Monday morning, but not going to work

Sunny but cold here; heat is running and keeping it pretty comfortable. I need to go put some clothes on so I'm not chilly. I couldn't find my warm bathrobe in Beverly before I left and thought maybe it was here, but it's not. Maybe it's in a box in the storage unit. I have a summer bathrobe and not my warmest nightgown, so it's about time to get dressed. 

I picked out some nice cotton plaid flannel at Amelia's store yesterday and bought 5 yards to make myself a new bathrobe. I am not excited about the pattern, though. I might need to look somewhere else. I managed to buy 3 books of knitting ideas, too. I guess I could knit a bathrobe? This was during craft club, which I attended in person. There were 7 of us, all masked, of course. Some of the women I have known through Zoom craft club sessions and met on previous visits. It was fun to see them in person again, and hear them talk about the same things (their kids, their cats, their jobs). The shop is a great joy to visit. I know the women who work there and feel a real connections--I helped build this empire! (OK, not really an empire, but honestly, it is so much more than when it started). I'm apparently not that interested in the gray sweater I am knitting. It seems to be going very slowly and I don't know how much I will like it when I'm done. Amelia is working on her 8th? hat. They are all very lovely, but not sure how many she needs. I know I have more than I need, and I like them all. 

Other fun activities yesterday: I spent some time on line with the Eno River UU Fellowship, attending a class after the service for newbies, which is only sort of appropriate, but does give a chance to get to know others. I need to decide if I want to join one of the choirs--they do wear masks to sing. I don't really want to drive at night, so would convince Ray to come with me. There are many many volunteer activities--immigrants, homeless...

Sunday night we have established as Game Night. I made an asparagus quiche, which we all loved, and Ray made salad. Of course there were ice cream and cookies, but it needed something more. What does one serve with Quiche? potatoes? We played Splendor, which is my new favorite game, after playing a few times with Molli and Michael and Declan. Amelia was a little whiny about it. At first she didn't understand, then she didn't like how Kevin kept taking the cards she wanted, since he played right before her. He was close to winning, pretty unlikely for someone just learning the game, but clearly his strength. Amelia said, "Mom, I don't know why you didn't take that card," and I realized she was right. They managed to block Kevin from winning long enough for me to get the card and win the game. After that, we played Hanubi, a funny card game where the goal is to put together a fireworks display, working together, when everyone else can see your cards and give you hints. It was pretty fun and surprisingly intense, but not too long. We played twice, and it was after 10 when they left and I got to bed. A fun night!

Sunday morning waking up

All is well. It is cold out (35), but warm in, with the heat set at 68. I was awake at 3:30 or so and trying to turn the heat up, so it would be warm by morning. We turned it down when we went to bed. I like it cold when I'm sleeping. Somehow I kept fumbling with the wrong button; it's asking me to change all kinds of settings, but I just want to turn the temperature up. This morning, it was easy, when I could see.

It is weird to not have a routine, although I haven't really had one most days for the last few years--just the days I was going to Newburyport, usually twice a week. It's good not to have that drive ahead of me, although it was quite lovely. It was somewhat stressful, due mainly to the other drivers. 

The routine, as it is, involves finding my bathrobe and my socks from yesterday, making a cup of tea in the same white cup. I know that it will most likely be about 2 hours before Ray gets up. I don't really miss him, although I do get hungry. Sometimes I have a sweet treat or a piece of toast. I am planning to make pancakes today (Sunday has been pancake day since I can remember), so it's a little odd to have toast. 

Yesterday I planted a few herbs in the back, since it's forecast to rain again. The blueberries we planted out front will appreciate it too. The herbs I am already using--last night's dinner had parsley and thyme. It was a simple version of a cassoulet with some chicken sausage we had ordered from Imperfect and lots of veggies, more of a soup than a cassoulet. We had gotten a baguette at the coop and ate a lot of that with butter as well. Saturday night is movie night in the usual order of things. We watched Leap Year, which Ray had already. He still laughed like anything when she rolled down the hill in the mud and missed the train. 

I bought a basil plant too, which will live inside, at least for a while. The blueberries won't produce fruit for a year or two, and then it will be in the summer, when we're back up north. Maybe Amelia will pick some and freeze them for me. I just like knowing they're there and I will enjoy looking at them as they get bigger. I still haven't decided where to put the bay tree--front or back? This morning I was looking at a corner of the yard between the carport and the fence that might be good--convenient to pick and keep an eye on. 

I get out the bacon to cook. It says, "Peel Apart Here" and it sounds easy, but it requires a certain amount of strength and finger dexterity. I wonder about older, frailer people than me. I can't peel a banana without cutting it first, either. One way for me to eat something on pancake day is to cook the bacon early and eat my share, or part of it, if I can resist. I have been known to make the pancakes and eat them before he gets up. Now I'm having a few bites of banana. 

Most days include at least one walk in the neighborhood. It's flat, as you can see. This nearby street is not paved and the speed limit of 10 MPH made me laugh. The highway is very near and we can hear the traffic from our front porch, but inside I do not notice it. 

I usually work on the puzzle some, too. This one is a New Yorker cover, lots of bright colors and lines, so maybe not too hard. Who cares how much time it takes? 

Cameron apparently thinks we bought this rug at the Thrift Store for him. 

Week 2

A week ago, we were just waking up to our first full day in Durham. No big change this week. Everything is put away. We went to TROSA (a thrift store) again yesterday and bought a few things: a rug for near the door to protect our wood floors, a small container for leftovers, a dish for the dog, a shot glass. I was looking for some canisters, but didn't find any. We picked up some library books that I had requested (3 more gardening books), and Ray figured out how to charge the car at the library. Yay, Durham! Of course, everything we bring into the house, whether a shot glass or groceries, has to have a place. It's a brilliant design, with a lot packed into a small space, but still. There are two big lower cabinets, for pots and bowls, a couple drawers, two big upper cabinets with opaque glass doors, and 2 open shelves. There's also a tall narrow "spice cabinet" set into the wall next to the kitchen. Lots of things are small enough to fit there--canned goods, crackers--besides spices. As time goes on, though, we are in danger of accumulating things. Already there are 3 kinds of Creole seasoning
left by a previous tenant. Not sure I will ever use that and when I need the space, it's going. Anyway, have to curb my natural tendency to stock up and only buy what I will use in the near future. 

Ray ordered a fancy Fitbit scale that syncs with his Fitbit watch, like the one he has in Beverly. We did laundry. For some reason, I have way more clothes than I need or than I can fit in my allotted 2 drawers. Never fear, that is why they invented those clear plastic bins. All three bedrooms have big closets and room for my overflow of sweaters and clothes I don't wear often.

It is cooler this morning and the heat is running, but yesterday was sunny and in the 60s. When I talked to people from Massachusetts, they said it was rainy and in the 40s. My skin is not itchy and dry anymore. 

The best new acquisition yesterday was a folding table we borrowed from Amelia. We set it up in a corner of the tiny living room, and opened a puzzle! One of the exciting things is it has several heights, so I am going to try keeping it at counter height for now, so I can work standing up. Will that be better for my back? Stay tuned. 

Another activity was planting the rest of the blueberry bushes--there are 5 now--of course, they are kind of small and spindly, but if we can keep them alive, they will be lovely in a few years. Meanwhile, I have some herbs to plant and need to figure out the best place for them. Might plant some lettuce seed too. 

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.