idea how anyone figured out how to make the first one. And yes. This is useless. But no more useless than jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, or Netflix binge-watching.

I would normally be out taking pictures with a “real” camera and a macro lens. But my real camera days are over. The Google phone does an OK job.  I just miss looking through a view finder. 

Reallocated some funds today to get a higher current yield. I decided that my current investment horizon is 5 years. Not sure how my brain came up with five years. But, I’ll go with it for now.  And, I can always reassess the horizon as my personal condition warrants.  

 

 

 

 

 

Cat Picture

 

 

 

 

Today I decided to ignore The Princess Cat. Today I went into the apartment and didn’t see the cat. I didn’t go looking for her. I went about watering the plants. And who should show up? Meowing pitifully.  Poor neglected Princess Cat. 

Only logged 1.5 miles today. I am giving my old body a day off.  I am in Day 29 of NO online shopping, doom scrolling, social media, YouTube, or games until after dinner. With the occasional slip.

My plants were supposed to arrive on Monday. And I was rather grumpy because it is supposed to be chilly next week. Well, in the 50’s not the 70’s. But, surprise. The plants arrived today.  Two I planted and two are stashed under the rosemary bush. Acclimating. 

And that was today’s big adventure. Only got 2 and a quarter miles in today.

 

 

 

 

Cat Picture Coming UP

 

 

 

 

 

She did not hiss at me today. She’s learning. She better be nice because we replacement humans are the only servants she has until Tuesday afternoon. 

If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

Saadi – The Rose Garden

That sounds nice. But not very practical. I fear I would come down on the side of investing in some seeds that could be planted and perhaps yielding a meal. Or maybe steal a chicken and buy some chicken feed in hopes of getting an egg now and then. 

Finished up the taxes this morning. Signed and shipped them off. Electronically. Mail a check to the Tax Guy. Set up funds transfers to pay my large tax bills. And set up quarterly payments. The only thing I didn’t do yet is to get a copy of the returns to keep. The Tax Guy’s new system is completely online. And there doesn’t seem to be a good way to get copies. This is a first-world problem.

 

 

 

 

Warning Cat Picture.

 

 

 

 

4.5 miles today. Almost 10K steps. According to my watch, I have done my required weekly cardio. So, I can just chill until Monday.