Category: Rambling Thursday

The Shrine

Years ago, dealing with baggage from my family history, a friend suggested I set aside an area for pictures, as a way to remind me even though my family was messed up, we’re all connected, and loving them and honoring them brings forth positive energy that can reinforce my sense of self. Kind of groovy talk, but it worked. I call it The Shrine.

The Shrine gets bigger all the time. I’ve added friends, cremated pets and a few mementos. I come from a long line of non-breeders, so there aren’t any children. But I do try to keep up with furry friends.

I realized I didn’t have a picture of my sister’s dogs, Rags and Scraps, so I asked her to send me one. The box arrived a few days ago, and Cheryl’s precious doggie friends have been added to The Shrine.   

Dale’s Taco Shirt

Also in the box was a taco-themed Hawaiian shirt she made for Dale, two pot holders of the same fabric, organic wheat flour from a local farm and a Stealth Angel emergency car kit. Not that her dogs aren’t adorable, but I think Dale looks pretty darned cute! Oh, and now he claims to be in dire need of tacos.

Emergency Preparedness

As for the emergency kit, well, yes, because I’m always a worst-case scenario kind of gal. Cheryl and I have talked before about how to get out of a car if it’s sinking or mistakenly flies off a bridge … just a few pleasantries to pass the time.

Among other things, the kit includes a flashlight, whistle, compass, fire starter and a carbine-tipped pen that can break glass. My sister has an additional escape tool she clips onto the shifter in the car – you can use that little guy to break the glass and cut off your seatbelt.

Who knows when you’ll need these tools, but it seems some sort of danger is always lurking. You’ve no doubt read about electric outages across California. The power company, PG&E, is attempting to reduce the risk of wild fires associated with high winds and dry weather. PG&E equipment has triggered these fires in the past, and in the case of Paradise, some 85 people were killed.

Cheryl’s power is out – and she lives way up in the northern part of the state. My massage therapist lives in the same town we live in, and she canceled my appointment for today because she has no power. We, on the other hand, are lit up like a Christmas tree.

We’re hoping to squeeze through without disruption, but we recognize anything can happen. My sister and my massage therapist both work from home, so an outage is more than a nuisance for them. We’re retired and don’t require special medical equipment, so we might be inconvenienced, but that’s about it. Depending on how long it stays out, we could lose a lot of food in the freezer.

I read there was a long line at Starbucks, and I thought, well, this is it. People will not tolerate such abuse.

Dale and I need to get smarter about an emergency bag. As in maybe have one. My sister could retire and offer her services as a personalized emergency bag adviser. Or she could put them together and sell them. She is super-prepared. Hence the Stealth Angel.

Cheryl had a few hour’s warning before the power went out. She sent me an email that all was well, but she was going into prep mode. Cheryl lives in an area with frequent earthquakes, so I don’t see this as overkill.

“We are definitely losing power as of midnight tonight. We have been told to prepare for it being off at least until Friday. Because they have never done this before and don’t know how the turning on process will go, it could be even longer. Got an emergency call from the water company saying to limit water usage, including toilets, because the sewers are going to have to be pumped manually … God bless those people.

I did laundry, a load in the dishwasher, charged everything I could think of, unplugged stuff with this computer going next, and checked all of my emergency lighting for batteries. I even filled my WaterBob (a liner for the tub) with water just in case. The main issue will be the refrigerators. The one in the garage should be OK as the fridge only has drinks, and the freezer has a block of ice in it so it should last. Won’t open the freezer upstairs and pray for the best. Will limit opening of the upstairs fridge.”

She just emailed me a few minutes ago that her power was back on, but the smoke alarm went crazy. Annoying, but all is good. I assume this is the first of many planned outages, so I am seriously going to get smarter about some sort of kit. I mean, no matter where you live, it’s always something.

Are you prepared? What’s in your kit?

I had to take it easy for a few days because I overdid it pruning hydrangeas. It’s more than a little annoying when a simple garden activity knocks you down, but I suppose I’d better get used to it.

The body is both delicate and resilient and only more of the former as we age. We don’t bend and bounce like we used to. I am reminded of my favorite golf role model, Gail, who plays in our club. She’s 83, I think, and walks 18 holes. I played with her yesterday, and she said, “I’ll just keep doing it until I can’t.”

supportive walking shoes

My golf shoes are starting to attract attention. I avoid riding in a cart if at all possible. For me, all that walking requires a cushioned and supportive shoe. Most golf shoes do not meet my criteria. For all the shoes I wear, including golf, that means a thick, non-flexible sole. My back and knee problems are greatly minimized by sticking to these standards.

It seems like every time I play, someone says, “Are you wearing Hokas?” Most people don’t deviate from standard golf shoe brands. I used to wear Ecco golf shoes, and they were among the best, but I wanted something even more supportive.

While some say these shoes look too pillowy for golf, I like the Hoka One One brand. I’ve experimented with different styles over the years for regular walking shoes and this summer tried the Speedgoat 3 for golf. Some reviewers complained the shoe is too narrow. I do not have a particularly narrow foot, but this style fits me like a glove.

The Speedgoat is a trail running shoe, so the soles have traction and look very much like a golf shoe on the bottom. I might be wrong, but it seems the traction also helps with overall stability and might help prevent a fall.

Now I wear the Speedgoats for everything. I keep two pairs of the waterproof version in the car for golf and just got a brand-new pair (non-waterproof) for regular walks. If you’re not religious about cleaning them up after a game, grass from the golf course sticks in the treads and can leave a mess on the floor. Just throwing a little money at it to reduce housework.

swimming in cooler temps

I’m probably going to swim today. My club has two outdoor pools. One is heated year-round to 78 degrees, and the other one is heated year-round to 85. The colder pool has lane makers and is reserved for adult lap swimmers. The warmer pool is for families and water aerobics. In the family pool, there are lanes painted on the bottom but no dividers. If there’s an empty lane, lap swimming is OK.

So far, I’ve been using the somewhat chilly lap pool, but it’s about to get testy.

The thing is … I’m a notorious wimp about the cold. Even when it was warmer outside, I got a chill following my swim. As I see it, I’m going to have to duke it out with the kids in the warmer pool or man up and deal with the colder water. If I can stick with this through the winter, I will consider it one of my life’s greatest achievements.

I bought a thermal swim shirt, which I am hoping will make my core feel a little warmer. A wetsuit seemed like overkill.  The fit isn’t perfect, but I’m keeping it. As a flat and fabulous breast cancer survivor, there seems to be a spot for breasts I am unable to fill. I wonder if those gaps translate to less warming action, but I think it’s better than nothing.

Reading

After re-reading The Handmaid’s Tale, I requested the sequel at the library, The Testaments, and it came in yesterday! I was so excited, and when I got to the library, I saw there was also a copy on the “hot picks” rack. These are a selection of new books in high demand. I felt a little cheated after thinking I’d scored when it turns out any old person could check it out.

I started the book last night, and I’ve had a hard time getting into it. I’ll give it another whirl today.

Dale is re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and he almost has me ready to try them again. I loved the movies but have always had a hard time with the books. Dale said to skip the preamble about the history of hobbits, as well as all the little songs and such scattered throughout.

The Staff of life

We’ve kind of overdosed on bread this week. Dale has no internal bread meter to tell him when enough is enough. I accused him of eating too much bread once, and he said in a voice filled with shock and disgust, “Bread is the staff of life.”

I don’t rule out anything food-wise, but I do have an internal meter that tells me to move on to something else, say vegetables. Still, I made baguettes, and we ate them for dinner with cold cuts, a ripe brie and good olive oil. There was one baguette left, so Dale thought it would be good with bacon for breakfast the next morning. And it was.

Then, when you’d think we’d had enough, Dale made a mixed-grain bread, and we had that with Greek salads the way we ate them in Crete … just a mix of coarsely chopped tomatoes, onions and cucumbers garnished with a hunk of Feta and Kalamata olives. Olive oil and red wine vinegar over the top, with plenty for bread-dunking.

THEN, because we had bread, Dale made grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner last night. He makes a killer grilled cheese. At least we had marinated cucumbers on the side.

I’m in charge of dinner today, and as God is my witness, there will be dark green leafy vegetables.

Birthday Lasagne

Every year for my birthday, Dale makes Sausage and Wild Mushroom Lasagne with Red Pepper Tomato Sauce. We don’t always have it exactly on my birthday. I wanted to wait until my food-borne illness had passed and maybe until the weather was a bit cooler. We got both, so today’s the day!

This is not a quick meal you throw together. We split up the duties. I’m the sous-chef and clean, chop and weigh everything in advance. Dale cooks and assembles. I suspect we’ll run the dishwasher twice.

If you love mushrooms, this is your dish. The recipe calls for 1.5 ounces of dried porcini mushrooms, but we use 2.5 ounces.

Rain

I got rained on twice this week during golf. The weather report said 0 percent chance of rain, so go figure. I have rain gear and such but left it all in the car. That will not happen again. My question is about weather forecasts. Is any of it real or are they just making it up as they go? Has anyone ever measured their accuracy in predicting weather?

Climate Change

Speaking of weather, I continue to be amazed by the Trump administration and their efforts to roll back anything we ever did good for the environment. I mean, these people have children and grandchildren, right? Do they not care what happens to them?

My guess is it’s a combination of trying to undo anything Obama did and pandering to those who are against government regulation of any type.

The news that really put me over the edge was after Trump’s visit to California. At the same time he’s saying California can’t have stronger emissions standards for cars, he wants to fine San Francisco for allowing homeless people to pollute the environment.

While I do agree we’ve got to come up with a solution for homelessness, and certainly human waste and drug paraphernalia is a problem, Trump doesn’t care about the environment. It’s just that homeless people are an eyesore.

And don’t get me started on his comments about Cokie Roberts. She wasn’t nice to him! I hope there’s joy in the afterlife for those who went down in history as someone who wasn’t nice to Trump.

A Puzzling injury

I’ve written before about my love of the NY Times puzzles. I enjoy the mini-crossword, Spelling Bee and Letterbox. I wrote the puzzle editor a note and was pleased to get a response!

Hi there!

I love Spelling Bee and Letterbox. I especially love how Spelling Bee has a goal, and you are awarded genius for getting there. And yes, I know that is pathetic. Can you do something similar for getting Letterbox in two words? I feel so unrewarded.

Thanks,
Donna Pekar

Hi Donna,

Thanks for taking the time to write in, glad to hear that are enjoying the Bee! That certainly is an intriguing idea, I have logged it for our developers to consider as we move forward.

Thanks again, and happy solving!
John

While I believe the puzzles are good for my retired and aging brain, they are apparently not good for my wrist. I thought my wrist was sore from a previous break, but now I’m thinking it’s carpal tunnel from holding my phone hours at a time in an effort to reach genius level. Is it possible I’m not really a genius if it takes me all day to get there?

A puzzle injury? Who gets that? I am a little obsessive about puzzles and had to go cold turkey on Word with Friends. I’m not going to stop doing the puzzles, but I’m no longer doing them on my phone.

I did the mini and Spelling Bee this morning on my laptop, which I think will be better for my wrist. Dale has never been a fan of me doing the puzzles in bed, but he was kind enough not to say, “I told you so.”

He likes us, he really likes us!

It seems our cat, Riley, has suddenly taken a liking to us after four years of domestic bliss. He has always enjoyed hanging around, but he’s not a lap cat. All of the sudden, Riley likes laps. Dale’s anyway.

I am known as the Scoopatola at our house – always looking for opportunities to scoop the kitty. He usually runs, but this morning I scooped him, held him like a baby and he didn’t want to be put down. Oh, and there’s Kiss Patrol.

We all change as we grow older, so why not cats? I honestly can’t imagine life without a furry companion. Dale calls them cat food-powered entertainment centers. Yes, it’s a hassle when we travel, but we don’t travel much. Got most of that out of our system moving more than 20 times and living overseas for almost nine years.

By the way, a new study is out revealing a shocking truth … cats know their names but are ignoring you.

YOu can make work out of anything

Although I’ve been playing decent golf, I’ve had a couple of bad rounds and concluded I’m taking the game too seriously. You can make work out of anything, and since I retired, golf has sort of taken the place of work. I even started to think, well, if I practiced or played every day and took weekends off, that would still give me time on weekends to hang out with Dale … it would be just like it was when I had a job.

I’ve decided to lighten up. It’s hard with some of the Rules Nazis in my club, but I can play under less formal conditions and enjoy the game more. Tomorrow, I’m not going to keep score. Why would that be such a big deal? I am results-oriented, which is why I was successful in my career. Now I have to find what makes me successful in leisure! Regardless of your hobby, there’s a lesson in this for all of us.

Subscribers

Speaking of results, I happened to check my blog statistics and now have 53 subscribers. I know that’s not a lot, but I started with zero. I value all 53 of you – and anyone else who stops by to read – so it’s positive reinforcement for writing, which I can’t seem to stop doing. Thank you!

“Hey, guess what?” I asked Dale.

“What?”

“I now have 53 subscribers. I went over 50!”

“Does that make you an influencer?”

“Um, no.”

Music

Dale and I have both subscribed to Sirius radio for years. But our favorite channel (The Loft) is only available streaming, so we can’t get it in the car. We’re both pissed and will probably not renew our subscriptions. In the meantime, I’ve been listening to Outlaw Country, which is a carryover from our days in Texas. Dale has been listening to Classic Vinyl.

I don’t know if I can stand listening to regular radio. While I should start sampling various stations, we have a lot of CDs, so I’m postponing that adventure. We’ve both been digging into the CD vault in anticipation of canceling Sirius. The downside is we aren’t hearing new music, which is important to us. Not that older music is bad. We were out and about the other day, and Dale had Rusted Root playing. That was good music!

The deck in my car is currently loaded with Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Alabama Shakes and Dave Alvin/Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The last one, Downey to Lubbock, is a recent purchase, and it’s so good I can hardly stand it. Dave Alvin, from The Blasters, is my age and plays a mean guitar. From the song, Downey to Lubbock:

Well I’m a wild blues blaster 
from a sunburnt California town 
And I gotta loud Stratocaster 
that can blow any roadhouse down 

I turn that up high in the car, and I have to set cruise control so I don’t get too crazy. Then you have Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who sings like an angel. So, there is good new music out there, but I’m doubtful I will find it on AM/FM radio.

An outing

Dale usually doesn’t eat lunch, although I don’t miss many meals. We’ve both been craving oysters on the half shell, which is a light lunch for Dale and a snack for me. We’re going to a seafood joint we haven’t been to for oysters and bloodies. There might be naps after.

My retirement hair is one length, no color, long enough for a ponytail or bun. Cheap and easy, like my men.

Just kidding. Dale is anything but easy. Although I will hand it to him … he might qualify for cheap. Dale doesn’t spend much money. His big trip out is the grocery store, where he goes wild. He is a good but obsessive shopper. I think it’s his military background in logistics.

the great feta cheese crisis

For a few weeks, it seemed there was no decent Feta cheese anywhere to be found. We tried multiple stores, among them Whole Foods, and we wasted money on several different brands, including some sort of cult Feta from Berkeley. It was the worst!

Even one of the Greek brands sucked. It turns out we like Bulgarian or Israeli Feta. In brine, in chunks, not pre-crumbled. Such snobs! Now Dale cruises the cheese aisle every time we go to the store to ensure as God is his witness, WE NEVER RUN OUT OF CHEESE AGAIN.

The cut

I get my hair trimmed about three times a year. This week, I asked her to take off more length. My hair is fine, and the ends were getting scraggly. All that to say it needed to be done, it still looks kind of cute under a hat, I can still pull it back or up, and I know it looks good … but … I wish I had my hair back.

So, yes, I must accept I don’t have goddess hair. Seriously, I knew that a long time ago, but hope springs eternal. I will probably let it grow back just a bit, as I almost always let my hair air dry, and I believe it falls better and looks less frizzy with a little more length.   

My other option is to go short, which I’m not opposed to, but I hate the idea of spending more money and more time in the salon. I may end up there, but we shall see. To me, mid-length hair is easier all around.

Swimmer’s hair

While I was at the salon, we talked about swimming. That’s one of the reasons I had so much cut off – the pool is killing my hair. I bought some anti-chlorine shampoo, which was OK but left my hair like straw. My neighbor swims, and her hair is gorgeous. But then she is one of the goddess people. She uses Aveda Sun Care, which I bought and like much better than the other stuff.

My stylist said the anti-chlorine shampoos are good, but they strip your hair of moisture. I would need a moisturizing masque. Whereupon she escorted me to the product rack. She said this one will last you forever. I said, “That’s code for it’s expensive.”

She laughed. I really like her, and she did exactly what needed to be done to my hair. I can still mourn the goddess, right? Anyway, I only use a dime-sized amount of the conditioning masque, so I believe she is right about it lasting forever. It should. The jar was $63.

To be fair, it’s a fancy jar. Pretty enough for my ashes, since it now seems likely we’ll both be here for the end. On the bright side, it fixed my problems with swimmer’s hair.

playing outside in the heat

We’re having a hot spell, and the women’s club championship started this week at the golf course where I play. I had all my sun gear and walked with my pullcart and my UV sun umbrella, even though it was supposed to be 104 degrees. I had an 8:30 a.m. tee time, so I figured I’d be spared the worst of it.

It was toasty out there, but I felt fine. Drank a lot of water along with my electrolyte beverage. I also took a spray bottle and sprayed myself down every few holes. What a difference that made! It’s like personal air conditioning.

For the record, I have no possible chance of winning. I’m pretty much a bogey golfer with a handicap of 18. I’m just playing for the experience. My goal is to not be DFL – dead fucking last. I shot an 88, which is not my best but certainly acceptable by my standards. We have to play two more times for the championship, so hopefully I’ll keep the streak going.

It’s funny how golf giveth and taketh away. I had a lesson on how to get out of the sand. The good news is that it worked. It’s a great shot to know, and it’s useful elsewhere on the course. The bad news is it aggravated my old wrist injury. I’m taking a couple of days off from golf and wearing a wrist brace. That usually fixes things.

An outing!

Dale and I are actually going on an outing today. We haven’t camped or traveled since he hurt his back earlier in the summer. He’s coming around, but we are still taking things easy.

Today’s outing is a trip to the Folsom History Museum, where there is an exhibit on the Chinese legacy in Folsom. It’s just one town over from where we live. This entire region is so rich with history. Even driving up 80 toward Reno, I get excited when I see signs for the Donner Pass.

I especially love all the Gold Rush stories. I’ve read about the Chinese in California during that period, and I want to learn more. While I’ve always assumed my strength is journalism and personal essays, I am tinkering with the idea of writing some sort of historical fiction.

When it comes to motivation, I often think of the movie, Cross Creek with Mary Steenburgen. The movie is based on the life of Marjorie Kinnen Rawlings, who wrote The Yearling.

She was basically a talented but unsuccessful writer who didn’t find her niche until she was inspired by the rural people she got to know after moving to an orange grove in Florida. Once she found out what she was supposed to write about all along, everything fell into place.

All that to say, you never know what will inspire you to try new things or achieve something you never thought you could do. That’s why I keep looking.

What to wear in the sun

OK. Here I go again with the abbreviated version of my post about sun protective clothing. I’m not super-sensitive to the sun, but it’s not getting any cooler out there, so I do what I can to protect my skin.

The first photo is what is often called a sun shrug or shawl. You can wear one over a shirt, as I’m showing, or under. I tried several of them from Amazon, but all the sleeves were too short for me. I went with SP Arms, a brand favored by the LPGA. Never mind I had the most putts of ANYONE in league play yesterday, but at least I looked spectacular.

Sp Arms America is offering a 30 percent discount and free shipping through the end of the year with this code: LPGA30OFF. For reference, I’m 5’7″ and wearing the medium. The color is gray, but it’s actually bluish gray. I might get another one in black or white.

In the last picture, I’m wearing One Pair UV Protection Cooling Arm Sleeves. Affordable and effective! I’ve heard some of my golf buddies complain that sleeves fall down, but these don’t. I don’t even notice they are there.

Oh, and the hat. I went for a bigger brim because I do spend a lot of time in the sun and now use a Retinol product on my face. This hat is from Outdoor Research. I purchased it at REI. Even with the hat, I use SPF 50 on my face.

Solar power

Speaking of the sun, we have contractors coming today to give us a quote on installing solar power. Our accountant said this is the last year for the 30 percent federal refund, so if we’re ever going to do it, the time is now.

We’ll have to see about cost. I’ve read you should be able to recoup your investment within five years. We expect to live here that long, but you never know what will happen. We’re paying a lot to the utility company and like the idea of spending some of our savings to stop the bleeding. Solar power should certainly be good for resale when it comes to that.

Foodie Finds

I was out of town last weekend, was comatose Monday and then played golf Tuesday and Wednesday. Today was the first time Dale and I had an opportunity to do something together. Something involving lots of pork.

We drove into Sacramento on a foodie excursion. First, we stopped at Morant’s Old Fashioned Sausage Kitchen. The butcher is a certified German sausage meister. We bought three different types of sausages, including the beautiful brats in the picture. Dale is grilling the brats tonight, and we’ll have them with marinated cucumbers and sweet onions.

Then we headed to the Mercado, where we bought local lard and Pasilla chiles. Lard sometimes freaks people out, but it’s no worse than butter. And it’s not like we’re gulping it down by the spoonful. We buy fancy lard from the farmer’s market for biscuits but the cheaper stuff for schnitzels. You know they make it fresh when you can smell the chicharrones frying.

The chiles are for his homemade chile sauce, which we use in a variety of Mexican dishes, including enchiladas and huevos rancheros. At the cash register, I saw pumpkin candy, which I’ve adored since I was a kid, so I couldn’t resist.

Next stop was Corti Brothers (thanks to a tip from Christina at Tahoe Girl). What a treat! Dale’s like, this isn’t going to be cheap, but I said, it’s our hobby! He laughed, and we did get out of there for under $40. So many tempting items. The most gorgeous Berkshire pork chops I’ve ever seen, but we didn’t get any. It’s only a 30-minute drive, so we can go back.

We love Molinari pepperoni, which is hard to find. We also love anchovies on pizza and Caesar salads, and Dale has been wanting to try salt-packed anchovies for a long time. Bingo! There they were. Another impulse buy were these little Tarallini crackers with garlic oil and hot red pepper. We opened them and ate them in the car on the way home. Yum.

Amazon Returns

Have you returned anything to Amazon lately? I have had an unusual number of returns over the past week, and everything is different. It seems they don’t want you printing labels anymore. Larger items still have to be boxed and sealed, but others don’t even require the original packaging. They send you a code, the UPS person scans it and you’re done. You also have the option of returning it unpackaged to a participating Kohl’s.

It’s fine, change is good, blah, blah, blah, but you have to be careful to make the right choices when you start clicking around. I accidentally clicked Kohl’s … it may have even defaulted to that. But I thought I selected UPS drop-off and found out the hard way I goofed.

I had to come home, cancel the return and then start over. I also had an item that was free if I did the code, but there was a shipping charge if you printed the label. My only other beef is that I liked just dropping off the package. Now I have to wait in line, but it does go fast.  

It’s a small world after all

I always love small world stories, and I think they are even more special as we get older. My friend, Lisa, and her partner run a restaurant on Long Island. I’ve known Lisa 30 years but haven’t seen her in maybe 15. We catch up on the phone every so often. She was trying to reach me while I was in Reno, but I wasn’t paying attention to my messages. We finally connected, and here’s the story.

She and her partner have friends who frequent the restaurant, and they brought along another couple, Warren and Barbara, who were visiting from out of town. When the restaurant quieted down, Lisa joined them for a glass of port. As she was getting to know them, they discovered common ground. Warren spent years working for the Army in Germany. She knew someone who worked for the Army in Germany. She lived in Cairo. He knew someone who once lived in Cairo.

Soon enough they discovered they both knew me! Warren was my first boss after college, when I worked as a civilian in an Army public affairs office. He was a great boss – and a delightful friend – but I haven’t connected with him in years. It’s hard when you move around so much but always a pleasure to find each other again one way or the other.

Do you have a small world story? Why do you think they are special?

This week in golf history – I shot an 85 in a tournament with rules, witnesses and everything. The highlight was a 39 on the front nine. It was a transcendental experience. I think the last time I scored that low on nine holes was sometime in the early 2000s.

The day before the tournament, I went out as a single on a different course, just to get my mojo going. I played with a threesome – a husband and wife in their late 50s and their new son-in-law. The SIL was a strapping lad who could hit the ball 300 yards – straight into the trees. It was painful to watch.

The couple was quite charming, and I was even thinking about swapping phone numbers so we could stay in touch. Mike, as we will call him, was a good but sporadic player. I mean, aren’t we all? I think he was trying to show off for the SIL, but he kept chunking it.

As we made the turn to hole 10, it’s like something switched, and Mike became angry and violent. Every other word was f-this, f-this effing game, and I don’t mean in a low muttering way as might be heard from my lips occasionally. This was loud and scary, and then he started throwing clubs. Flinging them across the fairway.

I never said a word. Just tried to stay out of his way. As proven by my personal medical history, I am tough to kill, but I try not to make it easy for anyone.

They seemed embarrassed and scooted off quickly at the end. No time to exchange phone numbers, thank goodness. I thought about my own temperament, and while I’ve never tossed a club, I have been known to call myself horrible names and get in a funk after a poor round.

I’ve worked hard to stay calm and remember even poor shots and horrible lies are part of a game I like to play. Key words: game, play.

Maybe I should go back and find club-flinging Mike. He said he recently retired from Silicon Valley and was still wired. I know a thing or two about that, but here I am in my second year of retirement, new and improved, and ready to offer a few lessons on the lost art of chill.

Mermaids

This Washington Post article about mermaids intrigued me. A different time, a different place, and I could see me living the mermaid lifestyle. I’ve always loved the water and spent hours playing in waves at the beach, but my idea of heaven was a public pool. Or even better: the pool at a Motel 6. We didn’t have water parks like they do now. I’ve still never been to a water park, and it is sort of on my bucket list. Do they have adults-only days?

I found the picture above in an old photo album. That’s my mother’s handwriting. I grew up in southern California. Fullerton, to be specific. There was a public swimming complex called Jimmy Smith’s. The photo might have been taken there, but I’m not sure. I kind of remember the wooden structures.

By the way, they sell mermaid tails on Amazon. Of course, they do.

Hiking vs Walking

I’ve been begging Dale to join me on walks, but he always refuses. I finally asked, what would it take? He said one word. Hike. Oh, there’s a difference.

Apparently, the beautiful trails in our neighborhood don’t scratch his itch. He wants to see new stuff all the time. More wilderness. OK, I said, game on. I purchased books on local day hikes, and we’ve been going out once a week. Dale hurt his knee recently, so we’re taking it slow.

Knowing us, Dale would be happy with moderate hikes, while I am likely to focus on building our endurance so we can do harder treks. One thing we agree on. Day hikes only. Home by happy hour.

Dale has been using my cannabis balm on his knee with great success. I swear it’s the only thing that keeps my body moving. I added the recipe to a new section on the blog called Downloads. I also added a little one-pager I’m calling the Aging Badass Credo. My attempt to capture the essence of what I believe contributes to a happy and healthy retirement.

I saw this sign on the back of a truck when I was driving home from golf. Stopped for a red light anyway, so I snapped a picture through the windshield.

Food

Whipped from walking 18 holes of golf two days in a row, I am happy to stay home and hang around the house today. Dale made breakfast tacos with his Mexican-style chorizo made from scratch, scrambled eggs and homemade salsa verde. Delicious! When my mother found out he could cook, she said, “Keep him.”

Contrary to my last post, it’s clear Dale is quite motivated. Just depends on what it is. I hope everyone knows I write about our spats in the spirit of fun. Even if we were angry at the time, the stories make us laugh. If I were really mad at him, I certainly wouldn’t whine about it in public. I’d take a more devious approach.

I’ve been making the Jim Lahey no-knead bread with great success and wanted a “heartier” loaf, so I combined a couple of recipes from Jim and others I found online. We had oats, barley, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds, so I was good there. Jim’s recipe called for flax seeds. I didn’t have any, so I used hemp seeds, which is a so-called superfood I use for soup and in my granola.

The last ingredient needed was millet, which I didn’t have. I was rummaging through the shelves, when I found an almost empty bag of farro, a grain I’ve used in soup. I figured it would work as a substitute, but in hindsight, I’m not so sure.

I haven’t made the soup in awhile, but as I recall, farro took a long time to cook. The bread was delicious although a bit crunchy. As in maybe tooth-cracking crunchy. I attribute that to the farro. Dale named the bread Colon Blow, so obviously, I’ll be working to refine the recipe. He said next time leave out the rocks and marbles.

Measles

I’ve been reading about the measles outbreak and began to wonder about my own immunity. I researched it, and it turns out if you actually had measles, you are immune for life. With certain vaccinations, you may need a booster.

Good news, as I had measles when I was a child. I asked Dale if he had measles, and he said yes, remember, I had shingles? It appears one doesn’t get shingles if one hasn’t had measles. But I had no recollection of him having shingles.

You? Shingles? When? He said when we lived in Columbia, S.C. Remember that patch on my arm? I’m like, what, those baby shingles? You’re counting that? All he said was, “Yeah, well, I’m sorry I didn’t die.” Then we laughed.

We’ve both since had the shingles vaccine, but Shingrix is a new one they are recommending even if you’ve had the first one. It’s not cheap. But apparently even baby shingles are terrible.

Correction: In the comments section, a reader let me know there is a relationship between shingles and chicken pox … not measles.

DIY Pedi

I did not get my first pedicure until I was at least 40. It cracks me up now, how this is so routine in today’s beauty culture. I feel like an old lady bragging about walking to school barefoot in the snow, but these young girls have no idea what it was like to live with poorly groomed feet.

Gave up getting my toes painted when I was swimming a lot. Chlorine took its toll. I still got regular pedicures, but I had them buffed shiny. They usually charge an extra $5 because it’s so hard to use arm muscles, I guess. But the results are worth it. Bonus … you can get out of there faster because you don’t have to wait for your toes to dry.

Because I go minimalist, I don’t need a pedicure often. I’ve been going about every six weeks to about $30 a pop. Yes, it’s chump change, but it’s pretty much wasted chump change, since they aren’t doing anything I can’t do myself. I rather embrace the role of frugal retiree.

This week I got out my tools and went to work. No pictures for your protection, but they look pretty good to me. I may go to the salon for a special occasion, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be sticking with the DIY Pedi.

A Fan

I love unusual names with a certain ring to them. There’s no set of criteria, other than it just pops out at me as a great name. I’ll see one, and say, “I’d change my name to that.” It’s an ongoing joke at our house.

One of my all-time favorites is Fan Bingbing. Who wouldn’t change their name to that? I’m pleased to report the Chinese actress has reappeared after a year’s absence.