Our white roses are sitting on top of the kitchen island. They’re awfully pretty. Don has decided that the entirety of October shall be our anniversary.
So, we’re still celebrating. Next year, in July, we’ll celebrate being together for 30 years. Not bad when you consider the fact that we didn’t meet until we were in our early forties!
Yesterday, I went up to the office/studio to reposition a piece of furniture. That, as you know, inevitably leads to other changes. I contemplated Don’s guitars and amps and cameras (as well as all of my stuff) and I called down to him. Would he come up and weigh in on a few decisions? He did. We moved a few more things around and, though I hadn’t planned it this way, he was inspired to clean up his desk which had become a dumping ground. (Mine gets that way often.) So he grabbed a trash bag and started sorting things while I moved plants around and pruned them and vacuumed and sorted a bit more of my little cubicle. It turned into a few hours work, but it’s much better in there now.
When I’m getting ready to work on something like the Beacon Hill, I like to have everything in some sort of order.
Then I came downstairs and vacuumed everything. Then Don made egg salad sandwiches and we had a piece of apple pie. I flipped on the heating pad, as my back was complaining after all that bending over.
Very satisfying, though!
I’m reading The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). I’m a big fan of her Cormoran Strike series. I started reading them when the very first book was published. She’s writes so gracefully that you’re immediately immersed in the story, carried along without a lot of effort, though the plots are highly detailed and complex. The last 3 books have been considerably longer than the earlier books. This one clocks in at 900+ pages. But I’m already at page 200. This one involves a cult and it’s fascinating. If you are interested in this series, read them in order. The characters/relationships grow and change over the course of the series and it won’t make a lot of sense if you read them out of order.
And yes, I know there is a television series. I’ll say it again – I never watch the television/streaming adaptations of favorite books. If I’ve already read the series, the characters are completely realized in my imagination and I don’t want to suddenly have an actor intruding into what I’ve co-created with the novelist. If I haven’t yet read the series, I don’t want to start in already knowing what actors played what roles. It imposes something on my reading that I don’t welcome. So, as good as a series might be, I won’t watch it. I know you like to tell me about those things, but 99% of the time, I’m already aware of it and I won’t watch it. Though I certainly appreciate the fact that you care!
Yesterday’s Blythe photo:
Little miss Pippa, in the middle of an eye roll. Not everyone wants to get hauled off the shelf for a photo op!
I’m going to spend a good chunk of the day reading – I’ve already read quite a bit this morning. And some laundry needs to be done. But first, it’s my turn to make our second cup of coffee.
It’s cool out there today but it’s sunny and that’s very welcome.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
i like that … anniversary month! in part because you celebrate every day, you two are blessed!
i like pippa’s eye roll, too (though often behind closed eyes, i do that a fair bit).
same way for me with projects (and homework back when i was in school) … need to have things tidy around me to better focus on the task at hand, even if it’s a favored hobby. i’ve lived in my apartment for a bit over six years and it’s the smallest place i’ve ever had (the four 1950-built closets i have now could easily fit into the largest of three in my previous and older home). it’s been like a jigsaw puzzle for me to find the best place for things and over the past couple of weeks i’ve been going through closets, getting rid of some stuff, rearranging bins and what’s in them, etc. … determined to get it better before the snow flies. though i’d like more space, at least now i like the closets much better. and that progress makes me want to keep going. :)
also, i relate to the use of heating pads. hope your back feels better.
hope you all have a great day. happy tuesday, too, and stay safe.
kathy
I’ve never, ever had a big closet. Not in any place I lived and I’ve lived in a lot of apartments and houses. All of them have been tiny.
Stay safe, Kathy.
other than with my last place, i can say the same … lots of tiny closets in my past and present … so we make do, right?!? :)
kathy
We have no choice!
xo
Sounds like a very productive day with rest and fun in there also. Love the eye roll!
Thanks, Linda.
Stay safe.
I love those white roses… beautiful against their dark green leaves! It’s such a good feeling to clean, organize, purge…and especially nice to have a slice of apple pie when it’s all done! Happy reading day!
Absolutely! Every one should be rewarded with pie.
Stay safe.
I agree with you regarding books vs television series. I read the Outlander series and when the television show started, I watched the first one and part of the next and I quit. The actors were lovely characters, but they were not the definition of the characters in my head, when I read the books. I just couldn’t accept them, and I did not enjoy watching the series.
I will also say, I read all of the Harry Potter series (yes, I read a lot of variety) and also watched every movie. Both books and movies were experienced more than once. Maybe it was J.K. Rowlings great writing, but the actors matched the characters in my mind very closely.
And I love Dons idea of an Anniversary Month. I’ll have to discuss this with my husband. Enjoy!
Thanks so much, Ranee.
Stay safe.
Why not do an anniversary month…you do you.
I can also relate to having a clean workspace before tackling a job. It’s like cleaning the kitchen before making a huge mess baking Christmas cookies, which I do. It just seems right…LOL.
Enjoy your day! ;)
And it gets messy again awfully quickly!
Stay safe, Donnamae.
The Running Grave may be the best Strike yet. It’s certainly the most intense. I read the whole book in just three days. I usually just read a bit in the evenings, but I found myself sitting down to read a chapter or two throughout the day. Enjoy your read!
I think it’s the best yet. I am completely engrossed!
Stay safe, Judith.
Love Pippa’s eye roll. She’s a little imp. Very cute dress and stockings. Your roses are still beautiful. Great idea to celebrate your anniversary all month long. I’ve just made a cake called “Mostly Apples Cake”. I cooked it in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes (it’s small). Just enough for two. Now I’m waiting for it to cool so I can ice it with maple frosting. After your hard work yesterdsy you deserve a day of reading. Hugs, Elaine
That cake sounds tasty, Elaine!
Stay safe.
Beautiful roses! We’ve never celebrated the day we met, I’ll have to look into that. Hahaha. I’m pretty sure it was August or September, first day of eighth grade (I moved to his school), about sixty years ago—Whoa! Just got notification that I’m next in line for The Running Grave. Yay!
Oh, and he started his clinical study trial today. 👍
Okay. Prayers!
praying here, too.
thanks for helping people by participating in a research trial! you make the world a better place.
xo,
kathy
I love that you’ve been together so long! We met on the Fourth of July, so it’s easy to remember.
Stay safe, Shanna.
Oh, egg salad sandwiches and apple pie sound wonderful. My appetite is only now returning after the weekend. I got my COVID injection Friday morning, and, per usual, I was down for the count. I finally emerged from my bedroom this morning. At least I could read but hadn’t enough wherewithal for much else, including eating.
I know you take posed and unposed (i.e., you hold your Blythe) photos of your girls, and though I like both, I prefer you holding them, the physical connection you have with them. I admire how unapologetic you are about all your likes and dislikes, how you go about your life with such assuredness.
Continue to enjoy your October anniversary!
I’m sorry to hear you had another awful reaction to the Covid shot, Wendy.
Thanks for your kind words. One of the good things about getting older is that you realize you don’t have to care what other people think. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, I say go for it.
Stay safe, Wendy.
sorry you had that tough reaction, wendy. glad you’re on the mend. may you have already been enjoying sandwiches and pie!
xo,
kathy
I love the idea of extended celebrations. Life’s too short to not celebrate such things!
I’m with you on adaptations. If it’s been awhile, OK. Or if I wasn’t deeply bonded, probably. But on some — no way, most of the time. I loved “Lessons in Chemistry” but I have no desire to see the mini-series, despite really liking Bree Larson. But I just don’t see her as Elizabeth Zott.
Usually, once I step into the room to clean, I set the timer, giving myself permission to leave after so long. But almost invariably I will stay on much longer!
I never set the timer, although my back sort of serves as a timer!
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Oh, the roses still look so fresh and pretty, happy anniversary month!
Came down with Covid yesterday for the first time ever and wow it is terrible (and I’m up on all my vaccinations) my husband and I are so careful but my Achilles heel is picking up 4 young grandchildren twice a week from school. Hoping to feel better soon. Take care! Jen
drats! hope you feel better soon and your husband doesn’t get covid, that you have everything you need. praying that you feel better soon and can see your grandchildren and the rest of your family soon, too, jan!
kathy
Oh, Jen! I’m sorry to hear you got Covid. Darn it! Please take care of yourself.
Stay safe.
Your roses are beautiful! And I love the month long celebration idea. A honeymoon every year. What’s not to like about THAT?
I’m pretty much with you about books and movies/series. I find that if I really like the book, I most often don’t like the adaptation; but, if I’m just so-so about the book, I often like the adaptation very much. There are two exceptions so far: the Harry Potter movies, and the unbabridged reading by Sally Darling of To Kill a Mockingbird. Her voice is perfect — the right accent, the right cadence, the right tone. I couldn’t imagine it better.
I am envious as all get-out of people whose work areas are (to me) total chaos, but yet they can find everything. In fact, you’d best not touch anything or try to “help” them by straightening up because they won’t be able to find a thing. There is a method to their madness. I, on the other hand, am nothing like that. In my world, there is a place for everything and everything jolly well better be in its place. Woe to the person who “borrows” anything and doesn’t put it back, immediately. As my friend Gail used to say, “that’s why God made chocolate and vanilla.”
That egg- salad sandwich and slice of apple pie sounds delicious, even for dinner! What kind of bread? My best to you both. Take care of yourselves.
Just plain old white bread, I think – called Italian bread. We had them again yesterday.
Stay safe, Elizabeth!
How wonderful to celebrate your anniversary all month! And this little Pippa, well, I just love her. That little face! Enjoy!
She is darned cute, Judy!
Thanks so much.
Stay safe.
Happy Belated Anniversary!
1
Thank you, Linda.
Stay safe.