Another Birthday and Lots of Weather!

It's a dark, rainy day, perfect for catching up on my blog. There is an ulterior motive - I'm avoiding doing my taxes! By "doing", I mean getting everything together for someone else to actually do them. Normally, that isn't too much of a problem, but this year, with the sale of the house, everything I sold or donated, the move, etc.. I have no idea what to expect. I just know there's a lot of stuff to organize in a way that someone else can deal with it! Not looking forward to it.

Yes, I celebrated another birthday in good fashion. Many thanks to those who called, texted, sent cards, and emails - it was wonderful to hear from you all! It truly showed me how fortunate I am to have such caring friends in my life. I shared lunch with Anna (to my left), whom I met when I first visited CPC, and who is in my lunch bunch. J Lynne, who was the front desk person here until her husband retired, came from Columbia to celebrate with us, and Mary, who moved here about a month after I did, and who also has a doggie. Dini sang her own inimitable version of Happy Birthday to me, as she does for all of us. It was great. If you look carefully, you'll see that I have three plates in front of me. I had ordered from the menu when someone told Chef Mark that it was my birthday (the lone vegetarian). He then made Eggplant Parmesan for me and came out with a chocolate bomb with a candle!! It was lots of fun, and the four of us closed down the dining room at lunchtime. J Lynne then came home with me for a short visit and to see Rosie! I also received a call from Rabbi Covitz, whom I worked for at Congregation Beth Yam. They were on their way to visit Ariel in her first year of college. She was born on my birthday, and it's difficult to believe she could now be in college. But then, I'm one year away from being 80, so a lot of time has flown by! Thanks to one and all who added to my birthday joy! I love you all.

That fun time was followed by two weeks of cold weather. The first weekend was icy, which led to just hunkering down and waiting it out. The greatest fear was losing power, which didn't happen. If we had known we would not lose power, we could have relaxed and enjoyed it. Since I knew I didn't have to walk Rosie, I had a pajama day, which I'd not had in years. It was wonderful. I did get Rosie out back. Sometimes she would go, and other times not, but we didn't sweat it. I have a pee tray for her, and she can go when she pleases, so no worries. I included the photo of the pizza because, while the ice was on the ground, our meals were delivered. Chef Mark treated me well again, and I had no complaints. 

The next weekend was just snowy. We got about 6+ inches, and it was lovely to watch the snow falling. As everyone was cozy inside, it was pristine, without even footprints until I walked up for lunch. It was so pretty, I hated to disturb it. Within the following two days, it was all gone, which is as it should be!

During those two weekends, I sat around doing crosswords and sudoku puzzles until I felt I was in a stupor. My eyes were bonkers from staring at arm's length for so long, and my brain was fried! I used to only do Sudoku occasionally, but now I'm addicted!

With the weather being harsh, things have been pretty quiet. I did take a painting class. What I didn't know at the time of signing up was that Presbyterian College students would be there to help us out. It was part of their MLK service project, and they volunteered in many areas of the community at large. Asia helped me, and she was a sweetie. The final project was as amateurish as I expected, but we had lots of fun doing it. Just having them in the room added to the enjoyment of it (PC students also join us once a month for a trivia competition). We recently had a cornhole competition. I'd never played it before and was excited to try it. I wasn't particularly good at it, but it was fun, and I'll definitely try it again. I may have already mentioned that I've joined a Strength and Balance class twice a week. It isn't all that strenuous, but it's better than nothing, which is what I'd be doing on my own! To negate all of that, there's Happy Hour on Fridays!

CPC, and probably all facilities like this, celebrate everything! Christmas almost did me in! There is also a monthly celebration of birthdays, and a lot of us celebrated in January. Valentine's Day was no exception to the rule. We were entertained by a musical couple singing familiar love songs. There was lots of good food and prizes. Those in the photos are, in order:

Brittany - Life Enrichment assistant

Jennifer (and volunteer) - Life Enrichment

Catherine and Trudy (lunch bunch)

Trudy and Susan

Susan and Jan (lunch bunch)

Except for Jan and staff members, we are all Independent Living in the cottages near the main building.

Not a lot else to report. I am listening to Margaret Atwood's memoir, Book of Lives. I know little of her work except The Handmaid's Tale from TV, and I was a bit put off when I saw her audiobook was 26 hours long! I'm glad I didn't give up, because she's quite the storyteller. She has a wonderful memory for detail and a wry sense of humor.....and she narrates the book! It's made up of vignettes of various aspects of her life, which cover a variety of experiences and travel. Much to my surprise, I've thoroughly enjoyed it and am motivated to read some of her work.

With all of the horrendous things happening in our country, I'm back to faxing my senators and congresswoman weekly, as well as our wackadoodle state legislature. I get flustered on the phone, even with notes, but I can write it much better. I can do it all on my computer, even without a fax machine. Faxzero.com allows five free faxes a day, which is plenty. This may come in useful if you can't email the government official you want to contact, though some do not even list fax numbers!! Yes, they really want to hear from us, especially those in red states! With ICE doing what it is doing, illegally and unconstitutionally, I'm not sure why everyone isn't concerned. 😞

I'll leave you with a little video of Rosie enjoying her squeaky toy. I'm happy to report that she's doing well. I have to tell you a little story that made me laugh. One of her favorite people came up to me and said, "I'm going to have my attorney contact you about joint custody of Rosie!" I laughed out loud! That was so cute. He plays with her every time we run into each other, and she loves it!

Take care, my friends. Sending lots of love to all.