Posted tagged ‘groceries’
March 2, 2018
The tops of trees bend down left and right. I’ll be surprised if I don’t see branches lying in the yard. The rain pours. Nearer the coast the houses are being battered, and the roads are flooding. Some are closed. The risk of losing electricity is high. I am drawn to the windows to watch the trees and the sheets of rain. The storm is fascinating.
Sometimes I’d go to the beach when the winds were especially high. I’d stand with my arms out and let the wind take me. It was exhilarating. Later today the wind could get around 76 MPH. The tides are historically high. The waves are twenty to thirty feet. There are two more high tides with the dangerous one around midnight. I’d like to be there, at the beach, but I know with my history a tree would fall on me or my car or both.
Last night I got ready for Peapod, but the truck never came. I checked my e-mail, and delivery is scheduled for today. Last night’s supper was dependent on groceries so I had to punt. I had bought Eastham turnip already peeled and cut. I cooked it. It was delicious, almost sweet. The only drawback is turnip smells gross to me when it is cooking. It is like cabbage in that respect.
I slept in this morning which surprised me as I had gone to sleep early for me, around midnight. I had finished my book and was sorry I hadn’t brought up the next book in the series, the last one I have. I could have gone back down the stairs to get the book, but I turned out the light instead.
My arm still hurts. I have to type with my laptop actually on my lap and my arm resting on the arm of the couch. If the laptop is on the table, the angle is wrong, and my arm hurts almost immediately. I still have 5 or 6 weeks to go.
Today is a stay inside and just take it easy day. I do need to change my bed, but I’m not looking forward to doing that almost one handedly, maybe tomorrow, maybe not.
I’m going to start my book. I’m going to put my feet up and get comfortable. I’m going to eat some chocolate. I think it will be a wonderful day.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: Beach, broken arm, change bed, flooding, groceries, heavy rain, high tides, Nor'easter, smell, turnip, waves, Wind
Comments: 4 Comments
February 1, 2018
We had about 4 inches of snow. My factotum Skip, came on Tuesday afternoon, and shoveled the walk and got the car free. Yesterday morning I went to get the papers. I put my foot on the mat outside the door and my foot slid out from under me. I used my right hand to break my fall. I landed hard on the first step and just sat there a while trying to get my wits about me. My wrist and my foot hurt. My butt was getting wet from the mat I was sitting on. My door was still open. Finally I gingerly got up and limped to the road and got my papers. Today my right wrist is swollen and sore and has a big lump. My left foot is swollen and my knee is painful but only if I move it ( a little humor here). I limp. I’m the walking wounded.
When I was a kid, my first fall resulted in a broken wrist. I was around 4 or 5 and considered that cast a badge of honor. My next memorable fall was down the stairs. I ended up with a huge gash on my chin. I was about 10. I don’t remember any more falls until I moved into my house. Four times I have fallen down stairs: 2 inside, 2 outside. I broke a cheekbone and some teeth during the most memorable fall inside. The other falls only resulted in black and blues. I fell off a ladder outside and broke my shoulder bone. I was lucky with that one as my head just missed the top of a concrete wall. Another fall was down the outside backstairs and over the side. I knocked myself out but that was it.
I know I have mentioned that falling is part of my DNA, a gift from my father. Given my druthers, I would have preferred eye color.
We have a little sun today. I have to squint in the brightness. It is warm at 44˚. Tonight will be below freezing. Tomorrow night will be 13˚. I have no plans to go out for the rest of the week. I have plenty of food from Peapod yesterday and lots of books from the library.
I still have that damn laundry to do. I threw it down the cellar stairs yesterday. Now, though, I actually have a real excuse for not doing it, and it has nothing to do with laziness or being a sloth. I can’t walk down any stairs because my knee, leg and foot hurt enough for me to complain out-loud, and how can I fold with one hand? I got a lot more out of this slide than I ever expected.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: achy, black and blues, broken writs, DNA, fall, falls, gash, groceries, ice, knocked out, Laundry, Snow, sore, stairs, step, sun, swollen
Comments: 20 Comments
January 27, 2018
Today is a disappointment. It was supposed to be a warmish with some sun; instead, it is cloudy with a chilling wind. I do have to go out this afternoon as it is dump day, and I also need a few groceries. Maddie disappeared this morning before I could give her her meds, but she was easy to find. She is upstairs sleeping on a guest room bed. Maddie hasn’t eaten much, but at least she has eaten something.
When I first moved into my house, I had a desk, a TV and a studio couch, all in one room. In the kitchen I had two pots, a frying pan and a toaster oven. I didn’t even have a fridge for the first few days. Though the mortgage was half my month’s salary, I remember sitting in the sun on the small farmer’s deck in a hand-me down blue lawn chair thinking I owned the world.
Last night the house was dark except for the candles in the windows and a few others in the living room. I love my house by candlelight. It feels alive and filled with warmth. I wait a long time before I turn on a light.
I remember learning to tie my shoes though I don’t remember how old I was. My mother taught me how. We sat in the living room, and she tied the shoelaces over and over again as I watched. When it was my turn, I kept tying the laces so loosely the bow wouldn’t hold, but I kept on until I finally mastered the task. My shoes, though, were always loose, and I had to keep retying the laces. It took a while before I figured how to make the bow tight.
I think of kids today with their velcro shoes, never needing to be tied, their digital watches which show the time in 4 digits so kids never learn quarter or half past or any time words and their computers which take away the need to learn cursive writing. I don’t know if those skills are really all that important any more, but I know they were milestones when I was growing up. I remember feeling so proud and accomplished I wanted everyone to know. Hey, world, here I am a kid who can tell time, tie a shoe and write my name.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: bows, breeze, candles, Cat, chilly day, Cursive, dump, groceries, milestones, my house, shoes, tying bows, watches
Comments: 14 Comments
November 25, 2017
When Gracie and I went out earlier, I was surprised by how warm a morning it is. The sun is shining, and there is a slight breeze. It was quiet except for music from the radio of a car being parked next door. The car belongs to a man who works for my neighbor, the landscaper. When he opened the car door, the music stopped. It was quiet again. I was still in the backyard waiting for Gracie. She took her time. I didn’t mind, though, as I got to be outside enjoying the morning for a bit.
My groceries are being delivered in a while. I open the door, and they are brought to the kitchen where I start putting them away. When I shopped, I aways hated bringing the bags inside the house as it took so many trips. Now I complain about putting the groceries away.
Last night for dinner I had leftovers. They were almost as good as the Thanksgiving meal. They reminded me a turkey is never a single meal. It seems to last forever. First is the grand meal then hot turkey sandwiches that night, cold turkey sandwiches piled high with stuffing and cranberry sauce the next day or two then turkey salad and finally turkey soup. My dad was a champion at picking the meat from the turkey bones. I think he looked forward to it every year. Not even the smallest piece of meat escaped him. He left an empty carcass.
This weekend will be a quiet one. I have nothing planned. Tonight I’ll watch a new Hallmark movie. I don’t know what it is, but I can guess. The possible plots are easy: two people will meet on a plane or a train or at the airport and fall in love, a curmudgeon will do a Scrooge like make-over and love Christmas, a kid will get his wish, someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas will find it in his or her heart and in doing so will fall in love.
I’m watching the antithesis of those Hallmark movies on a program called Homicide for the Holidays. I figure it will counteract all the sugar from Hallmark. I just watched a detective at his desk talking on the phone about murders during a house invasion on Christmas Eve. Behind the detective were Christmas decorations. A gold garland outlined the window and cards were strung on a string across it. Quite festive indeed!
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Categories: Musings
Tags: car radio, falling in love, groceries, Hallmark, morning, music, picking the bone, quiet, soup, Turkey, turkey salad, turkey sandwiches, warm day
Comments: 6 Comments
September 22, 2017
Last night the wind sounded like a freight train. I know it’s a cliche, but it perfectly describes what I was hearing. The wind blew in gales. In between the gales it was quiet if only by comparison. I think it was the wildest wind since the start of the storm. This is day four of the remnants of Jose. Earlier this morning it was raining loudly enough to hear. At other times the rain has been misty, quiet. The wind is still raging.
My deck and yard are filled with fallen leaves and smaller branches. Every time I go out, a few leaves are blown inside the house. All of them are shriveled and dead.
The birds are at the feeders in such numbers the sunflower and thistle feeders need to be refilled. I’ll just have to brave the rain. I don’t want to disappoint all those birds.
I did finish my errands yesterday. At the doctor’s they had snacks to thank us for getting our flu shots. I had a chocolate chip cookie and a mini-cupcake. Last night the spot where I got the shot itched a bit, and the spot hurts a little today. I’ll just have to be brave.
Last night I was cold so I grabbed a light blanket and snuggled a bit under it. This morning when I woke up the house was at 67˚. Since then, the temperature has risen a couple of degrees but not enough as I’m still a bit chilly, but I refuse to turn on the heat this early in the season. I’m still taken aback by having to use the AC the last couple of days because of the humidity. It is late for the AC and too early for the heat. Weather has gone amok.
Today is the autumn equinox, a beginning and an end: the end of summer and the beginning of fall, autumn. The nights will now be longer than the days.
When I was a kid, I loved when the leaves were falling. On our way to school, we would walk in the gutters kicking leaves and watching them fly. I remember yellow the most.
The only things on my to do list are to order groceries and finally get the laundry finished, or rather get it started. It is still upstairs. I have no ambition whatsoever, but I guess I could scare up enough energy to order groceries on line.
Rain is predicted for tomorrow as are wind gusts up to 45 MPH. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be sunny and in the low 70’s. I’ll believe it when I see it. All this rain has made me gloomy and skeptical.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: 67˚, AC, amok, bird feeders, blown leaves, dead leaves, doctors, flu shot, Freight Train, gales, groceries, heat, Laundry, leaves, mist, raging wind, rain, to do list, weather, Wind
Comments: 8 Comments
August 5, 2017
The air is damp yet again and makes me feel closed in, hemmed in by the humidity. Rain is predicted for late this afternoon but the gray sky doesn’t look like a rain sky. It looks as it has in days, just gray.
Our Saturday movie night is going to be Sunday movie night because of the weather, the possibility of rain tonight. I have three new movies from which to choose: a new, unbroken Four Feathers, To Kill a Mockingbird and An American Werewolf in London. I’m leaning toward the last one. It has humor and a werewolf, an unbeatable combination.
I had to go around the parking lot three times yesterday before I found a space. It was almost right in front of the store. I gave thanks to the God of parking. I was in and out quickly, but now I find I need to go back. I didn’t read all of the recipe. I missed the sauce and its two ingredients. I figure to wait for the afternoon or for the rain.
I have a project. On the bottom shelf of my large metal table are three baskets. I keep putting stuff in them but take nothing out. They are mini closets, catch-alls for stuff I don’t know where else to put. My mother always had a junk drawer in the kitchen. My baskets are my junk drawers. I’m going to use a large trash bag for debris when I go through each basket. I’m hoping to find some surprises.
When I got home from Ghana and was hoping to find a teaching job, it never occurred to me to find a job which required international travel. I don’t know why unless it was just needing to get used to home again as I wasn’t happy here for a long time. I missed Ghana, the friendliness of the Ghanaians, the fun of market day, fresh fruit at lunch, the spectacular night sky, the wonderful smell of wood burning and so much more. It took me a while to notice the best parts of home.
Newspapers are making a comeback. The Washington Post and The New York Times, among others, are booming. Last November The Times signed up 130,000 new subscribers. I remember when I was a kid there were morning and evening papers, even special editions when something happened. I also remember getting ink all over my fingertips when I read the paper. I was mostly interested in the comics. My dad read the whole paper while he was having coffee. He got the Globe when he was a democrat and switched to the Herald when he became a republican. I get the Globe and the Cape Times. As did my father, I read the whole paper, each paper except I skip the international news in the Times having already read it in the Globe. I have a cup of coffee with each paper. I am my father’s daughter.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: An American Werewolf in LOndon, baskets, cleanibng, Ghana, gray, groceries, humid, international travel, junk drawer, missing Ghana, movie night, newspapers, parking lot, project, rain, sauce, The Globe, The Times
Comments: 12 Comments
December 15, 2016
Today is a busy day. Peapod is due to arrive so I’ll have to put my groceries away, and my house will be getting cleaned this afternoon. I just have to lift my feet for the vacuum and the mop.
The Polar Vortex has appeared again. I always think it sounds like the title of a low budget scifi movie, but it isn’t. Tonight we will get down to single digits and there is a high wind warning for down here. Winds will be 25 to 35 mph with gusts between 55 and 65 mph. Bitterly cold wind chills are expected overnight. The warning also says there is a danger of power failures. If that happens, we’ll freeze to death (note: overly dramatic).
My tree is just about finished. It needs a few ornaments in the middle, in a spot with few branches, and it needs to be moved. I couldn’t move it, too heavy for me. When Lee comes to clean, I’ll have him move it to the corner then I’ll finish decorating. Last night I sat in the living room looking at my tree. It’s beautiful.
Many ornaments on the tree are memories. My mother needle-pointed my sisters and me ornaments with our initials. Mine is K for kings, the three kings. One Christmas I cross-stitched ornaments for everyone’s gift. My mother collected sheep so a few of her ornaments had sheep. I have them now. Pinocchio was bought in Florence, in a small toy shop my mother and I found. There is a stitched ornament from Hungry, a harp from Ireland my friends gave me, molas from Panama we got at the San Blas Islands, beaded ornaments from Ghana, a wooden angel also from Ghana and a small red and green Bolga basket I hang at the end of a branch so it doesn’t get lost. My mother gave us ornaments from our childhood for our trees. A few are mssing paint but most are in wonderful shape for being old. I love putting them on the tree.
My house is almost decorated. Gracie’s crate is getting some lights this year. A small plastic Santa is on the counter in the bathroom as sort of a night light. My kitchen has the pepper lights. Gracie has a holiday collar. I love festive!
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Categories: Musings
Tags: busy day, cleaning, decorated dog crate, groceries, holiday collar, lights, ornaments, Peapod, plastic Santa, polar vortex, the three Kings, Tree, Wind chill
Comments: 10 Comments
June 24, 2016
Miss Fern had a follow-up visit at the vet’s today. It was hopeful. Her x-rays showed less water around her heart, her breathing is regular, and he thought she looked alert. The back leg she was dragging is now just about 100%. She ate this morning and drank a lot of water. The vet will call later about her blood test.
Today is also beautiful but hotter than it has been. I still have a great breeze so I haven’t used the air conditioning. Today is errand day. I need animal food and groceries. I have no bread, nothing for dinner and I’m craving a Snickers bar. Yesterday I had cereal for lunch, Sugar Pops. I can’t remember the last time I ate Sugar Pops. It’s funny the associates we keep in our memory drawers. Sugar Pops reminded of watching The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok. His sponsor was Sugar Pops and the show opened with the cereal and Wild Bill. I haven’t eaten that cereal for years, but it didn’t matter. A slew of memories filled my mind’s eye, and I saw Wild Bill and Jingles.
With schools out, oil down and the weather perfect, I expect the Cape to start being inundated this weekend so I will start hunkering down. My frazzled nerves won’t tolerate traffic. I’d be arrested for public profanity.
I was never bored summers when I was kid. Every day was filled. We had the most wonderful places to explore. I remember the wild blueberries near the water tower. They were sweet and delicious. We always ate our fill. The town has blueberry patches where you can pick the fruit. They remind me of those blueberries near the water fountain.
I like cherries. I also liked when we had who can spit the pit the furthest contests. I never won. It seems I haven’t been blessed with the skill necessary to spit pits.
Watermelon in the summer is always the best. I used eat them with so much relish the juice ran down my arms. It was red and made lines as it ran. Now when I eat watermelon I cut it off the rind and eat it in pieces. I guess that’s a sign of adulthood.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: beautiful weather, blueberries, cherries, getting hotter, groceries, Snicker's bar, spitting the pit, tourists, watermelon
Comments: 16 Comments
February 3, 2014
When I woke up this morning, it was raining. By the time I was leaving to go to breakfast, about a half hour later, it was snowing. When I got in the car, it was just in time to hear the Cape and Islands NPR forecaster say the rain would be turning to snow later. About then someone should have looked out the window and readjusted that forecast just a bit. The announcer went on to say we are supposed to get around 3 inches of snow. I was a bit skeptical as those first flakes were wet and didn’t stick, but as I was driving home, I could see the snow was starting to cover the ground. From my window here in the den, the backyard looks like a winter wonderland (a word used with tongue in cheek). The pine branches have a layer of snow, and the snow is still falling heavily from the north. I’m not so skeptical any more.
I have no plans for today. Peapod will be by later with my groceries, and I’m clicking my heels in the air as my larder is about as empty as I can remember it ever being. The last three meals were eggs: an omelet with cheese, two over-easy and an egg salad sandwich. Thank God I am now out of eggs, but I am also out of bread and just about everything else. The animals have food as I went to Agway on Saturday. I took care of the dog, the cats and the birds. Today I take care of me.
Cartoons weren’t all that educational when I was a kid. Many were violent but in a funny way we knew wasn’t real. I can’t remember how many times I watched Road Runner use Acme dynamite on Coyote who always survived despite being flattened or blown up. Tom endlessly chased Jerry who was so much smarter unlike the mice I caught last winter in my eaves. They were suckers for peanut butter. I still love Rocky and Bullwinkle and appreciate their satirical and ironic humor far more now then I did as a kid. To me the best antagonists in any cartoons will always be Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. How many times did Elmer Fudd shoot himself with his shot-gun instead of shooting Bugs Bunny? Popeye was in his own way trying to be inspirational with all that spinach. He’d pop open the can and suck down the green slop which sailed from the can in an arc to his mouth. His arm muscles would grow and grow and Bluto would become history after one Popeye punch. I never did like spinach, but I did punch a couple of people, one in elementary school and one at Fenway Park.
I think my favorite cartoon was George of the Jungle which was on when I was in college. It definitely wasn’t meant for little kids. In one cartoon, George whacked the bad guy on his head with a thick club and announced, “I came. I saw and I conked him.” In another cartoon, the jungle was being redistricted by a character named Gerry Mander. What kid would get that reference when half the adults I know wouldn’t have? That was the fun of George of the Jungle.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: animals food, Bird food, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, Bugs Bunny, cartoons, Coyote, egg salad, eggs every which way, Elmer Fudd, George of the Jungle, groceries, NPR, omelet, over-easy, Popeye, rain, Road Runner, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Snow, spinach, Tom and Jerry
Comments: 24 Comments
January 9, 2014
The days are getting warmer. By the weekend we should be in the high 40’s and even the low 50’s. That sounds like deck weather after the cold spell we’ve all endured. Gracie is bored because of that cold. She goes out to do her business or to take one run around the backyard. This morning she was staring and growling at some of her toys. She brought a couple to me, and I threw them down the hall hoping for a game of fetch. She just stood looking at me and whining. Luckily she is now asleep, snoring of course. I have nothing to do today. Yesterday I was out and about, but today I am staying home. My groceries are arriving later, I have a few books to read on my iPad and the house is clean. I suppose I could do laundry, but I won’t.
The Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale was the book I just finished. I liked it. The whole novel revolved around three young teens taking the ashes of their murdered friend to Hollywood where she always expected to go and become a star. The trip is on or around the Sabine River. Skunk, the legendary killer who cuts off the hands of his victims, is after them. I won’t give any more of the story in case you’re intrigued, but I refuse to be held responsible if you hate it. Tastes in books vary in as many ways as there are books. I had no expectations for this novel and how much I liked it surprised me. I had to read straight through. At the end I found out that Joe R. Lansdale has written and published hundreds of novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, chapbooks, comic books, graphic novels, and collections. I also found out he wrote Bubba Ho-Tep which I didn’t read, but I did see and liked the movie made from it. IMDb had the best description of this film, “Elvis and JFK, both alive and in a nursing home, fight for the souls of their fellow residents as they battle an ancient Egyptian Mummy.” Okay, that description is more than enough. I’m going to read more by this author. Amazon here I come!
Reading has always been a joy for me. Trips to the library were every week when I was a kid. I’d haul home the limit I could take and read them in a few days. I used to hide a light under the covers so I could read at night after I was expected to be asleep. I’d spend my entire 50 cents allowance on a new book which always caused my father to give me the putting money away for a rainy day lecture. I didn’t take heed. I knew I’d made the best investment with my money. I still have some of those books I bought. They are about Donna Parker and Trixie Belden, amateur teenage detectives. The pages are yellow and sort of fragile now, but every now and then I pick one up and read a page or two just for the memories.
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Categories: Musings
Tags: bored dog, Bubba Ho-Tep, fetch, getting warmer, groceries, Joe R. Lansdale, Laundry, new books, reading, reading at night, The Edge of Dark Water, the joy of reading, Trixie Belden
Comments: 5 Comments
