Monday, June 8, 2020

Haircut Day!

I got my hair cut in February, and, even though it grows slowly, there is no way it could reasonably go for four months without turning into a mess.

It was not just that Trish finally decided that I looked like a hairy man, it was feeling hot, greasy, frizzy, and just miserable.

What a mess to begin with.

So, yesterday was the day!

We set up shop beside the hot tub on the back deck and she went to work.  She was so very careful and took plenty of time, and, when it was over, there was a huge pile of hair on the deck and I was ready to shower and wash my hair to see how things had turned out.



It looks great!  What a good job, and, it feels to light, cool, and good.

All trimmed and ready to grow again.
Maybe I won’t even look for a place to have haircuts anymore once this time is all over since I have experienced the best of all worlds at home.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

The Yard is Coming Back

Hurricane Dorian brought about five feet of water over this part of the yard and up onto the wall of and inside the garage pictured here. The salty water was filled with refuse of every sort as well as being polluted with sewage, gasoline, and diesel fuel.  Everything died and there was stench and stink for quite a long time after the best possible cleanup work.

It is so dear now to see that the back yard is back, clean, with grass growing and welcoming us to once again enjoy time there.

This week our son, Doug, and his wife, Jill, have been with us.  The garage apartment has been their home for the week, but, one night we built our first fire in the fire pit since the Hurricane and had beer and hot dogs in the yard.

Doug and I burn our hot dogs while Jill and Trish watch.

It is amazing how such a simple thing can be such a reason for joy and thankfulness.  We give thanks for fire, grass, beer, and hot dogs!

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Birthday!

Yesterday was my 76th birthday!

We were awakened early by the roofers arrival at 7:07 am to take advantage of a clear and dry day to try to finish the steel roof work that had been interrupted by a week of rain.  That they had arrived signaled that it was indeed to be a beautiful day: clear skies of blue and a slightly breezy temperature in the edge of the seventies.

Trish checks out a finished portion of our new steel roof. The new skylights make windows from my upstairs office.
Our son, Doug, and his wife, Jill, had arrived the night before to spend a week on the island.  After a very lazy start to the day, I was informed that I could do whatever I wanted for the entire day.  I spent most of the day reading on the screen porch (I am in the midst of a well-plotted novel, The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan, a change of pace after just finishing Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile the day before).

It was such a lovely day: I got to watch the roofers work, I received emails and Facebook wishes, there were phone calls from friends and family members, including all the boys and grandson Frank, whose own sixth birthday he is still celebrating two weeks after the fact!

We all picked up our lunch orders at Eduardo’s Taco Truck and picnicked on the back deck in the sunshine.

The best part of the day was perhaps dinner.  We had steak on the Big Green Egg, roasted Brussels sprouts, baked sweet potatoes...and then...the biggest treat of all.  When Trish asked a couple of days ago, “What do you want for your birthday cake?” I had to think.  I’m not really much of a cake person.  I also don’t eat chocolate since I don’t do caffeine.  Then I remembered how much I loved my mother’s butterscotch pie when I was a small boy.

Beautiful!

“A butterscotch meringue pie,” I announced followed by her declaration that she had never in her life made such a thing.  But...it was done, and, a splendid thing it is.  In fact, this morning I plan to have butterscotch pie for breakfast on the screen porch.

It was the best birthday...so far!!

Rest Stop in Williamsburg

 Last week Trish and I were in an intensive week long workshop in Connecticut. When we finished and headed to North Carolina, we had a day t...