life in the old lane

The Wildchild Garden box is off to a great start. And, this is a good thing since I am actually doing some cooking – there are some culinary herbs. Rosemary, lots of rosemary, chives, sage, oregano. Also, fennel, which reseeds every year.

My tri-top desk is a mess. All 3 tops. And Forbin’s desktop is also littered up. Carlton used to wax my desk much to my dismay. I don’t even have any wax. But, tomorrow, I plan on taking everything off and giving all three tops a good Swiffering. Already tidied up the computer desktop.

Gratitude

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Grateful for my snug Old Bat Cave.

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Have a very productive day:  I got all of my 2020 travel reservations unrolled. Except for my 4 months in Kona starting on Halloween. But that one is easy. I am ever so grateful that I took my trip around the world last year. Unrolling that trip would have taken as long as the trip. It has been 2 months since I returned from Kona.  And, I am starting to get really itchy to go somewhere. Not a great plan for an old woman.

Time to go Swiffer myself up for Zoom meetup.

Mālama pono

And what exactly does this image have to do with “looking for the light”. Well, this is our Covid-19 isolation ward on our skilled nursing unit. It has one patient. Who is reported to be doing well.

Found these paper mache masks while wandering around today and was reminded of these lines from The Princess Bride:

Fezzik: Why do you wear a mask? Were you burned by acid, or something like that?
Westley: Oh no. It’s just they’re terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.

Gratitude

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Grateful for PAPER feed bags.

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Check back a few days to see why I am grateful for “self-folding” paper bags. DIY Lockdown – day 30 of xx.

Went to an open AA meeting via Zoom today. It is a meeting that Carlton regularly attended. I used his picture has my background. Sort of my bona fides. I remembered a lot of the people’s names. People were nice. The guy who invited me to come to the meeting didn’t show up. He overslept. AA is the same as it always was. Just online. Keep Coming Back.

Mālama pono

I don’t hold out any hope for these eggs hatching. And if they happen to hatch, the babies fledging. But, it was so sweet, so life-affirming to come upon this nest. Unfortunately, I scared the mother dove. Hopefully, this was brood #1 and the pair will smarten up about nesting locations as the season progresses.

It is what we do here in the DC area. We watch planes fly over. Today, Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. And yes, I got lots better pictures at my old digs. But, this where I live now.

Finally! A visible reason to wash my hands. Did a very little gardening today. Also did a little cooking. Meals have been very institutional around here of late. But, I am not going to complain. How can I complain. My shorts do not zip. So, the food can not be all that bad.

Gratitude

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Grateful for an absolutely glorious spring day. It was almost possible to forget that we are locked in.

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Mālama pono

Daybreak was excellent this morning. Photo was taken with Pixel 2XL in night sight mode.

It is May. April wasn’t such a hotshot good month. But. I lived through it. And my primary purpose is to stay alive and not endanger anyone else with my irresponsible behavior.

Have mostly pictures today.

This is Goldie an elderly arthritic tomcat. So, he fits in around here really well. He isn’t mad, just “barking” howdy.  He lets out one raspy MEOW.

Wandering the halls, and what should I discover but a porta-potty.

A food give away was set up this morning at the apartment building across the street.

And at about 4PM this afternoon – about 30 of the residents drove their cars around to plead for rent cancelation. (residents of the apartment building across the street)

The pictures were taken with my 600mm lens from my room. What I see out of my window is the only view I have of life outside of The Asylum.

And,  a couple more bags of coffee arrived from Amazon. It had been on order for a while.  Not complaining. It arrived – well before it was needed.

Gratitude

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Grateful that I don’t have to go out and forage for food. Especially grateful that they still sell acceptable sandwiches in the geedunk.

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Just got an email from the front desk. The 2TB SSD USB 3.1 Samsung drive that I ordered at 10am this morning arrived from Amazon. Coffee 2 weeks. Disk drive 8 hours. Go figure.

Mālama pono

It rained all day and I was feeling pretty lazy. So, I didn’t go looking for any light. But, I used some of yesterday’s leftover goodness.

I was remiss. I failed to note the 19th anniversary of the blog. I first posted something on April 28, 2001.  The links are flakey. But yesterday and tomorrow will work.

And why was it so “lame”. One word DIALUP.

Fun with post-processing photo the post-processed dinner bags. (That is about 2,000 of them)

Thinking about the next video. Maybe it is 2050 and The Asylum is still on lockdown. The Asylum’s oldest resident dies – and they find these old photos on her 30-year-old MacBook Pro of a pre-lockdown Asylum.  Or maybe in 2050, they find a mummified resident under a ton of plastic bags.

That’s the problem with video. You need a story.

Gratitude

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To spend 45 minutes on Zoom with my Asylum Sisters. We can not hug. But we can laugh.

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Damn! I just checked the old blog. A few days in, there I am – wearing a bathrobe that I still have. Hanging on my bathroom door. And I realize that that bathrobe pre-dates Carlton. Which makes it more than 40 years old. I need to think. Is this good or bad?

Mālama pono

Finding the light was easy this afternoon. It was gloriously warm and sunny outside.

Today I cut the Dining Services video down to a little over 3 minutes. It is better than the 5-minute version.

One of my current “lockdown duties” is that of bag lady. Every day I collect our huge meal bags from floors 11 and 12. I pile them up into Mount Bagmore in my gracious entry hall. And I neatly fold and package them for re-use by assorted local food pantries.

Then I put them in my grocery cart – which isn’t going to the grocery any more – and take them down to the dungeon for distribution. That is a load of 125 bags. About one day’s worth. Audiobooks make this doable. I think that smoking dope would work too. But, this is a smoke-free facility!

Gratitude

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Grateful for spring. Be it every so strange in 2020.

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Mālama pono

Sunrise was pretty special this morning. Actually, every sunrise should be special.

Finished up my “commissioned” video. I made the video for the head of Dining Services here at The Asylum. He selected the music. And vetoed showing one of his cooks getting Sysco frozen lasagna out of the freezer. The customer is always right.

I am going to re-edit tomorrow down to 3 minutes. And, I think it will be better.

I hate using copyrighted music. But this seems to be ok as long as nothing is monetized.  I sure don’t make any money from this blog!

This is how we get fed. We fill out these order forms the day before. At 400 residents 300 of which order their own meals – that is a lot of orders. It is always a little interesting to see what you get.

Gratitude

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Grateful for audiobooks.

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Mālama pono

Mentally done. Fried. Braindead. 6+ hours working on my Dining Services Infomercial.

Note to self: Order much larger external drive. Final Cut Pro is a disc pig. (Gee, maybe I can even upgrade my computer. And get a real external monitor, not my iPad Pro. No. You are not  Steven Spielberg.)

Some things are still important here in Old Lady Lockup Land. Things like free wine night. But we don’t get as much. Just one little plastic bottle per customer.

Gratitude

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Really happy that I have a great view out of my three windows. It is the same view. But it fills up my whole room.

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Mālama pono

Well another week comes to an end. But, hey, I am still alive. And so are all my besties. I can still leave my apartment. I can still leave my building. I can not leave the grounds. I wish I could get work release! Or time off for good behavior.

Working my little on brain cells to death trying to make an amusing video showing how hard everyone is working in Dining Services. So, what do they deliver me for Sunday Dinner? (And Sunday Dinner is special here at the Episcopalian Asylum.) At best, it looks like some sort of failed artwork. It did taste better than it looked.

Please Can you open this? Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! – being old isn’t easy. Even without coronavirus.

Gratitude

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Grateful to have Carlton looking out for me. Helping me through these strange days. I do believe that I depend on Carlton more now than I did while he was still alive.

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Mālama pono

The WildChild garden box is looking very happy. Which is a good thing. Because I can not go anywhere to get it anything.  I did order some plants for my 2 “public” boxes. Hopefully, we will be able to dine al fresco sometime this summer.  If not, they are perennials,  and we can enjoy them next year. Remembering, of course,  nobody is promised tomorrow.

Finished up the Bag Lady PSA this afternoon. It could be better. But, I want to get a video that I am making for the “Director of Dining Services” to showcase what his staff is trying to do to keep us fed and fat.  And, since I am one of the bag ladies, I hope my friends and neighbors will fold their bags.

My own Dining Service victory this morning was to make a perfect omelet. It even rolled over and out of the pan as a good omelet should. Just perfect.

Gratitude

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Grateful we are still free to move about the building and grounds. And also that it was “free” wine night.

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Mālama pono

Not looking for the light – found the light. The avocado fairy delivered 2 avocados this morning. And, the only thing that sounded good on today’s menus was a “large” salad. The “large” salad augmented with avocado was outstanding.

Going downstairs this morning, I noticed that the fire doors were closed on one of the nursing wings. Since there was no fire or drill, this wasn’t a good sign. And later this afternoon they told us that one of the residents on the nursing floor has Covid19. Not unexpected. Still not good news.

My life seems to be one big plastic bag after another.

The GHBC Bag Ladies. 600 big plastic bags wrangled in shape to go off to a food pantry tomorrow.  I will be putting my Bag Lady PSA together tomorrow.

Gratitude

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Grateful for avocados. Coffee. Beer. Chocolate. I have done everything except chocolate today. But, the day isn’t over yet.

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Note to Carlton: The US is really off the rails. You would quote: “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood.” We are getting perilously close to December 2, 1859.

Mālama pono

Didn’t have time to go Looking for the Light today.  I was fricking busy for coronavirus time.

Zoomed with the hospital ladies. Even did a little work. I got a new volunteer job here at the Asylum. Not hard or mission-critical. I just have to scoop up giant bags from 2 floors before they get carted off to recycling. This is an attempt to get the giant bags to food pantries. Reuse trumps Recycle.

Today’s Mask Lesson. Does your mask need a “nose wire”? Mind did. Well, these roll-up thingies from bags of coffee work great.

Just slip it in on the top of the mask. One might sew it in. But, mine stays in place OK. And, I can take the wire out when I wash the mask.

This free tip is worth what it costs.

Now for a few pictures from this afternoon’s photoshoot.  Two hours on my feet running from here to there and back is a lot harder than it was even 5 years ago! I only looked at the stills from my phone. Haven’t looked at anything from the real camera or GoPro.  That can wait until tomorrow morning.

The setup. These kids are our waitstaff. Fortunately, they are young and energetic.

The delivery.

The cleanup.

Hopefully, more images tomorrow.

Gratitude

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Grateful that my friends at the hospital and their families are still safe.

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Mālama pono