About a month ago, I noticed that the fifth bud on my re-blooming orchid was getting big.
And then about 10 days ago it opened.
And about a day later, the other four flowers fell.
The first flower of this re-bloom opened on July 11th! It’s been so fun, and I hope it happens again… someday.
Hilariously, I searched “orchid” in Google Photos and this image showed up… I was like, WHAT IS THAT?
Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in Nashville! I took this photo in 2018 when Ann had a conference there… oh, that was SUCH a fun trip. I really want to go again!
The big game of Tetris is underway! What should I bring? What should I wear? I really do love packing and utilizing every available inch.
It’s always the shoes that cause the biggest problems! I’ll probably wear my hiking shoes, since they’re the bulkiest, but I have no option but to pack Addie’s. I couldn’t wear them even if I wanted to without looking like Bozo! haha. And “nice” clothes — for the one night out of seven that we’ll be going to a fancy restaurant.
For a minute, I thought I might get by with one large suitcase… but I don’t think so. Then Brian wondered if I had room for a jug of laundry detergent, because they’re having supply chain issues. Hm. Well. I don’t think I’ll bring a jug (so heavy) but maybe I can Tetris in some pods somewhere.
I took time out to watch “the youngsters” win a football game today! The Packers are a very young team, especially on offense. We’ve been spoiled for the past 30-some years, having some of the best QBs & players in the game, numerous winning seasons, playoffs & Super Bowl appearances. We don’t have the A-list announcers anymore, either, since their departure (which isn’t a terrible thing). It was a great game today, and it’s so great to see our “youngsters” improving. They next play on Thanksgiving Day! We’ll be at Machu Picchu… at the very least, I’ll be wearing my lucky Green Bay Packers earrings.
Needed to get out of the house for a while today and decided to go to an antique mall that I haven’t visited in a while. Here are a few of the things I saw. (Click on an image to scroll through them all.)
My friend Ann in Buffalo recently posted in an IG story about the annual gathering of vintage blow mold Santas in front of her house — 27 of them now!! They’re not as big as the one I saw — those she keeps indoors.
There were more electric frying pan type things than I’d ever noticed before, and way cooler shapes than the utilitarian square one my mom had. Do people use those anymore?
And so many records… LPs, 78s, 45s. I liked Peter Frampton’s face peeking through.
Beanie Babies were HUGE when I worked at my mom’s antique mall. We had a dealer who would run around & buy his limit at all the stores (because there were limits!), then price them on the way to dropping them off in his booth. I remember selling quite a few for $60+ and sometimes even over $100. Thanks to Beanie Babies (and the crazies who collected them), he financed a good chunk of his house.
The knit sweater on the ca. 1961 Playboy cover caught my eye. The martini glass motif! Apparently it was available for purchase in a couple of colors — now vintage.
Besides the little outing to the antique mall (and Walgreen’s), I did some laundry, drained the rain barrel (finally) & turned off the water to the outside faucet. I’ll start packing my suitcases tomorrow. I need two because I’m bringing a bunch of stuff for Ann & Addie — everything from hiking shoes & performance swim trunks, to hair products & sundries, to Golden Grahams cereal & a crunchy peanut butter! And Cheez-its if there’s room.
A few days ago, Kate & I were making dinner. She was prepping stuff for shrimp tacos, except for shelling the shrimp — because that was my job. We were listening to music as we almost always do while cooking.
Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” came on. That 35-year-old song recently won Song of the Year awards at the CMAs, with Tracy making history as the first Black songwriter to ever win that award. It’s also a song that I — we, as a family — associate very much with my sister Sharon. I said that Sharon would have loved that… and, boy, I sure do miss her…
And all of a sudden, I found myself crying into a half-peeled bowl of shrimp! “It’s sneaky grief,” I said to Kate, thinking (as I always do) of my friend Carole who told me about that phenomenon.
Sneaky grief can happen any time and any place — it’s found me at the grocery store! It’s been a while, actually, but it makes sense that it would creep up now. It’s been almost 13 years since Sharon died, that was an intense four months…
I don’t know why it seems a little tougher this year — maybe because it’s a “big” birthday year, another one that Sharon couldn’t celebrate with me, and another that she will never see herself.
It’ll be windy today… and around 65F. It’ll cool down some over the weekend and then next week… oh boy, chilly! We picked a good time to get outta Dodge. It looks like it’ll be rainy & cloudy when we’re in Cusco, Ollantaytambo* and at Machu Picchu…
That’s a screenshot from yesterday’s memories — it tickles my funny bone! Seriously, though, that album by “Aaron Burr” is still one of my favorites. Leslie Odom Jr | Simply Christmas. His other holiday release, The Christmas Album, is a little newer and just as great. I’m not in Christmas music mode yet, but when that switch gets flipped, those are at the top of my list.
This also made me laugh… I can’t determine whether it’s an actual Calvin & Hobbes strip by Bill Watterson or someone’s clever editing. Either way, IT’S JUST SO TRUE!!! We gotta just hold on for another month before things start moving the other way again.
Hope y’all have a great Thursday!
*A newer word for me, and immediately on my list of “fun words to say out loud”!
