Scooter Saga

Being in Maui the first couple weeks of December and then going back in early January  definitely shortened the holiday season.  Given the COVID restrictions, I was prepared for that. What I didn't see coming were all the well-meaning suggestions I received to: "Just forget the holidays this year.  With the pandemic and all..." "A big tree is too expensive to bother with for two weeks." "If you have a tree, maybe this might be a good time to get an artificial one or a smaller one." I looked around and responded, "You must be talking to the lady in back of me."* Assured that the comments were indeed intended for me, I thought, "OK it's maybe only a two week Christmas, but it's still two weeks."  I needed to separate out what was postponable from what brought me joy.  After all, it's not as if this was my first rodeo.  I could still plan, make a list, and delegate, delegate, delegate. I had the Christmas routine down.  Us

Disclaimer:  The COVID-19 posts are obviously not chronological, just incidental. The spontaneous garage party We had just gotten back from our January/February 2020 Maui sojourn and put granddaughter Zoe on the bus for her home in Seattle*.  Earl and I went home to begin planning for a March birthday party and a Spring trip back to Maui.  I was thinking about our charmed, carefree life and then...COVID–19 hit.  The March birthday party went from 15 people to 6, moved from the house to the garage, one guest FaceTimed in, and we were trying to navigate this new environment. We were prepared to cancel our Spring trip, but surprised when the state of Hawaii closed down to all incomers.  Tourism may be Hawaii's lifeblood, but they weren't messing around or, dare I say , waiting for direction from the federal government.  I thought, "surely this virus would be manageable by Fall."  We all know how that turned out. The covid-19 test But finally, we were able to go in ear

Who benefits when you're staying clo se to home–all the time?  Could be the home itself.  When you're out and about, it's easy to get distracted and ignore signs that the house needs some attention.  But when you spend the lion's share of your time at home, it becomes daunting. The most urgent task was determining the source of a significant water leak and then fixing it. Was it in the pool? The hot tub? The water feature?  Worst case (most expensive to repair) scenario, was it under the concrete?  Long story short, it took nearly 6 months to figure out that it wasn't the pool (yay) , it wasn't the water feature (yay) , and it wasn't something under the concrete (major yay, I hope) .  We still haven't found the source, but we're closing in with help of professional leak detectors  ( of course) .    Although the water feature wasn't the cause of the mystery leak, it did need to be revised before becoming a major problem.  The lining had to be repl

"You want  what ?" said Earl.   Having gotten used to the amount of s*!@t I usually get from him*, "A bidet", I replied. And so the story begins. A few months before, our Thai housemate relayed a conversation between he and his mother, my friend. "Why don't Tammy and Earl use a bidet?" she inquired.  I later explained to Jack that in fact, people from the US are accustomed to using toilet paper.  Free-standing bidets here are often equated with affluence.  Not so elsewhere in the world.  I knew that bidets are more commonly seen in Europe, but didn't realize how much of the world uses them.   I remember traveling through Europe as a junior in high school with a large group. That was my first sighting of a bidet. This group of girls had no idea what it was for.  We thought it was a foot bath.  I can only imagine that the French girls thought we were rude, ignorant, or just crazy. At any rate, the more I read and thought about it, the more I wanted o

I've always struggled with a balance between my vanity and practical function*.  I've maintained that, although there may be some interest in my personal appearance, I was not a princess.  The COVID–19 pandemic blew the lid off my plausible deniability. I came to realize that, when you have too much time on your hands, you become preoccupied with things that were never given a second thought.  Although I had routinely had my hair cut and colored, gotten regular manicures & pedicures, I didn't appreciate how important maintenance appointments were to me until all the salons closed down.  There was no denying it any longer.  My princess persona was out. As the manicure grew out My hair was in my eyes, my toenails were starting to catch in the bedsheets, and my fingernails were so long, they started to hurt whenever I used my hands.   I had friends with beautiful gray or white hair, so when m y gray roots started to grow out, I smugly thought "I

Disclaimer:   We had no idea what was coming down the road in early March. COVID–19 has affected so many parts of our lives, that I decided to treat it like our road trip–separate posts.  Coming attractions?  Rule following, Home maintenance, Coping, Grooming, Travel (yes, really )... I didn't appreciate how much Skeeter would help me in figuring things out in the early days.  Our first effort was the driveway happy hour at the end of February.  True, there were only three of us, but it was fun catc hing up with our next door ne i ghbor.  I rode down the driveway and perched on Skeeter.  Earl was able to carry both his chair and my wine. Next came a collection of March birthdays.  I customarily have a March baby birthday party, but that was not going to happen in the usual way.We were, however, able to have a small garage gathering while FaceTiming with a friend who had a February birthday.  Different, but doable.  We were starting to get the hang of this "new normal." My