Category: The DayBook

Just another little old lady kinda day. Spent some time keeping the old equipment operational: barre class and a “fast” walk. For me, a “fast” walk is a 17-minute mile. 

Doing origami with my next-door neighbor this afternoon.  We were making fish and playing with different papers. (Remember, the person who has the most paper wins!) I have been saving this strange black and white checked paper since last summer. It worked into a fantastic fish. 

When they came to my lodging to install a new cable service, I had to explain several times that I didn’t have a TV. Best I can say for TV is you get 500 channels of nothing. It’s “free”. But, I have enough time killers. They zipped right along with the cable installation. The WiFi seems to be going at a snail’s rate. (Sort of like the WiFi.) They might get to my apartment in a couple of weeks. WiFi is also free and is worth what it costs. But I have been too lazy to procure my own WiFi. 

Continuing to phase out of work and into real “old age”. Working on not being a grumpy bored and boring old woman. Easier said than done. 

My only real responsibility today was feeding The Princess Cat at 4PM. Fortunately, Alexa reminded me. What would I do without Alexa?

This Princess Cat has cattitude to the max. But she is all fed. And freshly watered. 

Tomorrow I am supposed to have COX Cable installed. I wonder if my TV reception will improve? But wait, I don’t have a TV. 

Going to dinner in the “formal” dining room tonight. Alexa will remind me about that too.

Two larger-than-life figures left us today. Lt. Nyota Uhura and The Secretary of Defense.

Nice pre-sunrise sky to amuse me while the coffee was brewing. 

The weather was “nice” today, so I got plenty of outdoor time and over 4 miles walking. 

Thinking that I might need to ditch this theme. It has been real cranky about changing the header image since I upgrade the PHP. Or I can just keep using the old headers. I think I started using the theme in 2017 or so. 

Made some butterflies out of foil paper.  Thinking that butterflies will be my Xmas origami this year. Maybe foil ones. We will see. 

Last night’s dinner.

No one at my table had it. After reading that they had had lessons in making grilled cheese sandwiches – I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. And added bacon. Take that arteries! I think maybe it was better. But, bacon makes everything better. 

Reading an old Hunter S. Thompson book. All of his books are old. He is dead. Has been for almost 20 years. 

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!― Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

Think I am on my way. 

And,

Ok, it’s Friday and I made it through another week without killing anyone. That’s pretty good. 

Not much at all going on today. Hard to believe that July is almost over.  I would love to go somewhere. But, travel seems to be a huge hassle these days except perhaps by car. Cars are a non-starter for me. Maybe I could ride the Dog to Kansas. Or the Jet Bus to NYC. The latter option sounds better. Something to think about. 

Something other than the food. I don’t know what to think about this notice that appeared in our weekly bulletin. 

Hello. How to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Next, they will have a seminar on “How to Boil Water”. 

 

The yellow butterfly. That one is easy. Well, I have been making it for many years. That’s why it is easy. The big white one is the first one that wasn’t an epic fail and transferred directly to the recycle box. Then I made some smaller ones. I might come up with 6 or 7 different butterflies after all. (Well, two is a start.)

Haven’t seen many butterflies around the Asylum this year. That’s not a good sign. Either I haven’t been looking hard enough. Or there aren’t many butterflies. But, I did see a hummingbird yesterday. 

Today’s big event was turning over a big job that I did for the last two years for the hospital. And that is why I am trying to learn how to be a content old RETIRED  woman. It’s time. I can do this. 

No dinner worries today. I am dining in. Sauteed chicken with fresh tomatoes and basil. And a roll to mop up the juices. My dinner gang is otherwise engaged tonight. So, I get to cook. 

This one is new. It has been in the works for over 10 years but finally appeared while I was in Europe. 

This windmill has been in the neighborhood since the early part of the 20th century. Like the turbine blade it is now just a decoration. 

Went to Trader Joe this morning and walked past both of these windmills. 

Food Quest.

No one that I had dinner with ordered it. I had a veggie burger.  The rest scraped together salads. And hamburgers – hold the bun, the tomato, the lettuce – just the meat. 

Having a lot of mental problems with being old today. You know, there is absolutely no future in getting old. It is going to end badly. We can only hope that it ends quickly. 

When I was “younger”, I really believed that by the time I got “old” enough people would have witnessed enough “modern deaths” to have enshrined Death With Dignity into law. But, it didn’t happen. A lot of stuff didn’t happen. Or it “unhappeded” like Roe vs Wade. 

But, there is more to getting old than ensuring an exit plan. There are little things. Things like legs that hurt and backs that ache. Things like jumbo bags under the eyes. Things like knowing that you will never have to buy underwear again. (Assuming you have 37 panties. I do)

But, just for today, being old beats the alternative. It’s super knowing that in an hour I will be having booze and dinner with 6 friends. These friends are what keep me in the game. And life is just a huge video game. I am currently a bit player in someone’s bonus level. 

I do enjoy watching the weather out my windows. All three of them. Each one faces dead east.

I am not at my very perkiest today. But, so what exactly do have to be perky about? 

Don’t have to be very perky to work on butterflies. I am still playing with the idea of making a bunch of different butterflies and putting them in a Riker mount box, sticking them with pins, making tiny labels and putting them in one of our resident art shows as “art”. But first, I need to master 6 different butterflies. 

Dining Report.

I had a grilled cheese sandwich. Tonight and tomorrow I will be eating in our “Formal Dining Room”. I am not at war with the food in that dining room, not because it is better but because I rarely eat in there and I don’t want to attack two fronts. 

Just recalled this is “Margarita Monday” at our saloon.  Perhaps I’ll go fortify myself for the Formal Dining Room experience with a Margarita. For an old folks asylum, our bartenders have a nice heavy hand. 

Trying to think of something positive and upbeat and failing miserably. Try a little harder.

1. 1. 1. Air conditioning
      2. Electricity
      3. Indoor plumbing
      4. Drinkable water
      5. Heirloom tomatoes and nice peaches
      6. Coffee
      7. Friends

See, Peg, things aren’t as crappy as you think they are.  

Note to Carlton: Working on “accepting the things I can not change”. But nowhere does it say that I have to like it!

It is summer in Washington. It is supposed to be hot. And it is. Tomorrow, according to “they”, it will be hotter. I shouldn’t complain. The A/C hasn’t failed. There is nowhere that I have to go. And, there is absolutely nothing that I can do about the weather. So, I take a little walk around The Asylum

On to the food section.

No, I didn’t eat it. I had a “Summer Berry Salad”. 

There wasn’t anyone eating outside. The joint is usually packed at this time.

It’s hot. 96° hot. But, “they” are promising hotter on Saturday and Sunday. Keep up the good work A/C.  

My personal campaign for better food is starting to show tiny little hints of progress. For example. They stopped the “Special grain” of the week.  And they served pizza at lunch today. Frankly, my pizza wasn’t all that good. But. I don’t usually eat lunch so just nibbling at the pizza was fine with me. And they get points for effort. That’s why I went to lunch to support their efforts. And to eat with my friends. We played “ladies who lunch”. 

I didn’t have this. I had beer and a veggie burger. The burgers, veggie and otherwise are fine. As are the grilled cheese sandwiches and the BLTs.