fossilfreak

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 547
166.9 miles

warm

 

350 recordings of 31 types, 66 old SVU. 21% clear.

 

On my birthday I went over to the WPAC breakfast with a bag of pomegranates, but nobody turned up for a long time and I thought I'd be eating alone. Finally Jackey came and I got to tell her my tale of stupidity. Then Terryl came and I got to repeat it. It's a good story if it has happened to someone else! They each took a pomegranate, leaving me with about 7 to take to Bernadette. I guess that's why I forgot my glasses!

 

On down (ow) to Bernadette's, where I dropped trows for her. She was properly impressed with the bruise, which is less black but still impressive. Now, two days later, the outskirts of it are feathery (I'd do well camouflaged in a forest!) then blue, purple, ending with black in the crack. Still painful.

 

She didn't do much cleaning in the garage, though she got out an impressive amount of Hallowe'en decorations. She did pass out Boo Baskets the day before, two in the neighborhood (they're wise to her by now, as proven by the nice Easter baskets a neighbor gave the kids this year) and one with Gareth's teacher from last year. (SHE will be baffled!) B's main project this day was to clean up the kitchen counter. That she could have done without me. Meanwhile, I went into Gareth's room. All the stuff was up off the floor but in a tumble on the desk. I sorted through papers, keeping an awful lot because I didn't know for sure if it was important. Joanna has been there, too, leaving her junk in the room, and I sorted that out. I dug down to his computer, anyway.

 

Joanna had had a "difficult day." I would guess SO. She's defiant in school and refusing to do what the teacher says. Wednesday's report was much the same. I know there have been times she's argumentative (like almost all the time) but she's gone over the line to bratty.

 

I talked to Gareth about what HE would have done if I'd gone unconscious. "CPR" was his answer, so we had a talk about calling 911 or at least running into the museum to say "My Nana needs help." I'd better talk to him some more about how you need to actually know HOW to do CPR or you'll hurt someone worse. (Though teaching the Heimlich manouver might not be a bad idea.)

 

Vince called. He told me all about the plans for his and Eric's trip to Washington, which started the next day. On Thursday they had a Congresswoman (Eric's friend's district... he's moved to Kentucky but the kids are still close) giving them a tour of the White House and later (dunno if it's the same person) the Capitol. Nick will give them a tour of the Pentagon and the rest of the time it's play it by ear museums and so forth, though they will definitely do the Spy Museum. If Rich had been going after it was built, I'd have certainly directed him there. Apparently if you want to go to the bathroom, you have to crack the code! Rich would ask me what he should see when he had Pentagon trips and I told him the VietNam wall, and the Holocaust Museum, both new since we were there together 50 years ago. Vince and I talked about when he went, in 8th grade. He saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I don't think we saw the Tomb... I remember the Iwo Jima monument and the eternal flame for Kennedy, but I don't remember that. Gabe will go with Niki in two years. (Personalities similar. I remember when Rich and I took the two to the Lawrence Hall of Science. Rich, who was ill, was able to sit with Eric concentrating on some computer program, while Gabe led me on a merry chase through all the exhibits.) I'm putting in my bid to be the one to take A.J. when he's in 8th grade!

 

Vince, living in Washington (state), doesn't have an acceptable driver's license for ID, but he does have a passport. Eric has a passport and also an ID card.

 

Anyway, it sounds WONDERFUL!

 

Yesterday I started trimming the privet in back, because I was looking for the water cutoff for one of the houses on French avenue and couldn't see it. I want to show the water guy next week... I called him to tell him I had three, and when they are installing the new water mains, I would really like it if they didn't come here three times to do it. Since the other two are on a different street, I imagine that's not going to work.

Then down to my usual Wednesday stint at Bernadette's, though this time she had an appointment about Joanna. It wasn't an actual 504, because the J. is not having any educational problems, it's all behavior. (Howling in the bathroom, screming in line, defiant with the teacher.) They have a behavioral specialist at school so she'll work with J. and give Bernadette and Rob some helpful ideas. I sure hope so. Meanwhile, I emptied both kids' wastebaskets before the recycle truck came... hello? I thought that would have happened last night! I started going through Joanna's stuff and found the poster she didn't have last weekend, so I put it out with the stickers she was supposed to put on it. When Bernadette got home, though, Joanna had picked up the Ladybug magazine and could barely keep her eyes off it. I stopped her twice from taking it into her room before she'd done her homework.

 

(This reminds me. I went to CricketMedia to do the yearly renewals, but naturally, they didn't send my password. Hmm. Maybe I didn't have one. I'll have to start fresh, but who knows who's getting what. This company has been nothing but trouble since I started.)

 

I finished the Nero Wolfe I'd brought with me, and so while I was waiting for B. to get home with the kids, I started "The Little World of Don Camillo" (I'd had two so gave her one.) OK, hooked again.

 

Now reading: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (yeah, right); Pepys' Diary; American Fiction; Embarrassments by PJ Nel; Shattered, Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes; The Red Box by Rex Stout; and The Little World of Don Camillo, by Giovanni Guaresci.

Today was pretty much a waste. I finally got my act together to drive to the restaurant to look for my glasses, and they told me Jackey had picked them up. This afternoon I was going to go to the neighbor's water polo match only it was cancelled. I talked to her about others and thought I might go to Rio next week, but no, I'll be heading to a WPAC dinner.

 

So I did drive enough to get the car out of the carport so I could take the bin back for the rest of the privet, and leaves, and yes I found the water cutoff.

 

Lots of real phone calls. From the WPAC lady reminding me of breakfast next Saturday, from Jackey to tell me she has my glasses (NOW she tells me!) and can bring them by, from Alicia, twice, to find out if I was home (I was the first time, outside talking to Jackey!) and then they came by with my birthday present, a Tricerataco holder! The other call was from Helena, Monica's mother-in-law, first off to thank me for a grief booklet I sent, and to tell me she's having a hard time (go figure, of course she is) and to invite me down in a couple of weeks. I don't think Monica is reading this, in fact, I don't think she ever read my LiveJournal and I haven't yet actually advertised that I'm here, but in any case I think that's all I'm saying at the moment.

 

I snapped about half the green and wax beans Bernadette gave me, heated them in the microwave, sprinkled them with Parmesan and YUMMMMM! Also had leftover andouille and squash stew. Yum. I'm spoiling all that nice healthy eating with Amarula, but ohhhhh, it's good!

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 547
166.1 miles

hot

 

354 recordings of 32 types, 72 old SVU. 21% clear (I cleaned out all the old movies, I'll get another chance and this was filling up too fast.)

 

This week was bookended with STUPID moves.

 

Sunday the 24th, I went to Church and learned about a couple of friends who are very ill.

 

Back at home, I was puttering around getting ready to go out in the afternoon when the phone rang. It was my sister-in-law and we had a nice chat. She lives in South Carolina but had missed the eclipse because she was touring in Poland at the time, guided by our niece, Dan's sister. I finally cut the call off (after about 30-40 minutes) so I could get down to the 24th street theater before the play started and give them a donation. I managed to find a parking place about a block away and was able to drop off the check.

 

From there I went down to the Crocker in order to get the Wee Hallowe'en tickets for Bernadette, Padreic, and me. (It turns out Joan will be in town then, but I hadn't known that when I bought the tickets.) I was a little unhappy to have to park in the city lot for $5/day instead of at a meter for only an hour and less money. So I decided to spend some time looking at the pictures and things. The temporary exhibit wasn't in yet, but there are lots of new pictures and things have been moved around. I was particularly struck by a picture of a Chinese restaurant which is very three-dimensional, acquired in 2015. I also admired a picture I saw with Joanna during a Wee Wednesday. The kids were expected to see lots of things, colors, a festival, but all they say was "there's a DOG in it!"

 

 

 

 

Then I had a good look at "Sunday Morning in the Mines". It was done by the same artist as the "Sabine Women" paintings. I had no idea. Apparently the Crocker family were good friends with Nahl. I had always thought the mural on J street was "Saturday Evening in the Mines" and the miners were escaping the picture... but actually they're coming back. This mural was painted in 1973 by Frank Carson.

 

 

I went back out to the parking lot, and there was my $5 parking pass and lo! someone at the pay station ready to buy one, so I cheated the city out of $5. The city immediately got its own back, because a few blocks away I tried to get through a stale yellow light but it turned red before I got all the way across the intersection, and had my picture taken (with the "UH-OH!" sound.) Oops. Now I'm all worried about my license, about the good driver discount... oh, grumble. That was the stupidity of Sunday.

 

Monday I called for the County inspection (and had it on Tuesday and on Friday I got a notice from the County saying "don't forget.") Why in heck do I have to pay $375 for permission to put windows on my house?

 

I also called the elder mentor program with Renaissance, because it sounds like fun as well as being worthwhile. They're full this semester but I am listed for spring.

 

I walked my package over to the UPS store. It's moved, so at first I thought I'd wasted the walk, but the new place is in the same strip mall as the old. Maybe 2 minutes to make the return. On the way back I got a new sunshade for the car, as the old one was falling to bits.

 

It was impossible to load stuff onto Flickr, so I tried changing back to Chrome, and huzzah, the background is white again, so I can actually use it. It works a lot better than Edge.

 

Tuesday was the inspection. I stayed home from the WPAC breakfast, so as to wait for the guy. I called in, as requested, and then had to call the inspector himself to find out when he'd come. I'd replaced all the batteries in all the smoke alarms (which I suppose is a good thing, but they weren't working when I tried it before, and in reality, as long as I have the smoke/CO detector in the hall, the others don't really matter. (And now I have a way to escape my room, which is great. The swamp cooler made that impossible.)) Anyway, I was ready when he drove up. He left his car running, walked around the outside of the house, signed the permit, and left, maybe all of 5 minutes. OK then.

 

Vince wanted to call early, at 6:15. Luckily, I read this at 6:14. I had a long list to babble at him.

 

Wednesday I went to Elk Grove. Bernadette took Padreic out on the bike to go to the library, so was hot and tired when she got home. I was eager for her to get home because I'd located, and bought, the 4th book of Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon series and I knew she'd love it. As she did, though at the time she seemed more into the Celtic catalog I brought. Today the kids seemed really interested in Pinocchio. (That poor little puppet can't catch a break.)

 

 

Thursday I went back down there so B. could continue turfing out the garage before Hurricane Grandma arrives. Today she took in recycling, and later some high chairs to Chicks in Crisis, which is for homeless pregnant teens. (She also gave them some cute Hallowe'en baby sleepers... she'd initially been saving them but suddenly realized "oh, why?") She also got to the clothing boxes so she could find Padreic's winter clothes. These are now under her bed instead of in the garage. There is hope.

 

Padreic spent most of his day watching Strawberry Shortcake and building with Duplo and with his colored blocks. (Lucky he got them from Aunt Cheryl, as the Tot Room has been completely revamped at the Crocker and those blocks have disappeared.)

 

I went and got the kids, then got money, groceries, gave the Sharing God's Bounty coffee to them and got gas. I was TIRED when I got home, though I didn't really do much.

 

Friday was Renaissance. The documentary was about Nina Simone, which was interesting (I'd never heard of her). But afterwards, again, we got the Social Justice talk and the received wisdom of the CNN Bible. For instance, for the second week in a row the moderator said, as a fact, that "Donald Trump is a white supremacist." I don't need this. It's just annoying to be living in California, sometimes. I'm through with the fora.

 

The movie, on the other hand, was great fun. Peggy Sue Got Married. Great music! I'd never seen it before and one of the discussions we had was is it really a time travel movie or a dream? I really am enjoying this class. Before class I asked the guy behind me what he was reading and got a disquisition about economics, the Koch brothers, the horrors of Reaganism, how Barack Obama (and "I *like* Barack Obama" (no, really, I never would have guessed) ) had disappointed him by colluding with one of the bad guys (my eyes were glazing over.)

 

Then I went to pick up Joanna. I love her but she drives me crazy. For instance, she decided she didn't like fried chicken (after I'd picked up some for her, but she scarfed down the mac and cheese and then wouldn't eat the chicken.) Turns out, according to her mother, she DOES like fried chicken. I did get her to watch "Beauty and the Beast" by starting it, not asking her, because if I'd asked her, she'd have said "no, I'll be SCAAAAARED." As it was, she sat with me, covered her eyes at the scary bits, and ended up liking it. I thought she would. I read Jules Feiffer's "I LOST MY BEAR" to her (Gareth's favorite for years) and "Bartholemew and the Oobleck." (That racist, Dr. Seuss.)

 

Saturday we worked on her Magic Schoolbus junior scientist kit about the human body. She made a ball and socket joint and a hinge joint and a lung model (this one, the balloons tore so I ended up using plastic bags, which actually worked) and her favorite, a stethoscope. After lunch ("do you like grilled cheese?" "Yes." so she ate about an 8th of a sandwich) we went over to the Powerhouse Museum which used to be the Discovery Museum. She was interested in seeing the planetarium show. She watched the kids doing the salmon run but didn't join in. She played doctor, and did magnificently on the balance thing, 30 seconds, while I once managed 1 second. She's got average flexibility while I'm above average. Then the diner, *yawn.* After 90 minutes I was ready to leave, but first we did the nature trail, so she got to run some more. (The ADHD does show, indeed.)

 

   

Then I pulled the second dumb thing of the week. There was a tilty board and for some reason I thought I could balance on it. But instead of balancing, or at least going off to the side, when I stepped on I fell backwards, flat on my back. I was a bit surprised I could actually get up. Stiff and sore, but when I went to the car, I couldn't sit down it hurt so bad. I thought I'd picked up a rock or something, but later I figured it was a bruise, a big one, instead of a goose egg an ostrich egg. (This morning I finally saw the bruise, very black and massive. Since then it's softened up somewhat and is heading to purple.) I finally got a way to sit and drive (fortunately, it's only one buttock, but I sure did a number on it.) I took Joanna home. I discussed what she should have done if I'd been knocked out. (HONESTLY, Jan, what WERE you thinking??) I suspect I would have been out of luck. "I'd call mommy." Well, actually, that's a good idea and she now knows the phone number, and called Bernadette in the morning. But my cell phone is off, so that probably wouldn't have worked. No, you go into the museum and tell them "my Nana needs help." This is how I know I'd be out of luck, I cannot imagine the shy one actually doing that. THEN you call mommy or let them do it by telling them your number. And if we weren't close to somewhere that could help (remind me never to take this kid into the woods) you call 911 and then call your mommy.

 

I limped into the house and debriefed Bernadette, who had lots of lovely veggies for me. Then I painfully drove home, stopping to get some Amarula (I deserve it) first. I decided not to go to church today and have been sitting uncomfortably all day except for going out to turn the water on and off and to take some chicken bones out to the car.

 

So September went out with a whimper (after the bang, I guess.)