Author: Peg

Well, The Asylum is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anglican or is it Episcopal Church. And they take Easter pretty seriously.  Hence, the rabbit. 

On the other hand, I have always wondered why the Christians commemorated the Romans nailing a nice Jewish boy to a tree by having a rabbit deliver chicken eggs to good little boys and girls. Don’t get me wrong. I am in favor of bunnies. Dark Chocolate Bunnies. But Peeps – not a big fan.

I respect any religious occasion that involves food.

Just did almost nothing today. I managed to eat meals and go for a much-needed walk. But, that is about it. Guess this is a part of the aging process. I need more downtime. Carlton called that “white space”. I need more white space in my life. Less clutter. Less busywork. More naps.  Having a bit of difficulty embracing this aging thing.  But, it is happening. Creeping up on me. Little by little. Taking parts of me away. Little by little.

Eat the cake, buy the shoes, take the trip!

Well, Carlton, yesterday would have been your 84th birthday. And, if you had been here – I would have ignored it. We never did birthdays. We never did any holidays except the Summer and Winter Solstices.  

It was a lovely warm springy day today. But, I spent it all inside working on a little project for The Asylum. My contribution to our annual resident fundraising campaign to give a Xmas bonus to our staff who work for low wages and no tips. Making a generous contribution is the least I can do. Making a few little “advertising” videos is just a little lagniappe. 

Tomorrow, I will decide where to stay in Dubai. I will spend a bit more than usual because it will be so hot that I might well spend more time than usual inside. Also, Dubai doesn’t seem to be in the least bit “walkable”. So, a hotel that is connected to a shopping center/metro stop might be worth a few extra dirhams. And then it will be time to decide what to do with my nine days between coming in to and going out of Great Britain. 

My Asylum sisters keep having birthdays. But, that is a good thing. As long as we can eat cake and laugh at ourselves. I stressed the boundaries of the fancy dining room dress code by wearing leggings (which are not forbidden) and a graphic tee-shirt (which is verboten). Ms Marvel’s “cat” Goose/Chewie. Carol, the birthday sister has two cats. Including a yellow tomcat. So, my Goose tee just had to be worn on this occasion. 

Speaking only for myself, I never planned on getting this old. Funny thing is, I am not planning on getting a lot older either. Nevermind that there are people here who are 20+ years older than me. Statistically, I have about 10 more years. OK, maybe. But, I doubt it. 

If I live as long as Carlton did – I have 4 more years left. 

Not morbid. Just is. Nobody is promised tomorrow. Do it today!

 

 

 

Well, I made it to Tuesday. And, by the end of Tuesday, I am always tired. Back to back days of yoga (and work), I think that is what does it.

Spending a little time this evening wandering thru my photos from February of this year. Santa Barbara was one great little city. Eating, shopping, drinking and surf. What’s not to love?

The spire, the gargoyles, the organ, the rose windows, the bells, the statues, the crypts, the list is endless. My heart hurts for Paris, for France, for the Church. 

May no lives be lost and may this be just a terrible accident. 

It was an April showers kind of a day. I decided to make one last lap through my March photos. I discovered that I had about 400 train trip and Mardi Gras photos that I hadn’t even downloaded. Much less cataloged etc. But, I think March is all done. 

Oh, and I found this one – which post-processed up into something interesting.

Another lazy sort of a day. I am going through my pictures from Mardi Gras. 

Getting my photos cataloged, culled, and backed up makes me feel more organized and in control. 

And, it reminds me of how much fun I was able to pack into a little over 48 hours in New Orleans. I am starting to think that I am trying to pack too much into my 38-day dash around the world. If this is Tuesday, it must be Dubai. So, if I could arrive in New Orleans at midnight on Sunday and be back on the train rolling north at 0700 hours on Wednesday – I should be able to find fun in my 5 days in Tokyo, 4 days in Singapore and 3 days in Dubai.

I found a public bus that goes from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. The trip takes about 90 minutes. Just time to check out the White Mosque and then head back. The good thing about this adventure is that it involves a public bus that runs 3 times an hour and nothing complicated. 

There will be plenty of time to rest after I am dead. Or during my 4 days in Bermuda. Whichever comes first!

Everything was going fine until I tried to explain what a VPN is and why you maybe should have and use one. To my friends at dinner. 

I had to deploy my VPN this afternoon when researching transit from the Singapore Airport to Downtown. 

This is what I got from Safari and Chrome. Then I realized that it was my network that was doing it.

Fire up Tunnel Bear and

Bingo! Connected. 

I have never had to use my VPN to get to a website. I normally deploy it to protect me when using public wifi. 

But, it is impossible to explain just what it is that a VPN does. Or how it does it. I can not explain how lightning bugs operate either.

Scattered. Is becoming scatter-brained a sign of creeping senility? I have about 57 things started and 20% completed by no real plan to finish any of them. I didn’t have this problem before. I was the Energizer Bunny of to do lists. 

So, I decided that I needed to make a list. Well, I  put one thing on the list and promptly took a nap. Then I listened to that great old Arthur C. Clark space yarn, Rendezvous with Rama. But, tomorrow, I will work at regaining “focus”.

The saga of the $14.95 orphanage-size portion of lobster mac and cheese. More mac and cheese than lobster. It was hot and tasty and all the mac and cheese with or without lobster that I needed. But, compared to  other $14.95 items on the menu this one was not a good value. The chef heard about my complaint, came over and we talked about it. I told her that I felt that it was worth maybe $9.95 but only if they added a veggie on the side. She said that she would consider my “suggestion”. The Asylum is a rather special place.

This has been one of those days when I am glad that it is over. And that I am not going back to Employee Health until Monday when hopefully sanity will again be in play. 

And, I adopted two rather large planter boxes on one of our outdoor dining venues.  My friends and I eat on that little patio frequently – so, I will be able to enjoy them. And, last year a big fat black snake lived in one of the boxes. It would be sort of cool to have my own black snake. We have enough mice around the building to keep more than one black snake well fed. 

Good news just came across the phone. The BREXIT mess seems to have been kicked down the road to the end of October. This is good news for my trip. Which includes 10 days in and around England and another 5 in Bermuda. I do not need to have Great Britain in total meltdown during my visit. It is bad enough to be living in the formerly great USA during its total meltdown. I am trying to escape. 

This backside of a carpenter bee is nothing special. But, it is the first flying bee of the season and the first ever flying insect with the lens that I purchased in February. 

Just a normal old woman day. Went to the hospital. And to yoga. And back home. Little lunch. Little nap. Little stroll around the grounds to take pictures.  Not so little dinner with my Asylum Sisters. 

This dinner with my friends every night is so important to my mental well being. It brings a sense of peace and love my life. A treasured hour cut out of the day for friendship, support, laughter, sharing.  We are a wonderful “Accidental Family”. Ohana. 

The crows gathered on our roof tonight. Then they flew off in a big pouf. That was the most interesting thing that happened today. And there is nothing wrong with that.

After work and yoga today, I went and tweaked a friend’s computer.  (With the help of Google.) She lent me a little guide book to Singapore. So, I shall call it an early night and curl up with a little dead tree travel book. And figure out what I am going to do with my 5 days in Singapore. 

Oh, and I just had a jolly time filling out a Neilson survey. I told them that I don’t have a TV. I don’t listen to the radio. (I do have a radio – a little battery one for emergencies.). Pretty sure that they didn’t really want to hear from me. But, since they sent me two crispy dollar bills, excellent for origami, I felt like I owed them.