Saturday, November 18, 2017
Fall glory: some sunshine, clear air, blue skies with clouds, Mt Rainer in clear view as we crossed 520.
Kitchen appliance shopping, went to Sears in Bellevue to look at Kenmore. Sears seem tired and defeated; a retail colossus once now on the verge of oblivion. The way of the world...all becomes new.
Went by Lowell and Carol house to wish them Happy Thanksgiving and to give them a baby short to take to Luca in the Bay Area when they go. We will be off to Tulsa. Good friends with whom we have spent some Thanksgiving holidays.
Too much time on Facebook chasing down friends of old in Tulsa and San Francisco. Used to be that you drifted apart and gradually people faded out of your life. Now it's possible to see their photos, find where they live, etc. Sort of fun to research and discover, but how can you move forward and change if you never have to leave anything, anyone behind? Like, people on Facebook with 800+ friends; no way they can actually keep up and be really involved with that many people.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Friday, November 17, 2017
Friday, November 17, 2017
Long day at the VA Hospital as a volunteer "NaVAgator". I wait near the main entry and as people enter I help them find where they are going in a large complex of buildings with inconsistent room/floor numbering and different elevator banks. Most of the folks are struggling with health issues, many of them mobility impaired.
Off to Tulsa in a few days. I've set up a get together with my cousin, Bobby Jack (goes by "BJ" these days) to reminisce about our family when we were boys. He's 4 years older than me. Should be interesting.
Ughhh...Christmas presents. Stresses me out.
Ongoing problem: I don't have a job so why is it so hard to get stuff on my personal "to do" list done? Ring me up with the answer, please.
Long day at the VA Hospital as a volunteer "NaVAgator". I wait near the main entry and as people enter I help them find where they are going in a large complex of buildings with inconsistent room/floor numbering and different elevator banks. Most of the folks are struggling with health issues, many of them mobility impaired.
Off to Tulsa in a few days. I've set up a get together with my cousin, Bobby Jack (goes by "BJ" these days) to reminisce about our family when we were boys. He's 4 years older than me. Should be interesting.
Ughhh...Christmas presents. Stresses me out.
Ongoing problem: I don't have a job so why is it so hard to get stuff on my personal "to do" list done? Ring me up with the answer, please.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
November 14, 2017
Started the day off in the backyard cutting the downed rhodendron into smaller clumps and filled up the weekly yard waste container. The rhody will take about six weeks to get rid of one container per week. Also put away the hoses and the table from the deck....winter is on us.
Yoga at 2 pm with Chiarra and and then next door to Celine Patisserie for treats, including the proprietress who's a cutie from Romania.
Went to Home Depot to shop for new kitchen appliances. Lots of choices and features some of which seem really weird. How about a glass door front on a frig which, when knocked on twice, will light up part of the interior?
Then to Rositas at Greenlake for good Mexican!
Started the day off in the backyard cutting the downed rhodendron into smaller clumps and filled up the weekly yard waste container. The rhody will take about six weeks to get rid of one container per week. Also put away the hoses and the table from the deck....winter is on us.
Yoga at 2 pm with Chiarra and and then next door to Celine Patisserie for treats, including the proprietress who's a cutie from Romania.
Went to Home Depot to shop for new kitchen appliances. Lots of choices and features some of which seem really weird. How about a glass door front on a frig which, when knocked on twice, will light up part of the interior?
Then to Rositas at Greenlake for good Mexican!
Monday, November 13, 2017
November 13, 2017
Windy, rainy day which kept us mostly inside. The quite large rhododendron in the backyard, which has been part of the yard since we moved here, split in half due to the wind and collapsed into the yard. Cats all seem edgy due to the wind.
Shopping for a full suite of new kitchen appliances. Our dishwasher is at least 20 years old and it is failing, etc. An interesting perspective on this purchasing effort: this will likely be the last appliances we ever buy!
We will be doing Christmas here at our house for the first time since 2004. It was too sad to consider after Seth's death in 2005 and we have spent the last 12 years traveling to Munich, or Sleeping Lady, or Washington DC. I must work hard to stage manage this so Kathy has some chance of not suffering inordinately from sad reminders. I think Lauren may be looking forward to it. Sean will be off to BC to visit his parents on 12/22 and then Lauren will come stay in her room "with cats". It may help her healing to have a Christmas at home. That ended for her in 2004 just like it did for the rest of us, and maybe she's nostalgic for whatever childhood magic there might have been when both kids were young. When she left for Germany for her junior year in Munich it was about 10 days after Seth's passing....little did we know then how much would change and how hard it would be to try to find a new "normal". I hope we can make a little progress here in December.
I'm enjoying the Veterans Hospital volunteering and am now a member of the "vets and family advisory council" or something like that. Al Adams has been nudging me along and I'm glad he did. I look forward to going "to work" on Fridays to help people find their way around the maze.
Windy, rainy day which kept us mostly inside. The quite large rhododendron in the backyard, which has been part of the yard since we moved here, split in half due to the wind and collapsed into the yard. Cats all seem edgy due to the wind.
Shopping for a full suite of new kitchen appliances. Our dishwasher is at least 20 years old and it is failing, etc. An interesting perspective on this purchasing effort: this will likely be the last appliances we ever buy!
We will be doing Christmas here at our house for the first time since 2004. It was too sad to consider after Seth's death in 2005 and we have spent the last 12 years traveling to Munich, or Sleeping Lady, or Washington DC. I must work hard to stage manage this so Kathy has some chance of not suffering inordinately from sad reminders. I think Lauren may be looking forward to it. Sean will be off to BC to visit his parents on 12/22 and then Lauren will come stay in her room "with cats". It may help her healing to have a Christmas at home. That ended for her in 2004 just like it did for the rest of us, and maybe she's nostalgic for whatever childhood magic there might have been when both kids were young. When she left for Germany for her junior year in Munich it was about 10 days after Seth's passing....little did we know then how much would change and how hard it would be to try to find a new "normal". I hope we can make a little progress here in December.
I'm enjoying the Veterans Hospital volunteering and am now a member of the "vets and family advisory council" or something like that. Al Adams has been nudging me along and I'm glad he did. I look forward to going "to work" on Fridays to help people find their way around the maze.
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