Covid Vaccines Again

 I got notice that we could get a Covid booster at CVS again.  I made appointments for both of us very easily online at a local Plainsboro CVS where we had done previous vaccines.  We checked in when we arrived and had no wait at all to be helped.  When I mentioned how efficient all this was compared to our struggles to get that first vaccine, the technician agreed and said how easy it is to forget how life was at that point.  Empty store shelves, hospitals overwhelmed by folks in the ER, not enough ventilators, churches and schools closed.  People are still getting Covid and we hope we will avoid it.  We are drinking lots of water today and wondering if we will feel some side effects later.  We are feeling very grateful to be able to do this step so easily today.  

September 18  We both drank lots of water and had no side effects at all--just felt the injection spot when I lay on the side last night.  Happy to be vaccinated and hope it really works!  As we shopped at Target this morning, I remembered that was the first place we went that said we had to be masked to enter when folks were aware of the dangers of exposure.  

Another Go at Our Memories

Five years ago, when we packed up and moved from our home of 25 years, I spent hours and weeks sorting through boxes of letters and cards and childhood memorabilia (report cards! piano recitals!).  It was sometime fun and sometimes very sad as I tried to look up friends from long ago and realized they were no longer with us.  There were many items that I saved, packed into shoeboxes and then into two larger boxes.  They found a home in our spacious garage at our apartment complex and I forgot about them.

Last week, I noticed water on the floor of the garage.  It was coming from a faucet that was leaking--a faucet that we had never used.  Sadly, it meant that the boxes were damp on the bottom.  I began a rescue operation in which items were pulled out and deposited in dry boxes.  I had to throw out a few things but many may be salvageable even if they smell a bit moldy right now.  

We had to laugh at some of the cards we had given each other over the years and some of the handiwork of our offspring.  (Dr. Dan VanderKam and his secretary Laura VanderKam--sexism that I guess did not matter at the time).  Most of the items I put away for another day.  I don't have the zeal for sorting it all out again.  

And then there were all the work items I saved thinking that I might tutor as a volunteer again.  Covid put an end to that ambition for a couple of years and now it just seems like too much effort.  But I found I  could not throw it all out.  Six volumes of Megawords?  Word charts?  A guide to phonics?  Too many memories and hard work were represented by those books and information.

So what will happen to it all?  Maybe I will be ambitious again and be more ruthless in editing all that paper.  If we move to assisted living, we would need a storage unit for it all.  That would give me some motivation. Maybe I will pass on and my children, in cleaning out our place, will find it easy to dump it all. But for right now,  I don't have to do anything but let some wet paper dry out and postpone most decisions for another day. 

Moonflowers

I have enjoyed moonflowers for many years.  I buy seeds from Amazon in April and start them in the house--first softening them in water and then putting them in a pot in the window.  When a few of them germinate, I rejoice and plant at least one vine outside when there is no danger of frost.  The last few years I have been able to pass on a second vine to a friend.

It takes months of watching the vine grow and grow but show no sign of buds.  At long last,  a few weeks ago, we had our first blossom.  Jim has been very faithful in remembering to water the plant--which means a trip downstairs with a full container of water.  He has also been good about looking out for a blossom because if you don't get a glimpse of it at night, it is too late in the morning.  The blossom will last one night and then wither and die.

The flowers are beautiful and have given us joy over the years.  They shine brightly white in the moonlight and are aptly named.  I hope we can enjoy them for another month until there is a fall frost.