Daily Ooo's: August 15-16: Weekend Edition

[faerywings]

happy weekend!! I am feeling-- well... Not 100% sure how I am feeling. hahaha!!! I am more relaxed and grounded after the walk at the arboretum. I am very worried and distressed about the upcoming election. I am heart-warmed (is that a word?) by people who care about me. So it is a good blend of good and not so good but I am going to try and focus on the good parts.

Yesterday was lovely. A nice time to get out and be in this gorgeous space. The arboretum wasn't huge but the paths were winding around with little features such as benches, doors, arches that were surrounded by flowers and trees. And deer! We saw a family of deer just wandering within feet of us. Arlene and I were chatting, I turned around and there was a buck nibbling on grass not more than 10 feet from us. We kept wandering and the mama and fawn walked right in front of us. I took a lot of pictures with my phone and I hope that some of them came out nice.
It felt wonderful to talk to Arlene face to face too. We both needed to get stuff out. heh. Her mom is 96 and isn't doing that well. She is also going through similar emotions about how Leah graduated and can't find a job but is thrilled at how wonderful her art business is going. She is *killing* it. I was able to see a bunch of the new pieces that she is working on and they are incredible and selling like mad. A bunch of commissions and everything.

The best part of the day? Caitlyn brought home the load of laundry so we have clean clothes LOL

No plans today. It is cloudy and looks like it is going to rain later. I think I am going to clean my kitchen really well, maybe work on the pantry area. Toss the stuff that is stale. Everything goes stale and soggy so fast in the summer with the humidity. I have to see how the photos came out and maybe scrap one or two.

Gratitudes:
-that there are people who reinforce my belief that there are souls that are inherently beautiful and kind
-nature and how it rejuvenates me
-the recipe I am cooking tonight is coming from the garden- eggplant, tomatoes and basil over pasta
-all of you!

 

[faerywings]

Trudy- I saw you Storybook page on FB and it came out incredible and beautiful!!! You rocked it!
Did you make it to the craft store? That always seems to get the creativity going again. Pfft. Your page was way more than "ok." I loved it. Enjoy the Wine festival. Arlene was sayignthe exact same thing, that she lived in her town for decades and never knew about the arboretum until the quarantine started. I am sorry that your COVID cases are going up and I hope that people will start listening to your Dr Bonnie before it gets too bad. I was so sad to hear that NZ had an outbreak after having none for so long.
Good luck to the bruins, hope that they start to win again.
Yes please-- any GF recipes, please pass them along!

Cheryl- dogs are so darn smart, hope that your puppy doesn't get herself too anxious in the next few weeks. That is a lot of distance to walk, esp if it was mostly in your house. How are you feeling today, any less sore?
I love rats, so sweet! Well, the babies aren't always so sweet. Cailtyn thinks that it might be due to gestational trauma. There has been some very fascinating research about how trauma can be "genetic" and generational. There is evidence of this in rats as well as in humans, with children of Holocaust survivors and in Black maternal research studies. Evie and Imogene were born from a mother that had been dumped on the side of a road along with hundreds of others, many of which had frozen to death. She suspects that even though they were handled exactly the same as she raised her other very affectionate rats, these babies might be predisposed to not bonding like the others. It isn't their fault that they are little baby brats-rats!

Nancy- When will this hockey season wrap up and are they planning for one in October? So far so good with the bubbles? *fingers crossed*
I bet you and Luther will get out for a walk this morning, it is kind of chilly up here right now. That is great news about your sister's eyes. Is it wrong for me to wish that I would get cataracts now? hahah!!
Why would there be a Dr. Pepper shortage, yikes!? I hope that everyone is helping you stock up. I can't beleive that unis are opening and it still seems so much is up in the air. My nephew went back to Pitt yesterday. He is in off-campus housing and his classes are hybrid, some in person, some remote. My town's school district got pressured to change their in-person classes to *more* hours two days a week to three. I bet this is going to bite them in ass.

Jean- today feels like autumn-ish here. I had to put pants on instead of shorts and my toes are cold. Boooo. Enjoy the new clothes when you get them. OMG- the Colbert skit sounds hysterical!! That is how I feel in a lot of ways. ound:
Enjoy your Zoom meeting today

xoxo!!!!

 

[scrap-genie]

Don't know if I'm really ready for the Zoom user group, but we'll muddle through as usual. Seems like a nice day so far.

Chris, the arboretum walk must have been super. Having the deer as company is cool. Of course clean clothes is great too. Wish we could all get our heads out of March!

Have a good one, everybody!

 

[nancyr]

This is late very late - hockey has gotten even more interesting. The Boston Bruin goalie Tuuka Rask has decided to go home to his family. He has a new born and two young daughters and his mind just was not on hockey and play offs. The backup goalie did a great job! I am sure Trudy and her MG are happy. But boy is he getting so negative remarks. I think it is special that he is tough enough to know he needs to be with his family. Then my AZ Coyotes won this afternoon and while they still trail 1-2 to Colorado it was so nice to see them win. They would not without their goalie who made 49 saves. I cant think that the Coyotes want to give up that many shots. Yes my DH and I got in a long walk with Luther. And it was a later than Luther expected. And why you might ask. So here is the funny (at least to me) not to my son and his wife. Yesterday I asked my son what time he needed a ride to the airport this morning. He said he wife has the info. When she got home from errands she sent me the info and I looked and I immediately saw that the date there were to leave was the 14 (yes yesterday) thought the original was for the 15th. JetBlue sent them the email saying there was an important change. She did not notice the date change. So as you can guess they missed their flight. My son was trying to talk to JetBlue but he did not have her login info so they would not do anything. She of course was freaked out when she got home. JetBlue gave them refunds. But now they would have to spend a lot. So the solution which was actually better for them both - she took the plane and he is driving. They were going to meet friends in Austin and then drive to the Ozarks. Now he is just driving to the Ozarks as he hates flying more than anything. She hates long drives so it works out. I twice have had relatives miss flights to come east and so now I am obsessed with dates and times. My son has been texting and calling all day so I know he is okay. Also I think he enjoys talking to someone. Life is always interesting. He says the rest stops have people 24hrs cleaning all wearing masks. The gas stations and quick eat places are also everyone with masks or no service. That makes me happy to hear that this is actually being taken seriously. Had pizza for dinner while watching hockey.

Chris glad you had such a nice walk. On our walk around the park lots of people walking, jogging and biking and I would say almost 90% did NOT have on masks. I realize we are outside but still. I bet the arboretum was beautiful. Nice to see Arlene. Glad you have clean clothes. Yummy dinner. Hockey is only in the first round so and there are 4 rounds so it will be a while. LOL that is okay with me.

Jean hope the Zoom went well. I am sure it is not as fun as in person. Hope the article is coming along. And Columbus is hanging in with Tampa!

have a great day
Gratitude
walking
hockey
plans can be changed and for the better

 

[faerywings]

Well, drat. it looked like it was going to be mostly dreary yesterday so I scrubbed down my kitchen for hours with the plan to be outside today. The weather turned out to be very nice in the afternoon after I was all showered and now it is raining today. Boo.

I had a pretty decent day yesterday. It felt good to clean the kitchen, got rid of dust and cobwebs that accumulated over the cabinets. I started a scrap page for AFT's challenge when my friend across the street invited me over for a SD drink. It was the first time we had talked in a long time- really talked not just a few sentences or texts. It was "validating" (not sure if that is the best word) to talk to her and to Arlene and see how we are all (not) coping. Her DS is a Senior in HS and that is stressful and full of disappointments. He is part of the HS Marching Band that competes all over the country and now it is going to be virtual. She said that no one knows what that is going to entail, but it is sure going to be different.
Cait is keeping herself busy with her Etsy shop, she started to sell the stickers/digital portraits. Leah and another friend of their's, Nicole, have been so helpful and supportive.

Oh, Cait had a blast doing the pour painting! No surprise. She said that she is not going to start doing that - just sticking with sewing for now. Supplies are super expensive and Leah is cool with her coming down and playing with her stuff when she wants. Best of all
worlds.

I have to do my food shopping and menu prep today. Other than that, not much else.

Have a fab day!

 

[faerywings]

Jean- I give you credit for sticking it out and working with the Zoom meetings. It can't be easy to follow it all, just the few family ones we have had were strange to me.
I got the photos from the walk and the deer are so sweet looking! I will scrap them for sure.

Nancy- I saw the headline how Tuuka Rask has "opted out of the bubble" and wondered what that was about. Good for him to put his family first. Not everyone would be willing to do that. And really? People are giving him a hard time for that? SMH.
Oh no!! What a mess with the flights! But it does sound like it worked out perfectly fro the two of them. I hope the rest of the vacation goes smoothly. It is also nice to hear that there are lots of people/places outside of our state that are taking the virus seriously.
Arlene and I didn't wear masks but had them on our necks. There were only a few other people around and it was easy enough to step off of the path to stay far enough away. But I noticed that I was holding my breath while they walked past haha!!
You are going to have a lot of hockey to watch-- whoo hoo!!

Hugs!

 

[BrightEyes]

Just popping in to let you know I am still around. Things are still 'static' family-wise so the BP is back in the normal range again. Hope that stays the same as time goes on. Got a notice from the library that the 3 books I put on hold are ready for pick-up. Starting tomorrow, there is no need for an appointment to pick them up... Yea!!! ... I can go by whenever I am out to get them. Need to have some blood work/labs done and mail some payments out so will try to get it all done in 1 trip in the morning. It is still getting up to 100* so will try to go while it is still relatively cool (in the 80's).

I am toying around with the idea of getting estimates on putting up some lattices by the west-side of patio. The lattice could give shade in the afternoon and cut down on the heat out there and keep the sun off the family room windows. Guess I will call my 'handyman' who did the patio extension for us.

Nancy, so sorry about your son's mix-up on the trip. Glad they got a refund and figured out what to do about it. Sounds like a winner for both of them.

Jean, it does take a bit to get used to Zoom meetings. Glad you hung in there and got to participate. Our family video chats are on another platform and unfortunately my computer is older so I can't see everyone at one time - it keeps switching to whoever is talking at the time. But at least we can see each other.

Chris, you are making me feel lazy... you are doing some much with cleaning, helping the kids and neighbors. Then again... there is only me here at the house so it does stay pretty clean - only needing some cleaning here and there.

Trudy, saw your sunset photo on FB... looked so calm and peaceful! And your LO was fantastic!

Cheryl, good luck on getting all the packing done for the move.

Well, time to go close the house up. We had a wonderful cool breeze blowing this AM so it helped air the house and cool it down to around 75*. Hope you all have a good day/week. Stay safe and well.

 

[nancyr]

good morning - I am freezing - I have my fleece on and it is 67 degrees and damp and dreary. I still want summer! And the days are getting shorter. I have not been out to walk today so that is a bummer. Hopefully the rain stops in the afternoon. Luther and my DH were out early when it was just a drizzle. My son has been calling and texting so that I know he is okay. I love that. He calls when the road is closed with an accident and he texts when he get to a new state. He is a good son! My DH started working on the backyard. He is a good man. I finally uploaded my scrap pages. It is interesting the family that my youngest son has found through his MG. They all live in the same town. They know each other well but most of all their are grandparents on both sides. My DH and I have no family near us and we are virtual orphans. So my kids never really experienced the spoilage you get from grandparents or the fun of having lots of cousins to grow up with. It is pretty cool for me to watch and see how happy it makes him. Today is a lot more hockey. Today is the first day a team can be eliminated - the Blackhawks are down 3-0 and play today. They are the only team that as of today can be eliminated.

Chris I know what you mean I too thought I would not have this much rain. But still must feel good to have the kitchen clean. Glad Cait had such a good time with Leah.

Kay those lattices sound like a great idea. We had them when I was a kid in AZ and it did help with the heat. Also there must be some plant that can be used to grow up and flower. Glad BP is doing well and family is static. Have fun with the new books. Now that Longmire series I have seen I think I will try the books.

Waving to all.
Gratitudes
hockey all day and night
good family