“Our grief is as individual as our lives.” – Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of our first week together sharing everything. This picture is from Christmas 1987; our home was decorated to the hilt. Sue was busy working the checkbook, and I was helping her bake cookies and take pictures with the old film camera.
She was so organized that it was amazing to me, and over the decades, she passed her organizational skills on to me. How do I not know? Because of her, I could function and run the household these last couple of years with no threatening bill collectors after us. The lady taught me much, especially about feelings and thoughts. She could easily have been a Dr. Laura because she was calm and relaxed under pressure and always had a carefully thought-out answer to the most challenging questions.
I miss our long talks every day and just sitting by her and holding her hand as we watched old movies and “chick flicks.” I love being in this house because I see her in every room and sitting in her favorite chairs. It gives me a feeling of knowing she is not that far away. I love you, dear Sue!
I was looking back at thirty-three years!
The sunrise was at 5:53 AM, and the Paulrise was at 5:54 AM! First things first, I went through the house, straightening things up a bit, folding the clothes, and doing some wash. How one man can create many clothes to wash amazes me. Perhaps it is due to the construction activities?
Then I went for the berries and cereal for breakfast. The berries are delicious this time of year, and I want to use up the milk.
My scale says I am back up to 192 pounds, so off I go, heading north up the street and see if I can scare a few pounds of this old carcass! On the way home, I spotted a grape arbor on a white picket fence, so I crossed the street and looked carefully. Yes, indeed, the Concord grapes were well hidden and looked delightful. I could not bring myself to pick any because a) they were not mine, and b) I had an abundance already.
Purple may be the color of royalty, but purple-hued foods signify improved health. One study found that Americans who eat purple and blue fruits and veggies (Concord grapes, blueberries, plums, eggplant) had smaller waistlines, lower blood pressure, and reduced markers of inflammation compared to those who didn’t eat purple/blue foods.
Other people in the hood grow grapes, I found out on my morning walk!
I continued my walk, making it about an hour and a little over three miles. Coming down my street, I spotted a creeping grape vine fifteen feet in the air. Look carefully; you can see it went into the kumquat tree and came out way up high. I reached for my trusty buck knife and cut him down to size.
My grapes grew into the kumquat tree and began to attack neighbors as they passed underneath!
I did some additional work around the house before cleaning up and heading to the Santa Ana Elks for lunch with Bob Z, Bill C., and Mike A. Arriving at 12:30 AM; the patio was about half full, so we talked for a while before we broke down and did in a hamburger.
I wondered what Bob was doing with his burger, and then I remembered he could be hiding it so Donna would not see it. Clever!
Santa Ana Elks had their famous burger on special today.
Well, the real reason presented itself. The burger was BIG, and putting it under pressure reduced the size so we could eat it without making a huge mess. Again, it’s a bright idea!
It was big, so it had to be flattened.
I left Santa Ana in the rear-view mirror at about 2:15 PM and zoomed home because I have a Zoom meeting in a few hours.
After about two hours to kill, I began cleaning the front walkway using an anti-haze cleaner on the red bricks. It worked OK, but I still think I will need some more elbow grease and a wire brush before I will be satisfied.
Robin came over at 4:30 PM with my favorite Subway sandwich, the one-half or six-inch vegetarian heavy with jalapenos. I had a glass of juice with lunch and was stuffed for the rest of the day!
5:30 PM has arrived, and I began the Zoom meeting. We had a dozen people on board. Roobin and I are in the middle of the top row. We got updates from everyone, shared pictures of the grandkids, and just kibitzed for the next ninety minutes.
We had twelve people on our Boeing Old Folks Zoom session tonight.
I am staying home tonight, and while I thought about the hot tub, I decided to sit in the living room, watch the subset, and perhaps listen to some of the “news.” As usual, the news was NOT news. Every channel was a diatribe of their view of the world. I finally turned it off and went into the bedroom and watched “The Order” until 11:30 PM, when the auto-close circuitry in my eyes took over!
Saturday night is movie night, and I have to think of a new dessert, something a duck would like. Maybe I will make a cake and decorate it myself! That would be original. I know where all my cake-decorating supplies are located!
What do ducks like for dessert?
My last thoughts for the day were about my beautiful bride and all the times we shared. Below was Sue at Disneyland. We just sat and people-watched, always entertaining and great for conversations! We live only 9.5 miles from Disneyland and would go every other week, sometimes for just an hour or so! Wonderful memories!
Disneyland is the happiest place on earth!
