Escape to Pre-Covid France

Yesterday was filled with exciting events.

Frying Pan to Fire

 

Masked Yoga

Serendipity

Somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty years ago, my father-in-law, a self-taught cabinetmaker, built two bookcases for me.

Noon Thrills

Yesterday, while taking Mamie out for a noon stroll, I heard a BOOM!.

'Tis the Season

When our kids were little, there was a family one house over from us that brought color to the street.

Ex-English Teacher's Lament

Eyes From Above

          I admit I may have scoffed a bit when My Guy installed the Nest camera in the garage window.

That's Entertainment!

Yesterday was a date with the dental hygienist, although I would have preferred, say, waterboarding or perhaps major surgery.

Back when the earth was cooling. . . .

My trusty (and only remaining) CD/tape deck system finally gave up and locked into paralysis.

Single Tasking

 

Our current speed

Fighting off the Covid 15

I’m a little creaky this morning, and I’m happy about it.

(Political?) Aftershocks

 

Fingers Uncrossed

Mamie's take on this election week we've all been plowing through:

Slipsliding Away

 (Here's an itinerary that grew old.)

BWAHAHA!!

          Halloween is here. Or some ragtag semblance of it.

Fall's Bounty

          It’s official. Autumn is the most beautiful time of the year, even it’s really just for optimists, since what’s necessary  to appreciate it is a blind disregard for those dark winter days crouched waiting around the corner.

Malevolence Afoot

After initially digging in my heels and clinging to Old Blogger for as long as possible, I finally bowed to the inevitable and have been resolutely plodding on with this new stupid one.

Shrinking Violet or Hail Fellow, Well Met?

Covid to the rescue

It’s now in the dictionary: FOMO, otherwise known as fear of missing out. Unless you were born popular and confident, we’ve probably all had that moment at some time. That New Year’s Eve at home, where you’re actually perfectly comfortable with your bowl of popcorn and rented movie, but still have this nagging feeling that you look a little pathetic.

 On major holidays there are articles about the poor souls spending it alone, and therapists offer advice in articles on coping. When you’re young, it often feels like there’s something wrong with you if you’re not gadding about in a clutch of friends or on a hot date every weekend. As an adult, do your neighbors often have a herd of people over, or do they recount the great dinner out they had with friends the other night while you were home caulking the tub?

          Problem solved! Anyone in today’s world with an active social life is suspect, and should even be avoided, considering the number of people they may have connected with. Plus, there’s the added bonus of feeling superior to anyone reckless – and let’s face it – clueless enough to be out there breathing someone else’s air.

          Missing Out is now the new cool. Introverts rejoice!

 

Break out the acorn squash

We’ve been driving around admiring the foliage, which is stunning in this New England state full of sugar maples.

Mask Tasks

 

 

   I’m currently in another episode of mask making.

To the Top

The other day we decided to go out for lunch – or actually up.

Creative Living

I will always attest to the value of a good vacuum.

Distracted or Demented?

Revelations at hand

So here we are on the sidelines, conscientiously in our masks, watching in disbelief as the gyre widens and unnamable things slouch their way along.

Birthday Girl

 Break out the confetti! Our fuzzy girl is 10 years old today.

Good Riddance, Tuesday

Idiots, Chickens, and Ducks

Yesterday I popped into a local semi-fancy ladies’ shop in hopes of finding something on their sale rack, the only way I would ever buy anything there.

Focus on This

It was touch and go, but I actually remembered my eye appointment today.

Girl Gang

 We’re beginning to feel the shortening days around here, especially right after dinner.

Put down that iPhone

I wonder if today’s childhood is sometimes too quiet.

Tobacco, golf, and hornets

    

More tobacco headed to the barn

Today was a golf day, this time 20 minutes away over the border in Connecticut, farming country.

News Flash

Okay, just as I threatened promised, if you’re looking for something to fill those coming long fall and winter days indoors, I have just the solution:

Man the barricades

     For the third morning in a row, I opened my iPad to update any comments on my blog and things looked different.

Big Game

(Apologies to the squeamish for the yuckiness of the photo portion.)

Lazy, Apathetic, or Oblivious?

I voted yesterday in our local primary for Congress and a few other things.

Condo Bounty

You never know when you’re going to need emergency mozzarella, do you?

Tiny Drama

Credit - painting by Amy Tyler

A Different Kind of Farming

I guess it’s a good thing we’re hunkered inside today for a rainy, cool day.

Stasis

          Amazing that it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve posted, but life lately hasn’t exactly lent itself to daily updates about the goings-on around here.

Farm Sales and Trust

          I realized yesterday how dull my life had become when my heart skipped a beat after I pulled open the drawer filled with a jumble of measuring spoons, a garlic press, cheese knives, measuring cups, meat mallet, and I don’t know what-all.

Escape

Post Storm

This afternoon I ducked into a convenience store in town to replace the half gallon of milk I’d poured down the drain.

The only good fly is a dead fly

     Summer means long sunny days, more time to enjoy the outside, but also flies.

Underwater

This afternoon at yet one more medical appointment I would rather not have been at, I sat in the stripped waiting room, my temperature at 97.1 and my hands still slick from the hand sanitizer.

Unfamiliar faces

Standing in the front yard this morning while waiting for Mamie to do her business, I saw two odd little growths that must have popped up after last night's rain, like - well - mushrooms. 

Market Report

No, not the stock market, although a day in the grocery store can have the same emotional ups and downs.

Anticipation and Annoyance

Each year, after a particular medical appointment, I treat myself with some shopping therapy afterwards. Like it was all meant to be, the store sits practically next door to the medical offices.

Pearly Whites

At our dentist, there’s a dental hygienist we’ve always called Chatty Cathy because she never. shuts. up.

Ripley's Believe it or Not returns

I'm on my way to the dentist (more on that later, I'm sure), but I had to post this. My Guy may have found this on Facebook. 

Dining in Masks

Last week we had dinner out at a restaurant for the first time since March. It was a heady experience, sitting there with another couple to talk to (!!), people bringing me food and drink.  We were sensible, though. We ate outside at a patio, our table positioned a good 10 feet from the next. We arrived in masks, gave our orders in masks (to the masked waitress), then ate and replaced the masks when we left.  But it was still magical. So magical because life almost felt normal again.

          Where we ate had an already-existing outdoor dining area, surrounded by flowers and greenery, but I’m sure you’ve seen the less successful versions. Restaurants around here without the good fortune to have outdoor seating have slapped a ring of Jersey barriers up in their parking lots, and gathered tables and chairs, some of which look like they’ve been resurrected from someone’s basement. Maybe when the sun goes down (which here in the height of summer doesn’t happen till 8:00 p.m.) it feels a little less Spartan, but I’m not tempted.  

          Buoyed by our dinner success, a few days later My Guy and I went out to a hamburger spot for lunch. It was grey out and misting gently, and I tried to remember if the restaurant we’d chosen had a covered outdoor area. We arrived, and I saw that it did, but was already filled. Across the asphalted parking lot the restaurant had added a tented area but that had all the charm of a car wash.

          We tentatively went inside. Would we like a table? Okay, we said, if we’re far away from everyone else.

          Sure enough, we were given a booth off in a corner, the other diners so distant it was difficult to make out their features.

          In the center of the table was something that looked a little like a quilt square but turned out to be our link to the restaurant’s website and therefore the menu, accessed with our phones. No need to touch a germy menu, and no need for the restaurant to pay for disposable ones.

          Again we ordered in masks, had a relaxing meal, and felt a little as though we’d gotten away with something.

          Now if only everyone else would continue to stay home.