Wearing Out a Welcome

Friday Rambles

O.K., in spite of writer’s block I’m writing.  That’s what the advice is.  “Just start writing.”

I didn’t think there was anything to write about to describe this week.  It was birthday week after all and I have already worn out my welcome concerning birthdays – especially in the blog-us-fear.

Then again, the big day got stretched out.  Our son came early and stayed several days, culminating in a visit from our oldest grandgirl who came for dinner.  And before the actual day, Bill gave me a brand new camera.  But I told you all about those things.

After the family left we were invited for a Filet Mignon dinner at a dear friend’s home.  Hurrah!  Great company and great food!

On birthday morning there was a package from all three grandgirls.  It is a heart shaped silver locket.  When opened, it looks empty, but I loved it right away for the expression of love.

Still, why would a locket open to nothing?  Playing around with it a bit, the heart did open more and finally to a four leaf clover of heart shaped frames!  Each frame holds a tiny picture of a granddaughter and finally a picture of my son.  Talk about a wonderful gift!

On that very same day  I went Christmas shopping with my friend, Pam!  Nothing like getting a head start on the holidays,  and what a fun thing to do on a birthday!

Tonight Bill and I are going to a special place for dinner so the celebration continues.   Friends will join us at Rocca’s, the newest restaurant in Lexington, Virginia.   It’s part of the Robert E. Lee Hotel, which has recently been refurbished and restored to it’s former downtown glory, complete with a 1920’s décor and revolving doors in front like a posh New York establishment.  There are even pay phone booths in the lobby that no longer take coins but look the same as in yesteryear.  I think they may provide internet access but I do prefer pay phones. All that’s missing is a speak-easy!

Today I stopped by my favorite shop in Lexington too.  It’s called Virginia Born and Bred and it is patrolled by a vicious creature who gives you nasty incredulous looks if you are not carrying treats.  Don’t let his name fool you into thinking he is a soft, sweet cuddly thing.  Teddy knows how to stand his ground!  He thinks he’s intimidating you but he’s really a sweetheart.  How I love Teddy.

You have my word that this is the final word on birthdays.  My father used to warn us kids never to wear out our welcome when visiting friends.  It’s the “dead fish” saying that visitors will smell bad after three days.

Fall comes and goes (see, I have already changed the subject) and our Red Maple has finally turned color.  That tree is actually gorgeous this year, with yellow and pinkish yellow leaves.  I will take a picture later but not too much later.   The winds are up now and I don’t know how much longer she will hold onto her “crowning glory.”

It has been a glorious fall in this part of the world, but there are now definite signs of winter sneaking in.

I am in a holiday mood already.  How about you?

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Memories of Burgers and Beauty

Beauty

A Week of Random Ramblings

One night Bill and I went to see Wuthering Heights performed at our local university theater of the arts.  Occasionally we get out at night like that.  I should have taken “night” pictures but forgot in the excitement over seeing city lights and other real people.

They have Cream Cheese Jalapeno Burgers here!

On Wednesday we drove to Harrisonburg to take our grandgirl out for lunch and a stop at Costco!  At her suggestion, we dined at Jack’s local hamburger joint where oddly enough, that’s all Jack served – hamburgers.

Bill ordered a plain one in spite of a wide variety of options including a “Peanut Butter Burger!”  And  Kendall and I got Cream Cheese and Jalapeno Jelly Burgers!  Costco is always fun too but seems Enormous to us country bumpkins.

Thursday was dedicated to Getting-Ready-for-Winter.

At our house that means moving out summer clothes and moving in winter.   Somehow sandals don’t work well anymore in these cooler Fall temps.  But I am loathe to store away the new sparkly ones that make my feet look 17 years old.  The object today was to accommodate cooler weather, but the object remained elusive and the sandals still sparkle in the closet.

I did manage to go Monday and Friday to the gym!  And now increasing “footage” (walking), though nowhere near goal.  Today, due to the energy giving qualities of a new vitamin, and the usual self imposed mental delusion  that I am an energetic 17 year old, I set out in earnest.  Never made it to the gym, but…..

Hoping to find apples, there was a farmer’s market at the Virginia Horse Center.  No apples, but lots of honey!  Honey is my next recommendation for hoarding.  And as long as I was there, I did a little walking around the horse center and watched young people jumping things and a very graceful horse and buggy team.  Lovely!

 

I have determined that walking is a good thing.  You never know what you will stumble on.

Late as usual but this was a week of random ramblings gone by and it was a good week after all.

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Learning is Growing

Random Five Friday (The Day After-The Day After)

Surprise visitors who came for Bill’s birthday returned to the Wild West.  After all that excitement Bill and I were left in total silence with only  deer for company so we decided  to take one day to recuperate.  Being Super Woman I kept  running  on empty though, and tackled clean-up duty.  I  forgot about the effects of emotional stress the “day after-the day after” and the physical toll from too much laughing.

My Friend Janet Started the Laughter

• Yes,  laughter, especiallya lot of it, can be exhausting  because on the day after-the day after the visitors left all I did was sleep.  Or picture dozing at the sink or in a flat line daze, staring at a wall  with an empty gaze in the middle of changing sheets.  Isn’t it odd how the body simply gets determined to shut down?  The signals were abundantly clear, so much so that I woke up one time on the floor.  I didn’t faint but got down there to stretch and stayed prone in sweet serene slumber for an hour and a half!

 

• Then came work out day at the “Y,” a Book Club meeting, replenish groceries.  I woke up sleepy though, from the lack of sleep perhaps.  Fourteen hours just wasn’t going to cut it.  So scratch the work out.  I was lucky to make it to book club without lapsing back into oblivion (by the way, Factory Girls is a very interesting book).  And groceries? Leftovers maybe.

 

• Finally the old self returned just in time for an early morning departure for an outing with a good friend.  My last blog post was about our unusual lunch at a Thai restaurant in a Victorian Inn.  We also went shopping!  Shopping for true rural dwellers is an exhilarating experience, with all the symptoms of menopause.  Think hot flashes, nervous tics, shortness of breath, unexplained hunger, and the urge to lie down (or was that still lack of sleep?).

 

• And then it was really time to tackle the dirty work.  My little friend Amy came to help.  She is little but she is mighty!  Amy is getting ready to run a 26 mile marathon in Pennsylvania so she said she did a practice run of 26 miles in 4 ½ hours.  It would take me 24 1/2 hours to hobble that far.  Amy is a five foot tall redhead with boundless energy who just got her license to drive a truck.  She is also going to run in a marathon!  Did you know that true marathoners don’t stop to use  portapotties! Huh?  I will leave the rest of that fascinating fact to your imagination.  Using imagination,  I may never watch marathoners in the same way again.

“Learning is growing no matter how old we are.”

~ Another sage quote from Dor.   Happy Weekend!

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Random 5 Friday

Dianna at These Days of Mine is my inspiration for trying this.  If you haven’t found her blog yet, take a look.  There is something special about her wanderings and the minute you read paragraph one, you will feel you know her well, and her Motorman, and Sundae-the Cat#1, and Gypsy-the-Cat #2.

But thanks for your continued inspiration Dianna, and here’s what happened in my “neck o’ the woods.”  I should have had this out FRIDAY, but it’s only two days late… pretty good for a first try huh?

• It took two days to recuperate from our driving trip to see Frankie Valli in Durham, North Carolina.  The show was fabulous but when we got home everything hurt and all I did was sleep.

• We went to the YMCA on Wednesday and I managed to get in 10,000 walking steps for the day, along with some resistance moves. 10,000 steps is the ultimate daily goal but that only happens about once a month.  After all, there are limits to endurance.

• A surprise gift that wasn’t a surprise came for Bill’s birthday – one of those big televisions.  He was outside to receive it when the UPS man arrived.  So much for surprises.

• Everything seemed to be falling apart this week. The air conditioner unit is leaking in the basement.  Thankfully, it’s cool here.  Bill’s old favorite coffee pot simply quit.   The atomic clock that flashes time and temp on the bedroom ceiling gave up.  We are obviously spoiled with such luxuries but do they all have to die at the same time?  We get the message.

• I saw the twins this week! They are the fawns who have matching spots and are exactly the same size.  Their energy is amazing and it is  thrilling to see them run and play like puppies.  They are soooo fast it’s almost impossible to get a picture but I will keep hoping.

 

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