New People

This summer a new couple started to go to the pool. They had been there for two seasons but our group never spoke to them. This year the ice was broken and they are now included into the group. The woman that brought them in and initially spoke to them is our "camp friend". She is someone who we socialize with for the summer, but never in the winter. It is because her behavior is erratic. Yesterday her behavior went from erratic to appalling and she was almost thrown out of the pool for starting an alteration with some young girls. The new couple is now gravitating away from her and staying more with the "normal" people. They are lovely people and smart enough to spot trouble.

Brainstorming

I have been working on a jewelry project for the past few weeks. I know how I want it to look but I cannot find the right way to do it. I am working with a tiny space that I want to fill with something pretty. It is almost like a vase carved into a glass locket. My grandson has been working on it with me. Every day he asks how far I have gotten in the "workshop". I am at a standstill, so I have put it to the side for a few days until another idea comes to me. Last night at dinner, he asked me again, how the project was going. I said I still had a problem. He then made a wonderful suggestion about tiny beads. I could see that he had thought it out and was very specific to the type of bead he thinks would be good. He is right. He sized up the problem and offered a viable solution. I was brainstorming with a five year old and he was better at it than I was.

Cloudy Day

Years ago one of my aunts who lived in Florida used to say that when she got up on certain days she would say, "Oh shit, another sunny day". In the summer time, I know what she meant. When the sun is out, you feel like you have to do something productive. You cannot sit inside when it is beautiful outside. If you do, you have wasted the day. When you wake up to clouds, the day is yours to spend however you like. No pressure. If you want to lounge around in your pajamas, it's ok. If you want to watch television all day, that's fine too. Today it is cloudy. I will take a ride to Brooklyn to get my father. I do not have to take him to the pool. The day is open to do whatever he wants to do. He can choose to be inside or outside. Whatever he wants is what we will do. The sunshine will not rule us.

The Numbers

I never look at the statistics of this blog. I get up every morning, write it and continue on with the day. My sister proofreads it, since when I write it my eyes will not pick up errors. I will read them as correct. This morning I checked the page views and was very surprised. There were over 100,000 reads. I had no idea. There used to be an app on the page that said what country people were viewing from, but that ended last year. I remember years ago when I was only hoping to reach 100 reads. That was my milestone. I could never have imagined 100,000.

Umami

In recent years a new flavor sense has emerged. It is called Umami. It is not sweet, salty, sour or bitter. It is defined as savory, whatever that means. There should be a new name for emotions. I will name it Blech. It is not happy, sad, angry, fearful, joyous or excited. We have all felt this emotion but have never had a name for it. Someone asks us how we feel and we say "I don't know". You just can't pinpoint what is going on. That is where Blech comes in. It is the Umami of emotion.

Time Management

If people spent as much time doing the job, instead of wasting it talking about why they cannot do the job, things would get done. We have a new maintenance man at work. I should say maintenance kid. He is in his mid twenties with little experience. He is the son of the management company's supervisor so that is why he was hired. He explains every job that he does for us, step by step as he does it, as if he wants us to know that he is doing it right. This doubles the time he spends at the job making his day longer and harder to handle. There was a ceiling leak last week and the ceiling tile needed to be replaced. On Monday, the kid came in to explain that he was very busy at the building across the street so the tile could not be replaced until Tuesday. I said okay. Yesterday he came in to the office to say that the tile would not be replaced until Wednesday as he was still very busy with problems across the street. I told him that in the time he spent for two days telling me what he cannot do, he could have done it. I also said that he was going to replace the tile now. No more procrastinating. He looked like a scared rabbit. He left the office, got the tile and put it up, all within five minutes. Job done and hopefully a lesson learned. 

The Casserole

Yesterday I received a pamphlet in the mail. It was from the Visiting Nurse Service. Their hospice team took care of my mother during her last weeks. They timed the mailing for the month after her passing. They knew that by this time things would be calmer and it would be read. I usually toss these types of booklets directly into the trash, but I read this one. I was glad I did. It was about grieving. It said that grieving begins when the last casserole is finished. It said that grieving begins when the feeling of, "I am so relieved it is over", turns into, "Why did it have to end". That is where my father is stuck. It is the place he must be until he moves to the next phase. He is a strong person and when he is ready, he will enter the next phase easily. We will not push him. He must go at his own speed.