Toilet Paper Butts

My mom has cut down on her paper product usage quite a bit. Yay. Still prodigious are the amounts she goes through, but lesser so. Huzzuh! When she goes through toilet paper, she often gets down to the end of a roll and then ignores the poor thing. So I have taken to snagging what I have termed toilet paper butts and using them in my little bathroom (because it is smaller than the big bathroom)(and it is fairly small - not teeny apartment in New York Small, but not expansive by most definitions of the word). Go me.

I had a weird dream (are they any not weird dreams?) about losing my shoes on a train to Berlin. So I asked for help from a police person. I was speaking mostly German with a little bit of English thrown in here and there. Then, just as we were about to start actively looking for my shoes, the conductor walked in with them and gave them to me. And said something in English about not expecting a lot from people with terminal cancer. I thanked everyone profusely, but in Mandarin until I realized that they all had no idea what I was saying, so switched back to German. Then it was off to explore Berlin with a digital SLR. Fun stuff. Time to go back to sleep for a little bit.

So, tomorrow is the anniversary of my birth. Yippee? I have no plans. And no one to do anything with. Boo hoo. Actually, I am ok with doing this for and with and by myself (for the most part - I know that even islands are part of a greater whole). Unfortunately, I didn't do anything about getting someone in for respite. I just can't get my mind around it yet somehow. I will, though. I have 60 hours to use in a couple of months. Eeeek! Anyway, I was planning on getting a massage - but have not done anything about that yet. Other than that, no exciting plans. Pizza and wings for dinner, probably. And maybe an artichoke. 

Part of the reason for my lack of motivation to do anything is because I am going to have to run the show the rest of the week, as my "staff" all were too busy to work. I really need to find a good deputy. Someone who could even take over for me if I were to change jobs. Finding someone I trust enough to do that hasn't proven easy.

Aha! I have booked a massage with an unknown (to me - I am sure someone knows her somewhere...) masseuse for tomorrow afternoon. Pizza and wings for dinner for sure. And that is the extent of my birthday plans. Oh, and to try and not do one single solitary thing for the Smith. That would be novel.

Great - beer made me sick again. Sigh. I had some Sierra Nevada and suddenly had the urge to perform reverse peristalsis. Crap. Good thing I enjoy throwing up now and again. Sad that it is the day before my birthday. We will see if leftovers and some other beer has the same effect. I hope not...

My life is now complete. Again. Still?

I have seen Taylor Swift's belly button! Ok, she made this big thing about never showing her belly button - ever. Then she had a picture taken of herself wearing a bikini that exposed her navel! Eeek!! I don't think my life will ever be the same...

Yesterday, I was minding my own business, noticing that it was almost time for the movie at the Smith to start playing, when I got a call saying that my projectionist hadn't shown up. Why are they telling me this at 7:25 pm? Why didn't they tell me before that point? When I threw on some shoes and hustled over there - I live 5 minutes from the Smith by car - the volunteers told me that they hadn't noticed that there was no projectionist - despite there being no sound from 6:30 to 7:00 and then no pre-film slideshow from 7:00 until when they noticed. Grrrr. And grrr for my projectionist who forgot to add the assignment to their calendar. I started the movie, told the volunteers and a person I knew in the audience to call me if anything went wrong with the movie. Nothing did. Yay. I came home and played for a bit before heading back to the theatre to turn everything off and put out the ghost light and lock all the doors. The only thing that made up for this was getting to have a beer out at the Red Dove.

I actually had a nice, though brief, time at the Dove (or the Squab). Chatted with some prominent Genevans and one of my favorite bartenders. The beer I had was a Naked Dove Scotch Ale. I generally like Scotch ales - though something salty would have been nice to have with it.

Before all this, though, it was Pizza night!! Which means that I got a slice of pizza and mom got stuffed shells. We shared onion rings - Cams has delicious onion rings.

One of the things I have done for mom was to buy paper toilet seat covers. Unfortunately she is unable to use them anymore - a combination of a lack of dexterity and a lack of understanding how they function. So I get to put them down for her. And if I don't, well, she isn't happy. So, they are a mixed blessing. At best. Today, I think I need to look at adult diapers or depends or something. Maybe start with light pads. I bought her a lot of thicker pads, but she doesn't remember how to use them, and she put at least one in the toilet bowl. Eeek!

Fear of feeling fearful - is there a phobia of fear? Phobophibia.

I hope, that as I age, I maintain a modicum of fearlessness. My mom is afraid of everything - including everyday stuff - like breathing and walking and, well, everything. I don't know that I would be able to live in a such a constant state of fear...

My right ear is blocked again. Poo. I will adjust or it will get better or both or neither. Grrr.

When I first came to take care of my mom a few years ago, she was pretty autonomous. Now, I am a little worried to leave her alone for more than an hour at a time - maybe two or three depending on the day - but four makes me really anxious. And I can't really tell her where I am going as a) she just forgets and b) gets anxious if it is someplace new. OK places for me to be going are: grocery shopping and The Smith. So if I am headed out for whatever reason, I am doing one of those two things in her mind. Luckily, right now, there isn't a lot happening at the Smith, so I don't need to be there for long stretches of time. We shall see what happens come the Spring.

I took most of the day off from the puzzle yesterday. I got a couple of pieces put together and a couple of pieces added to the pieces already attached in the puzzle - but not the leaps and bounds that occurred in the past few days. Moderation and patience - always working on those two "virtues."

The Smith did get a bit of my time yesterday. One of my projectionists was really, really late. Got there at 1:45 when he was supposed to be there at 1:00. Sigh. So I got to go in and be there for a while. Which was a good thing, since it seemed like he had also forgotten how to run the movies. Double sigh.

Oh, I did get to Lake Drum's chocolate and beer and BYOV (bring your own vinyl) event. Sadly my copy of Court of the Crimson King is totally messed up. Maybe all of my records are. I don't know. I haven't actually played many of them since, well, for a long, long time. Why the heck am I holding on to them still? Silly Augustus. Speaking of which, I did decide to let go of some plastic baggage that has been accumulating for years and years (and years and years).

But I got away from my subject. There was quite a crowd at Lake Drum - especially for a Sunday afternoon. My enjoyment was spoiled a little because of my ear being stuffed up. We early muggers got a yummy taste treat as well - I think I posted a picture of it on Instagram - pulled pork plus! The taste of chocolate was pretty yummy, chocolate with bacon. I did think that there would be more chocolate tasting than just the one little tidbit, but there wasn't. The tasting of beers that Victor and Jenna shared more than made up for it, though!

I didn't end up buying any of the chocolate that was for sale. Lake Drum was out of the beer I have been partaking of there most recently, so I made do with the Smoked IPA.

Next stop yesterday, grocery store. Yippee! I love going to the grocery store. Is that acutely weird?

I spend a lot of time on Facebook. And recently on Instagram as well. And I comment and "like" a lot of posts. I do worry (a teeny bit) that people get tired of me always writing on their posts. But I like to feel like I am actually engaged in something, rather than just sitting here passively and not interacting. If they don't want their crap commented on, don't post it. Anyway...

Laundry and so much more accomplished

It was a Saturday that was, weather wise, miserable and weird. It was cold in the morning, then icy in the afternoon and started to get warmer at night. We are supposed to reach a high of 50+ degrees Fahrenheit today. And then plunge down to the teens on Monday. Joy and rapture. Weather is being really weird.

Despite the weather, I was determined to go out and get some things accomplished. A dvd player that I bought for mom at Big Lots is terrible and it needs replacing. Though she says that she is having trouble watching dvds as she can't follow them anymore. This is sad and scary. I don't know what to do about this at all. Just keep moving forward I guess. And in mom's case, a slow spiral downward. Sigh. I was thinking of heading to (ick) walmart to get her another one. Two things stopped me. First, I hate walmart. Second, the weather. I will keep thinking on it. I also wanted to buy a replacement pair of kitchen scissors. The ones we have had for years and years (and years?) broke this afternoon. The plastic just gave up the ghost. Why they were made of plastic is anyone's guess, but there you have it.

I got about a block away and realized that I had forgotten to put the laundry detergent in the car. It doesn't pour well when frozen (liquid detergent that it). I went back and got it and it wasn't until I was almost at the laundromat that I realized that I had left my phone at the house! Oh my god! Panic, panic, panic! What was I going to do without my phone for an hour or two?! What exciting messages might I not be able to respond to instantly? What about my food shopping list? What about playing bridge endlessly while waiting for my clothes to dry? Eeeeeek! But I chose to do my best to survive without the silly thing.

First stop, laundry. I stuffed my clothes into A washing machine (yes, I do not sort), put in some detergent and beat a hasty retreat - or rather an advance to the rear - to Wegman's. I had the realization that they must sell kitchen scissors. And they did! Except they were out. :( Until Friday. Can I live until Friday without kitchen scissors? Time will tell. I got my groceries - mostly my Apple, Beet, Carrot stuff to make juice with. Yes, I am still doing that juice thing, despite not noticing a sleeker coat or more sparkly eyes. I have no external mirror to tell me if there is a change. Which is one reason I seek a life partner. Oops, digression. Sorry, back to the narrative through line. All shopped and no Walmarting - since part of the reason I was going to go there was to get kitchen shears. Still thinking on how to get a DVD player without going to Walmart for it. If I lived nearer an urban center...Anywho...

Here is the mountain of Laundry that will become many mole hills

Back to the laundromat. My clothes were spinning as I arrived. Scoping out the space, I saw that many, many dryers were in use. Sigh. Last time, I was a little underwhelmed with how the lower dryers performed, so I was seeking all upper ones this time. I found three, not contiguous, but that was ok. I have some distinct clothing, so I knew could find them again. Without my phone, I basically people watched (one of my favorite pastimes) for half an hour. Then I tossed all of my laundry into the baskets - saving the joy of folding for mom and home.

Last stop, Lake Drum, the new place that has opened in town. I play a game with myself where I make a rule, and depending on the result, I make a choice. If x, then y sort of thing. In this case, if there was easy parking near Lake Drum, I would stop. As luck (fortune, kismet) would have it, there was a spot almost directly in front. Huzzuh?

Lake Drum is a pleasant place, all things considered. Nice atmosphere, interesting beer options - Victor does his best to pick only NYS beers - and I get to drink out of my Saucer #8 stein. Chatted with nice people and stayed way longer than I had intended. Oh well. Mom survived my absence, which is, I guess, the most important thing.

Dinner and then the coin sorting.

After dinner, I wanted to wrap my coins in their little paper sleeves. I had remembered to remove the coins from the car's center console (one of the things I did while waiting for my clothes to dry at the laundromat). So, I got the coins all together and realized that I had no idea where I had cleverly put all of the coin wrappers. They used to be in with the coins - in the collection box - but the box was too crowded so I moved them. Cleverly. I must admit that I was mildly concerned that I would have to end up cleaning (eeek) my entire room to try and find them. I did look in a few places, overturned piles of papers and such, to no avail. I basically gave up on the idea of accomplishing coin rollage last night.

When I couldn't find the rolling stuff, I just put the coins in these

Over the next couple of hours, I sat and thought - ok, tried to nap, but couldn't. Sitting, thinking, looking around my room - when what did to my wandering eye did appear? A tower fruit cake tins. I don't know where I got them - four of them - all pretty and flowery and such. Hmm, why were they there? What could their function be, now that the fruit cake had been ingested, digested and er, eliminated? Why not get off my butt and see? Yay and ta dah! The coin stuff! Inside each of the cans was the coin sock for the coins and one of the four coin denominations generally in use: pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Huzzuh!!

Tins o'coins and wrapping materials (and socks)

I guessed that I would roll about $60 worth of coins. Anyone wanna guess? The rolling was made a little more difficult because mom wanted to chat the entire time. Which we did. Though some of my answers took a while until I got to a memorable stopping place.

More than $60! Rich, I tell you, rich!!

 Quite a day!

Getting Started Again

Hi All! (Or both) It has been a while since I have posted. Mostly because I haven't felt like it. I am sure that there are little things, medium sized and maybe large sized things I could have written about, but I just didn't feel like writing. I didn't want to sit and write. I wanted to sit and do other stuff. Like play bridge on my phone. Or play on my xBox. Or stare off into the distance. Or watch Star Trek or Pan Am. I have also been working a good bit. Actually the next two weeks are going to be busy at The Smith. And I have a bunch of stuff to do to get ready for that. In fact, I am putting that off right now and writing this instead.

Quick catch up since July. Mom - deteriorating pretty well - she has some puffy leg issue that we are trying to fix. The doctor has given her medicine and wants her to go back on the c-pap machine - mom doesn't want to go back on the c-pap machine. Mom isn't doing the other things she is supposed to be doing - like drinking lots of fluids and exercising (ha) - and keeping her feet elevated. One of her new behaviors is to sit on the edge of the bed and read. For hours. So I am not surprised that her ankles are getting puffy. I am hoping to try the ABC miracle juice thing with her - more on that in a bit. She has been on a kick of watching Doc Martin a lot. And I recently got us the existing Downton Abbey DVDs. Those we have been watching together. I don't know yet if she will want to watch them multiple times or not. Yesterday we voted. Could well be her last time voting. She could barely sign her name - even with help from me and from the check-in person (who's daughter - Mary Van something went to school with Juliet apparently). Sigh. We shall see what happens come November. So, the long and the short of mom is - she keeps moving forward slowly and so far we are both managing her being here in the house. Huzzuh. Oh, we went to the dentist too - well, mom got her teeth cleaned.

On my end - I am working a lot at the Smith. I have an owie on my right ring finger. My bankruptcy is all through. I am starting to work on my beer vlog. I went on two dates with a nice person and then she stopped writing back. I am playing too much xBox (well, other people would say that was the case). I am not getting out much. I do hope to get mom and me to Maine in October. Ah, the miracle juice thing. I have read stuff about what drinking beet (ick) apple and carrot juice can do for one's health. They say a minimum of 60 days to see real results. I drank some this morning and felt nauseous for the first four hours afterwards. Sigh. Maybe some lemon juice will help. I'll try that tomorrow.

Some randomness is welcome, yes?

A few random thoughts for today - first, I had another epiphany about what to do with the ends of mom's bread. She doesn't like crusts, so she obviously wouldn't really enjoy the butts of the bread. So they have been accumulating. One use I have made of them is croutons - home made croutons - not that I did a great job making them, but they were ok. I also used them for making French Toast which worked out alright too. A third usage is where the epiphany came in. I like crusts. Well, like might be an overstatement. I don't mind them. So, when making a sandwich for myself one day - sometimes when I don't have loads of leftovers to eat, I make myself an Augustus Sandwich (salami, sharp cheddar cheese, mayo, dijon mustard and dill pickles on toast) - I realized that I could eat the butts for my sandwich! Yay! And yum! Butt munching!

Second random thought - we all have to have things to look forward to. Ok, I don't know if we all have to, I know that I like to have things to look forward to. Sometimes I only have teeny, weeny things to look forward to - like my ear working again - or my next breath - that sort of thing. Other times, it is playing a game on the xbox, checking my email (hoping for a message that will rock my world (in a happy way)), eating yummy food. And at still other times, I have larger things on the horizon, like another trip of some kind, or a visit from a friend etc. Right now, I have a new-to-me brew pub to visit. Current plan is for Tuesday with fallback day on Wednesday. They have two for one tastings on Tuesday and Wednesday (yes, I am parsimonious). The other day, at a celebration of 30 years in business for a local company, I had G.C. Starkey's Stout and it was darn tasty. I hadn't heard of them before and they are only 30 minutes away (by car). Woo hoo!

Mom News - I really do fear that the time is coming that I will have to take the next step in her care. Either get someone in here a lot more frequently, or find a home for her to rest her weary head. For those who aren't around her daily, the drastic changes might not be noticeable. Frankly, I am astounded by the sporadically continuous descent into brainlessness. She is beginning to not consistently recognize me. Especially when I am gone for a long time - like when I have an all day show at the Smith. And she is consistently not remembering more and more (if that makes any sense). And she is beginning to lose track of where she is - even when she is in her own home. Sigh. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I bought a grenade

I bought a grenade. And I used it. But no one was killed. Woo hoo! Does anyone else think it is crazy that people are allowed to walk around with weapons of killing, like assault rifles, and yet, walking around with an alcoholic beverage is against the law in most places? Oh, by the way, the grenade I am talking about is half a growler. I had never heard the term before. Anyone? I bought a grenade of oatmeal stout from Climbing Bines - which is correct - Bines are different from Vines - look it up if you don't believe me. I will write about Climbing Bines in my Brewpub blog, even though they aren't a brewpub. They are, at least, a local brewery! Yay local breweries!

So, what has been going on at Chez Schoen-René? A whole lot of nothing. Some busy-ness. Some indolence. Some sitting and staring at my room and thinking - wow, I could use someone to help me do some cleaning. And what should pop into my head? "Everybody ought to have a maid" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Love that show. It was the second show I directed in college. I think I saw it in High School, with Chris Clemenson playing one of the parts. Speaking of college and high school - nice segue, right? (I would really like to have a Segway, by the way...) - it is my 30th college and 35th high school reunion this year and I consciously chose to not do anything about either of them. Yay!

Oh, some of the business (busy-ness) was working at the Smith. We had a band - The Lone Bellow - come in for a show. They were quite good - though not many people came to see them at our venue. I don't get (as in "understand") how some shows sell really well and others don't. Capitalism sucks. Just sayin'!

Mom news: she is getting more befuddled but so far we are still managing. Mary Gerhart came for a visit, but I was at the Smith, so I don't know how it went. Getting information from mom is a hit-or-miss prospect. I hope it was a good visit and didn't confuse her too much. I can't tell any longer if visits are good for her or just upset her. Sigh.

Feels like a lame post. But, better than nothing, right?

Vacationland Maine - Friday May 23

Catching up slowly. And before we inch forward, let me say a few words about mom, for those of you who read my blog for mom news. She is being treated to a lovely time. Lots of stimulation, lots of food, lots of attention. Heck, I bought her 11 books in the Gideon Scotland Yard Detective series the other day. She was complaining that her copies were falling apart, so on the way back from Bangor, I stopped at a great barn of a used bookstore and bought one copy of each of the JJ Marric/Gideon books they had. Yay! Meanwhile, Juliet keeps finding adventures for her to go on. Go her! More power to her in fact. Sadly, each time we try to talk, mom gets upset that we aren't talking to her. Sigh. So, long and the short of it, I think that mom is having a good time. Though she would be just as happy being at home in her bed doing nothing, I think. :)

Friday was another day of rest and relaxation! Huzzuh!! I got up and puttered on my computer for a long time - starting to get things organized, websites visited for the first time, getting all the logging in and set-up re-accomplished. As for my phone, I have only added one or two apps so far - mainly the bridge app! It doesn't look as good as it did on my old phone, but it is playable. Yay! Anyway, I could have done that for hours and hours, but I really, really needed to get out and get me some shoes. Yup, daddy needed a new pair of shoes! Big time.

A year ago, or so, when I was down in NC for some reason of other, I bought a great pair of Birkenstock shoes - dressy but not super dressy. Well, I am not so good with shoes. I wore them for everything all the time. And, recently, they were looking a bit worse for wear. I have been looking for a place that does shoe maintenance around Geneva with no luck. So I headed into Belfast, hoping that Colburn's, the oldest continuously (continually?) operating shoe store in America, would also have shoe services. They did! They made me a deal - if I bought a pair of shoes, they would shine my old ones. How could I turn that offer down? I had been planning on buying a new pair of shoes anyway - I needed something a bit more durable and working-ish. So, I ended up buying two pairs of shoes. Left one of the new pairs and the old pair there, as I didn't want to take the shoes back on my bike.

One of my new pairs of shoes!

Oh, right, I had completely put it out of my mind that I rode from Northport/Kelly's Cove to Belfast Downtown. It really wasn't far, just really hilly. Right out of the driveway, there is a hill. Seems like at least three good sized hills between here and there (and seven smaller hills). But it wasn't too terrible a ride. Only 5 miles or so each way. And the shoulder on Route 1 was, for the most part, six feet wide, which provided lots of room for me and zipping autos to share the road. I must admit that a couple of times it was a smidge frightening, but overall, I felt safe, and exhausted, er happy. There was one point early on when I was tempted to ask Juliet to come get me with my bike rack, but I managed to persevere and did the whole trip without too much trouble. And some fun! Yippee!

I bought this as a reward for riding to Belfast safely!

After the shoe store, next up was purchasing a new thumb drive - I left my thumb drives - picture to follow in another blog post someday - at home. How helpful. Sigh. The man at the shoe store gave me directions to the computer store, but I didn't really understand what he was saying, so I just wandered off in the direction I thought he said was right. I didn't find the computer store - but I did find a bakery, where I had a yummy chocolate croissant and a nice interaction with the sales person. Yay! She told me where the computer store was in a way that I could understand - she pointed at it. :)

Yummy, despite the weird name.

So I wandered to the computer store. Weird little place, but a nice guy (is everyone nice in Belfast?) behind the counter. He sold me a thumb drive for an exorbitant sum. Oh well. We all gots to make the benjamins! (Or something like that). Next stop, more food. 

Someone had mentioned Daily Soup to me. Silly, but I thought one could buy soup there. Apparently, I was wrong. You have to order soup and have it delivered to you. No soup buying where it is made - at the soup kitchen! Well, fine, no soup for me! Next stop, food truck Good n You. I had been thinking of trying more of their food, so had their pork tostada! Yum city! I could easily have eaten four of them! Or more!! But I didn't. I refrained. I was thinking of heading to Front Street for a beer, but decided that a beer would have made my eventual ride home a bit more taxing, and it had been taxing enough already, thank you very much. Still, I wandered that way when a little place caught my eye.

  

Good n You food truck

Oh. My. Yumminess!

I liked the location and the variety of cuisine offered: Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian!

The Thai Place

View from the Thai place!

I wasn't all that hungry, but I wanted to eat something. So I had a bowl of hot and sour soup, Thai style. It was good, though I think I might have liked the coconut soup even more. Maybe another day. It was a smudge chilly on the deck out of the sun, but it was still pleasant hanging out there and eating/drinking some yummy soup!

Thai Hot and something soup.

Then it was time to bike home. The ride back seemed a lot easier than the ride going. Psychological mind games or fact? Who can tell? In any case, before I knew it, I was back at the homestead! Yay! Juliet's plan - she, as I do, always has a plan. In this case, we were to meet after a movie and then go to dinner together. The movie was Life of Pi, which is a fine movie - just not one that I wanted to see, in a library, on a teeny screen, on uncomfortable chairs...so I opted to check out a new to me brewpub! Yay!

The new place is about 15 minutes away in Lincolnville. It took over part of a very old restaurant, The Lobster Pound. I had, over the past few years, tried to get into Lincolnville Center to Andrew's Brewery, but somehow never managed. Now he has opened a brewpub! Yay! I had only had one or two of his beers and though not overwhelmed, I am always willing to give beer a chance. I know, I know, I am very magnanimous! I will write more about my experiences in my beer blog - suffice it to say that I had a pleasant time and might venture back there one day. Not top of my list, but I will gladly give it a second chance.

I got done there and headed back to Belfast to meet up with Juliet and Mom and Paul. Sadly, it didn't happen. Not in a tragically sad for of way, but in an - oops, the movie lasted two hours and the restaurant we were to meet in was closed sort of way. Oh well. Life is that way sometimes. So we all met back at the house, ate a few nibbles and made our way to bed.

Phew! Quite a day. Yay vacation!

Vacationland Maine - Wednesday and Thursday May 21 and 22

How long have I been here? How long will I be here? What state is this? Who am I? Yes, I am getting that jello-like and relaxed. Mellow jello! We drove up on Tuesday. Wednesday day was a decompressing day. I didn't do a lot of anything - except ate and drank a bit. Oh, and saw a movie. Well, a collection of five documentaries from the Camden Film Festival.

That was a nice relaxing day!

Thursday was another relaxing day. My main (tee hee) plan was to buy a new laptop and a new iPhone. (I am using the voice typing feature and it seems to be working pretty well)(How freaking cool is that!) At first I didn't know if I wanted to go to Portland or someplace else to find a Best Buy. So I used trusty online stuff and found out where all the Best Buys were and it turns out the Bangor location was indeed the closest. (OK, back to my laptop and no more voice typing.)(Wait, maybe there is an option...looks like there is - downloading something so that I can use it offline as well as online. Almost a gig download!) So I hopped in the car, programmed my GPS (love my GPS) and toodled off to Bangor's Best Buy.

Bangor isn't so very far from Belfast. The two cities, though, are not connected by major highways. They are connected by less than major highways. A lot of little towns are driven through as well. A 30 mile drive takes an hour. But at least it is scenic! Yay scenic! I tried listening to one of the CDs I recovered from my book bag - oops, they both were all beaten up. Sigh. So it didn't play as well as I would have hoped. I have a plan, though. I am thinking of turning my old 3gs phone into an iPod. I have never had an iPod. I know, I am a loser. Actually, I am just not that "into" music. Don't get me wrong or started. I do enjoy music - I also like silence. Most of the time I prefer silence. And when I am doing something, I don't need sound in the background. Usually sound in the background (rocking the rhyming) is distracting. But there are times when I would like some music. And creating CDs doesn't seem to be the thing to do. Especially since a) I don't have any blank CDs hanging around and b) my new laptop doesn't have a CD player. I would like to make all the music that is on my old computer available to my new computer. I think I need to upgrade my iTunes though to take advantage of iCloud. Hmm. Just going a mile a minute here in my thoughts. And typing them almost as quickly. BTW, I have installed the dictation thing on my laptop, though somehow I think that is cheating. And really, part of the reason I don't do a podcast or a vlog is because I like to ponder and correct and recording  what I say just seems out of control. Typing, now there is something I fool myself into believing I have control over...

Where was I? Oh, right, on the way to Bangor. I got there and was lucky enough to follow a group into the store who also were looking at getting a new laptop. We chose similar things - I chose to go for the larger hard drive, though. Which, on this machine, is a solid state one - quiet and fast - oh so very zippy! Technology is amazing!! Next stop, cell phones.

I was a little worried about changing phones. Change is scary. Fun, and scary. I didn't know what to expect. It actually was easier, but took longer than I had thought it would. Oh well. Still, I was told my options, changed my plan drastically, but now I have unlimited text!, and picked out a nice, white iPhone - for $1. Plus money to turn the thing on. Really? Jeezus!! Anyway, I am happy and it seems to work. Now all I need is a new case for it...

After bonding with the sales guy over this and that, especially Geaghan's, I headed off in search of food. Ok, I didn't really search, since I knew that I wanted to go to Geaghan's. What's not to like - good food, good beer, good atmosphere. True, no pool table, but other than that, it is high on my list of great brew pubs! (Maybe it is in my brewpub blog...) I had a great oatmeal stout - or two - and a yummy tuna melt with sweet potato fries (which were a little cool but life is that way sometimes...).

Back on the road and headed to dinner with my friend Susan. We have known each other for, oh my goodness, I don't know how long. We were friendly as kids - though she is a few years older than I am. Our families were friends. And we have remained friendly this whole time. Yay. She offered to make me dinner and I gladly accepted her offer. Yummy stuff, too! I need to find a good meatloaf recipe. I think mom would enjoy it.

Long day, though, so I then headed home, played a bit (phone, computer, xBox) and then hit the hay! Yay!

I might have some pictures for the next post. From my new iPhone. Huzzuh!!

I lost my shirt!

Literally! I know it is here somewhere. I was wearing a purple flannel shirt (a little threadbare) out and about today. And now I can't find it. Sigh. Oh, there it is. Nevermind...

I am a little different, but then again, so is everybody. My little difference for the nonce is how I love making up little forms and databases and spreadsheets. Not that I will use them consistently, but they make me feel like my life is a teeny bit more betterly organized. I am working right now on scheduling people to help me out with productions at the Smith. It allows me to make sure that at least a few of my t's are dotted and i's crossed!

A slow week at the Smith is a good thing. Especially after the week we just had. Yay, even. I will be doing a few things this week, but nothing too strenuous or stressful.

I really need to get the schedule changed for Jenny and aides to the house. I can't decide about the weekend. Do I want to use the six hours for one day a week and then pay for a seventh? Or use the six hours during the week as 4 and 2 and then pay for two one hours on the weekend? Decisions, decisions...Took the first baby step towards this, asking the county if I make the change through them or directly with the agency.

Trivia is fun. Last night I ventured out for a social occasion. Felt a little weird, actually. I haven't been out on a social occasion in what seems like a long time (though it has only been a couple of weeks, really). Maybe it is all the work that has been going on at the Smith. Anyway, I played with a team made up mostly of grad students from the Cornell experiment station. We did ok. Opted not to answer two questions we did have an answer for and came in fifth or something. Not terrible, but not great either. I had two beers - one was the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter - which wasn't as vanilla-y or porter-y as I recalled. Still dandy, but just not as full as I remembered. And Naked Dove Scotch Porter - which was pretty good.

All in all a decent day!

I must admit...

I must admit to being a little stressed out. All this getting up early every day is for the birds! I cannot wait to get back to a more relaxed schedule with the occasional early call. Glarp. And mom is getting on my last nerve and I don't really have any recourse there. True, Juliet has offered a respite in November, which will be very welcome - we just need to figure out the details. I need to figure out what the schedule it at the Smith. I doubt we will do anything that weekend - unless the Nutcracker is coming up around then. Nope, not on the schedule yet. I will check with Kelly. Eventually.

Meanwhile, stuff progresses at The Smith. The riggers are still working on installing the new fire curtain. The electrician popped in and did a little work today and now says that he doesn't know when he will be able to get back to do his bit for the curtain. Sigh. Bruce our volunteer carpenter is working on building storage thing for some lights. And the HVAC people are apparently coming in to finish up the work they started back in June! Yippee!

The other day I watched a video of a recording session of a song done by the Capital Children's Choir from London, England. Good stuff - catch them if you can!

I went out on Tuesday and had a mostly boring evening. I went to Canandaigua to have some wings. They weren't really buffalo style - I will have to see what they have on their list. These were just hot. Not bad, but not awesome either. And it was pretty dead there. Sigh. I guess I will go to Red Dove next Tuesday.

Went to Parker's last night and had a lovely time with Bill, the technical and design person at Hobart. We had drinks and chatted about all sorts of things. It was nice to have a chat with an adult. We might actually do sushi next time!

Ok, too exhausted and, yes, a little stressed out to write more. Though writing this has helped a teeny bit! Yay for public therapy!

A little of this and some of that

What must it be like to live in Alzheimer's world? Not remembering if you had slept or not. Not knowing what was a current memory and what is a memory from the past. And to be so frequently unsure of what is going on. Eeek! And as caregivers, it is suggested that it is easier to go along to get along. In other words, if the patient (I don't know what else to call mom - mom?) says it is cold - agree - even if it is not. Being right is difficult with an alzheimer's patient for both parties - I know this from experience. The two actual cups of coffee has helped a lot, by the way!

Yesterday, I went into the Smith to meet with a man who is going to help around the place by doing some woodworking and stuff of that ilk. That will be amazing! I would like to have the place a bit better organized! Yay! Very nice man, loads of experience - I haven't seen any of his handy work yet - but am looking forward to it.

Last night was my night out on the town! Woo hoo! Red paint all over the place. Ok, not really. I did go down to Beef and Brew and stuck my oar into a little bit of trivia. Mainly because I was waiting for it to be over. One of the team participants had agreed to go to Canandaigua with me to partake of beer, pool and inexpensive wings. Sadly, our desires were thwarted regarding the wings. They were sold out of them! How the heck does that happen? Whatever. We settled for garlic fries instead that were great! I think I must have eaten 6 cloves worth of garlic. Yippee! Beer was, as usual, inexpensive and the pool was only $1.00 per game - we played five. I do so enjoy playing pool.

Quite a Day

And now it is Sunday. The day of rest! Yippee!

Yesterday was chock full of exciting times. Not a bad thing, but not something I need everyday.

First off, the wedding at the Smith. It went off without a hitch - well, the couple got hitched, so, I guess that isn't an accurate statement. It went off with a hitch - but the good kind. There was only one surprise - that they had planned on taking photos at the location. No one mentioned it to me. Oh well. The photographer, John, did them efficiently, which was great. I puttered and did some cleaning while waiting for them to finish. A few interesting things were hidden in the closet I am currently working on. Anything I can move out of the manager's office and out into other people's spaces, I am happy about! Oh, and I plugged in the phone in the manager's office and it seems to work. Yippee! I wonder why it was unplugged...

After work, I bought mom a tuna dinner from Parker's. It was a tad more expensive than I would have liked or thought it should be, but mom seemed to enjoy it. She still has a good appetite. Yay for blessings of any size, shape or kind! I ended up with a slice of pizza from Cam's and some pretzels that the wedding party left behind.

Next up, showing the movie - The Bling Ring - at the Smith. It was not very well attended. I guess (college) kids just aren't interested in going to see movies in the theatre when they can watch it on their laptops or tablets. Whatever. I didn't like the movie all that well. The acting was mediocre, the film was just all over the place, the story was a depressing one. All in all, glad I saw it, and am glad it is not something I will ever have to see again. Yay!

After the movie, I went to the Red Dove for a beer, Left hand Milk Stout. I needed some graham crackers to have with that. Yummy and very, very sweet! New bartender there, who I think I might have seen before. Had a nice time just relaxing after the excitement of the day.

At home, mom was in her room, but not ready to sleep. I think she might have a bit of sundowner's going on. Anyway, I offered to put a movie on for her - and she accepted. And ended up watching two. I must remember that she doesn't like Swing Time. Hates it in fact. Sigh. I also fed her two bowls of popcorn - of which she only remembered one and kept whining about not getting a second bowl. Sigh. It is so sad to see her when she gets frustrated about not remember the seemingly simplest things to remember. Oops, two "sighs" in one paragraph. I think I need a break! Anyway, we were up until 3 - when I passed out. I think I need to get her a DVD player for her room. Maybe this week. We shall see.

Short but to the point post

Part of the yesterday's excitement was visiting the Geneva Community Center where the Smith is sort of helping to put on movies. I don't understand how this came to be, but I am happy to help out. The space is still the black box theatre it was last time I visited. I did, though, learn about where the light switches were! Yay!

Yesterday was also the last day of service at the Leaf Kitchen. I went and had a few beers to show solidarity. I don't think Tatiana got the turnout she was hoping for, but it seemed to be picking up as I left to head home and make dinner for mom.

I watched Safe House last night which starred Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington. I was tired, but it kept my attention, which is a good thing. Overall I enjoyed it - not great, but entertaining. I like Ryan Reynolds. And there wasn't a whole lot of dialogue. I don't want to give it away, but the good guys won!

Today I get to start work on the first wedding I am helping with at The Smith. Yippee!

Yes - short post - got up late and have to head off to work.

And by nothing, of course, I mean something

There is always something to write about. If nothing else, one can write about not being able to write. One of the quickest cures to "writer's block" is to write about not being able to write. Yesterday's post wasn't about writer's block, though, it was about thinking that the subject matter for a post was not leaping out at me, as it frequently does. Sometimes I have way too many ideas for one post and try to jam them all in. Other times I do a decent job of spreading the ideas out over several posts. Yay!

We had a visitor yesterday. Not a gentleman caller, but a young woman from the EISEP program - an Ontario County Program that helps to pay the cost of mom's aide. This was the annual review to check on eligibility and to see if anything had changed substantially in our/mom's circumstances. Nothing had, that I could tell. But apparently, I had forgotten to mention something or other last year which I did mention this year. This caused a change in the amount we have to pay for the aide. Downwards. Yippee! Life is grand! More money for pistachio ice cream!

I went back to the Beef and Brew for the first time in a long time last night. I couldn't go to Red Dove, because Alan the new bartender is just too darn chatty! I may go back eventually, but only time will tell. And Leaf Kitchen is no more. As of Thursday. So I went to Beef and Brew. They were having two events there - one on the patio - spoken word, open mic sort of thing. And trivia inside. 21 people or so were playing. David's team was full and I just didn't feel like playing. Instead, I had a delicious Yeti from Great Divide and toddled off to Jose's in Canandaigua for some chicken wings. Yay! It was fairly crowded when I got there, but most everyone left soon after. Some people played pool, but no opportunity presented itself for me to play. I sat at the bar, had a good Southern Tier IPA and a dozen inexpensive and tasty chicken wings! I will probably go back again in a couple of weeks.

All in all, a pleasant day was had by many!

Out and About in G-Town

That's me, the hip guy who flits from place to place on a Saturday night. Ok, honestly, a little weird for me being out on a Saturday. Not as crowded as Friday, it seems to me. I wonder why that is...anyway, first I went to the Seneca Smokehouse, the newish place that opened up just past Belhurst. I went and had a couple of beers and came to a realization: I knew Jenny the bartender before meeting her there. Turns out she was working at Parker's in Geneva back when I was in my CA-NC transition period. Aha, even! That's why she seemed so familiar when I first saw her. Ta da! Woo hoo! Huzzuh! I did not, though, find her in Bar Dreams. I gave her a copy anyway, just because of shared history. I will probably go back again. They close early, so I left and headed to Red Dove.

I didn't know what I would find on a Saturday night at Red Dove. There were lots of cars parked in front of the building, but it turned out that there was lots of space at the bar! Yay! So I sat and had a beer. They were out of the Sly Fox O'Reilly's Stout and had Lefthand Milk Stout instead. Yum! It has been a while since I had that delicious beer. I mostly went to meet the new bartender and I did. Just not the new bartender I had thought I was going to meet. I met John who normally works on Wednesday (I don't think I have ever been to the Red Dove on Wednesday - and from what he said, I don't think I ever will (it is very busy, apparently)) who was subbing for the new Saturday night bartender. Oh well. Still had a pleasant time. If only I can get Chelsea to stop calling me Gus. Sigh.

On my way home, my cell rang, so I pulled over and answered it. Kelly asked me to come in to the Smith and change the HVAC settings, which I did. It seems that the system isn't cutting off when the target temperature is met. Maybe it is user error, but it seems like that would be the expected behavior. I will check out the manual at some point soon.

Other than that, a quiet Saturday. Mom and I did a few crossword clues. She husked some corn and washed some dishes. I am thinking seriously of taking her into a nail place and getting her nails pared all the way down, to make it a smidge more difficult for her to scratch. Right now, she is sporting a lot of bandages! Hopefully they will let her owies heal a bit!

Phew!

Leaving Canandaigua after an evening of pool and wings, I got pulled over by the Sheriff. He seemed to think I had had too much to drink to be driving. After a battery of tests, he decided that, in fact, I was ok to drive. But I do need to get my NYS license taken care of. I almost got it a year ago, but I didn't have a second form of identification. Well, third. I needed my current license, and two more forms - a passport wasn't good enough for the DMV. So I had to get a social security card. And how did I get the social security card? With my passport. Sigh. Now, I just have to find the card again. I know I have it somewhere. It and three or four others. I have gotten a lot of them over the years. And misplaced many of them. I wonder how many Augustus Schoen-René's are paying into social security?!

It was a fun evening, besides the Sheriff incident, which actually had its fun moments. I went to the Red Dove to say hi to everyone down there. Sadly a new bartender will be taking over Tuesday nights from Sarah. Boo hiss even! Nice enough guy, very chatty, named Alan. Wandered up to Beef and Brew and met up with the trivia crowd - ok, mainly David and Keiran. And Sarah, (another Sarah) who opted to go home rather than come out with us. Probably wise of her. Anyway, the three of us went for pool and wings at Jose's where we went last week after our win at trivia. I had seen that they had wings for sale on Tuesdays and Thursdays - and the notion of garlic Parmesan wings sounded awesome! We got a dozen - six medium and six garlic parmesan, both were good. Ok, the garlic ones were great. I will definitely go back again.

What else exciting happened? Hmm. I made pasta, with alfredo sauce from a jar. Needless to say my home made stuff is better. But it was easy. Also sausage, broccoli and, guess what, for a change, corn on the cob rounded out the meal!

Weird Dream

I dreamt that "they" were after me. First, I jumped out of my car as it was moving down a street or alley - lucky I did because a large delivery van exploded and careened into the car from behind! Eeeek. I ran to look for someplace to hide and destroyed two little recon drone type flying thingies that were chasing me. Then, after things had seemed to calm down for a second, I went to look for my car to see if I could find it - I couldn't. Some guy helped me locate where it had been taken - apparently to be dismantled. I eventually found a box that contained things that had been in the car - but never examined all the stuff - because they started to attack me again - this time with a river of sludge - but my alter ego found a vehicle - some sort of tractor-let - that enabled us to escape for the time being. I am sure there was a bit more and more details could be dragged out of my brain, but I think you all get the picture.

So, I didn't do much of anything yesterday, despite my desires and my hopes. No laundry, no coin counting, no books added to my database. Sigh. I did, though, go out to do some food shopping. I also stopped for a beer at the Smoke House - the new place that opened in earlier July. It was dead. Only one bartender and a bar manager (who wasn't behind the bar all that much). Lots of servers, but few customers. The bartender barely spoke to me, despite me being the only person at the bar and her not getting any orders to speak of. I did chat with the bar manager a bit. Mostly about the high price of her flight of beers - $10 for 20ish ounces of beer. That seemed high to me. She said she had had no complaints. I didn't point out that people don't complain unless they are really pissed, usually. But my math showed it was pretty expensive. Two pints of their most expensive beer (32ish ounces) is only $11. Doing the math we have $.50 per ounce versus $.34 per ounce for the a pint. Quite a difference, n'est-ce pas? Whatever. I don't plan to go there for another two or three weeks. At least.

I also went Wegman's for groceries for dinner. I made mom some baked salmon, an ear of corn and broccoli. And for me, pizza with pepperoni, banana peppers (what is the difference between banana peppers and pepperoncini?) and artichoke hearts. Yum. I have left over pizza for lunch for the next few days. Aren't I the luckiest guy on the planet?

Speaking of lucky, mom and I get to have a free lunch today. Luckily, we woke up early and will have plenty of time to get dressed and get out. Yay!

Cloud Atlas anyone?

Sometimes I get a little carried away with my responses to my Daily Challenge posts. Too many words. Not as many (or as boring, I hope) as some of my connections on there. But still, I feel like my 200 words was easily accomplished and don't feel like I have any more left for my blog post. Yet, I mostly struggle on and attempt to come up with more verbiage.

Last night's movie was Cloud Atlas. I enjoyed the movie. It was really, really long and I admit to taking one break from it - nature called. The stories were all interesting, the actors all did a good job, visually it had a lot of great moments. I guess I will have to read the book at some point. (I just looked and my library system doesn't have a copy on CD. Hmm. We will see what happens here...)

More thoughts on things to do in the future. Move to Canada - Toronto or Montreal - Toronto because it is not that far from Geneva. Montreal, because Cirque headquarters there and I could again try to find work with them. Or move to Las Vegas for the same reason - though I think I would rather work a touring show or at the home office than work a show in Las Vegas. Find some other circus to work with. I could also start trying to find backers again for Sirius Theatre.

After rehearsal last night, I went to Parker's to watch Al, the director, eat. Ok, that wasn't my primary reason for going. I like Al and enjoy hanging out with him. I had a beer or two while he had dinner. It had been a long while since I was last in Parker's. Certainly not my favorite place in town - but it wasn't terrible. I noticed on the way out that they had Dogfish Head 90 minute - I am guessing it was on tap. Which means I will have to go and have at least one beer there sometime soon. 90 minute doesn't last long, usually.

Had a good title and forgot it

Sigh and double sigh. I hate it when that happens. But it is likely to happen again, I am sure. Thinking of a good title and then forgetting it, that is. Maybe it will come back to me. Maybe not. C'est fromage.

Yesterday, for all intents and purposes in Chez Schoen-René, was the Fourth of July. But it was a near thing. Part of mom's disease is the inability to make decisions easily. Or at all sometimes. I do my best to limit her choices, so that choosing becomes either/or or yes/no. Even those decisions can be trying for her. And for me. I don't mind choosing and making decisions for her, yet, I am eager to have her make as many decisions for herself as she can. I think that choosing is important in life (life is, after all, choice in my universe). Only she can tell me if there is some small part of her that actually knows what she wants. Sometimes it is like pulling nails from hardwood with a pair of tweezers getting it out of her.

Over the past few days mom has vacillated between wanting to go to see fireworks to wanting to watch the fireworks on TV. On again, off again, on again, off again. And so on. The last flop, flip, whatever on Wednesday morning was in favor of staying in and watching fireworks on television. So around 4, I went to run errands: bank (new teller), library (audio CD and I, Clavdius DVDs and a sullen librarian), and food shopping at Wegman's (momma's got to have her pistachio ice cream). I also stopped in for some deliciousness at Leaf Kitchen - Southern Tier's Crème Brûlée Stout. (I don't know if they use all of the diacriticals - but if one uses one, I guess one must use them all...) My goodness that beer is so yummy! I hope they get it at Wegman's soon. Had a lovely time hanging with Tatiana and a new to me guy named David.

I got home, ready to start thinking about cooking dinner and mom asks about when we are going to go and see fireworks. What? Again? Really? Well, I had learned last night (Tuesday while drinking beer at the FLounge) that our localist fireworks at the American Legion were happening on Wednesday, not on the Fourth. I guess so that they had a rain day available? Who knows? That being the case, I told mom that if she wanted to go, she needed to get dressed and shoed (shod?). I put out some great stretchy red pants that Juliet had purchased for her, and a dark blue, warm (but short sleeve - which I didn't hear the end of for a couple of hours) shirt for her to wear. Typically it takes mom about an hour to get dressed. Most of that is time taken to get herself motivated. I wandered off thinking to check back in about half an hour. Barely had I started my laptop to check FB and DC and OKC and such when mom asked where her shoes were! Who is this person? What had she done with my mom?! Dressed in less than five minutes from me putting out her clothes! Eeeek! She found her shoes, I gave her a shoe horn and she was ready.

There might have been a schedule posted somewhere about what time things were happening at the Legion. The last time we went, we took the three young women from Turkey and I didn't remember what the deal was at all. But I like to be early and not rushed, so we left almost immediately. Turns out we probably could have stayed home and watched the BBC news first. Who knew?

Early is good. One gets a decent vantage point from which to watch the fireworks, one gets to scope out all the food and rides and such. And people watching opportunities abound. Since I was with mom, we utilized her handicapped placard and parked really close to the hill where people sit for fireworks gazing. I carried her big heavy folding chair (which I bought at Big Lots a couple of years ago) and a blanket and staked out our place. Fearing wetness seeping through the blanket, I went back to the car and got out my emergency blanket (bright orange on one side, silver on the other) that is water proof and put that under the woolen blanket. Yay for having too much stuff in the trunk of the car! (Later, when mom said she was cold - trunk yielded a hoodie that helped immeasurably!)

And then we found we had about four hours to pass waiting for the fireworks. Four. Hours. First off, food for mom - she ended up eating two hamburgers, some french fries, some fried dough and some popcorn over the course of the evening. I had two beers (maybe three - it was a lengthy four hours) some fries, some popcorn and a sausage. Yay food. And yay for getting up and having to get food. My favorite part of the experience was all the people watching. I was not tempted by the rides that had been set up, at all. Ok, the slide ride looked kinda fun. But I didn't do it. And I liked one of the games - the spray the water into the mouth of the clown game always appeals. But I didn't do it. Too abstemious. And no one to impress really. Mom has enough stuffed animals for the time being.

We mostly sat and stared at people around us. Mom got nasty whenever someone sat to her right or in front of her. And that is not pleasant for me or anyone. Especially the people who are the focus of her vituperation. She generally isn't very loud about it, but still, it is not pleasant. I did point out to her that the fireworks were going to be up in the air and no one in front of her was going to block her view. But as she has pointed out to me frequently, and as I have learned through trial and error and observation, logic really doesn't work with her at this stage of her disease. Not that it actually worked all that well earlier in her life either...

Finally, at 10, kaboom! Nice set of fireworks! I still maintain that I could do a better job designing a display. It seems like fireworks are musical when people are as close as we were where we could here the fwump of the fireworks leaping up and then all of the sundry explosions and whistles. Designing for just light would be a different thing - but still I could do better. Though these were pretty good. Yay fireworks!

Home again. Mom was exhausted and went almost straight to bed. I played for a while and put out the recycling. As I was putting it by the curb, I realized that the recyclers might not come since it is a holiday. Then again, they might - we shall know after noon - if they have come it will be gone - if they haven't come - will they come on Friday? I can call on Friday and find out. Maybe they will just skip this week. In which case, will they charge us less for recycling? Hmm. What deep and pithy speculations I share with you all...after the recycling was out, I went to bed. Yay sleep!

Mom rocking the 4th of July!