I love September. I’ve been in school for so much of my life–elementary (I skipped kindergarten, big mistake), junior high, high school, under grad, grad, post-post-grad, not to mention teaching in most of those–so to me September is the New Year, shiny new pens and crisp clean paper and and cool air (well, it used to be cool) and a faster pace to everything. I love summer, and spring is even better, but best of all is autumn. And I insist that September is autumn, even if it is 80 freaking degrees out there.
Happy New Year, Argh!
What made you happy this week?
Just before going to see my family in Paris, I moved house.
I moved from a small town (what the British call a market town) to the city where I teach.
As freshers week approach, the idea of a fifteen minute commute by foot fills with delight.
I spent 9 long years dependent on the vagaries of British rail to get me to work and I am so so happy that I won’t hear again:
« We are so sorry to announce that due to slippery rails/high tides (I kid you not)/previous delays on the line etc. your train has been delayed by approximately … forever. »
I LOVE – freshers week
Being able to walk to work is such a delight. Makes the whole day better.
I decided, at the ripe age of 52, to do a doctoral degree. I’m terrified and excited. It’ll be nice to have a bit more academic security. And even nicer to teach 2x fewer classes for 2x the salary.
Excellent age for stretching your mind — it’s awesome to realize how much you know and can connect when you have decades of experience already.
I love this, I really do, and I think it’s amazing! I hope you have the best time.
But I also have to say, have you seen the meme about mid life crises? Men have an affair and buy a sports car, women get a PhD. You are living the meme! (Yes, I wrote all of that, just for the sake of a bad pun. How’s your Monday going?! ).
Wow, great idea, Diane!
The last 3 weeks of August were hot and humid but this week was much cooler. I even wore a jacket in the mornings. Since I work outside 4 days a week, this was a very pleasant change.
Lovely FaceTime chat with a close friend yesterday. I was hoping to visit her this fall but that requires taking an airplane. With the 4th wave of Covid upon us, I will continue to enjoy our virtual chats.
Visited an outdoor flea market and bought a couple of gorgeous handmade silk masks. I was happy to support a local artisan, plus they are very comfortable.
Lucky you that at least you’re allowed to choose masks – since our 2nd lockdown in October last year FFP2 masks were mandatory. Now it’s allowed to use surgical masks. None of the cloth masks I had sewn tons of…
I’ll stick wirh the textile FFP2 masks since I don’t like to add to all the rubbish if possible…
I’m struggling a bit with happy at the moment, but nearly finishing my Halloween dressing gown has lifted my mood, and getting a bit of sunshine for our daily outside exercise allowance helped too.
Picture when done, please!
Warmer weather this week was happy. The last two days have been cold and grey, but there was a day earlier this week when I went outside in a t-shirt and shoes that didn’t need socks. It was excellent.
I got to spend all week with an adorable (almost) 1-year-old. And, I’m spending today with her 3-year-old cousin. It has been a very good week😊
yes, i agree, the new year should start in september! it’s when the gears and wheels start to turn again, revving up work, school and a new cycle of chores and scheldules.
I was not so thrilled to ruin my perfect record of never having been a patient in a hospital, but I am thrilled to have found out what was wrong with me (perforated appendix, anyone?) and feel so much better. I still HAVE said appendix, because they want to see if they can clear up the infection before making any decisions, but after 2 days in ER and 2 1/2 actually checked into the hospital, I am happy to be home with water that tastes good, food that tastes good, and my own bed, sofa, reading chair, et.al. I also knew already how great my spouse, sister, b-i-l and friends are, but they have all been so wonderfully supportive, so all in all, feeling quite blessed.
Records are made to be broken, right? Wonderful news that they’ve diagnosed your problem, that you are feeling so much better, and that a solution is on its way.
Yikes, the things we can’t see coming… Glad you are home and under good care.
Glad you’re OUT of the hospital! And blessed with supportive friends/family — that makes all the difference in life.
So glad to hear you’re okay and safe at home. Hospitals are not the best places in the world, but still handy to have when something’s wrong. Rest and allow people to spoil you furiously, you’ve deserved it. Sending cyberhugs. Hope you’ll feel good as new again very soon!
So glad you have an answer! Good luck with next steps, and yay for a supportive circle.
Check in with us and let us know if you still have your appendix, please.
So glad you’re with good people.
Picking the last wave of big beautiful red tomatoes to freeze (there will be a few stragglers to keep our salads lovely for the rest of the month) was happy. Getting the first apples from our desperately-need-pruning trees was also happy. Finding some good on-line video instruction to help us prune the darn things was happier still!
AND, the new Louise Penny has arrived and is on the top of the “read me” stack.
We had our first dinner party on Friday, and it was a blazing success – a good time was had by all. The day before I’d walked with some friends on a very cool path, and there was a woman selling veggies from her garden, and she went back and cut fresh basil off her plant for me (!), so I used some of that in the pasta I made, and today I’m trying a vegan basil sauce recipe with the balance. Just because I’ve wanted to make cashew cream and this seemed like a good excuse.
And tonight we’re zooming with friends we haven’t talked to since the move, so I have happiness to look forward to there.
The sun is out today with a projected high of 82F. This is especially timely because I just opened the small address book I carry with me to discover that the threads that anchored the pages to the cover had ripped and I had lost all the pages at some un-known time and place. I may have to chase around A LOT to find an appropriate replacement.
Yesterday I did my PT exercises for the first time without enough pain at the end to require an ice pack. I know from previous experience that it feels worse before it gets better, but I wasn’t sure that the getting better portion would start before I leave in 3 weeks. Which means that I wasn’t doing my home work every day the way I should. But last night’s session felt significantly easier and less painful so I am hopeful that I am turning the corner and will start building up more momentum.
Yay! Please don’t blame yourself unnecessarily. Part of the speed of recuperation depends on your body, not on the amount of exercise you do. Isn’t it wonderful when your body begins to respond?
Finally have the house sorted out from two weeks of guests. Took a two hour nap. Seeing a good friend for the first time in 2 years, but she’s an easy guest. We sit in the same room and read.
Got my car back from the autobody shop Friday. I love my car, I can play my music loud.
September is a new year for me, as well, both at the college and at church, even though the liturgical calendar won’t change until November. This week I had two productive meetings, planning ahead for church programs this fall. Did some writing and editing that pleases me. And I still have 2 weeks before long-time friends arrive, so can continue to procrastinate on cleaning and read books instead. : )
Happy because this is the first of three 3-day weekends in a row. Not going anywhere this weekend. On the 13th I have an appointment to get my eyes examined for the first time in at least 2 years, almost certainly need a new corrective-lens prescription. On the 18th I have a date to visit my friend down in Orange County who I’ve seen once since the summer of 2019.
And between now and the 20th I expect to finish first full draft of the WIP novel. Have been doing read-through edits regularly since I started writing the thing on Sept 20, 2020 … by the time I hand it to my cover designer/beta reader, it should be pretty well polished.
This particular book has some dark subject matter, and I’ve put it down to work on other things multiple times. Happy with what I’ve done, and happy to see The End on the horizon. This will be my ‘submit for awards’ title for 2022, I think.
The biggest happy was that through the efforts of 2 very kind social workers, I was able to file enough spend down documents to qualify for 5 months of medical coverage! Whoo Hoo! This means that no matter how long I extend my trip to France, I will not have to worry about any gaps in healthcare and I have proof of when my fax was received.
My brother told me that there is a train station in the airport which connects to the train I need to get to the Dordogne and I will not have to drag my suitcase across Paris while jetlagged. I had been flying into Geneva the last few times I visited him and I assumed that since Paris had multiple train stations, the connections would be more difficult. I was delighted to hear that the only problem would be that I might have to wait several hours for a train.
I finally remembered that I might be able to find a new day pack on Ebay that I can afford. All the ones I saw in stores were either the wrong size or too expensive. I wish I had thought of this earlier so that it allowed more time in case the post office screws up, but I hope I will get the new pack in time. The one I am using now drives me crazy and the one I ordered is a cheerful design.
Link to the day pack? I’m always looking for a better one.
I just went to ebay and searched for Jansport Right Pack-new. Since I have procrastinated way too long, I settled for the familiar instead of holding out for the best deal. The material on the last one I had didn’t wear nearly as well as the ones in the solid colors, but this time I decided to go with fanciful instead of practical. But I like the size and features of that model.
Wow. Those look great! Do they have multiple pockets and sections?
Aunt Snack, I’ve taken the TGV (fast train) from CDG to Avignon. There’s probably a TGV to the Dordogne as well. Very nice train.
I loved the TGV to Avignon – it was a double-decker, and the view from the top deck was wonderful. Almost all the way across France – from Lille to Avignon. I’d love to do more continental train trips.
I was happy to find that, despite some serious neglect (as opposed to my usual benign neglect) of the garden, I actually had about a dozen ripe grape tomatoes! It had been at least a month since I’d been inside the garden, and I had to hack my way through the weeds to get to my little harvest, but I’d been thinking I’d have zero home-grown tomatoes this year, so it was a nice surprise. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTckB_-rE7R/
I’m exhausted, so I’m taking the 3 day weekend to relax. My Elf Coat (from Morale Fiber) crochet project is going really well, I finished the entire bottom half of it yesterday.
I have been hanging out with friends online in Teleparty making fun of Lucifer, so that’s been great.
We put on an online play festival yesterday and that went well, so huzzah there.
I got asked to do tech on the theater company’s next show, which was totally out of the blue but what the heck.
Also, I have taken three covid tests in 9 days and come back negative every time, so cheers for that.
Raining today, which we don’t need. But it’s a slow, gentle rain and maybe won’t cause too many problems. And the temperature in my bedroom has been below 70 degrees three nights in a row without the use of fans or airconditioners. My kind of weather.
The pickles I made about a week ago turned out well; I’ve been enjoying them.
Pixie actually leaned against me and let me pet her (no treat in sight) the other day.
And Pratchett!
Four two weeks I have been saying this is probably the last day we can have breakfast on the balcony because it is going to cool down. There is nothing like sitting outside surrounded be pots of flowers and reading the Sunday papers while eating breakfast.
OTH, the sewer project has turned into a complete nightmare so we won’t talk about it.
Summer has come back for a few days. Found some Victoria plums for jamming, and have just found space for them in the freezer, thank goodness, since painting the 9ft square breezeblock shed has turned into an exhausting marathon, especially alongside the day job. Still, I got the first coat on the two visible walks today, and it’s looking so much better than it was (grimy white with lots of screw holes).
I’m going to sneak some half days to finish the shed: decided it’s essential for my mental health.
Walls, not walks (that would suggest a lookout tower, which would be seriously beyond my capabilities).
It’s 84°F (29°C) and partly sunny just now, but should dip to 71°F (21°C) by morning. That is my favorite feature of September and Autumn. Those days of 90s and 100s, while not impossible, are mostly bad memories. At work, we have three industrial AC units of 750 refrigeration tons each – there’s a BTU conversion, but I forget what it is – and all summer we ran two units flat out to cool two prisons. In the last week, we started needing only a single unit, and even then, it would cycle off on third shift.
My home AC has been cycling off as well. 🙂
This is, unfortunately, the time of year when my diet achieves maximum boredom, and I can’t face any of my normal selections. Beef, pork, chicken, tuna, eggs. BTDT to death. I have to get past this or the weight will magically restore itself to my butt. And everywhere else. I have 14 pounds of bacon in the fridge, including Naked Bacon with jalapeno seasoning, and no desire to cook any of it. I want to go to Five Guys for a cheeseburger and fries.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’ve started my Murderbot Project, which necessarily means a complete reread. I’ve finished When Stars Collide and I’m reading First Star I See Tonight, which I don’t remember, so can’t call it a reread. The last Wearing the Cape series book (so far) is Repercussions, on which I at least cracked the cover. “Shall I compare thee to a summer day? Thou art long-winded and dry.”
School starts Tuesday for the grands.
Common sense caught up with me at the last second. I left off the cheese.
I looked up the conversion. One 750 ton AC unit (we were running two) is 13,500,000 BTUs. My window unit is 6,000 BTUs, a third of a ton. The more you know…
Wow, that’s a lot of BTUs!
I’m happy to have finally gotten past the road block (my antivirus program) that was keeping me from commenting on Argh.
My biggest happy was 5 nights and 4 days spent with my friend Karen and her dog Kady hiding out in the woods at a fancy cabin on a lake (really a small pond). We had planned to go to Bouchercon in New Orleans that week and decided not to. Then it got canceled, which turns out to be Very Lucky since that was when the hurricane hit. It was the first real break I’ve had since thing started and my mental health truly needed the days of quiet reading, paddle boating around the lake, eating good food, and hanging out with a low-stress (and vaccinated, obviously) friend. Sheer heaven. Now if I could just do it every month…
Happiness is also a nice phone chat with my middle sister for her birthday today. We aren’t close–her choice, not mine–and it is always a treat when she is in the mood to actually talk to me. I’m hoping to see her, my BIL, and maybe my niece early next month as I go through Albany to fly out to San Diego to visit the rest of the family, who ran away from the upstate NY weather years ago.
It’s father’s day here. My mum sent me this picture https://www.instagram.com/p/CTdM54wBaZy/?utm_medium=copy_link
It’s me and my dad circa 1978. My dad died 14 years ago, and I cried a bit when I got this, but this it still made me happy, the reminder that he loved me more than I knew.
Word of the day: desiderium, a longing for something we no longer have and wish very much that we still did.
The joy in that picture is wonderful.
I’m happy that cooler weather is here, at least overnight (it’s 97F right now). Cooler weather makes it easier to finish our outdoor projects before it’s actually cold. Most of the highs ahead are in the 80s. MUCH better!
I joined a romance bookclub here in NYC, since moving to a new city = desperate need of new friends. I think I probably talked too much (sigh… I have to get better at not being too aggressive in book conversations) but other than that it went well. Fingers crossed I get some real friendships out of it. But even if the friendships never move beyond bookclub, it was really fun, and I now have smart people to read romance and small-talk with once a month.
I’m happy to be expanding my horizons by learning a little about the love life of the Saqqara date tree. Apparently the date palm we consume today had a love affair with two other closely related date trees known as the Phoenix sylvestris (or wild date palm, also called the sugar date palm) and the Phoenix theophrasti ( or Cretan date palm), which are currently found in places where the date palm we know is not. The Cretan date palm is found in coastal areas of Crete and Turkey, and the sugar date palm is a typical Asian species from Bangladesh and southeast India to Nepal, Pakistan and the Western Himalayas.
Thanks to the DNA, we can be sure that these romantic relationships would have taken place 2,100 years ago. KNEW you’d want to know!
https://thenewsroom.net/news/2000-year-old-egyptian-object-unravels-genetic-mystery-of-plant-love-life-08-10-2021-science/
This information may help keep dates coming in the throes of climate change, too.
Also cheered because SEASON 2 of the MODERN MISS FISHER on DVD is officially released today so my copy should arrive by, say, Tuesday.
My happy is that Tuesday morning at the crack of dawn I will get on a plane and fly to Yellowstone NP. (Well, I will fly to Salt Lake, stay overnight with a friend, pick up a car and drive to Yellowstone, but the point is that by Wednesday night I will be in my happy place.) After living there for 3 years, I haven’t been back in 14 years. September is a great time to be there–not hot, the kids are back in school, but all the features remain.
“Save yourself some money, boil some water at home.”
See https://thervatlas.com/podcast/subpar-parks-national-parks-and-their-one-star-reviews/
Okay. I will give you that fall starts in twoish weeks. But I’m dragging and kicking all the way. I love summer break more than my kids. I’m so not ready for Fall decorating. Why does summer seem like the shortest season??
My happy is that on my birthday 🎂 our lunch people sang Happy Birthday, then I got a pashima And Flower 🌺 arrangement from my Daughter in Auckland (in spite of saying No Presents) and phone calls from the grandchildren in N Z . My son and his partner took my DH and me out to a very nice restaurant for dinner. A very lovely day.
Happy birthday belatedly!!
I turned 60 this week. And after a month of grey skies, we’ve gotten a late summer blast of sunshine.
Congratulations and Happy Birthday! Sixty is a nice benchmark to stow away, then start having fun.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday from the continent, too 🙂
Literally a new year for me, since this is my birthday month.
I finished a readable draft of my novel, which is a huge relief (this pandemic thing isn’t going away, and everyone in health care is hanging by a thread).
I do have to work today, but then I get a few days off, including going to Toronto for two days of an immersive theatre workshop! Can’t wait to see some friends and eat.
Also, I made delicious homemade apple pie from apples in our garden. The pies are just about gone. I could eat those all day.
Ah, another Virgo?
Also thank you for the work you’re doing. I cannot imagine the stress, not to mention the frustration with people who won’t vaccinate and then fall ill and overwhelm the system.
I’m happy. The trip to Colorado was refreshing — far away people and places are wonderful! I lied in an earlier post about neglecting my diet — I brought along a travel scale which was great: I could adjust what I ate daily instead of dreading bad news at the end. And Colorado has absolutely gorgeous mountains and stones and views.
Now it’s cooler here at home; otherwise, I didn’t miss anything. We drove down to visit our daughter and I’m going to a concert with a friend this coming week. Fun times.
Upcoming surgery to repair a bunion and hammertoes has me worried. I’ll be out of action for many weeks/several months. Worse, the doctor’s office is concerned that elective surgeries might be postponed because of COVID.
My son’s mother-in-law probably won’t visit this Christmas after all because the US isn’t allowing folks in from abroad; she lives in Poland. Fortunately, my son is a US citizen and my daughter-in-law has the right kind of passport to come over for the holiday.
Oops, I went from Susie Creamcheese to Negative Nellie. Life is very good. I’m happy. After all, happiness is fleeting, right? You savor it while you can.
My quilting friends and I spent the weekend at a little cabin, with a very large screened in porch, sewing and chatting. I got tons done, before my machine broke. Poor little guy – hopefully it will be an easy fix for the tech this week!
I just got back from two weeks in London visiting our daughter who we had not seen in 20 months. Our son (who we saw in July and before that not for 11 months) came with us. We were together as a family—the happiness from that will hold me a long time. I don’t know when we will see her again. I think the UK may move the US to red status which would make us quarantine if we went, and I’m not convinced travel will be safe at holiday time .
It was a very different kind of trip—we didn’t see shows or eat inside restaurants —but we did go inside a few museums, masked, and took a long hike in Kent, and went to Kew Gardens. I was disturbed at how many people went unmasked on public transit and inside restaurants. It felt risky but we are all fully vaccinated and wore masks and so far haven’t caught Covid ( we got tested three times —before the flight , after tbt flight, before the flight back.)
Aunt Snack, you need to check all the Covid testing rules for every country you are going to. They are all different and change regularly. You will need a Covid test to get back in the US. If you are going to France you might want to get a Covid pass. I hope you have a wonderful time!
I finished my application for the Covid pass on Monday.
Okay, yesterday was Bad News for my diet. Yes, I really did go to Five Guys for a burger and fries. Brought them home and ate them. The burger(s) were fabulous, even with just lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, and jalapeños, but if I tried to describe the fries, I’d be writing food porn. Delicious, delicious food porn.
Today, I am back on the wagon. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Harmon, Marion G.. Small Town Heroes (Wearing the Cape Series Book 4) (p. 145). . Kindle Edition.
Went to Food Lion, Bought beef, pork, no chicken, strip steaks, broccoli, carrots, French beans, green onions, peppers, eggs, and tuna steaks. Also, more orange soda for the kiddies.
I’ve cooked and eaten the tuna steaks with broccoli and carrots. Now I can go back to reading. Finished First Star I See Tonight, working on Repercussions.
I’m late to the party, but my biggest happy this week was getting out into the garden at the weekend and getting large chunks of it weeded and looking good, while talking to the neighbours painting their fence on the other side of the street. It was a cheerful friendly afternoon, and so nice to look at the garden and see spring flowers instead of weeds.
A potential happy for the quilters here: The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show is virtual and free. See https://quiltshow.com/
I’ve been happy to be back in the art room, turning a beat-up picture book into a mixed-media art journal. I see lots of gesso in my future.