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.  

Doctors, Dentists, and Hair salons

 

After three years in Princeton, we feel we have found the doctors, dentist and hair salon that we like.  And at our age, doctors and dentists and labs are definitely a big part of our lives.   I was hoping that we could say that we had no medical or dental appointments in June.  There were none on the calendar.  But then Jim had a filling fall out of one of his teeth on a Friday.  He called our dentist hoping that this problem would not be as complicated as his last emergency. (which involved oral surgery and several dental appointments) Dr. Brummell was able to see Jim on Monday and happily the filling was easily replaced--not cheaply replaced but in just one easy appointment.

I was dreading an appointment with my primary care provider this week and the follow-up blood work.  I had not lost weight as I had hoped nor had I exercised as much as I intended nor given up sweets and carbs to any great extent.  So how could I hope for and expect good news?  But the A1C number came back just a bit lower and I feel as if I have a reprieve for another four months.  The cholesterol numbers were higher but I assured the doctor when he asked that I was taking my statin every day.   We are going to double it and I hope that will bring those numbers down.  I am relieved to have a plan and to be doing something even if it means more pills.  And I am trying to get at least 5000 steps a day and because some of those are climbing the stairs to get to our apartment maybe there will be improvement.  There is so much that I cannot control but I can try to do better with diet and exercise.

I won't go into too much more detail on this blog but these health issues and appointments are such a big part of our lives that I want to record them for our Blog2Print book for 2022.  

Jim is more disciplined than I am about walking daily.  He does not need to lose weight.  We try to eat whole grains, vegetables and fruit.  We do not eat cured meats or sugary drinks.  I have a longer list of drugs to take; he has fewer pills but a regime of eye drops.  He has a regular rotation of specialists and sees a dermatologist, rheumatologist, ophthalmologist and urologist regularly with an occasional stop at the cardiologist.  I see the ophthalmologist once a year and my gynecologist regularly.  So we are keeping the medical establishments in business here in Princeton.  

It has taken time to find doctors we like and trust and that will take our insurance.  My first appointments with a primary care doctor here were very stressful for me but I have made a change within the practice and am far happier with the one I am seeing now--the first one and I were not a good match.  Dr. Sophocles, the gynecologist at the Women's Health Center, says I am "low maintenance" and I am very grateful for her care. 

And then there was the all important aspect of life in finding the right person to cut our hair.  I went to three places where the hair cuts were good enough but it was cash only and $95 for a cut and blow dry.  One other place was less expensive but the stylist did not speak English.  We now both get our hair cut by Francine who runs her own salon (Addicto Salon) just up the road in Kingston, charges $45 and does just fine.  Plus she takes a credit card!   Maybe that is not as important as a doctor or a dentist but a good hair cut is important for one's psyche and emotional well being. 

So three years after our big move, we have made progress and are thankful for the doctors we see and the pharmacy that provides our drugs.  We have a supply of Covid tests in the closet and have our Covid vaccinations.  We know where to go to get the anti-viral drugs if we need them.  We know how to get to the ER and have made a trial run but hope we won't need to make that trip again.  

Every Good Boy Does Fine

 

EGBDF are the notes on the lines of the treble staff and the reason for the title of Jeremy Denk's memoir about his life as a musician:  Every Good Boy Does Fine.

I am almost finished reading Denk's 350 plus page book which I borrowed from the Princeton Library.  It has a NEW sticker on it so I will return it soon so someone else can borrow it.  But it may be worth buying as an investment in my own Music Appreciation course--one I can enjoy from the couch in our living room--as long as I have my laptop close by.  Actually I would have to move to Jim's study so that I have more reliable internet access. 

Denk lists musical works at the beginning of each chapter and then proceeds to describe them and analyze them.  I have gone to YouTube and listened to several of them including a Schubert Impromptu and a Brahms Concerto for Cello and Piano.  I pulled out my tattered Well Tempered Clavichord and played Bach's Prelude in C Major, the first and the easiest prelude in the book--but with new ears and eyes after reading Denk's description of it.  I should do more of that careful listening but will need to do it over time and at my leisure.

I thought that I would like to listen to Denk himself play.  The first thing I found when I did a search was a great interview in which John Dickerson of CBS news sits near Denk at the piano and asks him questions about his book and his practicing.  Dickerson is smiling and so is Denk.  

Reading about Denk's teachers made me remember my teachers.  Over the years I have had three piano teachers not including my first teacher who was my dad.  I longed to have a "real teacher" but that was not something my parents felt they could afford until I was in middle school.  My teachers were kind to me unlike some of Denk's teachers who could be very demanding and even cruel.  I remember my high school piano teacher telling me to "think on each note."  Every single one?  That was mind boggling to me as I played from beginning to end without a great deal of thought.  My college teacher did not really encourage me to continue lessons with her after one year but suggested instead I read Copland's book  What to Listen for in Music.  She needed to invest her time in the students who were going to be majoring in piano. 

Also over the years I had three different organ teachers.  My first organ teacher was my high school choir director.  He could be a bit harsh.  I remember practicing all week on some piece and he commented, "You're sight-reading, of course?"  To his credit, he gave me a good start because the other teachers I had as an adult did not correct my technique.  I even signed up for harpsichord lessons at Notre Dame and decided it was a great experience that enriched my organ playing but I was never going to buy a harpsichord so ten lessons or so was enough.

Maybe I will meet Jeremy Denk as I see he is an American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellow and Jim will be initiated into the Academy next year.  If I do meet him, I will tell him that his book enriched my life.  

 I am also thinking what a remarkable thing this information age is.  I can sit in my apartment with my ASUS laptop--not a fancy tool at all--and I can listen to music and hear interviews and my world becomes a much bigger place than 508 Barclay Boulevard.