Looking Ahead

Musings on life in the commune

A neighbor in Florida who was on the condo board had a palm tree removed last year because it was blocking her view.

Post Christmas Hazards

         My kitchen is a mine field, danger at every turn.

Nest Moves

     I started a book the other day in which a woman wanders through her house staring morosely into the empty bedrooms where her now-grown kids grew up. Since I don’t enjoy importing other people’s misery into my brain, I hot-footed it back to the library to exchange it for a nice murder mystery.

Someone didn't get the hibernation memo

I’ll admit our condo complex has a sort of Stepford quality to it. 

For your own little princess

Put down that Hammacher Schlemmer catalog with its “Two Seat Working Mack Dump Truck”, $399.95,  or the “Harry Potter Levitating Golden Snitch Sculpture”, $199.95.  Just hit your local Home Goods store.

I've Been Botted

A couple of days ago I was fiddling around in the mechanics of this blog and happened to notice that on the 9^th I’d had 456 visitors.

How to Start Your Day

Reminiscent of the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, whose faith in the restorative powers of Windex knew no limits, my friend Judi, whose house, unsurprisingly, is much cleaner than mine, addresses just about any household cleaning conundrum with bleach.

The Magic of Technology

My Guy – like probably every other guy on the planet - loves technology.

Florida - so very far away

This is what greeted me on my iPad this morning.

And, typical of New England’s zany, fun-filled weather, we’re scheduled for temps in the 50s on Monday.

Natterings about Names

“Birches” by Robert Frost (1916)

They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—

Into the light

We’re all beginning to emerge, blinking into the thin sunlight.

Oh, the things you can do in bed

Clinomania-

          Noun

          Origin : Greek

          An inability or refusal to get out of bed

Post Turkey

With the usual epic number of leftovers, it occurred to me this morning that having my physical a week before Thanksgiving was a stroke of brilliance.

Burglars and Turkeys

Notice anything?

Mine vs Ours

As I stuffed another package from UPS under the bed, it occurred to me how much easier it is now to shop for gifts.

Indoor Living

 It must be official. All the signs are in.

Privacy

I remember being fascinated by Pueblo homes as a child.

The Day After

I woke up this morning feeling as though someone had taken a lead pipe to my mid-section,

Trials and Age

Today I decided to make a mental nod to my age and cut myself a little slack.

E Z Riding

We’re back home for the holidays in Massachusetts and how delightful to wake up this morning to 16 degrees outside.

Arte Johnson would be proud

     Whatever the opposite of claustrophobia is, Mamie has it. 

State of Schizophrenia

Sometimes Florida feels like a foreign country.

We're not in Massachusetts anymore

I snoozed right through the lightning and the thunder, but at 3:30 last night I woke up instead to the Dog Alarm.

Dance Disfunction

After arriving here in Florida on Monday, and enjoying four happily slothful days, I finally made it to the Y this morning. I had pored over the huge lists of classes available (this YMCA is enormous), discarding anything that said “high intensity” or “challenging”. I decided on “Dance Fit”, which sounded a little like the low-impact aerobics I love back home.

Florida Troll

I thought I’d spotted a troll today. Not a big one, so instead possibly a hobbit with scoliosis, a short figure with a rounded back.

Trashcan Blues

My life is now garbage. Or at least, focused on garbage.

The Egg and I

(Apologies to Betty MacDonald for stealing her title, but I couldn't resist. Very funny book, by the way, even if it did come out in 1945.)

          Today’s Marketplace morning report on NPR announced that the country is experiencing a glut of eggs, a phenomenon we’re experiencing right here at home.

Fall Guests

The coleus is cut back and the last green tomato thrown into the woods. Fall is here. Or at least waiting on the doorstep.

Garden State

      We're here in New Jersey for the weekend overseeing the 3 grandboys while their parents take a bite out of the Big Apple.

Easy Rider

          This morning after visiting our library, I turned onto Main Street in our small town. I'd had to wait a minute for a person on a motorcycle to go by before I could turn. Now granted, it is a small town, and no, there is no traffic light in its center, but people have been know to zip through the center pretty quickly.
       As he went by I noticed something unusual about the rider. 
       He was basically riding in a "Look, Ma, no hands!" style. 
       Reason: he was texting on his phone. 
       

Hold that elegy

I’m glad I’m not a celebrity. Yet, anyway.

Milestone

I rarely, very rarely post family photos on my blog.

Squeaky Wheel

         A week and a half ago, out to lunch with people from my complex, I took a deep breath and asked if anyone would be willing to be literary guinea pigs.

When you've got your health. . . . .

My water aerobics class at the Y finally returned today.

Scenes from the Mall

The other day I had a couple of hours to kill while My Guy was at a lengthy medical appointment. Fortunately, we were about a half mile from a sizeable mall, one I never think to go to even though 20 minutes on the highway would easily get me there.

Dial Tone

You know the people who say, “Oh, I just love working with/living near young people. It keeps me young.”

Thank you, Dear Readers

I’m continuing to duel with Windows 10. Microsoft used the “If it ain’t broken, let’s fix it” sort of logic in this new design of a perfectly good word processing program. 

Brave New World

My life currently has become one technical milestone after another.

     

     I’m now stumbling through the learning curve of a new laptop with shiny new Windows 10.

No plot after all

     Turns out, I need to set aside my Microsoft conspiracy theory.

Microsoft Plays Dirty

          Okay. That’s it.

Color Misstep

So today I put on my turquoise exercise shirt. Big mistake.

Phew!!!!!!!

      While I know there are many changes ahead, and the end needs to be re-written, I just typed word number 79,050 - literally the last word (for now) - of Gravely Murdered, my third book. 
       If that doesn't call for a glass of wine, I don't know what does.

The Eyes Have It

Who would have guessed that in my golden years I’d be living with a pirate? Not me.

Not Just for Kids

 

Thanks to a delightful day with our even more delightful 15 month old twin granddaughters, I’ve hit upon a no-fail formula for a successful bar. 

Over Hill Over Dale

       So yesterday I gathered up my inadequacies and my golf bag and went to my usual Thursday league.

Hollywood at the Y

   

Who's Listening Now?

So you may recall my post a few days ago regarding our moody fridge, and its attentive pal Alexa.

Scene from our village

   

  

Our condo community is not one of those “over 55 only” complexes.

Big Sister is Listening?

Beware of Burning Bridges

When I was night-schooling my way toward finishing my Bachelors, I thought I would lose my mind with the state college’s continuing ed department. 

Crime in the Night

For a few years I served on my small town’s historical commission, a fancy name for a group of people who, as far as I could tell, had little power and an even smaller agenda.

The Gypsies are Coming

Years ago, when we lived in the city and the kids were little, I worked the 3-11 shift two nights a week as a secretary in pediatrics.

Irresistible

You may recall our battle with the encroaching woods in defiance of the condo association’s reminder that we are surrounded by preservation land.

Claim to Fame

          Some people are born with perfect pitch.

Encounter

My hand mid-squeeze on an avocado, I turned at an automated sound repeating the same semi-intelligible statement, a garbled:

“Caution! Hazard!” 

Rebel Gardener

Last fall we sat in our condo homeowners’ association meeting and learned that the woods surrounding our complex is actually preservation land. We nodded obediently when told that we therefore were not to alter it in any way. And then yesterday I dug out my clippers and attacked the scrubby pines that border our back yard.

Lines in the Sand

Beware of absolutes. Over the years I swore I would never:

We've Got Rhythm - - Usually

I opened the gym door this morning and found my group of exercise besties for our regular Friday Boomer Bootcamp, described by the YMCA as improving “gain strength, flexibility, balance, and stamina.”

Mugs of Memory

We’ve left behind averages of 80-85 degrees in Florida and arrived to Massachusetts days of 50s and 60s, so I’ve been drinking more than my fair share of tea. As I was unloading the dishwasher yesterday I realized these weren’t just cups going on the shelves.

Home Sweet. . . . .

As though to underscore our leaving the madcap and carefree life of Florida until the fall, we always close down the condo like we're preparing for a minor Apocalypse.

Last Sunset

     And as the setting sun spreads its colors over the Gulf, Mamie says au revoir -

 

     And bonjour to our last new moon in Florida for now.

Ducks of a Feather

Apparently we’re not the only ones about to up sticks.

On my walk around the complex with Mamie I counted approximately 50 ducks, unlike our usual 5 or 6. Maybe after their winter of snowbirding here, they’ve gathered the troops for the long trek home. One person who swears she saw them fanning out in patters on the grass said that she thinks it’s a training exercise so the less experienced teens born this year will know what their position is in the V.

I will say that it has all the earmarks of a somewhat contentious family reunion. You rarely see them all together; they’re usually in separate clumps here and there of 8 or 10.

Kind of like, “Okay, fine, I get that we all have to travel together, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend my down time with your family.”

The Long Goodbye

Like something out of Game of Thrones, the chilly North is closing in on us. So we’ve been behaving like people who believe (to take liberties with the quote from Auntie Mame), “Life is a banquet beach and most poor suckers are starving freezing to death!”

          We’re going home in a matter of days and we’re soaking up as much Florida as we can - breakfast on the beach, chalk festival in Sarasota.

    

      This past Saturday we took in a fabulous, fabulous performance by Alan Cummings, followed by a game on Sunday in Sarasota between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox.

          Who knew Alan Cummings had such a great voice? The show was just him, backed by piano, trumpet, drums, guitar, and cello. In between songs he told jokes, dropped names, bemoaned growing older, and shared Hollywood gossip. As I said, Fabulous.

          The game was good, too. Of course I rate a professional baseball on a different scale than some. Sure, I want my team (Go Sox!) to win, but first it’s more about :

Is my seat comfortable?                     (Surprisingly roomy)

Any loud beer waving people nearby?     (Much of our section                                                                     was empty)

Sun in my face?                                    (Domed stadium. Genius!!)

And, oh yeah, can I see the field?         (Good seats. Right by third)

Ewww

Today I took Mamie to the groomer for a day of beauty. Actually, it was more of a necessity than one more frivolous spoiled-Florida-dog indulgence. The Mamester has hair, not fur, and without regular trips for a trim, she’d probably turn into a completely round ball of white that I could roll down the sidewalk.  

          Still, her coat is so soft, she’s delightful to pat when she’s all wooly. Kiddingly, last night My Guy and I recalled a person we’d seen on TV who, in a joke family gift-giving session, combed and spun the hair from the family dog and knitted a pair of shorts out of it. I relayed this to the groomer this morning and instead of smiling and dismissing me as just another nutty customer, told me her own story.

          As though it was the most normal thing in the world, she told me she’d actually worked with a fellow groomer who saved the clippings from her favorite dogs. Apparently she had blankets all over her house to remember them by.

          Agreed, right? That’s just creepy? 

One Hour - or - Home to Home

Most of the day lies ahead, but in my first hour out of bed today:

Delusions of Grandeur

     I went to Target looking for pasta bowls and curtains. Typical of many of my shopping trips, I came away instead with shorts and a beach shovel.

At Sea

Last week I felt at times as though I’d been dropped into one of my favorite movies, The 5^th Element, minus the aliens, Bruce Willis, and the threatened end of the universe.

Ups and Downs

     Children are sticky, demanding, and inconvenient.

Condo Chronicles

People are beginning the thin out here in snowbird land.

Cart Etiquette

Funny how ubiquitous shopping carriages have become.