Sunday, March 17, 2024

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

 




Jeff and marked the occasion by going to Sedona Tap House for lunch: pulled pork and Kibe beef sliders, greens, shoestring fries, and Guinesses.

I've always considered myself more Irish than any other ethnicity. I look Irish; my last name is Irish. The other ethnicity I was conscious of is German. 

Then I took a DNA test from Ancestry.com. The results were a surprise: 

  • Scotland 50% 
  • Ireland 19%
  • Sweden and Denmark 11%
  • England and Northwestern Europe 11%
  • Wales 7%
  • Germanic Europe 2% 
Still Irish enough to celebrate. 

And happy half-way day Jeff

Book Four: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

I picked up this book while walking with Jace. A house on Magnolia Street had free books on a bookshelf in the front yard. That was about a year and a half ago. 

I had heard of the book, but not much about it. Sometimes, I wondered why I had picked it up. I'm glad I did--I really enjoyed this coming of age story and hope to see the movie.

Lily Owens is a fourteen-year-old girl living on a farm with a peach orchard with her cold and abusive father in Sylvan, South Carolina in 1964. Lily longs for her mother who died ten years earlier. Her only friend is Rosaleen a black woman who Lily's father hired to cook, clean, and be Lily's "stand-in mother." 

After an encounter with local racists when Rosaleen is attempting to register to vote, Lily helps Rosaleen escape from the hospital. They make their way to Tiburon, South Carolina and the home of the Boatwright sisters where Lily hopes to find out more about her mother. 

Lily is a compelling narrator--I love how she sees the world around her. 

I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don't even know it.

If the heat goes over 104 degrees in South Carolina, you have to go to bed. It is practically the law. Some people may see it as shiftless behavior, but really, when we're lying down from the heat, we're giving our minds time to browse around for new ideas, wondering at the true aim of life, and generally letting things pop into our heads that need to. 


Thursday, March 14, 2024

Happy Pi Day


In honor of all things pi, I picked up a pizza pie at Letizia's for dinner. It was another beautiful day, and Jace and I had walked the Norwalk River Valley Trail in Wilton. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Springing Forward and Other Miscellanea

I've been discombobulated since springing forward on Saturday night. Can't we just pick an hour and be done with it? I was sluggish Monday and Tuesday; I don't like getting up when it's still dark; I'm starting dinner later than normal. Hopefully, I'll be fully adjusted by tomorrow.

We're enjoying a few nice days--sunny and warm. I took Jace to Cove Island Park again Tuesday and Winslow Park today. Tomorrow we'll go to Cranbury Park or the Norwalk River Valley Trail in Wilton.On the way home, I'll get a pizza in honor of Pi Day. 

Sounds like a plan. 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

The First Daffodil


It's not a particularly clear image, but it's the first spring bloom that I've found on my walks with Jace. It was along the corner of a fairly active neighborhood street among the trash and painted indicators of water mains. 

The daffodil was the highlight in another bleak, chilly, rainy day.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

A Sign of the Times

Walking with Jace this morning, I noticed a sign "Welcome spring" on a Magnola Street house. It may be a bit early--13 days to be precise--but knowing spring is imminent helps to deal with four the bleak, chilly, rainy days in the past week. It also helps that I saw daffodil and crocus buds this morning. 

I was thinking of putting my winter boots in their off-season storage spot, but I don't want to tempt fate. 

13 more days. 

Monday, March 4, 2024

A Taxing Time

I was supposed to get all the tax paperwork together last week--a goal I made for myself. I don't do the taxes myself anymore (too many mistakes.) I just needed to make sure I had everything and got the papers organized. I had previously put papers received in the mail in a manilla folder and other items in an online folder. 

I remember specifically telling myself last Monday that I really didn't have to work on taxes that day. I don't remember specifics after that, but I managed to find excuses and reasons to procrastinate the rest of the week.

Today I finally sat down, printed up a few documents, but realized that one of my 1099s was missing. Unfortunately, this was not one I could easily print from a website. After logging in with a new password and codes and not finding anything, I called and discovered the 1099 had to be ordered. I'll be able to get it online in three to five days. 

If only I had done this last week, I could have the document by now.

Oh well. Lesson learned.