Category: The DayBook

Didn’t sleep well last night. That’s a very common old woman problem. When the estrogen goes so does the sleep cycle. Haven’t a clue why. It just happens.

One of the people at our birthday dinner last Wednesday has Covid. So we are all wondering “am I next”? The Asylum still has all manner of Covid exposure rules. (Rules which I generally ignore. Does that really surprise anyone?)

But, I made butterflies, napped, did laundry, checked the very little work that I did yesterday and sent it off. 

Tomorrow, I am supposed to have a WiFi access point installed in my room. It is promised to make things better. I’ll be happy if it doesn’t make things worse.

Folded some butterflies today. Decided that the origami installation would have one butterfly for every resident. The number varies. People go to the Asylum in the sky. And new inmates arrive. Yesterday we had 489 residents. And 489 really isn’t a lot. It will do done on or before Sept 24th. That was the date that I moved into The Asylum seven (can you believe it) years ago.

I also did a little (very little) work. Read some. Went for a fitness walk and generally enjoyed the unseasonably fine weather. 

Happy to report that the food is actually getting better. 

I would have normally carefully selected origami paper for this project. In fact, I did. I selected red. With a few gold and a few black and white butterflies. But, I have lots of origami paper and our Art Center has heaps of scrapbooking paper that they will never use and some of it can be used for this very simple model. So, that’s what this is going to be “unloved papers metamorph into butterflies”. I can make 20 or more an hour, so, I will have the installation mostly complete. Then, I can teach a quicky class and residents can make some butterflies to add to the mix. Damn I am living a very boring life.

I plan on ending my Summer Slump soon. Trying to be too hard on myself for slacking off for a couple of weeks. But what exactly am I slacking off from?  

Grateful for a wonderful windows open kinda day. 

Continuing in lazy late summer mode. The asylum survived last night’s storms fine.  It didn’t interfere with our birthday party last night.

Those of you who live at The Asylum might enjoy the video of our wonderful  young waitstaff singing. Think how old 80 must seem to them.

Right now it is raining and lightning and thundering.  And it is still 92°. OOPS. It’s hailing too now. And Wifi crapped out. Hotspotted.

Late last summer I made a “Bluebird of Happiness” origami installation in our Art Center. And, I taught a class and got some of the residents to make some of the birds. Well, a year has gone by, and origami installations are supposed to be sort of ephemeral. It is time for the bluebirds to go off to composting. In Japan, they could go off to a Shinto Temple to be burned. I’ll have to settle for composting. 

But, somehow, I agreed to make a new “resident assisted” installation. Butterflies. 

Think I’ll save the and get off line while the hotspot is still working. 

It’s summer. What can I say?  I can say that I like summer a whole lot more than winter. 

Food is incrementally better here at The Asylum. I had a perfectly good omelet for dinner tonight. And a side of fries. Fries are always good here.  

I actually moved into The Asylum on Sept 24, 2015. So, I am coming up on 7 years. And 8 years as a widow. But, I am not dead yet. If my luck holds, I will continue to enjoy my bonus rounds in the game of life. (It helps to have a bar. And free beer and wine 3 nights a week.)

 

It’s still summer.  I am still sort of unfocused. But, I am not sure that is a bad thing. Just have to decide what I am going to do between now and dead. 

There is photography and origami. I had an employee long ago who predicted  I would be terrible at retirement. He said I would take up photography and end up photo engraving currency in my basement. Well, I don’t have a basement. 

We shall see. This too is a first-world problem.

No pictures of our dinner selection lately. That is because they stopped putting out a “sample”. Think they got tired of me taking snarky photos of it! And making wisecracks about parsley.

This crow was being pestered by a youngster who wanted to be fed. But, the parent crow felt that the kiddo could round up their own brekkie. Especially since it was there for the taking. If you like oatmeal that is. And, the crow, a couple of sparrows, and a catbird all appeared to enjoy the oatmeal. And, it seemed to have raisins and granola. 

I was a nearby table enjoying waffles. With cream cheese and honey. A once a week treat. None remained for crow, sparrow, or catbird. 

August days wear me down. Grateful for A/C, but tired of it. I go outside mid morning and mid afternoon just for real air. 

We just don’t have ads like this in our newspapers.  Getting to Kona will most likely be a hassle again this year. But, I am going to do it anyhow. My old hotel is closing for good on August 31. Toying with the idea of going over to say Bye-Bye to the place that gave me 50 years of good times. But, it doesn’t seem too very akamai (smart). It would be a lot of flying around in the unfriendly skies. 

I knew that my fingers would remember how to make them. I really should make one of these every week.  I can remember the crease pattern. I can almost remember the collapse. But, I forget how to execute the essential twist part. I made 4 today and didn’t have to recycle any paper.

Made it through another week without killing anyone. Even The Old Bat. Trying to talk myself into getting some blood work done and seeing my doctor. Most likely my blood pressure and cholesterol are unacceptable. But, I don’t know if I need to know that. Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.

Your brain gets crazy as you get old. You read an article that says “People who take naps get dementia”. Then you find yourself trying not to nap. Well, it’s not the nap that I took yesterday that is going to cause dementia. It’s the naps I took 25 years ago. If naps cause dementia in the first place. Which  I choose to doubt.

I know I am in trouble when I have to get out the Japanese directions.  I know this model. I just have to remember it. It’s for a birthday next week.

Really hot today. So just as Big Red was coming up I headed out for my “fast” walk. 

Then before long, it was time for Barre Class.

The sooner it starts the sooner it will be over. It takes a lot of work to keep an old person operational. 

But, soon it is time for lunch. And they were serving our very favorite salad in the FORMAL DINING ROOM at lunch. So, we brushed ourselves up a little and played Ladies Who Lunch.

It was a very nice chicken salad with cantaloupe. Easy to fix. Hard to screw up. We loved it and it vanished from our menus during covid.  We had a fine time. And the salad was almost as good as we remembered. (Reality is never as sweet as memories.)

I really don’t want to give this theme up. So, I am puttering around trying to see what is troubling it. The problem is with the header images. And that’s the part I like best. Well, if that’s the biggest problem I have, I really can’t complain, can I?

Still seeing little hints of improvement with the food.

It getting up to the level of a 1989 steerage class airplane meal.  “Buttery” Parsnips have not been seen since June 30! That’s got to be a good thing. 

The Asylum is once again working on our WiFi. I got an email with these cheery words today:

• • The installers will do as little damage as possible – That’s a great start!
  • Thank you for your understanding while we work to improve the speed and reliability of the internet – The whole entire internet? What a great undertaking for an old folks asylum. Maybe just our wifi?