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What are you doing right now? Part 2
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dely, hope you’re feeling ok now . Kids are always a worry no matter how old they are ."
I'm exactly of the same opinion!
Yes, I probably should have the ankle checked but my doctor is booked for the week and I don't fancy sitting four/five hours at Emergency. If it doesn't come good, I'll attend to it.Yesterday a downpour broke out while my sister and I were down feeding the goats their snacks. We had to race/hurry/walk very fast up the paddock so she held my hand to keep me steady. B-i-l remarked "you looked like a pair of old schoolkids": how insulting, lol.
Enjoyed the musical Kinky Boots on Broadway in New York City today with my niece. It is worth seeing if it comes to your town. The story, music and dancing are all fun.
How is everyone doing? I was at my parents' for three days, together with my boyfriend. It was nice and relaxing, and on the plus side it was less hot there than it is here in Pescara (still hot, though). This is partly due to the fact that their house is in the country, so there are lots of trees which make the air feel less stifling. We came back yesterday around 4pm and the drive was horrible, it was so hot! As you may know, I don't drive, so it was my boyfriend who drove, but when we got home we were both exhausted, even though it's just a little less than two hours drive.
6:21 in Illinois.Hot here too. More than ready for Fall. Had a power surge a little ago, all the air must be straining the power grid. Traveling is sometimes a bear Marina, not as fond of it as once was. Catch up day for me here, all the things I couldn't get to during the week. Going out for lunch though, so looking forward to that. Hope everyone has a great Sunday.
8:03 in upstate state NY . Enjoying my quiet time with coffee and Goodreads . My husband is a night owl so is still sleeping. The awfully humid days of well over 90 degrees seem to be gone for now. Temps are back to 80’s and rain is predicted for several days this week , which is much needed. Do nice to have windows open this morning instead of air conditioner on. Invited my sister for dinner. I’ll be making some macaroni salad and getting ribs ready for my husband to grill . Hope everyone has a great day.
We are having a few days spotted with rain and thunderstorms. I'm keeping fairly quiet as my weekdays have been very busy. My son and I both had a rehearsal yesterday as it's one of our weeks for worship team plus he was on for a solo. My middle daughter never goes to rehearsal but they let her show up to play because she has things on Saturday and is a natural on saxophone harmony.Tomorrow will be back to busy again. Only two more weeks of driving my son so far to his first summer job (and all that money will go for expenses for college next year, so nothing toward driving or a car, but it's been worth it for a variety of reasons).
My husband worked today because he's trying to get ahead so he can go down and visit his 93 year old mother for a few days later this month. He gets to spend quiet time with her and his sister and also he helps her out around the house and yard--she can't have all of us come at once. I usually plan something fun or relaxing when he's gone if I'm not swamped.
I got up at 5am to eat breakfast w my husband. It’s too early for me (usually) but it makes him happy. Even the dog is still asleep! 😀 I’m going to see the movie Christopher Robin with my parents later this morning. I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a movie with both of them! Maybe Star Wars in 1977!! My dad has hearing loss so he doesn’t usually go to movies. I guess he doesn’t want to miss out on the fun! The 3 of us went to a dance performance this past weekend. I feel very fortunate to live so close to them where we can spend time together. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Pam, sounds like a wonderful set up. My Dad was discharged from the hospital yesterday and so he is comfortably settled back at my sister’s. I’m feel lucky that she can live with him and they are only a few hours away.Oddly, he had a hard time getting discharged yesterday because he needed ambulance transport and all the ambulances were tied up with a mass overdose crisis. Many people were sickened by synthetic marijuana that had been laced with other drugs.
So if you light up, stay away from K2!
Oaky, I'm behind the times. I had to look up what K2 was. I'm a little behind the times.Yesterday, I got an email from some guy in Saudi Arabia telling me my computer had been infected with a virus which also started my laptop camera recording. I had, apparently, been caught 'soloing' while watching porn! I'm like "What???" But then I had to look up 'soloing' in the Urban Dictionary.
Then I knew it was a hoax, lol.
Joan, an article popped up in my Facebook feed about the mass overdose crisis you mention. However, I was unable to read it due to GDPR restrictions (some US websites have decided to block out EU readers because they can't comply to our new GDPR, which is a European privacy normative - so we're basically unable to read certain US websites).
It was on our news, just unbelievable. The park was filled with those overdosing, the policetrying to save as many with narcan as they could. Many went to the hospital. They did say they had two men in custody, apparently the ones passing out the drugs.
I have returned home after a short visit with my brother and his family in order to see the Harry Potter play on Broadway :)
It was a long day (we saw both parts on the same day) but a lot of fun! Now I am trying to catch up here while watching some "Grace and Frankie" on Netflix...
Sounds like fun, Leslie! Hope you are doing well .
Thanks Angela - I'm doing okay. Life goes on, as the saying goes.
Leslie, that sounds like a wonderful, if tiring day! Are you in that photo? I'm a fan of Grace and Frankie too, I think it's such a feel good show.
Yesterday evening I went out to a public reading of poems by Alda Merini. I'm not that into poetry, but I have to say that her poems are really good. I enjoyed it and I want to try now to read some of her poems.It was organized also in a lovely location: very small, but a nice place in a town here nearby.
I just needed it. I have had too busy and hectic and anxious months. Really a lot of work, then a bacterial infection and I needed to do 10 days of shots (that didn't help because the infection is still there); then my son and his problems in India, then I had an allergic rash and now I have to avoid dairy products and other food (I'm already vegetarian and taking away also cheese hasn't been easy); then some problems of my mother, a migraine that lasted for 3 days a no painkiller was working, etc. I would really need a vacation, but because of my health issues I had to avoid also a day trip to France with a friend. I hope I will survive but I really feel exhausted.
dely, I'm so sorry about those nasty health issues :( I sincerely hope you will recover soon. Sending you a big hug ♥As regards Alda Merini, I'm not into poetry either but I love her. Many years ago I was lucky enough to see a theater solo show made out of her book Delirio amoroso (which is not poetry by the way, more like poetic prose), starring Licia Maglietta. It was just wonderful. She once didn't remember her lines in the middle of the show, but she made light of it so it wasn't that bad a thing. After all it was understable after a one hour monologue! She's a great actress.
dely, take care of yourself. Hope the infection clears up . Glad the poetry reading was enjoyable.
Thanks Marina and Angela. I think too much stress so next to each other is the cause of everything. I'm used to somatize when I'm under pressure.Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "As regards Alda Merini, I'm not into poetry either but I love her. Many years ..."
I have in my wishlist L'altra verità: diario di una diversa. I prefer prose to poetry and I hope to understand better the author before reading some of her poems.
Dely, thanks for giving me a new poet to search out - I am into poetry and I am very interested in one that appeals to non-poemophiles ( I just made that word up).I hope you are feeling better and that your gallivanting son returns soon. Stress, exhaustion and infections do seem to attack together.
Joan wrote: "Dely, thanks for giving me a new poet to search out - I am into poetry and I am very interested in one that appeals to non-poemophiles ( I just made that word up).I hope you are feeling better an..."
I hope you can find a good English translation and that you will like her. To know a little bit about her life is important too to understand her poems better. She has been for several years in a madhouse though she wasn't mad at all.
Dely, thinking of you and wishing you well. You have certainly ky been dealing g with many stressful situations.Leslie, sounds like a wonderful time.
dely wrote: "Thanks Marina and Angela. I think too much stress so next to each other is the cause of everything. I'm used to somatize when I'm under pressure.Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "As regards Alda Merin..."
I hope you recover quickly!
Dely & Marina SonnenbarkeI’ve posted Merini’s poem “The Overcoat” in the Monday Poem thread - you can find it in the list of discussions.
I hope you two will pop over there to share your thoughts and perhaps your favorite Merini poem.
Joan wrote: "Dely & Marina SonnenbarkeI’ve posted Merini’s poem “The Overcoat” in the Monday Poem thread - you can find it in the list of discussions.
I hope you two will pop over there to share your thoughts ..."
I will surely look into it though I don't know all her poems so I don't know which one could be my favorite. I've heard for the first time to some of her poems only the other day. Will try to share the best of that evening.
I just bought tickets to The Ensemble for The Romantic Century in NY City. If anyone is going to the same matinees perhaps we can meet for lunch or post performance drinks. https://www.romanticcentury.org/The September performance is based on the life & work of Emily Dickinson
The April performance is about Hans Christian Andersen
Send me a message if you are interested.
Joan, I hope you'll be able to meet some AAB member, that would be wonderful! Let us know :)My boyfriend and I are slowly moving my things over to our new place. We need to be done by August 31st so we don't have much time left - and I'm anxious in the extreme. Yesterday I brought a load of boxes down four stories (there is an elevator in my current building but I still have to go down or up some ten steps), and he called five minutes later telling me his car broke down and wouldn't start. So I had to bring everything up again. Argh! I was so frustrated I felt like crying. Well, I did cry a bit. I'm too emotional, that's for sure. We hope the car can be fixed in a short time, maybe even today, but there's no certainty. Boy, my anxiety is killing me :(
Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "My boyfriend and I are slowly moving my things over to our new place. We need to be done by August 31st..."I'm so sorry to hear about the car! Fingers crossed they will fix it soon. Otherwise you can rent one of those little vans and there is plenty of place for all the boxes so I don't think you need it for more than one day. Moves make everyone anxious and nervous, I think it is very common and everyone hopes that everything goes well.
I'm sure you will finish the move in time and then you can enjoy your new house and new life together. I hope you have already a good bottle of wine to celebrate it ;-)
Thanks, dely! We don't have that bottle of wine yet, but we will definitely buy one soon! Moreover, my boyfriend's birthday is September 2nd, so we'll have a double reason to celebrate :)
Joan, sounds wonderful! Enjoy. Hope you get to meet up with some AAB friends.Marina, hoping the rest of the move goes well. It’s definitely a stressful thing but hope you get settled in and enjoy your new home .
Pink wrote: "Leslie, that sounds like a wonderful, if tiring day! Are you in that photo? I'm a fan of Grace and Frankie too, I think it's such a feel good show."Yes, I am in the middle surrounded by my brother's family :)
Leslie, how nice to see how you look :) You must have had a good time - you all deserved it, seen what you've been through lately.
Alda, It sounds like you're going through some really hard times. I'm sorry, Time and effort will probably take care of most of it but you're under a lot of stress. I went through a time when it seemed like everything was going wrong. My salvation was meditating, I took the time to meditate 20-30 minutes every day and I couldn't believe how helpful it was. It might be something for you to look into.
My son is going through his fear for starting college, plus he's excited. I can see why as it's a long daily commute, the campus is in Boston where the buildings aren't all on one property and are scattered about part of the city and sometimes intermingled with the school that merged with it. I keep telling him that his week long orientation will prepare him, but it's not enough. Good thing they have a parent orientation the first 2 days so I'll be driving him in (no commuter bus on the weekend anyway.)I'm sure he'll be fine and once he's gone a few times it will help. We're going to practice the bus commute at least once next week, which will help.
Did you know that Boston has the densest square mile of universities and colleges in the world? It's not unusual to walk down a street and go past a number of them, and to have buildings of different ones in between each other as they expand. There are more universities and colleges that aren't in that square mile, plus, of course, in some of the greater Boston area, such as over the bride in Cambridge (Harvard and Lesley university are two over there and are fairly close to each other, for example).
So the first weekend in Boston is a huge move in day when the population swells by about a third (or more--I can't recall if the entire population is 1/3 college students or it's the way I wrote it).
Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "Leslie, how nice to see how you look :) You must have had a good time - you all deserved it, seen what you've been through lately."Thanks Marina! It has been a rough summer for our family - my sister-in-law's father died about a month after my mother so it was particularly nice for all of us to have a fun day together (especially as the tickets had been bought as a Christmas gift from my mom to my brother's wife). I was lucky that my oldest nephew decided he would rather go to his football scrimmage than the play - I used his ticket.
Karin wrote: "My son is going through his fear for starting college, plus he's excited. I can see why as it's a long daily commute, the campus is in Boston where the buildings aren't all on one property and are ..."My niece went off to her freshman dorm today. She was invited to settle in a week early as her roommate is a foreigner (from England!). At her school (Lafayette College in Pennsylvania), all foreign freshman are required to come early for additional orientation and to help with that orientation, their roommates are also invited to come early.
Norton wrote: "Alda, It sounds like you're going through some really hard times. I'm sorry, Time and effort will probably take care of most of it but you're under a lot of stress. I went through a time when it se..."Who is Alda? Maybe you mistyped the nickname so it's not clear to whom you were referring to.
If I got the name wrong I'm sorry. But I believe my comment applies to anyone under a lot of stress or having a bad time. Meditating helped me keep perspective when I was going through some bad times. I continue to meditate and find it very helpful. It relieves stress but also gives me the ability to objectively look at what I'm doing and what's going on around me.
Marina, good luck with the car and your move. I hope everything goes smoothly!Leslie, I echo Marina's thoughts, its lovely to see a picture of you!
It sounds like you got lucky with your Harry Potter ticket, I'm glad you got to enjoy it with your family.
Karin, my son starts University at the end of September, which is coming around too fast! He is moving 2-3 hours away from home, but onto a very small campus. He's looking forward to it but slightly nervous too.
I want to say hi to everyone else. I feel like I've barely been keeping up with everyone lately and haven't posted properly in months, but I'm always around, reading people's updates, so I hope you're all well.
Pink wrote: "Karin, my son starts University at the end of September, which is coming around too fast! He is moving 2-3 hours away from home, but onto a very small campus. He's looking forward to it but slightly nervous too.."Small campuses can be fabulous--my son's is small, as well. I hope he enjoys it and he can always come home for holidays.
What does your son want to read (it's "read" in the UK, right? I know you understand study, but try to keep my limited British lingo up to date.)
Leslie wrote: "My niece went off to her freshman dorm today. She was invited to settle in a week early as her roommate is a foreigner (from England!). At her school (Lafayette College in Pennsylvania), all foreign freshman are required to come early for additional orientation and to help with that orientation, their roommates are also invited to come early.."
How lovely for her. International freshman also arrive early at my son's college, but not that early. I don't know if they invite any of the American roommates to join them, but I think it's an excellent idea for your niece and her English roommate to get to know each other right at the start like that.
Norton wrote: "If I got the name wrong I'm sorry. But I believe my comment applies to anyone under a lot of stress or having a bad time. Meditating helped me keep perspective when I was going through some bad tim..."I agree with you. I do yoga since several years and it really changed my life. Though it still happens that in very stressful moments I feel weak, I have to say that I recover much faster respect to the past and I have under control a lot of situations that in the past made me nervous or anxious. Respect to the past I also don't give too much importance to situations of minor importance.
I did also meditation but then our teacher hadn't time anymore to do the lessons and she hasn't been replaced with someone else. For a while I did it alone at home, but then I stopped. But I go regularly to yoga and the one we do focuses more on the meditative and relaxing part. It isn't that kind of yoga where we have to do difficult or impossible positions upside down.
Karin and Pink, good luck to your sons for the start of university!
Karin, yes some universitys still say read, but I think it depends on the course and place of study. It's more unusual to use that term nowadays. My son wants to be a P. E. teacher (physical education) and it's a four year course that encompasses teacher training as well. Most undergraduate courses in the UK are only three years.
dely, how are you? I've sort of kept up to date with your posts, about your son's travels and bank troubles. I've just been awful at posting myself. I hope all is well with you and your son at the moment. Is he still away?
Pink wrote: "dely, how are you? I've sort of kept up to date with your posts, about your son's travels and bank troubles. I've just been awful at posting myself. I hope all is well with you and your son at the moment. Is he still away? "Thanks Pink! He is again in the Netherlands, I think that on the 3th September university already starts for him. He is fine though tired, and he still has to send money to my Indian friend that helped him. I don't want to think about it, otherwise I get angry again.
I'm feeling better, but now I have to do again exams because of that infection that didn't go away despite 10 days of antibiotics. What my allergy concerns, I have to eat like a vegan also for the next two weeks. It isn't easy though I'm already vegetarian, but I'm slowly getting used to it. After these two weeks I try to eat again some cheese and let's hope nothing happens.
Interesting course your son has chosen! And what about your daughter? I hope she is fine.
Pink, glad to see you posting again :)dely, I'm sorry to know you have to undergo more medical examinations, but I sincerely hope they will find the root cause of that infection. If you feel like it, let us know - no pressure, though.
Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "Pink, glad to see you posting again :)dely, I'm sorry to know you have to undergo more medical examinations, but I sincerely hope they will find the root cause of that infection. If you feel like..."
I have to repeat the same exams only to know which antibiotic I have to take now. This little b*****d of a bacterium gets resistant to antibiotics too fast. I will repeat also blood exams, just to check if everything is ok.
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dely, hope you’re feeling ok now . Kids are always a worry no matter how old they are .