Category: The DayBook

A nice cool misty damp day. Much more relaxed than yesterday was. Time to think about getting ready to go.

I dragged everything out and put it on the bed. Then I went into my normal extreme minimal packing mode.

But wait. I don’t have to do this. I got out my BIG suitcase (still carry-on sized) and just tossed things in. Even an extra pair of shoes. And a nightgown! Who knows what else I’ll stuff in the bag before morning? 

I am supposed to have Wi-Fi, so I should be able to put up a picture or two every day. I am starting to get a little nervous about possible rough seas. I have been extremely lucky on my five ocean adventures. I packed the Dramamine, just in case. That’s the only just-in-case item that I packed.  

The crown popped off at 10:00 PM last night. And by 8:15 AM this morning it was glued back in place. 

Gratitude

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Grateful that nothing was wrong with the tooth. And that I got everything glued back together in less than 12 hours.

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I didn’t sleep so very well last night fretting about the tooth. Because of the upcoming trip. 

There was yoga today. I took the zoom option. And a couple of meetings at The Asylum this afternoon. One was about the Asylum hospice program. You get old. You care about things like hospice. 

Very busy doing nothing at all today.
My elderly friends will understand this.
The rest of you, maybe not.

Gotta consider getting ready for the boat trip. But how ready do I have to be?

Just chillin today. Folded some paper, did some laundry, went for a very little walk. Watered the orchids. Took a nap. Backed up the computer. Can I my elderly heart stand all that excitement?

I am not a fan of ice cream drumsticks. I had apple pie. And a Mai Tai. And a glass of wine. As Carlton was fond of saying “Moderation only leads to long life.”

The arrow points at my old building. I might be the only person here who can see their beloved old home from their “forever home”.

Since Covid, I have had very little good to say about the food at The Asylum. (The burgers, fries, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches are reliably good. Omelets are good at the moment.) This week lox and scrambled eggs were the breakfast special. Excellent.

Happy for the crows.

Just snagged a three-leg flight back to The Asylum. Leaving Kona on the 24th getting back here on Xmas morning. Doing it with miles. After all, she who dies with the most frequent flyer miles doesn’t win. And, if I find a more interesting way back, I can always cancel and get the miles back.

According to my watch, I walked 4 miles today, 11,171 steps. Pretty good for an old woman.

BUT. What’s not pretty good for an old woman.
This week, I have:

1. 1. Early this week, left my phone on the breakfast table.
   2. Today, left my milk and banana on the breakfast table.  (I frequently pick up milk and fruit to take to the Old Bat Cave.)
   3. Yesterday, wrote “Tuesday” on the blog not “Thursday”
   4. Today, disconnected a disc without ejecting it.
   5. And also today, I copied the wrong file to the improperly ejected disc. 

I choose to believe this is just “normal age-related absentmindedness”. But, what if it isn’t? Hello Switzerland.

Once upon a time, I could keep 4 or 5 balls in the air. Now, I need to pay attention to keep one ball aloft. Focus Peg. Focus. 

What have I done? Yesterday, after a fine lobster dinner with the entire Asylum Family, I booked an inside cabin on a cruise ship heading up the coast to St John, New Brunswick. Leaves a week from today. From Baltimore. A member of the Asylum Family is going. So, I can get a ride to where the boat leaves from. (Baltimore). It’s cheap. But, there is no window. Not even a porthole. It will be like living in a coffee can for 9 days. I hope the ship TV broadcasts a picture from the bridge 24/7. 

Normally I wouldn’t consider paying an additional $200 for wifi. But, I am going to treat myself to wifi. That’s what the ship does. It gets you to spend money. But, I think wifi might help preserve my sanity. 

It should be interesting. And hopefully “fun”. “Fun” is increasingly harder to come by as I get older. I am willing to settle for pleasant. Or mildly interesting these days.

Haven’t a clue why this orchid is blooming. Is it an omen? Is it dying? Am I dying? Well, of course, both of us are dying. Nobody is promised tomorrow.

Looking out my window this morning, I wondered what little old lady looked out in horror on 9/11/01. I hope I never see anything worse than bad weather out that window. 

Made my plans to get to Kona. Decided to take the train to Seattle. I like Seattle. I like the train. So that was a no-brainer. If the train is on time, a huge “if”, I’ll have about 48 hours in Seattle. Then catch a plane to Kona on Halloween.

The house wifi kept cutting out while I was making reservations. Finally, the elderly brain kicked in enough to remember the phone hotspots nicely. So, I made train, hotel, and plane reservations.

How did we get there? It was on my watch. I feel some responsibility. 

Looking forward to dinner with my Asylum family tonight. And it’s not even free wine night. It’s about the friends, not the food.

I made it to yoga in person today. Also logged 3 walking miles.

Got a Pixel 3 watch on Sunday. Got it going yesterday. Prepared my Pixel 1 watch to go back to Google today. I don’t see that the new watch is much different from the old watch. A little better battery. But, how different can a watch be? The new one mutters about “establishing baselines” and “gathering data”.

Politics in America has become a blood sport. And I am opting out. I do not need to watch one more minute of either candidate. I don’t need to read one more op-ed. Nothing I hear or see will change my vote. All I need to do is vote and deal with the outcome.

I told my bond guy today that I wanted to have enough cash to buy citizenship in Nevis if necessary come November.

Old friends from Canada by way of Kona. Back in June, Cliff emailed that Lorraine had died in April. I should have emailed back promptly. But, I didn’t. Today, I found a nice picture of them in my catalog. Wrote a nice email. Sent it on its way and immediately got: Your message wasn’t delivered because the address couldn’t be found, or is unable to receive mail.

Well. Shit. I knew that he wouldn’t have changed his email. A quick search finds Cliff’s obituary. He died in August. Did Cliff die wondering why I didn’t answer his email? No. Do I regret not taking the time to answer promptly? Yes.

I was going through my “emails to answer” pile by the oldest first. Cliff’s was the first one I answered. You better believe that I answered every single email in my “to answer” folder this afternoon. 

The Twilight Zone

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When you are old most of your friends are old too. Remember “Nobody is promised tomorrow”. Not you. Not your friends.

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Chilly this morning. Below 50°. So, what to do but make a pot of chili? The Asylum has “veggie chili” but mine is better. And cooking makes me happy.

When I was coming back from grocery this morning, I was the only person on the elevator when it lurched to a stop and announced “Do not be alarmed. We are experiencing minor technical difficulties.” Yeah Right. I push the open door button. Nothing happens. “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” Finally. The elevator lurched back into action. I am released and scuttle off.

This has been a week of elevator hell. We also had two “smoke events” that caused the fire department to come. And our Executive Director quit. Not the finest week ever at The Asylum. Better luck next week.

An email just arrived from the guy that Carlton beat at tennis on the day he died. The man has been living with ALS for the last couple of years. How can I complain about crappy food and unreliable elevators and my infirmities of old age?

Since I never buy new clothes I make do with my Obama tee shirt from 2008. It’s the thought that counts.

Lazy day today. Nice breakfast with my friends this morning. Nevermindthat I popped an entire barely cooked poached egg into my lap. Thank goodness for napkins.

Spent the rest of the day in my library. My Kindle and audiobook library. My spreadsheet shows I have 2065 books and audiobooks in my library. Several years ago, I got everything into a spreadsheet.

One would think that Amazon would let you export your collection as a CSV file. One would be wrong. Don’t think there would be room for 2065 real books and audiobooks in the Old Bat’s Cave.

After finishing up Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber, I dug up one of Carlton’s vintage Clive Cussler books. Carlton has a fine collection of Janet Evanovich, Clive Cussler, Ed McBain, Sue Grafton, Robert Parker, etc. in the Kindle Library.

Gratitude

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Kindle and Audible Books. Thank you, Jeff Bezos.

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