Peek at the Week

The last week of July 2018 -- today the 209th day of the year and that's the news -- just kidding though this week has high lighted the normal day to day mundane acts that happen through our typical week. Almost nothing is noteworthy but never-the-less it goes on.

The above represents just some of the things that stuck in my memory in picture form representing this week. There are a ton more images that could be included that would define the week more, but this will suffice for now.

So just what does go on in the lives of a couple of shut-ins like us. This week is a good example of the activities that take up our daily routines.


Some of the highlights of our week are laundry day (Monday) with maybe some housekeeping as well e.g. vacuuming.

Garbage pick-up (Friday morning) means late Thursday hauling out the cans curbside.

In between those days, we have regular daily duties like meal preparation, puzzle work maybe, reading the morning paper, watching TV and of course napping.

I try to squeeze in some genealogical searching and communicating with cousins at different times during the day.

Then there are the administrivia duties that present themselves at various times throughout the week. Often after one of the highlighted regimens occurs, i.e. postal delivery -- we try to have as much sent to us via the internet as we have NO confidence in our mail service.

But, over all the many years we have lived here, there have been very few times that we did not receive any mail for a given day -- though we know that there has been a couple of days when it wasn't sleet or snow that prevented mail delivery -- but pure mismanagement on the part of the USPS that caused them to not deliver the mail that particular day . . .

Our car tells us the last date that we have driven the vehicle -- and the other day it gave us the information that it had been 12 days since we had gone out for a drive -- fairly typical for us lately.

We try to have as much shopping done on the web as possible and then it is receiving often daily shipments from UPS, FedEx and even the USPS with an increased need for cardboard management.

Basically, we have and try to keep a routine that allows us to enjoy the day with three squares, maybe an exciting sporting event, some puzzling work (or needlepoint), napping and keeping up with "Wheel & Jeopardy".

I almost forgot -- this week, another highlight was that we both got haircuts -- Gail in the salon from the woman who she has been going to for almost 20 years -- and me at home from me . . .

By now I'm sure you can tell that this has been an uneventful week (and that is a good thing).

The above comic is so representative of expressions. I wish that I had pictures of my great-grandparents -- I have a few but I need so many others. Gail has quite a few of her g g parents photos.

And looking into the future -- I have always felt that the things shared on social media sites will be there forever and I'm sure that future folks interested in family history will have a field day when researching those sites.

So that is a bit of our "regular" week, today is supposed to be "National Hamburger Day" so guess what is on our menu for tonight -- actually, tuna/noodle salad . . . we'll celebrate tomorrow.

See you all "in a few"! 👨👩

Night & Day

The nights have been warm and the days a bit warmer . . . the other night the new moon was low in the sky off to the west -- beautiful and I was able to get a quick snapshot and it turned out. You can even make out the "fabric" of the moon's surface.

Then in the morning, Gail spotted the yellow gladiolas out front along with another flower that I am not familiar with and of course our favorite -- the irises.

The moon has risen higher in the sky each night but so far remains picturesque. While outside watching Dino during his "last business trip" of the day, the air is surprisingly cool, but inside we have managed to trap warmer air that will stay there through most of the night -- very uncomfortable.

Of course at night, right before sleep, we read and we are still about a little more than a third of the way through the book on Robin Williams.

We are amazed at some of the events in his life but not totally surprised.

I can't imagine living the lifestyle that he did at any of his different stages, from childhood on up through adulthood.

There is little to admire in a lot of his life. To round out the reading of the book, we took the advantage of viewing the HBO special last week, about the life of Robin Williams.

We found the HBO presentation disjointed and often depressing in so many instances. My following of Robin from those days consisted mostly of seeing him on late night talk shows and in a couple of movies -- mainly "Good Morning Viet Nam" which I enjoyed. So we were isolated from the "real" life of Robin as it was shown on HBO. I can see why some folks were not "sold" on him . . .

It'll probably be about two weeks before we finish the book and then on to the next one . . .

But looking at the day again -- how did we spend at least some of our time?

We decided to try a "regular" puzzle this time instead of our usual wooden one.

We chose a 1000 piece colorful and interesting display about one of our favorite topics -- books.

Of course, Gail announced for sure that there was "no way" we could do this puzzle as we started it last Saturday.

But -- as of this Saturday we are about 90% finished, in other words, we have managed to put together about 900 of the pieces and it -- even according to Gail -- is very doable.

And it has been fun and engaging. Even though the "piece" quality is not the same as the wooden puzzles we have been working, it is just fine -- we will probably keep mixing our choices of puzzles to keep the interest high. The next one we have lined up though has about 50% water, and so that will be a challenge for sure.

In between moon gazing and puzzle working I spent countless hours doing searches for even more family lore -- and I keep finding bits and pieces here and there.

I keep adding folks to the tree and even though some of them are really "way distant" it is fine.
I communicated with 5 "cousins" this week about various branches of the family and traded information back and forth.

I received a rolled up scroll for one branch that will take me several days to add to the tree and to make sure that there are resources backing up the data. And that is what I find intriguing -- it is a lot like the jigsaw puzzle except that the family tree will never be completed, hopefully, that is not true for the wooden or cardboard puzzles . . .

And that IS a bit of our summertime week. See you all "in a few" ! 👨👩

♪ ♫ Summertime & the Livin' is Easy ♪ ♫

It truly is summertime but the livin' isn't always that easy due to the nonstop heat. We do feel lucky that our a/c has kept up with the heat to some degree . . . when it is 100° outside we are about 20 degrees cooler inside -- so still 80° . . .

This is what "summer" is looking like -- somewhat -- we actually identify the most with the picture of the blazing sun, the rest is wishful thinking.

For the youngsters, summer has about one month to go before the school bells chime for real again. I have mixed feelings about the summer vacation as it has evolved over the years.

Today, 14 July, is "Bastille Day" celebrated by France as the beginning of their revolution and the storming of that fortress.

I always feel sympathetic to Bastille Day, not so much due to politics, but due to every French class that I ever took always made a "big deal" of that celebration.

On my side of the family, I have not uncovered any French ancestors or relatives, there probably are some -- I just have never discovered them.

On Gail's side, she does have some French relatives, in fact, some of the few remaining examples of her maiden name -- Bouldron -- are found in France.

France has a "big" day tomorrow as they are in the final of the World Cup.

France plays Croatia tomorrow in Moscow. Have you been watching the games . . . we -- sadly to say -- have a hard time watching a complete soccer game.

The action on the field directly impacts our ability to concentrate or to stay awake for that matter. Scoring so little as every hour or so gets to be so tedious -- but we try . . .

I have spent my time mostly this week with sporadic searches -- following the hints that Ancestry.com puts into their "shaking leaves" in the tree.

Again, I have been all over the genealogical field and sometimes actually working on relatives that are closer than "grandchild of step-uncle's wife of 4th cousin three times removed".

If I find good information for relatives like the above example, I add it to the tree -- you just never know when you are going to hit "pay dirt".

And this week, too, I have been in communication with two cousins with whom I am exchanging family information -- again, you never know . . .

And did you know -- or remember that:

That July is "National Ice Cream Month".

That's right, President Reagan designated this month to focus on ice cream.

Every month in our house is focused on ice cream -- we mostly purchase our favorite half gallons these days.

And we mostly choose vanilla of some kind and then adorn it with caramel or chocolate sauce -- so good . . . but just tiny portions of course.

And actually along with a month of recognition -- the third Sunday in July is set aside as "National Ice Cream Day" . . . it is expected that appropriate celebrations happen -- we'll try to do our part.

And, "Oh, My" did you know that today is Day 195 of the year. That means that after today there are only 170 days remaining in 2018.

That means about 164 days 'til Christmas.

About 130 days 'til Thanksgiving.

About 108 days 'til Halloween . . . but who's counting?

So get busy and prepare for these events -- each has it's own
preparation need.

And lastly, for those who are thinking about having your DNA tested and are utilizing the "swab", it is probably wise to take
heed of the suggestion to the right.

I look forward to more of our tree folks testing -- it is a good thing to point out that even siblings can receive different markers in their results for a variety of reasons.


That is a bit of our "hot" week. See you all "in a few"! 👨👩

Summertime Potpourri

It's weird -- the electronic tones, chimes from the elementary school behind us are still sounding at the appropriate times of the school day -- but school is out. Sometimes it throws us off as we look out to maybe see the kids playing at recess or lunchtime and sometimes we actually do see kids playing in probably some summer program but not in sync so much with the "bells".

And then too we have a hodgepodge of things going on around us that seems to fit into summer somewhere.

We have the remnants of the 4th of July -- e.g. the "old" flag being displayed in addition to the new one. The 4th being in the middle of the week sure had a different sense of being a holiday. We are so used to weekend holidays -- not the middle of the week holidays, so much.

We did notice that there seemed to be less "illegal" fireworks being fired around us this year. Not so in other California communities though -- some apparently were like "war-zones" not unlike their regular everyday stance.

There is the heavy fire danger hanging over our heads these days and the ever-present hot days and then not-so-hot days. And our (my) mind drifts off to the "farm", whatever that means . . .

It was "shocking" to me to see the current temperatures as I have lived in two of the listed cities and while I always knew it to be hot -- never quite this hot:

In the 1970s I lived in Santa Ana and then moved to Riverside. I can't imagine 118° or even the 114°.

We did have a fully air-conditioned home in Riverside -- and a pool -- not so in Santa Ana. Talk about a desert -- wow!

And talking about -- HOT -- I am a fan of hot dogs and usually eat about 50 total throughout the year.

This week at Nathan's Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest, the winner consumed about 1 1/2 times my yearly consumption -- in ten minutes.

Like the hot dog pictured in the upper left, the winner ate 74 of them (including the buns) in just 10 minutes -- how is that possible, or why is that possible. 

Then, speaking of hot dogs, at a Phillie's/Cardinal game, a poor woman was struck in the eye with a dog shot from the Phillie's Phan mobile -- she did go to the ER but is taking it all in stride and with a good sense of humor as well -- I hope the Phillie's at least gave her a fresh dog or dogs.

And I think I like the picture on the right -- a "dogham" -- it might be tasty. I used to stop at a fast food joint in LA that served a "Mike's Hockey Burger" which was a hot dog on a burger and was really tasty . . .

The other news that captivates is about the soccer boys in the cave -- I can't imagine:

At this point, they are considering trying to start the rescue operations as monsoons are predicted to start soon which would fill the caves with water.

We can only wish them well and hope to hear the real stories after they are out and safe.

For some reason, besides the image of the "farm", I happened upon this image of what I consider the perfect appearing "summer cottage".

I can imagine lounging about on that porch reading a favorite book or sipping ice tea and/or lemonade. Is that even possible anymore?  I'm not sure where this cottage really is but I do have a sense of -- whatever the word is for -- a yearning for an experience that I never really had . . . but would enjoy if the opportunity came about.

So -- what's on our nightstand currently?

We just started this very large book (over 500 pages) a couple of nights ago. Robin Williams always was an interesting comedian to me -- and I'm finding out some interesting things about him that I never knew.

One thing was that he did live in the Chicago area for a while growing up and that he came from a family of means. I never had given that much thought -- but it is of interest now that I think about his life.

I'm sure that we will find out many more surprising facts and stories which we may share in future posts.

So, that is a bit of our week. See you all "in a few" ! 👨👩