life in the old lane

June 17, 2015 was the day I first saw the Old Bat Cave. And a couple of days later I said “I’ll take it”. Which begin my mad summer of downsizing. In the last two years – there has been a degree of Clutter Creep. So, it is time for a little Clutter Tune Up.

I started today – in the back of my closet. There is supposed to be a washing machine there. But, I said screw the washer. I want the space. I have a metal garage-type shelving unit where the washer should be. Took everything off the shelves. And nothing got put back that hadn’t been used since I moved in. 

I have an addiction to shopping bags and empty boxes. Forced myself to recycle all the empty boxes. And, the shopping bags. Except for the one from Georgetown. It was the bag that had Carlton’s ashes. I didn’t want to get rid of it. But, I didn’t want to keep it either. Exactly what was I going to do with it? I surely wouldn’t put some tissue paper in it and use to transport a gift. “Happy Birthday – your present is in this sturdy bag that last transported Carlton’s ashes” I don’t think so. 

This is what works for me: I took a picture of it. And then I had no trouble taking it off to recycling along with the rest of the shopping bags. (And the empty boxes.) What is it with me and empty wood pulp based containers? I don’t hang on to plastic or glass containers. But, there is that collection of Altoids tins!

And, while I was in the back of the closet – I decided that my wonderful aluminum step ladder should go. I haven’t used it and don’t think I will ever need it. I have people to change my light bulbs. And a little stool for  reaching the top shelves.

I haven’t figured out how to embed a Google Photosphere into WordPress. But I think if you follow this link:
 https://goo.gl/photos/QA2bCqPxS5BqQxRJ8 
and click around some you can see the OBC. 

Oh and there wasn’t a blog post yesterday because I had a wild evening with old women – watching  movie about old women. Strangers in Good Company. We were Friends in Good Company. Wine, popcorn, smoked salmon dip and dark chocolate were involved. 

Today I took my camera to work and stopped off to take magnolia pictures. In the old neighborhood I know where all the “good” magnolia trees are – so that is where I went.

Then at Happy Hour –

These ladies have almost 200 years experience being alive. Phyllis on the left started this off by wondering where everyone had been… Virginia, on the right and 100+, had been everywhere and when pinned down said that Antarctica was her favorite place. Because of the penguins.

Note to young people: Travel. Do interesting things. Nobody will care about your trip to IKEA in Woodbridge when you are 100+. But, they might listen to you describe penguins. And, you’ll have penguins to remember. Which is better than remembering IKEA. 

And this rather nice shot of the back side of a bee.

Practiced bug photography this afternoon. 

Worked overtime today – missing my nap. So, I am really tired and my eyes don’t work all that well. Think I’ll make an early night of it.

Oh, and Google Chrome stopped loading images. Haven’t a clue why. The usual  stunts did nothing. I am way too tired to delve into that mystery. I fired up Safari and away I go….

It’s bedtime in the old bat cave. Nite nite.

Out I went this afternoon – looking for something interesting to photograph. Nothing. Nothing at all. I was reminded of the old saying “If you want to take more interesting travel photos – travel to more interesting places.”

I returned to the Old Bat Cave and was on the phone (on hold), getting text messages about dinner and trying to do something else online when I feel something crawling around my neck. It is not hair. It is going down my shirt. It ends up on my hand. A spider. A daring jumping spider. What to do? I don’t want to squish it. I don’t want to lose my place in the hold queue. I don’t want the spider to take up residence in the OBC.

Phidippus audax ends up “Under the Dome”. Well actually under the vintage Agfa 8X loup that lives in my desk drawer for old times sake. In due time he is transported back outside. Jumping spiders are wonderfully photogenic. Don’t know why I was in such haste to get rid of him/her. Guess I like to be the spider hunter and not the spider prey.

And that was my adventure for the day. Now about that travel to more interesting places…

On the way to work this morning, I heard that Amazon’s stock was going to hit $1000 a share today. The goddess willing of course.

Which made me think about the first time I used Amazon. I bought Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey.  This was the summer that we spent in Yosemite. I seem to remember Amazon took out a full page ad in the WSJ. It was all rather radical. 

All things considered, I should have bought fewer books and more stock. 

Got over yesterday’s funk. As expected. 

It is the first day of summer and I have outdoor pool envy. And, Carlton and I really liked summer. So, this hasn’t been my very finest day. 

Carlton would say “Make a Gratitude List” and I would say “I am not in AA and I don’t have to be grateful.” Then he would say “You are sleeping indoors and you have food to eat, how bad can it be?” He was a hard act. 

I wonder what Carlton’s little book as to say about May 29? Nothing. But, on May 28 in 1972 he was apparently arrested in San Francisco. That was before my time. 

I know me well enough to know that by tomorrow or the day after, I’ll be back to my normal cynical self. 

MAYBE, maybe I need a vacation? To some place with outdoor pools or an ocean.

OK, so I can not get that $51,000 jacket that Melania has. But, for $52,000 I can get a convertible Land Rover. Sort of boggles the mind doesn’t it? 

I may have mentioned that one of the residents of The Asylum reviews cars. Every ten days or so, he gets a couple of new cars to review. And, he parks them outside the building. Today when I wandered by he had this convertible Range Rover in one of his spots. It is sort of cute in a triceratops kinda way. 52K.

This generally chilly and damp day gave me ample opportunity to finish up the task of makes some cards for a friend and polishing up my hand out for work. I tried to remember Sir Robert Watson-Watt’s advice to his team when they were developing anti-aircraft radar during WWII. As I recall, it went something like … give them your 3rd best solution… the 2nd best will not come in time … and the best never arrives.

Went to the Falls Church Market this morning. That was fun. I got flowers, bread, a tomato and a crab cake. Crab cake and tomato are on tap for lunch tomorrow.

What followed was not fun. I worked on a hand out that I brought home from the office for a couple of hours. I had been saving it as I went along. Or rather I thought I was saving it. Goodness know what MS Word was doing with the file. It sure wasn’t saving it. Fortunately I realized that it hadn’t been saving the file before I closed the program. Then I spent the next hour and many FUCK-YOU-Bill-Gates before I figured out the I could open a new document and copy the finished hand out into the new document and save it. Sigh. 

But, on to something important. Melania’s $51,000 jacket. To die for. 

It seems to be sold out. I would love to be outraged. But, I just want one. Slightly darker. Like this one.

Also sold out. 

Slept until the sun came in my window this morning. Which meant I slept through my “alarm pot” – the coffee pot. It comes on at 0530 and the happy gurgles it makes usually wakes me. The sun coming in is the backup system. 

The bus people seemed to be in need of a long week end too.

Got computer projects lined up for the weekend. Need to make up and order note cards for a friend. Need to spruce up a handout about TB testing for work. I can knock off both of those jobs in 1/2 a day if I just do it and remember that perfection is the enemy of progress. 

One of my dinner companions was extolling the virtue of The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. She said that some of us grumpy old people needed to read it. Fearing that I am one of those people – as soon as I returned to the Old Bat Cave, I checked my Kindle and found that I had that very book on board.  It was on sale early last month and I picked it up then. 

Note to self: Having a book and reading a book are not the same. 

Went out looking for a hapless bug to photograph this afternoon. No luck, until I returned to my apartment and found this fine fellow right outside my window. 

Remember back in the day when you didn’t want to ever have your picture on a post office wall?(In my case, it was a possibility – I worked for a guy who ended up on the USPS wall. Tom Billman – read all about him.) 

Well, when you live in The Asylum, you don’t want to end up on the wall in our mail room. It means that you have filed your celestial change of address form. 

Now why am I so looking forward to the weekend? Who knows, I have had a perfectly fine day off. On account of the rain. 

Today was a lazy out of the loop sort of a day for me. 

At work, I put some words into sentences. And put some sentences into paragraphs. On Friday, maybe I’ll figure out how to put the paragraphs into a handout about TB testing results. I have already called out wet tomorrow. Even if it doesn’t rain.

Sort of feeling my age today. Or maybe I am as old as I feel today. 

After yoga, I was really tired so – I walked a couple of miles and caught the 41 bus. They were “flat” miles. My plan had been to walk home – but 3.2 miles just seemed like too much. Especially the hilly parts. Of course, I could have Ubered. But, years of living with Mr C  keeps my wallet pretty much closed. And, I had to get my steps in to counteract the cupcakes with salted caramel frosting  in our office fridge. (And, BREAD PUDDING – which is on the Asylum menu tomorrow.)

RIP – Roger Moore. All us ladies have a favorite 007. Mine is Sean Connery.

But, Roger Moore wasn’t too shabby. 

I messed with one of the pictures that I took at the Art Show on Sunday.

Ben Wilmot – the artist – suggested the title. If I can get it printed properly – I just might enter it in the next Resident Art show.