I’ve been feeling quite happy lately but not particularly inspired to write or work on my art. I wondered if it’s a message from God that I’m not very good at either one, and I should quit, and from there I started to shut down.
Thankfully, I remembered my emerging theory that when evaluating the enjoyment factor of life after work, results are overrated. Just let go, she says to herself. In large part, retirement is about making it to the finish line and doing whatever you can get away with.
While you were busy learning Mandarin or perhaps planning your next trip to Machu Picchu, assuming you can still get in and out of there, I took it upon myself to count the number of beeps I typically encounter in a day. I’m up to 15, but I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few.
It’s crazy how devices and appliances have wormed their way into our brains. I wonder if anyone has studied how this affects us. In a way, it’s like being zapped with a tiny dose of electricity every few minutes. That’s got to add up to something horrible, don’t you think?
My wireless cell phone charger makes a double-beep sound when you hit the elusive sweet spot. The dishwasher beeps when it starts and again when it’s done. The washing machine is special. A beep to turn it on, a beep to select the cycle, yet another for the water temperature and a final beep to start the whole thing. When it’s done, it plays a string of beeps one might call a tune or jingle.
The Washing Machine Song, not to be confused with the pizza song, which we actually wrote ourselves.
Pizza, pizza, ya, ya, ya
Pizza, pizza, ha, ha, ha
Then there’s Dale’s old watch with an alarm set for 10:22 a.m. It goes off in a flurry of beeps every single day, but he can’t hear it, and neither one of us knows how to turn it off. Good news is I’m up by then, so it’s not really a problem. Not like the smoke alarm battery, which never, ever goes off during business hours.
There’s more, but you get the idea. I mean it’s nice to have audible alerts, but in evolutionary terms, I’m sure there’s a price to pay.
So, Christmas is on. We’re not doing a tree this year, probably because I’ve complained bitterly in the past about what a pain in the ass it is. Dale likes a tree, but a man can only take so much. I suggested we try it just this once without, and if he really misses it, I’ll back off forever. I think that’s a fair deal.
We only get each other one present. A few from the sisters arrived in the mail. I suggested we put them under the coffee table in lieu of the tree, which we know now is on sabbatical. He sort of went for it, but the cat is not digging this whole scene. Everyday, the presents get pushed just a wee bit further out from under the table. It’s actually quite entertaining. If for no other reason, we’ll probably go back to the tree just to keep the cat happy.
In terms of entertainment, I can recommend a couple of good books and a streaming opportunity. For books, I can’t say enough great things about Andy Weir’s Project Mail Mary. He wrote The Martian, which I also loved.
Another excellent read was Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad. The story reminded me of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. It’s kind of sick and wrong, but I enjoy reading about these complex people who self-destruct in the wilderness.
Although I’ve never read the Louise Penny books featuring Inspector Gamache, they are on my list. Conveniently, I stumbled upon Three Pines on Amazon Prime. The show is based on her books, and there’s only one season so far, but I like it a lot.
I used to read a fair amount of science fiction but usually default to crime. After reading Project Hail Mary, I decided to make more of an effort in the sci-fi genre. Already downloaded and ready to go is Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey. Space adventure featuring a detective! Like it was made for me.
Three Pines TV show is OK, but the books are so much better!
I watched Discovery of Witches and later read the series. It’s looking like a similar pattern for the Louise Penny novels.
I totally agree! When I found out it was on TV I was raving about it to my husband, so we tuned it. I am very disappointed. It is just not coming across, in my opinion, and I’m not sure why.
Anne,
I think that it misses the nuances and the complexity of the books. Books are notoriously hard to translate to film in my opinion. There is a tameness to the shows and a lack of suspense for me. Maybe because we’ve read the books? Might feel different to those who haven’t read the books. My husband is now interested in reading them after seeing the episodes.
I agree with Jay…the books are so much better! Thanks for the book recommendations, Donna. I have fallow periods too, when I don’t feel inspired to get any art done. I used to stress about it, but I have realized that when I am ready my muse will reappear (or not) and worrying about it accomplishes absolutely zippy de do dah. I have a whole lot of beeping and singing going on with my appliances too…and now I have a stove and a car that both send me messages on my watch and my phone.
😂
Deb
I love your relaxed approach, and that’s what I’m going for. Once again, you’re my role model. I really really don’t want my car sending me messages on my watch or phone.
Hi, Donna – Ironically, my phone started making a new beeping sound just as I began reading your post. I hadn’t heard that particular beeping from my phone before and have no idea what is was all about. Perhaps it was trying to ‘chime in’ with your post! 😀
O Christmas Trees! A few years ago, my husband and I decided we didn’t like the space-hogging or the hassel of our Christmas Tree but we definitely liked having a tree. It has traditionally sat just inside our living room picture window. In a moment of divine inspiration, Richard and I decided to move it just outside the living room window. It is now literally only a couple feet away from where stood before — but now it is outside. Win-win-win! PS – We do put our presents on the inside of the window! Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy holiday!
I love the outdoor tree idea. We have a lot of handmade wooden ornaments from Germany, and I’m afraid Dale won’t want them exposed. But it’s still a grand idea!
Along with the others, I agree that the books by Louse Penny are better than the Series but I’m enjoying Three Pines nonetheless. I was caught up to her 15th book and somehow in waiting for number 16, she has written that one and two more. Time flies. I’ll have to look up the books you recommended too.
Three Pines is the Quebec equivalent of the British show Midsomer Murders, both being small towns with an inordinate number of murders. Three Pines is much more serious though.
And I have high pitched hearing loss courtesy of flying small planes in the late 1980’s so all the little beeps in the house goes unheard. No hearing protection then and no GPS! (Am I OLD or what?!) For someone who couldn’t navigate looking at maps and the ground, nor by tuning into the VOR stations which was the mechanical way of navigating, guess who didn’t finish getting her pilot’s license? I was authorized to solo the low wing Piper Tomahawk (Tomacoffin we called it as you actually landed it by stick. Plenty of hard landings), and the high wing Cessna 152. I preferred the Cessna. But to win your pilot’s license you had to fly to two airports 50 miles apart, land, check in, and fly home. I would have crashed and burned. I hated flying small planes (what we will do to please a man…not my current husband) but I did learn, from experience sorry to say, that they are built with redundant controls which really does make them pretty darn safe. And I learned that I could do something that was really difficult for me and that I could put my foot down when it would have been dangerous for me to continue on. Migraines and permanent hearing loss were the less fortunate gifts from that experience. I do have really good Oticon hearing aids that I wear when I feel a need for them, less often now that I’m retired.
One small story though about my wonderful Great Aunt Lettie, fraternal twin to my grandmother. She was almost deaf and wore hearing aids. When she and my Great Uncle Johnny would get into an argument, she would take her hearing aids out. He knew that she had learned to read lips so he would grab her shoulders to make her face him. And then she would close her eyes. They had a wonderful marriage, don’t get me wrong, but that tells you something about her spirit.
Fallow times allow the creative juices to arise fresh later on. Enjoy your winter holidays!
Go unheard, not goes. Sigh.
I’m definitely going to read the books. I love to start a series knowing there are so many of them in the queue.
My husband also has high-pitched hearing loss from his time in the service. He has very expensive hearing aids that work some of the time. I will mention the Oticon. I could sort of see us turning into Lettie and Johnny. What a great story.
As for your flying experience, wow! I’m terrible at navigating on land, air or sea. Congratulations to you for pulling it off, even if it was for a man. I ate snails for a man, but that time is gone.
Thanks for the Lost in the Valley of Death recommendation. I specifically love books about those who climb in the Himalayas. I envy and respect their commitment and determination, even though I wouldn’t make it through the foothills. I love movies about them, too, such as Meru and anything that photographer/filmmaker Jimmy Chin is involved with. I just found out that he has a new series, Edge of the Unknown, on National Geographic so I guess I need to find out what to subscribe to so I can watch it!
And to Nanci, I logged lots of miles as a passenger in my friend’s Tomahawk. It was tons of fun, if sometimes scary. He loved going up at dusk and being in the quiet and dark as the sun set. And once he got permission from the tower to fly directly over our small city at night. Spectacular!
Nina
I know what you mean — I wouldn’t make it, but something draws me like a magnet to those stories. I added Meru to the list!
Nina,
Early evenings sound like a better time to be in a Tomahawk. What I didn’t like about the Tomahawk was that I flew in daytime hours and in the summer it was a sweat box with that bubble cockpit. That, my hard landings and not being able to see the ground very well with the wings underneath, drove me to switch to the Cessna. My then husband wanted me to fly the Piper even though he flew a Cessna RG 4 seater. I thought it made more sense to fly a similar plane so that if anything happened to him while we were in the RG, I could assist. Maybe he didn’t want me to know how to fly that kind of plane. Competition. Typically, when we flew together, he would do the fun parts of taking off and landing and give me the grunt part of in between points flying. He did the navigating though. When I soloed, I always stayed in sight of Camarillo airport where I took my lessons, so that I could find my way back. That’s how bad I was at navigating. Back then Camarillo was mostly farmland but now I think it’s been developed like nobody’s business. I left SoCal in 1992 and only go back to visit my son and family.
Donna, I think you may have missed what is currently being called “a teachable moment” with your husband. If he wants a tree your response should be, “No problem. You go buy it, put it up, find the decorations, decorate the tree, undecorate the tree, dispose of it and clean up afterwards.”
I’m pretty sure he will lose his enthusiasm for this rite.
Too funny. In all fairness to Dale, he does everything but clean up. In some ways, I don’t mind. I like getting the process of getting everything back to normal.
We are treeless too – have been for a while – and I can’t say that I miss it. We never had the perfect tree spot in our living room so when we had one, we found ourselves feeling inconvenienced by it rather than enjoying it. And, since we’ve also gone giftless, we don’t have to find somewhere to stack wrapped boxes.
Thanks for the Three Pines recommendation. I haven’t read her books or seen the show. We are currently enjoying Bad Sisters on Apple+. A bit twisted and highly recommended.
You had me at “a bit twisted.”
Oh, those beeps! I’ve never counted but I’m sure we have a lot through the day. My coffee maker beeps, the dishwasher beeps, washer and dryer beeps with the dryer going beep crazy sometimes when something isn’t right with it. I’ve heard several people who rave on the Penny books. I think I have one or two in my pile books, I’ll have to read one soon!
Yes, I forgot the coffeemaker. Oh yeah, dryer, too.
Looks like the crowd says we need to read the books. But I’m still enjoying the show.
There are so many disruptions in a house with all the noise makers, and I’m only referring to the inanimate objects. Are we so distracted that we need all those reminders? It’s like the clocks in the kitchen. At last count, there were 4 timepieces reminding me of the time. That’s enough reminders without beeps. I erected an artificial tree once. It’s usually a real tree – I’ve tromped through the bush to find the perfect tree. Now I scout the road allowance for the perfect tree. For the first time in my adult life, I did not put up a tree!!! It felt like an inconvenience to me this year. There’s enough holiday decor for seasonal inspiration without the tree. Merry Christmas, Donna.
I’m loving it this year without the tree. We’ll see what Dale thinks when this is all over. He did put up some lights in the front yard, so go him.
Merry Christmas to you, too, Mona.