Spring Notes- A Sunshine Day with temps in the high 40's. Should warm up.

 I thought this was Spring Like.   My teeth are nice and clean and smooth after my dental visit.  I also have a new SONIC toothbrush....electric.  Very buzzy.  Needs time to get used to the sensations.  Buzzy.

My blood pressure was high...usually she takes it at the beginning but this time- having forgotten-- she took it at the end... 140 over 80.  I never like the scrapping and the buzzing and all the rest of it.  So I think the higher numbers were due to that.  Usually I am at 120.  At my doctors visit - they said my blood pressure reading was excellent.

A robo call for my eye exam.  I thought the doctor's name was Mark but the robot thought the name was Marky..... so, we'll see.  On Monday.  Dentist and Eye Doctor back to back.  Then the stove assessment.

I was trolling the internet yesterday to see if there were any ideas about cooking pasta minus the stove. And there was one very interesting one involving hot water, microwave and then a 4 minute resting time. Sounds like it might work.  Son said we could try it with Kraft Mac and Cheese... then I could mix up some of my deluxe "Baked Beans" --also in the microwave....just canned beans with a bunch of extras. Mustard, brown sugar and ketchup.  If I have any (yes, I do) onion powder.  I like to buy the canned beans that have bacon in them already.  He really enjoys this two items.

Son is going to make us some steamed rice in the cute little machine that beeps. 

Today is grocery shopping day.   The fridge is pretty bare.

Spring Notes- Cold over night and Sunshine today-43 degrees.

 The Tree.  That my neighbors suggested (strongly) I have removed. At my expense.

 Lower left you can see the two white propane tanks.  And my neighbor's garage.  The tanks are "right on" the property line.

Son was watching the progress of the guy who climbs the tree and cuts off branches with a chair saw. but lost sight of him as he got ABOVE the roof of our two story house.  I was standing outside with my coffee...watching.  Terrifying and also quite interesting........

Dentist today at 1:10.  Just the Annual Visit......next week the long awaited Eye Exam and New Glasses. And the day after- the "assessment of the space" for the New Stove and Microwave.

In the newspaper, a long missing painting by Gustav Klimt sold in Vienna for 32 Million.  It had "gone missing" during World War Two.  It's Jewish owners leaving Austria and their belongings behind.  No one knows where the painting was from 1925 to 1960's. It's a very beautiful painting of a woman.

"gone missing"--I actually take issue with that wording. It's offensive.

My neighbor has generously allowed the tree workers to park the wood chipper in his driveway.  Otherwise they would have had to drive on my lawn and make serious dents in the grass.  I estimate five truckloads of wood chips- counting the one they are working on now.   Possibly more..so far.  I did not want them. The chips.

Well, the "Fargo" wood chipper is going full speed now.  And I have taken my vitamins. Eaten my oatmeal.  Read the newspaper.  Made my bed. Made an effort- (futile) with my hair.  I still look like a Mad Woman.  I am now going down to the work room and plugging in the iron and ironing the shirt I may or may not wear to the dentist visit....I have 6 shirts I want to spray starch and iron.  Like I used to do all the time....and then I stopped......but want to start again.  Do things, like ironing, that I enjoyed doing. Again.

A Very Cold Spring Note- Wednesday, April 24th. Dentist tomorrow.

 Interesting landscape.

It's a bit dark in the house and there is a chill in the air.   Yesterday my eyes were very dry and made reading and even coloring difficult.....TV was boring...so I snacked round the clock.  I hate when that happens and I can't seem to control it....a sort of depressive behavior.

Snap Out of It.

I need to turn on a few lights.  People are still arriving at my neighbor across the street- Staging her House for Sale.  Not actually bringing in furniture-  so it feels ODD.

Was sorting paper and found a letter from 1988 from my husband's long time college roommate.   Years later Doug visited us in Maine...on the day Gary fell thru the roof and into the kitchen of the McDonalds.. he had been climbing up to try and fix something and missed a step on the ladder......after that...we all went out to dinner.  I think Doug might have been on wife three at that time...in the letter he sent to us in Germany he was on wife two.  By now he must be on wife four or five if he is still alive.

I am reading a British book..started it yesterday... This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs.  They meet on a cross Atlantic flight--seated next to each other in first class.  He's a professor at Oxford and she's an old school Rocker.  Pink hair.  Embarrassing episodes on the iPhone.  She was once pretty famous for singing one song with a very impressive Rocker...naked I think..  They are going to sing that song again--together (in London) for the first time since........ so what about the Oxford Professor after that??????

I have certainly selected a variety of strange stuff this past Library Day.  I stand and just look at the variety of books- one has already gone into the return bag after only one page. and there is another book- nagging at me in the recesses of my brain...I can't recall much about it....

Dentist tomorrow and next week for the "see if the stove fits" visit with the Appliance Guys & Miss Joanne.  Rock On.

Spring Notes- 33 degrees this morning...sigh. will Winter ever give up here in Maine????

 We might have had this image before but it's early and I gave up looking at the tiny pics on the right side of the screen.  And...for the first time...not really interested in pancakes......... who am I????

Yes, 33 degrees at the end of April here in Maine.  So very close to freezing.  The furnace is rumbling. Warming up after I moved the numbers from 60 to 64.  Grass looks frosty.

Slow start to the morning.  And I am usually NEVER awake and dressed at 7:30am. I went to bed at 9pm.

I watched an interesting program on PBS. Tell Me More..On Life. You can get the written info  PBS@KellyCorrigan.com.   Four professionals discussing Life and how we changed over the past century. And what we all actually need more of...sleep.  That came at the very end.  The next episode is about Parenting.  Check your local tv listing.

At 77.7, I can say for sure......sleep is what I am needing.  Sleep is possibly what I have needed for most of my Life.  Because...truth here....I am feeling so much better because I am going to bed early and sleeping. Really sleeping.  Just (my least favorite word) sleeping.  And each day, I feel more creative, happier, more relaxed.  It's a good feeling.

The Tree Guys chipped everything that was chip worthy.  The larger  pieces will be "firewood" and will also be taken away.  I am considering having them grind the stumps.  Make the yard look more like a golf course.  The gigantic monster pine next to the neighbor's propane tanks....hasn't been touched as yet.  Saving the best for last.  Two other trees have rope tied to the top....the tree climber will go back up and cut the tree from the top down.   When he comes back.

Two MORE houses on the street are now listed for sale.  A third sold last Spring and a fourth 6 months before that...the one next door with all the noise.  Three of them are the same style house.  Another belongs to my Lunch Buddy and will be listed as soon as she finds a nice place in one of the retirement communities.  No luck so far.  The remainder of homes on the street are one of a kind custom builds.  So sales comps won't applied to the rest of us.  But we'll get a general idea.

And that's how it's rolling here in Maine on a very cold morning.  I went thru husband's coloring stuff. The books will go to the library-- in the magazine recycling rack......where I took his word search books. I found a few mandala drawings I had made for him...pasted one into the art notebook where I do my daily drawing.....I colored one of them... it looks pretty nice. Well, actually, better than nice.  Surprised myself.