“Aging is inevitable but growing old is a choice.”
Today is warm so I can barely wait to go out and do my errands but that’s not because I want to do errands but because I’m going to reward myself for finally finishing all the laundry and putting the last of Christmas away. I’m going shopping.
Did I mention the wind? It is strong I can hear my chimes from in the backyard. They sound lovely.
My house no longer vexes me. It is familiar again. The guest room, once the repository for Christmas presents and filled bags, is nearly clear. The one totally cleared bed has been chosen by Gwen. Every time I go upstairs she is sleeping on it. I need one more bin before I can put everything from upstairs away in the eaves. That’s on my shopping list.
The other day I saw the picture of a high school classmate on Facebook. She looked old. I was taken aback. I figured she doesn’t think she looks old. I get that. I don’t think I do either, but the other day I was lugging two heavy bags of groceries to the car. A woman offered to help me. I took the offer. I guess I looked old.
When I was a kid, my grandparents were old. They were the oldest people I knew. My grandfather used to rub his beard on my cheek. He thought it was funny. I never did. My grandmother smelled like lilac, like a lot of lilac bushes. She always wore laced shoes with a clunky heel. When I picture her in my mind’s eye, she is wearing a bibbed apron, and both her dress and apron have flowers. Her apron has small red roses. My other grandparents were easily our favorites. That grandmother also wore a bibbed apron over a flowery dress. She wore slippers in the house and rolled down stockings at her ankles. My grandfather used to hide in his room. There were as many as eight or ten of us cousins visiting on a Sunday. He’d give us a dime, a wealth when I was little.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
January 11, 2020 at 2:49 pm
Hi Kat,
Winter is coming. Yesterday afternoon it was 70 degrees in Dallas and a cold front was approaching from the northwest. I was scheduled to depart Minneapolis at 6:15 PM, where the temperature was 12 degrees with snow flurries, while a line of strong thunderstorms was approaching DFW airport from the west. Because of the storms we didn’t depart until 7:45 and the flight was very bumpy due to the unstable atmosphere which created the severe thunderstorms when the cold front provided the lifting action. When we arrived the temperature had dropped into the 50s with rain. This morning the temperature when I got up was 31 degrees with snow flurries. Obviously, the front is headed northeast. 🙂 Enjoy.
January 11, 2020 at 7:12 pm
HI Bob,
The cold will be here some time mid-week, but it won’t be freezing, the low 40’s. Right now the wind is so strong the evening feels colder than it is. Tomorrow will be even warmer than today.
Winter has only been here six or seven times, the single digit days. Thursday was the worst by far.
January 11, 2020 at 7:46 pm
Newark New Jersey hit 70 degrees and NYC today. There’s no global warming according to Trump.
January 12, 2020 at 12:03 pm
Boston almost set a new record and may do so today. It was 72˚ in Boston. It could be the hottest January in record.
January 11, 2020 at 3:58 pm
Strong winds are blowing here too and they roar through the trees plus it rains so no animal wants to stay outdoors longer than they absolute must.
My grandfather on my mother’s side also tended tro hide when all us kids came to visit 🙂 He could never remember our names so all boys had the same nick name and all girks also had the same nick name 🙂 🙂 I rarely remember how people were dressed but when I think back on my grandmother I can always see her either in front of the stove or by the kitchen table playing cards 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
January 11, 2020 at 7:18 pm
Christer,
No rains all day here. We still have that amazing wind. It roars through my yard and around my house. Henry wants back inside quickly.
My grandfather knew us all, and he had a lot of grandchildren as seven of his eight kids had kids of their own.
January 12, 2020 at 10:50 am
I punched through 65, I blasted through it. 2019 saw me shed friends and acquaintances as they crossed the great divide. I am now that generation and not the generation above me. I look older, I am older but I seek the day to day in the things that I have always enjoyed. I do all I can to maintain weight and spiritual well-being. My grandparents were old at 65, but I feel f*** it, I am going to play the new Bob Mould album and save TV for this afternoon when Uncle Eric’s team can take a gigantic step to the Super Bowl. Is he going to club JJ Watt again ? I sure hope so. My Grandfather would slip us half a crown, not every time, but boy was it wealth. Buy a Patel Philippe said my son recently, I can have it when you are gone.
January 12, 2020 at 12:33 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I turned 72 this year. It wasn’t any different than 62˚ except I can’t do the physical stuff I used to do. The hauling of bags of dog food from the car to the house is just a bit much.
Like yours, my grandparents were old. My parents were less old at 65, and I was far from old at that same age. Even now I don’t feel 72 or look like 72. I just hate I’m not physically able to do much.
No more football for me. I am a Patriots’ fan but not a football fan. Now I have to wait for baseball and another disappointing team.
In the last year, I have lost two friends.