Where Ever There is For You in Everyday Ramblings

Today. This wisteria arbor is pretty much the last standing structure on a block where three Victorians (broken up for the last 20 years or so into cheap student housing) and an anchor mansion shared space with a small commercial mall and two parking lots on what was turned into a busy street by the redirection of traffic when the freeway was put it.

An upscale retirement block, very expensive, is going in. It is an expansion of a large sprawling facility across another street, not quite as busy but an access point to the medical facility for which I previously worked.

The mansion was well maintained, an accountancy firm owned it for years and the wisteria was a patch of beauty on the block. They had roses and iris planted on the parking strip. I used to buy cartons of cigarettes in the convenience store next door for Mr. Finch that last year. I actually considered renting one of the small storefronts to make into a yoga studio for a time as it is so close and had good parking and excellent public transit and walking access.

All that is almost gone now. Just like this horrid year. For me, the first year of retirement, which personally has not been horrid.

Challenging for sure, but manageable. Horrid for so many though.

The good news is that both Diego and I are feeling better. He is still not totally out of the woods, his condition, like mine takes management. We both are having good days though and that is such a gift after so many hard days.

On the days I don’t teach I am not taking any Tylenol and his prednisone is down to a small dose. He still throws up now and then, but his weight is back up and he is one energetic cat dude. And I have a good supply of anti-nausea medicine when needed. The part I hate is the weekly B-12 shot. I need an extra hand or a new technique. I am working on that.

Kes and Most Honorable have a neighbor, an IV nurse, that got the vaccine a couple of days ago and one of my student’s son-in-law (an ER doctor) got his, the same day. It is good to know folks who know folks who have received the vaccine.

My next cookie making project has been a bit of a treasure hunt. The cookies are Moroccan Semolina and Almond Cookies from a Dorie Greenspan recipe. They are simple with only a few ingredients but getting those…almond flour, semolina flour and orange blossom water have been a little more complicated than pulling open a cupboard.

Some people buy craft materials, I buy orange blossom water.

I now have the almond flour; the orange blossom water is supposed to come on Christmas Eve, and I think the semolina flour is arriving tomorrow morning with Kes and Most Honorable who are coming up for a short visit. Bob’s Red Mill has it otherwise.

I think I will serve them fresh squeezed orange juice in champagne flutes.

My niece sent me all these handmade chocolate treats in two batches from two different chocolatiers in Seattle. Tomorrow I open the little bag of hand made dark chocolate covered pistachios.

Our great niece, the marvelous Miss E. was accepted at NYU last week. She is over the moon. It looks like she will be transferring from St. John’s in Maryland to NYU in the fall. We are worried about the debt burden, but she has been amazingly talented at getting grants her whole life. For now, though she is home with her boyfriend, mother and adorable calico cat named Ada in Seattle. She turned 20 in September.

I am thinking hard about what my intention is for 2021. Or are.

This is a bit different from a resolution. It is like pointing the ship and getting out the maps and the weather reports.

With my age and diagnosed heart disease I am in the third tranche for a vaccine and hope to receive it say in July or August. That means I might be able to start teaching at least one in person class in September.

Plotting my course, setting my sails and hoping for the best.

If Christmas is your jam, I hope you have a sweet one on every possible level. Otherwise…I hope you are able to relax and restore and renew. We need all the help we can get to transit from here to wherever there is, for you.

Last updated December 23, 2020