random thoughts – Day 1,265 – (Sunday) – country day

Sunday's accomplishment.

After the big night out in the city, it was a day of mostly socializing and relaxing. There was coffee with my friends at their home, followed by a home-cooked breakfast. Then, we gravitated to the jigsaw puzzle at the far end of their dining table.

The puzzle, featuring the image of three horses running through water, had been started earlier in the week, and we worked on it for about 40 minutes on Saturday before leaving for Boston. As we worked on it, we kidded about skipping the concert, playing the music of X at the house, and working on the puzzle instead. We did not do this. We tore ourselves away from the jigsaw madness, left the home in the country, and went to the big city.

This morning, there was another two hours invested in the puzzle, and it was finally completed. I had plans to go to Mom’s, so we joked about the delay by puzzle. If anyone would understand that, it would be Mom, from whom I learned to love all things jigsaw puzzle, including the family house rule about not looking at the picture while building the puzzle. Apparently, other people do not work on puzzles under such a strict rule. The just completed horse puzzle is now at Mom's. When she's done with it, I'll tackle it at my house.

At Mom’s, there was sitting around the living room chatting, then we moved outside to the screen house and a snack of Tostitos and salsa and potato chips with onion dip. StepDad fired up the grill and soon a lunch of grilled burgers and hot dogs with toss salad and macaroni salad was pounced upon. Later, there was a cherry and whipped cream cake.  

We watched chipmunks and birds in the yard. A cool looking black and white bird visited a feeder several times. We talked about the mysterious reduction in the number of squirrels regularly seen in the yard. Concerns were expressed that they might be meeting an untimely demise due to possibly imagined factors in a neighboring yard. 

The part at the left looks
 like a bird's head. 

A piece of weird wood that looked like a giant bird head was examined closer and photographed. There were what seemed to be an excessive number of feathers on the ground near the weird wood. The closer the weird wood was viewed, the less like a bird's head  it appeared.

The time in the country was relaxing, but when Mom said I looked tired, it felt like it was time to return home. There was half an idea to stop at Market Basket and procure provisions for the week, but it was dismissed. No list had been prepared and as Mom had detected, I was tired. The overnight bag was dumped on the kitchen table. Amazon and Kohl’s deliveries were harvested from the side deck and the front steps.

Despite the appearance of the neighbor’s three recycle bins and three trash bins parked in front of the house upon my return, Monday is a holiday. At least I thought so. The presence of the bins had me questioning what day it is and I went to the city website to verify the pickup schedule. Yup, it’s a holiday, pickup is delayed until Tuesday, and I get a full bonus day of the frigging bins in front of the house. I should have stayed in the country.