12 Oakdale

After trying every single time one was offered, I finally nabbed a reservation at Michael Heizer’s land art work City. Sunrise, July 21, which means we will meet our transportation at 3:45 AM. Ouch. At least it will be cool. I immediately made flight, car rental, and motel bookings for a 2 day trip. We are crazy. This weekend, Patten took Brightline up, bringing 2 mangos (first crop ever) from his tree. He made us daiquiris to celebrate Father’s Day and Grant’s 83rd birthday. Stephanie joined us for lunch on Sunday, bringing a delicious chocolate cake.  Clara painted flowers on my rain barrel, and I channeled Dad, creating a stand for it from wood I already had and painting it with the purple paint left from our back door. Only expense was $8 for white spray paint, which Clara covered with brown, and the $20 tip I gave Rodrigo for installing the rain chain ($150 from Wayfair). In 2022, he had replaced the lanai gutter so it came out through the screen (Terry from Integrity Screens ...

Dang, I forgot to pack my pajamas. My legs were cold at night, so I woke up enough to find my long socks. At home, I would have clicked on my electric mattress pad and enjoyed a full-body heated experience. We’ve put away the flannel sheets, but decided the one-touch warmth was good for all our aches and pains. Such luxury. Tomorrow night, I’m putting the extra blanket on the bed. I was able to come on my planned visit because Trish and Paul so kindly accepted my offer of a free Florida vacation. Grant is getting around just fine with his walker. He was able to cook bacon to add to the Cobb salad I’d left him when I went to a garden club event a week after he fell. Just needs the right motivation. Now 3 weeks in, he would have been fine home alone, but it was nice to have time for a long visit with his sister and bil. This will be the longest Grant has gotten to see them since 1989, when we rented a house together at the beach in North Carolina Outer Banks. Bella and I are committed to...

Sixteen days ago, I resolved to swim every day. Back and forth, back and forth, breaststroke over, backstroke return. Not fast, nothing fancy. My goal was to get the habit restarted. First for 5 minutes, then add a minute every day. I’m up to 22 minutes. It was fairly easy. Granted my right shoulder is really sore, and my left hamstring still aches, but I just stand on the second pool step, turn, and fall in backwards. Once wet, I swim until my timer goes off. All good until the temperature dropped three days ago. From the 70’s at night to the 50’s.  Even though the air was cool, the first day the water hadn’t cooled very much. I’d struggled into my wetsuit top a few weeks ago when the first fall days came, but I deemed that too much trouble for the little extra warmth it gave. Now, shoulder ache be damned, I would have to start wearing clothing as I swam. My first time was with just the top, next day top and my swim pants which aren’t thermal, but help a little. Yesterday I tried ...

It’s day three after Election Day, and we still do not know who our next president will be. Latest results seem to flow to Joe Biden, with 253 electoral votes versus President Trump’s 213. Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes are likely to go to Biden which will clinch the presidency for him. He is calling for patience while all the votes are counted; Trump is tweeting to stop the counting. Meanwhile, I just keep swimming. I bought a wetsuit top which seems to keep me warm even though the sleeves are loose, so water gets in. In any case, whether I need the wetsuit to avoid hypothermia (likely not in Florida), it takes away any excuse of avoiding getting into the pool. Once I’ve flopped in and asked Siri to set the timer on my iPhone, I paddle back and forth until I hear the chime to stop. I know this doesn’t help with bone density, but the exercise helps me sleep. That’s good enough reason to do it. Eventually I plan to push the pace and do freestyle, but for now, I breaststroke over and ...