“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 904 (Wednesday) – walk abo

Construction fencing and a
pile of dirt on Market Street.

This afternoon, it felt like a good decision to take a walk. In a preliminary test of the fuzzy idea to walk to work someday, the route chosen was Merrimack Street towards home. The street was mostly level and sidewalks were constricted by construction site fencing, but it wasn’t awful. 

One of the impediments to execution of the “walk to work” fantasy is distance. Mapping shows there are 1.7 miles between home and work by foot. That will take a bit of time. After walking to work, then working all day, the idea of walking home feels a bit too daunting, and spending money on an Uber or Lyft ride would be an extra expense.

Today’s walk was educational. At the one-quarter mile mark the left leg, broken 11 years ago, hurt. Every step hurt between the knee and ankle, but only when weight was transferred to the left leg, so it was only for half of the steps. The total distance was a smidge shy of a mile at 0.97 and if not for the leg pain which had me wondering if I was traveling with a visible limp, the few steps needed to hit a full mile would have been taken.

Mural from the Market
Street sidewalk.

The uncomfortable after effects and paranoia about a potential limp have been annoying, but the walk itself was pretty decent. There were the usual Lowell sights like canals and a huge dirt pile peeking over the fencing at a construction site. A bit further down the same street, there was a view of one of the new murals up close. Or at least, from the sidewalk outside the building with the mural, instead of from across the street or one or two blocks away. 

Knowledge was gained. Sophia’s, the Greek market with Val-Pak coupons, was discovered to be closer to work than I thought, which was a nice surprise and now I know where to go to use the Val-Pak coupon in today’s mail. It must be a sign. And knowing the current, new limitations of walking on flat terrain is depressing, but good to know. Now to figure out what to do about it.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 903 (Tuesday) – cemetery walk

The Ayer lion.

It continues to rain. Monday night, while checking the basement for water, a puddle was found at the base of the chimney and in the usual corners. There was also a deceased small, gray rodent in the middle of the floor, so it would appear it’s mouse season as well as (finally) rainy season.

There was a meeting after work, and I also needed to perform my civic duty and vote in the primary election, so at 5:00, I logged off the work system and bolted from the house. My voting place is new, so there was some navigation required to get there, figure out where to park, and then find the entrance to the building. 

After walking all the way around the building from where I parked, I finally saw the voting site sign at the entrance. From the street, parked cars blocked the view of the hand lettered, magic marker sign which had bled in the rain and looked like an abstract water color painting.

The voting was accomplished quickly and I arrived early at the meeting site near Lowell Cemetery. This afforded me the opportunity to have a walk in the cemetery, which I’ve been meaning to do since being part of an organized tour there several years ago. 

Clara Bonney Lilley memorial.

It was gray and misting lightly. The walking app was activated  for distance tracking and mostly for the map, because I've managed to become lost when I already knew where I was, never mind when at someplace visited only once. The walking ended up being power bursts in between frequent stops for photo taking, all while hoping the sky didn't open up with a downpour.

The cemetery is beautiful and is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the nation. Many of the monuments are gorgeous, and there are impressive, huge sugar maple trees providing cover. My “cemetery light” only have a few minutes speed walking path took me to the J.C. Ayer lion and the Clara Bonney Lilley monument with many small tokens and offerings at her feet. 

The next visit will be planned and less hurried. At least that is what I told myself.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 902 (Monday) – leisure time

Winston's water challenge.

The day began with the comforting sound of rain and the cooler temperatures made it perfect for sleeping late. Unfortunately, “later” at The BungaLowell is rarely much past 7:00 am. It had rained enough that water flowed down the street and a puddle collected at the bottom of the stairs, requiring feats of skill on Winston's path to potty. 

While the coffee was brewing, so were ideas for the day. The weather made the day perfect for indoor entertainments. Crafts. Puzzles. Reading. Changing the wardrobe from summer to early fall. Baking. Cleaning. Writing. 

#1 for a minute.

These things did not happen. 

The morning was spent watching a cute kids series Ivy and Bean. The series Love is Blind was finished. A binge of the Netflix series Fakes. Duolingo Finnish lessons were done and there was about a minute of holding the number one spot in the league. The complete and utter decimation of the remaining half box of the Whitman Sampler that somehow survived Sunday’s chocolate frenzy. Wordle, Quordle, and Woodoku were played. 

Food was prepared and eaten. For lunch, “prepared” meant combining potato salad, macaroni salad, and roasted chicken in a dish. Supper was a bit more involved with rice, chicken, broccoli, frozen mixed vegetables, chicken, cream of chicken soup, and cheddar cheese and now there is some left over for lunches.

Winston also enjoyed a day of leisure. He slept on the living room rug. He slept in his bed. He slept on the couch. The Canine Overlord is a master of leisure. The most exciting event of the day was that Win ate his food. He ate his breakfast without incident. He ate his supper without incident. It was a good day. A couple more days of doing nothing would be great, but you know, work. I'm still curious to know how long it would take for me to get bored. 

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 901 (Sunday) – naps and nibbles

Winston and I had plans to head west to a cookout at Mom’s today. In the morning bustle of showering, cutting strawberries for dessert, chopping chicken, starting broth, and drinking coffee, I forgot to eat breakfast. In the canine corner of the house, Winston picked out and ate the fresh chopped chicken added to his bowl and skillfully left all the glucose management kibble.

Win’s energy level has been low and he has been sleeping more than he used to. Historically, in the car, he would hop up to the back seat, or would stand at the console as if calculating how to get into the front seat. Today, he stayed in his bed on the floor behind my seat and hardly moved during the ride.

Winston's day of rest.

Once at Mom’s, we did the usual orientation tour around the yard and then we went into the screen house. Win plopped down, alternating between the stone pavers and his bed, oblivious to everything. I dove into the plate of cheese and crackers and the plate of shrimp cocktail. 

When I eat at home, Win is at my side quietly begging which involves him looking adorable and stealthily edging closer to me. It he’s feeling ignored, he’ll emit a sigh or a huff. Today, with prime opportunities to be slipped a piece of shrimp, bit of burger, or a chip from the four humans at the table, he slept. After the boycotted breakfast, this feels troubling.

On the way home, Win slept in his bed. His liveliest moment was when we arrived home and I was chopping chicken to add to his supper. He stood at my feet, tapping has front paws to express his impatience, his too long toenails that he won't let me cut clicking on the floor. When I set his bowl on the floor, he scampered over to it. Again, he picked out all the chicken, which was chopped as tiny as I could get it, hoping to force the intake of the scientifically formulated prescription kibble with the chicken. After eating the best parts of his dinner, he came and begged for some of mine, but by then, it was gone. And then he retired to his bed to sleep.

Maybe he’s just extra tired, but it feels like it might be something more. And now this human's obsession will kick into overdrive and his every bite and every movement will be under scrutiny.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 900 (Saturday) – alone in a crowd

While I may be an expert at scheduling photo shoots and good at managing project timelines and the various project moving parts at work, it is a different story altogether in the social side of life. Thought goes into imaging having plans with friends, but the follow-through in making real-life plans is usually lacking. Maybe because of all the timeline management and planning done at work, it's the last thing I want to do outside work.

Recently, my piss-poor personal planning meant having Music Series tickets in hand all summer and failing to make plans to see a show. Usually, a couple friends and I go to a show, and choosing is easy because there is generally something we all want to see. This year, none of us were especially hot to see anything in the lineup and the choice of show was delegated to me. Oops. The next thing we knew, it was the last show of the season and my friends weren’t available.

Determined not to waste the tickets, I headed out at 7:45 Saturday morning to make a real estate claim at Boarding House Park for that final show. While spreading my flamingo patterned beach blanket on the grass in the low chair area, there was singing. A few seconds later, a woman in a green dress appeared on the stage, pacing and singing. It wasn’t loud, but it was nice. As I was leaving, she seemed to be practicing a confident strut down the center line of the stage. If the car hadn’t been boldly parked in a clearly marked “No Parking” zone with Winston in it for my two-minute real estate transaction, I might have stayed to watch/cheer her on.

Before it got dark and chilly.

Between the land grab and the show sat a span of about 12 hours. The time was spent relaxing and then jumping up to do house chores. A pale purple mum bought a couple weeks ago was planted. Weeds were pulled. Canine Overlord land mines were harvested. A trip to Ocean State Job Lot in Tewksbury yielded another mum for the yard, which was planted immediately. I forgot to do my Duolingo Finnish lesson.

Back at the park for the show, the sun was setting and the darkness brought cooler air. The lineup was two bands with blues music. At intermission, having recieved the nightly reminder, the forgotten Finnish lesson was completed.

By 9:00 I was past chilly and approaching cold despite having layered a shirt, light hoodie and jean jacket. Luckily, the blanket was large enough that I could wrap it over myself while in my chair. It helped, for a while anyway and then it was 65 degrees and I was too cold and plotting my escape, which didn’t happen until right before what was declared to be the last song. 

It wasn’t the first concert attended solo, and as a result of the previous shows, the extreme self-consciousness was gone. The cover of darkness helped to not feel so conspicuous, too. Conquering feeling alone in a crowd has been an ongoing life goal. Now there is a new goal of expanding the social contacts to have people to call on short notice for activities.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 899 (Friday) – 27 minutes

The unplanned walking route.

The workweek is concluded, the long weekend is here. There was work and a midday walk in the cool 70-ish degrees day. In 27 minutes, 1.46 downtown miles were covered.

The walking route was not planned and was dictated by not having to pause to cross streets wherever possible. The route was not a neat loop. It took me past the Whistler Museum, some dining spots I didn’t know existed, and later, the construction site at the high school where a Santa Claus figure was stationed like a sentry at the entrance to the site. There were cobblestones and bricks and canals. 

In my brief absence, a team came to our floor and connected new phones. There is now a second phone sitting next to the old phone, crammed onto the desk. Next week, the new phone will be fully activated and I can get busy on the eight different documents that arrived via email after its arrival. Those will likely take longer than 27 minutes to tackle. 

Clearly, a lot can happen in 27 minutes – exercise, sightseeing, photos, discoveries, and technology hookups.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 898 (Thursday) – Worcester on TV 2

After the successful Prime Video binge of season 1 of Kevin Can F**k Himself before it was gone from the stream, I rediscovered that  AMC is on my cable lineup, which gave me access to season 2. If I ever watched regular TV or consulted the online guide, I would more than likely know AMC was part of it.

The Worcester setting brought me in, and the show’s storyline got dark late in season 1, which might have made me like it more. Now, season 2 is killing me. In a good way. The dramedy is one thing, and someone continues to do their homework with the local references.

Turtleboy - June 2015.

In season 2, episode 1, Patti tells her brother, “Well, you also took a header off Turtle Boy, and Kevin laughed till he puked, so it was a great day.” And I laughed out loud. The delivery of the sentiment sent me back to growing up in Fitchburg and later living in Worcester, and the very specific reference cracked me up. For the non-Worcester folks, “Turtleboy” is a bronze statue of a boy riding a sea turtle that sits on Worcester Common, and is an unofficial mascot for the city.  

In season 2, episode 2, Diane is talking about her husband’s affair with a girl who, in high school, “Lost her virginity to Jay McMahon in the bathroom at Chuck E. Cheese in Fitchburg” (emphasis on “in Fitchburg.”) Ok, Chuck E Cheese was actually in the neighboring city of Leominster, but it just sounds funnier in Fitchburg. 

Because season 2 is running right now, I need to wait until Monday for another episode and this is why I hate appointment TV. But with fees for cable, Prime, and Netflix, there is already more than enough money being shelled out for the moving picture box and I’m not paying extra for AMC+ streaming just so I can watch my show sooner. That’s good money that is needed for my recreational and cultural trips to Worcester and Fitchburg.