Ups and Downs and Ramblings

These days aren't like any other ones that we've ever experienced, so we don't really know how to handle them.  One moment, I'll think this is not so bad, and then another time I will just be overwhelmed at what our future looks like - near future and long-term future.

Negatives are that I don't get to see the family up close any more and sometimes don't feel like I'm a part of their lives.  We need a little distancing sometimes, but this is hard.  I'm thankful to Emily for sending me pictures and videos during the day and Ryan for checking to see if I need anything.

The new Hub is working out nicely.  I have it in the living room where I can sit and talk or walk around or even leave the room while we talk.

I have my planner open like I'm going to plan something!

Here's Emily sharing her crochet project with me.  She amazes me when she decides to do something.  I got stuck on the first video of the instructions, but she's done most of it.

It's too hard to explain what it is.

And the girls ignoring our crafty talk and concentrating on eating - and growing!

Since there is no sense of urgency on getting things done, I tend to procrastinate more than usual and not have a clear purpose and no to-do lists.

Because of being out of some of my usual foods, I'm failing on meal-planning and find myself just skipping a meal if nothing looks good or if I'm not keen on cooking.  Or worse, eating things that don't belong on my plan.

After a series of discussions among daughter, cousin, and friend, I tried to replicate my grandfather's cornbread.  It was pretty much a disaster in looks, but it was good enough to eat (with a spoon).  Grains are one thing I had done without successfully for over a year until I ate one of Emily's biscuits last weekend.  I think I'm pretty close to what he made, but luckily I used my last half cup of cornmeal and won't get to try again.  Maybe by the time I buy some, I'll be over the urge!

I lost a friend from Montgomery yesterday, Ann Lemley, and I didn't even know she was sick.  She and her husband moved to Montgomery and joined the church Mama and I attended and then Mike.  Then they moved back to her hometown after we left, and we only kept in touch only with comments and likes on Facebook.  I saw that she had died when I looked at a notice from Lakeview Church.  So sad.  She was in the generation between my mother and me but closer to my age, I think early 80s, and I loved being around her.  She took over the turbans sewing group at church and made it such fun for us.

She's the one in the striped shirt.



I loved hearing about her raising her 4 children in Mobile.  She seemed like the perfect Leave it to Beaver Mom.  She had many talents and a wonderful sense of humor, able to laugh at herself when things went crazy with sewing projects and the aches and pains of getting older.  She was always perfectly put together and could talk to anyone.  She and Mike immediately hit it off when he moved back and were soon engaging in those quick-witted jokes that go over most people's heads, mine included.

I got so much encouragement and mentoring from her and will miss her.  I regret not making myself keep up with people.  My own fault.  Her last comment on one of my FB posts was, "I miss you."  I should have written to her then and would have known she was sick.

I'm trying to do better, and actually people have reached out to me, and I've had a few of those back-and-forth conversations that make me happy.  Some are just simple chance meetings in the parking lot.  My neighbor BJ and I did our puzzle exchange yesterday, and we're texting back and forth about table sizes and difficulty of the puzzles.  When it's warmer, we can just yell from our balconies!

I brought two puzzles home and started one.  I really can't concentrate long enough to work on them long, and this one is harder than it looks.  Doors!  Look at all that wood and masonry around each door.  The stones all look alike, so this will be a long project, I think.

Luckily I don't have to serve meals.  And this is what happens the first night I leave my few matched pieces out.  The cats never touch anything on that table ordinarily, but as soon as a puzzle piece is out, they attack it.

 I got back in touch with old friends from Thomaston, and in that discussion remembered that Anna Mary's student teaching roommate had married a classmate of ours from Andalusia.  The classmate died, but his wife now has a fun Facebook page.  I just love watching her videos and wish I had gotten to meet her.  Here is a cute article about her and her Facebook page.  It's worth going to just for her video on making biscuits the way my mother did.  Her Facebook page is Cooking with Brenda Gantt.  I'm looking for her video on hot water cornbread.  I basically know how to make it, but I'm thinking I don't have that little flat cast iron pan, or mine is not seasoned right, or I'm not using enough fat. Or something.  I probably need some lard, which I'm sure is what Granddaddy used!  Paula Deen has the closest recipe I've seen with something she calls Lace Hoecake Bread.   Recipe here.

Good news at home.  The window-washers came this morning and attacked the outside of the building.

Looks nice and clean, although they didn't pressure wash the floor of the balcony.  I'm not sure that's in their job description though, so I didn't ask.  It's clean anyway.

I can't move all the things back out because the painters will come tomorrow if it doesn't rain.  If it does, I guess I'll be dragging the pots in and out over the weekend.

These windows have been dirty for so long, and I have no way of cleaning them on the outside, so I'm excited about that.  It doesn't take much to please me.  I had already cleaned the insides, so we're all set!

Just a few pictures I've received this week.

Mom getting a working-at-home manicure from her essential worker Katherine.

Emily and I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out the names of these glasses.  The first one is our wedding crystal, and I can't remember the name of it.  All the other names just pop right into my mind but not this pattern.

Emily has inherited all the family glassware, and this is her favorite.  These were Christmas gifts from Kathy for a couple of years.

I wonder if this sudden interest could have anything to do with being at home with the kids all week and putting them to use more often.

Prissy Morris, beloved Monroe Street friend from the 80s - cat treer, kitten handler, friend of Wendy our lop-eared mutt.

This picture opened up a lot of conversation about pets during our time as neighbors and figuring out names and events and whose kitten Prissy might have had in her mouth at a given time.  It's amazing how many names and fun things we remembered just from talking about Prissy.  We're pretty sure the cat she has in the tree is Chappy.  Picture taken by Mike and framed and hung by the Morrises.

Emily has rediscovered some old photos that make us smile and also make us sad.  I've never seen this one.  There's just so much in it.  Bunny slippers.  Jack kisses.  That couch I don't remember ever seeing. This must have been a trip to SD that I didn't take.  I think I would have remembered the bunny slippers even after 16 years.

I asked Em if the girls wanted to ride their bikes over and play in my empty alley today, and she declined, saying she was making a tent and crocheting.  Can't argue with that.  She said she got almost an hour's relaxation with the girls in their tent.

Looks like they found the Bruthah Pee Touch, as Em calls it.

Another precious photo from that great trip to Navarre in 2013, our first time to really meet Graysen.  Memories we will always treasure.  Mike shading his babies from the sun.

This says it all - or what we want life to be like now.

I Loved Last Weekend

Granted, I hardly knew when it started and when it ended, but I think that series of days was very nice.  I completely lost Thursday somewhere.  I can't remember what made it stand out. but I remember thinking how happy I was and how I needed to remember it.

I guess Saturday morning started with a text and pictures from Emily about the biscuits.  That was followed by a video call from Graysen, and I got to "be there" in the kitchen with them while they ate and bustled around the kitchen.  I love to just sit there and watch.

I can't wait to see the inside of the house.  Ryan says he and Emily have been working on some changes inside and in the back yard.  I wonder if I could take a peek at the changes out back one day.

Then Sunday afternoon Emily called about a project she is planning.  When Emily plans a project, it's serious, and I got tired just hearing her talk about it.  It involves crocheting and a certain kind of yarn and a set of what seems to me to be complicated instructions.

At one point, I was sitting in front of the camera with a pile of yarn and my stash of crochet hooks and accessories.  For some reason, I even had my knitting needles out.

Ryan was on the way to Home Depot to pick up something, and she wanted to send him to Michael's for certain colors of yarn, and she wondered if I had anything comparable.  I ended up having one color and all the needles she could ever need, so he came and picked them up.  While he was here, he grabbed a huge bag of yarn that she had left in the garage after another project.

The object is to make a kind of gag gift for a co-worker who was supposed to be getting married in Hawaii in May but had to call it off.  She wanted something funny to cheer her up on that day so plans to crochet this "thing" that they understand from some TV show they watch.  I don't understand, but I love the thought and will help if I can.  So far, I haven't been asked to help other than the needle loans.

Right in the middle of that, I got a text from a number I didn't recognize asking if I might be a neighbor at Echo Ridge and would I like to come up for a socially distanced visit outside.  When I saw the name Noreen, I was happy to grab my coffee and head up the alley.  We first met when our grands were in kindergarten, and we would pick them up in the afternoons.  I can see her apartment from mine.  She has a ground-floor one that she always makes so pretty in the spring and summer, and we will often stop and chat as I pass by.

That was the best idea.  We had our two chairs at either end of the porch and our coffee, and we just had such a good time.  She has 3 little grandsons and a son and daughter in town, so we had plenty in common to talk about.  We met a young couple next door who were just moving in and introduced ourselves.  She had hip surgery not too long ago and can't take long walks, but I hope we will have many more meetings.  Some people you just feel instantly comfortable with.

I also reconnected with a friend from Thomaston, and we've exchanged some nice messages.  It's amazing how time just gets away from you and how people's lives just go on and change without your knowing.  I'm enjoying chatting with her and her husband so much and will enjoy her Facebook posts and pictures too.

So no big events to make me happy, just nice little spots during the day.  I finished my audio book and need to find another one.  I really miss "real" books though that I can just pick up and take to the balcony when I get ready.  It would probably be a good idea to ditch the jigsaw puzzles and start using up some of this yarn while I listen to the audio books.

Where did all this come from?  I just hang onto it all, thinking one day I will get enthusiastic about something again.  I don't know!  I can't stick with one thing for very long.  Is there a medication for that?

When Mike moved back to Montgomery from Texas, he had the audacity to ask for some dresser drawers for his clothes, but they were all filled with fabric.  He said!  And he may have been right.  Clothes belong in the closet and crafts in the dressers.

I did work on getting my outdoor area fixed up, and just as I got it where I like it, I received a notice that the painters and pressure-washers would be able to start again in a couple of days, so I guess I'll have to move the furniture plus the plants inside once more.  It will be worth it though to get the windows washed and the mildew off the porch.  I'll get Ryan to take my chairs to the garage so I can paint them at the same time.

I hurriedly picked up a couple of packets of seeds in the drug store last week and planted them.  I've never seen a mixture of herbs like this, and I'm curious to see if it works. Basil, parsley, chives, and thyme. And MORE!  I don't have much hope for it, but it will be fun to see what happens.   I got another basil packet too but haven't planted it.

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I keep the pots on a heating pad at night and put them on the window sill all day.  At first, I just had the one big one, but now there are bunches of seedlings.

 I'm just going to watch them a few days and see when and if I need to start thinning.  I'm not even going to know what's what for a while.  I'll see if Ryan can get me a few more on one of his Home Depot trips if that's even possible.  I mainly want dill, chives, and rosemary.

When the girls get to this point in Mimi's Memoirs, they are going to be so bored!  I know I am.  Life will be all about them again one day.  Soon, I hope.

I just saw this picture that Alan posted on Facebook of Kathy and Graysen napping together at the beach the first time they ever met.  It remains one of my favorites, just perfect contentment.  Just praying for another meeting before long.




It was a little chilly for a walk yesterday, but I did it anyway.  The rhododendrons  alone are going to be worth getting out for.  These are the first full blossoms I've seen, but the ones at the apartment complex are opening now.

There were so many people out walking when I was that I'm wondering if it will come down to having to walk in shifts.  Last names beginning with A-E 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., etc.  Sounds silly, but who knows.  The skate park and basketball court were full and probably not all the same family, so again I'm not sure how this warmer weather is going to affect things.

I woke up at 3:42 and have been up drinking coffee and writing, and now the sun is coming up.  I think it's Tuesday, and we'll see what unfolds today.

Routers, biscuits, and puzzles

First thing this morning, Ryan called and said he was bringing over my new router in about 15 minutes.  He was convinced mine was old and causing disruptions in the quality of the videos and also causing internet connection to go off and on.  I think.  There is just so much stuff my mind is capable of learning, and I'm content to let someone else do the tech things for me.  He seemed to enjoy it, connecting and testing and saying, "What tha-" a few times.  I'm sure I would have said it many times.

Cute little thing, a big improvement from the old one I bought in Columbus about 15 years ago.

I also have a matching one in my bedroom, and you can Hey, Google it whenever you want to know something.  He also fixed it so my Hub has an unending parade of pictures on display.  I love that.

So he successfully connected from Steller Street to Kinsey Street, and when he left I was talking happily to the girls.  I brought out the Pomsies to greet them and ended up with them on my head like earmuffs before we were finished.  I miss those giggles.

Emily sent me pictures of a biscuit-making on Steller this morning.

She packaged some up and took them along with lemonade and sweet tea to some friends and neighbors.

I ended up bringing home two.  Just couldn't resist.  I'll not eat flour tomorrow!  I had to walk over and get mine though.

I hadn't planned on anything special for dinner, but it ending up being excellent.  Easy salmon with herbs and capers and dill, a grocery store mixed salad, and the biscuits with a little butter.  Yum.  

I love making this salmon at least once a week.  It's so easy and makes 2 servings apiece for Elise and me.  And always on sale at Safeway.

I went to take the garbage and recycling downstairs and then to the mailbox and ran into BJ across the way out walking Buffy.  We talked a few minutes about books and things, and she told me she was doing a puzzle for the second time because she loved it so much.  I told her that I had a couple if she wanted us to trade, and she's going to let me know when she's finished with hers.

It looks VERY detailed and interesting.

And she has this one too that looks like fun.

I'm sharing these two:

If it's true that doing puzzles increases your intelligence, we're doing our part to stay smart!  I might have to clear off the table for those.  When I did the Sweet Shop, out of all those complicated jars and containers of candy, the thing that gave me fits was the table in the foreground.  It was awful!

When I walked over to get my biscuit, I stopped to talk to Debbie and give her some vanilla K-cups that I don't like - and she does.  It was nice to talk to her except for that cool wind that kept swirling around.  I need spring!

I went by the garden and saw that Emily has a few strawberries coming up in spite of the plowing that took place.

And what looks like gladiolus bulbs coming through.  Hope the dahlia ones made it.

We can't wait to get out there and start digging and planting.  I wish we had this!  I guess it's peas.

I noticed a lot of pretty things on the way home.  The blackberry bushes are getting huge, and we'll enjoy picking the berries soon.  After Emily got stung so badly last year, she might not be joining us, and we'll be on the lookout for wasps.

I was wrong about purple being the only color or azalea here.  This is in Emily's front flower bed!

And in a yard on the way home.

Debbie's cute little sitting area.  I'm going to miss her when she moves.

My balcony is a little boring right now, but not for long.  I have lights ready for Ryan to hang and just need to get a few more plants to brighten things up.  And some sunshine!

Walking down the alley is so pleasant nowadays.  One family has turned their garage into a little gym for the children with colorful mats all over the floor and swings hanging from the ceiling with bouncy toys and riding toys.  Several people had brought out chairs to enjoy the little bit of sun, and a couple of other folks were starting to grill on the balconies.  I hope things don't change too much when we get back to "normal."  I like this normal too.

 No plans for tomorrow except for more of the same.  I might drive somewhere to walk if it's nice tomorrow.  I get tired of the same old scenery.  Maybe I just need to lengthen my walks a little.