What a Weekend It Has Been

 Saturday afternoon I noticed a man walking past our windows facing the backyard. He had no insignia on his clothing. He carried an orange cable. I saw that he had parked a black car in front of my house that had no markings of any kind.

He went to the "utilities" boxes in the berm separating us from the backyards of the next block of condos. He used a trenching tool to bury the Xfinity line from my next-door-neighbor's condo. 

Shortly after, when my husband turned on the television to watch a sporting event, we had no cable connection thus we had no TV. (Since we have a smart TV, he discovered later he could watch a few things on YouTube.) I picked up the phone to call to report the problem and there was no dial tone, and it said no line on the phone window. 

Using a cell phone, we left a message to be passed on to the maintenance staff. Being a weekend, one has to go through the healthcare staff. We heard nothing back. Sunday night my husband emailed a message to the lady who oversees the maintenance requests. We heard from her this morning (Monday) that the request had been passed on. 

About 9 a.m. this morning two workers tried fixing the cut lines. It took them over 5 hours to restore the landline phone service to our condo quadplex. Around 3 p.m. they restored our television connection. We seem to be the only unit in the quadplex that lost TV service.  

This morning when my husband tried to view some news on the computer and check email, he could not. We had no internet connection. Since we had internet all yesterday, I guessed this was not related to the other problems but coincidental. I called my provider KC Connect this morning.

The retirement community worker was standing in our living room making sure our TV was OK when a truck from KC Connect arrived. Turns out the line going into our condo had been chewed through by an animal. It didn't take very long for the two internet company men to fix it. 

Finally, we are back to normal: we can view television, use the internet, and use the landline telephone. Feels good to be connected to the modern world once again in our routine way. We did check email on cell phones so we were not totally cut off.

Our home technology stopping at the same time. Made for a quiet weekend. I did get caught up on some magazine reading. Modern technology is great until it stops working, and you realize how much you use it. 

Fort Wayne Japanese Restaurant

 

Today I had a therapy session in Fort Wayne. My husband drove us there. There is a large lobby as you enter the building with a less busy section around the corner with comfortable chairs. Much quieter and less crowded than the PT waiting room. I finished early and decided to step over to this quiet lobby area to phone my husband. There he was! He had discovered this area also. He was starting to doze off. 

We had lunch at Asakusa Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar just north of Costco. We had eaten here once before but at least a year ago. 

There is a separate large menu for choosing sushi. You fill out an order on a paper left at the table which is taken to the bar so the sushi can be made fresh. We know very little about sushi other than California rolls; we did not order any. Instead, I ordered teriyaki chicken, and my husband ordered a bento box with tempura vegetables, Katsu chicken (panko crusted and fried), and shrimp. We knew our orders included rice, but we did not know broccoli and carrots were part of it. My teriyaki mentioned that the chicken would be on a bed of mushrooms, but my husband also ended up with mushrooms in his box.

The lunch orders included soup. The soup also had mushrooms. They must have a standing order for mushrooms from somebody.

When the waiter came to take away the empty soup bowls, he asked how we liked it. I told him I liked it very much and asked what it was called. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Clear soup". We joined him in a laugh. Now that I am home and look at the menu on the website, it does say clear soup; but it also describes it as fish-based broth with tempura crumbs, mushrooms, and green onions. 

The food was good, but like much Japanese restaurant food it was high in sodium. We were busy gulping down water. 

We ended our outing with a stop at Costco. Busy, busy, busy! We did snag a parking spot not too far from the entrance. I dozed off some in the car on the way home. Now, I do not need an afternoon nap. 

A Little Exercise

 

I spent about an hour this morning weeding the plot next to my patio. Not strenuous exercise, but I did work up a sweat since I was in full sun.

Yesterday I took the Rolloy for a walk again. I went further this time. I enjoyed the beautiful peonies in bloom over by the Community Center. I sat down in the shade of a fir tree as I continued down the block. A rabbit crossed over right behind me, about 3 feet away. When I tried to get out my phone so I could take a photo, the rabbit hopped around the corner of a building. 

We are in for a stretch of really nice weather through next week. I hope to spend some time sitting in my rocker on the front porch enjoying the geraniums and the hanging pot of fuchsia.  No exercise in that, but it will make me happy. 

Hubby's Woodworking Projects

 

My husband's most recent woodworking projects have been building automotive vehicles using plans he borrowed from a friend. Above is a roadster with a jump seat.

Below is a vintage truck.

His current project is a bulldozer. He bought plans online from a toy company.

He is a skillful woodworker and good with small details. However, he has in the past built furniture and keepsake/jewelry boxes. 

He does his woodworking in a shop owned by our retirement community that is within walking distance of our condo. There are two other guys who use it regularly: another woodworker and a stained-glass designer.

 Right now, with our pleasant weather the overhead door is up. The workshop was previously a garage to which Grace Village added lots of electrical outlets, additional lighting and new flooring. There is air conditioning and heating so the shop can be used year-round. In the deep-freeze of January and February, the heat pump gets coated over sometimes and does not work efficiently. There can be some downtime then. 

My husband did considerable woodworking before retirement. It is nice to have a pleasant place to use and companions in retirement.

Rolloy Rollator

 

My back pain ramps up fairly quickly while standing and walking. I purchased a Rolloy rollator so instead of searching for a place to sit to get relief, I have my own seat with me. This is mainly to use outside or at large venues like museums or shopping malls. 

It arrived Wednesday; I took it for a spin this afternoon. I think it is going to be just what I need. It has wide wheels for stability. I tried it on some grass, and it moved easily. 

It folds up compactly so it will fit easily in the car. Some people use them at airports either putting them in the overhead bin or checking them at the gate. I will not have trouble navigating the aisle of an airplane so I would choose the latter option, having it ready to use after the flight walking throughout the airport. 

There is a "backrest strap" which I think would be awkward for me because of my kyphosis and curved spine. The backrest has to be removed each time you fold up the rollator.

It also has a bag that attaches at the front.

We are renting a cabin in Brown County Indiana in a few weeks, and I hope to walk some of the nature/easy access trails of Brown County State Park with this device. On the way south, we will stop at Newfields in Indianapolis. This is the Indiana Museum of Art, gardens, sculpture garden, and the Lilly house. I am not interested in the art museum this time around. I want to wander the grounds weather permitting. We will also try walking around Nashville, Indiana to look in shops. The Rolloy will get a testing. 

My surgeon told me last fall before my sacroiliac fusions that I would still have considerable back pain. The best thing that came from those surgeries was that my weak legs regained strength. For now, I adapt with a rollator for lots of walking/standing and with a stool in my kitchen to do cooking and cleaning. 

It was raining when I went to bed last night. Today it is gray with a few drizzles. A chance of rain tomorrow, too. I may have to wait until Monday to have a dry day to take my Rolloy for another walk. 

Beaucoup Blooms Inside and Outside

 

My house cleaner brought me what she calls "wildflowers" from her yard. She likes to share her spring and summer blooms.

However, I already have some other bouquets. Last Saturday while at Fort Wayne, I bought some blooms from Trader Joe's. They are in my sunroom.

Plus, the flowers I bought at Walmart over a week ago are still hanging on. They look a little worse for the wear, but I am keeping them because the two roses smell so delightful. The Joe bouquet has one red rose, but it has no fragrance. When the Walmart flowers fade away, I may take the white statice and add to the Joe bouquet to lighten it up a bit.

Also, I bought some geraniums for the front porch and a hanging basket of fuchsia

 

I don't have a green thumb, but I have had good success with geraniums on my porch. This is my first fuchsia. We'll see if I can keep it alive and thriving.

Flower enjoyment season.

Iris Progression

 

A friend gave me a stem of iris buds and blooms a week ago. I have never tried putting iris in vases; I do not have enough of them to use that way anyway. She was leaving for the weekend, and she said you might as well enjoy it since I will not be home.

In the photo above, I have already snipped off the two spent blooms that were open when she gave the stem to me. They lasted a day and a half. But it had lots of buds, and you can see that another one had opened fully and one part way.

Above the two are still fully opened but drooping a bit and a different bud has opened.

I snipped off a wilted bloom; but on the right you can see one bud left.

The final flower opened today. That means I had blooms for one whole week. 

This afternoon I bought a little bouquet at Walmart. I have been feeling a bit down this week. Flower therapy for sure.

Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits and Farmers Market

In trying to restore some missing photos, I guess Blogger made this a new post. This trip was taken in the summer of 2014. My apologies for the re-posting showing up on the wrong date.

Besides visiting with family in Whittier and helping my mom with some work projects, my husband and I drove to two spots in Los Angeles during our California trip in July: La Brea Tar Pits and Farmers Market.

I visited both of these spots in the 1950s. I don’t remember much of the tar pits (a school outing), but I have memories of my Girl Scout troop going to the Farmers Market. We went in spring and many of the girls bought baby chicks. I doubt they received a warm welcome from parents when we returned home. I preferred to spend my money on yummy goodies to devour.

 

La Brea Tar Pits have been excavated since the early 1900s. The remains of animals found in the pits date back millions of years. The pits have mostly dried up with the trapped creatures embedded. There are tar seeps still on the grounds.

A quarry that was excavated in the 1800s is now a “lake” that churns and bubbles with asphalt and methane gas. It gives a good idea of what earlier pits might have been. You can stir some of the goo in the museum which makes you realize how thick and heavy it really is. The staff meticulously sort the remains excavated at the active digging sites, from insect legs to mastodon skulls. You can watch them behind plexiglass in the museum. They use microscopes to distinguish plant parts from insect parts, etc.

The grounds of the tar pits and excavations are free to view; Page Museum has a fee. There is an additional fee to see the movie about the Ice Age. Ice Age fossils dominate the museum display. Ancient camels, bisons, dire wolves, giant sloths, saber-toothed cats, wooly mammoths, mastodons are plentiful both in fossil form and in reproductions.

 

 

 

The Farmers Market in Los Angeles was established in 1934 and has operated continuously in that spot for 80 years, except for a short time in World War II when it housed military offices.

It is a short drive from the La Brea Tar Pits. We ate lunch at DuPar’s restaurant, an enclosed building, but the market itself has stalls with open-air seating for many food establishments. If you park in the designated Farmers Market parking, you can have a restaurant or vendor validate your parking which gives you 2 free hours. If you park in the next-door Grove lots, there will be no free time or reductions even if you utilize the Farmers Market. The Grove is an unenclosed mall of popular companies like Banana Republic, See’s Candy, The Gap, Container Store, etc. built around a classically-inspired movie theater. We walked a short way thru it, but didn’t really shop.

The Grove

Farmers Market stalls

We did enjoy some locally made Bennett’s ice cream after strolling thru the market.

People who live in this part of LA do shop regularly for produce, meats, ethnic or exotic foods and specialty products. It is of course also a tourist attraction and was very busy on a Friday.

Dragon fruit for sale at stall

 

This outing was enjoyable and gave my sister and her husband a break from their Indiana relatives.

 

Cheddar Pinks, Frass Mystery

 

The cheddar pinks are opening a bit earlier this year than last year. My neighbors' peonies also seem to be slightly ahead in maturation though they have not bloomed yet.

Last Friday evening (May 1st) as I headed down the hall to my bedroom, something next to the bookcase in the hall caught my eye. It looked like a pile of dirt though I guess the proper name is frass. 

We waited until the next morning to take everything off of the bookcase.

I guess now is a good time to sort through and discard/donate items before lugging them from the den back to the bookcase.

What we found when we moved the bookcase out of the corner where it has stood for over 14 years was more frass.

We notified our maintenance department. We were told they would come look at it, possibly spray, then we would be put on the list for when the contracted pest control company comes again the end of May. So far (Wednesday), no maintenance personnel has shown up.

 We finally called the pest control company ourselves. That means we would be paying for the house call. We had noticed some damage on the back side of the bookcase next to the infested wall. We were concerned.

The lady on the phone asked us to send photos to them. On the return call this morning, she said they felt the frass was just from ordinary ants and that the "scooping out" of the bookcase wood was probably done at another time. She said to just clean up the frass and spray with ordinary ant spray which we did after lunch today. No charge for the advice.

 I will sort through the books tonight because tomorrow my housecleaner comes and it would be good to have the cedar chest in the den cleaned off.

 

 

In the Details

 Last Monday when I arrived home from Bible study group, I noticed I only had one earring. I looked in the collar of my coat (it was a very cold morning) which I had pulled up around my face, but I found nothing. 

Monday afternoon I had choir practice and thus returned to the main building. I went a little early so I could retrace my morning steps. Looked in the coatroom, walked outside and looked around the spot where I had parked, looked at the lobby carpet. Again nothing. They were an older pair so I just accepted I would no longer be wearing them. I felt a little sad though because they had been a gift from my husband. 

Yesterday afternoon as I placed my Bible in my zippered carrying case getting ready for today's gathering, I noticed a glint of metal. There was the earring. It probably got caught on the strap of my nametag as I took it off over my head; I also store the lanyard nametag in a pocket of that case. 

I had taken the Bible out last Monday afternoon to work on the new study questions. It wasn't until I stopped looking, that God restored my missing item to me. He knows the details of our lives, not just the big things. I thanked Him for this loving gesture. 

Another Miss Elaine Nightgown

 

I tend to think of my clothing as BP (before pandemic) or AP (after pandemic). Two of my warm weather nightgowns are BP and probably about 8 years old. They are serviceable, but I know I will need to replace them down the road. 

I decided to search Miss Elaine nightgowns on Kohl's on the internet with the thought that they would go on sale around Mother's Day. I would keep an eye on any I liked. I saw one marked 40% off. Might as well buy now rather than wait. 

This is definitely a summer nightgown. It is made of seersucker which I have never bought before. I was concerned about opacity, and it does have a see-through quality because of the thin seersucker fabric. It fits well so I will keep it. 

I turned my electric blanket on last night. Definitely will not be wearing seersucker for a while. 

No Cents

 In November 2025, the United States stopped minting pennies. They are, however, still legal tender. That is not the way it played out for me recently.

I seldom spend cash when purchasing items. Last week I bought a small item at Staples that was $6.87. I had gathered up my pennies throughout my house and started carrying them in my wallet so I could spend them.  I started to count out seven pennies to go with the $10 bill I handed the cashier. She refused them. She said Staples no longer accepts pennies. 

She gave me $3.20 in change. At least she rounded down so I came out ahead. The store lost 7 cents. I can understand rounding when the store has no pennies but I was giving her pennies so she would not have to give me 13 cents back along with the dollar bills.

Has this happened to you? This was the first time for me.

Fine China

 When I was married in 1977, most brides still chose a china pattern to list in the gift registry. My selection was Milford by Noritake.

I guess you are probably not surprised to see blue if you are a long-time reader of my blog or have been in my home.

I seldom used the dinnerware; maybe 3-4 times a year. Even less since retiring. Because of the silver rim and band, it cannot be used in a microwave. I prefer to handwash the dishes so it means extra work when I use them. I did get them out on Easter because for a change we ate at home on the Sunday holiday. We also had two guests. 

My grandfather died shortly before my wedding. My mom gave me some of her inheritance to buy things for my home. I chose to use it to help me buy some china. I thought of it as a wedding gift from my grandfather. I asked for some additional plates as Christmas gifts, too. I ended up with 10 place settings. The set also has a gravy boat, salt and pepper shakers, a butter dish, creamer and sugar servers, 2 serving bowls, and a platter.

 I did not use all of those on Easter. I tried to keep things simple. For example, we had no rolls so I left the butter dish in the china cabinet. 

Brides also chose crystal goblets, etc. and Sterling silver flatware (utensils). I did not list nor buy any of those. Some of my sisters-in-law have/had those. I already had nice-looking Oneida stainless steel forks, knives, spoons which I used as a single person living in an apartment. I did list that pattern on the gift registry. 

I sometimes wonder what will happen to my china if/when I move into an apartment. It does take up a fair amount of storage space. I might keep the creamer and sugar set for nostalgia's sake; I really liked how they are shaped. I know that today's younger women want nothing to do with fancy china. An acquaintance that sold things in an antique mall told me the fine dishware she tried to sell just sat in her booth. 

Do you have china? Do you use it often? I still love the Milford pattern so I guess I chose well. (I still love my wedding ring, too, after almost 49 years; I helped to select it, too.) 

He is Risen!

 

Decorative Window Clings

 We have two glass pocket doors between our dining area and our sunroom. I seldom close them. There is an open space above the doors so shutting them only muffles sound a little. I doubt they do much to conserve heat in our dining/living area because of this opening. But I finally decided to decorate them so there would be an incentive to keep them closed.

I ordered window clings sold by Tanlaby on Amazon for about $12. They came on two sheets. They were relatively easy to peel off, but the sheets came curled up in a small box so had to be weighted down with books to flatten them before use.

There are two designs. The clings for each design are not on a single sheet but combined on the two sheets. We tried to follow the suggested pattern, but once we had the large flowers attached, we just sort of winged it.

They are made to imitate etched or frosted glass. Maybe in the winter if I feel all of those flowers and butterflies are mocking me, I might peel them off. But of course I can just keep the doors open.