Another Reason to Love...

September. 

I look at September as a month of opportunity. I like these ideas. While I don't pressure myself much about New Year's resolutions, September goals are easier. 

My main goal: return to a writing routine. 

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. 

Goal Tending

I've been thinking that for the past few years, my goals haven't been very thought out. I recycled previous goals and forgot about them for weeks at a time. 

Here are my current thoughts.

Dryuary: I've been doing some version of this for over 25 years. I'm a third of the way through the dry period (I don't drink again until Valentine's Day.) I recently read that Dryuary isn't such a great idea. Instead, you should rethink your drinking. It's something to think about. I find myself drinking more in the last week of year, because I stop after that. 

Exercise: I've been trying to exercise for a half-hour each day, and it's going pretty well. I was planning to join a gym in February but may wait a little longer. I need to do more research. 

Reading: I don't want to set a goal of a specific number of books read, but I want to read more than I have been. I have only a few books here that I haven't already read, and there in boxes, except for the Connecticut book mentioned below. I need to check out the Essex Library.

Writing: I've been journaling and doing some blogging. Unfortunately, that hasn't translated to "real" writing. I think I'll pick up a book about Connecticut railroads. I first saw this book in the history room of the Norwalk Library but later found my own copy at a library book sale. Maybe that will inspire me. 

2025: Real Estate Edition

As I've been thinking about the past year, our biggest accomplishment was our move to Essex. I hadn't listed it as as a written goal, but Jeff and I agreed that we wanted to move by October. Moving day was October 3rd. 

Of course, I can't say that we've finished moving. Most of our clothes are still in boxes in our closet (thank God for a walk-in bedroom closet.) Boxes took over our dining room/library on day one and show few signs of retreating. We'll get there someday Our next focus is bureaus/drawers in the bedroom.

I've been thinking a lot about the whole moving process, our options, and the choice we made. First, I'm glad we didn't select Delaware. We would have been settling. The first place we really liked wasn't dog friendly and didn't have a good neighborhood to walk in. We didn't like the ownership/condominium status in the Milford condos we visited. We also looked into having a single family home built for us, but the builder was the defendant in a class action lawsuit. The allegations were disturbing.

We decided to look in Maryland. We seriously considered a unit we saw in Perryville, Maryland. It had three bedrooms, two baths, two balconies, a wonderful soaking tub, a walk-in shower, covered parking, indoor mailboxes, and a view of the Susquehanna River.

It was the town itself that was the problem. It was a little too isolated--about a half hour from medical facilities. After Jeff had been hospitalized in October, he said "Imagine if we were in Perryville." I would never have been able to rely on Annette and George. 

Then we headed down to the Baltimore area. We liked a a unit in this complex--Hopewell Pointe. We took a return trip to see it and the Perryville unit. We saw another four or five condos in the Baltimore area. 

This place was by far the best for us. I liked Essex from the first time we saw it September 2024. I like our location. Our street consists of two condominium complexes. The buildings are 20-25 years old--a far cry from Sheffield Ridge. 

We are half a mile from Old Eastern Road, near the pool, the boat slips, and the trails. Jace and I have been on all the trails and walked around the neighborhood as well. When it gets warmer, we'll walk down Old Eastern to a nearby park. We'll also get a chance to enjoy the pool; it closed in mid-September. It will be nicer to explore, in general. 

Here's to 2026.

Revisiting 2025: Reading Edition

I'm currently in the middle of The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel--it will be Book 17 if I finish it in the next five days.

I've read the following: 

Five Points The 19th-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder

Anne Boleyn A King's Obsession by Alison Weir

Henry VIII and His Court by Neville Williams

Road of Bones A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery by James R. Benn

The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr

The Autobiography of Henry VIII With Notes by His Fool Will Sommers by Margaret George

Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Green Darkness by Anya Seton

Catharine of Aragon by Garrett Mattingly 

Anne Neville Queen to Richard III by Michael Hicks

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Mothers of Invention Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust.

I've re-read these books:

The Mystery of the Tolling Bell by Carolyne Keene

The Concubine by Norah Lofts

Neptune Noir Edited by Rob Thomas

The Last Hollywood Romance by Beverly Bloomberg

Of the 16 books, five were histories, four were historical fiction, two science fiction, and five other fiction.  Tudor England was well represented in five books completed, one in the progress and one a re-read.

My favorite books of the year were Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler.

My reading total of 16 books was my lowest since 2017 when I started tracking number of books read. There were two main reasons for my low total. First is the move: I spent so much time decluttering, packing, and organizing that I didn't have much leisure time. Some nights, I just passed out as soon as I hit the pillow. I'm also spending too much time reading things online. Yes, I like to keep up with the news, but there's so much frivolous, if not actual garbage content that it's not the best use of my reading time.

I need to check out the Essex Public Library soon. 

Done!

I'm happy to report that I crossed a big to-do off my list yesterday yesterday. I got Jeff enrolled in a Medigap policy. Bonus: we got a policy for about $200 less than I expected. 

I'm relieved that, to quote my law school professor Bernard Schwartz and Rocky from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, that particular sword of Damocles is no longer hanging over my head. 

In other news, our freshly-painted Norwalk condo is officially on the market. It's listed as "coming soon," and the pictures look good. Here's hoping people agree. 

Has It Been a Week?

Sometimes time can mess with you. 

It's been a week since we closed on our condo in Maryland.

But here we are in Connecticut. Everyone asks if I'm packing. Yeah, but I also have the daily chores and errands. Most recently, I've been reviewing moving companies and contracts. I think we're okay in that area. 

So much work to do. I alternate between being overwhelmed and being confident. 

Thursday I gave myself two to-dos. I did them and felt good about it. I need to be more ambitious. 

Mid Year Review

This isn't a fun post to write. It hasn't been a great year for me.

Let's start with the fact that I never put together a list of goals. Here's what I  used for the first quarter review.

Gym visits: I should have 75 visits to be on target for my annual goal of 150. As of June 30th, I have 62 visits (and 5 in July.) Not bad, especially compared to 78 visits for all of last year. I'm happy with my physical activity. I'm walking Jace about 1.5 hours daily. I usually exercise here for a half hour when I don't go to the gym. I have real biceps. I'm now working more on my left bicep so it will match the right. I notice muscles in my thigh that I never noticed much before. 

Reading: I've read 10 books this year. Parable of the Sower was the best. I reread two books: a Nancy Drew mystery and a novel about Anne Boleyn. The other night I picked up Dune when I headed into bed. I just wanted to read something that wasn't a magazine. I got three books at the library today, so no more rereading for a while. 

Blogposts: This is my 61st post. January through March I was writing over 10 monthly posts. Then I fizzled out. Not posting is part of a bigger problem--not writing. Journaling has also suffered. This is something I need to change. 

While I haven't written about moving as a goal, Jeff and still hope to move this year. We've spent a lot of time looking at condos and houses online and have made two trips to Delaware. I continue my decluttering efforts. We just need to find a place to live.

First Quarter Review

It looks like I never officially made a list of 2025 goals. I'll review this quarter based on 2024 goals. 

Dryuary Plus: I didn't drink from January 2 until Valentine's Day. It was only difficult on one stressful day.

150 Gym Visits: Through March 31, I've gone to the gym 34 times, just a bit off the pace to hit 150. I only made it to 150 once, but it's doable at a pace of three visits per week. It was April 2024 that my gym visits virtually stopped for several months. I can't let that happen again. 

Reading: Last year my goal was 40 books, but I only read 27. By the end of March last year, I read four books. This year, I read five. I also read a simplified version of Little Women, which I'm not officially counting. The five are: Five Points. Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII and his Court, Road of Bones, and Angel of Darkness. All of my books so far are good. 

Blogposts: My 2024 goal was to write 150 to 200: I wrote 132 and 35 through March 31. I wrote 38 by March 31 this year. on pace to write 152.

Writing: Once again, I didn't do specific writing goals, but I had been working with the plan of writing 500 words a day. I did it several days, but kind of lost my way. I averaged 334.6 words per day on the days I wrote (January 2 through February 8.) I started revising in late March. Have to get back into the daily habit. There's lots of time left in the year.  

Two Weeks

I clicked on this site and saw the last title, "A Month Away," and thought it hasn't been that long. Just two weeks. 

Last week was bad, and the week before it had its own issues. Jeff was in a lot of pain last week; it was hard for him to even walk around our apartment. We cancelled all his appointments even the physical therapy that he needed; just walking from the car to the PT office would have wiped him out. At least he's feeling better--his normal level of pain. It sucks to have a normal level of pain on an everyday basis. He got back to PT yesterday and goes again tomorrow. We booked PT sessions through March. 

About two weeks ago, I felt like I had too many things that I needed to manage. It was if I were juggling and was losing some of the balls in the air. I pulled out a notebook and made a to-do list. Nothing earthshaking here--I just wanted to have everything in one place rather than scattered across my planner. I had nine "to-dos" and was thinking about how/when to do them. 

I quickly realized that I had forgotten two vital items: income tax prep, and health insurance research (Jeff is losing his Cobra coverage in April.) I added two more items. Over the last two weeks, I crossed off five items. That's not good, but not too bad considering. 

Anyway, time to make a new list. A new priority: my grandniece Daphne will be one in two-and-a-half ways. I'm buying her (and my other grandniece Ella) a book my cousin Deb wrote. I also have a copy of Go, Dog, Go! for Daphne. One of my favorite Cooper family photos is one of Daphne's father Kurt with his grandfather who is reading Go, Dog, Go! Unfortunately, that photo is in storage now. Recently, I've been displaying fewer photos, and put several good ones away. Oh well, I need to continue with my decluttering anyway.  

Bad news from the New Canaan Nature Center: the black vulture Mort has died. It might have been the Avian Flu. Mort was easygoing, vocal, and always hungry. Sad: NCNC just lost Ralph in February.

It's not all bad things recently. We had a week of nice weather. First the winds died down, and then it warmed up. Countdown to spring is progressing. We made it to March and are watching the Mets. This weekend we spring forward.

I went to a program on Rails to Whistlestops and made a contact with a Housatonic Railroad historian. This helped me get back into my Merwinsville work after a slow February. I'm also back in a good exercise routine. It helps with the stress and keeps me going. 

On To February

I'll be happy to see February, not because I like February, but because it gets me closer to spring. I'm seeing more light later in the afternoon. 

Some snow remains from from the 20th because it's stayed cold for the most part. We have clear areas, snow patches, and piles of plowed snow. At least we're one third through winter. Actually, a little more than a third now. Yay.

Why isn't Groundhog Day on my calendar? It's not a real holiday but deserves a spot. I've already heard a news story that Staten Island Phil aka Charles J. Hogg  is the most accurate groundhog. I wonder if he has a PR person.

I've had a good January. I've been to the gym 13 times (I think--too lazy to check.) I've exercised at least a half hour when I didn't go to the gym. Of course, I'm also walking with Jace. Our walks have been less frequent and shorter

I've written every day since the second. I often get distracted from the actual writing by checking facts or going off on what may be tangents. One day it was how to learn the Morse code; another day it was women's fashions of the 1840s. I've enjoyed following where the story took me. Even if I don't end up using those pieces.

Valentine's Day is in two weeks. A local distillery is offering a welcome cocktail, whiskey tasting, and chocolates for $44 per person. Just out of curiosity, I checked out Valentine's Day menus of a few restaurants: $150 per person. That's just crazy. 

We haven't made our plans. Sometimes I cook, sometimes we get takeout. Time enough to decide. 

Off to a Good Start

It was a good feeling to walk with Jace today around 4:30 and realize it was nice out. It was 40 degrees which we hadn't seen in a while. More importantly, there was no wind. 

It sets the tone for this positive post. I'm happy with how 2025 has started.

Beginning January 2, I've been writing every day (from 223 to 587 words) for about a half hour to an hour-of-a-half. 

I've exercised every day beginning on the 2nd and gone to the gym six times. 

I've written eight blogposts. 

I've been changing up some routines and habits. The most important thing is writing in the morning. I've also changed Jace's walking schedule around. I'm switching up my gym workouts. I'm not spending as much time in the early morning on The New York Times games. That has been the most difficult routine for me to change. 

I haven't done much thinking about goalsetting. Instead, I'm actually doing things that will help me get to my goals.

I'm adding this following because I thought it was funny. It's a paraphrase from a collection of tweets--probably from the Huffington Post. 

                    I don't want a new year. I would prefer a gently used year. 

Time to Say Goodbye

 A week and a half into 2025, and things have settled in a more-or-less normal pattern. I realize that I haven't written a post about 2024 goals, highlights, etc. 

Spoiler alert: it's because 2024 was pretty much a total failure. 

Here goes: 

Dryuary Plus

Achieved.

Go to the gym 150 times. 

With 78 visits, I barely made it halfway to this goal. I was doing well with double-digit visits through March. I hit a funk in April, hurt my hand in May, had to deal with colitis (and am still navigating it to this day.) I was also away for a week in June and one in September. That doesn't fully explain my lack of visits from April through September.

Read 40 books.

I only read 27 books last year. The biggest reading month was June with six books. I wish I had at least read 30. I re-read four Preston and Child books as I waited for Angel of Vengeance (book 17.)

Write 150 to 200 blogposts.

I wrote 132 posts. I wish I had written more. On the other hand, I don't need to write more drivel.

Other writing/artistic work.

I didn't make any specific writing goals, and I barely wrote. The same with artistic work.

2025 is Here

I wasn't happy with my 2024. It will be hard to come up with 10 positive things about the year. (Off the top of my head--I've got three.)

These are possible images of my year 

running in a hamster wheel

running on a treadmill

treading water.

I went through the motions, but made no forward progression.

How do I change that?

Seriously?

Off to a Stellar Start--Not

On weekends, I often think about the things I will do when the week starts again on Monday. Honestly, a large part of this is procrastination, but there's also a feeling of optimism--next week will be the time I get it together--writing, working out, cleaning--whatever. 

Even though I had just told Jace, I have to start getting up earlier, I stayed in bed for an extra half hour this morning. Then I remembered Jeff has an appointment with a new acupuncturist--part of his neurologist's practice. Also, I went into the kitchen and remembered that while I had loaded the dishwasher, I had left pans, the cutting board, and knives to clean. I hate to do the night's dinner dishes the next morning. Oh well. It took me most of the day to catch up  Between chores and errands, I still haven't put away all the laundry on the drying rack since Friday. One errand was to take Jace to Taylor Farm; it wasn't necessary, but I felt he deserved it. 

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. I will care for the birds at New Canaan Nature Center as I usually do on Tuesday, but we won't worry about cleaning and chores tomorrow. I do need to pick up a few things for Jeff's gift, and I'll pick up a dessert to have at home.

As I'm writing this, the Mets have beat the Nationals 2-1 in 10 innings. The Braves are losing badly (0-9) to the Dodgers in the ninth, so the Mets will be in line for the third wild card. I'm glad the Mets have a better start to the week than I did. 

 

Monday Musings about a March Weekend

Saturday, I visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC with my brother and his girlfriend. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day--the woman checking our membership said the museum is always packed on rainy days. I found the people taking pictures of the art and of each other in front of paintings very annoying. We probably would have stayed longer if it hasn't been so crowded.  I enjoyed the art especially Van Gogh's Starry Night and Dali's The Persistence of Memory. I also liked Hopper's Gas, and Monet's Water Lilies.  I impressed myself with how many of the other artists whose work I could recognize: Picassso, Klimt, Pollock, Mondrian, Seurat. We had a nice pizza lunch afterward in a restaurant we had to ourselves.

Yesterday was the 22th anniversary of the day that Spike came to live with us. He is often in our thoughts, especially on his birthday and anniversaries. We'll always miss him. In the past 22 years, we've only been without a dog for eight weeks: four between Spike's death and Lola's arrival, and another four between Lola's death and Jace's arrival. 

A week from today is April. Hopefully, April will bring warmer weather for good. April also means the year is one-quarter done. I need to take another look at my goals. I continue to fail at writing. I need to figure out just what is wrong.

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. 

Longing for March

Another week has passed--with two snowstorms. I'm happy that next Friday is March. I know we have another month of winter, and winter weather may ignore the calendar. But getting through February is hard, and I'll celebrate it. 

I haven't been happy with my year so far. I've barely been writing and done very little blogging. It's been eight days since I've been to the gym. I'm still reading my second book of the year. I was on my seventh book by this time last year.  

I need to make some changes. To be continued. 

2024 Goals

I've been avoiding and/or procrastinating about goals for this year. I guess I'm hung over from 2023 failures. 

I'm two-thirds through my version of Dryuary. Going forward, I'll drink less during the week. (I know that's not specific enough to be an effective goal, but it will do for now.) I'm going to be more mindful of what I drink as well as of what I eat. 

I'm going to continue with my gym goal of 150 gym visits for 2024.

I'll stick with the reading goal of 40 books for the year. Maybe I'll have better luck in 2024. I read an article recently that opined that the type of books read are more important than the number of books read (to be continued in another post.)

Write 150-200 blogposts. I fell short of my goal of 200 posts for 2023. I guess three to four posts weekly is fine. 

Other writing--here is the hard part. I don't want to overthink this. Let's start with writing 200 words a day. 

Art goals? Let's start with something this week in my art journal. 

Maybe the time is right.

2023 Goals Review

I achieved only two of my annual goals.

I am proud that I finally made 150 gym visits for the year. I figured that goal was reasonable based on three visits a week. Last year was the first time I even got close at 143. I realized at the beginning of December that this could be the year I achieved my goal. And I did it, even though I had to go the gym the last six days of the year to do it.

The second success is my version of Dryuary. I didn't drink from January 2nd until Valentine's Day. A side goal was to drink only on weekends. I didn't succeed there (especially around the year-end holidays) but I am drinking much less often during the week, and I'm happy with that. 

Now onto my failures (sigh): reading, blogging, writing, and making art.

I wanted to read 40 books this year: I only read 29. I read 33 in 2021 and 35 in 2022. I'm disappointed that I regressed, but I feel a little better after reading this. Apparently, I'm in the 90th percentile of book reading U.S public. Not too shabby.

Another goal was to write 200 blogposts; I wrote 148. I find it easy to let days go by without posting. I read somewhere you should post at least three times a week. I barely missed that. 

Let's move on to writing and making art. I failed miserably here. My writing goal was to spend at least two hours a day writing, editing, researching, blogging, journaling and in that time produce 200 new words. I did this--maybe--a handful of times.

Another goal was to spend two hours a week making some kind of art. Another big failure. 

I need to continue to think about 2024 goals.