I find I am the most tired two days after traveling, as the adrenaline and the happiness of being home start to fade. The cough starts again after I pull a game from the garage. It was a bit musty. It is a slow-going day.
I rose at 6-ish and watched the sunrise as I wrote the blog, read (mostly deleted) emails, and was amazed by the Supreme Court’s see-sawing on issues (rules for and against Trump on almost the same issues) as I read the news. I read on Facebook posts that it is not about the economy or freedom, but the fact that we folks on the left are secret communists or ultra-conservative Muslims and must be stopped. I am, as always, surprised that anyone would believe this stuff and believe that we, Democrats and liberals, could have such powers to overthrow all our government and religion and steal elections.
Aside: It always seems like something out of “Pinky & The Brain”: “And now we will steal the election by mass mailing ballots that cannot be detected by means that don’t exist,” Brain says in a low accented voice. “But how can that work, Zoink?” squeaks Pinky, excited to hear another incredible, if impossible-to-succeed, plan. “We just have to believe, and it will be true,” Brain says in a happy and calm voice as he puts on a red hat. “Oh,” says Pinky in a voice that shows confusion and disappointment at the same time–With apologies to Warner Brothers.
Returning to my narrative (well I tried to stay on subject), I spent the morning writing and thinking. I don’t get much time to think when I am traveling, as I am, and that fills my mind and senses. I am now detecting changes in my mood; I am swinging more with music, painting miniatures, and reading books that make me laugh: Accidental Alchemist. I had a dark dream that I spent all my money on the trip and was down to my last 100K, but even in the dream, I realized it wasn’t true and wandered off to enjoy a dream mix of Nashville and New Orleans.
Freely mixing Jazz and Blues with Rock-a-Billy and gumbo with BBQ. A great dream destination; maybe I will see you in my dreams, Nashville-NOLA, dear reader. Even red hat dreamers are welcome. We can fill out all those dream ballots together and mail them!
Aside: My health care cost, on a Bronze plan through Regents, is just over $1000 plus $40 for dental a month. I pay that now through my AMEX to get miles, but that adds to my trip costs and makes the trips look more expensive than planned. Thus, the worry in my dream. So far, I have yet to tip into the principal of my IRA. Even with the trips and medical stuff. The Social Security that started this year helps.
I finished the blog, defrosted a pork chop, showered, and all that, then returned to the kitchen, which, after my actions, looked like the Swedish Chef had a bad day. I made polenta with water and salt. My glass-top stove does not cool fast, and I had to take the polenta off the burner and whisk it. I then moved it back to the now-off burner and whisked again. A few bubbles burst, and boiling hot polenta splashed me. No burns, but some discomfort, and I am reminded again to be careful with this stove (some day I will switch to induction). I season pork chops with Tuscany-style herbs from a bag I bought on one of my travels, then finish them quickly in a fry pan. I make pan gravy and pour it over my polenta. I steamed frozen green beans, but Deborah is right: they have less flavor.
I eat that while I catch up on the new season of Slow Horses. I am less happy with this season, as the storyline is opaque. Everything is muddled and confusing, but I find that is often how these stories begin, and by the third episode the story is starting to roll out.
I also make a manual copy of my important files on my Apple laptop to a solid-state 1T USB-C drive. I also reformat it to MS format (which means it cannot handle my large photo library), meaning that a LINUX machine can read it. Last time the Apple laptop broke, I had no access to anything for a week. I will put that back up in Air VW the Gray in case the house burns while I am away and the laptop does not survive the fire (hoping the car will not be in the garage if that happens).
I try for a nap, but instead I collect the pieces of the board game, Cthulhu Wars, that Richard asked to play on Saturday (an unusual choice, since Richard has most new and popular games, and I think he saw one for sale and wanted to try it before buying). I reviewed the rules (coughing from it, as I mentioned above) and the components. I am surprised that the Annihilation marker is unpainted. I decided to fix that, primed it, and, over the late afternoon and evening, added the first colors. I painted the game using the old army painter techniques, and I used them again for this item.
Next, I went to Costco, thinking mid-Friday is better than Costco on the weekend. There I bought $50 worth of excellent sandwiches for the after-church meeting. Gordon G is visiting from Brazil and hosting us in his home country for a church mission trip in November (over Thanksgiving). It is good to meet before we travel.
There, I find some food items that I could use, of course, but I resist appliances and large packs of food. I manage to keep the bill below $200. Yay! And now I have bananas. I drive that back to the house, unpack, and move the games into the car.
Deborah and I talk often during the day. We miss each other and will be together in three weeks. We spent many weeks together at the beginning of the year, and that has made these months seem like forever. Soon!
I meet Dondrea at 7 at Sí Seniors, and we catch up. I give her a T-shirt for Z and a few other items. We talk about travel and about the trip we are leading to Brazil (Dondrea and I took the official Methodist training and are the official leaders for this mission trip). The tacos, something we have tried before, the menu is new, and they are wonderful. I exchanged one; we had different versions, and they are good, as were the margaritas we enjoyed.
We headed our separate ways: Dondrea to pick up Z, and me to return home, paint the marker, and then read. I did not clean up the kitchen. The house elves did not show up for that, and I will do the dishes and cleaning Saturday morning.
Sleep came soon but was broken by leg cramps, then by various proof of hydration as I drank water to end the cramps. Thus, I did sleep but saw the night every couple of hours. But I am retired and do not care too much about that.
Thanks for reading!
