(Grab bag is a bit early this month due to the publishing schedule).
This week, as it turns out, is that of the sort that one celebrates once a year to hail the passage of another year around the sun. My request this year was a trip to the coast, thus the pictures below.
The ability to say I am in my "mid to late 50's" is rapidly drawing to a close.
In a reversal, I ordered lunch first and then a salad for dessert.
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Our curling season is almost done: our classes finished this past Sunday and our last league game (of three) is this coming Tuesday. It has been quite an enjoyable time: my coworkers and I are definitely better than we started out 1.5 months ago, and the sport itself has all the elements of any great sport in that you can likely work aspects of your form for years, and that does not even begin to discuss the strategic aspects (which are surprisingly many and varied).
The club closes down for the Summer due to the fact the facility - a converted light industrial space - cannot be kept at temperature, or at least in a manner that is not the GDP of a small country. The ice will be melted down, only to reappear in October for the start of another season.
My coworkers and I will definitely be back.
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For the first time in almost 6 years, I will not be making a flight to Old Home and The Ranch next month, let alone anywhere.
On the one hand, I am not as sad about this as I might have expected: given the increasing costs of airline transport (I saw yesterday another airlines is announcing up to 20% price increases due to fuel costs), there is a very real financial benefit to not traveling. And the prospect of a full month with all weekends here in New Home 2.0 for the first time in a long time is something I am both excited about and having to work my way through mentally: it is odd to think of being here "straight on until morning".
I have one trip booked for travel back to New Home for an Iaijutsu seminar and one to get to the start of our hike in August. Beyond that, the only other travel I am potentially aware of this year is my Aunt Pat's funeral, whenever that is.
Welcome to a Brave New World.
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Spring seems to have finally sprung. Although our temperatures are still well below what I am used to at this time of the year - mid 50's and 60's - we moving straight into the mid 70's starting this week.
I strongly suspect, if the weather holds out, planting at The Allotment will happen this coming Saturday.
Bonus picture: J The Rabbit sends end of April greetings!
Your beach photos are lovely and J makes the perfect bonus picture.
ReplyDeleteYour lunch of salad for dessert reminded me of a story my grandmother used to tell. Her parents had a friend who was a doctor. Whenever he was invited to dinner, he asked for dessert first, in case he got called out in the middle of the meal!
It was a gloriously beautiful day at the beach, Leigh. So fortunate to live so close (and have it relatively accessible).
DeleteOrdering dessert first if you think you might have to leave seems like a solid plan to me!
Just remember TB, salad is NOT desert no matter the order of consumption. Team curling, a bit of exercise, camaraderie.....just the thing for a person in the "mid to late 50's rapidly drawing to a close".........:)
ReplyDeleteNylon12, I felt guilty after my burger and fried food. The expression of the server of the salad as a post dinner event was priceless.
DeleteThank you. It was a good day.
I watched a fair amount of curling at this year’s Olympics, and started learning more about some of the strategies and was quite surprised at how varied and complex they could be.
ReplyDeleteEd, to my mind it is somewhat like chess, except you have the addition of a throwing surface that can impact things in unusual ways. One constantly has to adapt one's strategy based on how the stones land.
DeleteHappy Birthday TB!
ReplyDeleteYour lunch story reminded me of a visit long ago to see Great Grandma in the nursing home. We wheeled her down to the dining room and an aide brought her the lunch tray. She couldn’t quite reach the brownie and the aide quickly snatched it up and told her that she would have to eat her pork roast and green beans before she could have the brownie. Grandma then told her that she might choke to death on that dried out roast and that was NOT the way she wanted to go… Then with a smile you could pour on a waffle she said “Now hand over the brownie!”
She won that battle.
A respite (hopefully brief) from travel seems appropos at the moment.
Curling 🥌, you lost me there.
Hat tip on the Aldous Huxley reference. Pithy and macabre all at the same time. Well done.
Thank you B.
DeleteI have a similar story about my own great-grandmother, who was lectured by one of her daughters at age 97 about eating a brownie for dinner. My grandmother's response to her sister was "At her age, she can eat anything she wants for dinner".
Curling has turned out to be far more enjoyable than I had anticipated. Looking forward to next season.
Thanks for the Hat Tip! Even I can be cultured at times.
Happy Birthday, TB! That's pretty nice that you enjoy a sport with your coworkers. I think it would be kind of amazing to live an easy distance from a coast. Not so close as to have to deal with tourists regularly, but close enough it's easy to be one whenever you want. I'm imagining from other posts of yours about visiting the coast, it's not far.
ReplyDeleteThank you Becki!
DeleteIt is the equivalent of a bowling league and a social club. And I am lucky to be able to do it with people I like.
We are less than two hours away, which makes for a very convenient day trip.