Posted tagged ‘errands’
October 3, 2014
This morning was one of those put a mirror under her nose to see if she is still breathing mornings. I didn’t wake up until ten. My guess is it was all the errands from yesterday, the hauling in of the packages, the loads of wash with the accompanying up and down two flights of stairs and the changing of my bed. My back is no longer fit for days like yesterday. On my dance card today is switching out the screens and storm doors.
The day is dreary. It may even rain again later. I turned on the heat this morning for a short while to get rid of the dampness. The house is cozy now. The animals are in here with me while they take their morning naps. All three are quite comfortable: two are on the couch and one is on the afghan. I should live their lives.
Earlier I sprayed the red spawn. He didn’t hear me coming so he took the full brunt of the spray. He was shocked and immediately leapt, still dripping I suspect, from the deck rail to one tree then another until he alit on the big pine branch and began castigating me. He was chirping and chattering and waving his tail in indignation all the while looking right at me. He has to go. He best be packing his little bag for the move.
When I was a kid, I seldom had plans for the weekends. If the movie was good, I’d head to the matinee. If not, I might ride my bike or roller skate or just walk the tracks. Life was filled with spontaneity. Sunday was church and the family dinner but the rest of the day was mine. Sometimes the weather determined what we did. Rain in the summer was never a deterrent to playing outside, but in the winter it was far too cold to get wet. I always thought winter rain was a waste of water. It should always have been snow.
I don’t make too many weekend plans. I watch the Amazing Race with my friends, one of our traditions, and that’s it. I am back to spontaneity and maybe a bit of inertia. I’m liking my life.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bad back, errands, freary day, red spawn, sleeping in, spraying the spawn, storm doors, the life of a pet, too many errands, weekends
Comments: 18 Comments
July 26, 2014
Here I am standing alone in the spotlight in the middle of the stage bowing to the adulation of the crowd. They are on their feet clapping and whistling. Why you wonder? Well, I did five errands this morning and just got through putting everything away. Now I am sitting, having a cold drink and drying off. The breeze behind me is cool so it won’t take long. Traffic everywhere was so thick I swear there must be deserted towns off cape. I was behind cars from five different states.
My first stop was the bank then next was the farmers’ market where I spend all but $1.80 from the bank money. I bought pickles, eggs, corn, heirloom tomatoes, bread, goat cheese and mosquito repellant spray. My last stop was for tonight’s movie night and the few things I needed. Those few things filled three bags.
The movie tonight is Westworld unless the crowd has already seen it of late. I know I haven’t. Yul Brynner is amazing as the android gone amok, relentless and frightening. In a bit, I’ll get the deck ready so I can loll when my moviegoers arrive. I really enjoy movie night.
Living in New England means four distinct seasons, four singular ways to enjoy the world. When I was a kid, my favorite was summer with its endless days to do whatever I wanted. I remember sleeping outside in the backyard and how the night was bright with starlight. Every day was sunny. Fall was beautiful but it had to shake off back to school time. It mostly did. I still associate fall with one of my favorite all time smells, the aroma of burning leaves, even though it has been years since I last smelled those leaves. I loved walking in the gutters and kicking leaves as I walked. Winter had snow and Christmas, an unbeatable combination. I loved winter despite the cold and even sometimes because of it. Spring was a delight. It was time to put away the heavy coats, hats and mittens and bring my bike out of hibernation. I remember flying down the hill riding my bike on the way to school. I’d let loose of the handlebars and stretch my arms straight out in the wind. I was exhilarated, and I was airborne. Being stuck in traffic gives me time for memories.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bike riding, errands, farmers' market, four seasons, movie night, seasons, starry nights, traffic, Westworld
Comments: 12 Comments
July 24, 2014
Yesterday I was productive. I did errands, potted a few flowers, cleaned the deck, changed the litter, made my bed, went to the post office and went out for lunch. I wanted applause.
Yesterday was Humid, with a capital H. I put on the AC and left it cranking until this morning.
Today is dark but not so humid so I don’t have that closed in feeling. A small breeze is coming through the north window. Thundershowers are predicted for later.
The spawns of Satan have been eating acorns and tossing the pieces on the deck. I go barefoot so I have been stepping on them, yelping and then cursing. I believe the spawns know exactly what they’re doing. Every morning I clean off the pieces, and every afternoon more are back. That sounds like a plot to me. The red spawn isn’t coming around as much. I don’t think it likes the jet of water I spray at him. Now I just walk out on the deck and he’s gone in a flash. Even though I can’t reach him, I spray in his direction for effect.
My neighborhood is so quiet today. I don’t know where the screaming kids and barking dogs have gone. Yesterday my landscaper took down two dead pine trees from my backyard and hauled away the huge branch which had broken off the large pine tree. The back of his truck was filled. It had been a noisy day so today is a pleasure.
When I think back, I remember my neighborhood was only quiet late at night. During the day there were kids playing in the backyards, mostly younger kids who couldn’t go far and didn’t yet have the independence of a bike. My sisters used to play dolls on the steps right outside the back door. I remember them sitting there, one sitting on a step higher than the other. They talked through their dolls using voices wholly different from their own, voices higher in pitch, doll talk.
The neighborhood would start to quiet down around suppertime. The kitchens of all the houses faced the back yard, and I could hear dishes rattling and snatches of conversation. It was not a neighborhood for privacy. We all shared the back yard and the windows were open all summer. The night quieted as it got older; kids went to bed and I could hear the TV from the house closest to mine. That were always the last sound I remembered hearing on any summer night.
Categories: Musings
Tags: acorns, cutting down trees, dark day, dead branches, doll talk, errands, humidity, pine trees, playing dolls, playing in the yard, red spawn of Satan, thundershwers
Comments: 12 Comments
July 1, 2014
I made it! What took so long was I ran into people I hadn’t seen in years and it takes a while to catch up on years. When I realized how late it was, I added an errand: lunch. I went to a new place with Greek take-out, and I did, a gyros and Greek iced coffee. When I got home and walked into my house, I was hit with a blast of hot air and humidity. I quickly closed all the windows and turned on the air-conditioning. It is 79˚ outside, sweat weather, and when you add humidity, you have intolerable weather. My back almost made it. Adding the extra errand did me in. I will now do nothing more today except loll in the cool house and drink iced coffee. All I’m missing are bon-bons.
Last night Gracie was panting so much she shook the bed. I swear I was getting sea sick. It felt like being on a boat in rough seas because the mattress was going up and down and up and down over and over. I kept the air-conditioner in my bedroom window for times such as those so I turned it on and Gracie finally stopped panting and went to sleep. Right now she is enjoying the cool house and is sleeping on the couch. When I finish here, I think I’ll join her.
The birds this morning were amazing. The male Baltimore oriole was perched on a tall yellow flower and was eating its seeds. He flew off and came back a couple of times. The Mrs. was having grape jelly. There were so many chickadees I lost count, and I do think there was some spooning as a few birds were feeding other birds and they flew off together for a bit of privacy I suspect. I watched gold finches, titmice, nuthatches and a couple of cat birds.
Don’t forget the USA plays Belgium at 4:00. For those of you stuck at work I found a helpful page entitled How to Watch the US vs. Belgium Match at the office:
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/2014-fifa-world-cup-watch-usa-belgium-work/story?id=24303525
I hope you’ll excuse the short post today.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bad back, birds, errands, greek food, gyros, heat and humidity, sea sickness, World Cup
Comments: 22 Comments
June 22, 2014
We have been blessed with perfect days and nights. The sun is warm during the day and the nights are cool for sleeping. The other night even got downright cold so I put an afghan on my bed. Fern slept on my hip which I hate, but as I’m asleep, I don’t notice. Gracie pawed the afghan to her side of the bed, turned several times counter-clockwise then curled up and slept on the afghan. I was cold.
Today I have a few errands then tonight it is the US versus Portugal. All of a sudden I am a soccer fan even though I don’t really know all that much about soccer, but I can surely cheer loudly when the US scores and groan just as loudly when their opponent do. Go USA!!
Growing up near Boston meant cheering for the Red Sox, whom you didn’t expect to win, and for the Celtics who always won. I don’t remember watching the Sox on TV, but I either watched or listened to the Celtics’ games. The CYO often sponsored trips to the Garden but not to Fenway. I went there by bus and the T, the subway system. Tickets were cheap and easy to come by day of game. The stands were never filled. I sat near the dugout several times. I knew the whole team by name and position. Even back then I was a baseball fan for a team that didn’t win a whole lot, but it was my team and that made all the difference. I don’t go to many games any more, once a year if I’m lucky. The seats are far too expensive, even the bleachers aren’t cheap, and when I add food, a Fenway frank is a must, we’re talking really big bucks; instead, I watch the Sox in the comfort of my house with the bathroom close and food of all sorts in the kitchen for the taking. It’s not as exciting as sitting in the ballpark, but it is a whole lot cheaper.
Every Sunday I call my sister in Colorado. I took a break here and went on the deck to talk to her. I was in the sun first as the shade was chilly. All too soon the sun shifted, and the deck got too hot for my feet so I moved to the shade. It was a sort of summer musical chairs.
I loved the deck this morning. The flowers in the clay pots on the rail are beautiful, and the birds were in and out at the feeders. The herbs in the boxes smell great and I rubbed my hand up the rosemary plant as that has the best smell of all. I can’t think of anything in summer not to like, even the rain.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Celtics, errands, Fenway Park, perfect days and nights, Red Sox, USA soccer
Comments: 29 Comments
May 15, 2014
The day is warm. The sun pops in and out. It is an open the windows and let the fresh air in sort of day. I have an errand or two to do later. I still walk oddly because of the aches and pains left over from the fall, but I have to go out. I figure the cats will want to be fed later as they just got their last can. What’s with these animals wanting to eat every day?
Gracie eats the best food. The list of ingredients starts with meat then goes on to the fruits and vegetables. I swear if I heated the turducken and served it over toast people would enjoy it, but it was different when I was a kid. Duke, my boxer, ate two cans of dog food a day, of horse meat. Feeding him was gross as the food didn’t smell good and the last thing I was for it to touch me. It also gave him room clearing gas. Most were of the silent but deadly form. It was always best to sit up wind from Duke.
Some of my friends squealed at spiders. I always thought that was silly. Spiders had no interest in us. They were hoping for flies or other stray insects though I do sometimes think of The Fly caught in the web and yelling, “Help me. Help me,” as the spider slowly walked toward him. I did figure, though, that was an anomaly. Some noises in the night scared me like people walking or the window getting scratched, but I wore a brave front and always asked, “Is anyone there?” Now that is silly. What homicidal maniac is going to answer, “I am, and I’m here to dismember you.” I had this idea that if I sounded brave I’d scare away the man with hook or the hatchet. As I never saw one, I must have been successful.
I used to walk home at night from being with my friends. No one walked in my direction. The rest walked together the other way. Once a police car stopped and offered me a ride home. He knew me which is why he stopped. I took the ride. When he got to my street, he turned on all the lights and let me out. I figured the neighbors were watching from all their windows wondering what was going on. I waved and went inside the house. I was never afraid walking home alone. The biggest news in the police blotter of the local paper was woman hears sounds in her yard, kids making noise, and cars leaving rubber and speeding. My town was not a hot bed of crime.
Categories: Musings
Tags: aches and pains, dog food, errands, fresh air, help me. help me., horse meat, local crime, sounds in the night, spiders, the hook, walking home alone, warm day
Comments: 12 Comments
May 3, 2014
Yesterday it was a joy to be out and about doing errands. I think I smiled the whole time. The day was brilliant with a bright sun and a temperature in the high 60’s. Poor Gracie had to be left home as I had too many long stop errands and didn’t want her stuck in the car in the heat. This time of year she comes when I go to the dump or take a ride. She was out in the yard most of the afternoon and spent part of it stretched on the deck enjoying the sun.
For breakfast when I was a kid, I had cocoa, oatmeal or eggs and toast during the winter, and in the summer I had cereal or toast with juice or milk. For lunch it was mostly a bologna sandwich. I was never good at slicing the bologna so my sandwich was always misshapen. Some of the bologna pieces had thick edges on one side and thin on the other. I added hot peppers from a jar and yellow mustard. Dinner was my mother’s choice. She knew what we’d tolerate and served it. Mashed potatoes were almost always part of the meal, and there was at least one vegetable. Hamburger in a variety of dishes was the most common meat. I didn’t realize why until I was older. Hamburger was inexpensive. My mother was creative. She made terrific meatloaves. She also cooked American chop suey without the onions and a Chinese dish with bean sprouts, water chestnuts, hamburger and crispy chow mein sticks on the top. Salisbury steak in gravy was another meal. Just plain hamburgers were mostly summer fare with hotdogs cooked on the grill. Sunday was the big dinner and we never had hamburger. Mostly it was a baked chicken or now and then roast beef. The last Sunday dinner I had before I went into the Peace Corps was roast beef, mashed potatoes and peas.
In Ghana I was still a creature of habit when it came to food. I had two eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast, fruit for lunch and beef and yam for dinner. I’d also have chicken now and then. Sunday was food from a chop bar, a hole in the wall eatery at the lorry park. Mostly it was fufu and soup. After the Christmas package came, Sunday was eat something from home day. Macaroni and cheese was a dish fit for the Gods.
I hadn’t good at making meals. I’m far too lazy. I’d have brie and crackers for dinner or eggs and toast. Lately, though, I’ve been using meat from the freezer and have had real meals: chicken thighs, mashed potatoes and a vegetable. Last night it was my old stand-by, peas, and a baked potato for variety. Dinner was delicious, and I felt accomplished.
Categories: Musings
Tags: American chop suey, bologna, eggs and toast, errands, fufu and soup, Ghana Peace Corps, Hamburger, macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, real meals, Sandwiches
Comments: 14 Comments
April 19, 2014
The day is lovely with a bright sun and a deep blue sky. The wind has disappeared. The temperature at 54˚ is the start of a heat wave. Time to break out the sandals.
I have a few errands today, and I made an appointment for Gracie at the vets. I first thought she had a stroke last night because she was dripping saliva from one side of her face as if she had no control. I checked but there seemed to be no visible difference between one side or the other. She ate her treats and begged for more and chewed on both sides. I wiped her jowls periodically and the dripping finally got less and less. By 2 this morning, she wasn’t dripping at all so we went to bed. Today she is perfectly fine, but I want her checked.
Just as my mother used to on the Saturday night before Easter, I’m going to put out the clothes I’ll be wearing tomorrow. I want to make sure they’re wrinkle free. Nothing is new but everything is so seldom worn they do have a newness about them. My dress material is filled with colorful flowers. It is spring personified.
We used to get excited knowing the Easter Bunny was coming, not so much for him as for his treats. It wasn’t the giddy excitement of Christmas Eve when we knew Santa was coming with a bagful of toys just for us. We really didn’t know all that much about the Easter Bunny. We knew he brought baskets filled with candy and small toys, but we didn’t know who helped. Santa had his elves. Who did the Easter Bunny have? We knew Santa summered at the North Pole. I had no idea where the Easter Bunny lived. I guessed a rabbit hole which must have been enormous, but I never really gave it a thought. We didn’t have to be good, no naughty or nice list. There were no threats. We knew Santa wouldn’t come if we were awake or if we were really bad, but the Easter Bunny came regardless. Instead of new pajamas, we got whole new outfits. We never questioned why a rabbit brought eggs or how he hauled all those baskets from house to house. On an Easter card I once received, the Easter Bunny was pulling a wagon filled with colorful eggs. He wore a small jacket with lots of gold buttons but didn’t wear pants. I just took the whole scene for granted. I believed everything about Santa so believing in the Easter Bunny wasn’t a stretch at all.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bunny cart, colored eggs, Easter basket, Easter Bunny, Easter Buuny clothes, Easter clothes, errands, flowers, pretty day, sunny, vet visit, warmish
Comments: 19 Comments
April 11, 2014
What a surprise the morning brought: a cloudy, damp, chilly day. (You know of course that was tongue in cheek!)
I was up early to meet friends for breakfast and did one other errand then came home because my back had started to give me trouble. I still have two more errands on my list so I’ll go out this afternoon. This has been a busy week, the busiest in a long while, and I’m even going to the movies tomorrow to see The Grand Budapest Hotel. On Sunday I will rest. I will out sloth the sloths.
My favorite pie of all is lemon meringue. My mother always made it at Thanksgiving, an odd choice among the pumpkin and squash pies, but a popular choice in my family. My second favorite is blueberry. I never mix ice cream and pie or even ice cream and cake. I find the mixture off-putting.
I learned to tie my shoes when I was young. My first ties were loose but I got better and the ties got tighter. My method was simple and I think is the most common: make a loop with one end, wrap the other end around and pull a loop through the “hole” in the middle. I thought everyone tied their shoes in the same way then a friend did the double loop. She made a loop on each end then tied a knot with them. I was surprised. I tried it a few times but went back to the standard way my mother had taught me.
Buttons were easy. Each one had its own buttonhole though sometimes I’d miss a button and put the next button in the wrong hole. I’d end up with an uneven jacket. My solution was to start buttoning from the bottom.
Zippers were the most difficult of all. Two sides had to be connected exactly the right way, and that was no easy task. My little fingers didn’t work well and one side would zip while the other didn’t because I had missed the connection. Sometimes cloth got caught in the zipper, and that was the worst. I used to zip my jacket before I put it on so I could see what I was doing then I’d slip the jacket over my head and zip it the rest of the way. I don’t know how old I was before I could zip while wearing the jacket. I remember it took a while.
I have only one pair of shoes with laces, sneakers actually. My winter coat, which I seldom wear, has a zipper. My shirts have buttons, but I don’t button them every time. I leave the shirts buttoned up and just slip them over my head. That’s the lazy woman’s way.
Categories: Musings
Tags: blueberry pie, busy day, busy week, buttonholes, buttons, cloudy, damp and chilly, errands, lemon meringue pie, loops, tying shoes, zippers
Comments: 8 Comments
April 8, 2014
The morning has already been a full one. I think I’m ready to join Gracie in a morning nap. I had my library board meeting, stops at the pharmacy, Stop and Shop and Ring Brothers, my favorite store for almost anything. I’m shortly going to get into my cozies and while away the day. Right now it’s pouring. It rained during the night, stopped so I could do my errands then started again when I got home. I love rainy days like this one. The house is dark except for the light in this room, my comfort, warm and cozy, a refuge from the rain.
My yard is spring ready. My landscaper and two of his workmen raked the lawn, edged and cleaned the flower beds, blew the debris from my deck and cleared the backyard of all its fallen branches. The lawn also got fertilized. Sebastian, my neighbor and landscaper, wanted it done so the rain would soak the fertilizer into the grass. Once the garden is cleared, I get itching to flower shop, but I know it is way too early. I’ll just have to buy a few pansies for pots on the front steps to hold me in the meanwhile.
My flamingo and my Travelocity gnome winter here in the house. All summer they stay on the deck and enjoy the sunshine. The flamingo dresses for every occasion. Right now he is wearing rabbit ears and a jaunty jacket. The gnome has no wardrobe but is content in his blue coat and conical red hat.
I used to think fireflies were fairies, relatives of Tinker Bell. At night there were so many in the field below my house they seemed to lift the darkness. We’d run and catch them in jars but keep them only a while. They were always one of the best parts of a warm summer night.
Spring and summer are wondrous seasons for me. The world is fresh and new in spring and every flower is welcomed after the drabness of winter. Summer is gardens bursting with color and it is late nights on the deck. I sit in the darkness and watch the fireflies flitting in my backyard among the pine trees, and I still point and yell and watch until they disappear into the next yard.
Categories: Musings
Tags: dark, errands, fireflies, flamingo, flowers, full morning, garden, meeting, pnsies, rainy, spring and summer, Travelocity gnome, yard clean-up
Comments: 8 Comments
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