Random 5 for June 2 – People, shades, weather, neighborhood, events

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The rain has made everything lush and green.

New guy at the gym – I’ve become accustomed to the posturing at the gym. The strategic stretches and movements geared to loosen the body (or make them look good, take your pick) but this new guy is teaching me new tricks. He is roughly my age (older than dirt). He has a wrist device to measure stuff and a hand-held thingie. Maybe he’s downloading (or uploading). It takes him twice as long on a piece of equipment because after he does the exercise he sits there and does stuff on the thingie (play Free-cell? Measure heartbeat?) He’s somewhat fit so it’s working but in a gym where the oldies don’t do the fancy electronics, he sticks out. Maybe he should do thumb exercises!

We’re on our way – A few weeks back I whined about cleaning Venetian blinds. We’ve started to replace them. This week we bought three solar shades for the office and I love them. We can see out but you only see silhouettes looking in. My next house (if I should live that long) will be fairly modern and sleek (as in not much to clean).

The weather – It’s so glorious here after all the storms moved out. I whined so much that I’m almost embarrassed. (Almost!) I am enjoying the warm weather. Life is good.

So quiet! – Yesterday we did a big project that took most of the day. It was around 4 p.m. before I got a chance to sit down in our porch and just be. It was very quiet. All of our neighbors keep to themselves and we rarely see anyone out and about. I remembered when we first moved here, people were out all the time. Walking, biking, and talking. I so miss that but it’s a sign of the times.

And it starts – The first festivals of summer started last weekend and there are many more to come. When I was a kid there was only the “big” fair which happened in September. I was in school so attendance was limited. Now there are all sorts of fairs, carnivals, festivals and picnics going on all the time. Summer seems to be a big party these days. I was robbed! Perhaps I need therapy for all those summers without festivals!

So how was your week?

 

 

 

 

42 thoughts on “Random 5 for June 2 – People, shades, weather, neighborhood, events”

  1. I’m with Debra – I love your gym observations. I hope you never attend my Zumba class – I think you’d have much to write about – with your sardonic wit (I’m hiding my hands in my face, but trying to hide my body). Our teacher is 30 years younger than me with a perpetual cheeriness that could drive me to drink (more) but instead I plow along trying to follow her fast steps. I’d laugh if I wasn’t out of breath….
    Enjoy your gorgeous days. Same here, and I try to sit out on our porch rocker but the pollen has me sneezing/snorting so badly I find I must hide inside. I need therapy for THAT – not fair after making it through the winter. ;-0

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    • I did Zumba once. Oy vay! I seemed to be facing the wrong direction most of the time! Hats off to those who do it well (or at least are in step with the instructor). As for pollen, I’ve never truly had allergies except for fresh mown grass. However, this year I spent a month on daily Claritin. I was miserable if I missed one. Is this part of aging? I thought it was only wrinkles and forgetting where you keys are.

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  2. I just love your observations from the gym, Kate. You paint such a vivid picture of the people you encounter. I think you have the making of a good sitcom if you ever want to work on a screenplay. The gym and your Starbucks line, and throw in the cats…you’ve got a winner. LOL!

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  3. When I moved in here 18 years ago I was excited about the high ceilings with floor to ceiling windows with white wood “plantation” shutters. But oh my, keeping them clean is impossible! I have the same shutters instead of doors elsewhere. I also have a lot of windows which all have either vertical levolors or horizontal venetian blinds. When I win the Lotto I will either hire a full time staff just to keep the window treatments clean (!) or install motorized solar blinds all over… the latter sounds really good to me! Fingers crossed…

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  4. Sorry, as it flew off the screen, that should be “The Toronto National Exhibition” (too many years in a law firm, I typed “exhibit”) and Torontonians just call it “The Ex” or “The Exhibition”. It is huge and there is a huge fairway, entertainment and food, and many pavilions to tour while you’re there.

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  5. Growing up in Canada we had the Exhibit the tail end of August and here in Michigan we had the State Fair at the same time – both signalled the end of Summer vacation and soon school would start. Maybe a small carnival would come to town but that was it. I too feel cheated! Glad you found a solution to the Venetian blinds!

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  6. Maybe there’s an app for enjoying all those festivals? People seem to have to be entertained every minute of the day in summer. Then again, I think they’re like that in the winter, autumn and spring too come to think of it.

    Peeps who hold up equipment adding in all their reps, pounds, etc. cheese me off. Guess you can tell I’m of the ‘get off my lawn’ cohort. *sigh*

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  7. I just replaced blinds on nine windows with cordless blinds. I like being able to look out. But they were a bot of a pain to put up because of the location.
    Our neighborhood always used to be busy but the kids have grown and the adults pretty much stay inside. Very quiet.
    Summer is a big weekend party, though I wish they have some things during the week, like Thursday and Friday to avoid the crazies..:)

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  8. Interesting week! Have to look into the solar shades. The guy and his thingies–those are interesting, much more than my free iPhone heart monitor I suspect. Last week, I was in Southeast Asia (well, coming home). A once in a lifetime trip, that’s for sure.

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  11. Erratic weather here continues…more storms expected today but a happy low humidity day tomorrow. Hurrah! We are also winding up a big project… new fence around the pool. One more to go with a kitchen update. 30 years and this house needs a jolt. On the other hand 30 years added to our ages and a jolt is exhausting.

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    • You have a pool? How nice! We fenced in our yard area with the pond a few years back to keep the deer out. Love it! I play around with little stuff in the kitchen but a true update takes more energy than I have right now. We’ll see. I still think we’re going to downsize and will do a new kitchen then.

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    • Our Junes are often cool and rainy and after I bragged about great weather, we are overcast with possible storms tonight. It’s warm so I’m happy! I like festivals that start on Thursdays. I can avoid the large weekend crowds!

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  14. Yesterday, I was writing outside on the patio and I noticed the silence, too. Except for the birds and the A/C units kicking on and off, it was so quiet. After extremely hot temps before and over the Memorial Day weekend, we’re in the 80’s with no humidity. I’d take this all summer.

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  15. Oh, the quiet. I love it, but it’s also a little eerie, especially in a community that’s normally filled with kids on bikes or people walking. But right now, at 5-6 AM on a Sunday? That’s as quiet as it gets and my favorite time to walk. And it isn’t eerie because you know it will be noisier later!

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  16. Your description of New Guy has me interested… hope there will be more about him. I’m surprised by the fit oldsters in our little community, I am not one of them. Old but not so fit. Isn’t it amazing how solar shades or something new can make you feel on top of the world? I bought one of those simplehuman sensor soap pumps Friday and I feel giddy with delight. Got the gadget thing honest from my Dad, he’d be amazed with all the “stuff” there is available to play with these days. Your Iris are delightful! Just one of the many things that brings back sweet memories of summers in my past.

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    • I’ve been coveting that simplehuman sensor soap dispenser myself! We will get a solar shade for the large kitchen window that comes with a battery operated gadget that raises and lowers it. There is a deep counter in front so it’s a pain to adjust the blinds. Won’t change out the front bedrooms as the blinds give move privacy. Don’t want to freak out visitors (or do I?) Locally there are two kinds of seniors. One that is hip and works out and keeps current and the other that doesn’t. Sometimes it’s because of health issues (although my sis-in-law with health issues has kept hip, just not fit physically). They usually wear the big clothes that don’t exactly match but they don’t care. I envy that about anyone!

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