Welcome Words: July 2024

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Next World

I remember when my grandfather in Oklahoma would call long distance to us in Virginia. This involved a fair amount of yelling into the receiver so that our words would reach Tulsa, and the need to keep the call short because of the extravagance.

Baby Buds and Ego Boost

My Guy and I did our breakfast thing. Yes, it was a bit of a greasy spoon filled with locals, but I enjoyed an excellent omelet filled – and I mean filled – with every vegetable imaginable. Ever had eggs and summer squash?

Communication after 54 years

There is a place in the next town called Girlee’s.

Future Gardens

As we teeter back and forth these days from the Slough of Despond to tenuous hope, it might be heartening to contemplate the gardens I see on my walk.

Ye Olde False Front

Today I had lunch with a friend at an inn so historic that its trees in front were planted in 1791 by Ebenezer Crafts. A lovely story, but I do have to wonder a bit since they’re supposedly elms, and in the 1970s 77million elms died thanks to the Dutch elm disease that swept through New England.

Gardening for the future

In keeping with this whole national hyperattention to aging, My Guy and I met with an elder lawyer on Friday. First of all, I feel in no way qualified to count myself in the ranks of elders, but there we are.

Ageism

A few years ago, when sweet Mamie was still with us, mention of my perfect little dog would somehow end up in my conversation.

Monday at the Mall

For the first time in what has to be at least two years, I paid a visit to the big shopping mall in the next town.

Home on the Farm

A quiet day here, catching up on laundry and completing riveting tasks like putting baking soda and vinegar down the drain to clean it up a bit.

No fireworks - just family and food

It was a great Fourth - just my speed.

Hail the conquering homeowner

Yesterday didn’t start all that auspiciously, with a fall at pickleball that at least only resulted in a bruised ego and a sore hip (those pesky extra 10 pounds padding me are proving their worth).

But I racked up one success after another as the day wore on.

After 5 landscape companies ignoring my calls more consistently than I do spammers, one guy did get back to me, bless his heart. He began his yard and home maintenance company only a few years ago and so is still small enough that his only employees are teenage sons.

I’ve been trying to get rid of these big holly bushes in order to replace them with something lower maintenance.

When I arrived home after pickleball, there he was, and there my bushes weren’t. Yay!

I think I’ll put in some more roses and perhaps a big grass in the back of them.

The other home issue has been the microwave, which had decided to light up its filter replacement message. We just acquired it last fall, so I wasn’t sure of the process.

First, the useless “manual” I received with it. Three pages telling me not to do stupid things like cook with aluminum foil and a useless diagram for some other model.

Second, Google it. But the only instructions online were for previous models.

I opened up the microwave. It was obvious where the filter should go: in back of that long black plastic cover. Up on a stool, I could see instructions on the top that said to slide to the left. Except it wouldn’t go. I didn’t want to snap it.

Off I motored to the store where I’d bought it. Amazingly, the salesman climbed on a chair, located the critical screw, removed it, and demonstrated how to slide the panel. It could have been my personal charm that made him so helpful, but it was more likely the fact that I shamelessly repeated several times that last year we’d bought from them not only the microwave, but a fridge, oven, and dishwasher.