Pleasant Surprises

I like surprises. Pleasant ones especially. Yesterday I had three pleasant surprises. Two of them involved my mom. I had mentioned to her that the next thing I would like to neaten was her bathroom. She asked if I wanted to do it right then and I said no. I figured that she would eventually need to be dragged into the bathroom to get the work done. Not so. At about 5, she said, are you ready to work? So we spent the next hour or so, neatening the space. We threw away a lot of vitamins and pills (some dating from the 50s) into the trash. And cleaned off the top of her dresser in there. It looks great!

Next, after I came back from a night out, about which I will write more in a bit, I found mom hard at work sorting papers! All by her herself! This is a good sign - that she is willing and interested in sorting. Sadly, she keeps most things if I am not standing right there to help. So we spent the next half hour going through a box of accumulated papers (there are at least 20 of these in the dining room alone) and threw away a hefty amount! Huzzah! Pleasant surprises indeed!

Last night I had a "date!" Ok, don't get too excited. It wasn't really a date, just a get together with a friend. Robert and I have known each other most of our lives. He is a couple years younger than I am. We went to school together off and on, traveled to China together on a semester abroad and have run into each other occasionally here and there. Recently, I ran into him and his mother at Wegman's. I suggested we get together for a beer and chat about our lives. Which we did. His mother also has dementia - sadly more advanced than my mom's case. We commiserated about that, the state of the state and other stuff. Oh, and he gave me renewed hope. He married a woman and at the age of 44, she had a child with him. So, all things are still possible. Not likely, but possible. :) All in all in, very pleasant.

Pictures from May 6, 2011:


I think these are tulips though they look an awful lot like poppies!


My mom's neatened bathroom!

Whirling Thoughts

So much to do, and so much time to do it in, I feel no sense of urgency. Though the time is coming that I will have to have had things accomplished. Website, t-shirt, flyers, postcards all need to be created and priced and birthed and shipped (where applicable). I started a website on Yola. I have looked on the internet for shirt printing options (I would like a nice material, black shirt with printing on two sides for a reasonable price that I can then turn around and sell for a decent price) haven't even thought of flyers and postcards yet. Sigh. And of course, where will the money come from to get all these things birthed? Double sigh.

Moving on. Sometimes I get very sad hanging out with my mom. I am compassionate about her condition - I mean, heck, there but for the grace of God go I. And who knows, maybe one day I will be going there. And then I get sad for myself, because who will do for me what I am doing for mom? Pity party, table of one! Oh wait, I'm sorry sir, we don't seat parties of one in this restaurant. Maybe you could go to McDonald's...But she used to be more adventurous and brave. I am not hallucinating that, am I? I mean, she did live in China for 7 years or something like that, all on her own. And did a lot of traveling all over the world. Anyway...

Great day yesterday, all things considered. I will put a few pictures here, but there will be an entire album of yesterday's pictures up on Facebook. We got up and got out on time, which is always a good thing. We left around 10 am. Stopped and got gas and then headed on south to Watkin's Glen. We needed to get some cash, mom likes to have cash, so stopped at a Community Bank ATM there. Mom was surprised that I found one. I had cheated, I had already looked it up on the internet. Anyway, we drove on through to Corning and found the Museum. Parking was confusing, but I dropped mom off and then headed to find a parking place. By the time I had gotten back to the admissions place, mom had charmed the ticket seller, Peggy, who gave us her own discounted rate of $6 per person, instead of the $15 that is normal or even the discounted older person and AAA membership options of which we could have availed ourselves! Go mom!

The museum was much spiffier than I recalled, having not been in many, many years. One whole floor was devoted to things for sale. The second and third floors were all exhibits. There was a lot of glass there!! One section devoted to Contemporary glass, one to historical. There were also a few different demonstration stations - mom and I ended up catching three demonstrations - but didn't see the fourth this time. At one point, we got mom some food and browsed the for sale stuff a little. We were good and only purchased one postcard! I love glass stuff, but did not succumb to my feelings of lust for shiny stuff. I especially liked some glass flowers, but restrained my spending urges. All in all we were there about 3 hours. Way longer than I normally stay in a museum.

Next we headed to beer tasting. There was a micro brewery in Corning called Market Street. The beer was mostly ok. I liked their blackberry infused beer best. After that we headed back home, stopping in Watkins Glen to do another beer tasting at the Crooked Rooster Brew Pub. Much better beer overall. I didn't like the imperial Coffee Stout, which lacked pith and was way too bitter. The tasting was also very expensive - 1.50 for a four ounce pour. That is a pint for $6 which is a lot for mediocre beer. I did chat with the brewmaster briefly. And we had some mussels. Yum! Sadly, about half of them didn't open. Boo. But the chef decided to make us another batch to make up for that. Yay!

Then home where I napped for an hour before we headed to the Seneca Falls Parker's for dinner and to see Carol. Dinner was good, Carol was not there. Oh well.

Yippee!

And here are a few pictures from May 5, 2011:


A view of the Corning Museum of Glass.


Beer from Market St. Brewing Company in Corning, NY.


Yay mussels! These were Thai flavored. Mom loves mussels, so I try to order them for her when they are available!


A full rack of ribs - we ate most of it there, and took a little home for snackage later!

There are some 20 more pictures from yesterday on the internet on Facebook. Or at least there will be if there aren't already. :)

Happy Friday!

Status Updates

Interesting - I posted a status on Facebook yesterday about watching a couple of interesting shows on PBS and I got three or four likes and a few comments. I post something pithy and all I hear are crickets chirping. Weird. Another friend noted that we can't get people interested in important topics, but they vote for American Idol in droves. I pondered whether more people vote for Idol than vote in a presidential election? At least I hope that isn't true!

I was awoken by an odd phenomenon (at least here in Geneva, NY). The sun was shining in my window! Eeeek!

Poor mom. She went to get her teeth cleaned on Tuesday and had to go back Wednesday to get a cavity filled. In the process they novacained the poop out of her jaw. Sadly, this allowed her to bite her lip and bleed and puff up. I could NEVER work in a field where I was around seeping, oozing, dripping blood all day. More power to all the people who are getting nursing degrees or already work in medical fields!

We didn't do a lot yesterday. Except wait to go to the Dentist. Mom started being ready at 1:30 am! Sigh. Well, I did do a load of laundry. And start the hunt for pork belly (to make my own bacon). We were going to go see Water for Elephants, but with mom's lip oozing blood, and it looking like I had hit her, we opted to stay in. Good thing, because I had forgotten about her wanting to watch the Terra Cotta soldiers show. Which was interesting. Yay PBS! Yay TV. It isn't always good or even ok, but sometimes there is some good stuff on television.

Today, we are heading to Corning, to the Museum of glass. I am also planning on visiting a brew pub down in Corning. Then later, a visit with my friend Carol, if I can catch her at the Parker's in Seneca Falls. Why does Seneca Falls make me thing of San Francisco? Because their initials are the same. Weird the way a brain works.

Ok, pictures from May 4, 2011:


Soon to be the site of a new McDonald's building. The old one just isn't good enough apparently...


I have been wanting to take pictures of some willowy willow trees here in the area for a while. These will have to do for the time being.

Wow!

Mom did a lot of work yesterday in my old room - the room at the head of the stairs. We were in there about two hours. She threw away at least four pounds of paper and sorted the heck out of the stuff in there. Yes, there is more to do - there is always more to do - but she cleared off three surfaces - a double bed, a bedside table and the top of a bureau. Huzzah! Oops, forgot one - the blanket chest in front of the window got cleared off as well!

Meanwhile, besides helping her, I neatened the back of the house a smidge. Again, lots more to do. But it is a start. And every clean surface is a good thing.

So, it turns out that my water heater has died. Yippee! Long live the water heater! I don't know if that was the original one, but if it was, it lived for 22 years or something like that. Charlie, Cate's coworker's husband, went over there last night and took care of getting the water running again, just cold, obviously. Ted, of Ted and Jo-Anne, is going to go over there today and see about what needs to be done to replace it. He might also look at the fluctuating water pressure. I hope that didn't have anything to do with the demise of the hot water heater. That would be plain sad and evil. Oh well.

Mom also has a dentist appointment yesterday and another today. Yesterday was a cleaning and they found a cavity. Today they are going to fill it.

We decided not to go to Glenn Miller on Tuesday. Mom can take or leave big band music. I love it, but I am not going to drag her there if she only likes it ok. So instead we will go out to dinner for her birthday. To the Cobblestone. And we are still planning a trip to Atlantic City. I need to book motel tickets for us!

It was a rainy, rainy day yesterday. Today is just overcast. What a surprise that is.

Ok, pictures from May 3, 2011:


Behind this door lurks a dentist! Eeeeeek!


You can't really tell all that was accomplished yesterday. Just take my word for it, it was impressive!

Frabjous Day

Last night I didn't get to sleep until almost 2 am. Not for any bad reason. I stayed up and played for a while. Then I read a bit before going to sleep. I read or heard somewhere that staring at an electronic screen (television or computer) was not the best thing to do right before sleeping. I am reading the relationship book that my ex-sort-of-girlfriend wanted us both to read. I don't think she ever read it. It had one very memorable bit so far, the bit where it suggested that people with addictions shouldn't be in relationships leading to marriage. Which probably, in Dr. Warren's mind, means that they oughtn't to procreate. Since you aren't supposed to have sexual intercourse until after marriage. And yes, addiction to nicotine was one of the addictions he cited! Eeek. What part of the population does that eliminate from the dating pool? Anyway, I am now about to read the parts about which people are more easily educated or or can change. Yippee.

Well, what got me started was a phone call. This morning at 6:15 am (or so) my housemate called me to tell me that there was a water leak in the house. Yippee! I love it when things like this happen. The last time there was a leak, it turned out that the drainage thingie under the water heater in the attic (who on earth thought that was a good idea) (ok, maybe it saves some money on electricity, but still...) got clogged. Hopefully that is all that it will be. Or maybe a pipe breaking, like it did back in '02. (2002, not 1902 - I am old, just not that old...). That leak wasn't discovered until I returned from a trip and caused $10k or $15k in damage. Not a great thing, but interesting and fun overall. The sad thing is that Daniel, my housemate's son, saw the leak last night at 9 pm and decided to not tell anyone. Apparently his mom had gone to bed and for some reason he didn't want to call me. Yet when the internet wasn't working in the house, he had no qualms about calling. I guess the water wasn't going to get the xBox wet! :) Seriously, though, not a big deal. I am sure that 8 hours of extra water damage won't be that much more expensive to fix.

I have called the insurance company and they are supposed to call me back. It could happen. But it has been an hour and no call yet. So much for the advertisement. The man I spoke with had no sense of humor. I said "So, if I sing the jingle, this will all be taken care of?" He said, "I don't know. That is a different department." Maybe he did have a sense of humor after all. Next on my list is to call a couple of friends to see if they can help out since I am not there. We shall see.

Oh, I had a pleasant day yesterday. I drove to Syracuse (about an hour away) to go to a brew-pub type place. I yelped about it if anyone is interested. Ended up actually going to two places that were almost next door to each other. The first one had better beer, but was a bit pretentious and over priced. The other was more down to earth, but the beer had no oomph. Oh well. I did see a very cute woman in each of the two places though. That always makes me happy.

Moving on to pictures...Pictures from May 2, 2011:


Better beer from Empire Brewing Company. I liked the Maple Porter especially.


The beer wasn't as good at The Syracuse Suds Factory, but I still enjoyed myself.


We had a fajita platter for dinner - my favorite server Tana has apparently moved to a 4 star restaurant here in town.

Yay! Osama Bin Laden is Dead

How exciting is that? And that is all I really have to say on the subject. And oh, yes, can we see his birth certificate please?

I cooked more egg rolls last night. Yum! Today I get to make Cole Slaw. I am also determined to go out and do something fun - either a brewery or some wineries. I really need to get out and about. My little self enjoys being at home, but we also like exploring. Which shall it be? Hmm.

Does anyone think I ought to start a couple of meet-ups here in Geneva? A singles meet-up and a beer meet-up come to mind...

Fixed the lamp, only to find that the fixture I got didn't fit once I put the parts in that didn't go in the first time. Sigh. So I re-re-fixed the lamp on the porch. Sigh.

I also read a lot - two Orson Scott Card Alvin Maker books. I liked Heartfire better than The Crystal City, but both were enjoyable. I am going to go to the library today and drop off and pick up books. And I will probably go to Wegmann's again. As I mentioned to Emily (after she said that Wegmann's had everything I could want) I am going to look for the "Girlfriends for Augustus" aisle. Maybe it is there and I just keep missing it.

Someone wrote me on Plenty of Fish (yes it is a dating site) and then deleted her profile. Great. And none of the 20 something people (no, they weren't 20 something in age - that is how many I have written) have written back. No, wait, I take that back. One person did write back. I asked her where in Central New York she lived and she replied "Ithaca." That was her total message. Gee. Gosh. A match made in heaven obviously. Oh well. Life goes on. And on. :)

Picture from May 1, 2011:

This is the cover of the book that I read yesterday. Yippee!

There would have been a second picture here, but it wasn't rotated and there is no way to rotate photos in this application of which I am aware. Grr. I don't understand why sometimes the pictures appear rotated in the import dialogue and sometimes they don't. Sigh.

Opera

Mom and I left Geneva on time for the plan I had formulated. Good thing we did. Even getting there 45 minutes early, the theatre was pretty full. I guess the older people just didn't have much else to do, but get to the theatre an hour or two early! There were maybe 100 people, 150?, and I think at 50 I was one of the youngest by 20 years. I didn't see anyone younger. Ok, maybe one person. The show itself was pretty good. There was some backstage stuff that the regular audience didn't get. And since the show was directed we got close-ups and such that one doesn't get in an audience. Even with binoculars or opera glasses. I must admit to having fallen asleep a little bit in the second half. Mainly because of the chocolate. Because the opera was enjoyable. Il Trovatore is one of the more silly and convoluted of opera stories.

After the opera we stopped briefly at the Finger Lakes Racetrack and Casino. Mom and I are planning to go and watch some live horse racing eventually. I am going to wait until we have a lovely day. They have 9 races, when they are racing. And I learned something, that probably just about everyone else knew already. When one bets for a horse to win, one only gets paid if the horse wins. If one bets for the horse to place, one wins if the horse comes in second or first. And if one bets for the horse to show, one wins if the horse comes in first, second or third! Interesting!

Leftovers for dinner. Yum!

My plans are still up in the air. With the book looking like it is going to be pushed back a bit (Heather seems to be slowing down) and with the Saucer not being nearly as enthusiastic as I had hoped they would be, I am in a bit of a dither. Sigh. I know that mom needs help if she is to stay in the house. The problem is supporting myself while being available to help her. I will keep working on the problem. Right now, I am sort of planning on heading back to Raleigh over Memorial Day weekend, if I can find a place or places to sleep. Other than that, no plans. Waiting on Cate to tell me her plan. Waiting on the book to get to me.

Speaking of the book, here is my new plan. Print out 20 copies or so. Mail one copy to each Saucer asking for their input. Since the silly Saucer management didn't leap at the chance to influence the book, maybe the individual Saucers will. I am pretty sure that at least Columbia and Charlotte will be willing to host some signings. And maybe to put the book in their merchandise cases. The other Saucers I am not so sure about.

Today, no exciting plans. Re-fix the lamp. And do some research about wineries. I found out that there are at least 30 surrounding Seneca Lake alone! Roadtrip!

Pictures from April 30, 2011:


The opera house!


Julie Flemming and two of the opera singers.


Finger Lakes Casino and racetrack.