I stayed inside all day yesterday – my allergies have been making me miserable. I don’t know, maybe this is peak pollen time? It sure seems that way. Don mowed a lot of the lawn, thank goodness. Thanks, husband!
Still feeling poorly this morning. I’ll get outside to water the porch plants but that’s about it. Thankfully, it rained during the night so the garden beds are nicely watered. It’s a beautiful morning, the kind you get when the sun has broken through after a rain. Truly gorgeous.
What do you do when you’re feeling poorly and you don’t have enough energy to concentrate on reading? Well, naturally, you play with your dolls! Doesn’t everyone?
Mei taking Bertie for a walk.
Good thing Zoe was on alert! (Mei tends to daydream.) There was traffic ahead.
Zoe.
You also go upstairs to take pictures of a little miniature project.
I wanted to recreate one of the ‘dolly tubs’ you see in British gardens. (I would love a real-life version, but they’re very expensive here.) I thought it might be a neat addition to the exterior of Dove Cottage.
They’re made from zinc in real life. Mine is made from plastic – two Nyquil bottle caps glued together.
I’m rather proud of this little tub! I’m going to make another one in the not-too-distant future.
We’re nearing the finish line. Dove Cottage is almost finished.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
hope the rain and rest help you feel better soon.
super creativity on the mini dolly tub, claudia, and it looks perfect!
will have a busier day here today, but it’s all good. best i get started!
hope you all have a nice day. stay safe!
kathy
Have a lovely day, Kathy.
Stay safe.
The girls are so cute!! And the tub you made is wonderful! Getting ready for a smocking meeting in a couple of hours. Love getting back together with friends again. We are having a nice, rainy Spring. Love the rain.
Have fun with your friends today, Tana!
Stay safe.
The tub is wonderful even if taking NyQuil is a depressing reality. The gift of seeing potential in bottle caps is a great thing to have.
ceci
Plenty of miniaturists, including myself, buy certain packaging because it can be recycled into a mini.
Thanks, Ceci!
Stay safe.
That plant tub is amazing! You are a very clever girl. I will never look at a NyQuil cap the same ever again…
I’m an allergy sufferer as well, so I feel your pain. I’m wondering if you’ve ever considered allergy testing? I finally did last year at the age of 67, found I was basically allergic to Kansas (the state where we live). Since it’s not in the cards to move to the ocean (my true love), I started taking weekly allergy injections in January and I’m already seeing good results. It’s a long process once you start injections they tell me, but Medicare covers the entire cost of testing and injections here in Kansas, so I’m thrilled. Perhaps it would be worth checking into?
I was tested when I was a young adult. I know exactly what I’m allergic to. I was getting injections at that time, and the result was a severe reaction which caused me to lose my voice and performances of a play I was in had to be cancelled. So I won’t go that route again.
Thanks, Jacqui
Stay safe.
OMG you are too clever. Question: Have you ever purchased from miniatures.com? You have inspired me to attempt a one-room “box.” And I know you have talked about this, but can you tell me the size scale you work in? This is all new to me . . . I appreciate your help! Chris (your friend you’ve never met) :-)
Yes. I purchase a lot from them. The kit I used to make Don’s studio was from miniatures.com.
I work in 1:12 scale, Chris.
I’m excited for you!
Stay safe.
I love your planter! I have a box of toothpaste caps, bottle tops and beer bottle caps (which I’m told make perfect pie tins) and other assorted bits and bobs that are just waiting for inspiration. I think I just got some! Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Stay safe, Deb.
Well done with the Nyquil caps! I would never guess. It’s really quite perfect there. And the girls look so darned cute but my real fave is Bertie! What a gem!
Bertie is darned adorable.
Stay safe, Jeanie!
Love those little girl faces,they’re beautiful and serious.
Hope ya feel better,my friend and my grandson both suffer terribly.
Get some rest!
Thank you so much, Pat.
Stay safe.
I’ve never heard of a dolly tub; always learn something new here. Who would have known yours is from Nyquil caps! You’re a genius with these doll houses, Claudia.
Sorry you’re struggling with the allergies.
Had one of those days, the good with the bad. Gorgeous at the beach with green-blue water although it was really hot in SoCalif today, even at water’s edge, but we unfortunately saw a washed up seal in distress. He could lift his head but was struggling to move, so it was probably disease or injury (I have never seen anything like this before; you immediately knew that something wasn’t right). Isolated beach area; stray one or two people on the sand near him; nobody else. Although it was upsetting for us to come upon this, my husband sprang into action, calling marine wildlife rescue, and then we went to a nearby fire station to see if they could do anything, and they did know somebody else to call, too. So I hope the poor thing got help quickly. I tried to make myself feel better that maybe we were meant to see him and help him by actually calling somebody in authority rather than what we were seeing otherwise with those few people just taking stray photos with their phones. Thing is, no blame, because people simply often don’t know what to do in such a case. Or maybe they HAD already called for help and we just didn’t know.
And then the foster dog hasn’t been himself the past couple of days … difficult to know why … and I merely stepped over to him to reach something on a kitchen shelf to have him grab onto my calf and draw blood with a puncture bite which actually didn’t hurt although I bled a ridiculous amount (I’m on aspirin therapy for my heart); but, clearly, it’s a problem and my husband had to be talked down about returning the dog to the shelter after all the nearly-four months we’ve struggled so HARD to rehab this poor, disturbed animal. I’ve talked to many, many people who are in the ‘dog-rescue’ business and they’ve all said this could take up to a year and there may be some things that are never right with the dog. I’ve been thru this before with another dog 25 years ago and we always had ‘boundaries’ with him, like lines we couldn’t cross. We’ve just forgotten. I can’t live with myself if we take him back; my husband said, “But you’re the one who got bit!” I just think we need to explore the reasons why. We need to hire a behavioral expert.
So, I had an appointment to get my eyes checked (annual exam) this week (I’ve got a glaucoma and also a retinopathy problem which always has to be analyzed/periodically) only to learn that not only does the doctor not require his patients and staff to wear masks, nor will he. SO irresponsible; he’d balked of even the slightest mitigations even back in 2020, so I knew this was coming. No way was I going to show up there and swap air with a bunch of people in a large, busy office/clinic with those who could be unvaccinated, not with our Covid numbers rising every day; not with him RIGHT in my face for an hour or more, even though of course my own face would be masked. So, I went to somebody else in another town today (they had a cancellation and I got right in) and it was the complete opposite; big plexiglass enclosures to the ceiling for their receptionists, small signs on exam chairs and machines saying “I’m Sanitized!” with each room I went into for this&that/testing; ALL of their employees in N95 masks, and this is an even LARGER eye clinic than the other one who didn’t care about protecting me. So, that was a good thing today, and I checked out okay. Whew.
My cousin was supposed to be vacationing in Mexico for three weeks but he got sick again, had to cancel the morning of his flight; unpack. They think it’s lingering effects of the Covid he got about 6-8 weeks ago. The virus wants to hang on. I’ll avoid it for as long as I can. He lost some considerable money on that trip by not going. I’d just read that not even 50 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated yet Britain I think they said is over 70 percent. Wish the U.S. could/would catch up.
We got a text later from the marine rescue group; they were on it. They wound up getting more than one call on the distressed seal. People around here love our sea creatures. In a town about 20 miles from where I live, some 30-40 seals come ashore every day to bask on a tiny strip of beach in a heavily-inhabited human area, but everybody delights at seeing them, leaving them alone to enjoy some time out of the water, rest from all the swimming, and get their sun. It’s a tourist attraction for the ‘locals’! I think the seals, too, come into our harbor areas because they know the boats returning from deep ocean have freshly-caught fish.
When I mentioned aspirin therapy and bleeding from my dog bite, it’s just that the aspirin is a blood thinner, so I bleed fairly easily. I am not blaming the dog. We’ll get it figured out.
Did you read about Paul McCartney’s fab concert at Fenway? What a thing that must have been to see and hear! The reviewer said he’s at the top of his game as he nears age 80; in great voice and also that his instrument-playing was in amazing form. Sounded like it was baby-boomer/Beatles heaven! A 36-song set. Would have been worth every penny for the concert ticket.
An aside: This is how behind-the-times I am, and how MANY years it’s been since I was in a movie house, but when my husband went to see Top Gun Maverick, there’s nobody at a ticket window anymore at the theatre. You just go in, insert your charge card into something in order to pay, the card screen then lets you select a seat and immediately x’s out all the seats around you for Covid spacing (although there ARE humans manning the snack bar). I’d noticed that our local movie theatre no longer changes the lettering on the big sign outside which lists which films are playing. My husband says it’s because any moviegoer today knows to look online for what’s currently playing. They DO still put movie posters in the windows/lobby. Again, I’m old-fashioned, but it sure all seems ‘sterile’ to me from when we were kids lining up outside the theatre, just waiting for that paper ticket in hand.
I enjoyed seeing another Brit in the news, too, besides Sir Paul; the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee; 70 years on the throne, longer than I am in years alive; she’s been ‘Her Majesty’ my entire life (I adore her) and I’m getting pretty darned old(er). A lot of pomp and pageantry; the monarchy still overwhelmingly popular in England; a feel-good celebration. Nice break from horrible news headlines all the time on other topics. Every time I’ve watched her Jubilee video with Paddington Bear, I well up; it was just the sweetest little special touch in the festivities.
We saw Paul at CitiField, where the Mets play. There were at least that many songs. It remains one of the highlights of our life together. Remember that we know Brian Ray, who is in his band. Fenway would have been a great place to see him, as well. He’s amazing.
Stay safe.
So good of you to reach out for help for that seal!
Riley had some issues that were never fully resolved and I would say it took at least a year for him to calm down and fully trust us. He bit Don once, but that was Don’s fault. Unexpected moves are always a threat to these poor babies. Imagine what they’ve been through.
Don’t give up on him.
Stay safe.
Quick thinking, Vicki, about the seal. We have Marine Mammal Center in Marin here, but , as you say, not many know what to do or might think it’s normal behavior.
Re eyes: great you got in with a new doc. Eye care is a big thing with me & as well as others in my family. I’m a macular-degeneration person – fortunately dry kind (no injections) – just the progression to loss of central vision. Hoping I’m slowing the progress with sunglasses always outdoors, supplements, & better healthcare.
If you don’t mind saying, how do you like your Medicare plan. Husband hasn’t retired yet so we’re seniors still on his company health plan. He wants to go with BlueX, but I’m saying it’s more expensive. This weekend & next week look awful for temperatures in our area – mid Peninsula of SF Bay Area.
Well, we had an HMO for almost 20 years before retirement, through my husband’s insurance/employer and it could really be the pits (strangling, and you have to get an authorization/’permission’ from your PCP for every little and big thing); so, when we went to Medicare, it’s been a breeze; just the best. So much freedom of choice with doctors and care! Effortless! We went to a broker to sort it all out because I have a slew of health issues and we had to make sure we got the ultra package for Medicare; in addition, we got secondary medical thru AARP/United Healthcare (I’d had excellent coverage in my own previous employment with United Healthcare which was a PPO in those years for me); we also have Wellcare, the prescription drug care plan. (And we paid for YEARS when we couldn’t afford it, for a long-term/LTC healthcare plan thru Alliance that is now paid up with an inflationary clause for the future. (“While life insurance is designed to protect your loved ones when you die, long-term care insurance provides money to help you maintain a good quality of life while you’re alive.” [Unfortunately, what we do NOT have is whole-life insurance, only term, which will run out, and that makes me really nervous as we can’t extend it; like, the cost of burial is so high, and I just wish we had whole-life insurance {in the absence of savings} to pay out at death so you could AFFORD a funeral.])
Does it all cost some money; yep. Medicare of course reduces your Social Security payments; but, for the other plans, it’s either ‘painless’ auto-deduct out of our checking account each month and the other is an annual payment, easy enough to do. But it’s peace of mind and we hardly ever shell out any money for any medical expense so far (I’m immensely grateful for all of this!). Fortuitously, thru my husband’s retirement plan, we also get free … for life … vision and dental coverage; it’s some kind of swap thru some benefit he has, so we use it for that coverage instead of taking the cash-out each year. (Yesterday for my extensive ‘eye doctor’ appointment, where they worked on me for 90 minutes straight, I paid $5 for the visit; when I order glasses, I’ll still have to pay a goodly amount but there’ll be some help with the vision insurance; like, if I decide to get new prescription sunglasses and ‘regular’ eyeglasses, since I have weird things to do with that stuff because my vision is so bad [the glasses have to be crafted a certain way], I’d be dropping about $700; instead, I’ll shell out more like $350 which is a gigantic help for our budget.)
So, despite living a VERY modest life with zero frills, basically ‘paycheck’ to paycheck as always and with no significant savings accounts or investments and a very-big monthly mortgage on our fixer-upper house which needs a ton of repairs and upgrades, we’re at least ‘covered’ more than adequately in the health department. For us, this was very necessary. It’s not just me now who has the health problems; my husband has developed some significant ones as well. We’re at that ‘age’ now. Stuff happens.
I was advised by many people at Medicare-age to not go with the Advantage plans. I don’t remember really why; maybe something like a balloon payment on a mortgage where the expenses catch up with you in the end. Don’t listen to me on that; get professional advice! (Our broker must have felt the same way, because Advantage plans were not what she signed up for us either. Boy, going to her was just the greatest; so efficient and she was so knowledgeable. We never do a thing further; the plans just renew themselves. She’s there if we need her, and it cost nothing to consult with her because she must get some kind of income from signing you up with the various entities, but I felt she was very impartial and gave us lots of options. She is an independent insurance agent who specializes in the Medicare plans and she came highly recommended to us by one of my doctors.)
Martha, we were 90 degrees at 2pm so far today and it will get worse in the next few days; just an awful heatwave upon us in Calif but also the Southwest like Phoenix and Dallas. Too early in the summer for this! I know someone in Redlands (about four hours east of me at the coast/east of L.A.) and she’ll be well over 100 degrees tomorrow if not today.
I’m sure the seal wasn’t able to swim which is why he got beached with incoming waves. At first he was sitting up, still as a statue, but then he’d go flat, only to raise his head out of the water. My concern was the tide was going to go slightly higher, which could drown him, but then what would happen when it would recede in the hot afternoon, when he needs to be wet and cooled. It was a helpless feeling for us; but I thought, well, if he’s dying, and if people (who were thankfully scarce; it’s a kind of ‘secret’ beach not a lot of people seem to know about) will keep their distance and let him have his peace at the end, at least he’s in his own environment of ocean and sea air with sounds like the crashing waves and seagulls to which he was accustomed. I will hold on to the wish and prayer and belief that he was helped by the people who are experts at marine-life rescue.
Back to the drought, what’s so bad too is the heat in the San Joaquin Valley/Central Calif which is suffering SO much from lack of water; already so much farming and ranching now gone from the area, when it had been such a huge food-growing region for so many decades. All those fruit orchards; the vegetable crops. Of course cattle ranches with no grazing land left. And for you in beautiful Marin and the SF Bay area which I love SO, so much, you’ve always been so cool when other coastal areas warm up. Heaving a big sigh for Calif and its future.
Los Angeles has VERY specific water-restriction rules right now; they show a how-to graphic every day on television news so that people GET it; it’s coming to my near-county soon, we’re convinced of it. People will finally obey because they’re not going to want the fines; their water meters will show if they’re over their water allotment; they’ll get ‘caught’. I despair to see brown lawns all over my area in the south part of the state but grass is a water-hogger, which is why, some nine years ago, my husband and I reduced our front lawn to a third of what it was; now, it’s basically a decorative triangle surrounded by low-water plants and rocks, but we do have SOME amount of lawn in the back for the dog (which my husband waters VERY infrequently); however, the other half of the lawn we’re not watering at all now. And my husband hates to pay at the carwash, so our cars are filthy, but at least the carwash places recycle the water over and over again.
We’re back to 2014’s drought (we’ve never, where I am, ever-really gotten out of the drought) where we’re encouraged by the ‘authorities’ to turn in people on a phone line when we see them wasting water, like washing off sidewalks or watering at the wrong time of day or letting a hose just run to where the water is going out over concrete or the street. I don’t like that kind of ‘police-ing’. I knew of places back then where they’d have to put locks on their water faucets to prevent people from filling up big containers of water. (Like in the 70s with the gasoline shortages and long lines at gas stations; I remember it’s when we got a locking gas cap for my old car I still have, because people were getting adept at stealing gas from other people’s cars!) They had to do it (locking up water faucets) at a place where I have an offsite storage unit because their security cameras showed people ‘stealing’ water in the dead of night from the facility’s outdoor water faucets; they’d then have to unlock the faucets for the gardeners when they’d come to do the weekly landscaping work.
My husband and I have talked of locking our front garden faucet, then (2014) and now, but can’t quite make ourselves go that far, at least not yet. But just like I’ve seen people, multiple times(!), charging their phones (for ‘free’) inside the old post office (when there were times I’d go at 7am, nobody else around at that hour [I was already showing up at my mom’s for shift changes of her in-home nurses and was out at that hour anyway, so I’d go pick up my post-office box mail; it was before my local p.o. got interior security cams {and started locking the doors from 6pm to 6a} and didn’t know that people were using the free electricity]), you know that people will eventually help themselves to free water wherever they can (illegally) get it. What a world.
In Calif, land/real estate has always been like gold in terms of value; now, it’s water that’s gold. And land/real estate is going to be worth nothing if we have no water.
Thank you, Vicki!!!
Sorry to take so long to send this reply. Lots of wonderful detail. And, yes, great idea of using an impartial broker — looking into that this summer. We probably won’t start until January, but we’ve got to get going on it.
Thanks again
XOXO
Martha
Aren’t you clever? What a great eye for details. Two bottle caps!
I hope you feel better. The government lifted the testing requirement for travel so we are free to leave. Just need to get flights. We will enjoy the extra time in Rome. Italy was interesting and I am glad I went but I have to say that I loved France much more. I expected the opposite.
You’re really traveling a lot this summer, Kay! I love France too, though I’ve never been to Italy.
Stay safe.
I need to go while I still can. This trip has been a challenge with the COVID quarantine. All is well now. We should be home soon.
Did you test positive, Kay? Or did Vassar?
xo
First Vassar then me a few days later. Kind of ironic since he is the one who is more careful. So many of my friends who are vaccinated, boosted and careful are now getting COVID.. It is super contagious.
The travel agent said that there were 70 clients with COVID waiting to go home from their trips.
Take care. Feel better.
We’re doing our best to avoid it. Glad you’re feeling better!