random thoughts – Day 1,585 – (Saturday) – feast and famine

This morning, while drinking coffee, I was scrolling Facebook events looking for something to do. At my annual checkup earlier this week, my doctor recommended seeking out group activities to stave off the never-ending loneliness and maybe finally find some local friends and build the social circle I imagined I’d have when I moved back to Massachusetts 11 years ago and again when I moved to Lowell eight years ago.

Side note – she also suggested joining a dating site. And the real surprise, she recommended dating younger men, because in her words, the benefit of younger versus older is that the older guys are usually looking for someone to take care of them and the younger ones don’t want to be taken care of. Noted. Not acted on. It certainly wasn't advice I expected, but hey, if my doctor suggests it, maybe I need to seriously consider it. 

A National Park Service history walk would have been perfect for this morning, but the only things I found, and which I had to go to searching their website to see, were canal boat tours and a mill tour. Not the activity I imagined. Going on the walks and being alone in the crowd is okay and I’m getting used to being the solo older lady who talks to strangers. I imagine the boat rides to be small groups of families and locals entertaining out of town guests. And me. The thought of that is a bit too much.

In the feast or famine way of events and activities, the day’s activities options were lean. The source of entertainment ended up being trying on clothes to thin the closet and vacuuming. It turns out I have way too many work clothes for a two-day office-office schedule. So, so many dresses and skirts and dress pants and capris. And there are still way too many, because of potential and “what if.” What if I need a dress for a church service. Or we have to go back to five days in-office. Or a miracle happens and I need an outfit for a fancy restaurant. In summary, lots of clothes were tried on, a few are on the way out the door, and I still have too much due to separation anxiety and a rich fantasy life.

The slightly heavy upright vacuum with the special pet turbo feature or whatever magical marketing word justifies a higher price tag was another adventure. It does a good job collecting the pet hair from the floors, carpet and area rugs, but using it on the carpeted stairs is a ticking time bomb of potential injury or death. The extension hose to attach the smaller pet brush isn’t very long, and the base of the unit is too deep for the steps. I end up bracing it between the step and my leg. One false move and there is a high likelihood I’ll be tumbling down the stairs. This was not an issue with the old canister vacuum that could be stood on a step and the long hose and tube that reached up several steps.

Evening Primrose.

Outside, a wrestling match occurred with the gate that is now out of alignment and nearly impossible to open. The prolific evening primrose on the driveway side of the fence and along the deck is starting to show buds. Soon the yard will be full of bright yellow flower opportunities for the pollinators. At least the critters that have decimated the mums and echinacea haven't feasted and robbed me of the evening primrose.

Then, to cap off the domestic excitement, it was off to do grocery shopping. Market Basket Store #1 was quiet shortly after 5:00 and I browsed almost the whole store like I was on holiday. Instead of a basket, I took a cart and ended up loading up more stuff than just the short list in my hand. Bargains were found. And iced tea, which was tragically absent from a previous shopping trip at another store. 

Six sumptuous sesame bagels at the sell-by date that would go straight into the freezer no matter what the date was, were 99-cents. Marked down vegetarian meatballs one day from the sell-by date were bought and sent immediately to the freezer. Three spanikopita twirls reduced to $1 each were halved for future lunches and sent to the freezer. Orange chicken and rice from the prepared foods was bought for supper. Salad ingredients are set for the week. Activities may have been in famine mode, but the pantry and freezer are restocked for future feasting.

Iced tea!

A bit of the cost savings were wiped out by being charged twice for the one pack of vegetarian meatballs which were bought only because they were marked down. I would have noticed it in the store if the very nice bagger hadn’t pulled my attention from the screen by asking if I was a vegetarian. Then he asked if I knew about Impossible Burgers. So much for keeping the grocery bill lean. MB won with a few extra of my dollars today. But at least I finally got some iced tea. Caffeine-free, even, so I can drink it at night. Tonight it was mixed with lemonade, because it's a delicious combination.