I Love Trader Joe’s

Not only do I love Trader Joe’s for the yummy food and cheap wine, I love them for their signage! Bold and vivid chalk art to illustrate what has become a big issue nowadays. Thank you TJs and your talented chalk artist. 

Irony (Serious This Time)

We were driving to a funeral and we drove past a dead body. Truth. 

He had just jumped off a freeway overpass and landed on the left shoulder, missing both the center divider and the oncoming traffic.

It had happened mere minutes earlier. One motorcycle officer was slowing traffic and another was just stepping away from the body. I presume he had checked for vitals and was now going to get a covering.

I have been haunted nightly by the face of this poor desperate man. I finally found a news article which released more information  He was 44, from Texas, and loved drag racing. There was a nice picture. I grieve for his family.

We attended the funeral of a kind, sweet man, with an infectious laugh, who we had known for over 40 years. 

Pic-a-nic

Handy and I enjoy the rest stop picnics on our road trips, but the food is in a cardboard box with a hodgepodge of plates and utensils hastily grabbed from our cupboards.

I had been longing for a real classic picnic basket. We quested online until we found a basket that met all our criteria. 

I recommend Amishbaskets.com  

We did not get the classic Yogi Bear style, although they do make it, because I wanted to be able to lift off the whole top. 

So we had to try it out. Most weekends have been either busy, or far too hot. Last weekend seemed promising. A little warm, but OK in the shade. We headed off to a County park far down a country road. Oopsies! The park was technically open, at least the parking lot, but access to the picnic tables was blocked off due to the virus. 

We had no problems with earlier trips to a beach and lake. We headed back to our hometown park instead. No problems there, either. 

That park brings back a lot of memories of times spent there with the sons. 

The basket was a success and we look forward to future pic-a-nics. Hands off, Yogi.

What’s wrong with this picture

I am so tired of these maskholes. 

Irony

Overflow

He just can't contain himself.



Cat Portal

There surely is a cat portal in the house. We had a plumbing situation yesterday. To make it easier for the plumber to go in and out, I corralled the dude cats in the bedroom. I didn’t see Fifi anywhere, but I thought she might be in one of her many other hidey places. 

When the plumber was done, I went into the bedroom. Fifi was there. The dude cats were invisible. 

But everyone reapparated for dinner. 

Cat Noir

I didn't see Fifi at all on Tuesday morning. It was a mystery. She had to have been somewhere in the house. I checked her regular hideouts. I interrogated the usual suspects, I mean other cats. Hunter had Harry in a toothy necklock. "Dude, keep your mouth shut!" Leo, my informant, seemed like he wanted to confess but I could barely get a peep out of him. Well, when I got home from work the dame was back, alive and well and meowing at me.

Finding joy, or something, in the covid times.

Finding joy, or something, in the covid times. 

I was actually happier during the full-on shutdown. Home is my favorite place to be. Handy Husband was working from home for the first few weeks (before his company got their essentialness in order). He had so many online meetings. Poor guy. When he had a meeting I would go outside (Spring had beautiful weather here). I would pull weeds and use my weed whacker! Or I would walk around the neighborhood. 

But in early April I broke a toe in service to Francine, Queen of Cats. Yes it really takes at least 6 weeks for a broken toe to heal. So no more walkies for me. 

So I sat, sewed masks, read books, watched movies, cooked, gained weight. Towards the end of the shitdown (oops typo but it’s funny) the bookstore got some PPP loan money so I worked a few hours a week fulfilling phone, email, and curbside orders. It slowly ramped up until we were open for inside customers by Memorial Day. 

I started walking to work at some point to work off the broken toe weight. I don’t consider it quarantine weight. But it’s been a long hot summer so I am back to driving. Also a co-worker is now car-less so I pick her up 2 days a week. 

Oh. The finding joy. There’s not so much. Working on it. Meanwhile...

Working in your favorite place is no longer joyful when you have to babysit the stupid asshole mask droppers. 

A co-worker just this week had to confront a shirtless/maskless man who wouldn’t leave. She called the police but he left before they arrived. He came back later, properly attired, bought one book, then walked to the back and attempted to shoplift another. She caught him! She rocks! The store is not pressing charges, as far as I know, but we have the asshole’s name because he charged that purchase!  

So where is the joy? Pretty much nowhere. Vague moments. Maybe in a nice meal. So we do menu planning. We always did, but tasty dinners seem to be a thing we can look forward to. 

I am cautiously excited about a musical item Handy bought. I had a brief moment of joy with it today. 

So, joy still exists. 

Maybe more on that later. 

Hang in there, friends. I love you. 

Housebound Thoughts

Home Office Setup

Handy’s working from home for the time being. Not that there’s much he can do, being a hands-on guy, but at least he can make his 11:45 daily meeting. We don’t have a home office, so we have sacrificed the dining room nook table to the cause.

Harry has thoroughly inspected the installation.

Cat tested, cat approved.

Around Town

You see all kinds of things here.

Favorite Lunches

In the name of self care, I treated myself to several of my all-time favorite lunches.

Curried chicken salad with apple, cranberry, and pine nuts.

Grilled octopus with beets.

And sadly, the Greek restaurant with the delicious octopus is now closed! I am very sad.



But the Italian chopped salad made me happy.

I am Deeply Disturbed

I have overwhelmingly proved, through exhaustive cross-country surveys, that this is the incorrect method for toilet paper. Yet recently, it has started appearing in this ghastly manner in the employee restroom.

Update: a few days later the next roll was back to normal. 

Hunk or Chunk?

He says he's both.

Or rather...

Update: he weighed in at a massive 19.3 pounds. Time to cut down on the kibble, dude. 

Watch Out Dude!

I’m not sure where he thinks he can go from up there. It’s kind of a dead end for the parkouring cat.

Reward

After a trip to the dentist I rewarded myself with lunch out and an apple mimosa. I was not the only one drinking mimosas at 10:30 in the morning.

No Room For Humans

There has been a complete feline takeover of the prime places in the house.

Wouldn’t you know it

So we got an extra large novelty cat bed in the hopes that the extra large cat would use it. The medium cats like it.

Wouldn't you know it? Mr. Extra Large prefers the tiny novelty cat bed.

The Gall

A customer who was loudly farting then chose to complain about the smell of our furniture polish. Ours was Lemon Pledge. Hers was not.

See Food: Seafood

Salad with anchovies.

Homemade something with shrimp, musssels, and sausage.

Lobster roll in California!

Ceviche.

Bubba Gump sandwich; butterflied panko crusted shrimp.

Gobbler Cobbler

We made a turkey pot pie with holiday leftovers. Handy named it "Gobbler Cobbler."

Ten Minutes Ago

Sometimes I really think I am crazy for adopting more cats.

But they are so adorable.

Thank you St. Gertrude for bringing me these adorable balls of fluff.

"Ten minutes ago I met you,
And we murmured our how-do-you-do's.
I wanted to ring out the bells
And fling out my arms and
To sing out the news:
I have found them,
I have found them!"

Family Tartan?

We had a visit from Ernest over the holidays. Yay!

He had the most gorgeous flannel shirt.

I think this should be our family tartan.

Bed Poems

My favorite thing is to lie in bed and feel enveloped by warmth. I'd like to get a weighted blanket too.

A few months ago my trusty electric blanket stopped working. I bought a new one, but then the old one started working again. I toyed with returning the new one but I am a procrastinator. Now the old one has stopped again. So I guess my procrastination was a good thing. My task for today is to swith the blankets.