Nobody is Promised Tomorrow. . .
Been meaning to repot this orchid for 2 years. For no apparent reason, I decided that today was the day. Now, mind you, I have never repotted an orchid. There is a very good chance that I killed Orchie. But, since the kitchen was already messed up, what to do but repot the new orchid as well?
I am supposed to be in “5-day quarantine”. I sneaked out for a walk this morning. I am actually pretty tired for no apparent reason beyond old age, so, I am not objecting to the sentence too much.
Got to the airport WAAY earlier than necessary. But, you never know. There wasn’t a single soul in the PreCheck line. (And at 12:30 at National – there was nobody in any of the TSA lines.)
But, if I hadn’t gotten to the airport early, I would have missed the Dream Lifter. It actually took off. There are only 4 of them. So, seeing a Dream Lifter roll by my window and take off. That was the highlight of today.
Not far behind was riding the Metro and a bus back to The Asylum. My Metro card hadn’t been used in over a year. I did a happy dance when it worked.
Post trip packing notes. 3 shirts, one pants, one skirt, 3 undies, 2 bras, 2 pair sox, a scarf, a jacket and a windbreaker. One pair of shoes. Ball cap. This count includes the clothes that I wore. Used everything. The only things I didn’t use: Power bank, eye mask, extra Covid masks. Weighted my entire kit at the Charleston Airport – 15 pounds. At least 7 of that was Forbin the Computer and his carrying case.
Now I am in quarantine for 5 days. That being said, I am visiting with my pod tonight. Eating chocolate is the reason for the in-person gathering.
Grateful to be safely back in The Old Bat Cave. And, ready to plan my next escape.
Windy, chilly, damp, totally unfriendly outside today. So, instead of an afternoon walk, I am having a coffee and some M&M’s . The hotel has M&M’s. And coffee. As well as breakfast, wine and cheese, and cookies and milk. I may well return to this fine little hotel.
I have checked in for tomorrow’s flight and arranged for transportation to the airport. Pretty sure that I will arrive way too early, but, I can always read after I get through security. Missing a flight would just be stupid. And stupid is something to be avoided at my age.
Meanwhile, time to return to reality. Or to plan another escape. And, a good thing about packing ultralight – it will take 15 minutes max tomorrow morning to get packed up. I didn’t find anything that I needed to acquire here in Charleston. So everything will fit. I however may have acquired a couple of pounds. Breakfast, M&M’s, wine, charcuterie, cookies.
Didn’t do much today. I walked 6 miles. Just wandering around. The weather forecast was for cloudy and chilly all day. Well, the sun came out and it was very nice. Not toasty, but nice. Rain is on tap for tomorrow. The hotel has umbrellas.
I always loved southern graveyards. Carlton and I rarely passed an old graveyard without stopping for a visit with the dearly departed. In fact, Carlton rode his bike to the Columbia Cemetery almost every day. He was buddies with the gravediggers and after he died I walked down to tell them that he had died suddenly. Being professionals, they wanted to know where he was going. They told me that if I wanted, they would find a nice place for his ashes in the cemetery and that management would never know. Actually, that was very sweet of them.
No, I am not bored with Charleston yet. It is a great joy to be able to walk around and see stuff. Today I saw two dolphins. Or maybe I saw one dolphin twice.
Weather today was breezy and sunny for my morning walk and breezier and cloudy for my afternoon walk. Work was uneventful and the highlight of the day was the best BLT sandwich that I have ever had. Picked it up at a tiny grocery store that I passed on my morning walk. Workmen were buying hotdogs. I just picked up a sandwich out of the fridge and 3 hours later was delighted.
Flowers have been fine. Two weeks from now, they will be better. But, I am still enjoying what is out.
Tomorrow’s weather is cooler and damper. Whatever.
The storm, which promised to have heavy rain, wind, large hail, and tornadoes just had normal rain. And, that seems to be mostly gone by now. I was rather tired today, so I more or less took the day off from having fun and took a nap instead. And read some.
When Carlton and I traveled I would insist on taking every 5th day off from doing travel stuff to get recentered. And this was when I was in my 40s. But, it is hard to consider this as traveling. I had a travel half-day. And, another half-day learning my way around. And, the rest of the time, I have just been doing normal little old lady stuff.
Grateful that the evil weather bypassed Charleston. And, that I made it through a week without tripping over the sidewalks. That’s being grateful for things that didn’t happen. Grateful for the wonderful breakfast that shows up at my door every morning.
Have 3 more days in Charleston. Work tomorrow. Then, it is supposed to be cloudy and cool for the weekend. Which will be fine. Last weekend there were lots more people wandering around than during the week.
The golf cart seems to be an acceptable mode of transportation around town. This one is far and away the best one.
Bandwidth is pretty skimpy. Don’t think I will have a good zoom experience with The Asylum Sisters tonight. But, I’ll try.
I have seen 3 container ships coming or going today. 5 or 6 seem to arrive every day. And, the harbor is currently being dredged to 52 feet so that any container ship can come and go without waiting for high tide. I didn’t realize there was so much container ship traffic from the east coast. The very red state of SC seemed to have no trouble taking money from the nasty US government for this harbor improvement project. But the real question is – what is on that container ship. I thought that we Americans didn’t make anything that only one wanted.
I plan on staying in my hotel this evening. Charleston is very dark at night. And, the sidewalks are not old-lady friendly. St Paddy’s Day will have to be celebrated without me. I feel sure that today’s youth are up to the challenge.
I found this sign on my afternoon walk. Good to know that the staff at the liquor store is “sober” as well as friendly and knowledgeable. The unmasked man in the background is using the “eating or drinking” way around the mask rules. But, local businesses take the rule very seriously and they don’t let anyone in the stores without masks. I covered a little over 5 miles today and rewarded myself with a nice nap. It isn’t easy being one of the vintage people.
The wifi is better today. But, the weather will be going all to hell tomorrow afternoon. They have promised rain, wind, tornadoes, hail. Should be interesting.
If I look right out my window it is all Ft Sumter, fountains, and park. If I look left, it is construction and a working dock. All things considered, I like the left view better. But, it is nice to have both. Small complaint. The WiFi is really shitty tonight. But, it was good enough all day long to get my work done. So, no worries. Just hope it gets better by Friday. Friday is the next scheduled workday. There isn’t enough bandwidth to change the header image.
It was warmer and calmer today. So, I managed to get 4.5 miles of walking in. Before and after work.
Before work, I bravely went into a deli and got a fine turkey wrap to go. Charleston is heavy into grits. Shrimp and grits. Cheese and grits. Grits and grits. Collards and grits. Fortunately, they have some good barbeque. And, their soup and gumbos are excellent. I didn’t come for the food. I came for a change of venue.
Very windy and much cooler today. When I went out today I wore all three of my shirts, my scarf, and my jacket. But, it was 10 degrees warmer than back at The Asylum. so no complaints. Sort of took the day off today. Only walked 3.5 miles. And, didn’t really go anywhere except out to see The Eagle leave, and to pick up lunch and dinner. (Lunch was a salad, dinner will be a pig sandwich). Mostly I sat by the window and read. Nothing wrong with that.
But somethings did catch my attention.
I don’t think this frog is public art. He is out front of a gallery, so, he might be for sale. Doubt he will fit in the Old Bat Cave, however.
Reading old sci-fi. Finished “A Scanner Darkly” by Phillip K Dick. He wrote it in the mid-’70s and it is set in the mid-’90s and here we are in the ’20s. Dick was doing a lot of amphetamines when he wrote it. And, it is about drugs, bad trips, addiction, and “recovery” operations. A totally dark read. But, still compelling.
Have to work tomorrow. So, I hope the wifi goddess will bless me with good signal.
I devoted this morning’s walk to a search for intelligent life in the south. The morning paper had a big article about the Covid stimulus package and how good it would be for the citizens. Sheepishly the paper admits that of South Carolina’s 9 congressmen/senators only one, Jim Clyborn, voted for the package. Congressman Clyborn represents Charleston and Columbia. So, maybe my search for intelligent life will be fruitful.
Next I discover these three white gentlemen.
The intelligent view is represented on the other side of the street by 6 individuals of various races and sexes. They asked me to punch Linsey Graham and/or Tim Scott in the mouth if I ran into them back home. I allowed as how we would aim lower.
And there were 4 cop cars on hand. 2 on each side of the street.
I didn’t see any Trump signage or bumper stickers.
Even God seems to be trying to do the right thing.
So there is hope. Even in the citadel of the confederacy.
Got in 27 miles this week. Over 6 today. Of course, it took me almost all day.
Time to enjoy my wine and charcuterie. And if I stay awake (and dressed) until 9 PM I will go down and get a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. Well, actually, I will skip the milk in favor of coffee. I have a salad on tap for dinner.
Today was devoted to walking around and looking at stuff. In a concession to my advanced age, I took a little rest mid-day and I will be early to bed this evening.
I checked out the Coast Guard vessel. It is even older than I am. It was war reparations from Germany after WWII and the US won it in a lottery with the English, French, and Russians. At least that is what they told me at the pier.
On my wanderings, I accidentally ran into a model of the Hunley.
I was amazed at how small it is. Only to find out that they made the model too big.
As you can see I am taller than the sub. which is about 6 inches off the ground. They must have had very small sailors. Sailors on the Hunley had very short life expectancies. I seem to recall that it sank 3 times. One of the times, Mr. Hunley the designer was on board and died. Which seems fair to me. But it did sink a Union ship.
No wall art today. But a great sign.
While I was working this morning the Coast Guard Tall Ship Eagle slipped in unnoticed by me. This afternoon I found out that it motored in but the tide on Monday morning should allow it to sail away. I will be watching. And tomorrow, I plan on going to see it up close.
One can walk across that fine bridge. If I can figure out how to get to it, I might be up for a bridge stroll. I did the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Also, while I was working, the fountain got turned on. Apparently, it had been off for the winter.
Speaking of OFF. I just said, “Computer lights on”. And nothing happened. I hope the lights were not turned on in the Old Bat Cave. Just in case, I have a routine running that turns all the lights off at 10 PM.
At the end of the workday, my boss and I were talking and she allowed as how she was going to Florida for a week. So, I told her that I was actually in Charleston. Working from “home”. So, that is good news. Mostly because she needs some real downtime. And, she will not be thinking up more jobs for me. I will still do my normal Tuesday and Friday stuff. But no extra stuff. I hope.
So far so good. Time for some sushi for dinner. Got an awesome breakfast delivered. Picked up a sandwich on my morning walk for lunch and sushi on my after-work walk for dinner. Last night, the town was dead. It is much livelier tonight.
