life in the old lane

Big sign in “my” neighborhood. But, I don’t have a phone – so, no one can call. Not a bad thing, I am sure. Zuchini bread arrived at my door. And, the folks from “my” neighborhood are having a little welcome party for me tomorrow. Each floor seems to consider itself a “neighborhood”. A neighborhood of maybe 25-30 folks.

So what did I do today – well, I didn’t go to work. Need some time to find my stuff and get organized.

• Got up at the usual time – 0530 and had breakfast in the Old Bat Cave.
• Organized the bathroom a little more to my liking.
• Organized the kitchen.
• Went walkabout around the neighborhood (outside the building).
• Stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond for “stuff”
• Wandered over to Trader Joe’s for a little food. This is the same Trader Joe’s that I patronized 15 years ago.
• That was about a 3 mile round trip walkabout.
• Picked up a take out lunch at the asylum bistro.
• Napped a little.
• Worked on setting up my computer and desk area.
• My boss paid a surprise visit. She is the first outsider to see the Old Bat Cave.
• I decided I wanted to fix my own dinner, so I did… If I eat asylum food twice a day – I’ll need a new wardrobe.
• And that is about all.
• 10,420 Steps on the FitBit.

So, you want to see the new digs…

 

And that is about all there is to it.

Note to Carlton: Your sword is safely mounted on the wall – just like you liked it hung. And, your little steam engine and chrome plated bolt are in the “living room” – or as I call it – the North End.

September 25, 2014 – Back in this century, I took a “formal” picture of Carlton. If I had known I would have done a much better job.

And the move happened. My “people” got my stuff here. Took the stuff I don’t need/have room for “somewhere”. And unpacked my stuff and put it “somewhere”. The operative word is “somewhere”.

The furniture fits. That is a good thing. My job tonight is to find my toothbrush. And toothpaste. I found my computer gear. The Airness says “mouse needs new batteries”. Well, suck it up Airness – your mouse will get new batteries when I find them.

The people put everything that looked “kitcheny” in the kitchen area – somewhere. And everything that looked “bathroomy” in the bathroom – which is to say it is stuffed under the sink. The rest of the “stuff” got “stuffed” into my closets.

Pictures of the new digs tomorrow.

For now – about 12 hours after and 3 miles from the pictures above.

Not too shabby a view – But, I have to stand up to see it. From my chair or my bed – all I can see is sky. Nothing wrong with sky.

September 24, 2014, Back in the Last Century, I was thinking about Hawai’i. Time to think about Hawai’i this year.

September 23, 2014 Today, I am an old woman, One year ago today, I made a deposit for Carlton and I to move into the asylum. Today, I made the final payment for my Old Bat Cave. They finished it up a little after noon today.

Took a few “valuables” to the Old Bat Cave. My camera lenses, Carlton’s sword, Sam’s Au Hoy’s wonderful lauhala pāpale, the 8783 Propeller Stool.

Then I came home (for the next 16 hours home) and decided that some more stuff needed to get the green – not going to the old bat cave – tape job.

And, I didn’t have any time left in the day to mope.

BTW, the Old Bat Cave is about 23 by 16 feet. Not big. But heaps better as one room. It was 2 rooms when I found it.

I had no idea that moving out of the last place I lived with Carlton would be so hard. I had no idea that the emotions that have been well under control for almost a year would come undone. We lived in lots of places. Four main places. But lots of NPS and/or other temporary places. Places that were “home”.”Home” was wherever we happened to be. Places where I cooked dinner, Carlton cleaned up, we made love, places where we lived out our lives. 

And now, I am tucking all those memories away. And, I am moving to a place where no one knows Carlton. A place where Carlton will just be a ring on my hand, pictures on my wall, a treasure in my heart and a void in my life. The Old Bat Cave will be where I live. But, it will not be home. Because Carlton made a place a home.

I have one more day here. Two more nights. I will be too busy to lapse into melancholia. I hope. ( and this time I am the cleaning crew!)

September 22, 2014 Happy September Equinox was very “normal”.

These two pictures are worth at least 500 words.  Guess who wanted to “make it legal”? And who said “it works don’t fix it”?

72 hours from now it will be over. I’ll be moved. And, if I get my act together here in the apartment – I might be out of the apartment when the moving van moves out. Then, I can spend all of Friday getting “settled in” the Old Bat Cave and not need to come back to check out. 

A potential problem??? The Holy Father will be in town on moving day. He isn’t coming to Virginia. He will stay in DC.  But, he is going to seriously disrupt traffic. Sort of like a snow storm. What if my moving van gets stuck? Well, I have people who will worry about that. Feel sure that once the van gets to the apartment – no problem getting it to the asylum – but, getting it here??? 

I loaded up the push cart with “stuff” and rolled the “stuff” down to the Goodwill. I could have left it for my people to deal with – but – taking the “stuff” to Goodwill – it reminds me that “stuff” is a burden that I don’t need at this stage of my life. And, I made 3 or 4 trips to the building dumpsters. I also checked with building management on the exit process, passed out tips to the building stuff. And scrubbed the tubs. (I plan to do what Carlton would do – the bathtubs are squeaky clean – I will not use them – I’ll use the showers in the gym.)

Cleaning the apartment reminds me of Park Service times – in September we would get the fridge down to zero food. AND, get our quarters clean enough for the Park Administrative Officer. Then we would pack our car and leave. Sort of what I am doing.

Thanks Laurent, I’ll keep iOS8 for another week or so…

September 21, 2014 Happy Birthday, Little Brother

 

 

Sixteen pieces of furniture tagged to go to Goodwill or the dump. And the outdoor furniture all is tagged to go bye-bye. I have another pile of small stuff ready for Goodwill. And, a couple of big ole trash bags ready for the dumpster. But the building dumpsters are overflowing. 

The kitchen looks like a hand grenade exploded. My bathtub “needs work”. 

I used the tools that I didn’t give away today. For the last 45 years the men in my life promised to replace the casters on a midcentury “hifi cabinet”. It is now used as a storage cabinet for photo albums and camera gear. This is a very heavy cabinet and it used to house the starter hubby’s McIntosh stereo gear. It is from Denmark. It’s casters were not up to the weight of the gear and the heat of DC summers without air conditioning. The casters sort of melted. They don’t go round and round any more. They are flat. 

At least 3 men (2 of them husbands) said “I’ll replace the casters for you.”.  Carlton too. Well, I didn’t replace them. But, I removed the flat ones. The cabinet looks a little strange – sitting flat on the floor. But, in the asylum – no one is going to notice. It took about an hour to get them off. I am going to sit it on a small fragment – that will protect the hardwood floor. 

I resisted the urge to put iOS 9 on my iPad today. I’ll do that next weekend. 

Note to Carlton: The ‘Skins finally won today. And, our favorite Saturday night TV diversion, “Sabado Gigante” had its last show yesterday – after 53 years.

Speaking of Carlton…
September 20, 2014 – It must be autumn – the new apples are here – proves that Carlton was no seer.

 

I captured the message on Carlton’s answering machine before I pitched it. I think that this little grief ritual is universal. Of course, most people have phone messages left by their loved ones. Not me – Carlton, saving his money, eschewed cell phones. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time – signing up for a 90 minute yoga class on Saturday morning. I walked to yoga. Did yoga. Continued on to the asylum. Ate lunch (and got a takeout order – since I am out of food at the apartment). Walked to the bus stop. Came home. Logged 5.38 miles on the fitbit and crashed. No moving activities today. (yet)

Had lunch with one of my neighbors – she is organizing a welcome to the neighborhood party for me. Next Saturday. She told me that she runs the thrift shop at “The Hermitage” – which I thought was a little funny. The Hermitage is an old folks asylum about a mile from my asylum, Goodwin House. My neighbor explained that The Hermitage is run by the Methodist Church and they don’t have as much money as the Episcopailians who our establishment. 

September 19, 2014 – Manhole Covers – a pretty normal day. Speaking of sandwiches – the brie and turkey sandwich that I brought home from the asylum was pretty good.

 

Sort of a low key day. No moving panic. Went to check out the Old Bat Cave after work. The floors are done. The countertops are installed. The appliances are waiting to be installed. No potty. That is kind of important. Guess they are trying to find a tiny toilet!

The closets are outfitted with plain old cheap wire shelves. Which is what I wanted. Yesterday, I decided that I didn’t want anything in my hall closet. But, it was already outfitted with a standard closet rod and wire shelf today. I’ll just make it work. Don’t want to be a huge pest. And, I did win my big battle – I got them to reverse the bathroom and closet doors so they open out not in. That makes a HUGE difference in the amount of space in the closet.

By this time next week – I’ll be completely out of my current apartment and will be totally ensconced in the asylum.

BTW: Asylum from the Apple Thesaurus

1. refuge, sanctuary, shelter, safety, protection, security, immunity; a safe haven.
2. psychiatric hospital, mental hospital, mental institution, mental asylum.
3. informal: madhouse, loony bin, funny farm, nuthouse, bughouse.
4. dated lunatic asylum.
5. archaic: bedlam.

From what I have seen the asylum is a lot like middle school. Cliques, “Special” tables in the cafeteria, Dress codes – formal and unwritten.

I think it will be important to – as Yogi Berra famously said “Observe at lot by watching”.

And, I’ll be happy to have internet back again.

More relaxed about the move today. Don’t know how long this will last.

Day before yesterday – my beloved Kona had a huge flood.

Yesterday – my beloved Kona had a tsunami alert – it didn’t happen

Today – in my beloved Kona – the USGS raised the volcano level from “normal” to “advisory”. This would be for Mauna Loa. It hasn’t done anything since the 1980’s.

For the first time in recorded history – the east coast seems better than the west side of the Island of Hawai’i.

My current apartment is being looked at tomorrow afternoon by prospective renters. I promised to round up the dust kangaroos and take out the trash.

September 17, 2014 Manhole Cover #2 I was working on accepting the necessity of moving to the asylum.

Moving: I packed a box today. And, took some stuff to the trash room. The fridge is almost bare. And, a week of now – I’ll be all moved in the new apartment.

Went to the asylum for lunch and a looksee. Lunch was fine and not much progress had been made in the Old Bat Cave. The shower was finished. The bathroom sink was in place. No potty yet. I am still amazed at how tiny the bathroom is. There isn’t even room for a waste basket. The bathroom vanity has a strange feature. It has a drawer that goes the entire (not very long) length of the vanity. This drawer is down at the bottom. Inches from the floor. Totally useless. It is too shallow to store anything and too inconvenient to use. Annoyance #1 – the tiny bathroom continues.

Came home. (the kitchen sink was fine – annoyance #3) Took a nap. Work up in TOTAL panic. The move is a week away. The Old Bat Cave is too small. Nothing is going to fit. I am going to hate it. The location sucks. Everyone who lives there is ancient. It is in Fairfax County. I hate it. 

Starbuck Grande Pike Place. Strawberry Cheesecake. Inhale. Exhale. Carry On. 

After the above therapy – It occurs to me that my totally useless bathroom drawer will be a fine – if inconvenient – junk and tool drawer. (That helps with annoyance #2 – only one kitchen drawer.)

Inhale, exhale, this will be over. I will like the Old Bat Cave. I will never have to clean a toilet again. My new neighborhood will provide new photo opportunities. I will have internet access again. (That will fix annoyance #4) It will be okay.

September 16, 2014 – Almost Done I was finishing up to paperwork so Carlton and I could apply for admission to the asylum. What a year this has been.

Got home from work and yoga at about 2PM to a sink full of water. Fortunately all the water was in the sink. Called down to the desk to remind them that I called them last night about the water problem. I was hungry – but lunch was a granola bar, a stick of cheese and some left over cantaloupe. Not satisfactory. But, soon … Mike arrives with his stopped up sink cart and went to work.

Mike didn’t need me hanging around watching him run the snake. (It is more like a dragon than a snake.) So, I walked down to The Container Store -where I spent some quality time scoping out solutions to my single drawer kitchen annoyance. By the time I got back it was quarter to six and Mike was gone. So was the water.

I will keep this in my mind – to remind me when I get to the Asylum that VA Sq was not perfect.

Speaking of the asylum on

September 15, 2014 Manhole Covers, 

I was bitching about having to move to the asylum – sometime in the “future”. Little did I know. Little did I know.

Went to check on progress at the old bat cave after work. A guy was tiling in the tiny bathroom. He said floors were going to happen on Wednesday or Thursday. The bathroom is TINY. tiny. That is annoyance #1. I’ll just think of it was a weight control device. I don’t want to get too fat to get in my bathroom!

The old bat kitchen has one drawer. My current kitchen has seven drawers. Every drawer is used. Rethinking is required! That would be annoyance #2

The kitchen sink in the current apartment is backing up. It has always had this problem. Why it has to do it when I only have 9 days left? Hopefully, it will not go critical before tomorrow morning. It is a good reminder that the place isn’t perfect. The potential sewage flood is annoyance #3.

Annoyance #4 – Verizon turned off my internet today.

All things considered – I have nothing to complain about – as long as the sink doesn’t get worse.

September 14, 2014 – Still not a wildlife photographer

Time to go figure out something for dinner that will not require running water… Starbucks anyone? Or the Korean Deli. Or maybe wander down the street for a nice bowl of pho. Or I could make my very own PB&Jelly sandwich. We’ll see.