“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
An ideal day comes in a variety of ways. Today is one of the odd ones. It is hot already. When I got the papers at nine, I didn’t linger too long outside. I did notice my day lilies are blooming. There are several in a line between the front lawn’s side edge and the trees and high grass between my house and my neighbor’s. They are a pretty boundary. The air conditioner is on and has been since yesterday afternoon when my house was 79˚. I am quite comfortable. I started a book yesterday and am more than halfway through. Few things are better than a good book. My larder is full. I have food and I have treats. I will want for nothing. Alexa is playing Judy Collins. I’m singing along. I’m wearing my comfy clothes. I am content and happy.
Henry is spooked by the shadows across my ceiling. They are the shadows of trees from the backyard. They move when the wind blows. Henry keeps a nervous watch.
Judy is singing Who Knows Where the Time Goes. I don’t have an answer. I doubt any of us do. All of a sudden I was eligible for the senior discount. I have leeway to be a bit obstreperous, to wear mismatched colors and stripes and plaids together. I am allowed to talk out loud even if I’m by myself. I get to substitute for words I can’t remember. I find my conversations peppered with thingamajig, whatsis, doohickey and whatchamacallit. My friends understand and fill in if they can.
Despite all those indicators of advancing age, I feel young. My eyes see the world in much the same way they did when I was a kid. I crave adventure and travel just as I have since I vowed to out travel Marty Barrett when I was eleven. I love surprises. Spending time with my friends is laugh out loud fun. We love to play a kid’s game, Sorry, but now we use more adult language to express our discontent at being sent back to start. That gives me a chuckle every time.
Today is another one of a long stretch of ideal days.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
June 30, 2018 at 12:30 pm
The age thing…well I don’t understand nor care to. I have never gained maturity or wisdom and that is just fine. I played the new Gorillaz disc last night and then watched France have their way with Messi and Argentina. In the heat of the Michigan afternoon, a reflection would be that nothing has changed.
Mismatch is my middle name, if anything is coordinated it is pure serendipity. I do look rather elegant in an England T shirt and un matching shorts. Mrs MDH has forbidden me from this wearing to Mass
June 30, 2018 at 1:16 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Mrs. MDH has put a damper on your sartorial choices. I believe at a certain age, to be determined by the wearer, clothes can be of any variety. Perhaps if you sat in the back far away from Mrs. MDH and wore a mask, she would be more accepting of your choices.
We become wise in some ways. You can’t help but learn. I think that is a byproduct of just living every day.
June 30, 2018 at 8:07 pm
Time is one thing that even physicists can’t define. Time is unambiguously operationally defined as “what a clock reads”.
I have always had a fascination with time, watches and clocks. Navigating including GPS rely on accurate clocks. The atomic ones in the GPS satellites are accurate to a billionth of a second. Navigators couldn’t determine their longitude at sea until the late 18th century when John Harrison invented the ship chronometer. He won the royal prize offered by the King of England by figuring out how to determine a ship’s longitude using his chronometer set to Greenwich time compared to the local time. Unfortunately, the king of England screwed him out of the prize money.
Einstein had a very simple explanation for his theory of relativity, “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity”. That sums up what happened to the time during my life so far. I’ve spent more time with nice girls than with hot stoves. 🙂
It drives my spouse crazy that I look at my wrist watch frequently during the day and check it’s accuracy with my iPhone. She along with many others doesn’t wear a watch. It makes me feel good to know the time even when I’m not aloft. Speed multiplied by time equals distance is the basic navigation formula.
Today was the 4th hundred degree day of the year here and It’s going to be hot for awhile.
June 30, 2018 at 8:33 pm
Bob,
Time has a tendency to go fast when you don’t want it to and to slow down when you want fast. It is so relative to where we are. I know it really never changes tempo. It just feels that way.
I am always amazed that some people can tell time without a watch. I remember I once was taught about shadows giving the time of day by a sundial, but I forget how. I don’t wear a watch. I used to when I was in Ghana as there are no clocks on buildings the way they are here. That has to do with Ghanaians living their own time as in always late for an event or waiting until the lorry fills before it can leave. My classes did start and end on time which meant I needed a watch.
I don’t blame your spouse. That checking is so compulsive. If you don’t trust your watch, maybe you need a new one. If you do trust it, quit checking.
It didn’t reach 90˚ in Boston today, only 87˚. It should be 90˚ the next few days. We hit the low 80’s today.
June 30, 2018 at 8:57 pm
My watch gains about a minute weekly. It’s a knock off Chinese Rolex GMT master. Checking my iPhone for the most accurate time is truly a compulsion but it’s a harmless thing. When the watch dies I will replace it with an iWatch which will negate having to check my iPhone. 🙂
June 30, 2018 at 9:17 pm
Bob,
I think the clocks around my house all have different times, but they’re close to actual time. The cable box is the one I generally look at. I am always early for stuff.
I don’t remember checking my watch except to turn ahead or back an hour.
June 30, 2018 at 9:21 pm
I’m watching the Red Sox and the Yankees on TV. Good game anytime the Yankees are losing. 🙂
June 30, 2018 at 10:03 pm
Bob,
I’m loving watching the game. After losing to the Yanks yesterday, it is great to see them destroyed today.
June 30, 2018 at 10:31 pm
As a former Brooklyn Dodger fan I can’t stand the Yankees. Anytime they lose I celebrate.
June 30, 2018 at 11:15 pm
Bob,
As a forever Red Sox fan I feel the same way.
July 1, 2018 at 1:52 am
Cool and nice here yesterday and cool and nice again today. Rather chilly morning here though but I keep the kitchen door open, it’ll get warm sooner or later I guess 🙂
I really want something sweet right now but didn’t buy anything but a bottle of Dr Pepper. I wanted just a small bottle but all they had were big ones and that’s a bit too much even if I do like it 🙂 Tastes a bit like a cough medicine I got when I was a kid 🙂 🙂
In some ways I do feel older to be honest, like I know I’m not indestructible. I never hesitated to do slightly stupid things when I was younger, today I know I might die if I do them 🙂 🙂 or even worse survive and feel all that awful pain 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
July 1, 2018 at 11:49 am
Christer,
We have heat, lots of heat. I went outside to get my paper and couldn’t believe how hot it is. Henry and I will stay inside in the air conditioning.
I don’t like Dr. Pepper. It tastes like medicine to me. I don’t even know anyone who drinks it.
I am the same way. I go down stairs slowly and holding on to the rail. I can’t fall down again. I keep doing damage when I do.
Have a wonderful day!
July 1, 2018 at 10:44 am
Hi Kat,
Poor Piki Dog was panting in front of the fan yesterday. Rocky and I were fine. But Piki is the one with The Expensive Medical Condition so the AC went into the window and was turned on. I’m not unhappy about it. The thing ran almost constantly last night. It’s not doing that now so I guess the house must have been quite warm.
I don’t feel old but as soon as I have to move my body reminds me that it is in fact beat up beyond its years. I still think of myself as a raven haired beauty so I am momentarily startled by that silvery haired person looking back at me from the mirror. Good thing I don’t look in the mirror all that often. 😀
Yesterday was hot. Today will be hotter. We will be lounging on the couch in the artificially cooled living room.
Enjoy the day.
July 1, 2018 at 11:55 am
Hi Caryn,
My air also ran for the longest time when. I first put it on. It is quiet now. I have one in my bedroom window as upstairs never cools enough. I turned it on the other day and Henry went crazy. He hated the sound and the air blowing on him.
My back hurts and I’m tried more than I should be. I’m not enjoying getting older.
I am in my artificially cooled house, and I like it just fine!
Have a great day!