Category Archives: Uncategorized

It has not been a fun week.

.

I’m a ridiculously healthy person.

I still have my appendix, my tonsils, my wisdom teeth and my gall bladder.

I’ve never broken a bone, had the measles or mumps or even a cavity.

I’ve had one surgery in my entire life.

I’m 61 and take one small dose medication for high blood pressure. My body is far from a temple, but it’s served me well over the years. And when I do feel poorly? I don’t run crying to the doctor, I usually just gut it out at home .

Until today.

A week ago I was out weeding a few garden beds. No big deal, I do it all the time. But after two hours I was so frickin’ tired I had to stop. I came inside, showered, went to bed…..and stayed there for 3 days. I was dizzy, nauseated, had a headache, stomach pains… I barely ate or drank, had vertigo whenever I got up. On the 4th day I felt fractionally better, but not good. My head was foggy, I was queasy, and the fatigue was crippling. Today… day 6… my husband (who is the worst nurse in the world ) said enough is enough and made me a doctor’s appointment.

And I still feel so awful I’m not arguing.

Wish me luck.

.

Let’s play.

.

Because it’s been a while.

And today is the 4th so we’re celebrating our stars. 

.

Screenshot

.

I never thought much about drawing stars and figured everyone did it the same way I do…

413524

Turns out that’s not true. 

So how do you draw a star?

..

I lived through the ‘70’s.

.

The 70’s were an interesting decade.

It was an era of political upheaval and social unrest. Vietnam and Watergate were serious issues.

Shag carpeting and lava lamps were not.

I was a kid and fondly remember wearing a purple suede fringed vest with purple and grey striped bell bottom jeans. Mini skirts, halter tops, thigh high boots… women’s fashion was bright, bold, colorful and an awful lot of fun.

Men’s?

Not so much.

.

.

Sorry guys.

I still have nightmare about your leisure suits.

😳

.

Random nonsense.

.

Some things that made me smile this week.

.

.

I have never wanted to visit Florida more in my entire life. This beats my lame Rhode Island cat cafe hands down.

.

.

It absolutely did.

No idea why, we never did that with anything else.

.

.

Every once in a while I have to drag our couches across the floor…

.

.

To rescue the catnip mice who are trapped back there.

My husband found some old paperwork from his Marine Corps days when he emptied his closet a few weeks ago.

.

.

It deals with his shop receiving uncapped fuel controls for the T-58 engine on the CH-46 helicopter. It kept happening and every time it did, the cost of overhauling the engine was 203 times the cost of the cap.

This is government waste.

No DOGE required.

.

.

I saw this FB the other day and had to do the research.

.

.

Yes, it does exist.

.

.

And if it had a little cigarette dangling from its mouth…looks so much like my great aunt Madge it’s frightening.

.

Maps… they’re just backwards spam.

.

.

I admit I was unfamiliar with Maine’s oldest business and had to look it up.

.

.

Can’t say I was overly impressed with the accommodations….

.

.

But I dare you to find an older business that’s still run by the same family.

John Gooch, the first settler in the Cape Neddick area, arrived in the area 1637. At some point, he established the Inn, and, by 1667, he was commissioned by Ferdinando Gorges, an agent of King Charles II, to “reside on the ocean-front peninsula at the mouth of the Kennebunk River and ferry travellers across the River.”|2](31|41 The inn has been in continuous operation by the Gooch family since its inception. In 2018, it remained owned by John Gooch’s twelfth-generation descendants.

Damn.

1667?

Beat that!

.

.

Interesting how that breaks down regionally. Wonder why…

.

.

Mainers.

We’re moderately happy.

.

.

Yankee, and proud of it.

.

.

None.

I’m proud of that too.

.

.

Weird maps.

They’re my jam.

But hopefully not the toe variety…

😉

.

Delightful treats and a less than delightful Boston tunnel.

.

Still wasting time waiting for the junk emporium antique store to open, we strolled the Four Corners section of Tiverton.

.

.

It’s a lovely little area.

.

.

Quaint…

.

.

And charming.

.

.

Naturally, my husband found a wagon.

.

.

Which was outside a gourmet cheese shop.

.

.

We were on our way home and I had a cooler in the back of the car with frozen ice packs.

Let the shopping begin.

.

.

Inspired by Doris Duke’s pets?

Maybe, but I still passed.

.

.

Hmm…

No.

.

.

My treats….

Local cranberry blossom honey, French herbed cheese, Apricot dark chocolate..

.

.

Yum.

Heading back to the crap shop antique store, we passed a gorgeous church.

.

.

But even after wasting two hours waiting for that stupid place to open, it didn’t. And my husband left Rhode Island without the BB gun and sputtering about missed opportunities.

.

.

The windmills are straight.

The telephone poles, not so much.

It was an uneventful trip home until we hit Boston traffic. That’s enough to ruin anyone’s day.

.

.

And to make it worse? My husband took the wrong tunnel exit …

.

.

So we spent an extra half hour trying to reroute.

As soon as we got home?

.

.

He went out to his happy place while I unpacked.

.

.

As you can see, I had help.

.

.

It’s nice to be missed.

.

.

❤️

.

When you know you married a good man.

.

Have you ever been overwhelmed with bad news? I mean a rapid fire, one after the other, series of events that simply makes you gasp for air?

That happened to us last week.

Monday – Learned an old friend had died. Unexpected heart attack, he was 52.

Wednesday – Discovered one of my husband’s breakfast buddies was diagnosed with stage four leukemia. They’ve given him 3 months.

Thursday – My girlfriend who had pneumonia this spring and couldn’t seem to get over it? Was just diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. She’s never smoked a day in her life. And while they were doing an MRI for that… they discovered she has colon cancer as well.

My heart was ready to break, I swear I couldn’t take anymore. Then my husband came home from doing a small job for a lovely old couple in the next town. He’d been over there for a few days installing new handrails for their stairs because the husband is battling pancreatic cancer and is failing quickly. Every morning this sweet old couple goes to his doctor’s appointments and treatments holding hands, but that afternoon they went to the funeral home to make arrangements.

The next day was their 50th wedding anniversary.

My husband didn’t really know them, was just asked to do a job. But he came home, told me the situation and then went right up to our local florist and ordered a giant anniversary bouquet to be delivered to them the following day.

.

.

They won’t see another wedding anniversary … but hopefully this unexpected gift brought them a small measure of joy.

Life is short.

Sometimes unfair.

And very often heart breaking.

Marrying a good, kind, generous man makes mine worth living and I’m thankful for him every single day.

❤️

This morning I was driving down the road on the way to the grocery store. I was thinking about my girlfriend battling two completely different forms of cancer and wondering if she’ll be able to get through it. I had just started to tear up when this truck pulled out in front of me.

.

.

Not sure if you can see it, but on the bottom right?

It says f*ck cancer.

I couldn’t agree more.

❤️

.

A last minute change of plans and a French breakfast.

.

Morning balcony selfie, day 6 of the second Newport trip.

.

.

The weather put a wrinkle in our vacation plans that Wednesday.

We were scheduled to leave Friday morning, but a wicked N’Or Easter was due to hit Wednesday night into Thursday with high winds, torrential rain, and flooding. Faced with the prospect of spending all of Thursday stuck at the resort twiddling our thumbs during the storm… just to pack up and leave the next day… we opted to scoot out early and beat Mother Nature home.

.

.

So we said goodbye to Newport’s colorful old homes…

.

.

Its odd statuary….

.

.

And the ever present windmills.

But the one thing my husband couldn’t say goodbye to?

That stupid BB gun he found at the awful junk store… so back we went.

,

.

Only to find it closed. Again.

Determined to buy it, he detoured to the Tiverton Four Corners area to kill time and try again later.

.

.

I didn’t really mind.

.

.

It’s a pleasant little section of gift shops and specialty stores…

.

.

With a wonderful French cafe.

.

.

The pastries?

.

.

Ooh la la!

.

.

The decor?

.

.

Vintage bistro.

We originally picked seats in front of this mirror…

.

.

But soon realized staring at yourself eating is not conducive to happy dining.

.

.

This little table by the window was much better.

.

.

Not being very hungry, we both ordered breakfast sandwiches which was oddly served with salad.

Can’t say I’ve ever had tossed salad with breakfast… but when in a French cafe in Tiverton, Rhode Island … c’est la vie.

Was I hungry enough for a pastry?

No.

.

.

Did that stop me from ordering a cinnamon bun/cronut?

Also no.

.

.

Even the rest rooms felt French.

.

.

Was it wildly overpriced?

Yes.

.

.

But a delightful little stop all the same.

.