Cleaning, Packing, Unpacking, and Still Time-tracking

That sums up my day.

Cleaning because I've neglected it lately and Jeff's sister is coming to visit. 

Packing because we are driving to North Carolina on Monday to visit Jeff's other sister.

Unpacking because I'm re-arranging a few things as I dust and wanted to put out a Thai Buddha on a living room table. 

Time-Tracking because I want to complete the week. I am tracking on a spreadsheet on my laptop. It would be easier to manually record the information, but much harder to review. On the pc, I can highlight different colors to get a better picture of how I spend my time. It's going pretty well. I had to backtrack for a few hours on  Monday, but otherwise, I'm doing a decent job keeping up. 

Happy Saint Patrick's and Half-Way Day

 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! A friend recently said I was proud of being Irish. But, it's not so much that I feel proud, but that I feel part of a larger group. My father was more aware of his Irish roots than others; he and my sister even researched our family in Donegal. 

Dad always loved to sing. I can hear him singing, "If You're Irish (Come into the Parlour." It's a welcoming song with lyrics like, "whoever you are, you are one of us" and "this is the place for you." 

Two years ago, I wrote about my DNA results from Ancestry. My results indicated 50% Scottish and only 19% Irish. I felt adrift, as if what I thought I knew about myself wasn't true at all. 

But that wasn't the final analysis. Ancestry added additional records. 

The July 2024 update listed 25% Scottish and 24% Irish (followed by Germanic Europe, England and Northwestern Europe, Wales, Spain, and Iceland.)

When I logged into Ancestry over the weekend, the analysis didn't break out the Scottish from the Irish. 

Current results:

Celtic and Gaelic

31% Central Scotland and Northern Ireland

22% Donegal, Ireland

7% Southern Wales

4% Connacht, Ireland

England

20% Southeastern England & Northwestern Europe

15% North East England

Southeastern Europe 

1% Slovenia

So, Gaelic and Celtic it is with 64%. 

 

Today is also Jeff's and my half-way-day: we've been married 37.5 years. Happy anniversary Jeff.

Time Tracking

Last weekend I was droopy and annoyed about the time change and the hour I lost. I thought it would be a good idea to track my time. But I forgot about it. 

This week, I remembered. I'm tracking my time in 15-minute increments. Today the condo scheduled a dryer vent cleaning, Jeff had physical therapy, and I went food shopping and did chores. That about sums it up.

All I can say so far is that tracking my time helps me realize how much time I am using for particular tasks. It helps me focus a little better. 

Pies for Pi Day

Today did not go as I planned and hoped. But I still managed to eat pie. 

We got a pizza pie as a back up dinner plan. Since I hadn't planned on pizza, I got two half-pies earlier today from Geresbeck's (though I hate going to the grocery store on the weekend.) The lemon and peach pies were terrific. 

Happy Pi Day!

Almost Spring

We've been blessed with several days of warm weather with temperatures ranging from the mid 60s to the low 70s. The sun was strong the last few days--almost all of the snow piles were gone and the ground was finally starting to dry out. 

That's all over now. I knew the 70-degree weather wouldn't last, but I didn't expect it to end in snow. It's not snowing at the moment, but snow is expected to mix with rain over the next several hours. Ugh. We've had more than enough snow this winter. 

I had been seeing more wildlife in the area: the red fox that lives by the pool house, cardinals, a crane or heron, and a Northern Pintail duck. I was intrigued by the pintail; I met a bird-watcher on the trail here and he identified it for me. I've also been watching the emergence of shoots and buds. Yesterday, I saw my first daffodils. I'm excited about what spring will bring.

March Miscellanea

 I always look forward to March--it feels good to get out of February. It's been a hard winter. Snow from the January storm took a month to (mostly) dissipate. There are still small patches and large snowplowed piles. But, at the end of February, I began to catch a whiff of spring and hear birdsong. In the final weekend, temperatures rose to the high 50s. Jace and I returned to the trails and the boardwalk.

That didn't last, of course. The following Monday, it snowed for several hours and left a coating on the ground. Luckily, that snow dissipated quickly. I'm waiting for the 70s predicted for a few days next week.  

Jeff and I have tried a few more restaurants. One was a breakfast and lunch place with good steak sandwiches. We also went out for a good seafood dinner with friends. We have many other places to discover. 

We watched some of the Olympics in February. I'm most interested in figure skating. I saw the men's and the ice dancing competitions, but somehow missed the women's and the pairs. Oh well. Now, some of our other shows have returned, such as Matlock and Ghosts. 

We also rediscovered Nancy Drew--a series that we had started to watch on the CW back in 2019. We had seen most of the first season, but the show went on hiatus or the timeslot changed, and we never got back to it. We found it on HBO Max recently and watched the first two of four seasons. TV Nancy is not much like the Nancy Drew I've read. In the premiere, she's having sex with Ned (now called Nick) and he's black. Nancy's mysteries also involve the supernatural: ghosts, witches, wraiths, and the like. 

Most of our days revolve around medical appointments. Jeff has physical and speech therapy each week. We've also scheduled other medical appointments. Plus it's tax season. I spent most of last week stressing about getting the tax documents together. I got them to the accountant on the 28th.

Then there's still unpacking and organizing. I got a lead for someone who can install wooden bookshelves in our dining room. I haven't figured out exactly what I want, but it's a start. 

Book Five: Imago by Octavia E. Butler

Imago is the last stage during metamorphosis--adult development. This book continues the story of Akin, now called Jodahs. During his metamorphosis, it's discovered that Jodahs is becoming an ooloi with the ability to shapeshift and alter genetic material. He'll be the first ooloi born of a human mother (Lilith.)

This development is a complete surprise and raises concerns that until Jodahs matures, he could inadvertently alter genetic codes and endanger other life forms. He could become too dangerous to remain on earth and be exiled to the mother ship. 

To avoid that, Jodahs and his family leave their community to live alone in the forest. But they have to contend with resisters, including a new community of fertile but deformed humans. 

In this book and Adulthood Rites, I was most engaged when Akin/Jodahs are in danger among the humans. It's the humanity in Jodahs who saves the humans despite their inhumanity.