A jumble of thoughts

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Locally the mask wearing mandate is optional for vaccinated people. But people are people and they lie so without showing proof can you believe them? Different stores are reacting differently. The request to wear one varies. Some of the chains like Starbucks and Target have relaxed it and put people on their honor. Locally owned stores are all over the place. I did a series of errands and everyone at Starbucks wore one. The flower place required a mask as did the furniture place but I was the only person in the paint store with one on. I’m not complaining. At this point I see the light at the end of the tunnel so I’m happy to do whatever makes others happy. Personally I don’t trust putting people on their honor. I often wonder if people know what honor is.

I’m working on letting go. The old house is history but yesterday on my errand run I had a strong urge to drive-by. I know from many other experiences that it’s not always a happy trip. At this point the home should be beautiful. There are five dogwoods and two crabapples and they should all be blooming but you never know. People cut things down. At my last house they took out all the shrubs in the front to put in what looked like cheap Walmart stuff. Most of the time I don’t care but this morning I had to beat it down. Maybe the frogs were calling to me. Instead I came home to my new home where everything was also blooming and my happy place was calling.

 

56 thoughts on “A jumble of thoughts”

  1. I must agree as to the wearing of masks. I now
    choose to either wear one or not wear one depending on where I am and if they require me to do so. Honor in our country today seems to have been put on the back burner. Hopefully, young mothers are teaching the value of being honorable to their children….the future leaders of tomorrow.

    Due to declining health, we sold our house in 2016. My granddaughter rode by there one day and took a picture, because the new owners had placed a wooden swing from the back to the front yard and built a little something around it. It bothered me because it just didn’t belong in the front yard….in my mind…..but, I was not asked to give an opinion so it didn’t matter what I thought. It’s difficult to give up your home, especially due to illness. So, I understand what you were saying and feeling.
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts, which are the thoughts of many of us! May God Bless!

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  2. [Kate – I apologize for my tardiness in commenting. I am many days behind in Reader thanks to a major computer malfunction at work. On May 20th, our Outlook crashed and we lost our ability to e-mail for about five days, plus lost all our data; we went from Outlook and Word 2010 to Office 365. I’ve spent a great deal of my own time troubleshooting with the I.T. guy and spent most of the long holiday weekend doing yardwork. So now I will try my best to get through a massive amount of blog posts.]
    About this post, yes, I can identify. I was only ten when we moved from Oakville, Ontario to here in SE Michigan. Only my father wanted to leave, but he had no family (even in Germany), so he did not “get” my mom’s sentiments and I was leaving friends and school which I loved, but as a kid I had no say. But we went back to visit a few years later. It had been a brand-new subdivision when we moved there in 1959 and they had let the place go to pot. Overgrown bushes, lots of weeds, just plain bad. We decided never to return again. But I Googled the address a few times and found nothing that resembled my childhood home. I figured there was some type of algorithm failure, so I never looked again. Then a few years I joined a Facebook group for my elementary school in Oakville. I chatted it up with a girl I had in Grade One class. She encouraged me to join a FB site about Oakville. I mentioned to someone in that group about my experience not finding my street and he drove over and took a picture of the new 497 Sandmere Place. He said they razed all the buildings and built a series of two-story homes … he said “they built them high instead of wide” … what a surprise! I’d have never picked out that house.

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    • No need to apologize. Life intervenes. My schedule has been off too. I’m surprised that they ripped down homes that weren’t all that old. All the homes I have lived in are still standing although some are so different looking.

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      • I kept thinking I’d catch up … I’m just doing comments tonight but am only one week behind now. I don’t understand why they tore the houses down. I kept doing a Google maps search and nothing turned up. The person on that Facebook site went and took pictures of how those houses look now and showed me that 497 Sandmere Place had recently been for sold and sent me a link to the virtual walk-thru. I looked up my grandmother’s house in Toronto. The houses are very old and all attached. Someone bought three of the houses and tore up the small front lawns and merged them lawns and paths into one and made what looks like an apartment. I would not have recognized it.

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  3. I’m still wearing my mask in stores and I’m starting to wonder when I will feel comfortable taking it off. I think I’m going to have to forget it a couple of times to get used to naked face. I’m not sure I’ll do it consciously.

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    • I got together with a few friends yesterday, all vaccinated. We were maskless. I totally forgot to put on makeup. Maybe we have to wean off. I’m still wearing when I go to stores (the only place I go).

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  4. The complex I live in has dropped the mask rule; I’m pampering my face now that it’s exposed for public viewing! I view my former homes on Willow (at least the ones that are viewable) and they look good. Sadly, someone got rid of all the trees around one of them. I go into mourning when trees are taken out…I love trees.
    Sorry they left the mocha or something out at Starbucks…you do better than me; if I’m shorted I am chicken little about going back for what they forgot. My weakness. Your new place sounds nice!

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    • On a whim, I looked up a couple houses I lived in. For one not only had the current residents taken out all the trees in front but the next door neighbor (it must have been new people because the people who lived there when I lived there never would cut down a tree!) cut down all the trees and shrubs between the two houses so there is a bare steep slope. Not really attractive. The neighbors also put in a chain link fence garden right at the property line.

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      • Oh my! Glad they didn’t/don’t live beside me…I cannot bear to see trees cut down…they are so tranaquil and nice. Our former home in Virginia still has all those beautiful, stately pines! Thank goodness. Our little casita lost the trees in front but kept all the beauties in the back…it looks so nice!
        I don’t care for chain-link fencing…to each his/her own.
        Oh how I love the outdoors, the beauty of it and all the peace it brings. Have a good weekend…it’s a holiday, Memorial Day!

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        • The odd part is that when I lived there, they had a dead maple right next to the property line leaning toward my house. I had asked them to remove it but they didn’t. A storm took it down. It landed in my driveway barely missing the garage. They were on vacation so in order to get my car out of the garage I had to have it cut up. I was beyond angry. I agree with you though. Unless there is a good reason, I prefer to keep trees. They give shade and make it so much more pleasant. I’m not a fan of chain link but I understand using it for a garden. However, you don’t put it on the property line so your neighbor has to look at it all the time. What’s with people anyhow?

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          • So many people seem to be unaware there are other people around. So they just go along in their own private world doing whatever, where ever, whenever they please. Love thy neighbor as thyself…way to go!

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  5. Honor seems to have taken a permanent adios these days. If I’m out and about running errands, it’s with a mask despite vaccination. No point tempting fate now especially since the vaccine assures you won’t die from it but could be uncomfortably sick. Umm, no thank you.

    With Zillow and Google Earth, I can look back at previous homes without having to stop on the side of the road and shake my head at what someone thought was a good idea. With so much other stuff I need to take care of, that generally keeps me from doing a deep dive. Better for my psyche too.

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  6. A week ago I thought this seemed pretty simple, re: masks. But after going to a number of places since that time, I can see that it’s a hodge-podge of different rules and requests. I guess we’ll figure this out by mid-summer.

    That you arrived home happy is a great sign for you. New homes are always exciting and fun. – Marty

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  7. Mask wearing is all over the place here too. I keep one with me just in case and put it on if required, but I’m thrilled to leave it off where I can! I think you are right to avoid going by your old house. You know your own new house is blooming and lovely, and has your DH and cats in it – perfect!

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    • Home is where the cats are. I lived in a ranch house I loved in New Jersey and left it because of a move back to PA. I longed for that house for a long time. Still do in many ways. I had done a lot to it to make it the way I like it and I can do that again but it takes time. Another lesson in patience.

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  8. I don’t think it should be the honor system yet as those that don’t wear masks are probably the same who won’t vaccinate. I am vaccinated, but will keep the mask for quite a while.

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    • Exactly! I think it depends on where you are located. My area is still mostly wearing them but if you go an hour away to more rural areas, people don’t believe in the virus so they don’t believe in wearing masks.

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  10. I get confused. About those masks. I am fully vaccinated so do I wear it to protect me? Or do I wear it to protect others? Or is it a habit or courtesy? And then there is the suspicion that you are maskless and carrying Covid. Huh?

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  11. Tourist season starts Friday so the mask mandate has been canceled. Some stores are still requiring, but the rest is the honor system. We wear ours and keep it simple. I’m not ready yet to trust everyone to keep me safe. 🙂 The saddest thing that I have to do is drive past my grandparents’ farm which has been let got to seed and looks awful. It always makes me sad.

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    • My uncle had a farm. It was a wonderful gathering place for the extended family. He and his wife have been gone for 30 years. I’ve often wondered how it’s fared. Maybe sold for housing or maybe someone is farming it.

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  12. The mask thing is getting confusing. I don’t wear one when I take my walk, but I have it with me. I wear one in stores…just because. Someday there will be no masks required. The thing about that is that I will have to wear make-up again. Always something to complain about.

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  13. Since I live in the same town where I grew up, I have occasion to drive by my childhood home. After my dad died, we sold the house to a young couple with two daughters and I was thrilled. I had so many wonderful memories of growing up there and I was excited that the new owners might create their own – hopefully happy – memories there also. When we sold the house, it needed some TLC (my folks had lived there 50+ years) and I am please to see that the house seems to be getting the love it deserves.

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    • Awww! I love happy stories. The couple we sold our home to were so excited about it. It made me feel good. I’m sure they are adding their own touches and erasing mine but that’s ok. I just don’t want them hacking down the beautiful landscaping.

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  14. Mask wearing is about the same here. Retail stores are all over the place. I am fully vaccinated so I don’t think I should have to wear one. The frogs will survive without you; I am glad you have found your happy place. Take care!

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  15. We are enjoying walking in and out of places where masks are no longer required. About half the people still wear them, which is fine, as long as they don’t accuse me of not caring about others.

    I’ve seen the house I grew up in, and it still looks the same from the outside.

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  16. Well being a service brat we had no family home and only lived in temporary quarters for a couple of years – sometimes a rented house but when I met my husband I moved into his cute little rambler. Nice neighborhood – he had a pool in the backyard. About five years after we built this house we’re in I went by that old place and it was amazing. All the large trees gone – they’d planted (I kid you not) a BANANA TREE in the front yard. Amazing. I haven’t been back since although I’m frequently in that area. Sad. I felt like I was in a whole different world. As for masks – supposedly we don’t have to wear them but David and I still are and probably will for a while. UNLESS we’re outside somewhere – nobody around – then it’s great to ditch the masks but we ALWAYS have them with us!!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • About 5 years ago we drove by the house my husband was raised in. He was not happy. His dad had lovingly landscaped it. Not only wasn’t it taken care of and all overgrown, the added stupid stuff like an untended hedge to hide the front door. They say you can’t go back and that’s true. I know the new people repainted my house. Since they were there for a week, they must have done all of it including taking down the wallpaper. My family room had a wonderful neutral textured wallpaper. It was a pop of something different from painted walls but I expect it’s gone. I’m with you on masks. We have to wean off.

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    • The only interior I saw able to see was my childhood one and a beach house I had a long time ago. Both had great upgrades. We have a high rate of vaccinations here but I always assume that someone is on the verge of getting it so I’m still careful.

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  18. Assume that NO ONE is vaccinated and that everyone has Covid symptoms dripping from their orifices and unmasked faces . . . then stay 16 feet away from them! 😆

    It would be hard not to check on a previous house that was so close by, at least occasionally.

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  19. My childhood homes are far away, but sometimes I visit them on Zillow or Google Earth. Sometimes the trees are gone, but some of the Christmas trees we planted after the holiday are huge now.

    I keep forgetting my mask now that I’m vaccinated! Then I feel like a jerk.

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    • I’ve learned that lesson. Sometimes what people do to your home makes it lovelier like new siding or roof but sometimes you just shake your head and ask what they were thinking. At my last house, the curb appeal came from grown trees and lush landscaping, all of which they took out so it looked like a bare house and it wasn’t very attractive.

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  21. I’ve seen a copy of what is supposed to be the front and back of the vaccination card – a person prints it on card stock and then ‘borrows’ a vaccinated person’s card and copies the information. Yea, not only will people lie, but some will go to immoral lengths to get away with it!
    ,
    I think we all have war stories of revisiting homes where we used to live. I went past the home my parents sold, which I grew up in, when they moved to Florida, and the new owners took my mom’s holly tree out of the front yard, which was the only landscaping there other than the bushes against the house. It made my heart ache. It took me about 20 years to realize that the new owners had already instilled their own vibes in the space and even if I could buy it, it would no longer feel like the home I remembered. I wrote a blog post after that realization about it not being the home (brick and mortar) we miss as much as the memories we made there. I hope you will begin to make some new memories at your new home and that will help ease the sadness of the old place.

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    • A few years back, my childhood home was up for sale with on-line pictures. My mom died there in 1986 so it had been a long time. I was pleasantly surprised with what they did inside, enlarging the kitchen to include a useless back porch and changing the heating so there were no radiators. What was painful was that we had an expensive tree planted that would shade the patio. They cut it down and instead left a junk tree that didn’t shade anything.

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