Went into the hospital this afternoon. The new addition looks pretty near completion to me. And, at 12:30 the weather was pretty nice. By the time I was ready to leave trees were falling over and it was seriously raining. I got a ride back to The Asylum where the power was out. But, the power came back on quickly. Nevertheless, it was sandwiches for dinner. Which was fine with me.
Gratitude
Coffee ice cream.
Only cranked out four boxes today.
They were “nicer” and “sturdier” boxes. Why sturdier? Well, I checked out the jewelry this morning.
9.7-ounce necklace. The damn thing is a lethal weapon.
Today, I went out with “almost” the proper lens. I really can not hand hold a 600mm lens anymore. If I am very careful and pretty lucky I can still manage 300mm.
A rather smug looking squirrelAfter a week of rain, no surprise we have mushrooms.
Today I cleaned out my freezer and unearthed some brownies! Guess that was my reward. Don’t really think cleaning out the freezer counts as death cleaning. More like long overdue spring cleaning.
Did some origami. Reading an old book. Note to young people: When you are old you can reread old books and it’s like the first time. Eye of the Needle. Ken Follett. 1978.
Gratitude
Grateful for coffee with an unexpected brownie.
10 boxes today. That killed off 20 pieces of origami paper.
I needed a downtime kind of day. I know I know. Exactly what have I been doing to need downtime? Well, some days just combing my hair counts as an “activity”. Just wait until you get old. You’ll see.
And, I did some death cleaning. Don’t need 3 straw hats. Or “nice” leather gloves these days. Or 2 pair of snow mittens. Or any boxes of expired Covid tests.
This is a part of my “death cleaning”. I started making these boxes when I decided to deaccession parts of my earring collection. I decided to say a fond farewell by putting them in origami boxes. (Sort of like a funeral I guess.) Then I decided to attack my huge collection of origami paper. So, why not make a bunch of boxes, and if folks buy something at our upcoming jewelry sale they get a box, lagniappe?
For no apparent reason, Steve Case of AOL/Time Warner fame is speaking at our “other house” this evening. 1.7 miles away. The asylum is running a couple of bus loads over and hopefully back. But, I’ll get there by foot, Uber, public bus or some combination thereof. I DREAD the day when I have to rely on The Asylum bus for transit. I suppose it’s like my friends worrying about giving up their cars.
But. That’s “Wreckage of the Future”. (Thanks Carlton, that still comes in handy. As does “Avoid Beginnings”)
One of my favorite photographs – June 2011 – Santa Fe
A busy day doing little things. That’s good because little things pile up and become big things. At the end of the day, I went out to dinner with an old friend. That’s an excellent thing.
I remember a retired Marine, John, who worked for me. He classified problems as “ants or elephants”. His theory was: Attack the elephants first. Those suckers can kill you. John actually had two rubber stamps. An elephant and an ant. He stamped his incoming paperwork accordingly.
My take on that was: The ants can really annoy you so you have to stop trying to fix the elephant problem and go get some Raid and polish off the ants. Then get back to the elephants.
All of my current problems can be classified as “ants”. For that I am grateful.
Celebrated Juneteenth here at The Asylum by making the staff come to work. A good band came and entertained us old white people. And we are having a “Special Juneteenth Dinner” with Swedish Meatballs and South African wines. That doesn’t track. How ’bout barbecue, fried chicken, mac and cheese? Red beans and rice. Fried catfish. Oh, they are also having collard greens. And the joint wonders why black people don’t move in. Swedish Meatballs? Honestly. Maybe they could add Lutefisk next summer.
Made some death-cleaning progress today. Quantity not huge. But, every little bit helps. This was a hard little bit. Old notebooks from the times Carlton and I spent in the parks. And notebooks from various trips. I put some special treasures in a shoe box and labeled it: When I am gone, Toss. I could have put everything in a big box labeled When I am gone, Toss. But, that seems to be cheating.
This death-cleaning thing isn’t morbid or even grim. One just wants things to be as tidy as possible when the inevitable happens. If someone is just going to pitch it: Why not save them the trouble? It’s the right thing to do.
The Sarge/Dad and I never agreed about anything – except that steaks should be rare.
Okay, it’s been 8 years of piss-poor bagels. And, what did I do? Complain. And what good did that do? Nada, zero, zilch, bupkis. This would be the bagels that are served at each and every Asylum Brunch. The lox and the condiments pass muster. The bagels. Pathetic.
But wait. It gets worse. There is an Einstein Bros Bagel shop in the shopping center next door. And did it ever occur to me that I could BYOB? Nope. I would be a very slow learner. But, I did learn.
BYOBagel
This morning a got bagels for the table. Hey it isn’t like this is a real restaurant. It’s my home.
The Accidental FamilyThe Accidental Family
Our accidental family numbers 8. Six of us were at the Father’s Day Brunch. I had Lox, Bagels, Shrimp, Mimosas, Chocolate Cake, and Coffee.
Note to Self: It’s time to take a real camera out and shoot some insects.
The phone tries to take good insect pictures but it falls short. But, you shoot with what you have with you.
The watch is a fine remote shutter release for the phone which is a fine camera.
Today’s bus adventure was delayed. I was playing with my watch and phone. I knew that the watch could be used as a remote shutter release. But, I had never tried it. I did not know that the watch mirrors the phone screen. I suspect that it only works when the phone and watch are connected via blue tooth.
The “planned” bus adventure didn’t happen. So, whatever happened is what I planned. The real plan was to go to the Courthouse Farm Market. Well, by the time I was on the 41 bus, it was too late. So, I hopped off in Clarendon. Visited some shops. Saw a gillion dogs. A three-legged German Shepard walked much faster than I did. Bought a couple of tiny dead tree guidebooks. One for Vancouver. One for Reykjavik. Ate a granola bar. Drank a bottle of water and bussed back to The Asylum. 3.43 miles today.
My old neighborhood.
I ready miss my old neighborhood. But, I am glad that it’s easy to get back to. Coming home, the bus stopped at a light by my old building.
The old apartment. The exterior of the building looks a little scruffy.
The building exterior looks like it needs a good powerwashing. I stopped in to visit with the concierge last fall and the interior was all sparkly and newly decorated. Guess interiors are easier than washing a 20-story building.
Another boring day in The Old Lane. You have to work hard to make the days unboring. You have to go out and actively seek adventures or learn to accept a shrinking universe. And, bottom line: There are worse things in life than being bored.
But wait? Don’t I live in a place with LOTS of activities?
•Total Body Standing, Auditorium, 8:45 am
• Pickleball Practice, Pickleball Court, 9:00 am
• Total Body Seated, Auditorium, 9:30 am
• Chair Yoga – Must Register, Auditorium, 10:30 am
• Seated Fitness, Channel 1960, 10:30 am
• Meditation, Channel 1960, 11:00 am
• Chair Yoga, Channel 1960, 11:30 am
• Mah Jongg, Card Room, 12:15 pm
• Afternoon at the Opera, Media Room, 1:00 pm
• Art, Doodle, Love, Art Center, 1:00 pm
• Arts Committee, Art Center, 2:00 pm
• Mat Yoga, Aerobics Room, 2:00 pm
• Mah Jongg, Card Room, 2:15 pm
• A Taste of CenteringPrayer, Auditorium, 2:30 pm
• Mindfulness Group for Stress Reduction Practice, Smith Study, 4:00 pm
Which one of those things do I want to do? None. Absolutely Zero. There are books to read. And there is paper to fold. Walks to take.
Maybe I am not really bored. Maybe I am learning patience and acceptance at this late date.
If you don’t like the way you look, nobody else is going to like the way they look either.
Have a little photo project planned. Very little project. 15 pictures or so. I spent a little time checking on a venue. The light on an overcast day in our garden is fairly flattering to the elderly. Not 100% behind the Pixel Phone’s “portrait” mode, however.
