Anne Marie

I am still feeling shocked and sad about the loss of Anne Marie. I miss her comments and her concern for Cheese. Funny thing about the internet, we can care about people we never really meet. We see only the portion of the person that they choose to show us. That view can be deceptive. But on blogs, I don't think it is most of the time. I liked the person she told me she was, and I will miss her.

The breast cancer support chat group that I was in used to have dedicated chats for the members we lost along the way. They were very cathartic for those of us who live in the shadow of recurrence. I can't imagine how something like that could work here. It just does seem we should mark her passing.

Scammed In America

 

My new glasses came tonight. I couldn't be happier with them. I'll bet you think they look just like my old glasses. They do; same shape, clear acetate frames. Very, very similar. Let me tell you what is different about them. I didn't have insurance to pay for them. I had to figure out how to make them affordable. 

Have you ever noticed that you can go into the Dollar Tree and pick up a pair of readers for a buck? If you'd like a little better quality you can go to CVS or Costco and pick up a four pack of them for twenty. There isn't so much difference in the actual make-up of the frames and lenses. The quality varies, but the ones from Costco are comparable. G’ 

So This Happened During The Pandemic

This happened a few months ago. The frames are about 12 years old. I liked them so I kept re-using them.  I won't even recite the series of unfortunate choices that led to this bit of destruction. But if your inner voice ever warns you not to put your glasses there, listen to it. 

Then there is the little inconvenience of the pandemic, and lockdown, and social distancing. Eye exams are an in your face kind of thing. So I have been wearing the 14 year old pair for a while. Then the CDC said that vaccinated people are safe to go maskless. I decided that I was willing to risk a masked visit to an eye doc. That happened last weekend. New glasses are on the way. I should have them next week. After I ordered them I took a last peek at my old pair. I'm pretty sure that I just ordered that same frame again. At least I know my sunglasses clip on will fit.

Housekeeping

Are you Netflixed out yet? I have binged on all I have ever dreamed of binging on over the past couple of years. Now I'm on to re-watching the old-timey stuff from the 80's. I was watching Big last night and thought about what an amazing career Tom Hanks has had. Then I started pondering what it must be like to click on your TV and watch yourself from your 20's and 30's. I'm pretty certain that I wouldn't enjoy that perk.

This morning those thoughts were on my mind as I opened up my blog to check comments. I love getting them. Most of them, that is. There is a subset of people who want to use comments to sell their sordid wares and a few of them found their way to my blog. I'm sorry if you were exposed to their messages. The comments were mostly imbedded deep into posts from past years. I'm not sure of the marketing strategy there, but there it is. I wouldn't have noticed it at all except that I clicked on the Comments tab on the left and they were near the top. They are deleted now. But now I'm alerted once more to the reality that this place doesn't clean itself. If I'm keeping it as a live blog I need to do some upkeep. 

The biggest issue with this blog is purely it's age. If it were a child, I'd be expecting grandchildren by now. I switched from the earliest platform I blogged on to Blogger at the end of 2006. Over the last decade and a half I have deposited a ton load of  information that is of little interest to anyone save myself. And I don't even look at it that much. And to top it all off my life has changed so drastically since I began blogging. I have grown, and changed. I don't really believe everything I put in those blogs anymore. And I just don't want it all out there anymore. A permanent public record of all my mistakes and foolishness doesn't seem so attractive anymore. 

I don't want to lose blogging. It has been a big part of my life. I decided  that the way to go with this is to make the posts I wrote before December 2018 private. I still have them and all the wonderful comments. I am just not going to share them anymore. December 2018 seemed like a good reset date; it marks the beginning of the journey I am on now.  

Over the next week I will be making some tweaks to the template I am using. I've had it a long time and it's time for a few upgrades. Nothing drastic, but every new version of Blogger the template gets a bit more skewed and some things need to be moved around a bit. 

Who knows, maybe the place will become respectable again.

Unexpected

News came in the mail on Saturday morning along with the pre-approved credit card offers and the urgent pleas for political donations. Two of the letters were for me. 

The first I had been somewhat expecting. The American Rescue Plan included a stipulation that increased the subsidy for health insurance. I suspected that my monthly payments might be decreased, but I was shocked at how very much. The plan was already a quarter of the cost of the plan that my former employer wanted to pass on to their retirees. I did not grudge paying the premiums. I only grudge the deductibles. Now I am literally paying twenty percent of that already acceptable price. It's a nice reminder that I voted for the right president. I will remember it every month when I make that token payment.

The second letter came totally out of the blue. My retirement plan wrote to tell me that they had miscalculated my monthly pension. They will be increasing my pension by more than ten percent and sending me the increase retroactively. Next week I will be receiving a small windfall that I had not foreseen. Between Social Security and my pension I had been receiving close to what I had been making before I retired. Now I will be making a small bit more. I don't have the expenses of working and commuting any longer so this really does feel like a major shift in my circumstances. 

Yay for me! I may need to start planning a trip. I'd love to go to Ireland. I wonder if they are still rejecting Americans.

Dozing Cats

The cats are very snoozy. It is by far their favorite thing to do. Most afternoons I have three or four of the six dozing on my bed. 

Yes'm, I said six.

Cheese is still clinging to life. He does not cry in pain, has a good appetite and can still control his own functions so we are inclined to make him as comfortable as possible and show him as much love as he will withstand. 

That still leaves the number six...

We have a new cat. Or does a new cat have us? About a month ago we noticed that a group of homeless had set up a camp in the hedge that separates our property from the railroad. The railroad and the police are pretty consistent about breaking up camps there. Though the impractical side of me wishes sometimes that they would just leave them alone. This group was not one of them for many reasons. They had a cat that would wander into our property. Our cats (except Pippi) didn't seem to mind. The cat must have wandered off when they camp was dispersed because a week later we found a live trap in our yard. A car had been stolen from our neighbor, and when they were reviewing their camera footage they noticed they had captured video of one of the homeless climbing over our fence to put it there. The cat stayed around and we noticed that he was becoming markedly thinner. We started feeding him last week. Today he must have decided that he likes it here. Instead of running from us, he came when we called him. He is a tuxedo cat. We are calling him Felix.

I guess I am officially an old cat woman. I never saw this coming.

On Tulips and Tacos

This blog post was started on Cinco-de-Mayo. I am not certain that it will be ended on this date. But I do know that I need to stop the disappearing act that I've been pulling on this blog for far too long. 

The last time I checked in I was looking forward to going to Skagit to the Tulip Festival. We went. I kind of mucked it up by being in an awful mood by the time we got there. Traffic getting there was terrible, making us an hour late for our appointment. And once we got there, well the kindest way of saying it is that the festival is lame. Maybe it used to be different before covid. Maybe there used to actually be something fun to do. Basically I paid to walk on crowded paths beside tulip fields. It looks amazing, but so do the fields of other farms you can park on the side of the road to see. I've seen it. I was underwhelmed. My pictures actually look better than the experience was. Unfortunately it is Karen and Ken's favorite spring ritual. We will see how this goes. 

We had planned to eat at their favorite (Mexican) restaurant after seeing the fields. When we got there it was crowded. There were dozens of bikes in the parking lot. We decided to go somewhere else. Karen asked if anybody had a preference. Nora said she'd seen a Thai restaurant that looked interesting. I said that I like Thai food. Ken said he'd never had it before, so Karen said let's do something else then, and that there was a town close by that had more restaurants. We got to the small town to find most of the businesses closed at 7:15 pm. They had a Jack's, a  Wendy's, a Taco Time and a hole-in-the-wall, mom and pop Mexican place. I ordered chicken nacho's. I didn't think they could mess that up. They used cheddar cheese. It wasn't impressive. 

A few days later I got the second dose of the Moderna vaccine. I was pretty sure that it was going to make me sick. I was very wrong. My arm hurt for a few days, then I was fine. I feel like I dodged two bullets with that one. 

So today (still Cinco-de-Mayo) is the two week mark since my shot. I'm good to eat in a restaurant. We had planned too. We even left early to beat the crowds. Karen knew a great place in Renton, so we headed that way. When we got there, it was closed down. Not to worry, we passed a hundred or more of them on the way there. She knew another place in Kent, so we went there. That restaurant also was a victim of Covid. I calmly said again that we'd passed many Mexican restaurants on out way there. Karen then decided we should go check out a place we'd eaten at in Black Diamond. We passed a Pho restaurant going into the parking lot. I said that we were eating Pho if this one was closed. We went around the corner to find out that it too was closed down. Then I said "You know, Taco Time will do." not really being serious. Karen seriously jumped on it. I should have kept  my mouth shut and enjoyed the Pho. Driving to the Taco Time in our town, Karen was saying that it would be crowded and we'd be in a long car line. It wasn't because the casino across the street was having a party. Neither Karen nor I were interested in eating from the casino buffet so Taco Time drive thru it was.  

No margarita and eating at the coffee table. Let's YouTube a Mariachi band. Such a celebration, we should do this every year. 

Sorry about this tone, especially after being gone for a month again. I have come to the realization that my sister became a chef because she has an overwhelming compulsion to control the food supply. I had taken over cooking for the family, but it made her so unhappy that I had to concede that back. And well, unless the restaurant is her choice she's going to torpedo it. The restaurants I understand. She's a vegetarian and wants one where she's likely to find something on the menu. It still frustrates me.

Tomorrow I'm going to Zola's and eating in the restaurant. I'm not taking my sister because I can just hear that conversation in my head..."I know this other restaurant that I used to go to. We could try that out. We can eat at Zola's anytime." Sure thing...

Please stay. See, I have pretty pictures.

Balmy

The weather is beautiful, warm and breezy, the perfect spring day. It's peaceful essence reminds me of so many similar days when just being in the sunshine and air was enough. The television had to go off. I need no talking heads to spoil the mood. The doors and windows had to be opened to bring all that goodness inside. Days like today are what I think Heaven must surely be like.

Just Say Something

Cheese is still with us, but barely. He is bone thin and shrinking by the day. His fur falls off in tufts and leaves bare spots on his skin. He is mostly lame, but manages to drag the back part of his body enough to eventually get where he wants to be. We carry him quite a bit when we can understand where it is he wants to go. One of the other cats is always nearby to defend him if need be. I am surprised at how loyal they are too each other. 

John from Going Gently said that his amazing success for blogging everyday is to just say something. Makes sense. This year, almost any subject I begin on quickly leads me to things that I cannot change. I'm not sure that his advise would be a good idea for me. 

I suppose I could write about my daily walks. Maybe the obligation would ensure that I actually take a daily walk. It is easy to talk myself into procrastinating that one. I did take one today, though I did not take many pictures. Even with beautiful weather and a perfect day, I was not feeling it. I did manage it. 

When I'm deciding on walks my inner teen wants to place the daily walk into the column of unnecessary societal obligations, when it actually belongs with the daily activities of healthy living, like eating something reasonably nutritious and brushing your teeth. 

I think I've rambled enough today to call this "Just saying something". Maybe someday I will have something worth saying.

Laundry Day

Washday on the Maine Coast
N. C. Weyth

I did laundry today after putting it off since Monday. I often put off doing laundry on Mondays. Sometimes I put it off all month long. Not today, I only have two loads because I washed them a couple of weeks ago. 

We are going to see the tulips on Saturday and all three of the blouses I considered wearing were in the baskets. If I wanted to feel comfortable with how I looked, the clothes must be washed. 

It's a lovely day for it. It is sunny and on the warm side, with a good breeze. If I had a clothesline I would hang them out to dry. I would really like to have one but it is problematic. If I ask my brother to put one up, he will feel the need to make it perfect and that will put a lot of stress on him. Reversely, if I just decided to put one up myself he would consider it a slight and it will hurt his pride. Maybe I will just get one of the folding portable ones. I could plan my laundry for days such as this. Maybe I will...