Monday Random-nosity

Hello all - I hope if you were anywhere near me, that you managed to keep cool.  And that if you were somewhere that got snow, it wasn't too much. Such weird weather all around. 

Anyway, I have random thoughts floating around in my head, and decided that since Monday is well, Monday, I'd share them with you.  So feel free to stop reading here if you are not in the mood.

Over the weekend, I did manage to finish my Easter socks.  Yes, Easter socks.  What can I say?  In my head, I wanted to finish them, but for the last while, I just was not interested in knitting a stitch on any project.  So I'll share them with you later this week, but I think that's the longest I've ever taken to knit a pair of socks.

For approximately the 10,000th time, I saw a commercial for Shen Yun, which I don't know, seems to come to Philadelphia at least 25 times a year, and yet I have never met a person who has gone to see it.  Anyway, one of the things that really kills me is the "testimonials" from people seemingly on their way out of the theater.  They show the person's first name, and then some qualifier, like "Computer Programmer."  My very favorite is "John, Professional Golfer."  How many times in your life have you been on the fence about seeing a show, and then you read/see that a Professional Golfer enjoyed it, and then you say, "BOOM! I'm going to that if he likes it!"???

This morning on the local news, when they went to give the weather report, they had some guy from a Dallas station doing the weather, because apparently he is the only person available to fill in???  I mean, it's not like Philadelphia is on the moon, so they figured well OK at least there's someone from Dallas available.  There wasn't even someone from Harrisburg, the Lehigh Valley, Baltimore, heck even "all the way over" (as people here say) in Pittsburgh available?  They had to call in someone from freaking Dallas??

Saturday afternoon I was talking to my sister in WV, since we are headed there for the coming Memorial Day weekend.  It sounds like there won't be as many family members there as usual for one reason or another, so I'm glad we got together at the beginning of the month in Baltimore.  But she said that one of my brother-in-law's nephews, his wife and kids, from NC might come up for the weekend, because they hadn't seen us (meaning The Tim and yours truly) for so long.  Which is lovely, but I don't think over the past ten years when we have seen them, we've exchanged ten words.  Oh well, it will be fun to see them nonetheless, it's just ... puzzling.

Do any of you watch "Ozark?"  We just finished the end of the last season this weekend.  Both of us found the ending unsatisfying for a number of reasons.  I mean, it's not like it could have ended with bunnies and glitter, but it seemed annoying nonetheless.

Saturday morning, I decided that rather than fix us something for breakfast myself, I'd walk up to a pastry shop in the neighborhood and treat us to some of their sticky buns.  The woman who was the owner was helping me, and when I went to pay, she said, "You live in the neighborhood, right?" and I said yes, a few blocks away from the shop.  And then she said, "Well, then 20% off."  Now that was a lovely surprise!  It made those amazing sticky buns taste even better!  😃

On my way to work today - which is trash day for our area - I saw a guy come out of his condo building with a flat-screen TV, apparently getting rid of it.  Except that he placed it in between two parked cars.  I said, "Oh are you taking your TV on a trip in the trunk?" and he said, "No, just putting it out for trash."  In between two parked cars??  I so wanted to know his reasoning, yet kept going because that is already a level of weird I don't need to interact with early on a Monday morning.

So there you go.  Let's hope this week if it is full of random weirdness, is the good kind at least.  I'm not sure I can take any other!

Five Favorites for This Friday

It's been a really long time since I've done one of these posts, so I thought I would go ahead and tell you five things from this week that were good.

1. A woman who I follow on Facebook posted this cartoon, and it made me laugh really hard because, well, look for yourself (clicking on it should open it to be more readable):

2. Our roof has needed to be replaced for a while now - I'm talking falling ceiling and  mold in the bedroom (which is why I have moved to the guest room - I can't sleep through dripping water!).  The Tim keeps talking about calling someone, but there has been no evidence of that happening.  So this week, I called three different places to come and give us estimates.  One came on Tuesday, and the other two are coming next week.  I'm glad I finally decided to go ahead and call myself, because maybe that means we can actually have the problem solved.

3. I can't remember if I told you that The Tim bought me some very large plant containers for my birthday (at my request).  About a month ago, we went to a nearby place and bought plants to go into the containers - a forsythia, a lilac, and a hydrangea.  I am beyond thrilled that not only are they all still alive, but they appear to be thriving - the hydrangea has a bloom emerging!  I really hope I can keep them all alive and happy.  (Though this weekend we are supposed to have our first heat wave of the season (which should happen in the SEASON of summer, but hello global warming), and as the TV weather people keep telling us in a sickly enthusiastic way, "It will break records, with temperatures in the high nineties and the 'feels like' temperature will be over 100 degrees!" Here's hoping the plants survive it!)

4. My horrible boss at work has been out of the country for the past two weeks and it has been glorious to not have him around in person and cyber-wise.

5. We had a primary election here in Pennsylvania this past Tuesday, and for a change, nearly every person I voted for, won!  And, stupid Dr. Oz (who lives in NJ by the way) and his terrible opponent are still fighting on their side of things about who won!  The deciding votes will be - get this - once the MAIL IN VOTES have been counted.  The irony, it burns.  As a friend of mine says, ha-to-the-ha!

Here's hoping there have been a least a few things that were good in your world, and that your weekend is a nice one, whether or not it is going to be eleventy hundred degrees where you are.  Take care, and I'll see you next week! 

Celebrity Sighting

I have various routes I take on my walk to work. Depending on my mood, or the weather, I like to keep it from becoming monotonous.

This morning, I walked through Rittenhouse Square, and up 19th Street, towards La Colombe, a very popular coffee place in Philadelphia.  Right when I was at the door to the place, it opened, and someone came out ... it was James McAvoy!  I was so surprised, I said "Oh hi!" and he smiled and said, "'Morning, love."  

Of course, I wanted to find out why he was in town.  So I checked his IMDB page (linked above) and didn't see anything so it was time to turn to Dr. Google.  It turns out the he recently married a woman from Philadelphia, and considers the city to be "his second home."  They met while he was filming a movie for M. Night Shyamalan (known in our house as "M Knight Shama-lama-ding-dong"), who is from here and shoots a lot of his movies in the city and the nearby areas.

(Now, the limited exchange I had with Mr. McAvoy is light years better than the time I ran into Robert McNamara (one of the architects of the Vietnam War, ugh) when we lived in DC.  He was walking towards me on the street, and I recognized him.  We had recently moved there, and he was the first famous (infamous?) person I'd spotted.  I went up to him and said, "Aren't you Robert McNamara?" and he smiled and said, "Yes," and then I excitedly said "I'm Bridget Clancy!" - you know, like he'd recognize that name.  Instead, he just walked away with a concerned look on his face.)

Anyhoo, back to James McAvoy and his wife.  Now that I know more, I need answers to the MOST important questions:

1. Where exactly do they live - are we neighbors?

2. Do they have pets?

3. Do either/both of them knit?

 I'll let you know if my investigations bear fruit. 😉

A Leisurely Friday Stroll Through the Neighborhood

How I enjoyed my Friday day off!  (Of course, now it seems long ago, sigh.)

This was how the morning started out, just relaxing and hanging out with these two:

It was supposed to rain quite a bit, but nothing was happening around our house, so I decided to take advantage of that and take a walk around the neighborhood.  I took my phone with me so I could snap some photos to show you.  One of the nicest things about our neighborhood is that people go out of their way when springtime comes to plant flowers, whether they are in the ground or in pots.  One is more beautiful than the next when you are paying attention.

I decided to head towards the Schuylkill River Trail, to see what might be going on along there.  Passing one of the research buildings that are part of the University of Pennsylvania, I saw these guys.

Nope. You could not pay me enough to do that kind of job!

I though this flowerpot on someone's stoop nearby was particularly fancy.

Then I arrived at the trail.

I was nearly on my own, though there were a couple of runners and I saw one bicyclist.

I found this measurement confusing - shouldn't the numbers go the other way?  Oh well.

In any case, I'm glad I wasn't sitting on this bench when the rapture happened.

Time to head home.

Look how happy these azaleas are in Fitler Square!  I didn't take a wider shot, but if you happen to watch the TV show "Servant" you might be interested to know that a lot of the scenes in the most recent season of the show were shot here in Fitler Square.  

I really enjoyed my walk, and it turned out that it was just what I needed to get the day going.  Nothing of any great amazement or import happened or was accomplished for the rest of the day, but a lot of small things were taken care of, which sometimes feels more rewarding to me.  

The rest of the weekend was nice and uneventful, so it felt like it lasted a long time.

One note for today: Please keep a good thought for my niece Amanda, her husband Pat, and their kitty Clancy.  Today they will likely have to say goodbye to her, and even though she is 18 years old and has had a lovely kitty cat life with lots of love and attention, we all know that it is awful to say goodbye to those that you love.  I'm just glad they can be all together when it happens.  They've had Clancy since she was about 5 weeks old, so she is an extra special kitty.

Take care, and hug your loved ones.

Friday the 13th

 

True - why wouldn't you pet a black cat - or any cat - if it will let you???  For the record, during my life I've had three black cats and they were anything but unlucky. 😊

So Happy Friday the 13th to everyone, and happy Friday if you don't like cats (but seriously???).  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I took today off.  It was kind of a last-minute decision, but a good one.  Also, I realized that if I don't start taking some days, I'll lose them when the fiscal year ends on June 30.  Of course, a lot of that is because it's hard to get the time off approved, which is a whole other situation.  It was lovely to sleep a bit later this morning and know that I have the day to myself.

I was thinking yesterday and last night about what I might do today.  I have put a load of winter things in the washing machine so I can put them away nice and clean until next year.  And as I'm sure is the case with most people, there are a ton of things I *could* do, but that is not a guarantee that I *will* do them.

This cartoon says it all.  I'm not necessarily in the mood to do anything, even if it's something enjoyable.  For the past couple of months, actually, I just haven't been able to stick with anything much.  I've had spurts of wanting to do things, but otherwise ... not.  I've done some reading, but that's about it.  My knitting hasn't been touched for weeks.  I think about doing it, but don't really have the desire to even pick it up.  I see patterns I would love to try, but that's it.  

Same with my needlework.  I love the idea of it, but don't feel like picking that up either.  

So here is my plan for today, as it stands right now.

1. Finish the load of laundry currently in the washer by drying the stuff and then folding it and putting it away.  

2.  Spend 1/2 hour starting on cleaning out my closet. I am in the mood to make serious decisions about keeping or donating. And if I set a timer for 1/2 hour, I won't get overwhelmed and just give up.

3.  Take a walk.  It's supposed to be rainy at times today, so I'll look for a time when it's not raining, and take myself for a nice walk.

As for the rest of the day? Well, if I decide to do something else - useful or not - I will.  But otherwise, I'm just to enjoy a day off and do nothing.  Everything will still be waiting, and I'm not putting anyone in any danger as a result of not doing any of the many other things I could be doing.

Most importantly, it's a day off.  That's reason enough to just be. 

Have a lovely weekend, whether you are crazy busy, or just relaxing the whole time.  I'll see you next week.