propellerbeanie

I'm back to the all too normal situation of feeling that I'm both too tired and not getting anything done. It would be nicer if I could either feel indolent yet perky and cheerful, or else tired but accomplished. The vending machine of life doesn't seem to offer those choices at the moment.

Yesterday was a perfectly beautiful day, the kind of fresh, sunny weather that people think of when it's January and they're longing for summer. It was Dragonfly's turn to come and visit, so we sat out in my back yard to chat and meditate. Meditation was particularly pleasant, sitting quietly and experiencing so many layers of warm sun and cool breeze, drifting green and sweet scents, bird song near and far. I almost felt I was slipping away from gravity to float up into the puffy clouds. Then we had lunch at the restaurant by the lake, and were lucky enough to get in just before the crowd arrived. For dinner I fried some leftover potatoes and made an omelet with chopped green onions and tomatoes, corn, and grated cheese.

Today turned hot and muggy again. I could see the fog rising when I got up. It threatened to rain all day. We got up kind of late, so I didn't get much done except to finish off the laundry and to make some fancy spaghetti sauce for dinner, while listening to a couple more interesting videos about Jane Austen characters. Eventually I will be forced to go to the grocery store, but for the last few days I've been hanging on by the skin of my teeth, creating meals from leftovers and found materials. In this case, I had spaghetti sauce in jars and just fixed it up by thawing out some ground beef and sausage and chopping up some celery remnants, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and marjoram and throwing them in along with a splash of wine. We sat in the back yard again so the Sparrowhawk could get some fresh air, went to church, and had spaghetti when we got home. The long-delayed thunderstorm arrived just as we were coming out of church, but it started as a summer shower and didn't turn into a full-fledged downpour until we had safely entered the house. So it worked out well for us--I don't know about the other congregants.

The last few days have been wonderful, so much fun, packed from one end of the day to the other, hence no blogging. On Saturday, the Diva arrived a couple of hours later than expected because of weather. So it was 2-ish, and I just happened to be awake, so when I heard her come in, I went downstairs, but was unsure how to make my presence known without scaring her. So I sat in a chair to wait for her to come out from brushing her teeth. Then she came around the corner and saw me, as she put it, "sitting creepily in a chair," and shrieked just a tiny bit. She accepted the offer of a comfy bed and everybody went back to sleep. In the morning, she went out to do some cheese and wine shopping with her dad while I completed some arrangements before the Nipper and family arrived. We had lunch snacks and sat around and talked until late afternoon, when we sent the Nipper to get Buddy's pizza (they make gluten free crusts for Detroit-style pizza) while the Sparrowhawk and I went to church. Then it was all kinds of fun again until everybody crashed.

Sunday started off with the Nipper frying bacon. The Diva's kind wish was to help me with my yard, so she and the Nipper and Raptor and I went out and attacked the undergrowth with the Slayer Shovel and an assortment of clippers. The Diva did the whole side of the house and around the grill area, Nipper and Raptor killed off and dug up a number of naughty buckthorns, and I weeded out the area near the AC unit. Progress! It was very hot and sunny. On their shopping trip, the Diva and her dad had stopped at the hardware store and got two umbrellas for the outdoor tables. The Sparrowhawk grilled a lot of steak. I had been creating a steak stash by buying some whenever there was a really good sale. I do this in anticipation of an occasion, and this was it. It was really good. My job was to bake potatoes, cook green beans and corn and mushrooms, make salad and slice tomatoes, and assemble condiments and potato garnishes. After dinner, the Diva taught us all to play Uno, and we played several games with Raptor, who is a champ at this. The Sparrowhawk turned out to be a card shark and had his picture taken and labeled JAWS by Raptor.

Monday was Beach Day! And to make everything double the fun, Tron texted to say that if we would wait for her, she could jump in the car and be there in a couple of hours. We packed up all the suits, towels, chairs, umbrellas, snacks, and water, and were just ready when she arrived, and we all went off to the beach together. The water temperature was over 70, it was a beautiful day, and we had a really great time. Even Tron, who has a bad reaction to too much sun, and had to hide out in the mini-tent wrapped in a sarong, when she wasn't swimming with us. Then there was the obligatory stop at the Whippi Dip, and when we got home we unpacked and threw our wet things in the wash and ate the abundant snacks and leftovers that filled the refrigerator. After that, we played another round of Uno, followed by Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, kind of a Slap-Jack-y game that is lots of fun. The Sparrowhawk and I kinda reached the boundaries of our possibilities, but we survived! Victory!

The Diva had to leave for the airport at 4:30 am on Tuesday, so she let Tron have her futon bed and slept on the couch. She had a car ordered, and she is a total badass grownup, so of course I had every confidence in her . . . but I mysteriously woke up at 4 am and decided I might as well go downstairs and keep her company as lie awake waiting to hear the door slam. It's a mom thing. This time, she heard me coming and didn't scream. The car arrived as scheduled, and I got to hug her one last time and wave goodbye. And then go back to sleep. Tron got up and hung out for awhile before driving home. Having those two join us was everything. The Redhead had to work remotely on Tuesday, so the rest of us went to the City Museum and did a scavenger hunt and had another game of Uno with the giant Uno cards and saw the shark exhibit. When we got home, the Redhead was free, so we went to the bookstore and had coffee and browsed and bought Raptor a Garfield collection and some Brain Quest cards for the trip home, and then went to our favorite restaurant for dinner. Back home, we watched the Strange New Worlds musical episode with the Nipper and enjoyed sitting around talking until we were all too tired to stay up.

This morning, they had coffee with us and then headed homeward. I begged off visiting Madame today. Technically, I would have had time to dash over there, but I wasn't feeling it. Instead I returned a call from one of my other old lady friends--this one pushing 80, and neither of us can believe it--and started washing the giant pile of sheets and towels. These last few days were a treasure beyond time. It gets more precious every year. . . .

I'm feeling sad because it's bright daylight out, and there are many things I'd like to be doing, but I really am too tired. Last night, Mademoiselle texted me to ask if I was going to see her mom today. I told her that I planned to go and see Madame this morning, but did not plan to take her out to lunch, because I needed to get home in a timely manner for my second eye surgery this afternoon. She said she would like to meet me at her mom's place. So far, so good. Then one of Madame's paid helpers jumped in to inform me that I must not visit before lunch if I was not going to take her out for lunch, because then I would be interfering with her schedule. She elaborated with some details about how I should organize my visits. I was annoyed, because I don't work for her and I don't need or want her instructions. However, I'm sure she meant to be helpful, so I replied in a pacific manner that I saw her point, but unfortunately, I would not be able to change my time for visiting today. I picked up some coffee and cake for Madame--and a salad in case I was interfering with her lunch--and went over there at the time I had planned.

Her room still smells really stinky, but was slightly less disheveled than last time. She was quite pleased to see me and wanted to sit in her room and chat. I offered her the salad, but she wanted to cut to the chase and eat her lemon cake first, and I say more power to her. She told me of her sad recent discovery that her parents are dead. I guess someone told her . . . . She still thinks that no one is visiting her, although I know that isn't true. She seemed in better spirits than last time. She had a slight meltdown when a staff member came in to apply some medicated ointment. The staff person asked me if I could talk her into changing her clothes, because she's been wearing the same ones for a couple of days now. Madame complained that this is what they do--just take over your life, and just when you think you're having fun, they spoil it all. I suggested she might as well just get it over with and then she wouldn't have to think about it for the rest of the day, and assured her I would not leave while she was getting fixed up. That was the most important part, I think. She was afraid I'd sneak out while she was busy, and then she wouldn't have anyone to talk to. I had been wanting to leave, but I stayed for another half hour or so until she calmed down again. She let them change her clothes, and all was well. Honestly, I've been known to wear things for more than one day myself. I trust this isn't a sign of dementia. Mademoiselle texted me and said she was having an attack of her post-covid chronic fatigue, and could not come over just then, but would try to come later. Eventually I was able to go home. Mademoiselle kindly asked me--for the second time--if I would like to be paid for my time. I declined. I feel that I started out as a friend, and I would prefer to stay that way. I don't want to be considered staff, and you couldn't really pay me enough to do this.

When I got to the eye doctor, I only had to wait for an hour, instead of two hours like last time. They brought us some snacks and water after only 45 minutes. Five out of the seven who were there last week were in the waiting room again, so we chatted some more like old friends. Surviving the same inconvenience creates a sense of solidarity. At last, the doctor cheerily zapped my other eye, and I came home wearing the piratical eye patch the Sparrowhawk obtained for me. Something about an eyepatch suits me--in the sense that it makes me look rather formidable, which I enjoy. Just call me Mad-Eye Moody.

For lunch, I ate the salad Madame declined. My dinner consisted mostly of corn chips with salsa and a little cheese. As I said, I'm too tired.

We had an ironic morning. We went to bed early last night, because we felt incapable of doing anything else. We woke up early with the intention to get busy arranging things for visitors, to include stuff like vacuuming . . . BUT. It turned out the power had gone out at some point in the pre-dawn. When queried, the power company said it was probably because of "trees," and it would probably be fixed by 10:15. THEY LIED. When our pals arrived, I was frying bacon with a flashlight in one hand, because it was too dark in the kitchen to see if the bacon was browned enough. I had to go mostly by the sizzle. So we invited them over on the grounds that everyone might enjoy some AC. When they arrived, not only was there no AC, but there was no power of any kind. Ha ha, such an amusing turn of events. By this time, the power company had changed its mind, and said the power would not come on until 2:15, and the probable cause of outage was "equipment failure." DUH!!

It was still pretty cool in the house from overnight, and there was no shortage of bacon, a yummy egg casserole, and some delicious fruit salad and cinnamon buns, contributed by our friends. We had a fun discussion over brunch, much of it about the apparent desire of some younger group members to live off the grid. We talked about that, and reasons why we might not want to. I never got around to sharing my reasons why not. A relatively trivial one would have been HELLO, AC AND ELECTRIC LIGHTS, but two more important ones would have been 1)books and 2)health care. Books don't do well in your average non-climate controlled shack in the woods. They apparently survive in scriptoria and castles, but probably not in a cabin. Parkinson's off the grid is a death sentence, as are simpler things like a broken hip. So I'm inclined to stick with the precarious techno-industrial system until the wheels come off of either it or me.

About 1 pm, the power came back on, and we were all happy. We had a lively, spirited and prolonged discussion of the Paradiso, though we only got through three cantos because everything leads to something else and there were many opinions. The kids played and read in the family room adjacent, with the littlest one enjoying the grandfather clock's workings every time it struck, until it was time to go home. The Sparrowhawk and I were congratulating ourselves on a job well done when the power went out again. We were contemplating going out to dinner when it came on again an hour or two later, so we were able to get leftovers out of the refrigerator instead. And watch an episode of Murderbot. There's nothing like a bit of deprivation to give luxuries an extra spice.