Raincharm’s Weblog

I worked the first half of today before doing the last final errands. Last groceries forgotten and delivering Christmas to Carl’s kids. It’s a little weird calling them Carl’s kids when he hasn’t cared for them since mid-February.

Then we had our traditional walk through Candy Cane Lane, a block where all of the 23 houses decorate, since 1949. We walked from home, and it was a nice outing. Keeping the 6 foot space between walkers was a bit challenging at times, but we managed.

This was followed by takeout from a Chinese restaurant. We have done this before, and it seems to be a tradition way beyond us. I don’t know where or how it started. This restaurant has been around for a long time, and apparently has a following. Old school with no restaurant based on-line ordering. I started calling at 11:30 when they opened for lunch, and got through after about 5 tries. Pickup at 6:30. We got there at 6:30, and there were 2 lines, 1 for pickup and the other for ordering (those that gave up trying to get through on the phone). Finally somebody came out and asked who was there for pickup. We won the lottery and were the next called in. The person in front of us was completing their order, for pickup at 8:30. After that they said no more new orders, I am sure there were a few waiting that were disappointed.

Dinner was delicious, and plenty of leftovers too.

The big neighborhood news today was the fire at the old, closed Seven Gables Theater, a few blocks south of us. We heard the sirens, the theater was half a block from a fire station, but there were many sirens. I looked up the fire call and figured it was most likely the theater because it was a boarded up building, likely providing shelter to some transients. The other choices for the reported intersection were the public library (horrors), a newer retail/apartment building or a small strip mall type restaurant. We could see the smoke and they ended up closing several of the streets in the area.

Watching the news I counted at least 10 fire engines. Quite the sight, and just another change to our changing neighborhood.

Our dinner is done and I think we’re ready for Christmas.

This is a bit I saw on the interwebs, but I thought I would share because it made me laugh. As we close 2020, something to think about:

1.     The dumbest thing I ever bought was a 2020 planner.
2.     I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone.  He asked me what I was wearing.
3.     2019:  Stay away from negative people.  2020:  Stay away from positive people.
4.     The world has turned upside down.  Old folks are sneaking out of the house & their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!
5.     This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her dog.  It was obvious she thought her dog understood her.  I came into my house & told my cat.  We laughed a lot.
6.     Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit.  Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.
7. Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands?
8. This virus has done what no woman has been able to do.  Cancel sports, shut down all bars & keep men at home!
9. I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him/her with a 6-foot pole” would become a national policy, but here we are!
10. I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.
11. I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to the Backyard.  I’m getting tired of the Living Room.
12. Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go up to a bank teller wearing a mask & ask for money.

It doesn’t matter that it was late, sometimes you just have to follow tradition.

A year ago or so it snowed. Carl did not go out to make a snowman. The family across the street were worried he was ill. It was really due to poor packing snow. So he went out, and they helped build his snowman.

We got our Christmas tree last weekend. The lot was moved, but we still got to support one of the local elementary schools. Green Lake is Ashlan’s elementary school, but now kids on our street go to MacDonald.

We brought it inside right away, but it languished in its naked state for a few days. I did keep it watered.

In Michigan the decorating has begun.

Totally by coincidence, breakfast this morning

Back in Seattle, I finally got a few lights hung, and mantel decorations started to appear. Yesterday morning I got inspired, or was avoiding work for a few more minutes, and hung some ornaments.

Compare ours to an NYC apartment tree on the previous post, or The NYC tree.

Hint, not the tree. That’s our exciting news last night. In a very dark Central Park Allen asked Ashlan, and she said yes. Pretty exciting.

Allen had asked us and others to provide a short video of our reaction to the idea. Here is ours

There was video footage, but it is a dark place, so excuse the video quality.

Just for fun. The backstory is that Ashlan wouldn’t stop work early…

And a Happy Birthday to Becca too. What a great day

T-day is over. All of our leftovers have been consumed, although there are some “fresh” spices to be used in other dishes.

Yesterday we managed a good walk, several miles. We explored a bit of new neighborhood, for us, while waiting for our grocery pickup time to arrive. Today included errands that required a car, or a full day’s walk, so we drove here, there and then the other place. The very last place was a brewery, for a 4 pack. Just regular beer, supporting our local brewer friend. It was close, more or less, to one of Carl’s kids from a few years back. So we parked at the brewery and walked into the neighborhood for a front porch chat. The dad had open heart surgery in 2020, so they commiserated and compared war stories, but not scars. Too chilly.

We have been busy, but have not started decorating yet. We will probably get a tree, so need to start soon.

For now I will share Ashlan and Allen’s festive efforts. The ornaments are Carl’s Mom’s non-picture designs.

If you zoom in you can see what else they have in their relatively uncluttered apartment.

I know it is a weekday because my alarm went off this morning. But I did keep trying to do weekend things, like planning a walk to the farmer’s market, or getting the garbage ready to put on the curb.

I won’t say we didn’t partake of a bit of the madness that is the day after Thanksgiving, but most of our shopping was the normal pick up variety, including groceries.

Because it was a sunny day, a walk had to be taken. We parked at the grocery store and headed out to a nearby neighborhood. It is a bit more upscale than our neighborhood, with some of the houses having waterfront on Lake Washington. We also found some small public lake access points.

I think this house is confusing. Halloween with pumpkins, Christmas with a wreath, but no Thanksgiving decorations.

A very enjoyable walk, and we got back to the car in plenty of time for our pickup.

Dinner tonight was almost the same as yesterday. Good again, and we finished about 2/3rds of the pieces that made the dinner. A bit of turkey, and some cheese spread are all that is left.

And we still have a weekend to go.

We started the day with a walk, pre-dinner. This is my point of view for much of the walk.

We have chatted with several folks over different venues. Lamb and Turkey were tied at 2 each, with steak as the runner up. Since our turkey is wrapped in bacon, pork gets an honorable mention.

It wasn’t all decadent.

Tomorrow maybe we’ll think about decorating.

What to work on today?

I have been saving the LA Times and NY Times Saturday and Sunday crossword puzzles from the print copy to do when I have time and focus. I may be in August now. I tried doing one from the digital version of the paper on my phone, but it didn’t have the same feel (and for some reason the NY Times version gets cut off on the right, unless you have chosen a word that goes to the edge. It’s an acknowledged issue, but not corrected.)

I don’t know how manatees came to be part of our family friends. We live a long way from where they live, but they are a favorite animal.

My father actually saw the Hindenburg airship the day before it went down, or is it up.

These two things join in our family’s lexicon. “Oh the humanity!,” became, “Oh, the huge manatee.”

So Ashlan just had to share this gem

I don’t know which crossword this is, but it made me laugh.

And in other news for those familiar with Seattle icons.

Yesterday’s list of meetings was Interrupted by a trip to the blood bank. To make a deposit. This particular bank is actually a church, and not one I had been to before. This afforded my driver the opportunity to walk in a new neighborhood while I reclined.

I have donated before, but don’t recall the squeeze ball ever giving me the finger.

Anyway, it all came out all right, and besides feeling drained, we are back into our normal, sequestered life.

This entire year has been screwy from a time perspective. It is flying by, and hard to discern what was last week, or was it last month, or 4 months ago. The sameness of my views is a large contributor to this inability to parse time. That, or just being older.

So I started holiday shopping this past weekend. It seems early, but there you have it.

Perhaps I’ll blame Ashlan for putting Christmas icons front and center.

The picture was intended to show off Ashlan’s haircut. Allen thought it was just a minor trim, but Ashlan claims 5 inches gone. I’m still growing my mane. Not willing to go there, yet.

Back to the task at hand, working to replenish the coffers from all that shopping.

Our own little bit of Jeopardy

I’m glad I didn’t know about losing Alex Mr.Trebek until after our zoom for Corwin’s party. It would have put a damper on the festivities, including a double cupcake smash cake, made with banana, applesauce a blueberry whipped cream topping and other ingredients I do not recall.

We did manage a good walk in the cold sunshine, but most of my day was spent filing. Several months of regular paper that arrives at our doorstep, and 2-1/2 years of Explanations of Benefits statements. All in the name of getting ready to move some furniture around. Note that no furniture has actually moved yet, but I am a lot closer to pulling that pin. The main piece to be moved needs to have its current contents curated, and some relocated. Then there will be nothing holding me back.