“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 988 (Wednesday) – supper thoughts

Supper.

Tonight’s supper was salsa, queso, and corn chips. It’s probably not a normal supper for most people. Neither is a lot of the stuff I like make, but the "meals" prepared are what I like to eat, and I enjoy making them. Most of them, anyway. It wasn’t always this way, and I didn’t always like to cook. I used to be more into baking, which is rarely done now except at Christmas. 

The interest shifted from baking sweets to enjoying making meals and soups on the stovetop when I was divorced from Ex2 and primarily solo.

Tonight, while assembling my slightly unconventional supper, it occurred to me that this “meal” would have been totally unacceptable with Ex2. He expected (more like demanded) supper on the table the minute he arrived home from work, just like his mother did. Of course, she was a career housewife, and for much of our marriage I worked full time and arrived home barely an hour before him. 

His picky palate was limited to meat, potato, and a vegetable nearly every night, which isn’t what I like to eat, and certainly not every night. Worse, he liked his food really plain, so I spent a lot of time attempting to cook boring food with minimal flavor. It's harder than it sounds and I hated every minute of it. He also wasn’t keen on leftovers, so it was hard to plan ahead and catch a break from the nightly meal prep, except on Friday nights when we went out one of the two restaurants in town he liked.

Nowadays, anything I feel like cooking is fair game, and if I don’t feel like cooking, that is fine, too. Cooking big on the weekend and then eating the same thing for a couple consecutive meals to minimize future cooking is the preferred procedure. Getting creative with what is on hand is definitely a lot more fun than cooking night after night for someone who didn’t like anything except potatoes and overdone meat. And sometimes “cooking supper” means pouring some salsa onto a plate with heated queso and throwing some chips on it. It’s all good. For me, anyway.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 987 (Tuesday) – dream life

There have been years when Christmas shopping was started on or before Black Friday, and completed on or before Cyber Monday. This year, the list was written around Veteran’s Day, but that is pretty much where the progress stopped and it is still just a list of names. Gift ideas have been sparse (nonexistent) and only one gift has been ordered, inspired by a sponsored social media ad from Land's End. So yes, I guess ads work. So do great sales discounts. 

The dream life.

Maybe once I decorate some inspiration will hit for the rest of the list. Of course, the decorating is also behind schedule. The loose plan was to start decorating Thanksgiving night and finish over the weekend. For whatever reason, mostly laziness and the feeling that if is just more work, this did not happen. 

The ongoing, informal study of inertia continues, and I’m feeling like it's a real strength. This may be my true calling, and if I can figure out how to make money by being lazy and avoiding household tasks, I would be all set. I wish Winston would get off his butt and make some money to support me in the manner to which I would like to become accustomed, which is basically a carbon copy of his dream life of sleeping all day with brief pauses to eat.

Sigh. A girl can dream. Until then, it’s the old-fashioned way of life dominated by working and saving, peppered with watching the stock market devour the IRA and the 401k and crying.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 986 (Monday) – crazy day

From the office window, looking down Merrimack Street with the lit trees, towards the now lit for the holiday season City Hall and the smokestack tree, the flashing lights of emergency vehicles accented the illuminated streetscape. The police station can be seen from the office, and the fire station is just beyond it, so lights and sirens are common downtown. 

The ride from the garage to home after work started out quiet, much like the morning ride. A block beyond the high school on the other side of the road, it got interesting. The road was wet. Not it-just-rained wet (it hadn't). More like monsoon season wet. Water pooled in the street up to the top of the curb along the median strip. A fire truck was in the road.

Water, water.

Water gushed up and while sitting at a red light, there was time to look around. It was a lake on the other side of the median strip. Water covered all the travel lanes, the sidewalk, and the yards and parking area around the buildings. A few parked cars sat in water that was as deep as the tires were tall and up to the body of the car. A police vehicle parked across the road blocked access to the flooded area. 

 While sitting at another red light and admiring the view from the bridge, a police vehicle came screaming through the intersection up ahead. It felt like a theme was developing.

On the approach home, two streets beyond mine, a police cruiser sat on the opposite side of the road with the brilliant, blinding blue lights flashing. A neighbor pulled into the house next door right after I pulled into my driveway. Against the backdrop of a helicopter circling overhead, we exchanged pleasantries and compared notes about our respective rides home. She came from the opposite direction and said it looked like a car had hit the house where the police car was.

Facebook was full of chatter and images about the water main break, which required evacuating residents from flooded homes by boat. The senior center was being prepared for shelter. People commented on brown water from the taps in several neighborhoods. Mine was running clear, but as a precaution, I went to Family Dollar for bottled water. I drove past the house where the police car had been and saw that the stone steps in front of the house were shifted and the wrought iron railing leaned at an extreme angle. Crazy day.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 985 (Sunday) – not knitting

Shoved in a bookcase.

 In the two weeks of not having homework for Finnish class, most of my sense of discipline has disappeared. Conjugating verbs and translating little stories in the text book are now just a faint memory. 

For ten weeks, homework  was a weekday morning event, with more time spent on it during weekends. A week after class ended, the textbook was removed from the ottoman and slipped into a bookcase with some photography books and photo albums where it immediately became a casualty of "out of sight, out of mind." 

Duolingo is still used, mostly to keep the daily streak going, which is now at 873 days. The Finnish lessons in Duolingo ran out months ago, so it has just been reviews and practice. It’s become a daily game of “how quickly can I blast through this basic lesson?” The current record is 1 minute, 58 seconds.

Maybe it’s time to take up a new activity/hobby/challenge. The idea of joining a gym has flitted through my head. I've been thinking about stained glass designs again, without any action taken. Two years ago, thinking I might revisit knitting, I signed up for a newsletter that has free patterns and video demonstrations of the various knitting stitches. After mostly ignoring all the emails and moving them into an email folder called “Arts and Crafts” I unsubscribed from the email list on Saturday. It feels like knitting probably won’t be the next challenge.  

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 984 (Saturday) – yard work

The weather was pleasant enough that yard work was handled. There was the removal of some dried, dead weedy things and flower stalks. After ripping out and jamming into the yard waste barrel a very tall stalk of evening primrose that had grown as tall as the shed and another on the opposite side of the shed that had branched out and looked like a candelabra, I remembered there was a plan for those two recently dehydrated, freshly uprooted plants. Oops.

There was a plan.
It was forgotten.

The two evening primrose stalks had been allowed to grow observed and unfettered. Each had bright yellow flowers as recently as a few weeks ago, before they turned dark, dried, and crispy. The idea was to photograph the plants after a light snow. In my imagination, it was going to be very interesting. Of course, it hasn’t snowed yet, except for the one brief overnight snow that turned to rain and disappeared before dawn. Today, they became victims of the mildly zealous yard tidy up. 

I don’t know when there will be a light snow to coat the interesting weeds, and now it doesn't matter, but I did think that yard waste pickup was going to end soon. “Soon” was confirmed to be December 5, so there are only two more pickups for the year.  

The City of Lights Festival was today, with the parade and Santa and the lighting of City Hall. It had been on my calendar for weeks. The potential for photos, and especially something for this year's holiday card would be marching down Merrimack Street, illuminated with LED lights, accompanied by bands and floats. I bet it was amazing, but at The BungaLowell, a nap on the couch happened instead. One minute I was eating a chocolate bar and the next minute I was sleeping and then it was 6:00 and most certainly the whole downtown thing was over and done, or at least very nearly done. Maybe next year. Which is what I said last year about the parade I failed to attend, and which now applies to photographing snow dusted interesting yard plants.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 983 (Friday) – slambovian

There was a meetup with friends for dinner and a show at Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Mass. My friends have known of the band, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, and regularly attend the local shows. They also knew I would like the band, because, well, they know me. And we share similar tastes in arts and music. 

The Slambovian Circus of Dreams.

The show was great. A well-tuned, polished, electronic folk band out of upstate New York. They spent time this past summer in England playing festivals, and now they are back in New England. 

The band includes one musician who played an entire toybox of instruments – electric keyboard, accordion, tambourine, recorder, flute, and probably a couple more I missed. The bass player had waist-length silky blond hair, smiled a lot, was very energetic, and also played keyboards. Musically, the band sounded great, and it felt like they were having fun.

It was a night of firsts for me. First time at the venue, first time seeing the band, first time meeting a couple of my friends’ friends. Now, looking forward to seconds.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 982 (Thursday) – thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner, 2022.

The long awaited Thanksgiving holiday of the turkey arrived, happened, and has concluded, except for a few leftovers. Family from North Carolina who are in town and a small group of local family were gathered at Mom's. 

The food was yummy. There was the classic menu of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, Mummu’s stuffing, squash, lanttulaatikko (Finnish turnip casserole), boiled onions, cranberry sauce (the can shaped kind), and rolls. So delicious. the past several years the sweet potato casserole has been cut from the menu, along with the risk of a house fire as the topping nearly always caught fire when forgotten during the two minutes under the broiler final step. It was delicious, but stressful.

The feast was followed about an hour later with three pies – mince meat, apple, and blueberry. Yes, most of us had a slice of each. It hurt a little bit, but that means we did it correctly, right? After not having any wine for several weeks, during dinner I had a glass of white zinfandel. Half way through the small glass, my sinuses became stuffy and my nose began to run. It seems that wine and I are not really friends after all. It seemed we had moved past the physical symptoms and torment, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking. At least with the white zin anyway.

I may need to proceed carefully with a test of other wines conducted under scientific conditions, which in this case will mean paying attention and making notes of any and all symptoms and conditions that may arise during the scientific wine consumption. I am willing to swear off all wine again, but it would be a shame to write off all wine forever without more facts.

I left Mom's with some turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and the massive, leather bound family photo album. I asked about one or two specific photos and Mom said I could look in the book but would also have to take it with me. then she congratulated herself for "getting rid of another thing" while I wondered where in the heck I would put the thing at my house. Between the books I can stop buying and the precious family artifacts I keep inheriting, it's getting a bit crowded in the bookshelves.

At least a hundred times today I thought today was Saturday, which triggered the thought “oh, cool, I can sleep late tomorrow.” Then I would remember that it is only Thursday, and I am scheduled to work on Friday. I better set an extra alarm for the morning with a note reminding me it’s a work day. Well, half of one. The afternoon is booked off so I can get ready and leave for plans with friends for dinner and a show.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 981 (Wednesday) – wednesday

Wednesday was a real wow. There was company-paid coffee at the coffee shop. There were boss’s boss-paid breakfast treats at the same coffee shop. There was a team meeting with survey results and encouraging news for our team that will improve office workdays (coffee pods!!). And there was cake.

After the invigorating morning of treats and good news, the rest of day blazed along with leftover ravioli lunch and project progress and satisfaction. The roads on the ride home were nearly deserted. Quite amazing, really.

Still clothed in the work outfit of dark gray boot cut pants and a light gray cashmere sweater, kitchen work began immediately. There was pork and beef to brown with onions to be then mixed with celery, poultry seasoning, stirred with instant mashed potatoes and stuffing mix. It’s Mummu’s poultry stuffing recipe that has been part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for as much of my life as I can remember. In the morning, mine will be reheated in the crockpot and then transported to Mom’s for dinner.

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday.

Before I sat down in front of the TV with a plate of supper, there were some naïve and ambitious ideas to also make an apple blueberry crisp or a chocolate bread pudding. Once the fanny was on the futon, all hope of that was lost, especially when I realized that the new Netflix series Wednesday with Jenna Ortega  launched. Wednesday Addams is possibly my favorite droll and delightful character, whether it’s from the original series of decades ago, The Addams Family movie with Christina Ricci (1991), or the new Wednesday series. 

So yeah, Wednesday was a real wow. The day and the series. And Thursday is the day of feasting and overeating, so there is still that excitement to look forward to.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 980 (Tuesday) – food quests

Stuffing with stuff.

The day had it all. There was the delightful Canine Overlord office companion, napping peacefully in front of the heat vent below the sink. It was productive – things got done and new things were started. A steady stream of morning coffee followed by afternoon herbal tea staved off both hypothermia and dehydration.

And there was food, which is the highlight of so many days. Today's food quests offered three highlights. Breakfast featured a perfectly toasted, crispy English muffin slathered with butter and strawberry preserves. Lunch was herb stuffing with sautéed apples, onion, celery, pecans, and cranberries left over from the weekend. Provolone cheese was melted over the top and then stirred in and it was a divine noon repast.

Pumpkin ravioli with butter,
honey, ginger sauce and parmesan.

Supper construction began with Trader Joe’s honey roasted pumpkin ravioli. An online check for “sauce for pumpkin ravioli” revealed that most featured melted butter, so that’s where the sauce started. One suggestion was simply melted butter and parmesan cheese, and that became my plan. 

As the butter melted in the fry pan, the sauce evolved with the chiseling of some crystallized honey out of the little bear container and adding it to the butter. The spice cabinet yielded ground ginger and as I shook it into the butter and honey I remembered there was fresh ginger root in the freezer. Poured over the ravioli, the sauce concoction was really good. It's a keeper. As long as I don't forget all about the browned butter honey ginger sauce before the next time.

The evening entertainment was The IT Crowd on Netflix. It's about the millionth time watching it and it still makes me laugh. The endless stream of ginger and turmeric tea continued. Or more accurately, one tea bag reused until it was essentially a mug of hot water.

The list of items for future grocery runs has turned into multiple lists and quests for more pumpkin ravioli and lobster ravioli (TJ’s), ginger turmeric tea (Aldi), spanakopita pinwheels (Market Basket), and Lindt chocolate bars with hot chili (Hannaford). The grocery shopping hobby is becoming complicated and may require a logistics team.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 979 (Monday) – roaster chicken

Over the weekend there was a failure to fetch a roasted chicken to enhance the kibble for the exalted Canine Overlord. No worries. Finnish class is done for a few months, leaving Mondays after work free. It was decided to make a quick trip to Market Basket on the way home from work, grab a roasted chicken, and get home.

The trip to MB was quick. The only carts in the store were being rolled in from the parking lot in a wagon train of about a dozen. The checkout lines were long. The coffee aisle was clear and free and led to the back of the store. My cart and I blazed down the coffee row, full of product and empty of other customers. A package of 100 coffee filters was grabbed on the way through. They aren’t needed yet, but sometimes when needed, there are none in the store, and every time bought the price is higher.

Even with the pause for coffee filters, the roasted chicken display was reached in no time. It was empty. Not a chicken in sight. There was not even the lingering aroma of the ghost of a roasted chicken. There were also no chickens loaded in the deli rotisserie. Not good. Some deli turkey ends were found and snatched from the self-serve deli cooler. 

After the disappointment of the deli department, the next stop was the bakery to check the discount rack and the prepared foods in the heater there. The discount rack had giant corn muffins, a loaf of bread, some cookies, and Southern style biscuits. It was a pass on all of them.

The hot food display had eggplant half subs, a variety of seasoned chicken tenders unsuitable for dogs, and a couple packaged spanakopita pinwheels. I grabbed a spanakopita for my supper. On the way out of the bakery, the end cap cooler where the stuffed grape leaves used to live held containers of clam chowder with a sign declaring “Sale $5.99.” The love of a bargain prompted the grabbing of a clam chowder. 

Spanakopita pinwheel!

By some miracle, there was an express checkout without a long line like every other checkout. I was busy digging for the debit card and preparing to pay instead of watching the register. Receipt in hand, the bag with four items was plucked from the cart, which was left at the front of the store, making it the only available cart there.

At home, I finally looked at the receipt and saw that the $5.99 sale chowder rang up for $6.49. Errrrr. Food tastes better when it’s on sale and now I’m mad at my chowder and Market Basket. There may not have been a roasted chicken for Winston, but the spanakopita pinwheel was a tasty $3 supper for me.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 978 (Sunday) – the mall

Once each year, I have an eye exam. Several years ago around this time of year I realized the year was running out of days and I hadn’t used my vision coverage. That’s how it ended up being this late in the year. The eye doctor I found is located at Pheasant Lane Mall and has Sunday hours. Convenient!

Last year’s appointment was a couple days before Christmas and the mall was packed. Efforts were made to move it out of that time frame. The Sunday before Thanksgiving at the mall seemed better than the days immediately surrounding Christmas. It seemed preferable to a grocery store, for instance.

Imagine my surprise upon arriving at Pheasant Lane Mall at 12:40 to see there was no parking available at the Target end of the mall. It looked like a Black Friday situation. Weird.

Santa story time!

Once inside, it took a couple laps through the mall to find the LensCrafters store and my eye doctor. For whatever reason, despite going there for several years, I never remember where it is located. 

There are very few store locator kiosks left in the mall, but there was a massive QR code displayed on a banner. The QR code linked to a mall website and a minimally helpful search feature. The search for “eye wear” yielded every fashion, accessory, and department store in the mall that sold sunglasses, but not the location of Lenscrafters. After the first search, the site bogged down and I bailed out if it.

A map kiosk was finally located at the foot of an escalator. Lenscrafters was at the furthest point from where I stood and I had already walked past it, but was looking across the mall to the other side when I walked by. Oops.

While engaged in my quest to reach the eye doctor office, Santa read a story to a group of kids seated on the floor at the Santa photos area. Groups of people on quests of their own were sprinting through the mall at top speed and I was nearly trampled several times. The destination seemed to be a very long line that was snaking through most of the length of the main hall and a side walkway on lower level of the mall.

The line extended most of
the length of the mall.

From the upper level, I tried to see what caused hundreds of people to queue up on a Sunday afternoon. The head of the line was near a center aisle kiosk selling tee shirts and hoodies. Once in the eye doctor office, I had a couple minutes to check online to see what the excitement and the long line were about. According to a post, there was the opening of a Recycled Percussion Chaos and Kindness store at noon with a band appearance, photos, and “the final clues to the $10,000!”

The eye exam took fifteen minutes, and when I was done, the long line downstairs was gone. The risk of being trampled was back to normal levels.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 977 (Saturday) – weathering

The winter temperature in the house is usually set at 67 or 68 degrees for the fall and winter, chosen  after some fine tuning after fall/winter of  2016-17, first winter in the house. Through strategic layering of Cuddle Duds base layers and sweaters, usually three layers for winter keep it tolerable. Until now. 

Winter is still a month out, but lately, I am always cold, no matter what I am wearing. If I go out somewhere, I often don’t bother to remove my coat after I return home. I sit on the couch for a while, eating dinner, watching TV, drinking hot herbal tea, still wearing my coat. This is extra odd, even for me. 

Watching a show,
still wearing a coat.

Overnight, the thermostat is programmed to drop to about 59 degrees, and with winter pajamas and three blankets on the bed, it’s comfortable and I sleep well, as long as I also have socks on. No socks means ice blocks for feet and the inability to sleep as a result.

With all the talk of the escalation of heating costs this winter, it hardly seems the time to bump up the heat setting in the house. But if this is the scenario when it’s still 30-something degrees outside, what will happen when it’s below zero? It’s possible I don’t really want to know. The current level of personal wimp-ness is already quite appalling.

The morning was spent arranging the existing sweaters and looking for a specific wool one my grandmother knit for me. The evening was spent online admiring merino wool hoodies and Nordic sweaters, not that I need to spend another dime on another sweater, or in this case, hundreds of dollars. Nor is there space to store another sweater until the least favorites of the existing collection are weeded out and donated or brought to a consignment shop.

Maybe the answer is to buy a larger house for more sweaters and blankets. Or just say “screw it,” sell ALL the sweaters, blankets, coats, and the house and use the money to move to a warmer climate where I may have to occasionally worry about being too warm (if I'm lucky).

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 976 (Friday) – moody

There was a personal technology war this week when I was locked out of our timekeeping software for two days.  All I wanted to do was log my timecard that was due today. It required professional help in the form of a reset by the administrator. There was grumbling. The mood was stormy. 

The mood was stormy.

This morning, there were three unsuccessful attempts to log in to the system to even be able to start working. It finally took the classic move of turning off the computer and turning it on again before I could log in and begin to function. Of course, being stressed out over the ordeal, frustration clouded brain function and it took a co-worker mentioning the on/off step for me to “think” of it today.

All day, every day for a while now, much too long really, it takes forever to open an excel workbook or a word document. It’s like 1993 internet and computer speeds all over again. Click to open the file, make a cup of tea, count to 20, do a handstand, and there is the file, finally. Frustrating.

Despite the quirky computer issues and delays in our timeline caused by tardy deliverables from other teams, many things were still completed and crossed off the weekly to-do list on time. Miracles do happen. The storm clouds parted.

After work, it was a microwaved supper of leftover tortellini with the onion, mushroom, broccoli Alfredo sauce, which was also lunch. And dinner last night. Then a comatose stretch on the couch to decompress. Dead to Me has a new season which I finished, and then it was Why Are You Like This, which I realized I’d already seen ten minutes into the first episode and then was too lazy to look for another show and let it keep running. Plus, the Australian accents are fun to listen to.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 975 (Thursday) – beer flavored

I grew up with potato chips. My family casually flirted with the big cannisters of Humpty Dumpty chips, and once, when emptied, one was collaged with fashion images by my pre-teen hands and used as my bedroom wastebasket throughout junior high and high school. There were brief family flings with bags of Wachusett and several other brands, but Tri Sum were the family chips of choice. 

There have been stretches of life where minimal attention was paid to chips and all focus was directed towards chocolate. Now, the snack pendulum has swung towards salty treats, and those are the first choice lately, sometimes accompanied by chocolate, which is a really good combination.

Beer flavored potato chips.

So, yes, I like potato chips. Right now anyway. Most potato chips and flavors, except for vinegar because gawd, those make my tongue curl. I also like beer, and sometimes drink beer while eating potato chips. Naturally, seeing beer flavored potato chips at Aldi on Wednesday piqued my interest. 

The beer flavored potato chips lasted 26 hours on the counter before being opened. It was partly a test of will, with a small idea that they would be opened as a treat. A reward of sorts. Today work was busy all day and a reward seemed appropriate for having  survived it.

After supper, the bag of beer flavored chips was opened. The bag was held open and there was big inhalation of the beautiful aroma of a new bag of chips. This move was learned from EX2, who dramatically did it every time he opened a bag of chips. Every. Time. I do it only occasionally. The beer chips smelled like nothing remarkable.  

A chip was chosen from the bag and eaten. The first, immediate reaction was that it was gross. I have a rule that if don’t something the first time it's tried, I try it a second time, just to make sure. It could be fluke, or a bad sample selection that is not indicative of the true product. A second chip was eaten. And a third. Still gross. Really gross. 

The chips seemed to include the hint of stale, skunky beer, but the flavor didn’t come through as beer, just indescribably gross. I’ve never tasted cat pee, but that is the best guess I have for the flavor profile of beer flavored chips. There are now two flavors of chips I never need to taste again. No stars. I do not recommend.  

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 974 (Wednesday) – butter and beer chips

The snow came on Tuesday night as predicted. It fell as I went to bed and during the night when Win needed to go out, the grass was covered with a fluffy white coat. Hours later, there were plentiful puddles but no snow, and rain was falling. It fell throughout the morning, light but steady, and the new rain boots have proven their worth. It’s nice to be able to stride down a street without avoiding puddles or worried about ruining shoes. Who knew a pair of wet weather boots could be so liberating?

Today was a half-workday to accommodate a health maintenance visit. Just once, I wish my time off was for a secret rendezvous or to win an award or meet a celebrity or to play video games. Maybe in books or movies or for other people, but not for me. It was for another dental appointment in the saga of latest broken tooth from the trail mix episode of September.

After a 45-minute drive to the appointment, there was practically no wait before I was in the dental chair for the first step in a crown fitting. The dentist blew cold air on my tooth to check the nerve, which is good. And that was it. The visit was not for the crown preparation at all. It was to check the tooth to make sure it is suitable for the next two visits required for a crown. And five minutes later I was being escorted out of the office, with an appointment to come back at the next available appointment in the last week of December. Oh goody.

There was no post-dentist entertainment plan, because it was expected to be more than a five minute event, but while in the area, it made sense to visit the nearby Aldi. The first aisle beyond the produce section holds salty snacks and a plentiful array of potato chips including BBQ, cheddar, sour cream and onion, and the biggest temptation of all, kettle chips. I felt strong. The potato chips were admired and then resisted. 

This would be a quick, low budget trip. I wasn’t even sure why I was there, other than having time available. There had already been trips to Hannaford and Market Basket within the past week (which included buying potato chips). 

Ha! It was a quick trip, but it was a haul that included four boxes of butter (on sale for $2.49!), tortellini, cheese curds, fresh cranberries, corn chips (the kind like Fritos, for $1.49), breakfast bars, coffee, ice cream, crackers, baking supplies, and more. Pretty much everything bought was less than at Market Basket, or something never found there (cheese curds). 

Despite the strength shown in that first aisle, the end of another aisle near the checkout held the quirky item that could not be passed up – beer flavored potato chips. Never have I ever seen such a thing in all my many accumulated hours spent staring at potato chips. The pantry is now overflowing. The backup cabinet is full. The counter is full.

For a second or two, the beer flavored chips were a serious contender for supper, but better nutrition won the day. The just-acquired mushroom tortellini and jar of Alfredo Sauce were paired with sautéed mushrooms, onions, and broccoli for a fast supper. The beer flavored chips are being “saved,” intended as a weekend treat. Or maybe Friday Eve. Tonight’s treat is ginger and turmeric tea, also from Aldi.

Aldi made the weird five-minute dental appointment at least worth the gas usage. And I swear I’m not setting foot into another grocery store for a few weeks. Really. Unless those beer chips are amazing.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 973 (Tuesday) – weather swings

Mercurial Mother Nature’s November hot flashes seem to have subsided. She had us flirting with 70-ish temperatures on and off for a few days during the past couple weeks and then we were in the 50s and now the forecast is in the 30s with a snow-rain mix thunder storm coming in overnight? I swear I am not making this up. 

And there is a massive potential that I will be very salty in the morning if there is any sort of anything slushy or white on the ground that needs rearranging and the shovels are still in the shed because I forgot to fetch them when it was daylight and before it was raining. Even worse, when I was in the shed a few weeks ago and it felt like very not cold or snowy weather, I looked at the two snow shovels hung on big nails on the wall and thought, “Nah, not yet. Too soon.” 

We're not in the 70s anymore.

If I’m reading the forecast map correctly, it doesn’t really look too bad, despite headlines screaming "snow!" and trying to whip everyone into a frenzy. It looks like mostly rain for the BungaLowell region, and my Hush Puppies rain boots arrived weeks ago and are ready to roll if needed. The sweaters have been ready for weeks and increasing in number because, along with the shoe addiction, I seem to also be a sweater addict. It may be time for a bigger house. Maybe in a warmer climate. Or less prone to temperature swings.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 972 (Monday) – Karjalanpiirakka

Ten weeks can fly by in a blink, and that is exactly how it felt for the ten weeks of Finnish language lessons. In our tenth class, we went through our homework and did new exercises. At our coffee / cocoa / tea break we were introduced to Karjalanpiirakka (Karelian pies) made by Saija, our teacher. They are a rye crust with a rice filling, which we topped with egg butter, which is hard cooked egg mixed with butter. It was quite delicious. 

Saija's Karjalanpiirakka and egg butter.

Karjalanpiirakka are included in the Finnish cookbook I bought a year or two ago with high hopes of learning Finnish cooking and baking. Unfortunately, by the time the book arrived, recipes were reviewed, and the rye flour needed for many of the recipes, including Karjalanpiirakka, was ordered, the mood had passed. This is not a surprise and is not the first time. If it’s not possible to strike while the iron is hot, well, my iron can cool pretty fast.

I can’t believe the class is over and we won’t have more in-person classes again until spring. Luckily, our teacher has online language classes and a couple book clubs in the meantime. It’s a way to avoid forgetting everything between now and the next class.

Now that I know what freshly made Karjalanpiirakka taste like and what the goal is, the iron is warming again. Maybe next Monday, to fill the hole where class would be, I can make Karjalanpiirakka.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 971 (Sunday) – loungers

The morning arrived without the miserable side effects of the previous vaccines and boosters. It is entirely possible it was the massive water intake and Ibufrofin that was suggested by the person who gave me the shot. That is the one thing that was done differently than the other shots. Coincidence? Cause and effect? Whatever. I woke up feeling a little off and not 100%, but it was significantly better than before. There was a lot of lounging about, and I think I'm becoming quite skilled at it after all this time. Professional level, or at least well on the way.

There was a trip to yet another grocery store today. Grocery shopping is my most frequent pastime. Not because I like doing it, but I do like to eat. Today’s trip to Hannaford was inspired by another $10 off coupon that expires the 14^th, and with work and Finnish class on Monday, it was today or never. Today’s shopping bounty was heavy on the fresh produce I haven’t been eating enough of in recent months. It included things needed for the family Thanksgiving stuffing/dressing recipe and soups – celery, carrots, broccoli, onion, mushrooms, and some apples and blueberries for crisps. On the way home, there was a stop at Family Dollar for size 3 diapers and biscuits for Winston.

Winston takes a nap.

Before shopping, the plan was to make macaroni and cheese. An hour later when I returned, the interest was gone, and now there is nothing interesting for lunch during the week. Soup was accomplished. Lunch will likely be a peanut butter sandwich on Monday.

The soup pot and knives and other random hand wash things were cleaned, along with the sink. Not five minutes later, as usual, another mess was underway with a fry pan for a Korean sweet pancakes. There was the new pan to clean, as well as a load of laundry to wash the blanket on the couch that was the lucky recipient of the cinnamon filling when it oozed out of the hot pancake. It is a vicious cycle – make a mess, clean it up, make a new mess.

Winston, the Canine Overlord, took a day of rest. He ate his breakfast without a fight. There were minimal trips outside, probably because it was raining. He lounged on the couch with me and in his living room bed. He ate only the fresh chicken out of his supper then begged for cookies. I hear you little dude. Dessert is pretty awesome.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 970 (Saturday) – top fan

When I got up at 7:30 today, I remembered there was a vaccine clinic and checked online to verify the hours. It began at 9:00, which allowed time for coffee beforehand. When I arrived at the site at 8:45, there were already at least a dozen people ahead of me in line.

Registration and check-ins began promptly at 9:00, by which time the line behind me extended through the lobby and the vestibule and outside onto the sidewalk. It had also begun raining quite hard. The staffers asked who had appointments, which inspired mini conversations in the line. Those of us without appointments said “Wait, we could make appointments?” and those with appointments said, “What, we could have just walked in?” 

The early cluster of people seemed evenly split between walk-ins and appointments. The appointment folks were checked in first and it was quick because all their info was already in the system.

Grocery money for boosters!

Even with the line, registration, the wait for the actual booster, and the 15-minute wait in the observation room, I was out the door and back in my car at 9:45. In addition to the smooth and efficient process, they were giving out $75 Market Basket gift cards to everyone who got a shot. I will admit, the profit motive was a big inspiration for getting to the clinic. Despite my teenage fantasies of being wealthy, I can recall no time in my entire working life where I earned that much money for one hour of my time. It was a most profitable morning and worth the time invested. 

Now the wait begins for any post-vaccine effects. After each of the first two shots and the booster, the next day, I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. The day after that, I felt like a million bucks. The guy administering my shot asked how I was after the previous ones, and suggested taking Ibuprofen and drinking “two bottles of water,” which I swear sounded to me like “two bottles of wine,” and we both had a chuckle over that. Two bottles of wine would definitely leave me with a headache, so I’ll stick to the water.

Just in case this latest booster inspires achiness, headache, and overall feeling like crap, Sunday chores were tackled early. The puffy quilt and the sheets were washed and there was a trip to Market Basket for a roasted chicken for chopping and mixing in with Winston’s food.

While at MB, my dwindling cheese reserves were replenished with shredded Italian mix, Parmesan, and the beloved deli cheese ends which look like Provolone. And a bag of Tri Sum chips, which are now available in all Market Basket stores, according to the company’s Facebook page. There was a notification that I am a “top fan” on the Tri Sum page and was bestowed with a badge declaring such. The weighty honor made me felt obligated to express my support of their presence in Lowell with a purchase. It's probably a highly tested marketing tactic. If so, it worked on me.

Top fan!

I almost told the fully grown adult bagger to not put the roasted chicken in the same bag with the chilled cheese, then thought against it, because he’s a grown-ass adult, should surely know this, and probably didn’t need me telling him how to do his job. Bad move. 

Despite there being two reusable bags sent down the conveyor with my order, he put the bags of shredded cheese directly on top of the hot chicken, then the loaf of bread, and finally the chips. Then he slid the still folded second shopping bag into the bag with the food.

In the parking lot, I grumbled and repacked the bag to separate the hot chicken from the rest of the items and in doing so, dropped the one pound loaf of bread onto the precious bag of chips, essentially crushing them. Errrrr. The ride home involved mentally composing my imaginary letter to MB headquarters, beseeching them to please train the baggers about food temperatures and how to pack the groceries. It seems like a rule instead of an exception that the hot chicken is paired in a bag with ice cream or cold cheese or frozen ravioli. Maybe I can enclose a time card or an invoice for my time spent this year re-bagging groceries.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 969 (Friday) – barely maintaining

There were many ideas for things to do on the holiday.  Tackle organizing the spare room? Read a book? Finally attempt a recipe from the Finnish Cookbook bought one or two years ago? Make a puzzle? Draft a stained glass design pattern? Nope, nope, nope, nope, and nope. True to brand, these all remained nebulous ideas and not solid actions. The cookbook was consulted and the ingredients inventoried, but then it just felt like it would be work. 

The day wasn’t a complete blank slate. Basic (bare minimum) life maintenance tasks were handled. The bare minimum, like dressing and eating, and there are days those feel like gargantuan accomplishments. Today they were just routine tasks. There was coffee and a late breakfast of matzo brie, which is matzo crackers busted and fried in butter then scrambled with eggs. 

Korean Scallion Pancakes!
Thank you Trader Joe's!

Supper was Trader Joe’s Korean Scallion Pancakes. Similar pancakes were a favorite side dish with X2 at MoMo Korean Restaurant in Clarksville. The frozen ones from TJ’s are pretty good. One was fried in oil and eaten and it was so good, a second one was prepared. Unfortunately, now the house reeks of cooking oil and every time I let Winston out and come back inside, I gag a little. 

The heavy, stinky indoor air reminds me of visits to X1’s family in Co-op City in the Bronx and Rego Park in Queens. In both cases, the kinfolk lived in large apartment buildings where the air permanently hung heavy with the stench of cooking oil mingled with any variety of pungent aromas including cabbage and Lord knew what else. Tonight, that is also my house. Blech.

Other major accomplishments included hand washing the soup pan and a few dishes in the sink; Wordle in 5 moves (nothing to brag about); some Finnish translations done for homework; and streaming the Finnish crime drama Bordertown (end of Season 1 and into Season 2) all day, except for 20 minutes spent outside collecting dog and bunny nuggets from the front yard and the few minutes frying scallion pancakes. A very full day indeed. 

By 6:00 it felt like midnight. It wasn't a bad thing. I relished the thought there was still several hours before bedtime, and also the knowledge that my slug like activities probably wouldn't be tolerated by a spouse or significant other. There is a lot to be said for living alone. After so many years of it, it's highly unlikely I could ever again share space with another human. 

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 968 (Thursday) – rut bound

The Internet outage of Wednesday night sent me to bed at the early hour of 8:00, chilly, slightly cranky, and mostly tired. Winston had us up at 12:30-ish, and the Internet was still out. I fell back to sleep mapping out my remote work day contingency plan where I would go to the office if there was no Internet when I got up. The wardrobe would be the black pants worn on Wednesday, because they fit, with some different top.  People might not notice the same pants two consecutive days, but an entire outfit on repeat might be less forgettable and I don’t need people thinking I’m senile or too lazy to put in some effort. 

Long gone are the days of my first "real job" when I went three months without repeating an outfit. There was a lot less to worry about at age 22.

Lunch would be tricky because there were no interesting leftovers left to grab. Remote days are usually designated as soup days because I like soup, but it's too tricky to carry in to work without the fear and risk of spillage.

Luckily, the fallback plan wasn’t needed. The alarm went off at 6:15, the wifi was connected and I didn’t need to be self-conscious if I was wearing the same thing two days in a row. For the record, I did not wear the same thing as Wednesday.

A text message from Xfinity said the service was restored at “approximately 6:26 a.m.” meaning they missed the 2:00 target by a solid six hours. That was less important than the fact it was functional in time for me to work. Had it come back at 2:00 a.m., I still would have been sleeping and not aware of it nor cared.

Winston worshipping the sun.

The sunny day had the Canine Overlord twitchy being in the house. He spent time lounging on the deck in the sun while I toiled inside for the money to keep him in kibble and biscuits. Sometimes he finds a sunny patch in the house in which to nap and I will admit to some envy. It must be nice to have a life where someone prepares and serves all the food and one is free to wander from one sunny spot to another to nap and hang out.  

After work and beyond “regular” business hours on the brink of a holiday weekend, it was realized that the car payment is due tomorrow and I never received the bill. It required setting up yet another online account, this time with the lender, but it was good it could be dealt with immediately. Panic really helps to get things done pretty fast. This is the brutal stretch of the month when 90% of the bills are due in a 16-day stretch. So stressful.

All is back to normal with the cable and Internet functioning and the regular and familiar rut is solidly occupied. A Finnish crime drama series with English subtitles is streaming from Netflix, the phone is nearby, along with a cup of raspberry herbal tea, and the laptop is on my lap. All is well.

ummm what

The Internet went out at work this afternoon, but it seemed to be brief. 

The traffic home was awful, with the added joy of University students jaywalking all over the place and ruining our chances to finally move. There was a respectable amount of time to admire the no longer full but still plump golden moon over the Merrimack while stuck on the bridge.

At home, while debating dinner options and the possibility of an online delivery order, it was discovered the Internet is out at The BungaLowell. The day which had been mostly neutral and ok, devolved to full WTF status.

Despite being tethered to a box and the wall via an actual cable that runs to a box mounted on the outside of the house and the outside world, the TV is also out. 

There is a quick message about being unable to connect to the Internet and suggesting visiting a website for info. Then it returns to a photo screen declaring the time to be  3:12. Gotta love the "Internet is out, visit our website on the Internet you can't access for info" helpfulness from the company that provides both my cable and Internet. You rock, Comcast Xfinity!

An Xfinity app message indicated a time of 6:40 for restoration. It wasn't. At 6:54, a text squeaked in resetting expectations and adjusting the time to 2:00 a.m.

The Verizon cell reception is so bad at the house that the phone runs off the Xfinity wifi most of the time. By going upstairs I can manage to get two bars for reception. Technology is so very, very great. Until it's not working. 

It looks like a cozy sit on the couch and read a book night. Or sit on the bed burning data on the phone night. Or maybe just saying "good night" and going to bed. It's already pitch dark and 7:30 feels a lot later than it used to. 

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 966 (Tuesday) – hello kitty

Canine Overlord Winston “oofed” me awake at 4:38 a.m. While he did his business on the front lawn, I looked skyward as usual. The dipper (Big? Little? I dunno), which recently sat squarely over the nuisance house across the street, was over the middle of the street. And not far from it, the full moon hovered with a bite in shadow as the eclipse progressed. For a nanosecond, the idea was to stay up and watch the eclipse, but I was just too tired to sacrifice 1.5 more hours of sleep.

In a miraculous hustle, after the 6:15 alarm sounded, I dressed, fed and medicated Win, reviewed the ballot questions, wrote my choices on a bit of paper, and was out the door by 7:15 to go vote. It took three trips around the block to find a parking spot at my recently relocated voting place. The lot at the school was full, as were the on-street spots posted with “Resident Sticker Parking Only” signs. This never happened at the old spot.

It wasn’t crowded inside and there was no wait. The three sheet, two-sided ballot felt a bit daunting. Thank goodness for the cheat sheet in my pocket. I was back home with time to sit with Winston and drink some coffee before logging in at 8:00 for a remote work day. Win's puffy mouth of yesterday is back to normal.

After the energetic start, the day continued on a pleasant trajectory. Four pieces of writing done for our website had been approved and were ready to load into the content management system. Steps were made on other projects. Progress feels really good. 

Hello Kitty!

From the desk, I saw a white cat wander the yard, make a poop offering upon the lawn, then dart across the yard towards the side deck. In true sleuth fashion, I headed into the dining room to see where Kitty was next.  It was wandering the deck, where it paused at the sliders to look at me with its one blue eye and one green eye before turning and bolting from between the deck fence rails. Kitty has some massive front paw thumb things.

According to sources found on the Internet, white cats make up only 5% of the total cat population and are a sign of good luck and bring good fortune. So there’s that. I feel luckier already. 

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 965 (Monday) – done day

This day. Oy. It started with a headache that blasted in around 8:30 a.m. Apparently, my cranium is such a great host that it hung around all day. And night. Work itself wasn’t so bad, it just felt long and filled with small annoyances, hunger, and fatigue from multiple awakenings overnight to let Win outside.

There was the Monday mad dash out of the office to tend to Winston, who now has a weird puffiness to one side of his face. I had class, so there wasn’t time to dote on him or even to call the vet. The 30-minute pit stop included letting him out, setting up his food, looking at his funny puffy spot, coaxing him back outside, putting him into a fresh diaper. It was nuked frozen gnocchi with cheese, practically inhaled,  for me. 

Then it was back out the door for what turned out to be a white-knuckle drive to Finnish language class. The peaceful, winding country roads were a story of what a difference a week and a time change make. It was fully dark. Shoulders were tense. Hands were in a death grip on the steering wheel. Jaw was clenched so tight it’s surprising it didn’t shatter, along with all my teeth. This is what happens when I drive, and this is why I’m not such a big fan of it. 

Restarting.
Not an entertaining experience.

Back home after class, Winston was adorable and playful and seems unaware of the puffy spot on his mouth. He even let me touch it. It’s soft and movable. He didn’t react, except to tap his feet in the gimme a cookie dance, his favorite choreography in the repertoire.

At 9:15, it was finally time to relax. that's when the tinnitus kicked in extra shrill and loud. And of course, it’s been a few weeks since having to reset the cable box, so tonight was the night it was a blank black screen. The restart happened, and there was the wait for it to cycle through the welcome screen and the blue screen while it set up "my entertainment experience." It was another tiny annoyance in a day of many annoyances. I wasn't amused.

Thank goodness for bedtime and that the moderately annoying day is done. Tomorrow is a fresh day. with luck, Winston will wake me up in time to see the lunar eclipse. And it's only 4.5 months until the next time change to screw things up again.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 964 (Sunday) – Insa-Dong memories

Art supplies in
Insa-Dong (2001).

For some reason, on Saturday night, despite a quiet day and the usual amount of coffee, I wasn’t tired at the regular hour and stayed up a couple hours later than usual. At least the “fall back” time change was in my favor and this morning I woke up feeling okay.

The day was long and leisurely, even with an afternoon trip to Nashua in search of Korean pancakes (hotteok) at Trader Joe’s, which someone in a local Facebook food group had posted about. These are a frozen at home in America version of street pancakes that Ex2 and I used to get in Seoul a lifetime ago. A hot fry pan and three minutes per side, and it was sweet pancake goodness on a plate. Maybe next time, I’ll try the microwave instructions for a comparison on texture. 

Our favorite attraction in Insa-Dong.

We used to like to visit Insa-Dong, one of Seoul’ oldest neighborhoods, which is filled with shops selling artist supplies, pottery, traditional hanbok, antiques, and all sort of other things, including street food vendors. While the lady with the monkey on a leash that did tricks was moderately amusing, and the shops had beautiful products, our favorite attraction was the vendor with the grill who made hotteok, a pancake with a brown sugar and cinnamon filling. She would ladle the batter onto the griddle, add the filling, ladle on a bit more batter and they would cook and we would watch them cook. At the magic moment of completion, they would be removed from the grill, slipped into a paper wrapper, and off we went.

Hotteok! Thank you
Trader Joe's.

The hotteok at the early part of the century cost a pittance – like 50 cents each. We’d stand in line in the winter chill to buy one each, then walk to back of the line, eating our hot off the griddle hottteok. By the time we were done eating them, we were next in line at the counter to buy more.

 
The Trader Joe’s frozen hotteok are pretty good. They seem thicker than the fresh street version, but they made for a nice food memory today and will be a great treat on this side of the globe. The other Korean food memory found in the TJ’s freezer case is scallion and pepper pancake. We got those at the food tents in Itaewon and in Clarksville at Mo Mo, our favorite Korean restaurant. Is it weird that for the past few years, the things to look forward most to are usually food related? My, how life has changed.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 963 (Saturday) – retail memories

When I was a kid, Mummu and I took regular trips downtown. We would visit Parke Snow, where we took the elevator to the credit counter on the top floor to pay on her charge account. Sometimes we would look at the shoes, clothes, and accessories. We’d also visit Rogers in the Square, further down Main Street, with the same mission. At Rogers, the payments were magically transported via pneumatic tube to an office upstairs. Sometimes at Rogers, we would see the window displays being changed out, which seemed like such a cool job. I recall hearing that the window dresser came in from Boston to change the displays, which made the job seem even more exotic. 

In November and December, we visited many more of the downtown stores as we tackled Mummu's Christmas list. That’s when Rogers had the gift wrap station set up behind the sales counter. The gift wrapping process was fascinating, and I would study the clerks as they wrapped the boxes in festive paper from industrial sized rolls mounted at the counter. The creases were precise. The seams were perfect. There was never any excess paper and the corners were perfectly folded. 

Sometimes Mummu had gifts wrapped at the store, but usually she let me do it. Wrapping all her Christmas gifts was one of my favorite holiday activities. We'd be in her living room with the TV on, and I’d spread everything out on the living room rug and get busy. She sat in her chair writing the tags to attach to the packages.

Retail visual merchandising memories.

In college and again later, I worked in retail in various roles including floor clerk, jewelry counter, and customer service. My favorite was the year or so when I was the visual merchandiser who hung the signs and other elements, made up the display beds, and dressed the mannequins. 

Visual merchandiser was the best job in the store, and as fun as I imagined it to be when I was a kid. It was way beyond the couple mannequins in the windows at Rogers. The store was significantly larger, and the role involved every department. There were big rolling ladders to push through the store, and death defying wobbly fixtures with heavy mannequins on top.

The planograms from corporate indicated the location of the ceiling hangs and wall posters, and what outfits to display. Half the time our signs were late and the outfits had either already arrived and sold out or not arrived on the truck yet, and I got to pull outfits for the silent salespeople based on what was in stock. 

It's funny to me that I enjoyed doing the store visuals so much. I’m not one of the homeowners who change out the décor each season. After more than six years in The BungaLowell, I haven’t yet managed to hang all the artwork yet. It feels like a miracle if I get any Christmas decorations up. Maybe with a corporate booklet and a paycheck I’d like it more.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 962 (Friday) – unusual day

The temperature was around 70 today, making it feel like an unusual New England November day, and more like a Tennessee day. The weekend forecast is for warm weather, continuing the unusual trend. 

The office was mostly quiet, which was a welcome relief after the steady hustle since the middle of last week. Now, it's the weird time where a lot of my projects are circling in a holding pattern, waiting for answers, approvals, or information before advancing to the next step in the process.

After work, the traffic was the new usual moderately annoying volume. Winston was his charming and adorable self. Dinner was ordered in because sometimes, I just can’t even think about cooking and today was one of those times.

It was great seeing you in Austin
and you will be missed, Khandra. 

While catching up on Facebook after supper, I saw the sad news that Khandra Smalley, a friend from Clarksville, Tennessee, had passed away suddenly. We met through my job at the marketing agency. The bank she worked for was one of our clients, and she and I crossed paths often, as we attended many of the same community events.

I last saw her at the American Bankers Association Marketing convention in Austin, Texas in 2019. We were able to pal around for a couple days at the convention, meeting at breakfast and attending many of the same sessions during the day and then the evening events together. I'm glad we had that time together. 

Khandra was passionate about her community, her faith, and her work in community banking and marketing. Rest in peace, Khandra. You will be missed.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 961 (Thursday) – travel

Kim and I were
stylish in Paris.

Once upon a time in the last century, my friend Kim and I went to Paris. The one in France, not Texas or Tennessee, or the resort in Las Vegas which we saw a few years later. It was the first week of November and we enjoyed sunny skies and crisp air. 

Ever since that trip, in the first week of November, I think “Dang, once I was much younger and was in Paris on this date.” Then I sigh. A lot. It was part of a fantastic stretch of a few years of life when I went to Reykjavik, Paris, and Seoul, and innocently imagined that my life would continue to feature frequent travel. Somewhere along the way, the crap realities of life set in and the international adventures were crowded out. More sighing. 

In Paris, our room was tiny with huge windows. A couple times we bought wine, bread, and cheese from a shop near the hotel and ate it for a light supper in our room. Breakfast each day was coffee and chocolate croissants in the hotel. We walked about a million miles, visited a million churches and museums, rode the Metro, sat in the sunshine in a park, and took a boat tour on the Seine.  It was a terrific week. Despite rumors of Parisians being rude, the only rude people we encountered were other tourists.

Paris!

With careful and strategic planning, clothes for the entire week fit in a small suitcase. We wore skirts or dress pants with chic sweaters, with scarves, hats, and low-heeled boots. Nearly everything we packed was black and we looked stylish and smashing all week. More like New York or Parisian women than typical American tourists. 

This will be the packing plan for Rome. Interchangeable, coordinated pieces, with maybe with a bit more color for the pre-spring season, like the teal suede loafers just ordered from Hush Puppies and due to arrive in a week or so.

I’m really looking forward to being a tourist in Rome. Walking training needs to start right away (more like last month). Gotta build up the muscles and the stamina to avoid being hobbled after the first day.