THE APPLE I-PAD...

 

is an amazing piece of equipment; however, I really hadn’t given it much thought or looked at it as one of my favorite things. That all changed yesterday.

I was maybe a chapter from finishing a book on my I-pad and I knew the battery was low. Still, I persevered, hoping to reach THE END. Instead, the screen suddenly turned black, an indication the battery was dead. Okay, fine, I’ll just plug it in and get back to the end of the book by the end of the day. HAH.

Late evening, I went to get my I-pad. I had checked to be sure it was charging when I plugged it in, but now, the screen remained black. Nothing I tried would bring that damn thing to life. I was a bit distraught.

Now, I’m the kind of person who always said I HAD to read the book by holding the actual book in my hands. Ten years ago, when I went on a trip by myself, I downloaded books to my I-pad and took it with me. Traveling by myself, it was the best companion possible when it came to the end of the day and I was in my room alone.

My original I-pad died in 2020 and I bought a new I-pad Air. It has so many different utilization possibilities, I haven’t even begun to figure the majority of them out. I can do my email, go on the internet, and, best of all, read books I download from the library. I keep telling myself I’m going to spend some time figuring out how to use the various programs and apps on this I-pad, but I haven’t yet.

Anyway, this morning I went online to see if I could figure out what was wrong with my I-pad, all to no avail. I did find out there’s a program that will help me learn how to use this I-pad and I’m going to check back at some point and see what it can help me with. Now, the only alternative was a trip to Alderwood to the Apple store.

I arrived a bit before 11:00 am, was signed in and told I would have to wait thirty minutes at the most for assistance. I sat out in front of the store in the sunshine and played with my phone. When I went back in, it was maybe another five minutes before one of the store managers came to help. He used a different cord to plug my I-pad in and then did something magical…at least it seemed magical to me because suddenly the black screen was filled with my stuff. YAY.

He then turned me over to a young woman and told her to run a diagnostic. She did so and found absolutely nothing wrong. She told me that sometimes when an update is being installed, the I-pad will hiccup and freeze. Then she asked if the manager had told me how to do a hard start. He hadn’t, so she told me what to do. Press the up volume button, then the down volume button, then hold the on button for about sixty seconds. The magic the manager had performed wasn’t magic at all.

Anyway, back home, I made my lunch and settled down to finish the book. It was more than a few pages, but all-in-all very good. I just wish the protagonist would stop smoking cigarettes.

I CHOSE...

 

to pull up my big-girl panties after my pity-party yesterday and spent some time making an effort to look nice. That was because I had a date to have lunch with my eldest son. On the way to pick him up, I stopped at business Costco and bought gas…hadn’t even put that on my to-do list.

AJ directed me to a Mexican restaurant called Avacados which is on Hiway 99 in south Everett. We had a very good lunch and the prices were more in accordance with what they used to be prior covid…all the other restaurants I’ve been to before this one ran me close to $24 for one entrée without a tip. Not ony did we have a good lunch, but AJ ordered deep-fried ice cream with strawberry topping. I was going to have one bite just to see how it tasted because I’d never had it before…let’s just say there wasn’t much left when we put our spoons down.

After dropping AJ at his house, I stopped at the store for milk and yogurt and went to the pet store for more yummy frozen bones. That’s two more errands that were not on my list.

At home, I took Kuma out front and we played bally-ball until he was almost too tired to chase the ball one more time. I swear, he’d keep chasing until he fell over if I didn’t call a halt.

Then I changed into gardening clothes, got Kuma a frozen boney-bone and we went out to the back yard. I worked for a while, sitting on my little stool so I don’t have to bend a lot, pulling weeds out of my flowerbeds. Kuma licked and gnawed his boney-bone. I didn’t work long or hard, but stopped feeling as though I’d made some progress.

That’s what happened when I CHOSE to pull up my big girl panties and get on with my day. It ended with me feeling quite good plus I have yummy left-overs for lunch today.

I CHOOSE...

 

to not hum, “My Favorite Things” today, but that’s okay since I managed to blog positively for the last twelve days. I’m giving myself permission to hum a dirge (if I could think of one) instead.

In the process of thinking about today’s blog, I went back and looked at the various comments that have been made since I began this blog in 2020. In particular, I read the one I posted that was entitled, “I’m depressed.” Even though it’s been over a year and a half and Kuma has been added to my life, so many things I wrote than are still quite applicable today, maybe more so because of the back pain and Percocet.

So, for today, and just for today, I’m giving myself permission to be depressed and look at the darker side of my life. Tomorrow will be a new day and I’ll CHOOSE to adopt a positive attitude regardless of pain or depressive medication.

Meanwhile, rather than just sit around in a funk, I’d best look for projects to occupy my hands and mind, always a good way to CHOOSE to feel better…and I will.

FAMILY LUNCH

 

          On Sunday there was a family lunch of nine women. The oldest was ninety-four and the youngest almost eighteen. These women are known by various appellations, i.e., mom, daughter, daughter-in-law, auntie, great-auntie, nana, grandma, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin.

With the exception of three, all could be called mom and one of those three will become an official mom in October. Seven could be identified as cousins; five as daughters; four as grandma/nana; four as sisters; two as granddaughters; and one daughter-in-law. Whew, it was difficult to figure that out, but I think I got it right.

Missing was our great-aunt and sister to our other great-aunt. She’s almost ninety-seven and now unable to leave her home without serious assistance. None of us nine were able to provide the kind of assistance she requires. After lunch, however, a number of us went up the street to visit her at her home. There’s a great photo of the two ninety-something sisters from that meeting.

Among the ten of us there is a wealth of memories, but we know that the potential for more memories that include all of us at the same time is waning. That’s why we decided a number of years ago to try to do these family lunches on a semi-regular basis because we knew the ladies in or approaching their nineth decade might be leaving us sooner rather than later. Already, there’s the one who can no longer attend, but she’s still with us.

As the third-eldest (unbelievable, right?), I can think back to my childhood and have memories of the two eldest. They were young then, with small children…my cousins. There were picnics, family gatherings, overnights, surprises, showers, weddings, funerals, and included so many other relatives that are no longer present. I treasure those memories as I treasure these lunches…one more memory to add to those from before.

This was my granddaughter’s first family lady lunch. It is my hope she will return for future lunches. I’d like her to have some memory of these wonderful women who have inhabited my life for all of my life in one way or another. It always makes me wonder how I can be so happy when also feeling sad.

SPRING

 

          Growing up, my Great Aunt Lola and Great Uncle Ike (and they were, indeed GREAT), had a tulip tree (magnolia) growing in their front yard. I loved that tree and asked Auntie if she would make sure to leave it to me in her will. Well, as you can imagine, that didn’t happen, but thanks to my children, I now have a tulip tree of my own, gifted in memory of my mother.

          Also in memory of my mother is a pink dogwood tree gifted by John’s sister. It’s located in the front yard, so I have a favorite in the back and one in the front. I love these trees and always look forward to them blooming each spring. The tulip tree is pretty much done blooming for this year, but the dogwood is a cloud of pink right now. And it’s the first time this tree has bloomed much at all. I may put a chair in the driveway and contemplate its beauty for a while today.

          Do you have favorite trees? These two are my own personal favorites, but I also like many others. There’s a lime green tree a couple blocks away that is some kind of maple. It’s beautiful spring, summer and fall. Of course, there’s my old Karlberg Memorial apple tree which actually had a number of blossoms this spring. Hopefully, it will produce more than just the one apple it yielded last year.

          What were lilac bushes are now lilac trees in both the front and back gardens. I love those too, especially the way they smell, but I’m doubtful about being able to harvest a bouquet since they are now so tall.

          And I cannot forget those huge bright pink clouds of blossoms on what I think maybe cherry trees of some kind. Or, the white dogwoods of all different sizes and types. Also cannot forget all the different rhododendrons, large and small in such a wide variety of colors.

          Can you tell Spring with its blooming trees, bushes and flowers is my most favorite time of the year.

WEEDS OR FLOWERS???

 

          “A weed is just a flower growing in the wrong place.” This saying is attributed to a woman named Cecelia Ahern and I’ve decided it is one of my favorite sayings. This is because I look out the window and see weeds growing with great abandon in what is usually my weed-free and carefully upkept garden.

          As I’ve blogged, my back is bad and my ability to remove those flowers growing in the wrong place is limited. Rather than be upset and depressed about this fact, I’ve decided to love those damned weeds as I do my dahlias and lilies.

          There, a new favorite thing that’s never been on my want, need or desire list in the past. Oh, I feel so much better now…well, not really.

LATTES

 

Back in the early nineties I came into a bit of money. E-trade was just beginning about then and I wanted to invest the funds rather than spend them. I took a couple of investing classes and asked the second instructor if he would take care of my money. Alas, I didn’t have enough because he had a $5,000 limit and I only had about half that. The one thing this man did stress when talking about investments was how he could put every single penny he had in Starbucks stock and sleep like a baby.

I did my research and ended up buying three Northwest stocks, one of which was Starbucks. That man’s faith in this company paid off and I watched my piddly funds grow and grow and grow. They almost reached $100,000 before the stock market took a big dive a few years ago. But that was okay because I didn’t plan to sell. These funds are my “emergency” funds.

What made me think of all this was my favorite coffee EVER!!! When I was employed, I stopped at Starbucks every single morning on my way to work. There were times I even went on weekends or John went and brought lattes back. I always felt good about spending that money because I owned a teeny, tiny piece of Starbucks.

          As a retirement gift to myself, I bought a Nespresso machine. Since then, I have two lattes every single morning and even a decaf one in the afternoon if I feel the need for an iced latte. My trips to Starbucks have become very few and very far between. I think I’ve lost my Gold Card status, but that’s okay.

          Nespresso is amazing, at least in my opinion and that of Danny DeVito and George Clooney. I buy capsules, kind of like Keurig, but from the Nespresso company. In the beginning, I think the cost was sixty-five cents each. Now they are eighty cents each. I order one-hundred at a time and the shipping is free.

          If that wasn’t enough to sell me on this company, besides the fact I really love the coffee, Nespresso has a recycling program. I save up two-hundred capsules in the freezer (so they don’t mold), put them into a pre-addressed bag Nespresso provides, and drop the bag off at UPS. Nespresso pays to have those used capsules returned so the grounds and the aluminum can be recycled.

          I still have my lattes every single morning, my favorite way to begin my day.