Posted tagged ‘empty dance card’
February 21, 2014
Today is the warmest day in weeks, but it’s still damp and dark from the earlier morning rain. The snow is ugly and pocked with holes from the raindrops. Some lawns are visible again as the snow is disappearing. Usually today is a stay under the covers and read sort of day, but I have to go out and pick up a few things. Gracie will be my co-pilot.
The laundry basket is sitting in the hall. I’m thinking it can sit a while longer. Books and CDs are stacked on the carpet in the living room. They came from under the leak or rather from under the former leak. I cleaned all the books and dusted everything else. They’ll stay there in the living room until the ceiling is painted. It’s an old popcorn ceiling so it just needs to be sprayed where the water marks are. My toilet no longer runs so no jiggle of the handle is necessary. My plumber told me where to put the rock he had used to fix the toilet the last time. No plumbing leak and no toilet running-it’s a wonderful world.
In the morning when I wake up I have to figure which day of the week it is. This time of year the days all run together, nothing distinguishing one from the other. I don’t even have a dance card. I seem to be living in a cocoon. I’m back to an upstairs and a downstairs book. The Redbreast is upstairs and Doctor Sleep is down. Neither one is cheery but both of them are good reads.
Despite the weather, the occasional leaks, the dirty laundry, the empty dance card and the dusty books, I am still hopeful. Spring is coming. Red Sox news is back on the sports pages. That makes me glad.
Categories: Musings
Tags: cocooning, dark and rainy, Doctor Sleep, Dusting, dusty books, empty dance card, errands, plumbing problems, Red Sox, spring, The Redbreast, toilet running
Comments: 24 Comments
November 25, 2013
Winter with all its bluster has arrived. Last night was another night of howling winds and chilling temperatures. I wore my lined jacket for the first time this year. 27˚ was a bit cold for just my sweatshirt.
Gracie and I went to the dump yesterday. I swear I saw armed guards with dogs watching men from a gulag work the mulch piles in the open field part of the dump or maybe it was just an optical illusion brought about by the cold wind gnawing at my bones. I’m not really sure. The dump, open to the wind, is always colder than the rest of the world.
My heat blasts almost continuously to keep the cold at bay. I don’t care. I will be comfy and warm in my house.
Yesterday I went out to fill the big bird feeder. I noticed it was low on seed and the birds were numerous, all sorts flying in and out, and I didn’t want them hungry. It was freezing on the deck, and I broke my record in filling the feeder. Some of the seeds fell to the deck so the spawns would have had dinner as well. The birds didn’t voice their thanks, but they came right back when I rehung the feeder. That was thanks enough. They are back in full force today.
My dance card for today is now empty. I went out for breakfast at nine, stayed a while and talked with my friend. When I got home, I read both papers, did all my puzzles, spoke with my sister on the phone then finally started writing KTCC. The morning had pretty much slipped away, but that’s okay as I have absolutely nothing planned for the rest of the day. I’m going to change into my comfy flannels, put on some warm socks with my slippers and while away the day. I may read or catalog shop for Christmas or maybe not. I love having choices every day.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Bird feeder, bird seeds, bluster, comfy clothes, dump, empty dance card, flannels, freezing wind, furnace, gulag, Wind
Comments: 11 Comments
October 8, 2013
More fall-like weather followed last night’s rainstorm. Today is in the 60’s and the rest of the week will be the same. I went back to my sweatshirt this morning. The day is a bit dark though no rain is predicted. Every day is closer to the end of deck time. That makes me melancholic.
This morning I had a library board meeting, the last entry on this week’s dance card. I thoroughly enjoyed last week’s empty card except I did have that cleaning frenzy, now gone thank God, so this week looks like a lie on the couch and read week. Maybe I’ll add a few bon-bons.
The sun has just decided to make an appearance. It has that sharpness that comes on a cool day when the sun is just light, not warmth. I can see it glinting through the leaves. The bird feeders by the deck are in shadow now, a consequence of the changing angle of the sun. If I never went outside, I would still know the time of year by following the path of the sun.
When I was a little kid, I liked fall but I disliked the shorter days because we’d only have a little time to be playing outside after school before homework and dinner. In the summer we’d be outside until close to seven and even later. This time of year five was pushing it and four was more likely. We’d come in, plop down in the front of the TV and watch Superman and The Mickey Mouse Club while my mother cooked supper. We always had a vegetable, usually from a can, mashed potatoes and some sort of meat. My mother was a whiz with hamburger. Her meatloaf was spectacular with ketchup on the top and bacon over the ketchup. We used to fight to get the crispy bacon strips. She’d also make hamburger in gravy over mashed potatoes and American chop suey. One of our favorites was a pseudo-Chinese dish with bamboo shoots and hamburger. That one always seemed exotic. We’d also have chicken, but my mother always baked it. Roast beef was reserved for Sunday dinner. The only fresh vegetable I remember eating was carrots, and I didn’t like carrots until I was older. I wanted canned Le Seuer peas and could eat them every night. For my last family meal before leaving for Ghana, I chose roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy and Le Seuer peas. I chose comfort food.
Categories: Musings
Tags: American chop suey, bamboo shoots, carrots, changing angle of the sun, closing the deck, coming inside early, dinner, empty dance card, fall weather, Le Seuer peas, Mickey Mouse Club, playing after school, short days of fall, sun, Superman
Comments: 18 Comments
October 6, 2013
The sun is gone to regions unknown. It is a chilly, damp day. I always think Sundays should be bright and sunny. A beautiful warm day would make me optimistic about the rest of the week.
This morning I didn’t tarry for a look at the garden. I grabbed my papers and came right back inside the house. I know a few flowers are still blooming. The other day the bees were all over them. That morning I stopped and watched. I think it’s time for the front storm door.
The week seems to have an empty dance card, the same as last week. I liked it. One book was finished and another begun, and the odd places in the house were cleaned and polished: bookcases, knick-knacks, lamp shades and the tops of books. I lemon oiled the old wooden surfaces and cleaned tiles. I was possessed.
I still hold for quiet Sundays. When I was a kid, I complained there was nothing to do, and there wasn’t, but that has changed. Sunday is now the same as any other day except the newspaper is thicker. That seems wrong, not the paper of course, but the rest of it. We all need a day to enjoy life, even to do nothing which is enjoyable in itself. Lie on the couch and read or watch football, even take a nap. Most things can wait until tomorrow.
My boys won again yesterday. The Red Sox are now up 2 games to none. Big Papi hit two home runs. What made the win especially sweet was they beat Price. I love the post season.
Tonight is games, appies, The Amazing Race and dessert. Sounds like a perfect Sunday night to me.
Categories: Musings
Tags: cloudy, cold day, damp, empty dance card, frenzied cleaning, nap, quiet Sunday, Red Sox, restful day, Storm door
Comments: 15 Comments
October 3, 2013
The weather needs to be bottled so I can call it out at will on a frosty, cold day. Every morning I wake to temperatures in the 70’s and fall asleep to nights in the 50’s. KIng Arthur in Camelot would approve, “By order, summer lingers through September in Camelot.” That would make this the very first week of fall and the rest of it would stretch until November. A few years ago on Thanksgiving we had appetizers on the deck. I wouldn’t mind that again.
Gracie and I went for a lovely ride yesterday. We stopped at a farm stand, and I bought tomatoes, gourds and pickles, bread and butter pickles. We also took ocean ride. The sea was calm and the air-filled with birds. It was noisy from all those seagulls. I rolled the window down to listen. It is a sound like no other. I think seagulls and their screeching would have served Hitchcock well in The Birds.
Gracie has been outside most of the last few days. She roams the yard in the morning and sleeps on the deck in the sun in the afternoon. I think that a dog’s life, at least this dog’s, is darn good.
My cleaning frenzy has stopped though I did straighten a few pictures and a calendar; however, I also noticed the bottom shelf on my tavern table needs to be polished, but I’m afraid to touch it as it may set off another frenzy.
My student Grace is going to try again to get a visa, but I don’t know how affected the embassy in Accra is by the shutdown. I suspect all consular services have been halted, and she’ll be turned away at the gate. The Peace Corps volunteers are still in place across the world and are unaffected as of yet, but of the Washington staff, 627 were furloughed. To bring the volunteers home and end Peace Corps service abroad would cost approximately $29 million, with minimal savings in operating costs. The move would end decades of good will in countries which have depended on the help of Peace Corps volunteers who contribute up to $50,000 per volunteer in free labor. I know if I had been removed from my school, I would have been devastated.
Having an empty dance card has been wonderful.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Accra embassy, Camelot, cool nights, empty dance card, farm stand, great weather, long fall, ocean, Peace Corps + shutdown, ride, seagulls, warm days
Comments: 12 Comments
September 28, 2013
The morning is a delight, warm and sunny. Earlier, I stayed outside with Gracie. It was just too nice to go back into the house. I think today is the day for a ride, maybe a stop at a farm stand or the farmer’s market here in Dennis. It’s a small one, but I managed to spend money last time I was there.
This morning’s movie gem was Creature with the Atomic Brain made in 1955. Dead bodies were stolen from the morgue and then reanimated and controlled by a mad man out for revenge. The movie was unintentionally funny. It had one scene where a man and woman, presumably husband and wife, were sitting in chairs beside each while they were watching a TV newscast. He was smoking. She had a drink. He wore a suit. She wore a dress. Our hero’s wife was making a birthday cake for their daughter. She also wore a dress and had added pearls, the necessary ensemble for any wife in the 50’s. Uncle Dave, the police detective, arrived at our hero’s house but unbeknown to the wife and daughter he had been killed then reanimated. The daughter held his hand and told him it was quite cold. She gave him her doll, Henrietta, to hold and he tore it apart. Something was wrong with Uncle Dave! The hero killed the mad man and destroyed the equipment used to control the reanimated bodies which dropped where they were, including Uncle Dave. The little girl got a new doll for her birthday from, her parents told her, Uncle Dave. She decided to call the doll Dave, despite protestations from her father about the doll getting a boy’s name. The little girl said she’d tell everyone it was a tomboy. The mother and father laughed. End of movie.
After breakfast on Monday, I have an empty dance card until next Saturday. Every day is open. That hasn’t happened in a long while. Good thing I have plenty of books.
Categories: Musings
Tags: 1955 movie, beautiful day, Creature with the Atomic Brain, empty dance card, Henrietta the doll, plenty of books, reanimated dead bodies, sunny, warm
Comments: 12 Comments
September 17, 2013
An early morning meeting (9 for me) has slowed down the day. I didn’t get to the papers until I got back home, and my morning doesn’t officially start until the papers are read and my two cups of coffee are consumed. I am now ready to start the day.
I’m wearing a sweatshirt so that should be all you need to know about the weather.
As much as I wanted an empty dance card this week, it seems to be filling. I have a meeting tomorrow and I need to shop on Thursday for the fixings to celebrate my friend’s birthday on Friday. That means making my chili after I shop so it has a whole day to settle. On Friday I have to make my chocolate pudding pie for dessert. Those choices are my friend’s for her special birthday dinner. I think Saturday is still an open day, but the way things are going, it will probably change.
Soon will be the start of the hibernation season for me and the bears. Nothing much seems to happen in winter. A few playhouses stay open, but I usually don’t buy a ticket unless the play is spectacular. In a short time, the house will get that closed in feeling, a stuffiness from the heat and the lack of fresh air. I’ll only go out on the deck to fill the bird feeders and out front to get the papers and the mail. All summer I would stop for a bit to admire the front garden and take in the morning. In winter, it’s a rush to get back inside the warm house.
I chose to live in New England even though I am not a fan of winter. I always think of the other seasons as rewards for living through the cold. My favorite season is just beginning. Autumn on the Cape is beautiful with clear crisp air, the red leaves of the oak trees, colorful mums at the garden stands, the harvesting of cranberries from the bogs and fall flowers still brightening the gardens. It’s still a long way until winter.
Categories: Musings
Tags: autumn, coffee and the papers, cold morning, crisp air, empty dance card, fall flowers, heating the house, hibernation season, morning meeting, mums, red leaves, special birthday dinner, winter
Comments: 8 Comments
August 9, 2013
Today is like being shut in a closet with no air. The sky is cloudy, and the humidity is high, way too high. The breeze is blowing, the sort of breeze which comes before a storm. It sprinkled a bit earlier but that doesn’t count. Only real rain counts, heavy drops of rain.
I went to breakfast this morning with my retired friends. We go out once a month. I went spicy with linguica, Monterey Ray Jack cheese and salsa: all served on one side of a Portuguese roll.
The painting continues. This time it is the upstairs bathroom and the color is green. I can’t describe the exact sort of green as I forget the name because I didn’t really pay attention. I was only making sure it matched one of the cloths in my Ghanaian shower curtain. It will take forever to dry in this humidity.
I am generally verbose, but today I seem to have nothing more worth mentioning. I have a blank dance card. I suppose I can drag myself to buy flowers to fill a few of the empty spots in the front garden, but I don’t have the energy, and beside, I don’t want to get wet if it rains again. I might just have to be content staying home and watching the programs I recorded.
Yesterday was alien invasion day on the Syfy channel, and all of them were bent on Earth domination and the destruction of the human race. That got me thinking about friendly aliens, there being so few. E.T. came to mind easily. I also remember Starman with Jeff Bridges. One of my favorite little conversations in that movie occurred while he was driving and just after he had driven through a red light. “Okay? Are you crazy? You almost got us killed! You said you watched me, you said you knew the rules!” His answer: “I watched you very carefully. Red light stop, green light go, yellow light go very fast.” My favorite alien name is Paul. Klaatu got nicer as the movie progressed even though he’d been shot. Superman is an alien but I don’t really count him. After all, he did grow up here.
Yesterday one of the movies was Independence Day-Saster. It did steal from a similarly named movie, but it had its own little quirks. I liked the name of that movie, another made up SyFy channel name. Last night’s movie, a new one, had an ordinary name, and I was disappointed. Invasion Roswell, the name of the movie, seemed to sum up the entire plot. I watched it anyway. The Sox were losing so I switched channels. I think the movie ended up being the better choice.
Categories: Musings
Tags: alien invasion, death of the human race, empty dance card, friendly aliens, house painting, out to breakfast, plant store, rain, world domination
Comments: 11 Comments
November 4, 2011
Dreary days have come to be the norm. Today is overcast and dark. When I woke up, the bedroom clock was out, but the bedroom light worked. The bathroom light didn’t. I left the light switch in the bathroom on so I could see without climbing the stairs if I had solved the problem then went to the cellar to the circuit box and turned the general lights back and forth. I walked back up to the bottom of the third floor stairs and lo and behold the lights were back on.
Nothing is on the agenda today or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. It seems I am settling into my winter doldrums. Life gets slower, and I am generally content to read and do little or nothing. For the whole month, I have 2 meetings, both of which are on the same day, and a doctor’s appointment at the end of the month. The excitement is nearly overwhelming.
When I was a kid, we didn’t do much all winter during the week. We went to school, came home, put on our play clothes, and, if we wouldn’t freeze, we’d go out for a while before it got dark, but darkness came early, around 4 or 4:30. We’d come in and plunk ourselves in front of the TV. Back then there was no guilt about kids and TV time. My mother would make dinner, and she was glad we were otherwise occupied.
Monday to Thursday dinners seldom varied from a meat, mashed potatoes and a vegetable, but on Fridays, when we couldn’t eat meat, my mother got more creative. Fish sticks were sometimes meatless offerings, and my mother usually served them with frozen French fries baked in the oven. I can still see her opening the packages and pulling the single French fries and fish sticks apart from the frozen piles.
The best Friday dinners were when we had English muffin pizzas or fried dough slattered with butter and a sprinkle of salt. The fried dough dinner was our favorite of them all. My mother just couldn’t keep up with the demand. We’d all hang around waiting our turn for that brown, beautiful dough hot from the frying pan. Puddles of butter filled each crevice, and we had to be careful or it would drip on our hands and follow gravity down to our arms. The salt glinted in the light.
I can’t imagine anything unhealthier, but I know, to us, that a fried dough dinner deserved a celebration with a band and a small parade.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Butter, early darkness, empty dance card, French fries, Friday dinners, fried dough, meat and potatoes, TV watching
Comments: 10 Comments
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