surrey with the fringe on top

I had a pretty good weekend, all things considered - and of course the primary thing to be considered was that Dad passed away a year ago yesterday. He has been on my mind the last few weeks, as the light changed and began to mirror the wavelengths present when he went to the hospital for the last time, and the trees and fields began to look generally the same as they looked during his last few days at home.

But despite the melancholy of the anniversary, the weekend overall was good. Yesterday, Mom and I went on a greenhouse tour - we went over to Decatur to check out Yutzy's, which was slammed with people doing Mother's Day shopping. It still feels a little too cool to plant tomatoes and peppers, but this weekend was gorgeous, and everyone is in the mood to get outside.

Yutzy's had a reasonably good selection of various things, and I got some pepper plants to augment my seedling experiment, which I am convinced will fail. They also had some nice-looking patio furniture, although tbd what I will eventually do with my deck. After we escaped the madness there, we decide to go to Ellis, which was a bit of a detour - but the detour meant going through Osceola, where we got McDonald's, which is tastier than it should be given how mass-produced it is. Ellis was also quite busy, but I got a couple of nice-looking shrubs that I need to figure out where to plant. And then we went to Bomgaars, where Mom exhibited surprising restraint and didn't buy anything, while I got a peony and something for [censored].

Thus satisfied with our gardening efforts, we came home, and I spent the rest of the day doing various things around the house, all of which felt reasonably productive and none of which are memorable. I should have gone to bed early, but instead I sat down on my chaise around nine intending to work, and instead dozed until I actually went to bed at midnight.

I woke up this morning determined to seize some momentum, so I made some coffee, and then wrote off and on for about four hours. This was v. fruitful and I'm glad I did, but by the time I wrapped up, I had a headache from staring at my screen for too long, and I had missed much of the best part of the time to be outside. I also had various indoor tasks to take care of (four loads of laundry, changing my sheets, etc.). All of this was so much to process that I took a nap. And then when I woke up, I ran to the grocery store, came home, did some plant prep (mostly moving seedlings around and starting to harden off my tomatoes), and then prepped some stuff for dinner.

Around six, I drove Dad's truck out to Mom's (partially to help [censored] get a load of mulch out there, partially to avoid getting my car dirty since I washed it in Des Moines on Friday and like to have at least forty-eight hours where I don't drive it on gravel). I spent some time cleaning the grill, which didn't really get cleaned last year either - I had kept the grates clean, but I was never in the mood to clean the outside, and we didn't use it much last summer. So I cleaned the outside, brush copious cobwebs out of the inner cabinet, cleaned the grease trap, and then fired it up so that I could brush off any remaining residue on the grates.

Once that was done, I grilled three ribeyes and some burgers, all of which turned out excellently (if I do say so myself). I had sauteed some sweet onions and mushrooms to go with them, which were delicious and well worth the 25+ minutes I spent babysitting the sauteeing process (okay, I didn't babysit too closely, since I was taking care of plants during that time). And Mom threw together a caesar salad and baked some potatoes, so it was a pretty perfect meal. [Censored] took a break from mowing in time to eat, so the three of us celebrated Mother's Day in style.

When we were done, Mom gave me a ride back into town, and I took out the trash, dropped off my water bill payment at city hall, and did various tings until now. And now it's time for bed so that I can hopefully bring some of this productive energy to my day job tomorrow - we shall see. Goodnight!

swedish suicide pods

I had a relatively decent day to wrap up the week, although I feel like I got v. little done compared to what I had intended to do in the last month. That is, perhaps, my usual minimization of my actual accomplishment in favor of comparing them to my grandiose visions of what I should have accomplished, but c'est la vie.

I had to get up pretty early this morning to run to Des Moines for my semiannual botox appointment. My jaw was starting to tighten up, and injecting a reasonably large quantity of toxin into my masseter muscles is the only thing that saves me from having the jaw of a linebacker and the worst of the headaches I have always been prone to. My appointment was as brief as it always in - in and out in ten minutes - and it was worth the three hours of drive time to make it happen.

After I finished there, I speed ran some errands - I got my car washed, stopped at Trader Joes to stock up on gluten free muffins, ran to Best Buy to get a new keyboard and mouse, and stopped in at Container Store because they appear to be going out of business / combining with Bed Bath and Beyond, and I wanted to stock up on a couple of tings that I usually get there and am not sure I'll be able to get in the future. Then I grabbed an iced coffee and refilled my gas tank before heading south.

I made it home just in time for my afternoon string of meetings, which I accomplished without fuss (and with quite a bit of laughter in one of them since we were playing with various filters on the videoconference, which added some levity to our Friday afternoon). Then I ran to the grocery store, came home, and made this chicken orzo pasta casserole thing that has quickly become a favorite. While it was baking, I sat on my balcony and made a to-do list (way too long) and soaked up a little fresh air.

Eventually, [censored] and I ate dinner while watching various tings on tv. And now I need to go to bed so that I can accomplish various things tomorrow, or perhaps just embrace a whole weekend of Sunday Scaries rather than saving them up for Sunday night. Goodnight!

i want to come over, to hell with the consequence

I had a long but productive day of looking at screens - I got a new monitor yesterday thanks to work, and it (at least temporarily) made a difference in my ability to focus. I got up at a reasonable hour, did a couple of hours of work while sipping my coffee, took a quick shower, and ran into town to get allergy shots. Then I came home and slogged until six, which felt quite productive.

As soon as I was done with meetings, [censored] and I went to Chariton (third time this week, which is a new record) to look at some garden supply stuff at Bomgaars. Then we decided to have Mexican food up there for dinner rather than driving back to our town. The service was a little slow, but the food was excellent and I enjoyed my margarita, so I would def go there again.

And now, even though this post is boring, I'm too tired to try to spice it up - so I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight!

catch a rare type specimen

I drove 120 miles today, but in the end I didn't really feel like I got that far. Probably that's because the 120 miles were two trips to Chariton, both of which were to take mom to the eye doctor. The first trip was planned, and it was just a quick check up. But she had also been waiting for new glasses, and when we were up there this morning, they still hadn't come in. Of course, about an hour after we got home, they did come in, and so we went back up there rather than trying to do it tomorrow or Friday. I'm glad she was able to get them since it will dramatically improve her ability to see, but it wasn't quite the afternoon that I expected.

However, that wasn't really that big of a deal. Even though I had a lot of work that I intended to get done, none of it was super pressing, and so this was as good a day as any to make a couple of road trips. I didn't really wrap up until 6:30 because I had a meeting after we got back from the second trip. Then I went downstairs, did a bit of stuff around the kitchen, baked a potato, and had a late dinner. I was ready to eat just as [censored] walked in the door, so I ate while catching up with him, which was nice. And now I need to go to bed so that I can do all the things tomorrow that I intended to do today - goodnight!

my heart runs on gasoline vapors

I have been staring at screens for way too long, so I shall keep this brief. When I woke up this morning, I felt relatively #inittowinit, so I got out of bed, made some coffee, and journaled for awhile. I'm sure the sunlight helped - my mood is always better when it warms up, and today was almost perfect.

Sadly I had to work inside most of the day, but I got through all my meetings in due form, and I managed to squeeze in a little personal business too. I was finally done around six, and then I got to sit out on my balcony and write for awhile. Eventually I came inside and ate some food (a v. unusual dinner of apple, peanut butter, and cottage cheese - I had other food, but I had zero desire to eat any of it) and tidied up the kitchen. And then I switched into sweats and did some work until now.

And now, I can sleep the sleep of the just (or at least the screen-blind) - goodnight!

lead me to the right side, keep this rolling

Apologies for not blogging the last couple of nights - I had a whirlwind end to my week, including breakfast in NYC, a long and much-needed coffee with Emily (all of my coworkers are my favorite, but she is first among them), lunch and various meetings, etc., etc. My trip home was complicated by some stalled vehicle or accident in an NYC tunnel, which made my Uber ride to the airport 90min instead of 45min, which meant I did not have time for a leisurely lounge experience like I had intended. But other than that, my trip was smooth, and it was good to get home.

I spent the weekend doing a variety of household and writing things - I got fully unpacked from both SF and NYC, got my room and desk reorganized, etc. I spent more time than expected yesterday afternoon talking to the neighbors - or rather, the heirs of the neighbor who passed away earlier this year. And then I sped into town and grabbed groceries so that I could cook. I made ham and potatoes au gratin for dinner last night, and Mom came in to eat with me and [censored], which meant I had to turn the dining room back into a dining room instead of a greenhouse (with mixed results, since I couldn't move my seedlings). But dinner was v. nice and we had a good chat, so it was worth it.

Today was more of the same - I actually wrote for three hours this morning, which was excellent but also made my brain feel a little melted. Then I ate lunch and vegged for a couple of hours, and then I spent three hours doing yard work. This resulted in cleaning out part of one bed in front of my house and putting down fresh mulch, which was definitely an improvement even if there is still much work to do. And I am guessing I will be sore tomorrow, since my fingers all seem to hurt and I think my arms and legs do too, but hopefully I can get back outside as the week progresses.

I took a break to put a roast chicken in the oven, and then I finished it with some roasted potatoes and a caesar salad, which [censored] and I v. much enjoyed as the fruits of our labors. And now I need to go to sleep - goodnight!

it's giving me divine feelings

In a surprise turn of events, I am in NYC for less than thirty six hours, which was not in the cards when I went to San Francisco last week. This is entirely a work trip (sorry Terry and various other NYC friends) - I took the only direct flight here this morning, and I shall return on the only direct flight tomorrow afternoon. And I have a million meetings in that time period, so personal time is basically nonexistent.

But today's travels were smooth despite getting up at four am. I made it out of the house on time, and I had time to grab an omelette at the airport before boarding. I slept most of the way to NYC, grabbed an Uber, dropped my bag at the hotel, went to the office, and ate sushi while chatting with Gary. Then I grabbed coffee with Finn, did some meetings, went back to my hotel when my room was ready, and did more meetings until after seven.

By then I was done done, so I went to serafina and had a v mid gf pasta (but a v nice glass of cab) while writing a bit. And now I need to sleep immediately if I have any hope of being on tomorrow - goodnight!