Texting with Kenny, Kay, & Bella!

A couple weeks back I was at Kay's place, eating Goldie Falafel and gabbing with her and Kenny. We somehow got on the topic of all the postcards and stuff I sent out to friends and loved ones during Corona Lockdown. Kay wasn't with Kenny at the time and she turned to him and said, "You missed out; Dan got all the goodies." That night I went home and gathered up bookmarks, silly pages, my last Fortune Teller fish, stickers, and some temporary cat tattoos and sent them all to Kenny, who really is one super terrific fella. It took soooo long to get to him but finally it arrived over the weekend!

Kenny and Kayla's kitty-tats!

On Saturday Bella and I had lunch and talked about going to Boston/Concord together in early 2025. I'm trying to part with stuff at my house that I don't need or never gets used and so I wound up having a boot (trunk) full of clothes, blanket, kitchen goodies, and puzzles for Bella. The next day I sent a message with our selfies and here's her reply:

(How stinkin' cute is Samuel L. Catson?!?! So chic and regal.)

Summer Posties

During the Corona lockdown I was sending out oodles of postcards as a way to stay in touch with people and to hopefully bring them a bit of joy at getting fun mail. Since life returned to a sort-of normal I stopped sending out as much mail. This year I even cut back on who got Valentine's. To make up for this I decided to go bananas and send out Summertime posties to everyone on my mailing list. 

For Louise:

For Ari:

Recipients: 

Uncle Alan

Amber

Amy

Andrea

Anne

Ari

Autumn

Barbara

Chrissy

David

Denese

Dr. Davis

Emily

Marina

Greg and Carole

Heather

Helen

Bella

Bishop

Ivy

Jaeden

Karen

Kay

Kevin

Jax

Lauryn

Lilly

Lisa

Lori

Louise

Lucy

Maggie

Marie

Maureen

Megan

Melanie

Melissa

MeMom & Pop

Michel

Michele

Michelle

Natalia

Paul

Uncle Phil 

Randy

Rick

Mr. R

Terra

Terri

Turhan

Wayne

Yaritza

A Fabulous Day

I tend to feel the need to document any outing and take endless selfies in the hopes that one day it will trigger a memory of the day it was taken. Today I was so busy living and making the memory that I completely forgot to take any photos. It all started off with my waking up at 10ish all on my own, without an alarm to rouse me. I had dreamt that I was at Belgrade, at my grandmother's old rowhome, with my mother and, inexplicably, Matthias Schoenaerts, and I think Xavier popped in and out. Matthias was very stand-offish and sulked in a corner chair. Eventually we went out to the car to head home and every time I looked at a parked car it morphed into an old 1940s car. Anyway, once I was fully awake I became instantly excited because I remembered that the weather report for today was in the mid-70s and it would actually be nice out. Hurrah! I made two-oranges-three-apples juice and watched episodes of Columbo from season two, while on a winning streak with my Homescapes game. I even got a new character to name - a yellow lab that I called Lionel. Then it was a lunch of steak fries with vegan mayo. Absolute yum!

After a nice soak in the tub, I headed over to the library to pick up Family Ties seasons three and four plus Columbo season five and Dead Poets Society. I love the drive across two towns to reach the library, through the rich neighbourhood with the mansions and classy homes, especially those two cute ones with slate rooves. Roark's windows were down and I was daydreaming while listening to my latest playlist.

From the library I drove down to Delaware to COVID Central. Ashlee, Sean, and the girls all caught a - thank Christ - mild case of Corona and are on an official quarantine for at least two weeks. Ash said that they went food shopping not long before they got sick and didn't need anything, but I went over anyway to drop off some treats to keep them going. Sean unlocked the front door and everyone masked up (myself included, of course, even though I'm fully vaxed) and stayed clear on the other side of the room. Like a wacky Santa with her Trader Joe's sack of goodies, I pulled out six pairs of BlueQ socks for Sean (the pair I gave him in May was a huge hit and he said they were his favourite socks ever - I couldn't resist spoiling him with more), Cheetah Chomps cereal, Birthday Cake crunchy cookies, organic raisins (Bailey said, "these aren't my favourite raisins..." which her mother instantly scolded her for saying and told her to be polite and say thank you. Bailey then explained that she likes the ones that are chocolate best. Oh my gosh, how cute is she??!), and Magical Animal Crackers, all gluten free, for the wee ladies, plus a sheet of blank sticker boxes to fill in with drawings, and Crayola colouring pages. I also gave them my copy of A Light in the Attic so that Ashlee could lull the girls to sleep with a fun bedtime rhyme from Shel Silverstein. Finally Ashlee said I could open their bedroom door to let Farley and Bonnie out. I gave them each treats and they were both so good and didn't bark or jump on me at all. Progress! Hugs and kisses from afar and then I was out the door to head home.

A nagging feeling told me to pull in to the Discount Cigarettes shop just before my turn-off to the bridge back to Jersey. I went in and the girl, all of maybe 18, behind the counter (Nicola Coughlin would play her in the movie of my life) called me "hon" (how Baltimore is that!) and made me feel about five. But in a good way. I asked her if they happened to have any Nat Sherman cigarettes and she stared straight ahead, eyes bulging out and her jaw dropping while her lips were closed in that "oh crap, do we??" way. I said I was specifically on the lookout for Black & Gold, as they've been discontinued. She, sweet as can be, went in the back storeroom and reappeared with a cube of FIVE packs!! Forty some bucks (so cheap!) and I all but skipped out the door saying "yay!!!" on my way out, causing Nicola to chuckle and say "be safe, hon." 

Filled with a zing when I saw that the line of traffic I'd seen in the opposite side of the bridge on my way into Delaware was gone on my return journey to NJ, I felt like celebrating and continuing this day of awesomeness. It was 5:45...would Xavier be home from work yet? Probably not...but let's try! I called and booyah! He was home and said I could stop over. We sat in the garage, chatting and smoking and watched the first two episodes of Warren. I gave Jackson a copy of The Hobbit I had laying around (Summer is for reading, after all!) and even saw Zach on his way to the gym in his "new" car. (It's Mary's old Toyota that's been their extra car until Zach got his license.) Then Mary finished her nine hour day of working overtime and joined us. Not long after came a wonderful surprise - Lisa stopped by! I hadn't seen her since September and it was so nice to get a great big hug and catch up with her for a bit. As I was heading home at 8PM and giving goodbye hugs, I scored a fistful of the best damn dark chocolate covered pretzels I've ever had in my life. (Mary got them at the Amish Market yesterday.) They lasted until the first stop light after pulling out of their driveway.

I got home, avoiding all traffic, and whipped up a big skillet of seitan and veggies for dinner followed by an oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie while watching Dead Poet's Society, which was very good. I like that the boys all genuinely cared about not only doing well, but helping eachother do well in their classes and more importantly in their lives. They were supportive and caring in a way that isn't often portrayed in films about young men. Then it was back to some more Columbo and maybe I'll turn in around 1:30 or 2AM. 

Today was nothing special and rather hum-drum, but everything went my way and I couldn't help but feel grateful. Even the screeching headache I've had for the last few hours can't bring me down. I saw eight of my favourite people on planet earth, rubba-rubba'd two puppers' sweet faces, got multiple hugs, scored more of the second best cigarettes created, and heard my baby brother tell his wife that Warren is "fuckin' hilarious" - and I was scared that he wouldn't like it as much as I do! A fab day from start to finish.

 

Time to Leave the Nest

Well, the day has come at last. I've stayed home, eaten way too many snacks, and played it safe all year. Today is two weeks exactly since my second Pfizer vax shot, which means I'm fully inoculated and safe to hang with others that have been vaccinated. First plans are with Marina, who I haven't hugged since our godmother's funeral in January of 2020. We've stood outside and chatted from afar but that was all. This evening I'm heading over with two slabs of Dodah's Lemon Cake, some Virgil's Root Beer, and we plan to get LesbiVeggies takeaway and just sit down and catch the hell up with one another. I'm leaving in 45 minutes and can't wait to get her in a great big bear hug!

post script - I was at Marina's for eight hours and it was pure bliss!

Lookee...

...who got herself fully vaxed today! 

Pix from Michel

I woke up this morning to loads of photos from Michel. My postcard arrived! Michel said he's doing okay, very burnt out from Corona, but hanging in there and hoping to get his first vax shot in a few weeks. It was a bright morning in lovely Antwerp but he said that not long ago they had snow and he sent me a couple videos. Oh how I miss that city and standing on Michel's balcony looking out over it all. The bonus text was some pics from his mother's back yard. (She lives 100 km from Antwerp and boy, do I envy that little garden.) I'm so hoping in 2022 to be able to get back to Europe and see my two favourite countries, Ireland and Belgium. These photos will have to hold me over til then!

More Silly Postcards

Here are some of my favouorite posties that I sent out in 2020 to keep people's spirits up during the worst of lockdown.

Postcard from Lisa

Reunion with the Boys

I needed to drop off Roark to Xavier so he could take him in to work for an oil change the next day. It was the first time I saw Xave, Mary, Zach, and Jackson since December 2020. Sitting at the kitchen table, I ate cold crinkle cut fries and Sicilian pizza with the cheese yanked off like a long peel of sunburnt skin and deposited in the trash bin, while from a safe distance the boys and I caught each other up on life. Jackson is definitely taller with grown up teeth coming in and even the cats are bigger! They were toddlers when I saw them last and now they are full-fledged teen-kitties. Before leaving I convinced the fellas to do one of my favourite things - take a silly selfie.

(That Superman used to be mine. I gave it to Zach nearly a decade ago. He passed it over to Jax a few years back. I love that he's still being used for acting out wrestling tournaments, being body slammed from a child leaping off an ottoman.)

Postcard of The Depot

I sent this postcard out to Lisa back on April 5th of last year when I was trying to keep everyone's spirits up while in lockdown. I thought it was one of my funnier posties.

Mrs. Wilhelm

On August 21st Donna's mother, Mrs. Wilhelm to me and MomMom to Kayla, Jaeden, Nicole, Ashlee, and Matthew, passed away after a lengthy hospital stay. Kay kept me posted via text and it was just awful knowing that, thanks to fucking Corona, no one could see her. Thankfully they did allow her daughter, Donna's half sister, Barbaraanne (see our selfie at cousin Miranda's wedding), to be by her side at the end. This morning the family was able to have a very limited viewing at a funeral home in the old neighbourhood. I loathe social gatherings but was so touched that the invite was extended to me, even though Mrs. Wilhelm and I are not blood related. I felt absolutely compelled to go to give out hugs and mask-kisses to Barb and Kayla. Mama Rosie went with because Mrs. Wilhelm was the long time receptionist at our family chiropractor's office. If my mother woke up with an ache or twinge, she would call the office and every single time, Mrs. Wilhelm would fit Rose in that day. 

So I bought black trousers to fit my (still) fat arse and borrowed a black dressy shirt from Marina and off I went. I got to see Sean, Ashlee, Avery, and Bailey for the first time in a while (I missed them so much!) plus MJ, Barbaraanne and her hubby, Jeff, followed by Kay and her wonderful boyfriend, Dan. I looked over Kayla's back to see Jaeden walk towards me wearing his adorable smirk with arms open and ready for a hug. I was stunned, as I really didn't think he would be there. His father drove them 16 hours up from Florida and it felt so good to hug him and hear him say he loves me and misses me. It was so nice to be able to give hugs and try to comfort my cousin and her beautiful kids. Mrs. Wilhelm still had so much life ahead of her and it absolutely sucks out loud that she's gone.

I am very grateful that our last couple of texts to eachother were scattered with smiles, love, and oven mitts.

The Good

This year is bad. Just pure awful. Like the smell of burnt popcorn, the weight of a dirty diaper in your hand, the sound of nails on a chalkboard, and the taste of orange juice when you were expecting milk. It's all of those things and more. More as in plus the death of a loved one combined with strokes, hospitalisation, a lingering cold, daily stress and job pressure, terminal illness, separation, divorce, mental health issues, abandonment, the sudden passing of a beloved pet, a favourite shop closing, great social unrest and injustice, political climate so horrific as to make one wanna barf, anger, inaction, brutal senseless murder, lynching, dictators, Republicans, and the usual: homelessness, famine, war, extreme poverty, greed, and hatred. Oh, and a global pandemic so bad that loved ones are left to die alone because only the sick are admitted to hospitals. The world right now is so full of rage and misery that it feels like an avalanche, leaving us crushed and without breath. That said, I want to try to find at least ten truly good things that happened for me so far this year.

• Reunited with my cousin Emily and her children in her lovely new home. This woman had a patch of years that were really bad and we all worried about her. She has come through, stronger than ever, and is raising her two fabulous children with a sense of calm that I have never seen before. It's hard to see who is the lucky one, Emily for having two such wonderful children, or Ana and Adam for being blessed with Emily for their mother.

• Discovering Toni Morrison in the documentary The Pieces I Am.

• Kathleen Hanna sang to me from her home's shower.

• Amber Brown sold me the last of her stash of felt cd cases.

• Wayne and Chrissy dating after secretly being in love with one another for close to a decade.

• David coming over and fixing my bathroom sink that's been broken for the past four and a half years as well as my closet's shelf that fell down three years ago.

• Getting a free trial to HBO so I can binge on wonderful documentaries.

• Discovering some really great 80s television like Spenser for Hire, In the Heat of the Night, Murder She Wrote, and of course, Voyagers!

• Falling in love with Brian Blessed via his marvelous memoir Absolute Pandemonium.

• As horrible as work has been these past four months, I try (not always successfully) to be thankful that I have a job that allows me to work from home full time, continue to pay my mortgage and credit cards and live my life.

Crush + Color

In my continuing effort to keep people's spirits up during Corona and all the garbage that is happening in our world, I discovered this hilarious colouring book. I tore out the pages and have them ready to distribute to my nearest and dearest.

Two Tur-quties

I've been feeling very depressed lately. Work is very topsy-turvy with lots of changes to my position that are out of my control as well as mandatory overtime every day. Quarantine is getting to me as well, as it's tough not seeing Bishop every week plus Kayla and Bella every other month or so. Oh and I do so miss being able to hang out with Zach and Jackson - to go for drives and lunch and even just reading bedtime stories or watching silly YouTube videos. The one ray of sunshine is that Ashlee has relaxed social distancing and allowed me to come over. Thank goodness because that means I get to see her, Bailey, and Avery and get in some snuggle time and loads of huggin'. It helps. It also helps when Ashlee texts me photos of the girls on a regular basis, plus funny videos of them horsing around at home. These two pix made my work day a little better.

Blobfest Tickets on Sale

One of my goals for 2020 was to go to Blobfest at The Colonial with Zach. When I saw that they were having a Home Edition I decided, well, I do still have off that Friday...so I bought a VIP ticket (just for me, sorry Zach!) and will be watching Blobfest from the comfort of my own home. Plus the money goes to helping keep this wonderful place afloat while they are closed due to the pandemic.

Coronavirus Selfies

People are beyond over social distancing and it's allowed me to get in some hugs and see some much missed faces. I fear that August is gonna be bad, so I wanna get in as much time with friends and family until we have to go into lockdown again.

Still keeping a safe distance from Jackson...

...but up close and personal with Bailey...

...Miss Avery Rose...

...Farley and Ashlee, who I hugged for a solid two minutes, to make up for the time we lost over the past several weeks.

I stopped over to see Terri and it was a bonus to have Shane and Juliette come outside to chat for a bit.

And lastly, my siser-in-law Mary's bestie (well, one of her besties) and my brother Wayne's lady, Chrissy, who I gabbed with for a couple hours. Is she adorable or what?