SUNDAY

Now I'm thoroughly annoyed with Frank Longo! This time, he made the Sunday crossword clues so obscure, it was unfair. Who the hell would know the first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds? And the lead singer in some weird rap group?  I wouldn't, that's a cinch and anybody who would would NOT be interested in doing crossword puzzles! (Rant, rant, rave, rave...).* 

Hey, yesterday I got Wordle  in two; the word was "laugh." I do that, plus Connections, plus Blossom every day. 

I finally tackled the second hall closet, in which I keep gift wrap and ribbons, bags, and other containers of all kinds. (The third hall closet is taken up by the washer and dryer). I didn't throw away as much as I probably should have, but at least it's better organized and I now know what all I have. That finished, I walked to Wal-Mart, stopping first at BOA to get some cash. I hardly ever use it, but like to have some on hand just in case. Got some nice big apples and the crackers I like--no wonder I like them, they contain 70 calories for only four and they're small--not so good, but I'm addicted. I was surprised to see they've gone up in price quite a bit. Would that be just a normal upgrade or because of the tariff thing? 

Had my lunch at my favored spot near Ralph's and, of course, I enjoyed the birds at the fountain, although they're hard to see here. It was overcast, too, my least favorite weather, but nice and warm:

Home about 3:30. Lorraine called me, just to chat, then I kind of lazed around. I do enjoy going out and do, every chance I get, but sometimes I like just being by myself and following my own whims with nobody else to consider.

*Later: After dinner, I looked again at the crossword and actually got most of it. Frank gets cute with his themes and clues, one of the former yesterday being "Seeing S-Stars" and one of the clues being "'To Kill A Mockingbird' Oscar Winner who had a tiny birthmark.'"  That was an easy one: "Gregory Specks." Dumb? Yeah, I look forward to the damn things. 

SATURDAY

In the morning, I was charmed to find this email from my tenant, Lori: 

--Hi Rosemary, I hope you are having a good week!  Wanted to send you a current photo of the tree by the front entrance.  While there are some dead branches in the bottom it looks like the top is coming to life. Thought you would enjoy knowing that! Hope you are well,  Lori--

  I immediately sent her back my thanks and will send an Easter card. 

Goodness gracious, I hope my electricity doesn't get cut off soon, as I received an unexpected bill from Southern Cal Electric for thirty-four cents. I had until the 28th to pay it, but heroically, sent it in right away. (Gawd, you'd think they'd just tack it onto the next bill, but no-o-o....)

All that aside, I packed my lunch and took off for town about 1:00. I stopped at one of the little shops and found they were having a 50 percent off sale. Could I resist? Oh, sure, I just ignored it--NOT! I bought three nice tops (we used to call them "blouses"), all for a song. 

Ate across from the mission, of course, and enjoyed another lovely day. On the bus ride home, I saw this young man and I was so intrigued, I asked if I could take his picture "to show my grandkids." He was agreeable and very well spoken. I found it interesting that he mentions his autism on shirt and hat and maybe he's gay, considering the rainbow socks, but who knows. 

I like those socks!

Via text, Rosa invited me to a "Hands Off: Ventura Fights Back," another anti-Trump demonstration on Saturday, I guess. I might have gone, but Ellen and I are going to Carolyn's on Saturday. 

I'm determined to clean out one of the hall closet--the junky one--today. Also want to walk to Ralph's and Wal-Mart. Much as I hate that dump, they have the crackers I like so much.

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Note: I just came across my blog entry of April 4, 2009, sixteen years ago: "Went to Weight Watchers and was pleased at a 2. 6 loss. That brings me under the 130 mark (just barely; I'm at 129.6) and an even 70 pounds off."

FRIDAY

Right after I got up at 6:00, I showered and washed my hair, after putting in a color wash. I usually wait until evening, but had skipped it the night before. 

Weight: I was up a tad, but only .06 at home to 127.6 and .08 at T.O.P.S. to 128.5. There were only four of us there--beside Cheryl and me, just Sharon and Lennie and I took the minutes and thankfully, Home at 10:00.

While I was having breakfast, Jimmy Downes called me yet again. He insisted that I had called him--said the phone had rung and he saw my number. That can happen accidentally, but I knew it hadn't in this case, as I was eating my oatmeal and the phone was on the table a foot or so away from me. goodbye. I'm afraid Jim is getting more and more confused, but at least he didn't say he thought I was dead this time. 

Readied myself to meet Rosa out front at 12:30 and we went off to Two Trees. I knew it was very busy on weekends, but was hoping not so much on Fridays; however, it was jammed. Luckily, they had some room on the patio, so we sat out there, as it was another gorgeous day. 

We had such an enjoyable time getting to better know each other. Rosa is 67, divorced for many years, with one son and some grandchildren, She was born in Mexico, but came here with her parents when she was an infant. She speaks fluent Spanish and had been a fourth-grade teacher before she retired. Interestingly, her ex had a PH.D; I don't remember what his area of expertise was.  I got the impression Rosa isn't conventionally religious, but she "respected Lenten customs" and ordered sea bass. (I didn't even know no meat on Friday was still a life and (spiritual) death rule.) That prompted an interesting discussion on religion--Roman Catholicism, that is--and although Rosa is close to my older son's age, she said she remembers when the mass was said in Latin.

After a leisurely meal and chat session, I asked Rosa to drop me at the post office to mail my package. I said I'd walk home, but she insisted in driving me. Nice day and we vowed we'd keep in touch. 

About 5:00, I was pleased to get a Facetime call from Mike. He just got back from Sri Lanka and will go to Vietnam next week and after that, Shanghai. Wow, do he and his family get around: Shortly, Violet will be going to Malaysia for two weeks, then to Thailand for a week. These are school trips, so they can, for instance, see directly things relative to say, geology. She'll be going off to Savannah in the summer, too. Geez, when I was in high school, I was lucky get to Philly... 

THURSDAY

 A quiet day, which was fine by me after several busy ones. I spent the morning finishing up the meeting agenda for T.O.P.S. That meant coming up with two "inspirational quotes" for each meeting. What Lennie puts on are big fat bores, so I looked on the Internet for some a little less second-grade level. I also snuck in, here and there, some funnies such as Thomas Wright's "I intend to live forever...so far, so good" and "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." I paired that last with the soulful and idiotic "Think of your hopes as soaring eagles, then climb aboard to meet them," by Mimi Byrne.*

Took my lunch out to the middle and enjoyed the quiet time on yet another beautiful day. A guy came to do something or other with the outlets in the kitchen and bathroom, which management had notified us about a few days ago. While he was here, I swept the patio, watered my new tomato plant, and took the trash out to the trash place. 

Ellen and I firmed up our luncheon date at Diane's for Tuesday. I got a text from my Sunrise Bay friend, Leslie, just checking in and giving me some family news. Wrote her back, glad to keep in touch. 

The rest of the day I attended to my Easter cards and also finished packaging and wrapping the little gifts I'm sending to Jersey. I'll try to get them to the post office later today, after lunch with Rosa. 

*Gee, that's funny: "Mimi" was my childhood nickname and "Byrne" is my maiden name--what a coincidence... 😂

WEDNESDAY

Left at 11:00 to meet my new acquaintance, Valarie, at the Hill Street Cafe. She had suggested lunch at 11:30, which is way, way earlier than I like to have it, but I wanted to be agreeable, so said sure. Got there and she came shortly thereafter. 

I shouldn't have worried, as I liked her a lot. She's a native California, although she and her husband lived in upstate New York when they first married. She has five children and several grandchildren;  one daughter lives in Philly. She mentioned that she just turned 70, so she's closer to my children's age than mine, but I like having a range of friends, so that was fine. I was impressed (well, I'm from academia) when she mentioned that her husband graduated from Harvard, then was some kind of executive in some kind of business, I don't remember what. 

Later, though, they had a more interesting life: They bought and ran a restaurant in San Luis Obispo; later still, she had a bakery, also in California, but I can't remember where. They support and are active in Habitat for Humanity--I told her about being there on Tuesday. They have a house and ranch of over a hundred acres up near the desert, which also has three smaller houses on it, with a caretaker. 

After we ate, Valerie asked if I might want to got to Lynn's Consignment shop and see is they had any of the outdoor shelving I'm looking for. Sure, and we drove into midtown. I didn't find anything, though, but on the way there, we stopped at Valerie's house on Poli Street. That's an expensive area and the house is very fetching.  Valerie then dropped me off and we agreed we'll do this again--nice to make a new friend.  

Since we had met so early, it was only 1:00 when I got home, so I went over to Von's for chicken breast.  I had come across a recipe for lemon garlic chicken and want to try it. Got some, made the recipe and it turned out well. These are very large, so I had only part of one for dinner and froze the other two. In the swing of things, I roughly chopped several pounds of onions, put them in the elixir I had used for the chicken, then roasted them in the oven. With some little gold potatoes, that made a yummy dinner.

Called Ellen and told her of Carolyn's Easter invitation for either Saturday or Sunda. Since El had invited Greg for Easter Sunday, we decided on Saturday. Called Carolyn and she said that was fine. I asked her what I could bring, but will decide that later. 

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I forgot to post this from when Ellen and I went to Lowe's for my tomato plant. I asked the woman with her (I assume it's  a her because of the little yellow sun dress the pup had on) if I could take a picture "to show my grandchildren." Somehow, I find this--animals in strollers--both pathetic and silly; why does a dog have to be transported like an infant? For that matter, why do people take their dogs to stores? 

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TUESDAY

After dropping little Gwennie off at the cat hospital, Ellen got here about 10:00. We then took off for Oxnard to check out outdoor furniture at Habitat for Humanity resale store. They had a lot of good stuff, but I didn't see anything I wanted for my patio cabinet. I did buy a small bookcase for one of my hall closets.* After, we stopped at Granny's Home Center and I visited with Jim for just ten minutes or so. I asked if I could bring a little red wine (I always served him that when he used to lunch at my place), but unfortunately, Celeste told me that wasn't permitted.  

From there, we drove back to Ventura to Lowe's to search out their outdoor furniture--nada, but I bought a tomato plant. The Wood Ranch was next and we each had a good lunch. El then came back to my place and 1.) planted my tomato and 2.) tried to add some pieces to my two small shelving units, but neither of us could figure it out; I don't really care, as I can still use them.

El had been told by the vet she could pick Gweenie up after 2:00, so she left about 3:00 with many thanks from her mum. I was about to start something--what? I don't remember--when niece Carolyn called. She invited Ellen and me to come to her place in Santa Barbara either Easter Saturday and Sunday, as my other niece, Frank's daughter, Francine, and her son will be there. I'll see if Ellen would like to go.

* Darn, I don't know what I was thinking: The bookcase is much too big for the hall closet. I think I'll put it on the patio for a temporary fix until I get a permanent one. 

MONDAY

Julie and Bridget picked me up shortly before noon and off we went to Cafe Z(ak). (I'm not quite clear if it's actually "Zak" or "Z.") We met Regina, the birthday girl, there and settled into a sunny table on the patio. I had a salmon with vegetables and it was a true cut above the usual. The veggies were clearly fresh, not frozen (nor canned, heaven forfend), and there was some kind of a subtle dressing that was delish. Wonder of wonders, the salmon was properly cooked, not overdone, as so many restaurants present it. I had an IPA, natch, but the others had dessert, which I declined. Anyway, we had a really good time. The fact that Bridget talks non-stop, on and on and on and--AAGH!--in her still pretty heavy German accent, is just something that has to be tolerated.

Regina brought up the fact that she was trying to determine where her possessions will go after her death and the rest of us took up the topic. We started talking about the fact that none of the other three have family--husbands dead or divorced-from, no children, no living siblings, maybe a niece or nephew here and there, but they're not in touch. Considering my blood descendants (ten) and huge extended family (so many, I can't count them), we commented over the fact that our circumstances are so different. Regina on on the board of several charities and will leave her assets to them. Bridget fretted over the fact she doesn't know where her assets might go; Julie, who is so quiet, didn't say.  

Didn't get home until after 3:00. For some reason, I was tired, so took a short nap. I then went over to CVS and Von's for a few items. Got a card from Sharon with two printed recipe on it, for salmon and persimmon sauce. That was nice of her, although I'm not sure if I'll ever make them.

I called Valarie, whom I had met at the BCNN meeting last week and we made a date for lunch tomorrow at the Hill Street Cafe. Called Rosa back and it's lunch for us on Friday. Gawd, how will I weigh in this week? I hope my activity will offset my calorie count!