random thoughts – Day 2,420 (Sunday 11/1) – torah and tarot

There were two things on the calendar for today. The first was dance practice at dance bestie’s house in preparation for an event in November. The other was attending a lecture with dance bestie at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. The double event plan meant a modification in the usual sweatpants and no makeup practice attire. Camel colored pants and a light purple cashmere sweater were chosen. Hair was styled. Makeup was applied.

A debate took place over which of two scarves to wear with the ensemble. One had a purple and camel paisley pattern. The other was various shades of purple with a watercolor effect. As the clock ticked closer to departure time I finally gave up, set the paisley scarf around my neck and left. In the car, I checked my purse for a lip balm for my dry lips. These are usually planted in every purse, but today’s purse was empty. I went back into the house for one so it wouldn’t be a bother all day.

We ran through our dance several times, talking through the parts I kept messing up. For two weeks, I have suddenly been on the wrong foot in dances in ballet class, belly dance class, and duet practice. Errrrr.

The Magician tarot card through time.

The Yiddish Book Center is beautiful and holds a performance center, a theater, library collections, multiple exhibit galleries, and a small gift shop. The lecture was interesting. Stav Appel, author and educator, is a lifelong student of Torah and when he saw a reproduction of a Renaissance-era deck of playing cards (the Tarot de Marseille) he noticed numerous biblical references in the tarot artwork.  

This led to his further study of earlier decks containing even more recognizable biblical content. There are too many encoded images of Bible stories, Hebrew letters, Judaic ritual objects, and Jewish holy days to be a coincidence. 

The theater was packed and the lecture was fascinating. There was a companion exhibit in one of the galleries. A tarot reader provided readings to those of us lucky enough to have signed up in advance. Mine was a message that positive energy is coming in, good things are underway, and I should keep pursuing the things that bring joy and continue shedding the not joyful things. Yes, please.

random thoughts – Day 2,419 (Saturday 10/31) – inside day

Enjoying the outside from inside.

It’s still pretty out with some colorful leaves clinging to branches and I enjoy looking at them from in the house, especially when the morning temperature is in the 30s. In past years, I was perpetually ready for weekend hiking, but lately, it’s all about indoor pursuits for me. I hope it’s just a cycle and I will want to go outside and play again, but for now I am content with a view of it. My body feels like it’s fighting a desire for hibernation and bedtime is currently my favorite time of the day and I will enjoy the extra hour of sleep tonight.

As a reward for getting up, breakfast was a bagel with a fried egg, cheese, and the last of the homemade strawberry jam. So delicious.

Two in process, one done.

The day was spent indoors with a lot of reading. There was news, email, social media, and a book. Time was spent thinking about stained glass and trying to make a piece using only scraps but there weren’t enough scraps in the right sizes or shapes and it was abandoned. 

New pieces were cut for another crescent moon and a heart. The heart has an issue with pieces that aren’t fitting correctly and two that need edge grinding.  The moon was foiled and soldered and I was glad for the victory in a mostly unproductive day.

random thoughts – Day 2,418 (Friday 10/30) – costume party

There is nothing quite like the thrill of waiting until the morning of a costume party you've known about for a month to decide on a costume. With dozens of costumes gathered over the years from various themed parties, dance performances, and general acquisitions, ideas floated in my head but nothing stuck.

Contestants in one of
the costume contests.

Yesterday, a couple costume tubs and the closets were reviewed. Ariel the Mermaid, a 1920s flapper, Playboy bunny, a 60’s go-go girl, and a genie were dismissed from consideration. The potential choices were narrowed down to Red Riding Hood, pirate, fortune teller, and Prince. This morning, I decided on pirate and laid the clothing out on the bed. Then. During the gathering of pirate components, I found my spurs and considered cowboy, and realized half of the wig collection is missing. The pink, green, and black bob styles, the blond Marilyn Monroe wig, and the long glow in the dark white wig are all unaccounted for and will plague me until they are located.

After pizza lunch at Mom’s, I changed my mind to Red Riding Hood, and put the hooded cape in the dryer to take out the wrinkles. As I pondered the full ensemble, I realized I divested the basket collection in a move and decided to go to Dollar Tree to look for one. A trick or treat tub was found that seemed suitable and when I turned around I saw a lone pirate sword on a display which seemed like a sign and just like that, I was back on pirate, but still not fully invested.

Arrrrghhh.

The poufy pirate shirt worn in the past felt a bit snug and was swapped out for a stripey shirt. After dressing in black blousy pants, boots, the stripey shirt, a striped scarf, and a coin belt I was ready to leave. That’s when I realized I needed to use the toilet and had to undo half of it. The scarf snagged on the coin belt and once liberated, was abandoned.

At the costume party, our table included Doris (from Shrek,) Bo Peep, a chauffeur, a poop emoji, LL Cool J, a steampunk lady, a nun with a goatee, a pirate, two hippies, Captain Cleghorn, and a few more. There were costume contests and a game that involved racing with a ball on a spoon. It was fun, but I was tired and headed home by 10:00 even through the party was on for another couple hours. I guess I’m just not a party animal anymore, unless it starts at 2:00 in the afternoon and is done by nightfall.

random thoughts – Day 2,417 (Thursday 10/29) – in action

Finally painting the shed.

The morning slipped into the all too usual time-suck where I get up at 6:45 and suddenly it’s 9:00. Then I blinked and it was 10:00 and I still hadn’t taken a shower but I had finished a book and played games on my phone. That’s when I snapped into action.

Clear textured glass was chosen and pieces cut for the small panel. The first piece cut like a dream, the second piece was great but less dreamy. After that, the next few pieces didn’t cut as cleanly and are going to need grinding to smooth off the burrs and I took the hint and set it aside for a while.

At 2:00, I realized it was beautiful outside and mowed the yard. All the siding project mess was hauled away yesterday and I had full access to my yard and shed again. The mowing also chopped up most of the leaves so it was a two-for-one deal.

At 4:00, while messing around doing not much, I decided to paint the front of the shed with the paint left from some things on the house that needed paint during the siding project. It’s possible the leftover siding will go on the side and back walls, but it would be a pain in the arse with the doors.

The foam brushes and my favorite four-inch foam roller were fetched and I got busy. The first roll on the walls didn’t reach the gap in the vertical boards. That led to a snap decision to keep the thin lines white for a pinstripe effect. I hated the barn doors look, but pinstripes are fun.

Pinstripe shed front.

There were mistakes made. I should have scraped the black paint off the trim on and around the door. The hinges should have been removed but I don’t have a Robertson screwdriver for the stupid screws and I didn’t think to tape over the hinges because I tend to think I’m a neater painter than I actually am.  I didn’t paint inside the door frame yet because it was getting late and I wanted to be able to close the shed without them being painted shut. A smaller brush would have gotten some corners I missed around the stupid X shapes on the doors that I didn’t notice until after everything was cleaned up. I might take the X pieces off, but I want to check with a carpenter to see if they are there for support and stability first.

The shed isn't perfect but it’s good enough for now. I really hated the white shed with black trim and a barn door look, so that is remedied and I’m content with it. When the switch flips to the on position and I finally snap into action I’m pretty productive.

random thoughts – Day 2,416 (Wednesday 10/28) – baby naughty

Baby Naughty,
ready for mayhem.

My eldest niece arrived home yesterday from Vegas for a visit and today Mom and I went to Sis’s house. Niece #1 is working remotely during her visit and we gathered during her lunch break. It is always fun at Sis’s house because Sis, her husband, and her daughters have jobs working with the public and go on adventures that means they have lots of funny and outrageous true stories. 

Stuff like managers "helping" and changing all the descriptions on a list of loans in process, accidentally calling a manager the dorky nickname given to a sister's boyfriend,  dumb jokes customers tell at a banking counter, car rental breakdown on a honeymoon, a history of rainstorms on camping trips, and so on. I kind of miss having my own current stories about funny/ loud/ annoying colleagues and misadventures and definitely enjoy hearing about theirs. And I need to improve my adventure game. 

In addition to the amusing true tales, my sister usually has fun seasonal decor in the house. When the girls were young, there were decorations for holidays and seasons major and minor, including a year-round tree with décor that rotated to include Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, Halloween, and football season.

Plotting murder?

This year’s Halloween décor features “Baby Naughty.” Baby Naughty is a creepy baby doll that may have escaped from a horror movie and found its way to my sister’s house by way of Mummu and someone who was giving away kids toys. When weird things would happen at the house, like an odd noise, a missing item, a new crayon drawing on a wall, Baby Naughty was blamed. During football season, Baby Naughty often sported a creepy football head and was parked in a chair.

Baby Naughty is creepy enough that the family is afraid to dispose of it. The fear is it would return and unleash a true horror story. This season, Baby Naughty is in rare form. With a miniature meat cleaver at hand, Baby Naughty is perched on the top level of a six-foot tall pantry shelf, watching us eat lunch, ready to cause mayhem. Like plotting our murders by baby meat cleaver.  Oh, Baby Naughty.

random thoughts – Day 2,415 (Tuesday 10/27) – prepping and doing

Prepping to solder.

There are certain morning routines that keep the house running. One is the brewing and consumption of coffee. The other is feeding treats to Kiki. She is accustomed to morning treats and greets me each morning with meowing. Non-stop meowing. I get some treats in my right hand and feed them one at a time to Kiki with my left hand, and we move on. Usually, she lays in the sun for a while and then disappears for hours (or all day).

This morning, I had grabbed a larger handful of treats than usual. After doling out treats, I set the remainder on the coaster on the ottoman. Then, I went to the kitchen to top off my coffee. From the kitchen, I spotted little Miss Ninja Kitty on the ottoman, silently dining on the remaining treats. I stood quietly so I didn’t startle her and watched from the kitchen. When she was done eating her treats one by one, she sniffed the items on the ottoman – coaster, TV remote, book, pen – then slinked off the ottoman and went to the window, without making a sound. It’s the first time I’ve seen her on the ottoman.

Prepped for delivery.

The schedule for the day included the delivery of the new refrigerator to replace the barely one year old refrigerator that decided to go on strike for the second time in four months. Delivery instructions included ensuring a clear path from the door to the refrigerator location. That required moving the dining chairs and nudging the table back a foot or two to open access through the kitchen doorway. It's fine for everyday life, but two men navigating a refrigerator are a different story. The boxes of glass and bevels were shoved back under the table and in front of the buffet. The rug was rolled back to the table to remove a tripping obstacle on the floor.

After the furniture workout, I relaxed by soldering a stained glass piece that had a new circle cut yesterday and was foiled last night. The ottoman was cleared and the corkboard, glass piece, soldering iron, sponge, roll of 60/40 solder and flux were installed. The soldering was completed. 

When the text arrived that the driver would arrive in 20 or 30 minute, it was time to empty the fridge and freezer. The drill was still fresh in mind from June. The foam Omaha Steaks cooler and the Rubbermaid tub it lives in were taken from the top shelf in the craft room. Several times I have considered disposing of the foam cooler. Twice now, I have been very glad to still have it. The couch was nudged several inches closer to the TV to widen the path from the door. 

The not so frigid air freezer contents were stuffed into the cooler and tub, plus an insulated tote bag and lunch bag. It went quickly. It took the delivery guys eleven minutes to remove the old refrigerator and set the new one in place. Then, the lead guy took the time to clean off the sticky marks with a citrus spray.

It took me longer to repack the freezer than it did to empty it. I had bought a wire shelf at Goodwill last week because it seemed like it would be handy, but when I got it home I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. With the freezer emptied, the new shelf was tried and it was better than the puny shelf that held the ice cube trays before. The plastic bins are re-organized with designated spots for fruits and vegetables, cheese, bread, and meat substitute. It will be interesting to see how long that system lasts.  

The refrigerator box was easy to deal with. It’s mostly condiments, eggs, butter, produce, and cheese. Most of those already have a solid system thanks to the door trays, produce, and deli drawers. I almost wish I had gotten some ice cream to really test the freezer.

Once the fridge was set up again, I moved the rug and table back to their regular spots. Then I went to dance in Fitchburg. It was a day full of movement and exercise, prepping and doing. 

random thoughts – Day 2,414 (Monday 10/26) – plans

Kiki gargoyle.

The temperature continued with the autumnal mood swings starting in the 30s in the morning and hitting nearly 70 in the afternoon. Being forewarned and dressing in layers are key to surviving. Put them on in the morning and peel them off as needed throughout the day. As I drank coffee, ate toast, and consulted the weather forecast, Kiki worked on her gargoyle impersonation on the chair across the room. She's so cute.

On the way out of town I stopped at a gas station that was top of the list in the Waze listing sorted from lowest price. It turned out it was a full serve station and for the first time in decades, I didn’t have to pump my own gas. I asked the gas pumping guy about the cost of the air machine ($1.00) and he pumped the air for me and the next thing I knew I was scheduling rear brake work while my tires were being topped off. It was the most productive gas stop in my history of driving.

Before going to glass class, I had to visit the appliance store. The solution from the service department for my repeat offender defective refrigerator was to credit my original purchase amount towards another fridge. The manager who called this morning said they had one the same size as mine and I said I’d be there today. We got it all settled and a delivery window is set for Tuesday. I love a customer service team with a plan. 

Glass class was the first of the next three-week session and it was crowded. In the last session there were three of us, and today there were seven because several past students returned. It was very loud for the first 30 minutes as they all loudly caught up with each other’s lives. I don’t know any of them and it wasn’t my place to butt in, so I headed to the sanctuary of the grinder and let that noise take over my brain. Very therapeutic.

Packed for transport.

Every time I took a step at the worktable, my foot hit the leg of the stool of someone directly behind me and I kept apologizing.  Two of us were jockeying for position at the light table. Three of us were tripping over each other to get to the grinders. The chaos must have energized me, because I got everything done that I had planned. I had a refresher on cutting circles with the instructor, got the colored glass pieces cut and ground for a panel and started the foiling. The freshly cut, ground, and partially foiled pieces were taped to the pattern for transport home.

My goals for this session are perfecting cutting circles, learning how to add patina to the solder lines, and learning how to reinforce pieces with wire. It’s good to have a plan.

random thoughts – Day 2,413 (Sunday 10/25) – temperature fluctuations

Recently, the daily temperature has fluctuated with seasonal ranges from the low 30s to the mid 60s. Likewise, my refrigerator, bought not quite fourteen months ago, is experiencing some temperature swings, though not quite so dramatic (thankfully). It’s a repeat of the temperamental activity dealt with in mid-June, specifically, the ice cream is no longer frozen, the ice cubes are wetter than usual, and the sound of the thing is a steady hum instead of the previous cyclical variety of noises.

The situation was corrected in June with the replacement of a part that controlled the automatic cycling of the “frost free” defrost stage. The technician told me about defective parts from a now-former vendor and that they were replacing dozens a day for a stretch of time a few months previous. Now it seems like the replacement part is from the same crappy batch as the original part, because it has lasted barely four months.

Immediately after the repair, the refrigerator box was running too cold which I noticed when my grapes were covered in ice crystals and the orange juice and half and half sounded crunchy when I shook the containers. In response, I lowered the setting a smidge below the notch marked “recommended” and things have been fine until the past few days. Suddenly, the ice cream that was solid enough to bend a spoon is more akin to the soft serve variety. The ice cubes, once brittle and dry, are now wet like a spring thaw.

Smooshy ice cream.

My quiet Sunday morning was spent looking for the paperwork for the refrigerator. Drawers were rifled through and some junk papers discarded. I don’t really need the grocery store and gas station receipts from July, do I? (They just piss me off, anyway.) After going through four drawers and a filing cabinet, it occurred to me the info I needed was most likely sitting in my email. Sure enough, it was. And the exercise feels like a justification to get a printer, because as much as I love trees, I am still a hands-on lover of paper files which do not require electricity, wi-fi, a series of passwords and authentications, and a search command to access.

Of course, the last printer I had sat unused on a shelf for the entire nine years I lived in Lowell until I paid to make it go away at an electronics recycling event. And as always happens, a couple months later,  informed that I was one of many selected to be laid off, I suddenly needed a printer for home sale and job search activities as much as I needed air, food, and water. Thank goodness for my favorite in-office job benefit, access to a printer, which almost made it worth the hassle to drive downtown, park in my assigned garage, and walk several blocks to the office on a regular basis.

Anyway, the model number, serial number, invoice number, and purchase date were located in the original emailed purchase invoice. A service request was sent online, partially for the cyber trail. And now, I wait. The outdoor temperature climbed from 29 degrees at 6 a.m. to 58 degrees on the approach to noon, so it might be a good time for me to finish off the ice cream before the freezer declares my ice cream season over. Not that the season ever really alters ice cream consumption in New England. Like iced coffee, it’s a year-round part of the diet here.

random thoughts – Day 2,412 (Saturday 10/24) – bug, ballot, blood

Bug!

The morning sunshine and quiet were enjoyed with a mug of warm water while the coffee brewed. One morning a couple weeks ago I did this, and it was nice, and I’ve done it every day since.

Soon, I was sitting on the couch drinking coffee and dealing with the daily runny nose. I got a tissue from the bedroom and as I held it to my nose, I spotted something weird. The tissue was removed from my face and with horror, I saw a big bug on it, and the tissue with bug was tossed to the floor. Then, I screwed up my single-person courage, picked up the bug tissue, and opened the front door. Still wearing my purple bathrobe and pajamas (aka sleeping clothes), I stood at the open door, shaking the tissue like a surrender flag to liberate myself from the bug.

A couple hours later, I had finished my study of the first 23 pages of the 87-page Massachusetts Information for Voters Guide – 2026 Ballot Questions. It felt like cramming for an exam. Relevant passages had been highlighted, a cheat sheet was drafted, and I was dressed for the day in a khaki-colored cashmere sweater and khaki pants, suitable for interacting with the world at large. When I went to the coat closet for a jacket, I saw something brown on the floor.

The past couple weeks have frequently seen fragments of dried brown leaves tracked into the house, but this brown thing was moving at a steady pace along the Berber carpet. It was another bug, just like the one from earlier and I wondered how they were getting inside. It was guided onto the dustpan from the nearby glass worktable and I returned to the door for another return to nature. At least this time I was wearing daytime clothes.

Vote!.

With my list of ballot question answers in hand, I headed to City Hall to vote. I love early voting. It was calm and peaceful, and everybody there was in a good mood. Maybe it was the “I voted early” stickers we were given. Eleven minutes after exiting my car, I was done voting and was back in my car, and didn’t know what to do next on a gorgeous fall day, so I headed home.

Once again, as so often happens, the car piloted itself into the Salvation Army Thrift Store parking lot. The place really is on my primary flight path. It was quiet there, too, so maybe everybody was doing something fun elsewhere. 

I saw two beautiful sweaters in Sal’s. One was cashmere, and based on the density of the fiber, the slightly misshapen look, and the tiny size that contradicted the size tag, it had clearly been put through the dryer. The other sweater was as good as new but was an extra small, and I’m not that size anymore. On the bright side, I didn’t spend any money, which was good because the recent investment in glass supplies has been a bit hefty.

When I got back home, I was drawn to the stained glass table. I knew the risks of messing with glass in a cashmere sweater and went there anywhere. I cut one curved piece in dark green that ends in a point, and stabbed myself in the pad of my right index finger. The bright red blood left splats on the corkboard. I grabbed a paper towel to wrap it in and headed for the bathroom where blood splatted on the counter and in the sink.

Luckily, the bandages were handy and one was applied quickly. Even more luckily, I didn't get blood on my “I'm going out somewhere” clothes. Within a few minutes, I had bled through the thing and went rummaging for a larger one. The bloodshed finally stopped, and I stayed away from the sharp pointy glass for the rest of the day. I really need to invest in some cutting gloves. The return to glasswork is getting expensive.

random thoughts – Day 2,411 (Friday 10/23) – birthday fun time

At The Old Mill, 10-23-26.

Mom’s choice for her birthday lunch was The Old Mill, and she and I met my sister there. A goose and some small ducks and goslings were paddling in the pond, and a heron stood on the shore across the water. We were happy when we were seated at a table at a window overlooking the waterfowl action and proceeded to play the local pond version of “Where’s Waldo?” as we kept looking for the heron. It blended with the trees and the stones and the water. 

We did nature show commentary of the birds swimming and grooming themselves. We talked about how the nine ballot questions in the current election feels like the adult equivalent of the SAT.

The food was good and the atmosphere relaxing. In the parking lot, Sis said she was going “to run to the store” before going back to Mom’s and Mom, without batting an eye, says “shouldn’t you take your car?” and then we were cracking up in the parking lot. Point for Mom.

The after-lunch plan was Yahtzee at Mom’s and the dice were messing with us. We kept reading the dice wrong and soon we were blaming wearing glasses, not wearing glasses, and the lunch food and a chef’s conspiracy to use some magical happy spice in our food.

When I told them how neither of my doorbells was working and the contractor and I decided to not bother making nail holes to reattach the buttons to the new siding, I said I was going to get a sign for the door like the one at the gate in the Wizard of Oz that read “Bell out of order. Please knock.” Except mine would probably read “Doorbell broken. Go away.”

That took us down the road of drafting doormat and answering messages intended for cold-calling door-to-door and telephone sales people. For phone answering we came up with “Hey, we’re not in right now. We were here yesterday, so you should have called then. Try again tomorrow. Good luck!” There was also “Are we expecting your call (or visit if doormat)? Did you text first?”; and “Do we know you? No? Please go away.” There were more, and we were howling.

Strawberry shortcake.

Then we got to the birthday dessert of strawberry shortcake. Sis had baked biscuits in the morning and they were a tad beyond golden and more brown so as backup, she brought some that were in her freezer. 

Then she hits us with “Would you like a freezer biscuit, or a freshly burned one? You know, like Mom used to make!” And we were dying all over again laughing over our family's traditional holiday burned biscuits and baked mashed sweet potato with an accidental flaming topping. As we were eating, it turned to jokes about needing a knife or a hacksaw. The afternoon was so much fun.

random thoughts – Day 2,410 (Thursday 10/22) – time flies

It was sunny, it was warm-ish and once again, I got sucked into the stained glass vortex again. Or maybe I dove in headfirst.

New design.

It was another day of the new routine. The boxes of bevels were consolidated. There was foil applied to the edges of precut bevels, smoothed with the burnishing tool, and trimmed. A new design was drawn using elements of the larger design in waiting. The new one is smaller and will serve as a warmup piece to practice cutting curves, fitting pieces, and keeping the piece square before working on the big one. The new design was colored in with pencils to test drive a concept, glass was chosen, and cutting commenced.

In between some of the glasswork tasks, there was some accidental organizing in the craft room and a kitchen cabinet. A hand soap dispenser was refilled. Food was eaten. I turned on the new front door light so the contractor could verify it worked.

Suddenly, it was 5:00 and I had someplace to be that wasn’t my sweatshop dining room and site of my recent self-imposed exile. It is still a mystery to me why the days pass so quickly now. There was never a single work day in my gazillion years of work (beginning at age 15) that went by as fast as the days pass now. I would love for a day to creep along as slowly as the lifetime of work days did. Even half that pace would be appreciated.

random thoughts – Day 2,409 (Wednesday 10/21) – finishing and starting

Siding completed.

The siding is on the house. The contractor said several people gave him a thumbs up and a couple stopped to ask about the color and request estimates for their own homes. I chose a color because nobody else in the neighborhood had it, but that may not last for long based on feedback.

The front light and skirting around the bottom still need to be installed. If there is enough siding left, the shed walls may be done and then I’ll only need to paint the doors, which are currently white with black trim and look like barn doors.  Not pretty. The temperature forecast for tomorrow is a high of 63, which feels like good painting weather if I can tear myself away from cutting and foiling glass for the day.

The day's work.

Today I finished the five poinsettias soldered yesterday by adding hanging loops and foiled the bevels for the large design. A few new pieces of glass were cut to finish the crescent moon I had trouble with on Monday. A new design in green, blue, yellow, and iridescent clear with one round bevel  was started and all but one of the pieces was cut. I had to stop after miscuts forced the recutting of two pieces and reminded me that I was hungry and tired and there was no way I would get a clean circle cut.

A late afternoon walk let me admire the house as I rounded the bend at the top of the street. The way the light was hitting it, the front looked like it was lighter than the sides and the shingles at the peak. I need to look at it again throughout the day. It's time to decide on the color of the front door If I want it repainted before it's too cold to do so. Or maybe I'll leave it red until spring.

random thoughts – Day 2,408 (Tuesday 10/20) – siding and a surprise

Siding nearly complete.

The hammering and drilling continued and the siding on the front of the house is nearly done. The inset for the bay window and the peak over it remain. Then the skirting around the bottom will be done. And then it will be all done.

Today there was a bit of excitement. I was soldering stained glass in the living room with The Middle streaming on TV and hammering happening outside near the bay window. There was a sound like broken glass and I thought a window had broken. Suddenly, the contractor’s face, with a very surprised expression, appeared at the top of the window, above the shade that had been lowered from the top. It looked comically like someone peeking over a tall fence. He asked if there was something on the wall near where he was hammering, and said  the vibrations would be a problem.

New, larger numbers.

The corner of the room backing the construction site houses a corner shelf with the TV, and above and below it, small corner shelving units hold a few knickknacks. The gold heart shaped vase on the topmost shelf was no longer there. It had tumbled down behind the TV, through the opening at the back of the shelf, and was resting on the various TV, router, and Wi-Fi wires. Amazingly, it was still intact, with just a minor scuff mark or two. The gemstone tree, a figurine from Korea  and another one from Mexico, and a crackle glass bowl were relocated for safety. The contractor checked the TV and the shelf and declared them secure. I still have no idea what made the sound so much like a breaking window as all the windows are intact.

The new 3D printed house numbers bought through Etsy arrived and were installed. They have clips that work on vinyl siding without the need for drilling holes. They are several times larger than the old numbers and can be seen from further away. Objective achieved.

random thoughts – Day 2,407 (Monday 10/19) – troubles

The moon was being difficult.

Maybe a year ago, after some dental work, I felt a weird little bump in my mouth up under my cheekbone that reminded me of a tapioca pellet. When I wash my face or touch my cheek, it feels weird. Not painful, more like odd. 

I mentioned it at my next dental appointment and the dentist looked for it in the x-rays but nothing showed up. Months later, at a routine cleaning, I mentioned it again and they looked at the new x-rays. Nothing. The dentist thought it might be a sinus thing and suggested I see an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

The ENT appointments for new patients were scheduling about six months out and the earliest I could get one was December. I was added to the list for a cancellation and a couple weeks ago, the call came in for an appointment sooner than December. That appointment was this morning.

Dr. E felt around in my mouth under my cheekbone and found the thing. He said some medical words and then translated for me that it felt bony and doesn’t move around. A CT scan was recommended. Someone will call to schedule. Cool, cool.

That took up part of the morning, and when I got back to the house to spend an hour before leaving for glass class, the siding crew was busy stripping the front of the house. The project is approaching the home stretch.

The plan for glass studio time was cutting scrap glass for a quick new crescent moon piece and then adding hanging loops to the pieces I made in the previous two weeks. The glass cutting was dreadful. I thought it would be quick, but the glass I grabbed was temperamental. Some of it was thicker than usual and really hard to snap off at the score line. Bottom line -- it became a real pain the butt real quick.

Most of the glass I chose from the bins was because I liked the color, but then a lot of the pieces were too small. I modified the pattern on the fly to accommodate the glass I wanted to use. After the final grinding of the pieces, I turned away from the grinding machine and the cardboard the pieces were laid out on hit something and all the glass shifted. One piece landed on the floor and broke and I was back to pawing through glass to find something to use for a replacement piece. 

Supper!

The quick project I thought could be cut and foiled in one session took much longer than imagined. The moon was not cooperating. Because I had changed up the pattern there was no way to match the cut glass to the location in the design so it was secured to the pattern paper with masking tape for transport home.

Glass class may have gone a bit sideways but supper was delicious. Pumpkin and sage ravioli with sauteed onion and mushrooms in a creamy sauce hit the spot. One bowl tasted great, but I still felt hungry and stupidly went for seconds. Two hours later, the overly full feeling had taken effect, along with a helping of regret.  Some fools never learn.

random thoughts – Day 2,406 (Sunday 10/18) – laboring

Pinned and ready for soldering.

The second day of the art studios event was today. Once again, I planned to go, dressed to go, and then got caught up in laboring in stained glass and didn’t go.

Today’s time-sucking, self-assigned task was drawing new designs and then cutting small red diamond shapes and then foiling and burnishing them. It took about five hours to do 29 diamond shapes and some random green scraps in other shapes.

After an early evening break for grocery shopping which marked my first time outside the house since Friday afternoon, another two hours were spent cutting and foiling tiny yellow circles and then burnishing and trimming back the foil to expose more of the glass. The various parts are pinned to the corkboard and will be soldered Monday after class or maybe Tuesday.

The benefits to working with lead over copper foil are more evident each day. Lead pieces work up a lot faster because they don’t require such precise cutting, the edges of each piece of glass don’t need  to be wrapped in foil, and there is a lot less soldering required. 

It’s quicker measuring and cutting a length of lead came, setting the glass into the rails and soldering just the joints of the lead rails. But I am getting better at the foiling, burnishing, and soldering. The glass cutting part is either great or a total pain in the derriere and there is no way to know in advance, but that applies in either method. I have a spool of lead came, so bounce back and forth between methods is an option.

random thoughts – Day 2,405 (Saturday 10/17) – breaking plans

Breakage on the design board.

The temperature was in the 40s and I dressed appropriately for a day out and about town in not too wintry gray pants and my current favorite gray patterned sweater. There were artist open studios in town and nearby in Ashburnham and Fitchburg, and I drank coffee and waited for it to be time to go.

Instead of sitting around idly, I started working on new glass pieces. There were more issues with a piece I’ve been fighting with and it was set aside. I decided to do a scrap work piece, but there weren’t enough scraps large enough and soon I was foraging for larger sheets to work from.

Ready to solder.

Suddenly, it was noon and the art thing was underway. Okay, no big deal, still plenty of time. Then it was 1:00, and I would leave after cutting “just one more piece of glass.”  And suddenly it was 2:00. Then 3:00. And that was the end of the day’s plan. So, I stayed home and kept working with the glass.

The new design was in red, orange, and yellow and today I learned that the yellow glass is the worst glass of all to cut (so far). It would score, then, instead of snapping on the score line, it would break on some wild other route and instead of having a strip to work from, I had a broken sheet of glass.

Partway through a rectangular design drawn earlier in the day, I decided it didn’t need to be confined by a box and changed the design. That meant some of the pieces needed to be larger to extend beyond the initial shape. Others needed to be adjusted to fit. Once it got going, it was fine, except for the part where my lower back was screaming because the dining room table is about 12-inches too low to be a suitable worktable.

The pieces were wrapped in copper foil, reset and anchored with pins, and soldered. At 8:30 I was finally done messing around with it and cleaned up. The craft room still isn’t set up, so I’ve been working out of the dining room and living room. Foiling and soldering tools are carried from the crafts room and set up in the living room, and then put back.

Overall, the house looks like a tornado hit it. The back yard is littered with siding, scaffolding, saw horses, and other construction stuff. Inside, the dining room table is buried under corkboards, containers of glass, a large corkboard with the large piece I’ve been avoiding working on and a smaller one for all the other stuff I’ve been doing. Boxes of glass and bevels are on the floor, creating an obstacle course. The chaos extends to the kitchen counter, which now holds the vase that used to be on the dining room table plus the old toaster oven. It’s feeling claustrophobic.

The hot mess and the angst it is generating may be exactly the kick in the pants needed to get the workroom set up. This will be less simple now that I know a taller and larger work table is needed. 

random thoughts – Day 2,404 (Friday 10/16) – lunch, shopping, char

Tackling the tall trees.

The day began as a blank slate, but it got interesting quickly. Two large tree trimming trucks rolled up the street and camped out in front of Mom’s. They got busy trimming branches that were close to the utility lines. A third truck arrived and leapfrogged up the street to the house on the other side of me. I wondered if the wetness from the rain would be an issue, but it didn't seem to be.

My front tree is too tall for it’s variety but not tall enough to warrant utility trimming. Darn it. Mom joked that it would have been great if the trees had been trimmed before all the leaves fell in her yard.

By 9:00 there was a plan with Mom and Sis for lunch and Dollar Tree. Duguay’s Chicken and Seafood was the chosen local lunch destination. I had the veggie burger with sweet potato fries and it was good. Half the fries came home with me. Sis opted for a chicken tender dinner and Mom went for the BLT.

After lunch at Dollar Tree, I spotted friends at the checkout as I was hitting the first aisle and dashed over to say hello. It was exciting. I rarely see people I know out in the wilds of G-Vegas. Once I got to the shopping, I again employed the generally successfully “only buy what I can carry” strategy and rejected a shopping cart.

My focus was special occasion cards and acrylic storage boxes. I overachieved with the target items plus a book, 12-pack of toilet paper, toothpaste that doesn’t have ingredients to which I am allergic, snack bags, and a few other things including the one thing I didn’t know I needed – an “inspection mirror” with a jointed, movable neck to “view behind furniture, vents, and cabinets.” It looks like a dental mirror. It may go down in my personal shopping history as the coolest $1.50 item ever.

At the register, with items balanced atop the 12-pack of toilet paper and two chrome paper towel holders and two oven mitts dangling from my fingers, I remembered it wasn’t toilet paper I need, but paper towels. My linen closet now looks like I’m stockpiling toilet paper for another COVID-19 shortage. At least I can forget about buying toilet paper for a while.  And I’ll probably be back at Dollar Tree on Saturday for paper towels and liquid hand soap.

A week and a half ago, I ordered a four-slice toaster oven/air fryer, which arrived last weekend in an outer box that said only “toaster oven” and I wondered if it was even the right item. The unopened box sat on the living room floor until today and I was wondering if I might not have been as excited about it as I thought, but then it took two cycles on dark to get my toast toasted and I remembered why I bought it.

Oops, a bit charred.

As of this evening, the new appliance is finally set up on the small counter near the refrigerator. It had a test run with the leftover sweet potato fries, and I made a bad guess on how long it would take to warm them up. In the old toaster oven, it would have been one or two cycles on the dark toast setting. It was definitely less than 15 minutes on the air fryer setting on the new unit, and they came out mostly charred. I ate them anyway. They were still good. 

Maybe this weekend I’ll explore the recipe book that came with the new kitchen wonder. And also try to figure out what to do with the old one.

random thoughts – Day 2,403 (Thursday 10/15) – in the zone

Three sides sided, one more to go.

Despite writing every day AND referencing the day of the week, sometimes the week still slips away from me. Case in point – over the past few weeks, I thought Wednesday was Thursday. The most recent activity schedule has a different flow and Monday and Tuesday are busy enough that I look forward to Wednesday because it is mostly obligation-free. Then, somehow, on the magical obligation-free Wednesday, I mentally accelerate the week and keep thinking it’s Thursday.

Today, was mostly an unlabeled anonymous day of hustle and noise that began with the siding crew arriving in my driveway and me abandoning my coffee and scrambling to trade sleeping clothes for daytime cloths and go move my car out of the way. With that done, the scaffolding was set up, the utility boxes were secured, the existing back yard motion lights were reset and old door light was swapped for the new one. The peak above the carport is done. Three sides are done, and the front and the skirting remain and then it is done.

Completed 10-15-2026.

The recent days with the soundtrack of hammering, drilling, and the work crew’s radio playing decent music loud enough that I could hear it have let me slip into the zone while I cut glass. The cruel trick to today’s glass work was that I wanted to use clear iridescent textured glass in two pieces underway, which was some of my favorite types of glass in the past. And in the dozens of sheets of clear glass I have now, there is only one sheet of the iridescent stuff.

It was 4:00 in the afternoon when I realized that today is Thursday and I haven’t talked with Mom all week. Or done a proper grocery run. Or dealt with the laundry. But I soldered the piece set up yesterday, and cut, foiled, and soldered a new crescent moon piece. It appears I have released a glass working obsessive little maniac. I wonder how long this will last and when things will settle down to a more moderate pace. Also, "Maniac" (from Flashdance) was one of the songs I heard a snippet of today.

Note to self: please resume regular life maintenance activities. Soon. Like, now.

Another note to self: get more clear iridescent textured glass. And a cutting grid to catch all the little glass chips. And tacky paper to hold the cut pieces in place during assembly. And more rolls of copper foil and solder. And the zinc notching tool I just learned about so I can more easily add zinc frames on square/rectangle pieces.

Additional note to self: stop falling into the time-suck of watching so many videos about soldering. And looking at glass and supplies online because life was simpler and slightly less expensive when I didn’t know about all the cool gadgets.

random thoughts – Day 2,402 (Wednesday 10/14) – storm and calm

Morning through the sheers.

The Tuesday overnight weather featured a thunderstorm. There weren’t sudden, loud, thunderclaps, instead, they were prolonged waves that at first I thought was a train. Kiki bolted and hid. The torrential downpour slammed on the roof. I was racing my way through a 400-page, mediocre book and was too comfy in bed to get up and look out the window at the drama. After it passed through, the contrasting quiet was nearly as dramatic as the storm.

This morning, I woke up tired at 8:00, but it was most likely due to reading until 1:00 a.m. Or maybe it was 2:00. And I still didn’t finish the book until today. It’s a good thing I got up when I did, because the siding crew arrived at 8:30, which was a half-hour earlier than usual. The sun was shining, it was warm enough to have windows open, and the trees continue to dazzle with color, even through the navy blue sheer curtains in the dining room.

Today’s siding labor was focused on the short wall under the carport, which has multiple lighting fixtures, a window, a doorway, and all the utility boxes for electric, the new fiber, the old cable, and a box labeled Verizon for a preexisting land line phone I don’t currently have but might want someday. Or not. The hammering and drilling sent Kiki into hiding again and she stayed hidden until the crew left around 2:00.

Foiled and ready for solder.

While the guys worked outside, I calmly worked on cutting glass inside. This project is small-ish (6” x 8”) and is serving as a warm-up while I mull over the colors for the larger piece (12” x 26”). There was some glass cutting and bloodshed because it turns out finger tips are prolific bleeders. Later, I did the foiling. Tomorrow I will do the soldering.

I’m trying to perfect cutting, foiling, and soldering on smaller pieces before tackling the large one with many parts that could break my heart if I mess it up. It’s feeling like a rational plan. 

A trip to Ocean State Job Lot resulted in merino wool blend socks (big selection!), rubber treads for the concrete stairs out front for the winter, nail polish, coffee, two melamine tray/plates, and the inspiration for supper in the form of a jar of korma sauce. If I had taken a shopping cart, I would definitely have bought more stuff, but I was operating on my fiscally conservative mode of buying only what I could carry. Schlepping four rubber stair treads through the store was awkward, but helped with the objective.

I played amateur chef and a pot of rice, mixed veggies, chicken from the freezer, and the korma sauce came together and it was delicious. Two bowls worth of delicious, to be exact. And maybe another small bowl for a snack a little later. The container in the fridge should cover some of the feedings for Thursday and Friday. It’s great not having to always think about what to eat.

random thoughts – Day 2,401 (Tuesday 10/13) – missteps

My yard in the morning 10-13-26.

The sunny weather of Monday was cloudier and gloomier today.  The leaves are still pretty and I love looking out the window at the back of the house and seeing the wooded area beyond the yard. It’s been fun over the past year seeing the seasons change. 

The morning was leisurely and I spent some of it finally making a box of Manischewitz potato pancakes from the pantry. The project took longer than I expected, mostly because I don’t fry foods in vegetable oil very often. 

The batter seemed endless and I stood at the counter eating potato pancakes and applesauce while cooking the rest of it. The pancakes were good, but not as crispy as the glowing description on the box described they would be. I fully accept that it was most likely an operator error/recipe misstep.

Not so crispy potato
pancakes and applesauce.

After the late breakfast/early lunch, I sat down with a roll of silver-backed copper foil, a fid, and a box of small triangles. The tiny triangle foiling project continued with edge wrapping and smoothing. My poor finger tips were feeling abused when I realized the time and that I needed to get myself out the door.

It was dance double-header day with two hours of Denishawn in the afternoon and an hour of belly dance at night in another town, miles away. I failed to properly consider food for the day and headed out with a lone chewy granola bar, a bottle of water, and no food plan for the next 6.5 hours. I ate the granola bar on the drive and arrived at my first class already hungry. Talk about a misstep.

After the first class and barely seven minutes into the drive to the second one, Waze rerouted me without explanation. I have tried to defy the oracle in the past and regretted it, so when the navigation system suddenly wanted me to turn left, I did. I don’t know what mishap Waze was sparing me, but the new route delivered me smack into a traffic jam.

For 20 minutes I sat in a line of traffic, with the only forward movement occurring when a few other vehicles bailed, hooked a left into one of the parking lots on the other side of the street, and headed back the way we had just come. Much of my time spent not moving was spent in front of a Thai restaurant, hungry and closer to home than the destination. It took everything I had to not pull into the restaurant, have a nice Thai dinner, and go home.

Even with the delay, Waze indicated I would still arriving on time (thank goodness for my neurotic big built-in time cushions), so I continued to class. My brain was foggy with hunger and everything felt difficult, even the stuff I know how to do. It was frustrating and much of it (or all of it) was my own fault. There is a definitely a lesson about planning ahead and feeding myself in there and I hope I remember it.

The drive home was dark and wet. With flashing yellow, red, and blue lights all around, a trailer with an oversized load banner on the back and a house on the trailer passed me at one point. The spectacle of trailer, house, and entourage was very festive. 

When I arrived home, ravenous, I headed for the fridge before even taking my coat off, grabbed the bag of deli cheese ends, sat on the couch and devoured a nice thick slab of some tasty unidentified cheese that was definitely not American, Swiss, or provolone. And I started to feel better. Next Tuesday, I will need to have a better food plan. I didn't enjoy the preventable missteps.

random thoughts – Day 2,400 (Monday 10/12) – studio, storage setup

In the studio.

The drive to Worcester was another pretty one. The tree trunks were dark and beautiful from the rain and the leaves were very glamorous, especially the vibrant red ones. A country road with a speed limit of 30 or 40 mph is perfect for admiring the scenery. Unfortunately, the narrow roads with no space to pull over are not conducive to taking photos.

In today’s studio time, I worked on a design I drew ad made with lead came many moons ago. Now, I’m trying it again in copper foil, in two sizes. The morning was spent wrestling glass sheets out of the too small milk crate they have lived in forever, to choose colors to use today. I discovered I have lot of red glass. Much more than  I suspected.

In the studio, four of us worked on own projects and chatted about things like the fun ancestral roots info from genealogy DNA tests, various glass projects, the grinder at the end of the counter that makes a horrible groaning noise when it’s powered off, and holidays like today that are not full-blown holidays and had us all wondering if trash was being picked up or not.

Setting up the new glass storage.

Some of my glass was very agreeable, some, not so much. The pink cut like a dream, the green wasn’t too much trouble, but the purple broke during a simple straight cut.

On the way to the Craft Center, I stopped at the nearby Goodwill and found a wooden crate and a file organizer to hold my glass sheets. This will make it easier to find things. The glass sheets that had been stacking up on the dining room table are now in the crate, but much more is waiting for organizing in the alleged crafts room. Bit by bit, the home crafts room is inching along to usefulness.