Category: The DayBook

Sad news – I found out that the asylum only has free wine on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Oh well, into every life a little sobriety must fall. Had dinner there again tonight. I tested the kitchen by ordering the grilled swordfish. With pineapple salsa. Swordfish is real easy to mess up. But, it was fine. Really good in fact. And then I got a ride back home with my lawyer. Met some 70ish ladies who are nice liberal social activists. I was told that the asylum make great onion rings. I must give them a try. And acceptable burgers and good fries.

Moving activity of the day. Filled Carlton’s roll-a-board with picture frames and rolled it down to the Goodwill. That mile was likely the most it had ever rolled outside of an airport.

 

The only blemish on this lovely summer afternoon – the Pie Life ladies were not at the afternoon market in Clarendon.

Taking it one chunk at a time: The move that is… I am keeping two things in mind. Just chip away at the project little by little. And after I die – my lawyer will just haul everything to the dump. SO, they I took a load of junk to the trash room. And that covered both of my objectives.

Much better weather today. Move progress: took a peg-sized load to the Goodwill. Then I bused to the Old Bat Asylum. Where I did dinner. Salmon with an interesting garnish of sun dried tomatoes. And green beans. Lots of lukewarm green beans. And cheesecake. And wine. All that for $1.90 – which is round trip bus fare. Oh yes, coffee too. The coffee is rather wimpy. The espresso is rather wimpy too. I discovered that coffee with a double shot of espresso is a passable beverage.

Walking to the bus stop, I was thinking that life would be simpler with a car. As luck would have it – as soon as I completed that thought – a couple of cars ran into each other. Now these two folks lives just got way more more complicated. The bus is good. “My” bus is the preferred method of transit for Arlington’s Hispanic worker bees. Everyone on the bus is unfailingly polite to me – I am always offered a seat and I am watched over if the bus gets overwhelmed by young people.

Lots better today! And tomorrow is looking fine too.

 

Didn’t do much move-wise today. Too lazy for that. Didn’t go to eat at the asylum. Too hot for that. Did go for an exercise walk. Too hot for that too. Too a nap. Good temp for that. Didn’t go to the pool. Pool is closed on Monday.

I am being a pretty boring old lady today. Don’t know what I can do about that. Need to get out of this “moving” funk. I have at least 2 months before M-Day. So, what to do? I’ll think about it. A mini-vaci maybe?

I want this move crap over. It has taken up too much of my life already.

Hotter than the hinges of Hades here today. Everyone moving very slow. If at all. The pool is like warm bath water. Free cooked by someone else food with wine lagniappe did not lure me down to the asylum. And tomorrow is promised to be the same. Oh well. It is summer.

  
If i need the ladder to reach it, I sure don’t need to move it. 

By the time I was finished with the kitchen, I was totally not into fixing dinner. So, I hopped on the bus to the asylum. I did better this time. I did not get scolded by the cafeteria ladies this time. I found the silverware. And there was still unlimited free wine. And, I might add, everyone seems to have several generous glasses. It’s not like the have to drive any where. I had an exquisite seafood dish in a fine mornay sauce. And the usual cold veggies. And fair lemon pie. The seafood main course made it worth the trip. 

At least ¼ of the residents seem to be interesting folks. You just have to look past the canes, walkers, hearing aides and memory lapses. There is a great deal of tolerance shown by the residents to each other. Nobody is promised tomorrow. 

A couple of times a month, my walking takes me by this house. I love it that some cares so much for an old house – and they make it look so good.

It is almost 1900 hours. And I have done zero, zip, nada, nothing to facilitate my move. I might spring into action after dinner (Chicken, squash, lettuce and tomato salad and beer). But I am not counting on it.

Well, I have been thinking about the old bat cave kitchen. I just can not see me doing much cooking. I can see me doing some “assembly” of occasional lunches and dinners. Tonight’s dinner was assembled from things that were in the fridge. Think that tomorrow I’ll remove every thing from the kitchen. And bring things that I use back in. And what is in the kitchen come move day goes. That might be too radical. Yep, too radical. And, not necessary. I know what I will use. I just have to accept that my kitchen goddess/earth mother days are long gone. If I am honest, those days were gone over 10 years ago. Carlton’s last two years were the “enjoy every sandwich days” not the “enjoy every gourmet meal days”. And a good sandwich makes a damn good meal.

So, I will remove everything from the kitchen that I wouldn’t pack if I were packing my kitchen up next week.

Since the weather was grand this afternoon, with no rain in sight. And since I needed to make a deposit at Goodwill. And since I am paying for my dinner at the asylum anyhow – I decided to go to the asylum for dinner after dropping off some stuff at the Goodwill.

I have been to sunday lunch. And to sunday breakfast. But never dinner. It was a whole lot like middle school cafeteria on your first day as a new student. I had a near dust up with the person doling out tables in the “formal dining room” and I annoyed the person in charge of the informal bistro. On the other hand, I got along fine with the bartender. I had fish (mahi mahi) not my favorite fish – but it was nicely done. The veggies were not hot. And this being an Episcopalian establishment – the wine was free flowing and apparently lagniappe. But the desserts were fiercely guarded.  I’ll do better next time. Gotta learn the drill – that is all.  I’ll have to be careful – it would be easy to pork up.

Been thinking about what kitchen stuff to take. I really don’t see me doing much cooking. So, whilst waiting for the bus back home I came up with a little list:

1. Coffee Pot

2. Coffee Mug

3. Beer opener

4. Cork screw

5. Wine glass

6. Cutting board

7. Good knife

8. Soup bowl and spoon.

I honestly think I could get along fine with just those 9 things. Maybe I’ll come up with a “Only 25 things” policy for the kitchen.

Well, after the Guinness (did I mention the bar has a sweet little beer collection) and the lagniappe wine – think it is my bed time.

I was hating life this afternoon. Moving induced snit. Slumped in my chair muttering the f-word over and over again. Like an inverse mantra…

Then, eureka! Have to get boxes from trash room, put stuff in boxes, pay someone to move boxes, unpack boxes, find place to put stuff, get rid of boxes.

All I have to do is put stuff in a trash bag, take trash bag to trash room. Way easier! eureka!

I took a bag to the trash room and packed up all of Carlton’s trinkets in one of my much loved suitcases. Plus some of my trinkets. I removed his Army dogtags and pocket knives from the collection. I’ll put them in my sewing box.

Bottom line is: when I die someone will throw all that stuff out. SO, I might as well just put on my big girl pants and do the job. And the bonus is I’ll avoid the …get boxes from trash room, put stuff in boxes, pay someone to move boxes, unpack boxes, find place to put stuff, get rid of boxes… routine.

The trinkets and suitcase will go to Goodwill. Who knows what they’ll make of the minie balls and old VPI stuff. And, various kazoo. Not to mention a vintage egg beater. At some park somewhere Carlton used the egg beater as a part of his gig. I don’t recall working at Egg Beater National Park.

I just packed my first box. As I planned – a box of niknaks. Box one contains: Dragon Vases, Origami Piggie Bank, indian bowl, twinlens reflex Cameras, carved gourd pot, two photos from Living room bookcase. And, yes, I usually record everything that goes into every box. A box a day keeps paid packers away.

It is ever so tempting to just say “F-IT” and rent a Zip Car – pack the zip car to the gunnels – drive the car to the asylum. Unpack the car. Return the car. And then just order up all new stuff. Common sense will prevail. But, it is fun to think about. I keep reminding myself – there are 1/2 as many people in the family. So, I need 1/2 as much stuff. Nevermind that I am only going to have 1/3 of the space. Maybe – I should just take 1/3 of the stuff…

Went to yoga class today. A nice easy class. Good for an old lady.

Note to Carlton: All Star Game tonight – some chick I never heard of is singing the national anthem. It’s enough to make me want to defect. The Nats are doing pretty good this year. They are honoring some really old players right now: Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench. Sandy and Johnny did the first pitch thing. You would have liked it.

Yesterday I sneaked into the old bat cave. I put the Nexus up to the window – in this is the view. Looking east. Not knock your socks off great. But good enough. And yes, a building could pop up where the swimming pool is and that would knock out my view of the Washington monument.

This afternoon… I gave notice here that I’ll be moved out by Oct 27th. Paying big bucks to break the lease. But, that will still be cheaper than keeping the apartment until the lease is over April 27th. Guessing, no, knowing that Carlton would not approve. I think I’ll be moving out before Oct 27th. I want to be sure I give the asylum enough time to get the old bat cave spruced up.

Nexus 6 report. It is H U G E. Almost as big as the iPad Mini. Bigger than the new Kindle Voyage. The apps are not as sleek as iOS apps. But, it has a “back arrow”. I like that. A lot. And, if you use the charger that came with the Nexus 6 – it charges up in 15 minutes. That is the hardware/software story.

Now the network. Project Fi. Another one of Google’s hobbies. 12 months from now, they will have most likely lost interest in being a cell phone provider. For now. For me. It seems to be a fine service. They use t-mobile’s network. With a little dose of sprint. Neither of these have the coverage of Verizon. Google tries to fluff out the coverage with wi-fi. But, Project Fi will not be a player until it runs on more than one cell phone.

Alexandria had fireworks last night. Being older than the US – Alexandria celebrates it’s birthday – not July 4th. And, they had lots better weather. No fog. No low ceiling.

I put the camera on the tripod. Took it out on the porch. And waited. While waiting I played with “Light Painting”.

Finally – only a few minutes late. Fireworks.

In the vein of “No good deed goes unpunished”… I got a new Kindle. (Didn’t need a new Kindle – wanted a new Kindle.) So, my old Kindle and Carlton’s Kindle are heading off to a Kindles for Kids program. I spent 2 hours trying to figure how to get Parental Controls turned off of Carlton’s Kindle. Yes, I put Parental Controls on Mr. C’s Kindle. He was afraid he would accidently order a book!

Went to lunch at the asylum. Salmon was good, again. Veggies were cold, again. Key Lime pie was fine – really fine. I passed on the soup.

The door was unlocked at my apartment. So I went in and look around. No buyer’s remorse. YET!