Husband Tim and I were discussing life the other day. Our place in it, our age, our observations, and the way Tim put it:"life's like a conveyor belt were you just keep moving along at a speed you might not even notice and sooner or later you reach the end of the belt and it dumps you off ".
We were specifically thinking about age and how change is more noticeable now that we're in our 50's. Another generation is stepping forward. The only people who look like us on TV are the ones in laxative and adult diaper adds.
Not time for us to dry up and blow away, but we can definitely see the last quarter of our lives starting.
What primarily brought this to our minds is dealing with our neighbors who both had serious and severe health issues come upon them somewhat suddenly in the last two weeks. Sure they're senior citizens, but they were both in what you'd consider pretty good health up until hospital visits for both of them. They're not family, but we've been neighbors for 12 years or so and I hate to see this happening.
So what else has been going on? Well work's stressful. Nuff said about that.
I have a new guitar. Picked it up yesterday in Madison. Tim and I planned a fun day around that, and it was a welcome change in the work week.
Went to a new music jam last weekend in Freeport, that was fun.
Tomorrow's our Poplar Grove jam. Looking forward to performing with my new guitar. (and Tim too)
Party out at friend's farm after that. Weather should be good for this time of year and we'll be out in the country for the evening. More fun there.
Going to New York in a couple of weeks. Just for a couple days, but that will be fun too. My sister may be moving this upcoming year, so I better get some more Broadway shows under my belt.
So that's some of what's been going on.... listening to Christmas music, no I don't think it's too early.
This holiday season we're really doing what we've said we're going to do every holiday season. Not much in the way of presents, just enjoying the company of friends
Right now I'm enjoying a sip of port. Fortified wine is what port is. And mighty tasty too. As Tim said, boy, it slaps you in the face but it's doing it with a mitten on. That Tim.... what a way with words.
That about sums up the past week. Unusually pleasant weather for November, and my sister Mary visited.
It was so warm we went for a quick bike ride on Sunday. During the whole month of October I don't think we had any opportunity to finish up the bike riding season.
Felt kind of strange because I'd already sort of put outdoor activities out of my mind till next spring. Here we were doing yard work and all manner of things without jackets and mittens.
As a matter of fact during our bike ride around the neighborhood everyone was out with some sort of impliment of leaf collection. Sort of looked like a movie set.
Dropped Mary at the O'Hare bus at 5 Monday morning and back to work.
Time for Tim and I to get back to playing some music. What with the cold I had and company that's been on the back burner. And it's really a necessary part of our lives like excercise and work. Well, that didn't come out the way I wanted it too. Made music sound like some sort of punishment. I meant that it's part of a well rounded life. And it is a form of excercise too. Have to keep the fingers and vocal chords in shape.
Other than that not much to report. Just getting by like most of you. Must be a lull before some flurry of activity.
I'm sure it has nothing on the Coronado Theater.
Built in 1927 it's an "atmosphere" theater. That means it has stars in the sky that sparkle, clouds that float across the night sky and a moon too.
Not to mention the oddest assortment of designs styles ever collected in one building. Funny thing is that it works.
This fine old theater was scheduled for demolition and one of the few good things this town's been able to do right is bring it back from the edge of extinction and improve it without ruining it's character.
So what better way to celebrate Halloween than to take a ghost tour? After all a place like that just has to be loaded with spooks. There were a couple stories, mostly it was a fun informational tour. Had some spooky organ music played for us....
Along the way there were some ghost stories, but he most remarkable thing is the theater itself and the story it has to tell of the passing years.
Not exactly a typical Halloween event, but it was entertaining.
Some cute costumes, some with no costumes, but it really doesn't bother me. After all, that's one of the good things about Halloween. It's all about the candy and how much a kid can get. I can't eat it, so someone else might as well enjoy them.
Enjoyed a lovely sunny day today and we managed to get outside and do some little bit of yard work. Then we gave that up and went for a walk.
Nothing much else to report. Hate the time change. I can tell it's going to take a week to readjust to the time. Just leave it alone.
And my sister's coming for a visit on Thursday. We spent time yesterday cleaning. Nothing like company to get you up off your butt and get something done.
Time for a cup of tea... my throat's still not fully recovered from the cold I've been getting rid of. Then off to bed, and I don't care what time the clock says.
Saw Arlo Guthrie and family in Madison. It was out of the ordinary to wake up in the morning to find out you're going to a concert that night that you hadn't even heard about.
We had dinner right across from the theater, very convenient. The photo here was taken from during dinner.
We'd been to the Barrymore theater about 15 years ago for a concert. It's an old movie theater and has a casual atmosphere. Casual in a sort of run down way. I don't mean that in a really bad way, it has lots of character. And sticky floors, and the seats are starting to sag. But the bathrooms were clean, and to me that's a sign that people really do care.
Indeed it was fun to step out of the ordinary work week and do something spontaneous. It helped that the tickets were free too. Arlo is a great story teller and is a hoot to see, even if you don't know his music. This tour is more about preserving his father's music and starting the next generation on their way.
It was okay, but Arlo by himself is much more entertaining.
The rest of the work week passed okay even though I was suffering from a light cold/flu thing. Not really bad, but bad enough to make me want to lay my head down every couple of hours or so.
Saturday we headed to the wilds of southern Wisconsin for a Halloween event.
Nice to see the sun too. We've had more gray rainy days than I can ever remember for a season.
Enjoyed playing music, but I couldn't sing because of my scratchy throat. Still waiting for that to get better.
But today's the first day in a week that I have some energy. Already put away some laundry and did some stuff around the house.
Have to make the ever popular grocery run. Don't want to, but it's one of those things you might as well do now because it has to be done sooner or later.
So it's another Tuesday.... I'm headed off for my errands and I don't think there will be much adventure today. At least I'm not expecting any. And sometimes that's good too.
Mollie and Bill returned from the wild West and we took a drive to a nearby orchard for some cider and donuts. Sounds like a fun trip and we're looking forward to seeing the photos.
Upcoming this weekend is a Halloween/music party so when I was out and about today I picked up a couple pumpkins to carve at the event. Very cool when everyone gets theirs done and they're lined up outside. These pumpkins are huge! bigger than I would normally buy, but they were cheap and the only size the grocery store had. So big we go.
Aren't you the ones that don't even like to go out for coffee during the week?
Well, yes we are, but Tim found out this morning that he had won tickets to this concert and we thought... what the heck. Let's live dangerously.
So we're getting ready to leave shortly.
We'll both go in to work later tomorrow and see how it goes.
This is one of the good things about being an adult. You can decide to do something out of the ordinary. Not like the normal responsible things you have to do as an adult. Like go to the dentist for a teeth cleaning. Did that this morning. Everything fine, which is good news.
So we're on our way....
It' Saturday morning, and we've run through some our songs and getting ready to head for the monthly jam where we'll do a half hour set and then hopefully play along with others too.
The sun's out, which is positive considering the dreary cold wet week we've had. Temps are running about 15 degrees below normal so that means freezes just about every night. Doesn't look like fall will redeem the weather balance for this year. I'm holding out hope for some normal fall weather this upcoming week.
Yesterday I did my annual "soup-er" day at work. I made 4 different soups for lunch for everyone and lots of folks brought treats and add-ons. Made for a fun lunch time.
Just trying to move forward and keep all the plates spinning. I did pack all the yard sale stuff away and took more than half of it to GoodWill. It was hard in a way. I'm used to getting rid of stuff, but this was different. I gave away some things that had been with me for a long time. Like I was putting a period at the end of a sentence I can't erase.
I'm ready to take a break from responsibility for a while. It's hard to turn everything off, but I need to take a step back from all this relentless scrounging and purging and cleaning and getting rid of. Not that I intend to get more stuff, just take a break.
Well, better get the guitar in it's case, we're on our way to a musical afternoon.
It was a fund raiser for one of the local children's museums. Fun and entertaining if you're a fan of the Mythusters TV show. Grant and Kari an answered questions about the show. And the Coronado is always a fun place to see a venue.
Even though we had a yard sale in the spring we have been getting rid of stuff at a rapid clip and I wanted to to another sale before winter. Well heck, winter arrived yesterday.
It should be a beautiful time of year, warm sun, cool air, you know, fall. We've had rain and cold temps.
I was hoping to squeeze a yard sale in on Friday, that had the best forcast weather for the week. Guess what, rain. Tim had taken the day off but I went to work.
Friday night we went to a concert to see Sara Watkins. Very talented, and her brother was with the band, so it was even more entertaining. If you're not familiar with her you should check out Nickel Creek, the band she and her brother were in, and now she has a solo release out.
It helps were located not that far away from Chicago and Milwaukee and we're sort of a stop along the way.
Prices have been cheap too, so no excuse to sit home when you can enjoy an evening of live music so close to home.
The temperature when we went outside was 31.1 degrees. Never got above 40 and the sun was out about 15 minutes.
Cold? You bet. I was wearing a turtleneck, a sweatshirt, a shirt, a sweatshirt and a jacket. Don't forget the gloves and earmuffs.
That was nuts. We lasted until noon when the wind picked up and kept knocking stuff off the tables.
I would like to take this opportunity to truly thank my wonderful husband for going along with all my crack pot ideas and not complaining or saying I told you so. He's always willing to give it a go.
Oh, the picture of the trees are some fiber optic Christmas trees we had at the yard sale. They were very pretty in the 15 minutes of sun we had.
Sold some stuff and I was stunned anyone would show up. It was some of the hardest money I've ever made. As long as you don't count the corn de-tasseling I did when I was 14.
If you're not from farm country you can look it up on the internet. When I was young they hired kids to walk through the fields and do it by hand. Remember this was before bottled water, cold packs, ipods and cell phones. You were driven out into the country in the morning and came back late afternoon. No restrooms either. Talk about unpleasant conditions.
Well, back to today.
That survived we dropped everything in the garage and proceeded into the warm indoors.
Last evening we drove out to Peggy's to do some music and get ready for the monthly jam next weekend.
This morning we enjoyed breakfast out and headed for the mega grocery for our bi-weekly trip.
Enjoying the day, but there is that little matter of having to pack up the stuff in the garage. At least the sun is out and it's almost 50! Did I mention the snow flurries yesterday afternoon? Didn't think I should.
It was a warm and lovely weekend, last weekend, and it was one of those days when you find it hard to believe that the weather's ever going to change.
Well it did a couple of days ago.
Yesterday we attempted to do our regular gig at the farmer's market. Even left work early too because we are people of our word and we promised we would be there.
Not a pleasant outdoor guitar playing weather kind of day to start with it went downhill rapidly.
Started raining as soon as we arrived, the wind picked up and the temperature was a whole 53 degrees. Felt like 35 degrees.
Needless to say we never got the equipment out of the car. We visited for a while and headed home. Bummer again!
The rest of the vendors didn't stay too long either I understand. Even if you're trying to make the best of something there's a time to call it quits.
But..... got a call from friend Mike who'd double booked himself for Saturday night and asked if we wanted to do his gig for ArtScene. Sure, what the heck. ArtScene's a twice annual event that's an art walk around the city. Lots of venues.
We'll be playing at a gallery at a fair trade type store. Great! I get to play and sing and shop too! An excellent combo.
And this afternoon we're going to a fund raiser for a local museum that's featuring the Mythbusters show from TV. We get to see two of the stars live while they do a presentation and take questions. Cool!
Then we have all the regular stuff to do that one normally does on a weekend. So much for down time.
Oh, and we did get to fire up the new furnace last night. It's one of those things that you typically try to put off. You know, like some faint hope that if you don't turn the furnace on winter will stay away. But since we had to sink big bucks into a new furnace and a/c this year we figured we better make sure everything's okay. (as well as staying comfortable)
Next on the list if fixing the bathtub drain. Not today though, our time's already booked.
Nothing around it but corn fields. And no real chance of a development disturbing those resting there.
Lots of buildings and tons of vendors of all sorts. I just happened to get a not very interesting picture. Hey, I took it with my phone, so you never really know what you're getting in the shot.
Not too much going on this week. As a matter of fact it's Thursday night and we don't even have anything scheduled for the weekend. Stunning, I know.
The weather's not looking good for tomorrow and the farmer's market gig either. You never know though. So we have to go on the assumption that we will be playing and get everything ready tonight before we head for bed. Which, it being a weeknight will be in just a bit. Tim's work schedule as gone back and forth for months as to when he's supposed to get there. Having to be at work at 5 a.m. can be a hardship.
On Tuesday I drove down to Oregon IL to visit at Merlin's, where I worked part time for years. Just visited. Merlin has a lovely shop. Two lovely shops actually. There's the original one and the store across the street which they call The Other Side. Very nice gifts and flowers and antiques. I highly recommend a shopping trip there.
So, as I said, not much going on. I'm working on another couple of plastic bag crocheted rugs. Yes, the holidays are coming, and I'm just so sure everyone's going to want one of these handy rugs. I better make sure I have extras on hand for last minute gifts!
And the eternal question:"What am I going to wear to work tomorrow?" has to be answered before get into bed. Not enough time in the morning for second guesses.
Hope you all have a pleasant night's rest and we'll see what the weekend brings.
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