The forecast for tomorrow is pretty spring-like. But jump ahead until Tuesday, when it's back to a winter chill. Some portions of the metropolitan area even have a freeze watch for late Tuesday through Wednesday morning.
I don't car how cold it gets....even if I have to wear multiple layers when I leave the house I refuse to get out my heavy coat again!
Five years ago: In Fashion? Me?
It's been 15 months since Hubby Tony and I moved into our condo. (Time sure does fly.)
When we downsized from our large house we got rid of a lot of furniture, but our comfortable, three-cushion La-Z-Boy couch with a recliner on each end came with us. We've had the couch for almost 20 years. It's structurally sound, but has a few cosmetic issues. The foam in the cushions is breaking down a little, and the padded footrests have dips in the middle. In addition, the couch is really too big for our new place.
Our plan was to get situated, figure out what we wanted, and buy new seating. Just about the time we had the figuring out part done, Covid shut things shut down. Even after the stores opened back up we made do, figuring that a new couch was a want and not a need.
Now that Tony has a lot of time on his hands we decided weekdays would be a good time to go furniture shopping, because there would be less foot traffic. A couple of weeks ago we visited some stores and sat on furniture. We came home, measured the room, and checked a couple of websites. After discussion we figured out the room would look nice with a pair of love seats arranged in an L-shape. Rather than relying on an ottoman for our feet we decided to stick with something that reclined.
Today we went back to a store with a list of three specific love seats that we wanted to take a last look at. We sat on all of them, figured out which one we liked the best, and placed an order. That's the good news. The bad news is that Covid shutdowns in the factory caused a backlog of orders, and it will take approximately 20 weeks for our new furniture to be delivered. We'll be using the old couch for quite some time.
When Hubby Tony made his list of post-retirement activities, going to a weekday afternoon baseball game was near the top. He researched the options, bought tickets, and today just before the announcer read the starting lineups for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals we were settling into our seats.
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| Our view |
Not surprisingly, there were multiple social distancing procedures in place. First, the stadium was at 32 percent capacity. Masks were required. Tickets were sold in pods so there was no sitting next to strangers. (We were on the aisle and there were six empty seats between us and the next pod.) Every other row was roped off. Tickets were electronic, and all concessions were cashless. The larger food stands had only touchscreen ordering.
I know a lot of thought went into the Covid plans, but the entrance procedures still needed some tweaking. Tony purchased our tickets on the secondary market. They were missing the designated entrance gate information, and we talked to at least one other person who had the same problem. Instead of bringing my big purse I put my essentials in a wallet on a string, which fit the posted size standards. I still had to go through an Inspection Lane, which an usher didn't point out until we had stood in a different lane for 15 minutes.
But the minor annoyances went away when we entered the stadium and walked up the ramp to the upper deck. Although the low-60 degree weather was a little cooler than I would have liked (our seats remained in shade for the entire game) I solved the problem by putting on a promotional puffy vest they handed out at the gate. Eventually we walked down a couple of levels and over to the sunny side, which made a big difference.
Yadier Molina, the Cardinals beloved catcher, celebrated a milestone today when he became the first Major League Baseball player to catch 2,000 games with one team.
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| What an achievement! |
I had three tasks that needed to get done today. Because he could, Hubby Tony decided to tag along, and patiently waited in the car while I completed each task. The last one was only a couple of miles from the Botanical Garden, so after all the 'have-tos' were finished we headed in that direction.
(Last Christmas Tony gave me a Garden membership for Christmas. Since then we've made several visits. After the last one, we agreed that as the weather gets nicer weekdays would probably be better than weekends if we wanted to avoid crowds.)
When I pulled into the Garden parking lot it looked like there were a lot of cars, but I found a spot halfway down the first row. Due to capacity limitations you have to have a ticket to enter, but they're free for members. After getting our tickets scanned, and a quick trip to the rest rooms, we walked out the doors and into the gardens.
The beds had a lot more color than the last time we were there. There were huge swaths of tulips and daffodils, and they were also scattered throughout other areas (like the rose gardens) that wouldn't have any color on their own.
Tony and I meandered through the Hosta, German, and English Woodland gardens before we reached the Japanese garden. The cherry blossoms were past their peak, but there were still a few trees in bloom. Between them and the azaleas it was lovely.
In the Japanese garden we stopped to admire the koi in the pond, then left and moved to the formal Boxwood garden. About this time we decided we were getting tired and quickly scooted through the Rose garden, made our way back to the visitor center, and exited to the parking lot.
Five years ago today: Out With The Bad
As an interesting side note, I learned that the average human takes fourteen minutes to fall asleep. I also found out that the site works by counting backwards in 90-minute sleep cycles. I know from past experience that if you wake up in between cycles you feel refreshed, and groggy if you wake up in the middle of a cycle.
Five years ago today: Zen Masters (In honor of National Pet Day)
A couple of weeks ago I decided I was tired of some of our everyday cloth napkins. I tossed them in the Goodwill pile and bought three new pairs at a local thrift store.
It's been great to see fresh colors and patterns on the table at dinnertime. However, one of the sets has an interesting problem. They're made out of the same material, and appear to be cut on the grain. So why does one of them come out of the dryer relatively wrinkle-free and the other one wrinkles badly around the edges?
(Because it's just Hubby Tony and me it's not worth pulling out the iron to correct the problem. I just smooth out the wrinkles to the best of my ability, fold both napkins, and put them in the drawer.)
Five years ago today: Day Lily Determination
Right now the temperature is more like mid-May than early April. We opened all the windows, and last night at bedtime I turned on the ceiling fan for the first time since last summer. When I woke up this morning it was already in the mid-60s, and on the way to a high temperature of 80 degrees.
I had three errands to run and decided to combine getting them done with getting some exercise by riding my bike. After rolling out of bed I pulled on shorts and a tee shirt instead of showering. After breakfast and computer paperwork I gathered my supplies and threw on my backpack. On the way out the door I said goodbye to Hubby Tony, who had his own list of To-Dos for the morning.
First up was voting. All my ballots last year were submitted by mail, and I was excited to do it in person. Last year they implemented a system that lets you visit any polling place in the County. A couple of weeks ago I received a sample ballot in the mail. On the back it had a list of the four closest polling places to my house. The one I chose was three miles away, at the far end of the range, but convenient to my other errands.
After voting I rode to the grocery store to pick up a couple of ingredients for dinner. The cashier asked if I wanted paper or plastic for my items; I said 'neither'. She placed my things at the end of the counter, where I picked them up and stuffed them into my backpack.All except for the banana that I ate outside before I put my bike helmet back on and left.
My last stop involved a little backtracking to get to a branch of my bank. This location has both a walk-up and a drive through ATM. There were no cars waiting to conduct business, so no one to complain when I rode my bike through the line. I completed my deposit quickly and was on my way again. The trip home was uneventful, and I pulled into the garage about 90 minutes after I left.
Hubby Tony ended his working career on Wednesday. Thursday we got our first Covid vaccination. Friday our activities took us in different directions, although we did come back together for dinner. The weekend was filled with normal weekend activities, plus rituals for the Pascal Triduum (the three days leading up to Easter-Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Saturday). Son Donald joined us for Easter dinner.
Today was the first real morning of Tony's free agency. He was gone when I rolled out of bed, and I knew he had gone to mass and coffee afterwards with his friends. When he got home there was no work day setup to do. Jackson the cat is a creature of habit, and seemed to be annoyed with the change. Tony placated him by sitting at his desk for a few minutes and dangling a length of ribbon they play with.
The day passed in a flash. Tony tagged along for my trip to the gym. I joined him on his trip to Walgreens. We tried unsuccessfully to figure out a technology issue, then decided we needed to talk to an Apple technician.
Mid-afternoon Tony went to the dentist to get his teeth cleaned, something he couldn't have done if he had to put in a full day at work. When he got home he helped me put dinner together, then I helped him clean up. He did some things on his computer, then went back into the office for his standing Monday night Zoom meeting.
And the good news for Tony is that there are endless tomorrows to do more of what he wants to do.
Five years ago today: A Wright Adventure
I love Emmylou Harris's version of this David Olney song about a charlatan who 'heals' the sick and makes a 'mute' speak. When he encounters Jesus, he decides to go along as long as his way is paid. They're going to Jerusalem the next day.
Five years ago today: Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks
Based on his profession, Tony technically could have qualified a couple of weeks ago. But he chose to put it off, because he was busy wrapping up the loose ends at the job. He also wanted us to be able to get 'shot' at the same time.
Originally, scoring a dose of the vaccine was somewhat of a crap shoot, because our Governor sent a higher proportion of doses to outstate, non-metropolitan areas. There were reports of vaccines going to waste because not enough people were signing up. People from the St. Louis area started taking to the road to get vaccinated, as much as two hours each way. Hannibal, Cape Girardeau, and Rolla were popular destinations. That inequity been righted, a few mass vaccination events have happened not too far from us, and more are on the way, but in the St. Louis area there's still more people who want the shot than there are shots to give them.
Several weeks ago Tony talked with a 'vaccine hunter' who had taken it upon herself to connect people with places. She kept sending him links, and last week he followed up on one in Washington Missouri. Appointments were available, and he asked if I wanted to go; it took me about a half second to run to my computer and start logging in.
We made our appointments for 10:30 am. That would allow Tony to sleep in, and make sure we were finished with everything before lunch. Washington is a city along the Missouri River that has a nice downtown area with plenty of restaurants. Our plan was to leave our car at the vaccination location and walk to one of them.
Our vaccination instructions said to wear a short sleeved shirt to make the injection process easy. The weather turned brisk overnight, and I left the house wearing three layers-the short sleeved shirt, a fleece, and my lightweight winter coat. The location was easy to find. Inside, there were socially distanced chairs placed against the walls of the small building. Tony and I checked in, filled out paperwork, then waited for our turn. Just a few minutes after the pharmacist called us into the consultation room we were finished. I spent the required 15 minutes waiting period browsing around the store.
We asked the pharmacist for restaurant suggestions. He offered three, and we chose the first one, the Old Dutch Hotel and Tavern. The restaurant area was on the ground floor of a small hotel. It had beautiful aged wood floors, and a metal ceiling that looked original. Our waitress was friendly, and the food was fresh and tasty.
On the way back to the car Tony and I popped into a couple of stores and got a cup of coffee to drink as we walked. Along the way we saw the other restaurants the pharmacist had mentioned, and discussed which one we would try on our next visit...28 days from now.
Five years ago today: It's All O.K.
