Confessions of a Grandma

I sometimes buy a store brand loaf of wheat bread -- not necessarily because I am cheap but because it is less sweet than the name brands I know. If I have an egg salad or a tuna salad sandwich I like soft, bland bread. This morning I decided to make some toast with some of that bread. This was the last heel of the loaf. Clearly, it has a mouth. Of course I had to amuse myself by turning it into a bread puppet. Help! Help! She's putting me in the toaster! Nooo! I'll burn! Some people are not nearly as amused by me as I am by myself. I've noticed that a lot.

Don thinks this is the funniest thing ever and he swears I have way too much time on my hands. He suggests I get a job. I made a few of these bags to take to the grocery store or farmers' market so I don't have to use plastic bags. A little bit of netting and no more than five minutes sewing time. Hey, maybe I could get a table at one of the Farmers' Markets and sell produce bags? Nah, that sounds like too much work. I'm retired and enjoying it!

Road work has become the bane of summer although it is certainly badly needed around here. Vermont winters are not kind to streets and roads and where I live now is no longer the acres and acres of dairy farms that it once was.  And infrastructure has not kept up with the population and the number of cars using area roads. The road work at the end of the development drive forces one lane traffic and goes through the night. Eventually the widened road with turning lanes and traffic lights should relieve some stress. In the meantime, noise and slow going  . . .  we put up with it. I made a trip to Boston -- lots of road work along the way too. I went for a doctor's appointment. I had a laser procedure that straightened out my badly out of alignment septum last December. Yesterday the doctor zapped remaining swollen tissue that is expected to shrink down over the next few weeks as a result.  Finally, free breathing should be fully restored. I have to take an a...

Felicity Huffman will pay a fine and do 14 days of jail time for her part in the college admissions cheating scandal. I understand that there is some kind of backlash -- a joke of a sentence, not tough on crime, another example of money buying privilege, etc . One guy tweeted that he could buy a gallon of milk on the day she enters prison and it would still be fresh when she gets out. People are strange. Now, my thought is that punishments should fit the crime. How about having her tutor high school students in an inner city school who are trying to be the first in their families to apply for college? How about sentencing her to two weeks of substitute teaching? Oh, wait, that would be cruel and unusual punishment, substitute teaching.

Through Meet Up I have been taking some short group hikes. This past Sunday was a perfect day for such a walk. We started with some outdoor yoga and then headed into the woods. It looks as though I am leading the pack but I really wasn't. The trail went through woods along the lake. 50+ Keeping Active group. I don't mention that I am in the 70+ category.   

I was avoiding news for the later part of last week, but one of Diane's friends who lives on the east coast of Florida called and let me know I should be worried. We did turn on the weather channel for a while but, really, there was not a darn thing I could do about the hurricane but pray. But it is a terrible event and I am saddened and concerned for people anywhere in the path. Mike and I spent a number of vacations on Abaco in the Bahamas. We stayed in Marsh Harbor. I don't want to try to imagine what is left there. My heart just breaks at the devastation.

I went to visit my friend Diane in southern New Hampshire. She has a lovely cottage on a pond surrounded by mountains and quaint little towns where we can hike and explore. Near the bridge in Peterborough I left my computer at home and never bothered to sign onto the internet. Phone service was spotty at best. I was unplugged and what a relaxing time that afforded! We explored Frye's Measure Mill , Cultural Cocoon , and a number of other little shops and antique stores. I did make one small purchase. A small bud vase As usual when we get together there was good food, some wine, long conversations, games, a play, and walking. The play we saw was A Doll House, Part II . Diane is a long time subscriber to the Peterborough Players  and we stayed for talk back with the cast after the show. I really enjoy summer playhouse productions as a rule and this one did not disappoint. I know retirement seems like full time vacation, but this was just a...