Five things Friday #31 - What made me happy this week

 

Google says these are a Jersey Lily or Amaryllis Beladonna Lily.
I've always heard it called a Naked Lady which is definitely more memorable!

1. The lilies above have popped up in lots of places here and provide a pretty break to the dry summer landscape here. It makes me happy to see them as I drive and walk around.

2. This glass also makes me happy. We got a set of 6 as a wedding present 45 years ago and 3 survive. I added the flower rings to all our wine glasses back when I would host book club dinners in Atlanta.

3. I get joy out of watching my dog and young toddlers interact. We were walking by the playground in the nearby park when a little one toddled over to the fence pointing and saying “dog, dog”. We stopped and when his adult came over asked if Coco could gently greet the little boy. So a little finger was stuck through the fence and gently licked producing a delightful squealing laugh and we did it all over again to more laughter.

4. We went to the first ever block party Tuesday night scheduled then because that was National Night Out and the city supports closing off streets. We met some people we hadn’t yet and I had some great in depth conversations with people we already knew. The city sends teams of employees to talk to folks at each neighborhood gathering. We got a police officer, rec center director and public works director. They were all very customer focused which is a theme in this small city. The food was tygreat with lots of varie. We made a big pasta salad and 1/3 was left but it was a chilly evening so we will eat the leftovers.  Kudos to the long term residents (since 1988) who initiated it. It was a happy event.

5. My schedule for Pilates is erratic in the summer but Wednesday I had a session which made me happy. I really like my trainer, enjoy our talks and always feel better after the hour session. Now two weeks off because she has a conflict and then I do.

Goodbye July - Hello August

My interpretation is not as cuddly looking

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From my Art Dogs calendar for July
"Jackson Pawlock"

August is arriving with warmth, not much on our calendar so far except the neighborhood National Night Out potluck.

This is my final month as a 76 year old so I want to make it count.

First though, a summary of July with as usual my ambitions outstripping my energy and motivation!

- We went out five times with several driven by outings for Nana & Papa camp. We also had ice cream as promised. The camper declared she had a fun week with us so success on the grandparent front. 

- I did some drawing, bought some drawing pencils and decided to sign up for a beginning drawing class in September as a refresher. 

- Worked out about 50% of the time - need to improve on that!

- One small home improvement project was completed by getting and hanging a blind in the upstairs bathroom. We also replaced a shrub.

- I cleaned and set up the patio although it has generally been chilly that we haven't used it. Perhaps this month we will. I also cleaned most of the accessible garage areas with just a bit left to finish.

Five things Friday #30 - Nana & Papa camp and friendly neighbors

1. Isn't this inlaid wooden trivet gorgeous? The neighbors who had asked us to water their plants while they vacationed overseas bought it at a craft fair in a historic medieval mining town in Slovakia. I love it.

2. Last Friday we did the last of vacation watering at our son's house and put a few groceries in their frig to get them through the first day home.

3. I enjoy many of the foreign shows listed in the Walter Presents category of our PBS station online streaming. I just finished an unusual one produced in Estonia with English captioning - The Noble Detective. Moody and a lot slower than what is typically produced but interesting.

4. Today is the last day of Nana & Papa camp. We have had a great time with our 9 year old granddaughter and it feels like a staycation for us. Activities in addition to hanging out included coloring, origami, watching funny cat videos, crafts, baking and more including ...

- Seeing Minions & Monsters at the local historic movie theater and having lunch there while we watched; the food was quite mediocre but we laughed a lot at the movie

- One day when she cooked us dinner with us serving as her assistants! A favorite recipe from her Barbie cookbook

- A visit to the nearest reuse center to browse and buy a few things; I got drawing pencils, post its, gift bags and tissue paper; she got a pencil compass drawing tool, tiny "jeweled" pin, a sticker for her little sister and a couple of other things.

- A trip to the Ferry Building in San Francisco although we took BART not a ferry this year; had lunch and ice cream, sat and watched the bay and boats, browsed the shops and had a good, silly time

- And today we will visit a local art center to see the current exhibits plus the amazing float that was built in our neighbor's yard and used as part of a demonstration against misuse of historic native lands plus a stop at her library to get her prize for summer reading program completion

The most fun for me this week was watching while she had Papa blow bubbles which she popped with a small squirt gun. 

I have to admit that one high energy 9 year old girl wore both of us out each day although she is a pleasure to be with! The pup has been a combo of deliriously happy and nap deprived as he gets way more play and fun time than usual.

5. Some neighbors have organized our block for a National Night Out gathering next week. I'll let you know how it goes as we are a neighborhood ranging from a 1 year old to about 80 years old. Should be fun.

Five things Friday #29

Spotted on a dog walk.
Apparently there is a small population of Monarch butterflies that lives year round here. 

1. My big brother turned 80 on Sunday - how did we get so old!  I'm glad we are both still alive and healthy as are our spouses, children and grandchildren. I've had lots of childhood memories involving the two of us popping up as I think about this milestone. He is only person left who has known me all my life. We live on opposite sides of the country now so I rarely see him though we do talk on the phone once in a while.

2. While browsing the internet I came across a blogger saying they have "general malaise". Yes! My energy has got up and gone the last week so I have really lowered my expectations about what I get done. Hopefully this changes soon.

3. Whew - I finished cleaning one side of the garage aka laundry/storage room. Since it is the one with all the tools, yard stuff and stored fix-it materials it took some time. We use one of those long folding banquet tables as a workbench as it was given to us. I always assumed it was permanently stained but decided to scrub with Barkeeper's Friend and found it was mostly just ground in dirt! Since we also lend it out for birthday parties at our son's home that is a win. Although I can't clean the entire perimeter because we are storing things for our son while their house is renovated, I can do the laundry & water heater wall and half of another. Onward.

4. Did our monthly CVS and ACE Hardware shopping and saved $20 between an ACE coupon and CVS odd deals on their overpriced items (like buy 2 get one 50% off). I am determined to remember that ACE carries lots of home cleaning products and home goods instead of going to CVS, Safeway or Target for those. This time it was Barkeeper's Friend, a replacement filter for our Dustbuster and a roll of packing tape. Exciting huh.

5. Last week I wore a loose sleeveless dress one day and loose linen pants and tops other days along with sandals. This week started with sweaters or fleece, sweatpants or jeans, and wool socks. We currently have both a fan and a space heater aimed at where the dog sleeps on the couch so we can keep him comfortable regardless of the day's temperature. The joys of the wild summer weather variation where I live.

Five things Friday #28 -

1. Well that wasn't hard so why did I put it off for 3 years? We received the custom cellular shade for the upstairs bathroom and Hubby installed it. As suspected, it will help keep the upstairs cooler on hot days. Now all the windows have shades/blinds of some sort.

Next small projects are to try to get a sticky old wooden drawer in the dining room hutch to work better and to replace/add a few plants in the front yard.

2. Making progress on cleaning the garage aka laundry & storage room. The tool and yard supplies and storage & work bench areas are getting cleaned & organized better. A grocery sack of trash and some recyclables so far. No spiffing the space up - just cleaning, decluttering & organizing.

3. Maybe just maybe they are through updating all the main sewer lines in our neighborhood! They installed new manhole access at all the intersections nearby and fixed the street at those points. I think that is the final step. 

We still have 2 or 3 years to go until this area is scheduled for street repaving though. I’m sure this is all in a master project plan to sequence these things but am unsure if anything else is planned for the intervening years.

4. This week we were in charge of various things for 3 households that are on vacation - watering mostly.  Glad we can be of help in these small ways. How quiet the streets around us are is a good reminder that we can vacation any time of year and July is probably not the time lol.

5. We went out to lunch Wednesday to a brewery with outdoor seating and stumbled upon an outdoor watch party for the England vs Argentina World Cup semifinal. A well behaved crowd and there was plenty of seating in the shade a bit away. Got us following the game though.

Five things Friday #27 - A very quiet week

Oops, looks like I did #17 twice so now we are back on track…and it was a really quiet week but still fun was had and life went on.

1. We walked to the city’s World One 4th of July festival held in a city park in time to hear a jazz band perform. Lots of vendors, food trucks, organization & agency booths, rides for the kiddos and two women on very high stilts in costumes. The festival has been held for 27 years and seemed bigger than last year. plus very well attended and I found out they hire circus performers such as the stilt walkers as entertainment along with bands. Afterwards I walked to get a latte and cookie while Hubby headed home.

2. I watched Enola Holmes 3 and, as one character says during it, it was a “merry mess”. Light entertainment but not nearly as good as the first 2.

3. I'm trying to figure out why I have lots of energy for 2 or 3 days and then am quite low energy for a few days. Wondering if I'm not eating enough protein & too many carbs? Anyone else faced and solved this at an older age?

4. I'm not complaining, but while most of the country has been suffering under terrible heat, we have been running the furnace and feeling cold until mid-afternoon. Being so close to the SF Bay and Golden Gate means that it can be quite cool plus damp/foggy and windy this time of year. I am discouraged to find I am now an old woman whose joints ache under those conditions! The weather is slowly getting warmer.

5. We live on a half block long court with 8 houses. For the second week in a row half have been empty as families are on vacation and it has been very quiet as a result. 

I have mixed feelings about not having taken a vacation since we moved. We did go to a destination wedding and I went to visit friends once while Hubby has gone several times to visit a friend and to a funeral. I'm not seeing those as vacations though as we didn't go anywhere simply for enjoyment. 

We certainly could take one, but I can't seem to rally the planning, dog sitter arranging and travel energy. Looks like it will continue to be a summer of finding local things to do and not touristing or visiting family and friends who live further away.

Five things Friday #25 - Drawing from inspiration, DMV success, Planning Nana & Papa camp

1. The 2026 calendar I have is "Art Dogs" where each month has a dog painted in the style of a different artist. June was "Yaydog Kusama" inspired by Yahoo Kusama who really, really likes polka dots. I used watercolor markers on journal paper, did a quick drawing and don't have exact colors. I like the way it came out and think it captures the inspiration in it's own way.

2. It turned out that renewing my driver's license was super easy despite my at fault car accident and being over 75. The process in CA was simple: receive an email renewal reminder, complete an online renewal application, schedule an appointment and then walk to the DMV office down the street for a vision test, photo and payment. I was done 5 minutes after my appointment time. Easy peasy. I'll count it as a gift from the universe.

3. We are running "Nana & Papa" day camp the last week of July by request of the 9 year old grandgirl. She has swim team practice starting late afternoon 4 of the 5 days which leaves just one for a longer field trip. After talking with her, I think we are going to the Sonoma Botanical Garden to see large mosaic spirit guide sculptures which are presented in the garden setting and then lunch of course. That will be fun for me too.

It is about an hour drive from our house so the outing won't exceed the pup's approximately 5 hour proven tolerance for being home without a walk. I offered the Museum of Modern Art in SF plus lunch as another option, but we will do that on our own.

4. Yeah for PBS streaming of foreign shows: I just finished watching a season of the French detective show “Agathe Koltes”We get PBS Passport through being a member of our local station.

5. And little things that add up - 

Hubby used an ACE Hardware $5 off coupon we received in the mail to buy a small item. 

I walked to the DMV to renew my license (the irony!) saving gas and getting exercise. 

Inspired by other bloggers steady small improvement projects, I finally ordered a blind for the upstairs bathroom window as the top half is clear glass and it gets intense, hot sun in the summer. We really only use that bath as a 1/2 bath. It does have an old small shower which could be used if the main one was out of order. We are not motivated to remodel that bathroom!

I tried the "how long could it take" approach and made a list of little things I wanted to get done. I'd say it took half an hour to get all 5 done. This month I'm going to continue this practice to get those pesky or boring tasks done. I want to stop putting these type of things off as retirement is so open ended which makes it easy to procrastinate.

AND in the I didn’t know that category - San Francisco 4th of July fireworks are launched from the Golden Gate Bridge. Makes sense though.