Confessions of a Grandma

    It makes me uncomfortable to hear or see people expressing "Happy Memorial Day!"  When did it become a day of celebrating instead of honoring? We are living in a time and in a country where it is less and less safe to do ordinary things like shop in a grocery store or go to school. Frankly, I think the situation makes a mockery of those who sacrificed for our freedoms.  Do we really want to live in a society that even contemplates solutions like dropping off our children to spend their days in prison-like conditions, passing armed guards at the door of the elementary school? And pointing to perpetrators as evil and deranged is a convenient way to absolve oneself of any complicity in a allowing the human condition to have devolved to this sorry point. I am heartbroken, sad and damn angry.

  This seems only fair now that I think about it! But of course sometimes life seems fundamentally unfair: Yes! Passwords ate the bane of my life! IMO, technology has taken an evil turn!

 I have three friends -- with me, four of us -- that come as a group. We bonded over a library writing group and have stayed together long after the group dissolved. We get together even though we have now all moved to different towns and a favorite activity is Field Trips! We had just gotten back to Vermont on the May 9th, but a field trip was planned for the 12th and it was not to be missed even though it involved a car trip. We went to Artistree , an art gallery located in tiny South Pomfret, VT. Our Jen had curated an exhibit of her husband's late uncle's art work -- wood cuts, basketry, and knotted tapestries. Afterwards we went to the family home for a tour of the grounds, home and art studio.  And of course a picnic lunch on the patio overlooking the gardens and a pond accompanied with hours of good conversation. I found the art amazing and thoroughly enjoyed a day with my old (meaning long time) friends. A brief video of the artist can be seen here:  Open Studio D...

 My condo association does encourage owners to garden in the back of the units. The association maintains the front plantings and neighborhood volunteers take over for those who don't want to garden or who no longer are able to do so. I like to keep it very simple. I did not have much interest in the exterior of the condo for the past two years. I was dealing with my neighbors plumbing problems -- a major toilet back up that flooded my ceiling and an exterior pipe break that necessitated the digging up of my portion of sidewalk to replace. It took two years to get the ceiling repaired. I suppose we can blame COVID but frankly I blame the property management company for a variety of reasons -- mostly their complete lack of response to any of my attempts to contact them for information. Well, it is fixed now although the underlying problem still exists, and we will all have to trust neighbors to not use anything more plush than Scotts tissue -- and certainly not any kind of "flu...

 We left Venice on Saturday morning and drove to Charlotte, NC. The weather predictions were not great, but we only ran into a couple of light showers. We did get slowed down by three bad accidents that backed up the traffic flow, but we still made quite good time even with stops for gas and bathrooms and a picnic lunch. I was not driving. I did not look at the speedometer. We'd made a hotel reservation. The hotel was less than appealing. I checked for bed bugs! We did have a nice dinner at a local family restaurant though. No free breakfast these days. On Mother's Day, we drove all the way to Newburgh, NY -- an overly ambitious number of miles but at the same time making "good time" (Speeding?)   We took route 81 through the mountains of western Virginia -- the scenic route. We stayed at a Red Roof Inn. I did not want to make a reservation online. I wanted to see the hotel first.  I have always had very good experiences in a Red Roof Inn. It was surrounded by chain ...

  Are you Zoom weary yet? (Good thing I am retired) A prayer for when I can go back to social isolation on my own terms: All the time dedicated to self-improvement. Wasted. Still struggling with that COVID 15? Because it doesn't make sense to give up exercise. See above.