Don't make plans!

Don't Make Plans! That's what my sister says she is slowly beginning to learn. I don't agree, of course, as people who are long time readers of this blog know - I love to plan. Plans are like, um, plans. Sort of templates of how things could work out in the future. For me, I like to have some sort of plan in place, just to make myself feel more comfortable and to give myself the illusion of control over my life. 'Cause I know that control over the external world is pretty much an illusion. And if they don't come to fruition or need altering or scrapping, at least there is a place from which to start the new plan. Sometimes I plan to not plan. I guess the definition of planning is in the mind of the planner.

For instance, my sister told me that she expected me to take Friday off and that I would be free from mom duty. So I made tentative mental plans to do some stuff, including a visit that Juliet had arranged with a family friend. Then the rains came! Torrential rains that swept Juliet's house out to sea. Juliet, mom and I sailed for day after day, with no one coming to our rescue. We fished from the front porch for food and caught rain in barrels for drinking water...oh, wait, that didn't happen. The rains just made it less than pleasant to head out for a day of driving.

Juliet had been planning to attending her regular women's club get together Friday afternoon. Despite my mental plans, I opted to stay in place, mostly because I needed to catch up on blogging. Which I did. I also, of course, kept an ear and eye on mom. Not an exciting way to spend the day, but much needed rest and recuperation. I think we all recharged a little. At least I did catch up on my blogging - finishing 5 posts all together. Two day recaps and three brewpub blogs. Well, two brewpub posts and one Taproom post.

For food, I made lunch of eggs and a cheese place. For dinner we had a lobster, corn on the cob and salad. Mom had to have help taking her lobster apart - I think she might even have wounded herself a little bit. After she had finished her lobster, she said, in all seriousness, "I didn't get to eat any lobster." And she believed it. We did everything we could to try to convince her that she had in fact eaten a lobster. But she wouldn't believe us. Then, after a long while, she said, "Oh, my hands are sticky from eating lobster." Sigh.

After dinner, it was latish, so we all went about getting ready for sleep. Not being particularly tired, I stayed up latish watching Lockout, starring Guy Pearce. Not a great movie, but fun enough in its way.

Today we are off to visit with elephants! Yippee! Tomorrow (Sunday) mom and I head back to Geneva (I hope the house is still there.). At least that is the plan.

Onwards to Thursday

The first part of my yet another day of freedom plan was to go to Seadog Brewing Company in Bangor, ME. Mom and I went a few years back - I wonder how many - maybe I can find the pictures on iPhoto...Probably not because I can't figure out a way to just click through all of the pictures! Anyway, we had a nice time, shared a lobster, I had a taster of all of their beers - I think they had fourteen on tap at that moment. I had decent memories of the place, but figured if I wanted to include it in my beer blog, which I did, I needed to revisit the place.

While I was eating and chatting with Holly the bartender and other people, I was thinking of things I like to do on my own. I realized that I enjoy going to the movies by myself. There are some movies that I like to see that I know that mom wouldn't want to. So I decided to go to the movies! Yay! The movie I chose was Man of Steel and it was playing at the Bangor 10 Multiplex. It wasn't too far - yay GPS! Tickets were $7 which isn't all that bad. I guess I missed the matinee. Or maybe that was the matinee price. Hmm. Didn't think to look. They had neat signs that showed when the movie was to start or when it started. Nice touch. I am going to admit that I am not a Superman fan overall. I much prefer the Marvel superheroes better - they have always seemed more human somehow. I did enjoy this movie, though. Despite Kevin Costner. I adore Amy Adams (who has been in movies and such since 1999 - who knew?!). And despite a bit of a frantic pace here and there, I enjoyed the story. Most likely, I will watch future installments.

After the movie, I decided to skip dinner at the house and to stay out latish. A teacher of Conducting who I chatted with briefly at Seadog suggested a Greek Bar and Restaurant called Kosta's located in Old Town (home of famous canoes) as a place with good food, good beer and good scenery. I couldn't resist. Plugged it into my GPS and away we went. Got there only to discover all the seats at the decent sized bar were occupied. Boo. I thought maybe after a walk about there might be a space, so I went and checked out a carnival that was happening in a nearby park. Not one ride that looked the least bit appealing (or safe) to me. Happy to have walked around it, just for the people watching opportunities! As I neared Kosta's again, I decided I was just going to head back to Black Bear Brewing Co. for their Thursday night music happening instead. The place is so teeny, I was wondering where they put the musicians.

I got there only to find that people were hanging out the doors it was so crowded. Not my thing at all. Luckily, I hadn't eaten dinner, so I went in search of food. Ok, not really a search, since I had pretty much determined I was going to eat at Pat's Pizza, right across the street. Good choice on my part! The food was great - I had pepperoni, artichoke heart and banana pepper pizza withe a Black Bear Gearhead beer. Yum! After dinner, I went back to the Taproom, caught Hannah's eye and told her I didn't like crowds and left. I didn't get back to my sister's house until almost 9. Yippee! But I was exhausted. A lot of driving, a lot of different experiences. Food. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open until 11 - starting this and three other posts. Sigh.

Let's Start with Wednesday

The other night I wanted to watch an action movie. I looked on Netflix and found Haywire which I started to watch. A) It was bad and 2) it was not running smoothly - which could have been because of any number of reasons. So I watched - or as it turns out - re-watched - Sahara starring Matthew McCouneghy (Ok, no idea how to spell that - Matthew McConaughey) Steve Zahn (an action star?) and Penelope Cruz. It took me a while to realize that I had seen it before. I think it was supposed to be a franchise starter, but it didn't happen. Fun but not great by any stretch of the imagination.

As for the day yesterday, yay! I puddled around the house until around noon, then headed back to Bangor. One of the nice things about driving all the way to Bangor - about an hour all together, is that I get to listen to my audio book. Right now I am listening to Seabiscuit. The author is sure showing off her research! But it is an entertaining and interesting story.

My plan wasn't too fleshed out - mainly to go to Geaghan's again, and this time try some food. I did. I had wings and onion rings. The wings were very good. The onion rings were ok - a little cold to start even, and a little doughy. The other food I saw come out of the kitchen looked appetizing. For a full post about Geaghan's please check out my Brewpubs and Wineries and Such blog. I had a lovely time chatting with my fellow bar inhabitants. All regulars it seemed from the banter between them and the bartender.

Since Geaghan's had wifi, I could do a little websurfing - just a little - because the battery on my laptop now lasts about half an hour when unplugged - to try to find my next destination. I had looked earlier and was sort of leaning towards Blackbeard's Amusement Center. That was to be followed by a visit to Black Bear Microbrew. And that's what happened.

First stop, Blackbeard's. My GPS took me there, but I didn't find it immediately - maybe because the GPS told me it was on the wrong side of the street. Or maybe I misinterpreted what it was telling me. It could have been user error. But I did find it. Way off the street and a very unprepossessing building. I went in and wandered around to see what all there was. As advertised, there were two mini-golf courses - one was closed - because there weren't enough people one of the staff told me. Batting cages galore. The fish pond looked a little worse for wear. The arcade room was not too exciting, though they did have pool tables and they had go-carts. I opted to just play golf.

There were a few groups already playing. The holes were not all that exciting but there were a couple that were challenging. Only one with a mystery funnel. Got a lucky hole in one on that! I also liked hole #13 that went through a cave. I was surprised it was a par 2! Eeek! I managed to play underpar for the whole round. Go me!

Off to Orono, ME to find Black Bear Microbrew. Found it, and they weren't open yet. Well, the doors were open, but the beautiful bartender Hannah was just getting things set up for the day. So I went for a wander about downtown Orono. Nice teeny little town. A pizza place, some other restaurants, some stores. But I was done in about 10 minutes. I am not a big shopper, so didn't go in any of the stores. There were still a few minutes till 4 when the Taproom opened, so I sat in my car and snoozed a bit.

I opened my eyes to find it was after four! Eeek! I ran the ten feet or so to the Microbrewery to find that the place was already almost completely full. Yes, it is really small. But a very popular spot. I had a lovely time tasting beer and chatting with all and sundry. Everyone was very pleasant and welcoming. Definitely a place I would hang out at once a week or so. The beer was pretty good - I especially liked their stout - as I normally do - though their Gearhead was my second favorite.

My visit was not a lengthy one because I had to get back for dinner. Juliet made white fish and I actually enjoyed eating it! Ok, enjoyed might be a little strong. It was good, though.

Long day, lots of excitement, yay vacation!!

Forgot to post this...

Having decided that I am not going to drive long distances while on vacation, what did I do yesterday? Drive middling distances. The fact of the matter is, everywhere is far from where my sister lives in Maine. So yesterday, after getting up slowly and not doing a whole lot, I went into town for lunch again. I went to the same place I went yesterday and did not have an optimal experience. It was ok at best. The food was tasty, but the poor server was swamped and so everything took longer than I had been hoping. Not that I had huge plans for after lunch. In fact, I had no plans for after lunch at all. But like most humans, I think, I want what I want when I want it. I had a decent hamburger and a hummus plate. I like the hummus I make at home better, but theirs was decent.

After that, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. So I got in the car and started driving. Heading Vaguely North and East for a while, listening to Seabiscuit on the CD player. Eventually, I needed to stop and noticed that I was fairly close to Bangor. That's where I headed. As I drove into town, I saw a sign for a restaurant and craft brewery. Honestly, I didn't have high expectations going in. It was a restaurant attached to a motel. And it looked teeny and I was sure that they probably farmed their beer making out to some other place, a la Custom Brewcrafters in NY. But I got a pleasant surprise! Yay! In fact, I plan to head back there today. A brewpub post will be forth coming. Eventually.

Then I headed back to my sister's house for a delicious scallop dinner, topped off by more Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Still yummy.

I keep thinking about money and life. I am pretty sure that most people don't really, truly want to be "rich." Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe most people want to drive around in diamond studded cars. And I would, when I am older (like tomorrow), like a chauffeur. Though a self driving car would take care of that need. I don't need a mansion. I don't need servants. I don't need to always fly first class - though why aren't all the seats on a plane first class? Or at least "business" class? Don't give me economics reasons, please. I know those. I just think that life and time are too precious to be made to suffer through coach class. Or steerage. What is most important in life? I don't think that happiness and contentment are overrated. Not the, let's sit and vegetate and do nothing sort of contentment, but inner contentment - comfort with oneself.

First Day of Vacation

A friend posted a graphic that said that if minimum wage had kept pace with CEO pay increases, workers at minimum wage ought to be paid $23 an hour. I got into it with a couple of people and am still a little ticked off about it. But instead of bore you all with it - I will start a blog about it in my political blog - which has yet to see a post be shared. Sigh.

Aside from that, vacation has been pleasant. Not scintillating or exciting. Yet. There is still most of a week to go. Mom seems a little better today - Juliet pointed out that she seems more anxious in general. I hadn't interpreted it that way, but she could be right. I will ask Paul this evening. I don't want to dumb her down or mellow her out too much - droolers aren't entertaining for anyone.

I went on a little expedition in the afternoon. Had a Maine beer and a Maine lunch - lobster roll. Yum! Had a decent chat with two people from Indiana who were also lovers of beer. They had never heard of the Flying Saucer. I don't have business cards just now, so they escaped getting one of those. I really need to get some more printed - once I figure out (again) what to put on them.

Then to the post office to send off another copy of Bar Dreams! That is two that I have sold this month. And one copy of Diary of a Plate Addict that I sent off earlier. Go me! At this rate, I will have sold all 300 copies of DP by, well, someday. And the fifty or 100 copies I have of BD about the same time. Aren't I the best selling author? Well, for Renotto Press, I am the best selling author! Maybe I ought to add that to my web site.

Next stop, Rite-Aid to buy bandaids for mom. I didn't realize that there were so many brands and so many varieties. My natural proclivity is to buy large quantities of various sizes - preferably with wild or funny designs on them. For me. Mom, on the other hand, I have to buy ones that are basically invisible. Sigh.

Last stop, Hanneford, the local grocery chain - kinda like Wegman's, Harris Teeter, that sort of place. Mid scale, some of everything, trying to be sort of aware of the environment and natural foods. Not a great beer selection, but I did pick up a mix pack of Maine beer - Geary's. Not great, but there is some variety. Yay.

This ought to go in my xBox post - which will never be finished - but I discovered something new to me on one of the maps that I have played truly countless times. Ok, not truly, but a bunch. Yay! The discovery makes me laugh and smile. A lot. Yay! For those of you who don't know, I do like to play xBox when I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing.

Dinner was, once again, yummy. Juliet made a cold chicken salad plate that was scrumptious. Topped off with strawberry rhubarb pie (not on the salad...)! Woo hoo!

Lastly, I watched The Giant Mechanical Man. I enjoyed the movie overall. Not as much as the time travel movie I watched the other night, but definitely watchable. I do enjoy a good off beat romantic comedy. Here's to happy endings!

Two, two, two posts in one (sort of)(not really)

Sorry for the lack of a post on Sunday. It was a driving day. And since I didn't do any packing on Saturday, when I got up, I spent the whole time doing that. For me and mom. I still forgot some stuff, but since we aren't in the middle of nowhere - oh, wait, yes we are - but somewhere is driveable from here - we can buy what we might be missing. Yay.

So, what did I miss? I mean, what did you miss? Besides me? And my face? And my charming, witty post? Saturday was a pleasant day, all things considered. Yay!

Most bestest about the day was going to a new-to-me ice cream place in Victor, NY. They served Perry's ice cream, forzen yogurt and sherbet and all that sort of thing. A friend and I met there. She had frozen yogurt, I had watermelon sherbet. Not as good as Mr. Twistee's but I managed to choke it down without biting any of my fingers too badly. After that, a nice walk through the city of Victor.

There is an owl hooting outside my window. How freakin' cool is that?

Nothing else too exciting happened on Saturday. See, so a post wouldn't have been all that easy for me to write - and hence, probably, not all that easy for you to read. I did make decent food - best part was spinach with onions and mushrooms - for dinner. Used up a lot of produce and leftovers and left the refrigerator mostly empty! Yay! Oops, except for a little bit of lettuce that will probably deliquesce while we are away. At least it won't be stinky.

Oh, one other Saturday night thing - I bought a collection of four Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies and played The Gay Divorcee (one of my favorites) for mom - she was thrilled. Yay!

Sunday was a lot of driving - from Geneva to Northport or Bayside-ish (where my sister and her husband live) is, according to my GPS about a 10 hour drive. Which is what it took - with four stops - coffee and breakfast for mom, lunch for mom, topping off the tank and rest stop with ice cream for mom. Not too shoddy. There was one bit of traffic - a sign said there was a 23 minute delay - so I told my GPS quickly that there was a detour and it took me on a nice side road that kept moving most of the time. Yippee!

Mom chatted the entire time. I mean, the entire time. Used to be that I could count on a couple of hours of silence when mom fell asleep, but not this trip. I tried feeding here and that didn't work. I tried to not respond, that didn't work. Yipes! But we survived it.

Juliet and Paul welcomed us into the sweet embrace of "the Maine house." Mom immediately wanted to play with the new kitten, but had to wait for almost an hour before she got to. She really wants a cat. Am I evil for denying her one? At this point, I really don't want to be responsible for more living critters around the house. Me and mom, plus all of the plants that she no longer remembers to water, are enough for me. I am sure a cat would be nice and all, but unlike a dog - which is even more work - cats may or may not been interested in being lap pets. Sigh. Damned either way, I am sure.

Dinner was delicious and I didn't have to lift a finger. Yippee!

Now, I need to figure out whether or not I really want to drive all the way to the NYC area for some friend visitations. If I had to leave today, I know I would not go... And I have not heard from many of my acquaintances begging to be seen. What is up with people nowadays?! Get out of the virtual world and take a minute to actually meet people in the real, physical world! Just sayin'!

Smith Day, mostly

When David asked me to work the Geneva High School graduation, I thought it would be a couple hours of work. Little did I know that I would have to be getting up really early and working really late. Luckily, there was time in the middle for me to get some stuff accomplished and to take a nap. Yay, naps!

I set two alarms on my phone - one for 7:05 and one for 7:35. I love that I can set an alarm on my phone - and it has so far worked to have me awake at the proper time. I rarely wake up to the alarm, though. My body wakes me up before the alarm goes off. Sometimes, sadly, much earlier than the alarm. Like yesterday. I woke up at 6:15. In the morning! Eeeek! Being a lad of the night, I really prefer the late night hours to the early day hours. Oh well. This time I got the early hours. My body knew what it was doing (sometimes we just have to give it a little listen). I woke up, worked on my blog, took a shower and finished my blog - all in time to get me to the church, er theatre, on time.

Upon arrival, I was greeted with organized chaos with no one seemingly in charge. Sigh. But everything got done - we got the video tested and helped with setting up for the graduation. I knew some of the kids from working on the musical earlier in the year. Some of them actually seemed to remember me, while others seemed to not see me at all. Whatever. Big class!

After the morning stint of work, it was back to the house for some lunch. Mom was still asleep, so I don't think she missed me too much. She was having a bad day, though. Repeating the same question about a zillion times. A very nice person purchased both of my books and I spent a few minutes getting a couple signed, personalized, packaged and mailed. Mom spent the whole time asking me who was buying the books, how did they find out about them, and saying that I was a productive person and she was impressed because she had never written a book, had she? I tried to answer all the questions as often as she asked them, and to try to bolster her self-esteem - a never ending task that doesn't seem to be successful - by telling her about all the papers she had written and the people's books she had edited. Fun stuff, here at Chez Schoen-René. After I got it together, I took it on the road and walked the three minutes to the Hobart Post Office. The postal worker added a yard of packing tape to the package. I think I should have sent it first class. Not because there was any personal correspondence in there, but because the last time I sent my books by media mail, they never got to their intended recipient. Hopefully that won't be the case this time.

Post lunch nap was great!

Eventually, I fed mom some dinner - all leftovers - continuing my efforts to remove perishables from the fridge before we leave for a week - she got salmon, broccoli and corn on the cob. As I was leaving, I pointed again at the big poster I created to help her figure out what channel she should turn to for what. Unfortunately, she paid it no heed and just sat and watched whatever PBS threw at her. Sigh. That is one of the problems I have with leaving so early (right at dinner time) is that mom is technically incapable of figuring things out on her own. She sometimes manages to change the channel on the tv. And she has been pretty good at figuring out how to turn the TV off. But I fear the time is coming where she won't even be able to manage those things on her own. Eeep. Tonight, I have movie offerings for her that might appeal. Not that I will be out and about tonight - I have to pack for us both for the trip to Maine.

The Graduation started with a hiccough. (What? When did it stop being spelled that way?) Well, before it started, I was amazed to see the mass of humanity waiting to get into the Smith. I managed to find parking and to squeeze myself through the throngs and into the theatre. I checked to make sure that everything was where I had left it and waited to start the slideshow. That is where the hiccup, if I must, happened. The video had no sound and froze half way through. Sigh. I tried everything I could to get sound back - David tried, Greg tried. Finally we just popped the disc, started it again, fast forwarded (very slowly) up to the point it froze, and it worked fine after that. Sigh. I hate windows machines (laptops and desktops, both, equally). I really, really do.

The rest of the graduation seemed to go smoothly. As did the striking of the sound equipment. The whole process, though, lasted a long time. I think we got out of there at 11:30 pm. I got home and was ready for sleep, though I did watch an episode of Warehouse 13 before resting my weary head. Love that show!

More Ramblings

Sleepy. Why am I up so early? Oh, right, to go work at The Smith. First, though, I need to shower and trim my beard - not in that order. I will do those in a few minutes. Or maybe more than a few. Depends on how long this particular blog takes to write.

Ok, all done. With the blog.

Nope, not really. Here comes the boring bits!

I brought the big pile of form feed paper into the living room for mom to see what we were dealing with. She was unimpressed - and mostly uninterested in ripping more paper apart. Maybe she will catch a wind of some number and do some. Or not. Doesn't matter to me either way. She did help out last night by husking six ears of corn. Four of which I think I forgot to refrigerate last night. Another thing I get to do before heading off to The Smith. The list keeps getting longer. Eeek! Mom wants to help with folding laundry. I am reluctant to let her after the incident last time. True, this time she hasn't had any coleslaw...

Jenny came and helped out around the house again yesterday. I think she is growing on mom. I do hope that she sticks around for a while.

Oh, Mr. Handy, me, has another project but hasn't done anything much with it yet. Somehow one of the chairs in the dining room got broken. I am guessing young feet, but I wasn't around when it happened, so don't know for sure. And no one mentioned it to me - just left the broken part of the chair lying around in the dining room. I didn't even know which chair was broken. Anyway, it will take a little bit of work to get it back together again. Nothing too laborious or challenging, but I will have to see if the wood glue is still viable. I can hardly wait! Though I probably will until after I come back from Maine!

Went out with David last night to Red Dove and all was apparently forgiven or forgotten or at least moved past. I didn't pay (David said he owed me for some uncompensated stuff at The Smith) so I don't know how the whole tax thing is working out. Still not sure I want to go back more frequently - but I might - we shall see.

Just hang in there - we might be coming up on some exciting, pithy posts. Or maybe not. Anything is possible...

A day of this, that and the other laundry

Laundry day! Gotta love it. I have not, as yet, ventured down into the depths of the basement to check to see if the dryer is functional. I will be pleasantly surprised should it actually work still. My lack of spelunking being the case, I haven't, as of yet, done more than a brief survey of what the washer world contains in the way of options. So, it was off to the laundromat for me.

It was quite empty - so, maybe Wednesdays will be laundry day going forward. Or have they already been "the day." I don't know. Once every two weeks do I do laundry? Does that seem about right? Three large loads (or four smaller loads) in two weeks. Too much? Too little? Just enough? While the laundry was, er launderizing, I went for a wander - to get some pills for mom from our lovely Rite-Aid and just a little walkabout of the mall. Such a beautiful day for walking around! Lots of pleasant scenery as well.

After laundry, I did some food shopping at Wegman's - which is always a fun experience. Most of the time. And then a quick trip to the library to pick up two more audio books. I am toying with the idea of heading to the NYC area while mom is in Maine with Juliet. It is a long drive - and I don't really have a place to stay, so I might not. But I am toying with the idea. I was sort of thinking to head down on Tuesday and back to Maine on Thursday. I can't remember if we are supposed to be leaving on Saturday or Sunday. Oh, speaking of which, I really need to remember to stop the mail for a week. And to remember that I can walk to the post office on Hobart's campus to do that! To get back to my original thought - I got the audio books in case I do end up spending a lot of time in the car by myself driving around.

Dinner ended up being chicken thighs with spinach and corn on the cob. Not too bad. I think I mostly have the menus planned for the rest of the week - I need to use up the stuff I have in the fridge so that little will go bad while we are away.

Leaf Kitchen was rocking for beer night! Ok, not really, but I had fun. And I had raspberries in my Brooklyn Chocolate Stout. Good chatting with all and sundry. A nice evening out. And about.

I was hoping to love The Bourne Legacy and, sadly, I did not. It was ok at best. I liked the two lead actors, Jeremy Renner who was in the Ghost Protocol and Rachel Weisz, but there was just nothing oomphie there. Most of the best action sequences were in the trailer for the film. Edward Norton did not instill in me the same excitement that he has in other movies in which he has appeared. Just eh. Well, got lost there for a minute on IMDB. What a great website! Or at least I think it is great. I just wish there were a link to Netflix on it - a one click - add to my list feature. Oh well, can't have everything. Or can we?!

Another Day, Another Movie

Not sure why, but I have been watching a lot of movies lately. Hmm. Like last night. I actually went to bed early-ish. Then I found myself in Netflix and looking for entertainment. And lo and behold, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol appeared on my list. I had seen it once before but it was long ago and I had forgotten most of it. Fun stuff, despite Tom Cruise.

Other than that, I took two long walks. One from the car place, one back to the car place. Since we are taking a road trip, I decided that it would be a good idea to get the car looked at. Dave's Car Repair always looks but doesn't mess unless something is really not happy. Like the tires this go-round. Not sure how they got all out of alignment and wonky, but I could tell they were not happy. Feel and sound when driving were causing me a little concern. All better now. And as Dave said as I was driving off - I am carrying precious cargo. :)

I do enjoy walking. And the walk from my house downtown and back is a pleasant one. Shady tree lined streets for the most part on the route I took. Mostly, I didn't see anyone I know. In each direction, though, at about the same place on the trip oddly, I did run into people. On the way back from dropping off the car, I helped a lovely young woman be assured that she was headed in the right direction and on the right path to her destination. I am guessing she is a new professor at Hobart. In the other direction, at the same point in the trip, I ran into David, who works at the Smith. We chatted for a while and then he asked if I could help out on Friday running a projection for a graduation. Of course, I can. He said he will send details. Yippee!

Dinner was hamburgers, tater tots, orange glop (sweet potato) for mom, baked corn and a large salad. Yay! What are we having tonight? I have no idea!!

Pot Pourri (or potpourri) today

Is it sad, weird or good (or all of the above) that I sometimes do things that are at once not necessarily the healthiest or best thing for me in the name of saving money and not being wasteful? In this particular instance, I am talking about using up old toothpaste. Mom went through a phase, while she was living alone, of buying a lot of toothpaste even though she didn't need anymore. Which means we have at least five or six tubes of it lying around. Mom is still doing a decent job brushing her teeth. And I brush mine. My preference, though, is tooth powder - no fluoride, healthy ingredients, in a teeny container that is recyclable. But in order to not be wasteful, I have just gone through my second tube of mom's unused fluoride toothpaste. So, which is this? Sad? Weird? Good? Hmm?

I just read an interesting article about Alzheimer's. It was trying to get inside the heads of both the caregiver and the afflicted one. I was just thinking about the issue of mom's fear of being alone - it isn't as pronounced as some people's apparently. She doesn't follow me around. Mainly because she is afraid of moving around - tottering on her pins as she says. Also, I was thinking about her quality of life. Am I spending enough time with her? Finding enough things for her to do? An adult day care might be beneficial - though the idea seems iffy at best, there doesn't seem to be one around here and it would probably be way too costly at this time. Sigh. She does get a little bit of not-me socializing when the aide, Jenny currently, comes to visit two days a week for two hours per visit.

Speaking of Jenny, she came yesterday and mom got showered and her sheets changed. Yay! I had thought to take mom out to dinner as a reward, but she was feeling anxious about it - so I brought Chinese food home instead. At the buffet, one of the girls followed me around and spoke Chinese with me. I think she can't get over the fact that I speak decent Mandarin. If I see her again, I will ask her if she wants help with her English. That worked out so well last time...

Saw a fun movie last night - not great but the kind of movie I love - Safety Not Guaranteed. Quirky, romantic, dark here and there. Good stuff. Definitely worth a look if you like dark romantic comedies. And who doesn't like dark romantic comedies?

Funny how things turn out

It is funny how things turn out. Yesterday, I was supposed to meet a friend in Victor, NY. We had been trying to figured out a time to meet and had landed on Sunday. Then, another friend, this one from Seattle, and her husband came to Rochester for a wedding (or two as it turns out). So we arranged to get together. Which put a kink in my plans with the first person - who, as matter of fact, was going to have a busy Sunday and would have rather rescheduled anyway. So we postponed - maybe till Saturday or sometime in July, whichever works out. So, yesterday morning, I got a call from my Seattle friends saying that they had a surprise second wedding to attend so that logistically it would be difficult to get together. From getting together with 3 friends to getting together with no friends. Oh well. Life is that way sometimes.

Since all that happened, and I was planning on having an adventure, I decided I would head out into the world and try a new-to-me brewery and perhaps a winery. I invited mom to go several times (several in this case being five) to each of which she responded with some variation of "you don't really want me to come." To which I responded basically "of course I would like you to come." Which resulted in her saying that she just wanted to stay at home. Which I interpreted to mean that she would rather that I stay at home as well. But that wasn't happening. So after I gave her lunch and saw that she had eaten most of it (except for a slice or two of apple), I headed out. Alone. Mixed blessing. Being alone means that I move at my pace and do what I will. Traveling with mom means traveling at mom's pace and trying to keep her as comfortable as possible - but then I don't have to worry about being back at any particular time.

One man's weed...

As I headed out the door, I saw this plant - which I am pretty sure is a weed - but the flower is pretty! Any one know what it is?

Out and about - my first stop was Finger Lakes Beer Company, located near Hammondsport (in Hammondsport?) NY. I am not going to blog about them in my brewpubs and such blog because they don't serve food. I did, though, have a nice time and if it were closer, I would probably visit there at least once more. There were a couple of beers coming that I would like to taste. Don't know if I will make the trek out there again, though. We shall see. A Watermelon beer and a yummy sounding scotch ale. The beers I did have, in a teeny, weeny tasting glass, were decent but not very inspired or exciting. The man serving the tastings was personable - an assistant brewer - which means he generally mostly does the scutwork - is going for an interview at another brewery in Ohio! Which is where one group of tasters was from. Another pair were from PA. At the FLBC, I picked up a flyer that listed all of the beer-centric places around NYS (not including NYC an environs). I think I have been to quite a few of them already. No surprise there, really.

They are growing some hops

$3 for a tasting of seven beers - or 8 or 9...

Next stop was the Arbor Hill Grapery which got its own post. The main reason I went there was the Beer and Brats part of the establishment (which also got its own blog post). Nice places, and probably worth another visit. Someday. And suddenly, it was late in the day. So I zipped home.

Originally I had planned for dinner to be at Friendly's. But that would have entailed a period of getting mom ready for an outing. So I opted to make a dinner from leftovers again - pizza for everyone, as well as corn on the cob and a big salad. Tasty and easy, just the way I like it most days!

Mom and I ate dinner and watched a new episode of Inspector Lewis on PBS Masterpiece Mystery. Yay! Don't know if mom followed the somewhat convoluted plot (it was a mystery, after all), though I figured out who had done it as soon as s/he was introduced. (See how I did that?!)

Lastly, after a long enjoyable day, I unwound with a movie. ParaNorman caught my eye on Netflix. Fun stuff - a little predictable, but it was a kids movie. Glad I stayed up to watch it!

There you are, a day that started off with one plan and ended up with a completely other plan. And what fun was had?!

Glutton for punishment

What a great phrase! I think it was something that my mom used to say. I don't know where she got it. Anyway, I think I do enjoy torturing myself, just a little. Not in a hair shirt, cat-o-nine tails sort of way. But in a - must-watch-every-episode-of-Doctor-Who sort of way. I was hoping that there would be a complete collected Doctor Who set out there somewhere. If there is, I can't find it. Anyone? The next best thing would have been to find them all on Netflix. Nope. But what they did have was 18 episodes (average of 4 shows per episode) with a bunch of the first set of doctors. No rhyme or reason that I could tell on how they chose what to put up, but I will admit to having watched them all. Finally. It took me a while. And I also must admit, that I enjoyed them! Yay!

A year ago, mom and I were on a major trip across the country. We had just landed in Boise, Idaho. I am, again, trying to catch up with my brewpub blog, but it is hard work: finding the pictures and dredging from my brain any recollections I might have about the different places. Sigh. Beer and memory, not always a great combination!

My friends Ellen and David are nearby for a wedding. Hopefully we will get together later today. I offered to drive them to the airport.

Finally finished Water for Elephants! Took me a long while as I was listening to it only in the car. Then I broke down, found yet another cd player in the house and put it in the kitchen so I could listen while I cooked and cleaned. Yay! So glad that the book was recommended to me. I did mostly enjoy the movie - but the book was, not surprisingly, even better. Makes me sad once again that I didn't try to join Ringling Brothers for a year or two long ago. Sigh.

Mom is bloodthirsty! Last night while watching Monkey Business, we were visited by a moth. Mom wanted to kill it. Rather she wanted me to kill it. I refused. Eventually, it came to rest on mom's ice cream container (she had brought it out to finish it) so I took it out and let the moth go free. Monkey Business was entertaining, but not great. A B&W from the 1952 starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers with a supporting role played by Marilyn Monroe. Who knew that Cary Grant could do a cartwheel?!

What do you do?

Or some variation on that theme is a question asked by many people of many people. Maybe they are being polite. Or maybe they are interested in just getting some information. But what the heck does it matter? "What do you do?" The question is asking, it seems to me in my defensiveness, how do you justify your existence in this financially focused world in which we find ourselves. Well screw that! Life isn't about what you do! It is how you live your life. What do you do? I live, breathe, read, write, play, ponder and none of that has anything to do with earning money. Life isn't about money. Ask the worms or the fire that consumes your flesh after you die. How much money are you taking with you when you die? How much happier were you that you worked at a job that, ultimately, was pretty pointless and meaningless? I have worked quite a few of those myself - and will probably work at more of those as I grow older. Right now, I don't really have the time for a "job." My job is to make sure that my mom has a decent quality of life in her waning days. Isn't that enough for anyone to be "doing?"

Maybe a better question would be - what are your creative outlets? Or do you define yourself as a human being and if so, how? Though, I, for one, tend to not define myself if I can help it. Definition smacks of judgement to me - and since I try to be accepting, this sort of sits wrong for me.

Interesting study I read about on Facebook - so it must be true - researchers found that just thinking about money makes people jerks. Which is why when I see someone write that they are looking for someone who is "independent" or "financially stable" on their profiles, I immediately click off of them. And if possible hide them.

On a completely other note, mom and I came to the same realization at about the same time - that she could easily take over the task of cleaning up the form-feed paper. It is fairly straightforward, fairly mindless and gives one a sense of accomplishment. Yay for all of that. Then again...she did one little stack and thought she was done. Then I watched her try to do some more. It was actually quite humorous. Not very quick or effective, but I did get a giggle out of it. Gotta find giggles where one can!

I had a plan yesterday. I did. And then it got a smidgen changed up by a call from The Smith. David wanted company and a little help with resetting the lighting for an upcoming show. I am glad he called. I do enjoy working on things at the Smith. And they are almost done with their air conditioning install! How awesome is that?! David and I hung out (a lighting joke) for about two hours getting color in the lights and doing some rough focusing. Yay!

After that, my plan continued on its merry way - with David coming along for the ride. Part of my reason for driving down Route 14 was to check on the progress of the new beer place (20+ taps) that is supposed to be opening soon. Two weeks ago they said two weeks to go before opening. Oops. Maybe they will be open after we come back from Maine.

In my on-going quest to go to all of the Wineries around Seneca Lake, I had decided that I would do at least one on Friday. White Springs Winery was the winner of the opportunity to impress me. Read my thoughts on my Brewpubs and Such blog, if you would be so kind...After that, we made a quick stop at Leaf Kitchen to visit with Cassie and friends. We each had a beer and then David headed off into the Sunrise (East) while I went into the Sunset (West) to get some groceries at Wegman's. When I got home I discovered that my wheat pizza crust was a tad moldy! Eeek! So I nipped that bit out and went on with my life.

Mom had salmon, asparagus and corn on the cob for dinner. I had pizza. We both had yummy food! Yay!

After dinner, mom watched Now Voyager. I didn't so I can't review it. She seemed to enjoy it, which is always a good thing.

Living between the lines

That is a phrase that popped into my head as I was sitting and thinking - meditating some people might call it - though I think that might be a bit grandiose for what I was doing. Anyway, I sometimes feel like I am, once again, sort of waiting for the next thing - the next shoe to drop. That doesn't mean that I am living in the future. Or in the past. I do think that I am living in the now. That being said, I am also trying to figure out the next thing that I want to do or next task I would most like to accomplish.

Maybe treading water is what I am doing. When I was in camp, many years ago, one of the swimming awards required one to tread water for a certain amount of time. Actually, different awards required different amounts of time treading water with different challenges. One I recall was having to tread water while holding your thumbs up and out of the water. The other was having to tread water while holding a five pound object - in my case a substantial rock. Did I mention that water and I are not friends? For me, treading water is not the most pleasant thing I could be doing - perhaps why I picked that as an analogy (is it an analogy? Or a metaphor? I get confused about those two things. Oh, and simile.) (I think it might be a metaphor - but am open to being convinced otherwise...)

What do you think of me going back to school, again, maybe for massage? I sometimes act as soon as I think of something - so I went online to look for massage schools in the area. Found one that I knew was there in Ithaca. Sent in an info request form and maybe 5 seconds after I hit "submit" the phone rang. Elena left a message (lovely voice) and also sent an email. Maybe they are eager for students?! I don't know - Ithaca is a longish way to go for classes...there is a school in Rochester as well. Both cost about the same. Where the money would come from is anyone's guess.

Well, Ithaca is out - their part time program is weekends from 9-5. That won't work easily. The other school has a night time program. Hmmm...

I forgot to mention that mom and I watched a movie together on Wednesday night. As I have mentioned previously, watching movies with mom is not always the best experience for me. This time, she sat fairly quietly and didn't worry that she didn't understand what was going on. I thought that it might be a good movie for her to watch - and it got good reviews so I thought I might be interested as well. We saw Silver Linings Playbook and I was entertained. I like Bradley Cooper generally. Jennifer Lawrence was decent. Great supporting cast - including Julia Stiles who I hadn't seen in a while (I have always liked her) and Robert Dinero who always adds energy to a movie. All in all, it was a good rent.

Life's a grind

I forgot one of the most exciting things that I did on Tuesday! Mom has stored coffee beans in her freezer - the one on the top of the refrigerator - now, if heat rises, wise is the freezer often on the top of the refrigerator? Anyway, they were in four containers and I condensed them to two. Then, I had the recollection of a grinding device that mom once had. Sure enough, there it was, sitting happily and quietly where I thought I remembered, with the other coffee paraphernalia on a shelf in the pantry. Would it still work? Yes! So, I ground up all the coffee beans and elimanated the last two containers, condensing all of the coffee beans that have been sitting around into one coffee container! Woo hoo! See, I actually accomplished something of note on Tuesday! Go me!

Looks like there are only twelve more boxes to sort in the alcove before it is emptied! Yay! I did one (the thirteenth) yesterday. And yes, more aggressive on the tossing of stuff. For me it is such a mixed blessing to let stuff go. Even if it isn't my stuff.

Also looks like we are going to Maine at the end of the month for a week! Not sure how much, if any, time off I am going to get, but it will be nice to have a change of scenery.

Leaf Kitchen re-opened after their break. Changing things up again, they have decided not to do table service, except maybe on the weekends. Their menu has also changed, focusing on their sandwiches and de-focusing their entrees. They still have good beer, which after all is the most important thing. Well, ok, not most important.

Things have slowed way down here at the Schoen-René household since Grace's departure.

Wake of the Flood

No, this isn't some homage to the Grateful Dead. The thought just occurred to me that Grace's visit was a bit like a natural disaster - not in a bad way - but in a force of nature sort of way. Good nature, not bad nature. More like a tornado than a deluge. And now that she is well and truly not here, we can begin to get back to our routine, which is a mixed blessing. It was great to have someone in the house with a different energy. Someone who was motivated and motivating. Well, we will just have to move forward under our own impetus.

Yesterday was a recouping day for me. For mom, who can tell? At first I had grandiose plans about all the things I was going to accomplish. Then, after being up for a little bit, really, really early, and writing blog posts for a long seeming time, I decided I really needed to sleep some more. So I did. For a long time. Eeek! I guess I needed it.

For lunch, I made mom some "yellow" glop as she calls it. It looks distinctly orange to me but I just can't correct her. I mean, it is sweet potato, after all. With a little butter and a little brown sugar. And her typical sandwich. I wish she was capable of letting me know what she really wanted for lunch. But she isn't. So, I keep making the sandwich. I added fruit and a few other items to my shopping list for later. 

Later came sooner than I expected. Part of me had forgotten about the foot appointment I made for mom, part of me hadn't - the part that set up reminders on my phone! So, we got dressed, mom in her clothes, me in mine, and headed off to the Podiatrist. They were all very nice. The podiatrist thought mom's feet were in good shape. She did some work on the nails, but said the scary one just needed time and it ought to be fine. I guess I will just check on it now and again.

After the foot doctor, even though as doctor visits go it was pretty non-traumatic, I decided we needed an ice cream treat. And, I had seen on the internet that Mr. Twistee had finally put grape sherbet back on tap! Woo hoo! Grape for me, cappuccino crunch for mom. Some yum for everyone!

I left mom in the car (overcast and cool) with her ice cream, which she said was way too much and she could never finish it and would save some for later, while I headed in to the store for some food shopping. I think I was gone ten minutes. When I returned, mom was still there but the ice cream wasn't. Which is about what I expected.

Back home, mom husked the corn without being prompted. Yay! I don't mind husking, or is it shucking, corn. But anything that mom can do to feel helpful and useful is to the good! Dinner was hamburgers, corn, tater tots and a salad, for which I got carrots, celery, green peppers, two kinds of lettuce and mushrooms. Yippee! Oh, I learned somewhere that the same trick for carrots works for celery. Keep them in water in the fridge and they will both be crispy! I can hardly wait! For so long, I have avoided celery and carrots for the limp factor. Now, I have achieved eternal crispiness! Huzzuh!!

All in all, a quiet, relaxed day. Did a little and moved forward a few baby steps. Who can ask for anything more?

Last Day of Grace's Visit

Great visit from Grace! Yay! I am so happy that she took me up on my offer to visit. I think mom enjoyed her visit, for the most part, as well! Yippee, even! Our final day was in many respects similar to the other days of Grace's visit: filled with rain! One day out of four was sunny for her. Sigh. Fairly representative of the weather here in beautiful Geneva, NY. Grace went out early, as is her wont, and did exercise-y things while I puttered on my computer writing blogs. The she came back and puttered around the house while I, er, continued to putter on my computer. Writing blogs. Eventually I looked at my phone and found a message saying that the aide was coming early, so I zipped out to the grocery store - which was surprisingly crowded for so close to noon - and bought salami (for mom's sandwiches) and fiber bars (for mom's, um, fiber...). And I went to the bank. Oh, and the post office. Saw several people that I knew out and about. I discovered that one of the bank tellers sews custom wedding dresses as part of her life. Another person is performing in A Chorus Line in Pittsford, NY.

Home again, welcomed Jenny the aide, who arrived just as I returned from the store and made lunch. Grace did such an awesome job on the kitchen, that I think Jenny was a little at a loss as to what to clean! Yay! Once she and mom got squared away, Grace and I headed to Syracuse to find something to do before her early evening flight. Our choice, the Erie Canal Museum.

I have always thought the Erie Canal, and canals in general, were pretty cool pieces of engineering and history. I would love to travel along one - either by its side on a bike or down it on a boat. Maybe one day. The museum was small, filled with interesting things including a packet boat! Grace played dress up and was surprised that the clothes were so small (yet many fit her...). Not a bad way to spend an hour or so.

After that, Grace was feeling a bit peckish, so we headed out in search of a place to nosh. We found Ryan's right down the street. If I lived in Syracuse, I would visit there frequently. 60+ taps of pretty good looking beer. Decent food - we shared a buffalo chicken salad. Nice staff, a pool table - not sure about wifi - but I think that if I were a regular they might give me the access code. This just might be the go-to place for me in Syracuse. I did discover that I have indeed done both of the brew pubs in Syracuse already. I wonder if I have written and posted about both of them. Hmm...

Off to the airport. Grace chose to be dropped (not literally) off so we got in our goodbye hugs and I waved as she headed into the airport. Little did we know that she would have such a long day of travel. I think she finally arrived back at home in her abode after 1 in the morning! Eeeek!

My drive back to Geneva was pleasant - listening to Water for Elephants still. Got back and headed out to get Ling Ling Chinese Buffet Food for dinner. Easy and quick and mom seems to enjoy it. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. Yay!

You all may have noticed that when something slightly adventurous happens around us here, I tend to be focused on that. When nothing much is happening except routine, I tend to be more reflective. Well, I have noticed it...Yay for variety?!

Grace the barber!

Who knew that Grace, amongst all her other interests, was also a closet hairstylist wannabe? Well, I had an inkling when she asked to braid my hair the first time on Friday. Then she dropped a hint by asking if she could trim my hair. Never being one to say no if it is in my power to say yes (without causing me pain), I said heck, why not. So, early yesterday morning, I lost a few inches of hair. Eeek! But it will grow back. Hopefully healthier and happier.

Somehow, in this house currently, it is something of a challenge to do much before noon. Well, that isn't strictly true. Lots gets done, just not "out of the house" stuff. Mom, for one, doesn't seem to be at her best before she has woken up naturally, and had some food (and for her, some coffee). I too like to awaken naturally like I did this morning. At 6. Ok, maybe a smidge earlier. I will probably take a nap at some point this morning. (I did. Yay!) Anyway, Grace pointed out that lots gets done before noon. And she is correct - we just don't get out of the house until after noon. This morning was no exception. I try to include my mom wherever and whenever I can. In outings, in innings, in conversations, in decisions. Yesterday was no exception. I tried to get her interested or excited in any sort of excursion. I had thought that Sonnenberg Gardens or the Corning Glass museum would tempt her to venture out into the great outdoors. Alas, they were not large enough draws. She opted to remain at home, recumbent. Which did mean that Grace and I were at liberty to do anything our little brains could conceive!

Amongst our options was a trip to Watkins Glen to visit Watkins Glen (State Park). I know I have done this before, but the last time was a loooooong time ago - at least 40 years. God, that always freaks me out a little when I write that sort of thing. Grace likes to exercise, so that seemed like the most bestest choice. After mom was fed and watered, Grace and I took to the road. The trip to Watkins Glen isn't that long. I am glad we went, as I wanted a refresher on just how many wineries there were along the road. The answer - lots. We saw one that Grace was interested in, so we made note of it for a possible visit on our return trip.

There was a line to get into the parking lot for the Glen. There did turn out to be enough parking - plenty actually - mostly nearest to the Glen entrance. Weird. Grace and I put on our sneakers and started our adventure. It really is a lovely place with nice trails and pretty views. We ended up going up one way and down another - up the Indian Trail - exploring our native American roots - and down the Gorge Trail (because we were full?). Lots of little twists and turns exposing different bits of nature. And it was heavily attended by people of all ages, sizes and shapes. We did our fair share of taking pictures of other people and had our picture taken once or twice. And no, we weren't on our honeymoon! All in all, a great hike - despite the heights that Grace whipped me into scaling!

But time was evaporating. I needed to get back to the Smith to run a movie. We did, though, make time to stop at a winery - an organic winery, that Grace had noticed. Nice enough little place, but I don't know that I will stop in at the Four Chimneys Winery again anytime soon.

The movie, From Up On Poppy Hill, was a Japanese animated feature about a young woman who falls in love. Nice story, decent animation - though the Japanese didn't, for the most part, look very Japanese. Not sure what that is about. Mom got confused (which isn't surprising because a) well, you know and b) it was a little confusing even to me) and Grace enjoyed it. If you like Japanese animation or pleasant romantic stories, this is a decent movie, for mostly younger audiences, I would think.

Dinner was a walk across the street into Pure, our only Indian restaurant here in Geneva. The faces there change, so I wasn't surprised to have a new-to-me server show up at the table. Kip was very personable and put up well with my "humor." We ordered two entrees, an appetizer, and naan. Everything was great. We all ate a lot and were quite content. Yay!

After dinner, we drove to Rose Hill for a quick look-see. Not all that much to see since it was closed, but still happy we went. It was, though, sad to see the state the building was in - needs a lot of paint, soon!

What a nice day!

Movie Pack Fizzle and another Day with Graceland!

I had what I thought was a great idea, but apparently, not so much. There are compilations of movies sold in 50 packs that are available. The movies are mostly second and third rate films, but there are some interesting ones sprinkled in amongst them. I thought maybe mom would be happy just to have new fodder to watch and would be happy watching them regardless of whether she knew them or not. Oops. Movie package fizzle. I told her one of the packages contained musicals. She said she loved Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (I mean, who doesn't?!). Well, there were two Fred Astaire movies in the package, so I put one of them on. She was unimpressed and suffered through it complaining only every other time I checked on her. Obviously she was underwhelmed. Sigh. I guess I bought them for me, now, because I looked through the titles on both boxes, and few things resembling well known movies leapt out at me. Life is that way sometimes.

Saturday dawned grey and wet here in Geneva. Not a total surprise, but I was hoping for a little sun. Still, the temperature did get up to around 70 I think. At least it didn't feel cold, which is great. I woke up and heard Grace puttering around in the kitchen. Little did I know that I would come downstairs to discover that she was on a cleaning mission. I don't think the place has been this clean for months at least. She even cleaned out the refrigerator! Wow! Some house guests you just don't want to leave! :)

We hadn't really planned out what was going to happen while Grace was here on vacation. We ended up discussing the options and chose two for our Saturday's activities: horse racing and the planetarium. Both were things that everyone (all three of us - me, Grace and mom) would, hopefully enjoy. Mom likes going to the track - this is the second time we have gone. I need to remember to bring her a pillow to sit on next time we go (if there is a next time) (not that anything bad happened, but life is uncertain at the best of times). Grace had never been, but she is open to new experiences.

After lunch, we headed to Farmington NY to see the ponies. I think it is a great way to spend some time. One is outside (mostly), watching the races is fun - especially if you put $2 into a bet - the food is ok, people watching is great, parking is free! We ended up watching 4 races, which is about 2 hours worth of time. I bet and lost on the first race, though my horse did come in second. Grace took over betting duties and really got into reading all of the information that was available. And she did pretty well with our bets. I think over the course of the day we came out $.70 ahead! Which is way better than not coming out ahead! I think Grace may have a future as a horse racing tout! :) I had neglected to feed myself any lunch, so I picked up some food - Grace said she was all set. Mom received a fish sandwich, which she seemed to enjoy and I had a tuna melt - with house made potato chips which were pretty tasty! How they get them to be so crispy and to stay crispy for a while is still mind-boggling to me.

After our racing experience, we headed to Rochester to the Strasenburgh Planetarium. Got there in plenty of time - especially since there were only about 20 people who were also there waiting to see a program. Before looking online to figure out what they had going showing, I was expecting an astronomical show of some kind. It is, after all, a Planetarium. But all the star and planet shows were in the morning and were aimed at little kids. Instead, the afternoon programs were all nature type movies. We saw Amazing Journeys - about migrations of animals. My favorite was the red crabs portion of the movie. Mom loved the Zebras the best. Grace liked the whole thing. I am still a little irked that it wasn't a star show. Oh well. Still enjoyable. And I have a renewed interest in going to see the Pink Floyd Laser show one weekend night. If I can find someone to go with, even better! Anyone interested, please send me a note!

We got home latish and Grace immediately started to cook! Can we keep her? We had talked about a Sweet Potato and Kale Gratin she had seen online. Early in the morning, she had gone shopping to get the ingredients. Talk about thinking ahead! Mom and I chilled, though mom did more than I to help by setting the dining room table. True, she set it for four, but that's ok. She took some convincing that there were truly only three of us. Dinner was delicious! Yay Grace!

After dinner, I put a movie on for mom - a British Comedy - which I think she didn't follow, but seemed to enjoy anyway. Grace and I went for a walk to Seneca Lake and then downtown, then the lake again and ended up at Microclimate for a quick beer for me (and nothing for her). My newest Facebook Friend was working behind the bar, so we got our Photo with Facebook Friend picture out of the way!

After getting back, mom was still feeling feisty, so I put on one of her nature shows that she and Grace enjoyed together. I went and played! Everyone had a good time. Slowly, people drifted off to bed. I eventually made it as well and ended up watching Immortals on Netflix before going to sleep. It was not awesome. Mildly entertaining is probably the best I can give it. Pretty darn gruesome and violent in parts. Ick. But my nightmares weren't too bad, so that's a positive, right?

All in all, a great day! Onwards.

Oh, for those interested, I am posting photos on Facebook.

Falling for the falls again!

In order to get to the church on time, er, airport on time, I had to, ick, set an alarm to wake up, just in case my inner alarm didn't work. The inner one usually does a decent job, but since someone else was relying on my existence, I didn't want to take the chance. I am lucky that I normally don't have to use an alarm and can sleep and wake naturally, as my body dictates. Yay! How lucky am I?! This works best when I actually do sleep, which, fortunately, is most nights.
Got up, got out and got on the road in a timely fashion. And on the road, I got to listen to more of the book, Water for Elephants. Yay! I think I am about half way through and I am enjoying it thoroughly. The drive isn't as long as I thought from here, Geneva, to there, Buffalo. The GPS (yay GPS) took me straight to my destination. I despaired a little because parking was going to be costly. Not super costly, but still, I am uber parsimonious. I really, really, really dislike paying for parking. Really. I wouldn't lie to you all. So I drove around the airport trying to think of ways around paying for parking, when the holy grail appeared - free parking if one parked for less than 2 hours! Yippee skippy! (Wow, I would have hated to have been named Skippy!)

As I was walking into the airport proper, I was reminded of just how much I love to travel. When I worked for Macromedia as a Sales Engineer and was on the road 80% of the time, sure, it was exhausting, but it was also exciting and, yes, I might say even exhilarating! I got an energy boost just walking in to the airport.

I didn't have to wait long for Grace's arrival, but as I did, I noticed that TSA has gotten new uniforms since last I was in an airport. And it still amazes me that we have such high security and restrictive/invasive practices for airports (like the full body scanners), yet as a country can't chose to get guns off the streets or feed our poor. (Oops, slipping up onto that soapbox a bit - maybe I need to actually get a political blog or two written. One more thought, though - why is anything related to a social issue thought to be a political issue? Or is that just me?)

From the airport we drove to Niagara Falls - about 20 minutes away. On our walk from the parking lot to the Maid of the Mist entry point, we saw a couple from India (I think that's what they said) taking pictures of each other - so, I offered to take a picture of both of them. They agreed quickly (I think they were hoping someone would offer). We found out that they were on their second anniversary vacation. Nice pair!

The Maid of the Mist was fun again! For those who don't know, this is a boat ride that gets close to the falls. Not as wet as last time when I came with mom - I think it depends on which way the wind is blowing or something. Next we headed to The Cave of the Winds where the cave is no longer available to the public. Still, a fun place - I think if I were to go again, I would have to go in my bathing suit. And I would have to wait for a hotter day. The power of the little bit of the waterfall that one feels at the top of the platform is amazing! One of the attendants told us that they take the platforms down each winter and rebuild them each spring! And we ran into the couple again and took more pictures of each other. Grace gave them her email address. I will be surprised if we hear from them, but pleasantly. I think their names were Shrikan and Shrilamsi. It was kinda difficult to hear over the rush of water...

Although Niagara Falls can be a bit on the expensive side, it is a pretty pleasant place to visit. It would have been even nicer if it hadn't been drizzling most of the time. Still, I think Grace had fun. I know I did!

Next stop beer and food. I am posting a beer blog later (after Grace leaves maybe?) - when I get the pictures off my camera - about the experience. Suffice it to say here that it was decent, not awesome.

The drive back to Geneva passed very quickly. Amazing how good conversation will make that happen. I had originally thought we would drive straight back to the house, but somewhere along the way I agreed to go into the Smith for a little bit to tidy up some ropes that were causing Kelly (the leader of the organization) some safety concerns. At least Grace got a self guided tour of the Smith. Maybe when I show the movie on Sunday, she will let me show her around a bit.

At home, I had no idea what to do to feed mom. She had survived the day on two yogurts, some chicken salad (at least two helpings) and heaven alone knows what else. I really don't like to leave her alone in the house for that long - almost 12 hours - but I did call to check in a couple of times and she did seem to manage ok. Grace and I had the same idea at the same time - that mom could feast on our leftovers from the pub! Yay! Problem solved. Neither Grace nor I were particularly hungry - she had some nuts and I later had some potato chips to tide me over till the morning. She was more exhausted than I, so went to bed at 8. I stayed up till midnight or so, playing and starting work on blogs. Hey, these things don't always write themselves, you know!

So, was that a good day? I think so! And today is another day. Huzzuh!

Got 'er done

It was another busy day - all day. And then today was pretty full too. Yay.


Wait! What? You would like more information? From l'il ole me? Well, ok, just this once.

My goal for the day was to get the house into some semblance of readiness for my guest Grace's arrival. And in the fullness of time, I did get everything accomplished. Though it took me until almost midnight. Mainly because I am slow.

First on the list was to get everything that could be easily gotten moved, out from the rooms that Grace was going to choose from to sleep in. There were two, with different amounts of different stuff to be moved. There was a little oreck vacuum cleaner and iron and assorted stuff in one. Some foam rubber, some hangars and a suitcase in the other. As well as some boxes of mom's stuff from the alcove in the study area. I toted what seemed like endless bales, er, boxes but did eventually get everything in its place.

We had to take a time out for things like lunch, the aide's visit and an eye appointment for mom. The eye appointment was at a satellite office of the Canadaigua office that we went to most recently. Unfortunately, since they have a smaller staff, our wait was longer, which wasn't fun. It did give me time to take care of finding another projectionist for this weekend for The Smith. Yay. Later that evening, around 8 I think, I went in and trained him for an hour on what needed to be done.

We did get to finally see the eye doctor, who said that mom's eyes looked irritated. Very helpful. She gave us a lot of samples of glop to put in them, but I am going to put off trying to use them until it is clear that the artificial tears we have won't suffice. If mom says her eyes hurt, I remind her to put the drops in. Hopefully that will work. As a treat, I stopped at Mr. Twistee and got mom a dish of cappuccino crunch. She likes it.


Dinner, then the training at the Smith and then back to finish up the two rooms. I finished making both beds, as well as doing dishes, making some chicken salad for mom's lunch for today, taking a shower and, hmm, something else productive. Can't think what it could have been just now, but whatever it was, I got 'er done! Yay! Sleep was a good thing, 'cause I got up early this morning to drive to Buffalo!

Fixing a hole...

If you are tired of reading about my days, I can't really blame you. Though, you must admit, I do sneak in a bit of drama, perhaps a soupçon of humor, a dollop of philosophy and who knows, maybe a scintilla of ultimate truth. Ok, maybe not. It is just a blog about life. And such...

And such was life yesterday. Again, I didn't sleep well. But I managed to get enough sleep that I made it through the day. Yay! Making it through a day is a good thing. The weather was still cool here in beautiful Geneva NY, so I grabbed a long sleeve shirt out of my closet. Turned out it was one I hadn't worn in a long time - maybe as long as since I first got it in 1996 - that's right - 17 years ago! Eeeek! Time flies as one becomes more ripe. 17 years ago, I was working for Macromedia in San Francisco (I really hate it when people call it San Fran - don't know why, I guess I am just a hater at heart) and we were "Shocking" people's web experiences. I was a presenter at the tradeshow and had a great time. Met one of my future ex-girlfriends there. This shirt brought back a lot of memories for me. Mom recognized that she had never seen it before. Still amazes me what she remembers and what she doesn't.

I spent part of the morning figuring out what I needed to do that day and what I needed to do the day after that, which would be today. I still haven't figured out what I need to do today, but I did do what I figured I had to do yesterday. Or at least I did what I did yesterday...

Lunch got served early-ish so that I could get everything done that needed to get done. Like more errands. This time, only a few. More pills for mom - sadly, my Favorite Pharmacist wasn't there. And more laundry. I did one load of laundry, a teeny load, comprised mostly of vomit tainted things from yesterday's mishap. The funniest part of this was finding all of the little green puff balls that used to adorn the bottom of the stool cover. I recovered about 10 of them - but from a cursory glance at the cover, I didn't really miss them. Yay! While the laundry was launderying, I walked to Tops to get a few groceries. Wegman's was working on their dairy section, so I didn't get any yogurt there yesterday and I rightly guessed that Tops would not also be working on their dairy section. Yogurt for mom! Rah! Gotta keep her fed as long as she has an appetite! On the way back from Tops, I passed my favorite Staples employee on a smoke (ick) break and complimented her on her engagement ring. She waggled it at me again and seemed happy to be engaged.

Back home again, I folded up all the laundry that had been hung around the house, creatively, I must add (like over my door, and in the red room, etc.) as well as the most lately washed stuff and distributed it and the laundry that had been folded yesterday. Then I did some work in the study, moving boxes in the ongoing excavation of the alcove. I think I dug out all the boxes that contained old mom stuff. Yippee! Baby steps.

Oh, I took a minute to install the hook in the back entry way - the one I mentioned yesterday. Got out my electric drill, made a pilot hole and screwed the hook in. Mr. Handy strikes again. That wasn't so hard. Then I carried a metallic desk from the 40s (I think) down to the depths where it will reside for the rest of time! Bwahahahahahahaha!

Before I knew it, it was dinner time - we had to have it a bit early in order to get to the Smith for me to show a film. Speaking of which, there is a bit of a kerfuffle this weekend because there are four showings of a film and no one is available to cover them all. I have reluctantly agreed to do one, because Grace was gracious (I mean, you would expect her to be with that name) enough to agree to come and sit through it.

Last night's movie was Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. I have seen it before - in a classroom situation. It was cool to see it in a theatre on the big screen! Decently attended, there were some kids in the audience who were, surprisingly, quite tickled by it! I heard them laughing from where I was perched up in the balcony! Mom thought it was too long at 87 minutes.

After getting back, mom had ice cream and stayed up watching TV for a while. I played a little bit and then watched Pitch Perfect, which I had forgotten had arrived. I am glad I decided to watch it. Sure, it was like Bring it On (again and again and again) and Glee and any number of freaks and geeks triumphing in the end movies, but I love those. Lots. Good music, pretty scenery, what's not to like?

Oh, I forgot, I took myself off of POF for the time being. I am still on OK Cupid. (Both are dating sites.)

Busy, busy day

Today was a full day and I was running on half my typical sleep - 3 hours instead of at least 6. Sigh. I don't know why exactly I couldn't sleep. But that's ok. More awake time is more time to get things accomplished. I find I accomplish little while I am sleeping...

Got up way too early and stayed up, working on a couple of blog posts. One eventually got posted - the other - about Trust - may never see the light of day. We shall see. After that, the day started in ernest. Lunch for mom and me, then I moved a few boxes and some furniture around. I achieved my major goal for the alcove in the study - I got pa's portrait re-hung. Yay! I also started pulling out boxes that contain only mom stuff that aren't getting sorted this go 'round - mostly boxes filled with mom's teaching stuff - and put them aside for later delivery to the attic.

While brushing my teeth, I had a realization that I really need to do some more cleaning before my house guest arrives on Friday! Eeek! My bathroom has seen cleaner days. And the two bedrooms she gets to choose from could do with some work. Sigh. None of that got done today. But the realization was there - so some of it might get done tomorrow.

After lunch, I headed out to run errands and do the laundry. First stop, Protective Services Office in downtown Geneva. Mom's handicapped parking permit was set to expire at the end of the month. What an easy, no hassle thing to get renewed! Stopped in, the person behind the window asked me a couple of questions and presto! another five years have been added! Huzzuh!

Next stop, the hardware store. My Handy wants to be at it again. A couple of years ago we had the back entryway replastered. The work was never finished - the contractor had another job, left and never returned. The good thing is he never charged us for the work. The bad thing is, well, the work was unfinished. One of the things that didn't get done was the replacement of a hook that allowed a screen door to be secured in an open position. I didn't find the hook easily when I went to look for it and it isn't like we go through that door a bazillion times a day. More like once a month or so. Still, on the occasions we do go through there, and the door needs to remain open, it would be nice to have the hook back. So I decided to bite the bullet and find a hook and fix it. Hence the trip to the hardware store. A hook was easily found and I plan on fixing the dang thing today! Yay!

Onwards to the library. Mom wanted some books - eeek - that she had been looking for in the house but hadn't found. Big surprise there. The books in the house are getting more and more shuffled around. I really need to get them organized, but it is pretty far down on my list. I also feel a bit of trepidation around books from the library after one went missing for a long time - the library forgave the fine, but it was scary! I don't like losing things in general and I especially don't like losing something that is someone else's. We shall see what happens with these.

Last stop, for the time being, was laundry. I had three baskets full. Lots of sheets. And clothes of course. While laundry was laundering, I took my leave of the laundromat and headed to Staples to turn in recycle printer cartridges! Margaret was there and helped me - and told me she was engaged - nice ring! Sigh. I think she is great. She even took a typewriter ribbon cassette thing and credited me for it!

Laundry done, zipped home, hoping for a little nap of maybe half an hour - at least that is what I imagined. Mom volunteered (ish) to help fold. I was sitting in my room, getting ready to lie down when I heard mom coming down the hall at a rapid (ish) pace and then some weird plopping sounds and then clear vomiting sounds. Poor mom!! She was not a happy camper. I don't know if it was the coleslaw or what - maybe just the heat of the room at the head of the stairs combined with having to do so much twisting to fold the laundry. She just got sick. Luckily, most of it went in the toilet. Still, there went my half hour nap. And I think I need to go back to the laundry again. I really want a washing machine in the house. Maybe that will be my capital investment next time we have a windfall. If there is a next time for a windfall. The dryer has probably died, but I won't know until I get brave enough to walk around the corner in the basement and check. A dreaded (and easy) task for another day.

So, no nap. Instead, it was off to the grocery store to get a chicken and some other necessities - like fiber bars, a sweet potato and soda water. I needed to cook in a shortened manner - as I was heading to Ithaca after dinner. On the way out of Wegman's I ran into Cassie who works at The Leaf. The Leaf is currently on hiatus for a week or so. We chatted for a longish while. Sweet person - very chatty! Got home, cooked up the sweet potato, heated up leftover vegetables and divvied up the chicken. Not a bad dinner - and quick and easy. Watched the rest of the news with mom and then set her up for the evening - she loves NCIS for some reason. And then I headed to Ithaca.

A friend there suggested a waffle place. I don't think it has been open long - at least I don't remember it from my last visit - which was, hmm, last summer perhaps? Yummy waffle, good conversation. Who could want anything more? Well, I could, but...I got to listen to my book - Water for Elephants - while driving in both directions. Yay.

Got home, puttered around on the computer, watched an episode of Doctor Who (with Peter Davison - the most lackluster doctor ever!)(With three of the weirdest companions ever) before closing my eyes and forgetting the world. Yay sleep!

Are toe nails supposed to look like that?

I did not choose to follow in my brother's footsteps and become a nurse. (One of his 5 degrees, I think - let's see - BA, MBA, CPA, RN - nope, only four - though I could be missing one or two or three...) Though, you know, I did toy with the idea of Chiropractic, Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, psychology and sonograming. Anyway, choosing to be mom's primary caregiver I see and saw (Marjorie Daw) my duties and responsibilities as being a facilitator, bill payer, cook, chauffeur and general helper. I did not want to help her shower - which the aide does - or cut her toenails or any other body maintenance. Not that I am particularly squeamish - just not what I enjoy doing - and yes, I do believe life is supposed to be enjoyed - even the unenjoyable parts. So yesterday, when the aide told me that one of mom's toenails was not able to be cut, I took a look. Eeeek! Looked like a rhino horn instead of a toenail. I cleaned some gunk out, always a yummy undertaking, and took my clippers to it - eventually getting some of it cut off. I then proceeded to set up a podiatrist visit for her for next week. Yippee!

Meanwhile, in other news, I am engaged in a second round of sorting of the boxes in the alcove in the back study of the house. I put most of them there early on in my tenure here in Geneva. Back when I had vague notions that mom might actually be able and willing to go through boxes I had culled for her. I think the willingness is there on her part - but not the ability. So, this time through, I am making much more drastic choices - not as drastic as could be made - I am keeping anything that smacks of correspondence for instance, but still, letting go of a lot more. I am also keeping many of mom's teaching materials. Again, not because she will actually look at them - but she might. Probably won't, but might. I plan on putting boxes of mom papers up in the attic in the same room where her mom's papers (that have not been looked at in more than 20 years I don't believe) are stored. And culling out anything that might be important. As well as lots and lots of blank note cards, pads, padlets and things like that. Fun times! Only 20 boxes to go through and the alcove will be emptied! Though the interim goal of being able to rehang my father's portrait in there ought to be accomplished tomorrow perhaps!

Mom caught cold somehow. I am leaning towards a potentially infectious tangent starting with small ones who recently visited. Just a hunch. Though of course she could have picked it up on one of the outings she went on with Karl and the kids...Luckily I have a more robust immune system and have not come down with anything. Yet. Then again, I didn't really interact with the kids all that much.

Creative Mistruths

Yesterday would have been a good day to lie to mom. Ain't hindsight grand? She asked me what I was doing and I told her - a little too honestly - that I was sorting and throwing stuff away. She latched onto that like a sucker fish! "Not my stuff" "Not stuff I will miss" "Not anything that is mine"
"Isn't there lots of stuff in the alcove that is mine?" I tried to point out to her that I had put most of the boxes that are in the alcove in there - and that I was doing my best to not throw away anything that she might think was important or valuable. What a can of worms I opened on myself! Kind of like a can of whoop ass - but mental in nature. It would have been better to prevaricate or obfuscate (I am better at the latter). Perhaps tell her that I was cleaning something else, somewhere else. Or basically anything at all that didn't make her start to worry about things she might miss. Sigh. And once again, it is proven true, that logic does not work well with people with dementia. Pointing out that if she hasn't missed it for two years (or more like 15), she is unlikely to miss it at all, ever, just didn't make the impression I had hoped. Oh well. Maybe she will have forgotten about it by the time she wakes up today. Fingers crossed.

Rubbish day! (And no, it was not a bad day - just, well, read on...) I try not to put the rubbish out at the road too frequently. Yes, I am oddly parsimonious. The garbage (pronounced in a faux French accent) company charges for each time they pick up - not so with recycling - one flat fee for the month ($3 and change), so I aim to put rubbish out once a month. Or less if I can manage. Easier to do in the winter, odorifically speaking. This time, though, I miscalculated and had a large, very large, load of stuff. Eeek! I hope they don't charge per bag...

Watched The Scarlet Pimpernel with mom last night. I rented it from Netflix for her. I figure that older films might be easier for her to follow and to understand. Fewer nuances, more straightforward storytelling. I have seen this version, Leslie Howard 1934 (I think), once or twice before. I am sure mom has too, though of course it was new to her last night. Sadly, it was tougher for her to follow than movies have been even in the recent past. Sigh. We got through it ok and I didn't have to pause the movie. I don't know how much of what I tell her actually sinks in. Cognition is a weird thing to begin with, how much weirder it must be with a disease added into the picture!

Today is another day. Yay!

Huge Job

It has been a while since I did this job before - ripping off all the perforated edge bits and then tearing sheets of paper apart - and it is a huge job. I will have touched every single sheet of 2500 pieces of paper. Eeek. I am about an 8th of the way done and the end is a  really long way away. This task, though, is a perfect example of what can be accomplished a little bit at a time. I know that eventually it will be finished. And when it is complete? On to the next task. Yay!

Not a wild Saturday by any stretch of the imagination. Then again, few days are actually "wild" around here and in my life. Interesting, some are. But wild? Rarely.

This particular Saturday was pleasant. Most of it was spent puttering in the study - I have gotten it mostly cleaned out! Yay! It feels a little weird to turn around and discover that I actually am not surrounded by crap! I could almost do a Sun Salute in there - without the jumping bit - where did the jumping bit come in? Whatever. My next goal is to clean out the alcove - enough so that I can re-hang pa's portrait in there. I am thinking that will take me all week - but we shall see. Sometimes these projects can take as long as I think - sometimes less, sometimes more. My motto and my credo (are those the same thing? Google, tell me the answer...well, they are similar - though credo has a religious overtone...) is to under promise over produce. An example: Sure, sir, I will have that report to you by Friday at noon. (In one's mind you calculate that it will be easy to have it done by Thursday noon.) Hand it to him when complete - either Thursday noon or Thursday before you leave work. Bask in the glow of his surprised utterances of gratitude. Much better than overpromise and under produce, which seems to be the norm. An example: I'll call you tomorrow. A call comes two days later. While you are sleeping. Sigh. Did I mention that I hate the phone?

I also cooked dinner - tacos. Yum. With sour cream, salsa, taco sauce, lettuce and cheese! I wanted a Mexican like meal, so needed beans. Made steamed green ones. With butter and garlic salt and pepper. I had to make the meal and then head out quickly to The Smith to show a movie.

The movie was Blancanieves. Hmm. Not a movie I would have gone out of my way to see, but interesting and entertaining all things considered. It is a Spanish movie inspired by the Grimms story of Snow White. Made as a modern silent film, set in the early 1900s and centered around bull fighting. The biggest drawback of the movie - there were only 6 dwarves! What the heck is that about? (There was actually a little joke about that in the film.) It has gotten great reviews and as I said, it was a good movie. Just not one that I would have ever thought to see. Glad I saw it though. And it was, for the Smith, decently attended.

See, not a wild Saturday. Pleasant indeed, though! Off to make Cole Slaw!

Darn Coffee Mug Handle!

I don't know if anyone recalls my frustration with the handle of my mom's coffee cup always ending up facing away from me when I heat it in the microwave. Well, I had another one of those flashes - perhaps if I put the handle in facing away from me, it will end up facing me. And so far, it is working!

Handy Augustus fixed his bed! Hopefully for a little while at least...You would be proud of me - I was quite handy yesterday. The bed I have, I have had for quite a long time - 20 years maybe? No, can't be that long - 16 years perhaps. Anyway, it has a few little issues. The main one being that the metal "slats" that hold the box spring up (and hence the whole bed) tended to slip and fall leaving fewer and fewer slats to support the bed. (A little side note about the box spring. I got this bed when I was living in NYC for a year - I think in 1997. The store delivered it, only to discover that the queen sized box spring couldn't be gotten into the apartment (third floor walk-up). Apparently they were not surprised or flustered by this turn of events and produced a queen-sized box spring that was composed of two smaller box spring units. Yay! Easier to move for sure. The one problem is that if not supported, the bed tends to wilt a bit in the middle, which is disconcerting to say the least...) This eventually necessitates pulling the whole thing apart and putting it back and starting the process over again. I had tried several times in the past with no luck to figure out ways to keep the slats up. Well, yesterday, I had had enough. So I went to the hardware store (avoiding Wal-Mart) (and all large chain stores, actually) and bought little bolts, washers and nuts. Came back and secured the slats for good! Yay! Hopefully. (I borrowed this (mostly) from a note I wrote someone - yes, I know how to copy and paste - why not reuse decent verbiage, hmm?)

Great sorting day yesterday - next step, clean out the study. I spend a good bit of time in the study and it is really cluttered and a little claustrophobia inducing. First step was to take all of the empty boxes that had accumulated in there in the past 6 months out to the front porch. I broke a bunch of them down for recycling and will probably do the same to more of them. It feels great to have them out of the study. Next I went through a tub/pile of stuff that I had put aside for later sorting. Let go of more of that, found some interesting things to keep and made some more room in study. Yay! Next, I want to move the electric typewrite, the electronics (like mom's iMac) and a desk out of there and probably onto the porch for the time being. That is part of today's effort. My longish range plan is to work on the study alcove next. Eeek!

On a side note - I came across a second box of paper from my brother Karl. He gave this to mom I don't know how long ago. It is paper that was designed for use in printers that needed feeding perforations in order to work. Not much use in this day and age. So one of my little side projects is to strip off all of the feeder perforations and to separate all the pages. Not a glamorous project - but mindless and rewarding.

Owie! Yes, I have another odd owie. On my left arm there is a tender spot that is also puffy. I am hoping it is just a critter bite that will soon go away and not a harbinger of greater doom. That would suck.

While out and about getting the hardware (which was quite expensive actually) for the bed, I also went food shopping. And that led me to the idea of getting mom (and me) some ice cream from Mr. Twistee's. They only had orange for their Sherbet (rhymes with hermit) so I got grape frostline for me and cappuccino crunch for mom. She was almost beside herself in happiness. Gotta love that.

Speaking of mom, I am trying to spend more quality time with her. I know that she is lonesome a lot of the time. I also know that it is tough for me to spend a lot of time with her. Not because I don't have the time, but because time spent with her is often sad and frustrating. Sigh.

Last night, I decided to watch Transformers Dark of the Moon - also known as Transformers 3. It was not terrible. Lots of action. Not the biggest Shia LaBeouf (had to look that one up) fan. And I was sad that Megan Fox wasn't in it. The replacement woman was pretty - but had a weird thing going on with her lips, I thought. Only watch it if you like one of the actors or if you like the Transformers in general. Not sad I saw it, but will not be seeing it again. Ever.

Lastly, but not leastly, I started adding wineries to my brewpub blog. Now I just need to make a concerted effort to get out to the many wineries in the area. Maybe I will start next week. Monday even. Are wineries open on Monday? I will find out!