One Big Adventure; One Little Adventure

Laura's latest book has just been released--Tranquility by Tuesday. Much of what she proposes is not relevant for me at this stage of my life in retirement. But her idea of one big adventure each week and one little adventure is something I need to adopt.

 

So yesterday we had our "one big adventure." We hoped to see more autumn color than we did along busy highways but we had a memorable time nevertheless. We drove about 75 miles to the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and enjoyed seeing the Wyeth art featured there. We walked a bit along the river. We left home around 1:15 and were back home around 7:15 having decided to make it a day trip and not an overnight outing. 

 Learning about the Wyeth family of three generations of artists was interesting. In fact, Jim splurged on a biography of Andrew Wyeth purchased in the museum shop so our visit will be extended as we read more about them. We were surprised to see several works featuring African-American models who lived in Chadds Ford. 

 We had an early supper of drinks and sandwiches at Chadds Ford Tavern on our way home. I was disappointed when the clerk at the museum acted as if there was no village of Chadds Ford to walk around. She may have been wrong because I think there is a historic district. Maybe we'll go back again and spend the night.

 In any case it was a great outing and because it was six hours or more it qualifies as one of Laura's "big adventures." Tomorrow we hope to celebrate Laura's book at her book launch party at her home--a possible "little adventure."

Covid--2 1/2 years and Still Here

 

View from our little balcony

I blogged only two times in September.  Life is very routine and there is nothing to blog about.  That is probably good!  But I have been thinking about how Covid is still a factor in our lives.  Except....this afternoon we shopped at Target and we both forgot to put on our masks.  Mine was on my wrist--where it doesn't do any good!  Jim's was in his pocket.  When we noticed our lapse, we put them on.  Target was the first place we wore masks 2 1/2 years ago--when we saw the signs on the door telling us to do so via NJ advisories.  Target seems like such a big, open store that we don't feel too concerned about our forgetting. 

We both had another Covid booster on Monday at the CVS in Plainsboro. This was our 5th Covid shot.  Unlike our first shots,  scheduling was very easy on the CVS app on my iphone.  Jim read me the various Medicare and prescription drug numbers as I filled out the required applications for each of us. We texted the pharmacy when we were in the parking lot and they let us know when we could come in to the store.  There was a very short wait while the technician was helping someone else.  She said she gave 200 shots in a day!  Jim had no reaction to his booster.  I felt chilled and a bit nauseous and tired all day on Tuesday but was just fine again on Wednesday.  

Last Sunday our pastor was unable to worship at church because he got Covid--probably after a presbytery meeting in which one delegate let everyone know that he was positive afterwards.  An associate pastor read his sermon.  A good friend back in South Bend is isolating in her home and is frustrated by a continued positive home test.  She is tired of isolating but doesn't want to expose her family.  The days of worrying about ventilators and personal protective equipment and available hospital beds are gone but Covid is not.  So we are still careful when we remember to be careful!  May we be spared--we are thankful that we have been so far! 

Peace and Quiet

Barclay Square is in the middle of a roofing project.  This week it is the turn of Building 5, our building.  It is noisy.  It is incredibly noisy and that is probably accentuated by being in a second floor apartment.  We had a key to Jeff and Susan's house and I asked if I could crash there for some of the time this week.  I made it through the first two days when the roofers were mostly at the far end of our building.   But today at 7:57 am the banging started overhead as they stripped the old shingles off.  Our doors were covered with tarp and so were the windows.  We had already moved our plants and deck chair to safety.

Jim is able to block out the noise as he keeps working on his projects.  I am not able to do so and thus am so happy to be sitting quietly in Jeff and Susan's living room.  I have books and I can still get wifi here from past visits.  I just sat on their deck for a bit to get my daily Vitamin D--impossible to do at our place yesterday with workmen all around us.  I have brought along a lunch although they offered me some options from their freezer.  I have checked their crockpot for them and will follow instructions of turning it to high later in the afternoon.  

Jim will golf this afternoon so he will be gone anyway.  It's a long day to be away from home but I am thinking it is better than tolerating the pounding.  It will only get worse when they install the new shingles.  I hope today is the worst of it because they were right overhead this morning.  They finish up for the day by 5:00 or so.  

We had to park our car away from our garage this week because access was unavailable with shingles waiting to be cleared away.  That is not a major problem because there are visitors' parking places around the complex.  

I am glad we are not paying for a new roof although I guess we are paying for it with our rent increase.  If it were a single family dwelling the noise would not be going on all week--and even for weeks when there are sounds from Building 4 and Building 6 which are just not as bad when they are not directly overhead.  

Our Sporting Life

 We watch a lot of sports on TV.  When I complain about seeing the same commercials over and over again (Draft King, Progressive, Amazon) I realize that the reason is that we watch a lot of sports. 

 We have been watching the Mets and I have become a Mets fan because we can get them on SNY--Sports New York--our local broadcast.  And now NFL has started up and there has been golf although the PGA is done for a while.   Jim still tunes in to the Golf Channel and gets the Asian tour or the Champions (seniors) or the women who are still playing.  Not the infamous LIV events however.  I wonder if they will be broadcasted at some point and if we would boycott them.

The Mets--It has been fun to watch their great pitchers--DeGrom and Scherzer--although injuries kept them out at various times.  We chuckle at Vogelbach, the large designated hitter whose running style is not his strength.  In fact, once Jim pondered if Nido would bunt and I was proud to point out that Vogelbach was on third and a bunt was unlikely!  The last few nights the Cubs have taken on the Mets and won.  I think Jim is still a Cubs fan; my allegiance has changed.

And then there is Notre Dame football--two losses already this year.  It was understandable that they lost to number two-ranked Ohio State in an away game in a very noisy stadium.  But last week they lost to Marshall in a home game.  Poor Marcus Freeman, the first head coach to have a 0-3 record at ND ever!  And now Buchner, their quarterback, is injured and out for four months.

A crisis is averted we hope when during the NFL Kickoff game last Thursday, our audio feed suddenly changed to Spanish.  We followed some Google instructions and managed to get all the on screen instructions in Spanish too!  Jim chatted with a very helpful xfinity person on Friday and when the audio switched to Spanish on Sunday, he was able to correct it on his own.  Why is the TV doing these arbitrary changes?  We do not know!  It's only on NBC and only during football--so far at least.

We happily watch all these events from the comfort of our living room with our large TV screen.  We don't envy anyone sitting in the stadiums fighting traffic to get to the games and sitting in what could be super spreader Covid events.  We're glad we can be sports fans together--although it would be nice to be cheering for winners.  

A friend mentioned that I had not been blogging much lately.  Maybe this topic is a sign of our rather limited life these days.  And maybe limited is just fine for now!

A Family Celebration

 

Yesterday we celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary by going out to eat with our son and his wife and two of their children. The third child was beginning his first week of college.  We actually were also celebrating Susan's May birthday but for various reasons that was postponed.

We met at Metro North on Alexander Avenue and decided in spite of the heat to eat outside on their patio.  We were shown to a large corner table and it almost felt like eating in the woods.  It was quiet except for the far off sound of the Princeton Dinky, the train from the town to Princeton Junction.  

It was really wonderful to think that we could celebrate with three generations and a great meal in a lovely location--and all just a ten minute ride from our apartment. There was plenty to talk about--some reminiscing of course but also updates on the college freshman and the plans for the college graduate's move to Maryland and his first job and apartment.  Who would have thought 55 years ago that someday our family would include three children, three spouses, and eight grandchildren?  

The Unfiltered Joy of a Two-year-old

 

Our trip home
into the sunset

Our children were born in 1972, 1978, and 1984.  No, we did not plan to have children exactly six years apart.  And in fact, they really are spaced 6 3/4 years between the first two and 5 1/2 between the last two.  Years ago, a rather rude and bold parent at one elementary school asked me if the first child was with my first husband.  Yes, he was--but so was the second and the third.  My first and only husband.

Subsequently, our grandchildren also differ in age greatly.  Today the oldest grand-daughter is visiting her aunt and uncle and their family at Ocean Grove.  She is coming with her boyfriend and her only female cousin was very interested in just how they met and how long they had been dating.  I wonder if she will ask directly!  

Two of our grandsons are moving out of their parents' home this month--one off to college and one off to his first permanent job.  Our son and his wife will have an empty nest.  Our daughter and her husband do NOT have an empty nest--there are five children ranging in age from two to fifteen plus the new dog.

This blog post is inspired by the joy that the two year old shared with his grandma yesterday.  I noticed earlier in the week when we visited them in Ocean Grove that the bubble makers they had were out of bubbles so I bought a large container of them at Dollar Tree this week.  What great fun H had in blowing bubbles and chasing bubbles and popping bubbles on the grass.  It doesn't take much to create lots of excitement.

Another father and son had made a large mound of sand on the beach and when they left, they kindly told H and his grandpa that it was available for play.  This pile of sand was a priceless gift for an hour--climbing, smoothing, moving it, making roads on it.  The best sand-box ever!  

I brought along a blender to finish up the last minute preparations for the watermelon gazpacho soup I had made.  That caused many questions about just how that would work--plugging it in, pushing the button, making noise, and mixing it all up.  When it was suppertime,  I called H into the kitchen to watch the process.  When I pushed the button, he squealed with delight.  I don't usually get that kind of reaction when I blend our smoothies at home!   He even was willing to try a bit of gazpacho but that was not to his liking! 

Of course, the opposite can also be true for a two-year-old.  When things are not going right, one usually knows loud and clear. But yesterday was a happy day for this two-year-old and that made his grandparents happy too! 

My Home Library

All the Keepers!

 My project for the day was to sort through the shelves of books in the yellow bedroom and find books to donate to the Princeton Public Library.  It was not an easy process.  I pulled all the books off the shelves and put them on the bed.  I knew that if I just looked at them on the shelves, they would stay on the shelves.

I took a handful of books at a time into the living room and looked up the titles on Goodreads.  That reminded me if I had already read the book--and rated it.  Several of them were rated five stars so I determined they were keepers.  I might like to read them again.  Several others were shelved as "abandoned" and in some cases I decided it was time to pass them on.

Then there were the great majority of books.  These were books that I had enjoyed and might like to read again or books that I had bought and never got into.  So they went back on the shelves until the next time I decide I need to find more shelf room.

I spend quite a bit of time looking for the next good book to read.  The problem is that when I find one that I really appreciate, it is hard to get into the next book.  And I like to have one book on hand at all times.  I read Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty this week and the loss of her friend at the end left me mourning and unable to pick up another book right away. 

I read too many mysteries.  They are great escape reading but when I get involved in one it is difficult to put it down and do anything else.  And so many of them are sad stories of evil and dysfunction.  At least justice is usually served--not always--but usually there is resolution and someone pays the price for crime.  I have the time to read as much as I want but have felt as if this murder mystery reading is somewhat of an addiction.  So even if I have enjoyed volume one of the Jeri Howard Mystery Anthology and have volumes two through five on my Kindle app waiting for me, I think I will hold off a few days!  

Just a few to donate

 Maybe I will reread some of the good books I just returned to the shelves.  Wendell Berry, Penelope Lively, Patrick Modiano, Carlo Levi, Graham Greene--lots of options.  Maybe I will reread The Great Gatsby for at least the fourth time.  

So there is one small bag of books to donate to the library.  And there are plenty of books to reread or read for the first time and maybe to reject again.