Just Before the Squall in Everyday Ramblings

Yesterday morning I took the train down to Salem. It was a typical late spring day with sun and lots and lots of dramatic clouds. We had a really lovely homemade taco lunch, a recipe from Cooks Illustrated and chatted and caught up a bit. Then we went for a walk where I took this picture on a dead end street we usually don’t go down. I had mentioned I need elevation for my Fitbit goal for the day and this worked. This is what the light was like just before a squall that sent us scurrying back to Kes and Most Honorable’s house.

Then Kes drove me home. That was a luxury. She brought this simple wire and cardboard toy for Carlo and he just went nuts over it and did not want to stop playing. I made smoothies for dinner and then we each had a few drinks and chatted and turned in early.

Today is my birthday and weird as it sounds the thing I wanted to do more than anything else in the world was… clean out my closet.

I have this big walk in closet, it is the size of a small room and as I don’t have any storage space all the “extra” accumulation of stuff and a lot of boxes were in there. Sammy used to have a fort in there the last 18 months of his life. I have been so busy for so long I haven’t been able to clean it, or sort stuff and Diego has clawed some of the boxes into falling apart shape.

There is still a lot to do but I got everything but the dresser out and cleaned and cleaned some more.

I looked at a bunch of clothes I haven’t seen in years. Kes took a bunch because she is one size up from me and we often shop at the same places. The rest will go to salvage houses.

I did find a pair of black velvet pants the still fit and look good.

There is so much more room in there now. We spent about four hours on it. It could use another 12 hours or so but at least I got started. Hopefully I will be able to get more stuff done before my birthday next year!

Then Kes took me to the grocery. That also was an incredible luxury.

This is a further commitment that I am not going to gain the weight back at least not any more than the five pounds I have put back on over the last few months after giving up Diet Coke and the latest dental work.

As I’ve mentioned before we are very practical about gifts and I got a good and very effective toilet plunger to replace the girly one I had. Those are the kinds of gifts that a woman on-her-own really appreciates when things go wrong. And because I am not drinking soda anymore, a really very nice Thermos cup with a built in hook for tea bags, which will come in handy for those early mornings getting out of town for a hike or snowshoeing or cross country skiing or birding or bike riding, all of which I hope to engage in in the next few years.

Oh, but the gift that touched me most (besides Kes giving me her time and driving me around) was an email early this morning half in French from Miss E. in Paris, telling me that she and a gray Parisian cat wished me all the best.

She is coming home tomorrow.

There will be a huge cosmic sigh of relief when she arrives safely.

Last updated June 19, 2016