I went for a longer than usual walk this morning, but I didn’t know that I made it all the way to Pennsylvania! We really need to win Pennsylvania.
Nice normal day, work, walk, visit with friends, scarf down most excellent brandy walnut pie (before lunch already), zoom meeting, in-person yoga, read, think about going to Kona.
Gratitude
Grateful for this small interlude of peace and tranquility. I don’t consider it boring. These are days of grace. I am trying to savor them.
If you are considering not voting – just remember how well that worked last time. The Republican Governor of Maryland wrote in Ronald Regan. Don’t do that either.
I had no work to do. I felt that I had done enough walking for the week. So, I curled up in my recliner, covered myself with a blanket, filled up my mug with coffee, and read the newspapers that I hadn’t finished earlier in the week. That was what I did today.
Gratitude
Happy for a totally self-indulgent leisure day.
In 16 days we can start to take our country back. It will not be the end. As Winston Churchill said “but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Ah yes, another boring post from my boring old life. Old age exacerbated by Covid isn’t very exciting as long as one avoids becoming infected.
As the story goes, there was a Wiccan Chaplain volunteer who came to my hospital. He/she had stashed some crystals in the office. She/he left and didn’t take the crystals. In due time – they were set out with the trash. I was getting ready to walk home and decided to “rescue” the one that I liked the most. I picked up a nice chunk of clear quartz. That was a couple of years ago and the quartz has lived on my windowsill ever since. Sometimes it refracts light nicely.
Maybe I should see what this crystal is supposed to do? Well, according to Google: white crystal is considered a “master healer.” It’s said to amplify energy by absorbing, storing, releasing, and regulating it. It’s also said to aid concentration and memory. Physically, clear crystals are claimed to help stimulate the immune system and balance out your entire body.
I don’t think it is working in my case. My concentration and memory are definitely slipping. I am surely not “balanced”. But, maybe without the crystal, I would be worse. Or do I need a Wiccan to turn it on? Can Alexa to fire it up?
Big activity today was to walk to the “far away” grocery for a can of pumpkin. Also, laid in a “just in case” supply of coffee. I think that might be called hoarding.
Gratitude
Grateful that I can still make a three mile round trip to my favorite grocery store. (But, when I was coming out, the bus that stops right in front of The Asylum was pulling up and looking pretty damn good. I didn’t get on.)
Ordered a rare petit fillet from the menu. I have some broccoli, so, I will make beef and broccoli for dinner.
A pretty boring day. The most exciting thing was discovering a bunch of still life setups in the art studio. So, what not to do but take some pictures and then post-process.
Gratitude
Grateful for new wool socks. And for the interesting clouds out the window.
Didn’t order any Asylum meals today – so – it’s cooking for me tonight. Thinking maybe I’ll saute up some chicken with an apple. Think that will be within my skill set. Some Jimmy Buffett, some beer, some sauteing. Then some eating. Finally, some cleanup.
Nice warm fall day. Walked around the residential part of the neighborhood – not my usual lap around the strip malls.
Gratitude
Grateful to be alive. Alive is a biggie.
Just checked my hospital email. There was a really poor phishing email. I gotta believe that it was the in-house security team checking to see how stupid I am. A real phish would have been better done. Deleted it. That was the most exciting thing that has happened all day. And that is OK.
Came back in from my afternoon walk and what should be on my window ledge? Crows! Sneaked up on them with the phone.
Well, I approve 100% of telemedicine. My doctor was on time. She spent 20 minutes with me. She agreed that I am fine and I agreed to go down to her office and get routine blood work since it has been 18 months.
She is not 100% happy with me going to Hawai’i. Well, I am not 100% happy with me staying here. So, it’s a draw.
I was out wandering around looking at weeds and enjoying the afternoon sun when I found this huge praying mantis. She seems to be very well fed. Hopefully, she will lay eggs somewhere safe and we will have more mantis next year.
Pretty good new normal day here. Work, hike, socially distant visit with friends, zoom yoga, lunch, queue up too close to 20 or 30 of my neighbors to get at COVID test, nothing big. Just stuff.
Gratitude
Grateful for friends who their share salted caramel fudge.
We now have 3 residents and 3 staff members with COVID. Not a step in the right direction. We have about 400 residents and nearly as many staff, so percentage-wise, it isn’t so bad. But, still…
Kona at 9:15 this morning. I found a way to Kona. Here to Denver. Overnight in Denver. Denver to Kona. Mid-November sometime. That connection will not work until mid-November. And come mid-November, it may not work. The airlines cancel flights like crazy. But, it looks good now. I could make it without the hotel overnight, but I think that an overnight stop is good. That limits my continuous time in airplanes. And gets me some “out of mask” time. BUT, the hotel stop will complicate the COVID test timing.
With any kind of luck, I’ll be able to snag a COVID test at CVS (CVS is a Hawaii approved test site.) 48 hours before I leave. That should maybe might possibly get the results to my email by the time I land in Kona. Then, upon landing, I head off to get another COVID test in Kona and will then be good to go. If the CVS test results are delayed, then it is quarantine time until it comes through.
The other option is to go to Bermuda. But, it isn’t real warm there in the winter and it costs a lot more. But, it is way safer. They have been very successful as far as COVID goes. And. I don’t know anyone there – so – social distancing would be easy. Bermuda is definitely the smarter/safer option for an old woman. Well, I guess the smartest option would be to just stay at The Asylum, assuming that COVID does not wash over the building.
Gratitude
Grateful to still possess a few functioning brain cells.
I enjoyed a nice introvert, nerdy sort of a day today. Work, yoga, reading, planning. Hearing Carlton say: “let time be your friend”.
Winter is coming. It is still dark out when I go for my walk. It is time to be getting ready to go to Kona. But, it just isn’t working. There are so few flights that it will take 30-40 hours to get there. You have to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of arriving. The COVID test can only be from one of Hawaii’s approved testing sites. There aren’t any around here. Plan B is to go without a test and be quarantined for 14 days. They track you with your cell phone and police visit your hotel to be sure you are where you are supposed to be. (In your room). My hotel doesn’t have room service. It doesn’t even have a restaurant. If something is this hard to get together, it most likely means that I shouldn’t do it.
I didn’t get any flu shot data to process this morning – so – I had a day off. Might have tomorrow off too. Not a problem. I can use 2 days off. My eyes are only now returning to normal after all the video editing.
Note to Carlton: “Rafael Nadal Beats Novak Djokovic to Win His 13th French Open”. Don’t ask why the French Open is being held in mid-October. BTW – Nadal is still cute!
looking for the light
Saw this nice 1966 VW Beetle while on my morning hike. A 1966 VW Bug was the first new car that starter hubby and I had. So, I remember 66 VWs fondly. And, I remember starter hubby fondly too.
Surprise surprise. I was not terribly hungover this morning. I was able to do my job first thing this morning. Go for my little hike. And stop in at the grocery. Lots of water and some Tylenol seemed to do the trick. But, NOTE TO SELF: you are too old to do stuff like that. You are too old to drink ¾ of a bottle of wine.
COVID is creeping backing into The Asylum. Several staff members from the Alzheimer’s unit have tested positive so they locked down all of the assisted living and nursing floors as well as the Alzheimer’s unit. We all get tested next week and if any of my 350 or so independent living neighbors test positive… well, whatever happens, will happen.
Gratitude
Grateful for cookies. Homemade oatmeal raisin cookies to be exact. Worth every calorie.
Thinking about Kona. Don’t want to do anything stupid. Carlton called that “self-will run riot”.
I am more or less drunk as a skunk after going to a Zoom wine tasting. So we will just leave it at that for today. ¾ of a bottle of wine puts this old woman under the table.
looking for the light – Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Another sunlight trick. The bell tower of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception glints nicely in the early morning light at this time of year. I thought that the tippy top might be metallic. But, from what I found online it is just blue tiles. That is with a 600mm lens out of my window.
Gratitude
Grateful for things to see out of my windows.
Also grateful that I had to work this afternoon with no time for napping. Because the main activity around The Asylum today was testing the fire alarms.
Just a new normal day with a complete idiot in charge of the country. But, I can not do anything about that. I voted. I donated. What more can an old woman do?
