Daily Notes from a Snow Covered Maine....But we have Sunshine. Wednesday Jan 21st.

Good morning.  Time it took getting these index card line drawings here- I could have taken the College Prep Exams.  Getting the left side alignment...wow. Enlarge, print and color them yourself????  Please do- 

And I can see I actually didn't get it where it was supposed to be on the far left.....time out while I bang my head on the desk.   I enjoyed making these drawing yesterday while watching antiques roadshow.  The alternative was British Soccer and I had already watched one match....and wanted to save the second recorded match for today.  I DID enjoy looking at the Very Handsome Soccer Coach- he was grinding his teeth. I know he wasn't happy.

Today is going to be a repeat of the Most Excellent Toasted Cheese Sandwich with Sweet Pickle Slices. Using up the last two slices of Toasting Bread.  I will be making soup...eventually. Eventually is still quite a distance away.

I am also tempted to sharpen the colored pencils and work on the line drawings....

I read Cruise's Anyone But You yesterday and today Crusie's Agnes and the Hitman.. (unless I read Anyone But You again today....it was very good.  I did want Oreos...  I seem to have purchased my very own copy of Agnes... and it's still in brand new condition.  I need a copy of Anyone But You also.  But it may only be in hardback.  Bet Me is also in brand new condition on the bookshelf (soft cover)....and I really love that book.  Really....Truly...Deeply......

I am stockpiling for my Eventual Time in Assisted Living... Index cards.  Black ink pens.  Books. Tub of cloth scraps and thread, needles and scissors.   And a yearly brand new desk calendar and a glue stick. 

I am a simple woman with simple wants...... Toasted Cheese with Sweet Pickles...Dark Chocolate..... Wool Socks....Down Comforter and Down Pillows on my bed..  white linen sheets.....Index Cards (large size), Glue Stick and Pilot G-2 black ink pens....a whole box of them.   Romance Books......only the really really good ones.  Like ALL of Agnes and the Hitman.  

 

Daily Notes for Tuesday January 20th. Fresh Eyes.

Something bright and yellow- cheerfulness on a very very Snowy Maine Morning.  21 degrees and Sun. The white snow is blindingly bright.  

Starting to worry about Arctic Snowmelt raising ocean water levels....in Maine.  We sit close to sea level. And my house sits close to the coast line. And when we moved here  (decades ago) my backyard was a LAKE every Spring.  I had DUCKS swimming in the low, deep, spots and Eagles feeding on the ducks. Carrying the poor ducks away while they screamed.....it wasn't nice.  Then Maine dried up.

Son would say- "why worry about stuff you can't control?"   Virgos need to WORRY. It's in the DNA.

Plan for the day is dragging the central vac hose out and around...floor is pretty disgusting.  The sunshine is making it all very visible.  I have been reluctant to drag out the central vac as it is really a "workout" hauling the hose and getting it bent and stuck etc etc etc.   One can do the entire first floor with only two outlet changes....the hose is that long.  And I am no longer a Spring Chicken.  I need significant rest periods.  To catch my breath.  Could take all day....if I get started.  I didn't start yesterday. 

Yesterday's Happiness was a grilled cheese sandwich with sweet pickle slices....yummmy.  Also the remainder of the Christmas Shortbread Cookies with Hot Sweet Tea.   I still have leftover Pizza slices...for today's lunch.  I haven't made the Vegetable Bean Soup.....yet.  There might be...yes there are.... Brussels Sprouts to add some bitter notes to the vegetable soup... excellent.  Whenever it gets made. I'm in no hurry.

I also have a great book to read and English Soccer to watch....  better get started.....

Daily Notes for Monday, January 19th. Snow overnight. Again.

Homemade biscuits.   I made something like this (often) back when we lived outside of Atlanta.   What I could label- the "Good Years".... great neighbors, lovely big townhouse..  Kids all over for mine to play with. Best friend one Townhouse row over.  Until it wasn't.  Never baked biscuits again. Never really baked anything. Again... the new house in Florida didn't have central air but did have snakes..   The next house in Chicago had friendly  neighbors and the Fire Chief across the street.....to fix things for me.  His daughter was my babysitter.  I found a job......worked.  Was really happy...we moved again. and again. I know you all know all this already...Sorry for the repeating....blame it on the biscuits.

Football yesterday...and the day before.  Sunday Pizza was exceptionally good...crust had a nice "crunch". I also watched PBS after two  football games.....the Nazi's and the wayward British King and Queen.

Started the day with a great hot shower and clean hair.   My chest wound is getting better and less red,...still needs a bandage.... still a bit of uncomfortable if I move or stretch too much. A burning pain- but just a shiver of it.,, these days.

Maine's Senator..Angus King.....is going to meet with Danish Officials re: President's threats.  Our Maine newspaper mentioned ICE agents--locally......here in Maine. A hotbed of immigrants (laughing). People with a tan are suspect here. Why the natives stay in Florida till early summer. Perhaps longer this year????

Today's book- accidentally chosen at Library-- is actually a GREAT FAVORITE..... Jennifer Cruise's Anyone But You.   Need to buy my own copy. Unhappily married middle aged woman moves out  of husband's deluxe  townhouse and into a walk up tiny apartment...also buys a stinky old hound dog set for the "big sleep" at the local pound. She feels she escaped her own "big sleep" with husband.   Meets the  young ER doctor one floor down.  They watch old movies together- all three of them. Man, woman and dog.  Popcorn.  

Daughter called to make sure her land line actually worked......it went out the other day. She is still SICK with the Flu.  Must be a very strong variety this time around.  Daughter said they got the strain wrong for the shot.  

I wish I had bought more cold day old chicken nuggets at the grocery store...that first container of them was very very tasty.  I like them better old and cold than fresh and hot.  I know...Son also thinks I'm really weird.   But it's ME.

 

Daily Notes on Sunday January 18th. A very very Snow Covered Maine. And it's cold.

 The back yard view thru a screen we never took off the windows.  Out the back windows, it looks like we live in a space without inhabitants.  There are animal tracks in the snow.........

We also have a mystery.  Someone is driving a truck into the drive and shoveling our sidewalks. Son is sure it'a truck and not a car.  The Lawn Guy sends a bill if he plows and he DOES NOT shovel...WE know that about him.  

I would give you an image of the improvement on the "whatever" on my chest.  But it's really disgusting. Still red...and now has a scalpel cut thru the center vertically...making it so much more gross. But, in my uneducated opinion it seems to be getting narrower and not as red and puffy.  The meds are working.

I tried out three of the library books I had reserved- they were ALL terrible.....by that I am saying I could not get involved......and the reading was torture.  I tried a few from the book case.....and they are  paperbacks with tiny tiny grey print...I'm way too old for that.....I need full BLACK ink for the print.

Quite a few of my books are going to Goodwill.  Why keep them if I can't read them?????  My eyes aren't going to get YOUNGER.  Most of the books I looked up on Amazon are not available in libraries.  Most not all.  I started out reading Hissy Fit but then I started to recall the deep hole the plot goes into... and the oyster dishes.  That one is not staying in the bookcase.  First 30 pages were funny.

Today is Sunday Pizza.  And Football.  I watched two games yesterday... it sort of breaks my heart when one team loses and they look so...very sad..........Two more today.  Here in Maine the local-ish FOX stations have sort of gone out of business????  One has no listing of programs anymore...if you switch to it and just wait. minutes..a program comes on...the one in the newspaper tv guide.   The other has pay for view (used to be a regular station) and now pay per view.   The Football comes in on the local FOX channel...so it's always a surprise when I can watch the game.  I'm waiting for the FOX News Shows to also box it up and move on.  

I could make some toast......get me thru until pizza at 4 pm.  Six hours....

Bit Late but Better than Nothing.... Daily Notes- January 17th..Snowing.

Well. the computer wants to have the typing centered so we will do what it wants.  I have British Soccer on the tv after watching my PBS Cooking Shows.  Liverpool.   It's snowing here in Maine...Again.

I had a very nice shower this morning and washed my hair...it's getting curly as it grows out. It needs some length in order to start curling and the gal cutting my hair last year was making it way too short and the razor she used felt like my hair was being pulled out by the roots.  And getting thinner and thinner...  when you can see your pink scalp you know it's time to "just say no more"...

My icky skin thing is looking better... and I think it enjoyed the hot shower. Son chose a different bandage for the area and it seems to be happy about that as well. Itches a bit.

Watching British Soccer.  Liverpool in red.  Liverpool hasn't been as strong as usual this season. I listen to the Soccer Chat but it doesn't answer any of my questions.

It's snowing...been snowing for a few days but not accumulating..I mean there is snow that needs shoveling or the snow blower but it's not the usual amount of Maine Snow.  I haven't noticed the Town Snow Plow going by.

I haven't started a book as yet... I have several..but so far the Assassin Spy book hasn't held my interest. Too much description of the train they are on...but perhaps we need that if there is some dangerous shooting or something happening on the train.  I don't care.

I tried to watch a Hallmark Movie...two people meet and like each other but didn't exchange last names etc. So they are thinking about the other person and looking for clues as to what the other person might have said to let them know where to "look"........I lost interest.  I personally lost a person I really liked by never asking for his last name.... I know his parents lived in Akron, Ohio. He went to school at Ohio University.  Another in a long line of guys named James who vanished over the many decades of my Life.   At this point in time- I have to also realize he might have died.  My age group is doing that.

That's it for today...I really am pleased with my hair today...and I am putting the spy book in the rerun bag and choosing something else.  From my own bookcases.

Liverpool just scored.

 

Daily Notes for Friday January 16th. Sidewalks and street are clear...snow on lawn.

 There are things happening to my kidneys...  stage 3 something... my diet has to change.

Doctor and his nurse were shocked by whatever is happening on my chest.   Doctor cut into the area with scalpel. Hoping that would help with drainage.  I now have a much flat-er red bump with a straight cut thru the center. Not as swollen. Still itches.  Hot compresses later (but not too hot). After Library and Grocery.

Right now I am wondering what I can buy with the Friday grocery shopping.... limit or DON'T eat Dairy, Bananas, Potatoes, Yogurt.  Drink water but not too much- kidney overload.  Signs that stuff is going wrong- swollen ankles (yes) shortness of breath (yes)- itchy dry skin- (yes)---shortness of breath we though was asthma- cognitive issues- we thought was lack of concentrating or listening.  It's my kidneys.

Expiration Date- unknown.

Jolly News....I haven't a clue as to what I will be having to eat this week- apples, berries, grapes.  A non dairy creamer for my coffee (if I even want coffee)....made out of rice- I think I will skip this and drink tea---I can eat tomatoes, bell peppers and potatoes.  Also beans, grains, egg whites, salmon and tuna.  Olive oil- NO butter. No animal products (no cheese, cream, butter or eggs).  I don't like salmon or tuna.

I can eat vanilla or lemon desserts....absolutely NO chocolate.  

The "stay away from list"- includes everything I have been eating for decades.  The other list- stuff I have hardly EVER eaten. And really don't want to eat.  Beans, nuts, tofu, grains, egg whites, fish. No animal protein. I like baked beans....pistachios....oatmeal.  Not a fan of eggs or fish.  Nuts aren't really a meal. I can't eat SOY- actually can't eat it....get all itchy.   I'm dressed and ready to visit Library and Grocery Store Haven't eaten anything...

Oatmeal....good thing I like it.

Daily Notes- Thursday, January 15th.....Doctor's Appointment. Snow melting or Rain????

 Daughter has the flu.... Son is taking me to the appointment. JUST NOW informed me.

She was around me prior to knowing she has the flu.....so.........but I don't think she sat on the couch with me... I think she sat over by the windows.   I feel okay.... won't touch anything she touched.

Son now has to figure out where the doctor's office is located.... I'm not much help... I drove into Bath once.....and never again. And that was decades ago.  We could always cancel.  I already had shots at the Grocery store for COVID and Flu.  The visit is usually "non- productive".  Other than blood pressure and weight.  I think they took blood last year....no results were shared with me. Personally.  Possibly with the 'portal".... wherever that is.

Well, I have had my oatmeal. Having my coffee as I type.  Getting to the part of the book where happily ever after looks quite impossible.  Been there... still there.

Noticed wood along the underside of roof on the bedroom wing rotting away....sigh...the hunt for someone to do the repair....endless and usually quite impossible........The guy who did repairs to the front porch roof is in prison now somewhere Down South......

Flu...Doctor.....Rotting Wood... Rain....Greenland........sigh.   

Daily Notes for January 14th.....Sunshine, Snow and 42 degrees.

 Yesterday's photo showed up this morning.  Yes, it's a pot pf nice dirt and a ratty looking bulb and a tiny green leaf tip....but I am very grateful that it's all still alive. And that's it's still trying......like me. No  matter HOW ratty we look.

My book is out of the big tall cupboard.....Mary Kay Andrews- Save the Date.  As is "normal" these days I am not reading straight  thru...I read, I stop, I do something else.   So far the two main characters have been guests at three weddings (not together).... he and his dog (twin to her dog) have been invited to sit and have iced tea in her back yard while the dogs play..  There's a piano teacher in the mix.....couple more weddings....runaway bride...ex-husband.  I ate a few shortbread cookies from Christmas....

Daughter had a cat emergency. So we didn't do the project she had lined up for us. Cat is fine.

I watched an episode of One Strange Rock (Earth) in the evening and we visited a very very cold place on Earth. I tried 6 times to spell it and autocorrect did not help.  Starts with an A,  Will Smith. I have all the episodes recorded on the TiVo.   Again.....this is the second time I have wanted to watch this series.

My other viewing objective is Antiques Roadshow...I had ten recorded but several were doubles or triples. So I ended up watching ONE.  And then returned to my book.  As you can guess....things are not going as "planned"......Hallmark has also let me down. Usually in the lull between Christmas and Valentine's Day we get some Golden Oldies....No.  And Soccer is going all FIFA on me.  I might watch the Paris Cup. Was great last year.

This is how a 79 year old woman spends her days....fascinating, right?????  (my socks match today) and I combed my hair.  I recall eating my breakfast oatmeal......the Suduko was very very difficult. Again.

The Art was the Repeat.....Tuesday, January 13th....Sunshine and 32 degrees

 Well, I give up....I had an image of my now (third year) amaryllis bulb sending up a fresh new pair of leaves...... but the image is stuck somewhere and is not arriving in my desktop mail.  If it shows up... or not I can still be very very proud of it........the bulb and the tiny green leaves....

My neck is itchy,  Some people get itchy in the Summer months..I get itchy in the Winter.  But now that I am thinking about it...I get itchy All the Months.......

Today the Sun is shining and daughter has plans to sort and throw away a box full of Father/ Husband's old work things.....we can possibly shove it all in the big shredder in the Library hallway...after removing any identification if it ALL has any..... I had planned to do the same with his high school yearbook- but his classmates wanted me to send it back to them.   My own yearbook was lost decades ago...while in a drawer in my mom's attic.  Where I thought it was safe.  Nothing in my mother's keeping was ever really safe.  Even her children.

Daughter searched the fabric boxes in the sewing room and found me an old fashioned red for replacement of a few rotted out red strips on that old quilt... 

Antique's Roadshow in Alaska was interesting.... yesterday.  Today I have British Soccer...

I spoke to our Banker regarding income tax season...daughter is still waiting for last year's refund. Banker said they have a "shortage of workers" at the IRS...Trump fired a LOT of government workers......perhaps will be allowed to rename it the Trump IRS?????  Things would.....well, stop completely, then,  I guess. but the sign out front would be LARGE and plated in FAKE GOLD.

A woman will be charged (after death) with making a Three Point Turn.....in front of ICE.  And ICE was terrified. Possibly never seeing a three point turn.... before????

And that's it for today...

Another Monday Post- January 12th at 11:01

 A repeat as I have done NO art so far this year.  This one is nice. Again.

Shower....Washed my hair.....changed my bandage.  Carrying my socks around with me... instead of putting them on.  My neck itches.  My rash might be spreading.  Doctor on Thursday.

My Potato got baked.....after the pizza.  Not together.

Football...I'm not sure if I watched two games or three...but I watched them...the last was the Patriots game- looked really COLD.  Lots of injuries- possibly due to the playing field being frozen???? Or do they have heating elements under the turf?????? I don't need an answer.

I might have forgotten to put cream on my face....feels tight and dry.

Been watching a movie short on my PBS of Roland and Mary....they get calls to pull trucks and cars out of snow banks etc.   While driving they talk...about life.  I like it because it's very obvious how much the two care about each other......and they have struggled to make a life for themselves and their three adult children and grandchildren.....and they park their tow trucks next to each other and eat lunch together.

Mary is called to pick up a UPS truck which is damaged and gathers all the packages etc to put in HER truck so...after dropping off the truck for repairs- he driver can deliver them - with her driving him around (between jobs)... The UPS guy looks at the camera and it's like-"she doesn't have to do this"....but he sure appreciated it.  So the short movie is about love and kindness.  I've watched it three times so far.

I've now mentioned it in blog posts twice....it's better than talking about the NEWS.  Or the Football yesterday.  I went to bed before the New England game got going....no paper...it's Monday so I will ask the Internet.....    (we won)

Sunday January 11th... Cloudy and 35 degrees

 You get a repeat of pencils... freshly sharpened.

I love Art Supplies.... simply love them..... and paper- I adore paper...good paper- the kind I can fold, paint, add more crayon etc.  I also like books of blank paper pages.......any size.

I also love scraps of cloth- trimmed off edges and rolled into balls...and one of those balls of strips and edges is right here on the desk top...  I love it.

Today is Sunday Pizza day...I'll be adding my unbaked potato to the preheat and the bake...  I really love a nicely baked potato....with crisp skin.  I just checked - no sour cream but plenty of butter.

Morning headlines here on the internet...more very very horrific stuff about Epstein and his island.

On that very upsetting note.....mainly imagining parents missing a daughter all this time...enough.

Saturday, January 10th. Ice Covering Everything... Son is salting the steps. 33 degrees.

 The image comes from an article on Baker and Taylor the "new" book supplier to every Library. Image also is good for ice covered steps and sidewalks.  This morning.   I'm sure my son is rethinking living here with me as he salts his way to the street and the morning newspaper-- for me to read.

I recall husband slipping and landing on the front steps- on his face...and the second "trip" being to the Emergency Clinic.  

I used to put down sand...not salt.  But I think we might be out of sand. 

My iPhone is not able to connect to the "weather" info... my iPhone is incredibly OLD.  Right now it has color images of clouds and the time. 8:36.  So helpful.  Ah, also my location.  And the date,  And an encouragement that I upgrade.

My Son and I talked about me using my husband's newer iPhone going forward... wiping it and putting the few items I use on it.  We haven't done that as yet..  I haven't a clue how any of that works.  I take pictures and send them to the blog....that's all I do with the iPhone.  But right now I see the date and time and various colors of sky and clouds moving from left to right on the screen. Along with the date.  That's pleasant.........every so often it stops.....then starts up again.

Magically the fresh today's newspaper is on my placemat along with my daily pills.  That guy (my Son) works wonders. Well, my ankles are chilled and the socks are sitting next to my left hand- so best tuck them onto my feet.  I think I will mend the old quilt some more....today..... and watch some of the many Law and Order episodes I have in the Tivo.  No news.  I might never watch news again... the morning newspaper is enough.

 I tried to follow the words of the Orange Man yesterday as he sat (with his spine collapsed) in his chair. But he wasn't coherent.  And kept switching over to different topics and then a sudden swing back to the message.at hand.......and not being able to stay on message even while reading the words.....  My Son says I do that. 

So...I am certainly NOT competent to be running the United States Government,...and doubt Trump is either.

Daily Notes for Friday, January 9th...2026.

 We might have had this already....but I got tired of waiting for the photo I sent to arrive in the mail box over to my left....  and this image is pretty great.

I FINALLY finished that book- when the lights went out...it's a great book...she wrote a second book but like all things.... I forgot to write it down.

There was some interesting  info regarding Dawn dishwashing soap in this mornings newspaper-- one use they didn't mention was using it to wash greasy oily hair....I used in on my very greasy, oily husband one day and his hair actually had never looked that good.  EVER.....  I washed his hair while he bent over the kitchen sink..... used the dish sprayer.... It could have become a regular thing but he forgot almost as soon as his hair was dry....

I watched a program on PBS last night...about a couple who drive the trucks we call when our battery goes dead,  run out of gas, or when we slide off an icy road into a snow bank etc. Independent and not AAA. I recorded it to watch again....when I do I will write down the title...in case "other" PBS stations are carrying it.

An email from my Library... they will no longer to able to "rent" Baker and Taylor new release books and the Library budget doesn't stretch to cover that many new books... so.....I often wonder what they Do spend money on.....the new book shelving is usually pretty bare....MOST of the books I borrow are from "other" libraries.  Not my local library, which I have to say, has gone downhill since we lost an exceptional Director and got this one.... who "says" she will retire in October.

images are showing up in the sidebar-  now...when I am ready to hit publish....

Daily Notes- Thursday January 8th. Sunshine here in Maine- 29 degrees 99% humidity.

I'm just going to start typing... the image I had is not showing up in the in box.... I pressed send.

That same book is going really slowly and now the  lead  character is being charged with murder.  Framed for murder.  I was hoping to get further along and actually get to read one of the OTHER books....I have waiting patiently here on the book shelf.... Some renewed once already.

I continue to get crank "Medicare Files" phone calls.  Never using my name.   I listen and then hang up. It's annoying and the only phone calls I get.... 

My ONE a Day cup of decaf coffee has gotten cold....but I will drink it this way and not bother trying to keep it warm....the furnace is chugging away.. 65 degrees..heating up the large tall ceiling in the kitchen/family room. Where I sit in the sunshine reading the paper and doing (not really) the sudoko puzzle...I am very very bad at Suduko.

An email from daughter on the hunt for some books for me... I'm going to reply that she should "forget it" and move on to other things....

I am enjoying the daily emails from Jude on her "new to her" site.  I like seeing what she makes out of small scraps and embroidery floss.  I also visited a few blogs I lost contact with a decade or more ago...something happened.....not sure what...but I got politely shut out of reading those blogs...it was fine.. I am accustomed to not being one of the "popular" girls.   They do what they do.

I have no counter on these posts to see how many people read them...I assume...no one reads the posts.  And I assume I am correct in that assumption....I called in an inhaler prescription refill.  Life in the Older Person "Lifestyle".

I watched three old movies I had in the TiVo Movie File. I watched one ...twice. Christmas.  When I say old I mean old.  I am on the fence about deleting them.....knowing next Christmas I will miss having them but NOT until then....there was one on Lifetime that I loved....but it never showed up this year...the Lifetime movies have the same actors and the same Canadian houses.....but are not as "sweet"... the regular Lifetime Movies are...wow...just really dark and scary.  I did record the hockey player one...I should watch it today.....after soccer.  And after Antiques' Roadshow...

See...I am acting my AGE...almost 80.

Daily Notes. Wednesday January 7th....Overcast, zero sunshine and 20 degrees.

 No images...  

Still reading that same book....endless. only 2/3rds of the way into it....even after a few hours of reading.

I called in for a refill of my inhaler...might or might not get filled...things are getting "loose" here in Maine as nothing is a "sure thing" - Health Care Wise  and my annual appointment is on the 15th.........we'll see what happens.

Watched an episode of One Strange Rock - it's Will Smith and Earth. Set the remainder of the series to record.... I've recorded them a few times....and enjoy watching One Strange Rock. How is it that you and I live on this strange one of a kind rock????

I have nothing to say- just that I will try and read my book and eventually watch a recored soccer game. And I might sew a few more strips to the old quilt top.  I have a PEAR for my fruit today.  Other than that the fridge is pretty bare....I do have Ham and Cheese for a Roll Up.  I might buy navel oranges for Fruit of the Week when we shop on Friday.

Got nothing else to share....house lights are on- A Dark Day.

Daily Notes- Tuesday, January 6th. Bill Paying.....Sunshine and 25 degrees.

 1.  No image today.... daughter took down the tabletop Christmas Tree... I now have a glass vase with fake flowers and sock monkeys where the tree was....

2.  My Very Very nice German full length navy dress coat is on its way to the dry cleaner.  Will come home clean and dust free and in a protective bag.  I recall wearing the coat to Women's Club meetings (in Germany). I was also carrying a Louis Vuitton briefcase.  Which is VINTAGE LV now and in the closet. I'm also Vintage and Not in the Closet.

3.  Now I wear 25 cent mended faded LLBean corduroy pants (much looser these days), a thermal shirt and an acrylic pullover. And wool socks and men's slippers....men's are so much better than the women's variety.  Less pink.

4.  I've had my oatmeal and a banana so far today- coffee is still too hot to drink.  I am going to stop typing and have an 8 ounce glass of water and my vitamin pills.  I have to do things as soon as I recall them...  done.

5.  Annual doctor's visit coming up...I can see it in the rearview mirror.   Blood work and shots- no idea what shots but I always get at least two...one in each arm.. I already had my COVID and Flu... shots at the grocery store. 

6.  Worked on the old quilt....most of the shredded strips are brown fabric...weird.  I have very little in the color brown in the Quilt room....  so I am using pale pink.  And I have little of that color also. But more than enough for this quilt....repair.  I am using the fabric wrong side up to look as faded as the original looks.

7.  I wrote two checks and Son is walking out to the mailbox by the road with them.... I've stopped watching the news...watching a mentally ill person in charge of things.... not good for MY mental health. I wonder if there is a White House Betting Pool...on when the big bloated guy nods off permanently.

8.  Reading- still- the Night The Lights Went Out.  It's slow going...everyone is dressing up for a party/dance /social event.  The cheating husband is now reconsidering his bad choices.....coming by and asking the ex to have dinner with him and their two kids....she said no.  Didn't want the two children to have false hope.  The Carpenter is a much better choice these days.  The scary stuff in the woods is getting closer to the house every day.

9..Various women (in the book) have made chocolate chip cookies (not needing the recipe) and I DO HAVE EVERYTHING here to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies.... I even have the cheat sheet to tell me HOW the oven works. No one wants cookies.

10...About a DOZEN British Soccer games in the TiVo... ready to watch. Also perhaps a half dozen Antique's Roadshow....also recorded.  49 episodes of Law and Order ready to go also.  

But I am reading and mending......

Daily Notes for Monday, January 5th....16 degrees and LOTS of Sunshine.

Art- Bette Ridgeway.  

I tore one of her works out of a magazine a long time ago and taped it to the wall in my bedroom.. I look at it every morning....so looked her up and found four more images....of her work. The one on my wall is blue.

I also found, while sorting and tossing paper etc (Danish Death Cleaning)- a newspaper article with an interview with ME after a gardening class lecture. I was described as "spunky"..........been awhile since I was "spunky".... these days I'm mostly bored, tired, crabby, angry, or sleepy.  Typical of most people my age. Boomers......

I've eaten my way thru all the available leftover Christmas food.  Next up is "cooking".  We had pizza yesterday. Always great...while watching football.  I watched two games- possibly a third one that I didn't really pay attention to.......just watched...there was some recorded British Soccer with VERY unsportsmanlike behavior.  Yellow cards but not the Red one I expected to see...after the full body knock down one guy gave the Goalie.

My bowl of oatmeal was quite good- I got the proportions of oats, water and time in the microwave just right.  Nice.  

I'm considering making real coffee (in the Future)--not instant...but knowing the limits of my new older attention span.....not going to be my best idea.... I have several French Press in the dish closet...my friend and I would eat lunch in the Little Bistro...and coffee arrived in single person French Press...I loved it....the Bistro closed- no more French Press or Black Bean Bisque.  They could make more cash catering weddings. Follow the Money and not your Heart..???? never really a good choice long term.

I made Several Really Bad Life Choices...I still regret each and every one of them.......to this day.  I'd love a do-over.  Like the ones in my romance books. Perhaps why I read them???????

 

Daily Notes- Sunday, January 4th. overcast, zero sunshine 14 degrees

Okay, I figured out the curser placement... it wanted center yet again...I did not.  Chair was taken out of my paper collection and trimmed down...  I have more...but all the same chair as this one...

1.  Well, I did some first aid on myself....some ointment, then a sterile gaze pad and then tape.  All from husband's Heart Surgery Box of Supplies.  I did need to cross the hallway for scissors for the tape. I have this itchy swollen patch of skin over my breastbone.... Which in 11 days the doctor will examine. See what it's all about.  I'll just be keeping it covered.

2.   I keep thinking I see people walking around outside...at 14 degrees I don't think it's a great idea.

3.   Soccer yesterday....everyone looks exhausted... ready for the season to be over.  I think I saw someone punch another player yesterday but was too lazy to rewind and see if I actually did see that.  No Hands!!!

4.   We have now gone from a Republic to a Dictatorship...taking over other countries..etc.. When is Congress going to Shut Him Down???  I want to type something else here but it could get me arrested. Like everyone else ......and I do have to keep the itchy spot bandage dry and clean.

5.  So that's it...Soccer to watch and possibly some Football.  And the Sunday Pizza.  I didn't find my favorite screw top wine at the grocery (again) so I'll have lemonade.  I have wine with corks but...I'm OLD and not much good at getting corks out of wine bottles.  Never was..and would feel kinda strange walking around to neighbors and asking them to open my wine bottles....  I can hear it now..".that old woman is coming up the drive with another bottle of wine....."

6.  Well the Sunday Paper won't read itself....
 

Oksy...took awhile to get this up and working....Saturday, January 3rd....sunshine and snow.

Here we are and I can't get the text to start over to the left...It happens and I have no idea why or how to make it stop.  Yesterday turned out to be a great day....

1.  I found the squares I was looking for...I had tucked them in a plastic tub for "safe keeping." and they were really safe...from me finding them...

2.  I watched two movies Pretty Woman and after than Sweet Home Alabama?  Pretty Woman is always in my recorded box...But Sweet Home wasn't..  Reading the credits Richard Gere actually was playing the piano and wrote the music he was playing.... I also got the name of the opera from the credits and chose to believe--until proven wrong --that I have a disc with that opera.

3.   I have several British Soccer Matches to watch today as I sew one piece of cloth to another... I sorted a stack of pages I had ripped from magazines...when the library had magazines in the lobby we could "feel free to take home". I don't think anyone is publishing magazines anymore.  If they are..I don't see them.

4. The big truck that picks up green buckets of compostable garbage from the neighbors is driving past...they empty the weekly bucket in an open trailer...lots of green buckets on the truck...in return ...I think...you get a bucket of compost...freshly composted???  I do have two large squares out back- using wooden pallets...and both are full of compost...no where for it to go as yet.....  weeds and plants sometimes start growing in the Spring...I uproot them and let them "compost"... One year I had many many worms... I try not to repeat that year.  I know worms are a good sign but..not a Fan.

5. Well. I am going to stop typing and start watching tv.  Do some hand sewing...  ignore the uneven margins.

Daily Notes for Friday January 2nd....Cold...16 degrees. Bright Sunshine.

1.  I have to work on the desktop images...like...GET SOME.

2.  It's Friday and I won't be going to the Library- The street between the grocery parking lot and the Library does NOT get shoveled...and it melts and freezes and is not a SAFE walk for an old woman. The grocery parking lot gets salted...like every day and is always 100% ice free. I'll see if Son thinks me going the grocery is a "good idea'....... He just asked if I was ready to go to the store-- yeah!!!!!

3.  I want to go to the grocery so I can pay for the groceries.... I took a shower this morning so my hair would look nice...if I wear my hat- it won't really matter.  But...it's nice to go out in public with clean hair.

4.  I have been searching for the black and brown squares I hand sewed....Can't find them...Been looking.  I did find some kits for ABC Samplers.  I bought them but never did start any- cross stitch. I have two complete kits and one very incomplete one...no chart. Scarlet Letter Kits...  I might see if they are still in business... even if it's been forever since I purchased them...

5.   A Vintage Sampler- hand embroidery seems like a good Winter Afternoon Project... an alternative to reading if the books I have aren't that great.  I'm also considering reading the entire Louise Penny series.. I have them all (here) in hardback- thanks to my daughter....I purchased the newest book on the last book store visit (in person). I won't be "in person" again until Spring.

Daily Notes from Maine....Thursday January first...Sunshine and Snow on the ground. 27 degrees

Snowdrops.

I had these in my perennial beds for many years...I think the squirrels dug them up...every year so I stopped planting them...

One thing I can always count on- squirrels..

I have two Soccer Matches to record.....I watched three episodes of Time to Come Home on Hallmark yesterday. I had seen all three in many years past....I don't need to see them again for another five years or more. But it was nice to know "second chances" are aways available .... but not for me, I guess.

My book is one I read awhile back and forgot...Karen White's "the night the lights went out".  Set in the area around Atlanta.... it has that Southern sweetness about it.....like sweet tea.   And reminds me of happy days living in Georgia.  If I was ever to move away from Maine ...it would be to Georgia.  Both my children were born there.  We left the Atlanta suburbs to move to Florida...The first of many many moves...  

I forgot we had a sunporch loaded with toys and furniture and a large painting my brother sent me...none of it got packed or missed for decades....... when we were quickly transferred to Chicago and our fourth home.  And then to Germany a few years later.

Southern food is being cooked...tomatoes are being left on doorsteps...sweet tea is being made. All things I did when living there,  having babies.... being happy.....so of course husband had to move us to Florida. Where I was alone and miserable and he was working in the Virgin Islands.  Anyway...I am reliving my Georgia Happiness...with this book.... Previous book was set in Florida....by the water... Might look for a Chicago book next- any suggestions?????

Happy 2026...My new desk calendar fits perfectly...already have things pasted on it...