A Busy Week

In addition to Jeff's three therapy sessions, we both had eye exams, a financial meeting, and Jace had minor surgery and a teeth cleaning. We also ordered a new rug for our balcony. 

Our brother-in-law is coming to have dinner with us and stay overnight. Then we're all headed for Connecticut for a memorial service for Jeff's sister Melissa. It will be nice to see Jeff's family. But as everybody says, it's a shame it takes a funeral to bring us all together. 

While we are in Connecticut, we're going to meet friends for lunch and dinner. During our last visit, it was freezing with snow piles everywhere. This will be quite an improvement.

Could this be our last visit to Connecticut? 

Let's Go Mets!

As I mentioned recently, Jeff and I had a lot of trouble getting TV access to the Mets. On Friday, we watched our first Mets game. We had only seen a few innings here and there before. The Mets now have many new players that I don't even recognize. The Mets have been horrible--just hearing about them has been depressing. 

Yet this weekend, I didn't miss a beat. It felt completely natural to watch and root for the Mets. Even though I didn't recognize half the players.

I guess being a Mets fan is more ingrained than I realized.

Checking Things off the To-do List

Sometimes I get overwhelmed when I have a long to-do list. Sometimes I even get overwhelmed with a short list. 

I recently said that I just wish I could get up in the morning and not have a million things to do. So, in effect, I took a little time off last week. I still did the things I had to do--like food shopping, cooking, and cleaning--but I figured I could take a little longer to make doctors' appointments, research hearing aids, and do some paperwork. 

I meant to turn things around this week, but I didn't get off to a good start in terms of productivity. Yesterday, I was up early journaling and made a Thursday to-do list and completed each item.

• MLB: Jeff and I have been trying for a month to get the Mets TV channel--SNY. I won't detail all the issues, but I got it straightened out yesterday with a helpful ESPN customer service rep.
• Living room screen: The previous condo owner took the screen to be fixed, but it wasn't ready when she moved. I called and discovered it was still at the shop (and picked it up today.)
• My Eye Doctor: I made appointments for both Jeff and me. Since we went to My Eye Doctor in Connecticut,  the new doctor will  be able to access our records. 
• Healthcare Powers of Attorney: I edited and submitted Jeff's. (I couldn't complete mine because I needed a new copy and my contact was out of the office.)
• Clean bath: no need to elaborate.
• WRITE:  (in all caps as written in my journal. It may not have been many words (around 100 words) but it's writing and I'm happy with that for now. 

I just need to keep it going. 

Closing Out May

This month just flew by. We've been grieving Jeff's sister Melissa (who died in April and will have a service in Connecticut in June.) We had our first guests--my brother and his girlfriend came for a long weekend. We got some more furniture. We celebrated Jace's and my birthday. 

We're trying to decide about our wills and health care powers of attorney. I know that this is something we should have dealt with years ago, but we didn't. Now that we're older, it's real. Hey, Melissa would have made a great executor. We don't have kids, the logical choice as executors. On the other hand, we don't have to worry about providing for our kids either. 

This post has taken a dark tone. But, we're dealing with a lot of heavy things. And. I just had a birthday. I'm at the age when you have to start thinking about how much time you have left.

I need to work on my book. 

First Re-read: The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

I don't remember when I read this book maybe 20 or 30 year ago? I don't know what led me to pick it up. I do remember that I really liked it. It convinced me of Richard III's innocence in the deaths of his two nephews--the princes in the tower.. I began to doubt that conclusion after I read Weir's book on the subject. 

I loved revisiting The Daughter of Time after reading The Princes in the Tower Both books focused on police procedures to investigate the ultimate cold case of the princes.

In The Daughter to Time, Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is stuck in a hospital bed with a broken leg. He becomes fascinated by a painting of Richard III and investigates if Richard is really responsible for the death of his nephews. 

Grant concludes that the children survived Richard's reign and suspects Henry VII. Of course, he didn't have access to the records that Langley did.

Happy Birthday and Blogoversary

Yesterday was my birthday--Jace's too. Today is my 16th anniversary posting here. Jeff and I are in the process of getting a financial plan including wills and health care power of attorney. And, of course, Jeff's sister died in April. So, I'm thinking a lot about time, i.e. the time that I have left. 

I want to use some time to revisit my Merwinsville book. Over the last few days, I read about the Merwin and Gaylord families and double checked some dates. For a few minutes I wondered if I was wrong about Sylvanus Merwin and Peter Gaylord being half brothers. Luckily, I was right. 

I was surprised to see I hadn't written or edited anything in over a year. (Although I believe I journaled about Merwinsville a few times.) I'm trying to get into that head set and think about the people. I need to develop the rivalry between the half brothers and add details. I'll probably lose the original scenes between Syl and Flora. Beef up the conflict. Figure out the ending.

Mellow Monday Morning

I'm feeling mellow today. Jim and Liz were visiting Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning. We had dinner with Annette and George at their place, lunched at Bowleys and Loonasea, and went thrifting. Otherwise, we just hung around. I cooked one night and we got pizza a second night.  

I took it easy yesterday too. Jeff and I had gin and tonics on the balcony, I read, and I journaled. As for today, Jeff has a PT appointment at 1. I'll go food shopping while he's there and figure out tonight's dinner. I have several things to do but don't have to do them all today.

It's my birthday week, and we're heading into unofficial summer. The weekend doesn't look very good now, but things can change. Regardless, I'll just try to hold onto the mellow.