SFJ 10/4/2026

Was I justified in having anxiety about drive times and obstacles? Well, some. Was it justified? Well, some. Not the outgoing trip, but the return trip. That one was at 4:40 in the morning and most of the drive was in the absolute dark of country roads with no illumination through the beginnings of rush hour and going well slower than those construction workers trying to work in the cooler part of the day wanted to go. (Got to the airport way early but it took time for me to decompress after gripping that steering wheel so hard.) I can say that traveling first class is the way to go if you need some pampering. Regardless of how good replacements are, there is nothing like returning to your own bath, your own car, your own bed…and your own food prep processes.

It was a true vacation though—one that I haven’t had in a very long time. That’s a lot to admit, particularly when it started with a UTI an and a required trip to urgent care. Luni and I became roommates again. I was able to join her and Shari for lunch out (Tex-Mex, for my sins) and Shari was able to join us for a day of watching pro football. My mini-reunion with five school classmates and was a full retrospective of who we were. We had a giant splash of memories with a couple of murders thrown in (one I knew about, the other I had heard was a suicidal, but maybe not).

I think it was the right thing to leave Taxi at home. Yoda is still a bit skittish. I was making sure I didn’t get in his face the whole week, although I must admit that he never reacted badly after the first introduction. He’s a good boy who outweighs Taxi by almost 100 pound and has his issues (don’t we all).

Yoda asking for some attention.

It looks like Taxi has finally relaxed after getting back home. I wonder if he was able to fully rest with big ol’ Sheldon around all the time. He’s been sleeping HARD since he got home.

If you can’t tell, he is on his back and a bit twisted about but very much asleep. hard to tell from this pic.

Watching: after spending time with Luni with a lounge-and-eat mindset, Ive been watching Halloween baking competitions after catching up on my reality shows (Big Brother, Survivor, Traitors).

Next week is mostly nothing until Cousin Barb and her son get to town. It’s time to have another mini reunion but with family this time. It has been literal decades since I saw her (maybe her first marriage?) and have never met her full grown son so I’m looking forward to this visit. I also need some time to remember why I needed the sumac and special soy sauce I ordered. (Pretty sure it was some the Mediterranean or Middle Asian but can’t remember what dish it was).

SFJ 9/27/2026

Ugh! What a way to start a vacation—another UTI. Happily there are two urgent care offices in this little town and they took care of me right away (another shot, another prescription). Once that was taken care of, the rest of the vacation could really get under way. “I not happy” was the phrase when it was discovered. (Yes, I am going to see my regular doctor when I get back.)

But, the time spent with friends has been wonderfully relaxing otherwise. I don’t even have to do without a dog since Luni’s big ol’ punkin head is right here. We’ve already had lunch with Shari at a tiny bistro that was a converted filling station with more dinners to come (yes, Mexican food!). And I recreated the pasta salad I love at home and it has almost completely been consumed.

Saturday, I drove an hour and a half to Seagoville for the reunion with some of my closest high school buddies. Fred has a little ranch so he was host with his wife and almost grown daughter. MIke and Kathy came up from Montgomery. Rusty and Edyie came in from Dallas and Garland. Daryl couldn’t make it because of some story about a barbecue pit being delivered (which turned out to be a bust when it wasn’t). He was severely Fagberted and sent pics to make him even more jealous. Sorry to have missed him. Apparently he knows more about the murders and suicides that we have had in our class than the rest of us had.

Stephanie and Fred. Edyie and me. MIke and Kathy. Rusty.

Since it’s football season, I got to spend time watching a few games together with Luni. I’ve really missed that. It’s not the same watching alone. The “did you see that” and “what the heck was that” is way different when there is someone else sharing the view.

Luni and I have reverted to our old roles of cook and appreciator. Host and Guest aren’t really our roles, as family is a better descriptor. Her house is my Texas home now. It’s good to have a place.

Next week, we continue the country life where we lounge and get some food (Mexican next) and then an early flight back to Florida on Wednesday. I miss my little dog so will welcome some frantic puppy love when I get back. This vacation has been full of surprises so no telling how we will amuse ourselves next.

SFJ 9/20/2026

I’m headed to Texas this week to spend time with Luni in East Texas (her place is home to me now) and to go to the 70’s party at Fred’s. There will be at least five of us who went to high school together who are all turning 70 this “school year”. Taxi will be staying with his friend Sheldon at Lou and Jenn’s place. I sure hope he is well behaved. It makes me a little crazy thinking of his running wild in that ultra modern house, but Jenn insisted it would be fine. I am going to miss him like crazy. I haven’t been without him for, effectively, three years or more. Eek.

Sheldon, Taxi’s host for a week

I may have found the charity that I want to support. Although I don’t have any friends or family who have been killed or sexually abused, I feel that the pace of analyzing DNA is incredibly slow. The high price of the tests along with the limited number of scientists to perform those tests slows down the whole process. The Joyful Heart organization has a beach called End the Backlog that is dedicated to getting those specimens through the steps. (I’m also interested in changing the statute of limitations for rape. With so much needed from the victims, they often can’t face the publicity of admitting the victimology so more time is needed for them to gain strength. I don’t know where to start this focus, but after the midterms, I will reach out to state senators and representatives.

Watching: After a year or so without it, I’ve re-upped my subscription to AppleTV. I celebrated its return by watching a few episodes of Ted Lasso, the show with the feels.

Retirement Realization: Although I have been a morning person all my adult life (and even during school years), I cannot seem to let go of the day in the evening to easily get up before 7. It always seems to me that I have missed half the day if I only get going after 8AM. With my designated reading-in-bed requirement, I generally turn the light out about midnight with sleep coming within about 30 minutes if the brain will turn off. If you’re good at math, that does not leave enough hours to get 8 full hours of sleep. No wonder I take naps. ADDITION: What an absolute bunch of hogswallop! This is the result of getting up out of bed while almost asleep and putting down what, at the time, seemed like a meditative genius move. What I didn’t consider in my ravings is that if I still woke up at 5am THEN I wouldn’t be getting my full night’s rest. I am sleeping very well now. What I really need to work on is when (or even if) I wake up to record a muse. Lawd, it’s no wonder I need naps. I exhaust myself just trying to get to sleep. It’s also no wonder that I avoid math.

SFJ 9/13/2026

This week started out very peculiarly weirdly. Since I have the dishes washed overnight, I generally unload the dishwasher in the morning while making breakfast. As I was putting away a strainer, the drawer it belongs in made a strange kind of crackling sound. When I opened it, I found that the biggest of my Pyrex casserole dishes was completely shattered. Completely. It was the bottom of three in the stack and the only one destroyed—no reason obvious. The morning after breakfast was spent removing everything in there and then getting a huge amount of tempered glass out of a giant drawer. What a giant mess.

The next day, I felt like maybe I had a UTI and drank gallons of water trying to flush it. Wednesday I had a nice night out with Karen and Marjorie and woke up Thursday with a full blown infection. I made it to urgent care as immediately. They were so worried about how bad the infection was that they suggested that I might have been sent to the emergency room. But I wasn’t and I didn’t. I got a big ol’ honkin’ penicillin shot (that took almost five minutes to inject it was so thick) and a seven-day prescription. That UTI urge (and the bleeding) was immediately resolved and I’m thankful I didn’t have to go to the hospital to get fixed. It did mean that I missed the museum art day (something to do with layering transparencies that was not high on my “want to” list).

In the meantime, I’m spending the month before I travel seeing if I can get Taxi to eat at a specific time. What I had perceived is that he eats like a cat so I have been leaving his bowl out with food in it. He will be staying with Jenn who has a boisterous retriever Jake who would snarf Taxi’s food immediately if it was left out, so Taxi needs a time limit. It seems to be working for me to feed him at noonish and take the bowl back up the rest of the day. Discipline is for me and not for him. He still gets a treat for a ton of things all day.

It’s been a very nappy week. It’s amazing to me just how much good a 30-minute nap can do. Since the crazy thunderstorms have been in the middle of the day, I’m happy to be sleeping when it’s wild outside. It needs to get over itself in another week so I can keep my anxiety on getting to the airport which is what I realized is my issue—getting to the airport in time to stop running and relax. That automatically means that I am never living right in the moment I have some target on the future. It has kept me from enjoying some experiences so I want to push past all that. Time limits are—no, should be—more relaxed now that I’m retired. Whew. Therapy via journal.

Next week I’m just getting things done before traveling the following week (24-30). I haven’t flown anywhere in several years it seems so it’s almost like I’m a new flyer. It’s also time to turn in my intention to run for the Board of Directors for the neighborhood. I was convinced by Mo and Patsy to run as a strong group. Also, book club on Saturday covering The Husbands. What a fun book!

SFJ 9/6/2026

Flights, car, and Taxi sitter have been arranged for my trip to north Texas at the end of the month. Probably inexplicably, I am already having anxiety over it—probably due, not to flying itself but to the long drive to get to and from DFW (mostly to). It is completely doable and such a small thing but I clinch inside just letting my head wander over there. It will be the first time I’ve been back in several years.

I’ll stay with Luni and make one field trip to Fred’s ranch in Seagoville for the first of the 70 year birthdays of my high school buddies. The excitement is building and I can tell it’s more than just me because the BD boys called and “fagberted” me Saturday night. For the uninitiated, “fagbert” is a made-up word that (I think) Mike B invented to use to call long distance when there was no money just to say “hey, I’m thinking about you”. If you had any money and you recognized who was calling, you could call back and talk. Lots of times it was just a zippy exchange of “fagbert” and nothing more. It was a little bit of love that started when we all dispersed round the state to different colleges. My cockles were warmed by that call Saturday. That’s about 50 years of love right there.

These new hearing aids have a bit of a fit problem as well as what sounds like a tiny electronic blip periodically—noticeable at times when I tilt my head abruptly. Going to get an appointment to have it checked out. These have a little plastic tail on them that are supposed to keep them in your ear. I remember I had them on the other ones but I asked to have them removed when they proved to be uncomfortable.

This has been a bit of a trying week and because this is my personal blog, I will reveal the reason and hope it’s not TMI. I had a severe rash/fungal infection under my boobs that meant that I could not wear a bra—for four days! For perspective, when I wake up, I get dressed fully. I don’t own a robe or dressing gown. I wear sleeping clothes or daily clothes. A bra is always included. I needed to take away all friction to the area and keep it cool and dry. It was undeniably weird to walk Taxi trying to minimize any “swing”. I can tell you that when, on Sunday, I decided things were healed enough and I got FULLY dressed again, it was a true relief. (This is a known condition for which I have a prescription cream to treat it. I simply did not treat it soon enough for this summer heat.)

SFJ 8/30/2026

We, Mo and I, found a new place to make something fun and pretty. There’s a new place in Ft Lauderdale that lets you glaze-paint various different pottery items. They then put a final clear glaze on them and fire them, and you get a nice object for serving or display. The mood was relaxed with tons of time to paint as much as needed with onsite mentor. We both started with plates but we know that we will be back because we just had so much fun.

These are the results before the firing. MO’s is all cobalt and white with some ombre coloring. Mine is a color palette of teal, green, yellow and red (which I hope is as vibrant as the picture I have in my head).

It’s definitely the rainy season. The night of our game night came up a big storm and I was blissfully content to be inside with no fear of flooding. I know I’ve not been tested with a real hurricane-type storm. I’m fine with that. Truly!

Munch: Ive been eating all the stuff that I’d already made or elaborate salads. It’s time to make some more freezer meals, but looks like that will wait for next week.

Watching: Surprising even me, I haven’t seen much TV. Well, maybe a few episodes of Return to the Castle to renew my envy of chateau living. Explaining the slight absence of TV is….what I read in August.

Some seriously good reads this month. I was in a bit of a slump so I’m happy to be on the other side.

Next week, a couple of lunches with girlfriends (maybe tea and cake but still in the plans). Otherwise on my own. All the rain has pointed out that several plants need to be repotted and split up so I will probably spend some time spreading some greenery around, too.

SFJ 8/23/2026

In my head, there are generally about five different things going on. There is what is currently in front of me—a book, a game, a TV show—and there is what I should be doing, what I have done that gives me some regret, a comeback that I wish I’d made in any of the decades prior, some project I should be working on, and what I wished I was doing for a fleeting second.

There is a flower in the tropics, very typical of the Florida weather, but the name of it evades me. Every time I try to recall the name, it evades me. Every time. They are all beautiful flowers. Why can’t I recall on the first attempt? The first name I bring up is hyacinth. No, not quite right. Think some more. Hard think going on. Hydrangea! No, still, no. “H” is right. “Hi” is right. It takes several minutes before I can come up with hibiscus. And, every time I wonder why it takes me going through those three steps before I get to one of my favorite flowers.

I seem to be celebrating a bunch of birthdays in August. This weekend was another for one of the ornery uncles—Roger, 77. I’ve only got one blood relative, Nancy, here, but with Dennis being around since I recall things, it’s no longer a surprise to that there are more in this little grouping. Now that Alex and Roger are in florida, we’ve got a tight little family unit.

Roger, Alex, Nancy, Dennis, moi : lei’ed for a celebration

Watching: I seem to gravitate to programs where folks are creative. Lately it’s been makers of portraits and interior design shows. Since it’s been on BritBox, they are British shows. One thing I’ve found is that the color choices seem to be slightly unpleasant…to me at least. I don’t know if that is a cultural thing or just me not being able to firmly accept choices that are not my own. That’s the design shows. The shows for canvas artists are different. The one I’m watching now, Extraordinary Portraits, is different. I have no frame of reference to the process so seeing how the result was achieved is fascinating. The subject is matched up by an artists with another artist with the subjects from various backgrounds having overcome physical or emotional blocks in their lives.

There’s a trip I’m trying to plan to north Texas at the end of September. All my high school classmates are turning 70 and a Fred and Mike’s wives are trying to plan a party. Along with my friend Edyie they want me to show up so I’m trying to figure out the trip. Camp at Luni’s with a side trip to Seagoville for a party. Par for my course, I’ve got travel anxiety already. Taxi isn’t coming this time as I don’t have a spare four days to make the trip by driving so this week I’m working on finding a career for him 25-29th. I already miss him. Eeek!

Munch: Bowtie Pasta Salad. No picture as I ate it all before I remembered. Possibly my best one yet…and I do a great pasta salad. Also, pork tenderloin. This time I made it with mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. When I went to make gravy from the drippings, I dumped what I thought was too much corn starch in the pan and then it turned out that it was almost perfect. I had to add some red wine vinegar to tone down some of the salt, but served with potatoes, it was superb.

Next week is more for personal happiness than maintenance. Outside of a manicure, I’ve got a game night at my house with the book club and an art class painting pottery with Mo.

SFJ 8/16/2026

Just before going to sleep, every single night, I have to empty my head of the detritus that I have carried through to the end of the day. I’m retired so there’s no work issues anymore. Now, it could be the lack of trim on the hedges in the neighborhood or the avocado that is going to be too soft tomorrow or how to make a flamingo look like a bird and not a flying saucer. So many things. The way it usually works is that I start my internal dialogue with the issue and see where an idle mind takes me. If I can get to sleep without having to wind my way out of all the sub stacks,I’m good. But, there are some nights where that conversations goes on for an hour and I can’t shut up my brain. The only thing that works in that case is to stop, turn on the light, and read about 30 minutes of a book as the final key to turn off the ignition. Mind, this would already be on top of at least 45 minutes of reading before turning off the light for the first time. It’s truly a wonder that I am an introvert because I just have so many things to say! I am my own best audience.

It’s that time of year again in my neighborhood—time to elect directors for the HOA (or COA condominium owners association). Last year, there wasn’t enough interest to make quorum with the votes. This year, my friends Mo and Patsy convinced me to run for the Board. We started this weekend to make plans to get more people to run and then how to get more people to vote.

Next week, the regular weekly hits plus annual eye maintenance. I think I need a new prescription for my sunglasses but not expecting anything. I spend a lot of time walking the dog where I leave indoor light for bright sunlight. Those darkening lenses Ont work for me so I need a good pair of sunglssses.

Making: I wasn’t sure I was going to truly like using colored pencils. Even after the museum day, the muted colors still didn’t sit right. Then over this week, I found a brand new set of pencils, practically unused. Knowing that I don’t know how to draw and remembering that last week, I started by tracing my own hand, I confidently pulled up different websites showing how to draw stuff. Surprisingly satisfying and using the pencils made me appreciate cross’s hatching and color blends.

SFJ 7/9/2026

I voted. I used my mail ballot to drop it into a government collection box and got my sticker. The mail is full of campaign material and the campus of the library where the collection box is located was full of campaigners for “their guy”. I was able to fend them off by driving by them waving my sealed ballot. (I restrained myself from thumbing my nose at them.)

This week just about exhausted me….or maybe I just needed to use powers that I hadn’t had to use in a while. It started with my handyman when he tried to change out the garden hose in the front of my unit. The faucet itself cracked in two. Water came rushing out. He came in, soaked, asking where the shut-off was. I had no idea. We looked around the area and could find nothing and the water is still gushing. I knocked on first one neighbor’s door—no answer—then another. Finally got a response and found the valve is by the washing machines. Shut down water to my unit and he replaced the faucet. Whew. Lots of chores completed but not fixing the patio screen. I got the wrong size spline…again.

It was game night at my house on Friday and after heartily complaining about the current state of our HOA, we played rummy cube into the night.

Finally, Saturday was art games at the museum where we worked with colored pencils. I had the idea to use both hands to make marks and my brain was fried by the end of it. (Slept 10 hours that night)

The inspiration was stars, hands, and eyes. I decided to put the Pisces constellation on my hand. Wish I had rotated it a little so the constellation looked more like the head and heart lines, but I’m happy to know what colored pencils do. Not a huge fan. I like my colors far more concentrated.

Munch: I seem to be making all seafood meals lately—tuna, tilapia, salmon, tinned rainbow trout, shrimp. I’m not sure when I exhausted all my other proteins but that freezer was sure empty this week. Lots of cheese and veg and berries that Ive frozen while they are in season.

Next week, HOA meeting, my book club, and another one run by the library talking about a book I just finished that I really liked (Yesteryear). Then a few of us are getting together to figure out how we want to campaign for a director position on the HOA (really COA) Board. Two are current directors who want me to join them. We are going to see how we need to work toward getting more resident owners to vote.

Things I will always stop to read: *Space expeditions, *Art fraud (forgery, theft, cons), *Marine ecosphere, *Anything written by Skip Hollandsworth

Questions to the universe: What is an itch medically? How does aspirin know where to get to work? What is the medical name for a child’s imaginary playmate? Where do butterflies go in the rain? (Answered)

Oh! When I mentioned the 20 pound weight loss last week, I forgot to include the other good news. Wegovy is now mostly covered by Medicare now. Instead of $149, I now pay $50 until sometime in 2027.

SFJ 8/2/2026

It’s summertime in south Florida and that means that the rains are here. Overnight sometimes, but afternoon for sure. Now that I’m back further west again, the thunderstorms are louder and have way more lightening. Still and all, I still feel secure about being safe from rising water. Hey, I don’t want to test it in a hurricane, but things are pretty good right now.

There was a quote I saw this week. It talked about how inactivity for retired folks feels wrong somehow, but that was likely due to inactivity being tied to being nonproductive and therefore unworthy. Admittedly, I know I felt this way for a while. Now, however, I’m over it. I can happily do a lot of nothing and fell just fine. And, so long as he get walks where he can sniff the “pee-mail” as we pass, Taxi is fine about it too.

Watching: Landscape Artist of the Year with the winner painting the romantic and fantastical mountain Croagh Patrick in western Ireland. One of the episodes, the semifinal, was of a view of the Falkirk Wheel which is a modern marvel of moving to and from different levels of water that rivals river lochs.

Reading: I didn’t read as much this month. I’ve been very distracted by social media which, surprisingly, does help me sleep. But, I miss the 8n put from books. I did start one book that I didn’t finish. It’s for bookclub but for next year so I need to check it out again to finish. That’s the first time I’ve returned a book midway through that I actually intend to finish, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sonny.

July Reads

Munch: Talapia with spinach and wild rice. Also pork tenderloin with mushrooms and quinoa.

I despair that the whole thing looks so brown, but the aroma is terrific!

Next week, instead of my personal maintenance I’m doing home maintenance—cleaning and handyman jobs. It’s also time for the museum art day which will be some kind of collage (YAY) as well as Card Broads to play some games.

Postscript: I learned this week how to remember the difference between cement and concrete. Cement starts with a SSSSSS sound which also starts ‘sand’. I’ve worried about this for year when there was such a simple way to remember.