life in the old lane

Taking sunrise pictures from inside with a macro lens isn’t recommended. But, how often do you get to see “the crack of dawn”.

Spent all day – from 0700 to 1530. That is a whole entire real job type day! Spent all day digging out the data. But, we got it cracked this afternoon. The boss and I. Both of us will have a better weekend as a result.

Long ago – I was sent to rescue a project that was teetering on the brink of default. And, when you were a government contractor “default” was not a term you wanted on your corporate resume. The contract of in trouble because the client didn’t want our company. He liked the previous contractor. But we were the low bidder. To make matters worse, our company project manager missed a key point. Our client’s pay increases depended on the statistics that we generated. Our project manager may have been doing things “right” by generating the statistics which showed a distressing lack of progress against alcoholism on indian reservations. But, he darn sure wasn’t doing the right thing as far as the client was concerned. Needless to say, the client was looking for any excuse to kick our corporate ass out the door. I never forgot that client. We didn’t end up in default. But, we didn’t get our options exercised either. This 35 year old nightmare rattled around my brain all week. “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.” ― Mark Twain.

Note to Carlton: You got a Medicare billing notice for a biopsy you must have had last June. The envelop says “TO BE OPENED BY ADDRESSEE ONLY” – maybe I should forward it to you over at Georgetown.

It is the weekend. I will take in a film. Either an iMax movie at the Smithsonian. Or more likely Dior and I. I can not imagine that it will be around very long. iMax movies are always in town. On the other hand Dior and I will look fine on the iPad. And iMax movie – well…

Yesterday the light was very harsh. Which gave yesterday’s fine cherry blossom. And this tulip. The tulip here will surely be a good photo to play with in post processing.

Today was very tedious. Still digging for data.

For “throw back Thursday” – Carlton long ago and my favorite car of all time, in Combs Kentucky.

Today the volunteer job was a whole lot like a job. Digging data out of the database. Much of it was brute force. And tomorrow will be another day of digging data out of the database. If I have to do this again next spring – I’ll figure out a way to do it smarter. Think I am 40% done. I may work all day tomorrow and just get it done.

Thought I might get myself a ZipCar for a couple of hours. Just for a little test run. BUT, I can not think of anywhere to go that I can not get to just fine via public transit.

It was a lovely afternoon – so I took Carlton’s books over to the Friends of the Arlington Library. I’ll take mine over some day soon. eBooks are better for my old lady lifestyle.

 

It is imperative that my lodgings in the asylum have a view to the sky. I love the sky.

Charm City is “peaceful” this afternoon. The Birds will play tomorrow afternoon. But, there will be no fans in the stands. Interesting times.

A very strange afternoon. Violent teenagers running rampant in Charm City. Interesting really. The point is being made that the teenagers may indeed be young criminals. But, it really should be a wake up call for what has happened to a previously vibrant industrial city. A city who watched her jobs go off to China. What do you have to lose when you have no hope of having a future. It is 1965 again.

May you live in interesting times. Of course, we know that Baltimore is just up the road from us. It could be 1968 again.

Ok parent – explain this on to your kid. I made a small visit to the zoo today.

And a longer visit to the National Cathedral – where the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir (Boys and Men) did a concert.

Between these two activities, I ate a burrito the size of a baby hippo. “Sour Cream with that mam?” “Guacamole too?” “Of course!”.

The concert was good. Excellent use was made of the cathedral organ. But, my seat was way in the back and the acoustics get pretty funky in the far back. The usual suspects were in attendance: Europeans of all ages, elderly rich white people most with canes, and every gay man over 35.

All in all a good Sunday. Lesson here. Plan and pay for a Sunday activity in advance of Sunday.

I devoted this morning to finishing with Carlton’s clothes, books, trinkets etc. I took one load of clothes – actually his Santa suit, clerical garb, plaid sports coat – really his costume collection – down to Goodwill. There is one more load of clothes to go. And, I’ll get his books over to the Friends of Arlington Library next week. My stash of medical supplies are packed and ready to go to Africa. His AA books are waiting on a pickup. I am going to have to get someone to come in and get rid of most of my furniture when it is the to move to the asylum. I’ll dispose of the tools and other heavy stuff then. I put all the heavy stuff in the now empty closets. As far as I am concerned all that stuff is “gone”. It just hasn’t left yet.

The only Carlton stuff that I still have to deal with is in his file cabinet. I don’t want to move the file cabinet. I want to stash all of his still required papers in one bankers box. Or in Evernote. Let the scanning begin.

It seems a little uncaring to get rid of all the Carlton stuff. But, He would not want me to spend money moving his stuff around. And, if he labeled a box “C2 Junk” who I am I to say “Oh no, this isn’t junk”.

I almost made a mistake. The only book that Carlton and I both like that lived in his book collection is The Collected Poems of Robert Service. I put it in the donation bag along will all the rest of his books. One of the last times we moved I got rid of all of our Edward Abbey books and replaced them with Kindle versions. I planned to do the same with Robert Service. Who knew that Robert Service is not available on Kindle. So, I rescued it from the donation pile.

Friday evening. The weekend. I am starting to feel a little mopey already. Not good. Not good at all. At this rate, I’ll have to get a weekend volunteer job too. It has been almost 8 months now. It is time to start moving on. But, where does one move on to? The old ladies asylum?

This is my “Seal of Approval” from google. With that and $1.95 I can get an espresso at Starbucks. (And, a serving of blazing good wifi.)

Funny thing happened in the neighborhood this morning. A guy rode his horse here from Texas. He got permission to park his horse at our local American Legion. Someone saw the horse and called 911. The police came. The police said the horse was “transportation” and not illegal. Guess that is good to know.

These fluffy pink guys are at max right now. Do ya think maybe mine should be pink? OK.

Did a little work on Carlton’s stuff today. Took his lightly used shoes down to the Goodwill. And, a friend offered to help find a home for the 15 pound dictionary. Thanks Harlene. It will go off to The Friends of Arlington Library as a default. They will be able to get a good price for it at one of their book sales.

In yesterday’s list one of the things that I am going to take to the asylum for sure is rug that is in Carlton’t bathroom. I love that rug. After a couple of beers last night – and some playing around what if-ing as far as arranging my must takes in the tiny studio at the asylum.

Anyhow, after doing this for a while – I wondered – why is that rug still in Carlton’s bathroom? Moved it to the entry area.

The studio – that is most likely where I will have to start out at the Asylum. Then I can trade up to something more gracious. I am #7 on the list of people waiting for a studio. As opposed to one of the larger units with a nice balcony – I am #77 on that list. Sort of like that old Groucho line “I wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have me…” I wouldn’t want to move to an asylum that had room for me…

The church across the street is having “Evensong and MoonBounce followed by District Tacos” next Sunday. Having a hard time picturing that.

Got chilly here this afternoon. The guy on TV is talking about snow flurries in the distant burbs.

In the best of all possible world’s – 12 months from now, I will be moving into a nice apartment in the old ladies asylum. An apartment with lots of windows. And enough room for all the “stuff” I really “need” to take with me. An apartment that I have tweaked to my specs. Chances of this happening are slim and none. So, it is plan for the worse and hope for the best time.

So, today I started a list of things to take and stuff to not take. There is no “maybe” list. Everything that is not on one of these lists is a maybe.

Take – assumes a local move

My bed
Cat print
Tahiti picture
Kona print
The old man picture (Carlton’s great great grand dad)
Studio photo peg&carlton
All the quilts
The sword, the bolt and the little steam engine
My desk and the Hillary chair
The small oriental rug that is in Carlton’s bath room

No Way – No How – Not Moving

Carlton’s Desk
My smallkidtime desk
Tube TVs
Carlton’s old coffee table
None of the machine made carpets
The 11 pound dictionary
Spotting scope – if/when I get a view, I’ll get a better scope.

Anyone want an 11 pound dictionary? I was wrong – according to Amazon it weighs 15 pounds. The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary.

Seems like Google is trying to get into the Cell Phone Business… Well, I guess they are already in that business. But, more of the carrier side of the house. They are trying to get me to sign up. Of course, it only works with the HUGE Nexus 6. Still interesting…

About bedtime, lots of nice lightning. And thunder. And rain. No tornado, no hail, no locust. I just pressed my Oly up to the window and sort of “snapped” a shot when I suspected lightning might happen. This is not how one shoots lightning. But, I am pretty lazy. Especially at bedtime. Note to self: It doesn’t work if you stick the iPad up to the window.

Note to Carlton: I took your “good” polo shirts to Goodwill this afternoon. Along with your “good” sports shirts. The ones you never wore. You were “saving” them. Now, someone else will get nice almost new polo shirts. Blue ones and white ones.

I also took a whole bunch of extension cords. My good husband, you had enough extension cords to connect to the New Hebrides. I think there are more somewhere. I just haven’t found them yet.

I walked by home through “your” cemetery. It is lovely at this time of year. The grave diggers said they miss jiving with you every day. These nice tulips are by the Dewberry family mausoleum.

Food: Today I had eggs and potatoes at the hospital. That was my second breakfast. I made a fine salad featuring avocado (Thanks Dave – for reminding me that avocado are an essential not a luxury) for lunch. A little chicken with asparagus and mushroom will be sauted for dinner.

End of life on the planet as we know it… That is what the weather guys are promising. Doesn’t look very exciting to me. Nevermind they say that thunder, lightning, wind, rain, hail, tornadoes, locust plagues… are promised.

I am out of yesterday’s huge funk.

I am reading a pretty stupid book. I have no idea why it is on the NYTimes Best Seller list. I got it from the library. As a kindle book. The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I think it only makes sense if you are a young Japanese woman. But, it did cause me to have a HUGE epiphany.

Carlton is not a trinket or knickknack. Carlton was never a trinket or knickknack. Keeping his trinkets, knickknacks, 4 really sharp pocket knives, awards, engraved fountain pens, his personalized “desk set”, none of this stuff was Carlton. Keeping these tchotchkes will not bring Carlton back. Or keep his memory alive. For me, Carlton was a force of nature. Not a tie tack.

This is hugely liberating. Don’t know if it will work for any other widow. But, it sure works for me.

Weather or not. Still nothing.