The better-half’s aunt died a week ago and we went to her memorial service on Saturday. It was a nice day and the church is small so they set up tables outside. Because, there was a lot of food afterwards which made the service very fitting. She brought people together and I think she would have had a great time at her own service.
It was rainy and overcast this weekend so we did not go to the Richmond Folk Festival. We should have braved it because the only item of note this weekend was washing our outdoor cushion covers. Yeah, boy. The fun never ends over here.
I think our immediate next door neighbors are 90% complete with their new patio so we have no more concrete saw noises to look forward to, but the house two doors down is being renovated so that noise keeps on keeping on. I know this is a sign of normalcy, but working from home and listening to the process is not that great. Actually, the reno isn’t too bad. That freaking concrete saw or whatever–they are having large stones, slate or some other hard surface put in–it doesn’t matter because it is loud, dusty and awful and was for the birds.
Here we are at the end of September. I don’t know what happened to the month.
We went to our first concert since January of 2020 and it was so nice to have big sound wash over us. The outdoor venue was about half filled and where we sat people didn’t sit right next to people they didn’t know. We all had to provide proof of vaccine or a recent negative test result. We have another show in November that’s indoors. We’ll see about that one. It makes me nervous, but at some point, we have to figure out a way forward.
The condo is straight out of the 80s but the view can’t be beat.
We are close enough to the harbor that we get to see all the ferry traffic. There are a bunch of baby stingrays, some crabs, and small fish hiding in the grasses in our part of the sound. It’s incredibly shallow until it is suddenly deep and that’s the channel used by boats and the ferries.
Yesterday we helped a friend of mine from work move a huge dresser out of her house and over to Rick’s aunt’s thrift store (his aunt’s church runs a thrift store as part of their community mission). Then we picked up end tables and a smaller dresser and helped her get those into her house. Finally, we went for one beer at a local brewery which turned into 3 beers and the best time hanging out. I really thought we’d be a couple of hours and it turned into an afternoon. It was also hot and humid and our truck has no air conditioning so we enjoyed the heck out of the A/C at the brewery.
Today we were up early to see this exhibit at the VMFA. I’m proud of our museum as it stands up against other museums in much larger cities.
And, to round out the totally local scene. We took a bunch of gift cards to our closest Lowe’s so I could buy a new weed eater and ran into a couple we really like. Well, to be fair, I work with one of them, but we’ve had dinner together so I think I can say we really like them.
***The bathing suit order from LL Bean arrived in time for vacay!***
Somehow, it is the first day of August. Which means 27 days until vacation. As usual, I find myself in a weird spot of being halfway through the year and I’ve taken about 6 hours of vacation all year. There’s something wrong with me. So, I’m taking this coming Friday off just because.
With the thought of going on vacation only a few weeks away, I pulled out the pile of swim suits. It dawned on me that I don’t think I’ve purchased a swim outfit since before 2013. I threw all of the pieces away and am betting on backorder at LL Bean. I will sit on the beach and go in the water. We’ll see what I end up wearing come the last week of August. The beach is spacious, not populated and I DO NOT CARE. A woman in her 50s has very little fucks to give.
With the Delta Variant, we’re wondering if we’ll be hauling the big cooler to the beach again this year since restaurants may shut down and we’ll be on takeout or buying supplies at the local fish market. Either way is fine. Honestly, just being able to jump in the car and 5-6 hours later being at the beach is a privilege. I’m aware we are lucky to be able to do that and to pay someone to pet sit while we’re gone. We are fortunate. You can bet I’m prepared with images of our vaccination cards in my phone and masks in my bag. Speaking of protection, I do need to buy some sun screen.
We took a long weekend trip to Blacksburg recently. It was really nice to get away. A brewery opened since we were last there and so our first evening we drank a couple of beers and grabbed some pizza (we went there one more time for a beer after a hike and both times were lovely).
The main reason for the trip was to celebrate the better-half’s birthday with hikes, drinks and good eats. I think we succeeded on all fronts.
On one of the hikes, we discovered the trail hadn’t been maintained in quite awhile. The path was covered in grass and briars. We are still covered in scratches. I tripped and fell over a tree branch-pride wounded more than anything (thankful the path was not rocky right there). As it turns out a search and rescue was going on while we were there. I bet that trail has had some maintenance now.
My favorite hike was our last one. The trail was on and around an old coal mine and it connected with the Huckleberry trail. We saw some people, a frog and we startled a snake who really startled me.
Looking forward to our next long weekend over Independence Day. No plans yet but a long weekend is pretty good anyway.
The last person who was let go in April left today. I was in the office when she dropped off her equipment. I was really glad to see her, but I was in meetings from 8:45-4 with minimal time in between. That was a bummer because I would have liked to have said bye better than, “oh crap, i’m leading this meeting and am late.” A member of my team resigned a couple of weeks ago and she was in the office dropping her stuff off too. It was a bit much today.
So, let’s listen to a little bit of blues:
We invited a friend this time. The neighborhood was HERE for this event. Dogs, bikes, kids, adults, neighbors, friends, bands, and beautiful weather.
So things are a little better this week than they were last week. The better-half and I had very little reaction to the Pfizer vaccine #2. We took naps, but we probably would have done that anyway.
The situation at work is improving. I’m still not 100%, but I’m digging into what I can control and trying to be a collaborative partner. You can’t go around saying you want to partner with others and then not do it when called to do so. I made the decision to not remain permanent work from home when we’re able to return to the office. My team has my support to stay home and my new boss supports that decision. I feel like I need to be visible and available to both office dwellers and to my remote team. In making that decision, I am really hoping to get an upgrade from my tiny cube. I never really understood why putting a manager in a tiny cube made any sense. It just made me run around the building booking conference rooms for private meetings. That’s not going to work if we’re a hybrid office–the demand for conference rooms will be even higher.
