Early Morning

The early hours belong to me. Even if I did not sleep well, I am up before dawn most days, about 5. I have no obligations, I roam the house, looking for the most pleasant place to sit or lie, the activity that engages my attention. I make some tea, admiring the color of it in the vintage glass carafe. I enjoy the feel of the white china cup in my hands and the warm beverage in my mouth. I like the play of light falling from the open doorway into the hall. I enjoy the company of the dog, snoring on the rug at my feet. I contemplate slicing a piece of bread to toast, or sneak a cookie I made yesterday. The world is my oyster; anything is possible today, no matter what the reality might be. 

Last night, Amelia stayed late at her store, trying to finish up the annual inventory before they open this morning for the new year. Ray and I had broiled shrimp and rice with a nice salad. That's when I baked the cookies I had mixed up earlier: warm chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream, one of life's pleasures. 

Ray had worked almost 6 hours at the H&R Block office here, spending some of that time chatting with his new colleagues, one of whom is named Patty. I also worked, from home, for CSN, preparing the reports for the month of December that my boss will need for the meeting next Monday. I "met" my replacement Pam, and she seems competent and agreeable, so I look forward to working with her. I have possibilities of a couple other remote jobs, in Massachusetts, very part time. If I were to find some in-person work here, it would allow me to meet new people. My conflict is my desire to avoid getting sick (and infecting Ray). 

Cameron

Ray decided Cameron needed a bath, so he made an appointment at Petsmart. I wasn't sure that was a good idea, but he seemed set on it. First, he got the day wrong and went yesterday. There was a long line and he vowed to get there early today. It's very gray here (although not cold) and he slept late. I woke him and he rushed around, but we were still a little late--this time there wasn't much of a line, though. Three different people tried to make friends with him and reassure him, but they decided he was too anxious. He was drooling and trying to get away from them. So he didn't get a bath today. 

Ray is on the bus to his new HRB office. He went yesterday to check it out and the bus is pretty great. It runs every half hour and it's free. It has wifi too. Needless to say, he wears a mask on the bus and in the office. He likes the office manager, Lavita, and he's starting to meet the other tax preparers. 

I worked some yesterday for CSN, balancing the checkbook for last month and dealing with a few emails. I have a call with my boss at 11 today. I'm also considering a couple other part-time remote jobs. I haven't actually applied yet. If I just work about 10 hours a week, that will be great, keep my brain in shape, have a little purpose and structure to my days. Mostly I cook and think about cooking and read. 

We have had Amelia here most nights. Kevin is sick, he tested negative for COVID and flu, but has a sore throat and doesn't feel great. So she gets here about 6:30 or 7, after the store closes, and we feed her some vegetarian dinner and sit around. She knits and works a little and we watch Jeopardy and Kim's Convenience. In the morning, we have breakfast and she showers and dresses and heads to her house to take care of the chickens before she goes to work. They are on their third day of inventory and are not sure they will get it all counted. 

Monday we went to Stone Brothers & Byrd and bought some blueberry bushes. There was one old Southern guy working there--a delightful man. He said, I'm the only one here today, so just go on back to the plant section and you'll find them on the left. We now have 3 Premium and 2 Rebel blueberry plants, as well as a bay tree (only a few inches high at the moment), a rosemary plant, a thyme plant, and a lavender plant. We bought some hand tools and some gloves and a bucket and a watering can. It was a fun place and I though how much my Dad would like it. 

It's raining a bit now and more is forecast. We got three of the bushes planted yesterday in the front yard. They're kind of under a big old oak tree, so I'll be interested to see how they do. I've been looking at a lot of gardening/landscaping books and thinking about where to put the herbs and what else to get. I'm considering a fig tree, but decided not to put it where I was planning to, near the house. I'll start some seeds here pretty soon. Of course, most things won't be ready to harvest before we head back north, but Amelia or someone else will probably enjoy,

Day 2 in Durham

Our little house is on a short residential dead-end street, with about 12 others. There is a creek past the end. If you walk up to the beginning, where you turn in, you can hear the highway traffic, very loud most of the time, but at our house it's not noticeable. From there, you can turn right and go to a very busy street (4 lanes), with small shops and restaurants. If you turn left, though, you come to a sort of park, where young children ride their bikes up and down and around on dirt hills, under the watchful eyes of their parents. Since the weather has been warm and sunny, and it's vacation time for many, it's been busy whenever I walked by. 

We turn left again and pass more small houses with interesting things in the yard--signs or junk or gardens. There is another park in a couple blocks, with an exercise loop, and it connects to the Ellerbe Creek Trail. Ray has walked it several times already, with and without Cameron. If you cross the trail and walk about half a mile through the golf course, you would come to Amelia and Kevin's house. Ray has done it other times, but not yet on this visit. 

There is some controversy in our neighborhood. It used to be young families and retired couples, like us. Now, though, a lot of the houses have been turned into rentals on airbnb, which includes ours most of the time. The neighbors complain and I feel bad. Nearer the entrance, they have built a second, tall, narrow house on the lot with an existing house. It's not ready yet, but looks pretty peculiar. There are big windows facing the street, so the front room will have lots of light. The side of the house close to the next house has almost no windows. It looks like there will be a balcony or roof deck. I hope I get to see inside one day. We have heard that the empty lot across the street will have 4 houses on it (after they tore down one). It seems like it would feel pretty crowded. Is this a solution for the housing crisis? I doubt they will be "affordable." 

The weather has been very warm, but I guess it's warm in Massachusetts too. My skin is not dry and itchy any more. Yay!

I made beans and rice for our New Year's Day midday meal. Amelia made cornbread and roasted squash (that she grew). Of course I left out the ham. Almost ready to sit down and Amelia asked about the greens. I had bought kale for the purpose. Damn! I said. I had picked out a recipe for creamed greens that I thought would be good, but there wasn't time. Amelia and Ray tore up some kale and put it in their hoppin' john. But I made the creamed kale after dinner and will eat it today. I had a little glass of champagne that made me pretty sleepy. Amelia spent a couple hours on Zoom for craft club. There was only one other person, but she made some progress on her next project, a gingham sweater that looks pretty cute. I am struggling with a sweater I started a few weeks ago, from the neck down. I think it will get easier, but the short rows and the pattern chart made it pretty complicated--too much to do when I'm watching TV in the evening, which is mostly when I knit. 

Our big adventure New Year's Eve was to go to the Durham Library and get library cards. It is a beautiful new building with the latest technology, but there weren't many people. I suppose there are lots of ways to read nowadays and the library is less crucial. I read library books on my phone mostly. Ray found a mystery author that intrigued him, Elizabeth Peters, so of course he checked out 5 of her books. Meanwhile, I picked some gardening and landscaping books and one cookbook. 

Happy New Year!!

I slept a little later this morning--after 7, although I was awake about 5 and staggered into this room, lay down on the futon and dozed off again. I was awake until about 11, unusual for me, but didn't quite make it to midnight. 

So far today, I have put in my contacts, put water in the kettle and boiled it on the stove to pour into the glass coffee carafe from the 50s or 60s that Amelia found somewhere. I put in some of my special Assam Chai blend that Molli and Michael (I think?) gave me for Christmas. Then I figured out how to froth some half & half using our fancy new Espresso machine that they also gave us and had delivered here to our North Carolina home so we didn't have to transport it. It's pretty great, but I'll get even better at using it, probably. The teacup has Dr. Who's Tardis on it; it warms my hands and then the warm tea feels good going down my throat. 

My shoulder still hurts a little but it's getting better. I woke up with a stiff neck or pinched nerve on my left side about five days ago and it's been there every morning since. I blame the bitter cold weather we were having, but possibly sitting hunched on the couch playing games on the coffee table was a factor. Then we drove 750 miles over two days and slept in a hotel (motel?), which probably didn't make it better. I didn't actually drive very much--Ray did the most and Amelia did some. 

It was an interesting challenge--how hard would it be to drive an electric car from Massachusetts to North Carolina? This iteration of the Nissan Leaf has a stated range of over 200 miles. Ray's plan was to charge once in Connecticut and once in Maryland, where we stayed for the night and then once in Richmond, Virginia. One of the things he didn't take into account is the effect of extreme cold. The electric motor is less efficient when it's below freezing, so we couldn't get as far on a charge. 

It was fine, though. We (mostly Ray and Amelia) studied the map for where the charging stations were. The ones we used were all part of the EVGo network, although we identified lots of others. The first place we stopped, in Connecticut, was the most difficult. It turns out that EVGo had an old credit card on file for us that did not work. Of course, he didn't know why it wasn't working, at first, and what would we do if we couldn't charge the car??? Ray called them up and got someone who helped him solve the problem. We walked the dog, bought some food from the Dunkin' Donuts nearby, and sat at their outside tables. 

When we started up again (with me driving), there was a yellow exclamation point on the dashboard and a message that said "Charging System problem." We looked up the nearest Nissan dealership, about 15 minutes away (in the wrong direction), and headed there. Meanwhile, Ray got someone there on the phone. They wanted him to make an appointment for the next morning. He was naturally not happy about that. "just tell me if the car's going to blow up--can you just look it up in the computer?" Amusingly, we were parked next to a charger, so Amelia plugged it again, not to waste any time that we could be charging. We decided to go on down the road and see if we could get an appointment at another dealership on our route. The one Leaf-certified mechanic at this one was on vacation (it was the week between Christmas and New Year's, not a surprising time to be on vacation). Ray said he was going to write to Nissan and tell them they needed to certify more people. The dealership nearest to our home in Beverly doesn't even sell or service electric cars. Miraculously, the light was gone when we unplugged the car and started up again. I think it's like using a non-Apple accessory--it didn't like the EVGo charger, but liked the one at the dealership? It was also a slower charger, not the fast ones we needed on this trip. The next time the yellow light appeared, we ignored it, and didn't seem to have any problem. It went away after we charged again. A mystery. 

GW Bridge 6 pm

The next place we stopped was at a motel on the edge of Philadelphia. There were charging stations for 8 cars and one other user. The motel was under construction or renovation and we went in and used the bathroom and refilled our water bottles. Our food consisted of holiday leftovers--Spinach Quiche Squares, cookies, spiced nuts. The dog got another walk and we got another stretch. The question was could we make it all the way to Maryland without stopping to charge again. We stopped at a mall with a Walmart that was closing for the night. The movie theater was open, and the Walmart (where I bought dog food, first visit to Walmart in at least 20 years). I was not impressed. The place was in chaos, I guess from the Christmas frenzy. I even saw a carton of eggs broken upside down on the floor. We had forgotten to pack the dog food and had ordered some from the Target near our hotel (Amelia was planning ahead), but it was going to be closed by the time we got there. 

The slow traffic most of the day meant we could go more miles, but we didn't arrive until 11:30 at night, after leaving Beverly about 10 am. The Homewood Suites was very nice, with a mini-fridge and 2 rooms, but the closest charger gave Amelia problems that night and Ray trouble in the morning. We only got half-charged before leaving for Chevy Chase.

We had a lovely time with friends there, who had made a breakfast spread for us. Well, they had some leftovers too--a wonderful coffeecake someone had given them, scrambled eggs, cut up fruit. And they drove Ray to a nearby charging station and left the car there. It was in a parking garage, so we had to pay that fee as well. The charging stations ended up costing us a little more than gas would have, but the point is that now we have our electric car in North Carolina. It charges in the carport very slowly, but is completely charged after 2 days and nights, and adds very little to our electric bill. We're not planning any long trips soon. 

The last charging station was at a Wawa. "Everyone loves the food at Wawa,' Amelia said. There was an app where you could order food and they would bring it to your car. A salad and 2 paninis sounded good. The car was all charged and we still didn't have our food. Amelia went in (with a mask, of course) and they had it. "I looked out and didn't see anyone," the attendant said. The place was jumping, for sure, and the food was very good. The charger was even faster than the others (100 kw?), and we were home in Durham by 7:00. Yay!

Cameron seems to be settling in.

Christmas is coming

This is the kind of day when I want to be someplace else--someplace warmer, like North Carolina. It's not just cold--literally freezing out, 32 degrees--but gray, heavy overcast. Not worth opening the curtains. It's forecast to snow late tomorrow, but in the meantime, it's just not very nice out. Our poor furnace is working hard to try to get the temperature up to 65. 

On the other hand, Christmas is coming. We have invited lots of people to our house, a thing that hasn't happened for more than 3 years. Tomorrow we are having a Holiday Open House. Some people have been confused, because there were real estate open houses here many times this fall. But this is just a party, where friends and family and neighbors can drop in for hot cider (with or without booze) and treats: meringues, walnut crescents, chocolate cinnamon wafers, ginger cookies, salted almonds, maybe stuffed dates, pumpkin squares, and cornmeal sandies--and whatever else I come up with before tomorrow at 2. One of the bonuses is, I hope, we will have leftover treats to eat ourselves for the next few weeks and take to work or send home with guests. 

So, I have to bake things and try to heat up the house. If I am busy moving around (cleaning works too), I won't be cold. 

Summer Saturday

 It's 9:30, 75 degrees out. I have been up for more than 2 hours, but Ray and T are still asleep. My Dad stopped me as I was on my way downstairs to remind me he wants me to "fix" his computer one last time. On Monday, he moves to a Retirement Community, reluctantly, and the cleaners will come on Tuesday to make his apartment habitable. He wanted to know who we were cleaning for, who was moving in, but I can't even walk in there without being grossed out. I don't know how he stands the piles of discarded papers, open jars of condiments and wine...never mind.

I have boiled potatoes and a little carrot for my Mom's well-loved potato salad, as well as a few eggs. Later I will marinate pork chops to grill. We will have some zucchini as well. This is how I cook when it is hot. I will cook some extra meat to eat cold with leftover potato salad tomorrow. We will close the windows soon to keep it cool. I hear the cicadas, which are a harbinger of a hot day, to me. 

Summer Sunday

It's my favorite time of day--morning. It's cool enough that the sun streaming in is pleasant. Most of the windows are open. Birds are tweeting. Bacon is sizzling and I'm getting ready to make pancakes with fresh blueberries. I'm flabbergasted that everyone isn't up, enjoying this pleasant time before it gets too hot to do any of the things I want to do. There are hours before I will go to church--which I don't have to do if I don't want. This time of year, church is sitting in a park looking out at the water with some of our fellow parishioners, listening to one of us talk about something, singing a few songs (not always well, but with feeling). 

Later in the day, Ray and I will visit a few houses for sale, getting an idea about where and how we might like to live, maybe for the rest of our lives. Tomorrow, I'll drive to Newburyport to work, maybe the last August 1st I'll work, maybe the last August 1st I'll work in Newburyport. We'll see. 

I have nothing I have to do, nowhere I have to be...except...Must use up those fresh home-grown tomatoes and not let them go to waste. Must go through 50 years of papers and throw most of them away. Must do some of the various tasks I volunteered for...but for now, it's quiet and cool.