Volume 16 - Day 213/153, 2024 - Wednesday

Paul and I had a nice walk this morning, there was a nice breeze, and that is always welcome. Unless it is cold, then we don't want a breeze. On yesterday's walk, I gave away all the dog treats before we were even 3/4 of the way finished walking, so we changed our path so I would not disappoint any dogs. This morning, I took extra treats, and only saw four pups that wanted treats. You just never know. I had two zoom meetings this morning, after I logged onto the first one, I was excused because I was going to need to go to ANOTHER zoom meeting in 25 minutes.The second zoom lasted the entire hour that was planned for, which was okay. At this point in time, everyone expects meetings to start on time and to end on time. In the office, we tried and tried to send an email with an attachment to our Landlords, and it just would not work. It was really frustrating, but we will work on it again tomorrow. Linda and Jimmie and I went to dinner tonight at a new restaurant on the Square in Georgetown. I had liver and onions, it's been a while, and it was really good. I am kind of interviewing restaurants for our next neighbor dinner, and I have a couple more restaurants to check out before I pick one. I think the photo of the liver and onions accompanying this journal entry is more appealing that the one of me at the blood bank yesterday. But, I also liked going to the Catacombs while I was in Paris, so there is no accounting for taste.

Volume 16 - Day 212/154, 2024 - Tuesday

In my head, today is Wednesday. Ever since Monday, my head has been thinking it was the next day, and not today. Hopefully, I will get this figured out before too long. It was a good morning for a walk with Paul, and we both had stuff happening that would have made a ROMEO breakfast difficult, so there was no ROMEO breakfast this morning. I did get in to the office earlier than usual on a Tuesday, and I was able to get a lot of stuff done, before I left to get to the blood bank for my 1 o'clock appointment. I left there at about 3:30, and had a stop to make on the way home. Tonight was book club night at the Curious House, and it was a lot of fun. We usually talk about the book of the month for about 30 minutes, and then we take off on whatever it is we want to talk about. We did have a good time, and I don't even remember if we decided on a date for the August meeting. We will get it all worked out, I am pretty sure. Tomorrow is pretty open as I remember, but I do know I have a 10 o'clock zoom call. Overall, life is good, and I am a happy guy. Even though tonight was book club, I forgot to take a picture, but I did take one at the blood bank, so that is what is accompanying this journal entry. Enjoy!

Volume 16 - Day 211/155, 2024 - Monday

It's Monday, not that there is anything wrong with that. I rolled out of bed this morning at about 5:30, and got a lot of things (including watering plants in front and back) before my walk with Paul. I was on my way in to the office before 9 o'clock, and traffic was not terrible. I really have nothing to attribute it to, but I am not complaining. All was good in the office, and we had an office meeting and lunch, discussing changes that are being to comply with the recent DOJ ruling for all REALTORS®. Most people I talk with (not REALTORS®) are unaware of the changes, and only know what the media presented a few months ago, most of which was incorrect. There will be very little change as far as buyer and seller clients are concerned, the biggest change will be in disclosures about who is paying whom for what. It will all be okay, no reason to panic. I had a couple stops to make on the way home, and traffic was light again, maybe because people are avoiding going anywhere because of the President's visit. As far as I know, he was in and out, and nobody got hurt. He is in Houston now, so they can deal with the traffic. Otherwise, life is good, and I am a lucky man. Glad that I continue to see the hummers, and glad they like the feeders.

Volume 16 - Day 210/156+, 2024 - Sunday

I had a great time in France with Michael and Lynda, as you can tell by the photo of receipts I collected during my two week visit. It is impossible for me to recall (in order) all the stuff that we did, but a review of the receipts brings back stuff my pea-brain forgot about. I had a pretty fun day today, too, and that is not even including all the crap going on social media. HOLY MOLY! Whatever. Paul and I had a nice walk this morning, then the girls and I had some breakfast. I think I watched a little bit of Sunday Morning, but I really don't remember. I put clothes in the washer, along with my tennis shoes. You know, the ones that say you are supposed to hand wash only. Well, I put them in the washer, and they did just fine. I went to an estate sale that opened at 9AM, and again, bought nothing. Then I decided to be on a mission to find geraniums. I drove about 40 miles, and no geraniums. I got home, put clothes in the dryer, took a nap, dod some this-and-that, and then went to another estate sale that started at 1PM. I bought a few things, and then went back to nurseries that were not open this morning, and found the geraniums. Now I have two nice pots of geraniums, and the lilies that were formerly in those pots have been transplanted to smaller pots, where they might have a chance of recovering. They are nothing but bulbs, so we shall see what happens. I also got the plumbagos planted, so I think it was a pretty successful day. Linda and Jimmie got home this afternoon, we have not seen each other for the past month, exactly a month, and it was good to see them both. We headed out for dinner, and then had some ice cream. Now it is time to call it a day, and see what the coming week brings. 

Volume 16 - Day 209/157, 2024 - Saturday

I am on a mission to find some geraniums to plant in some pots on the front porch. I had put some lilies in the pots earlier this year, and they are not doing very well. I bought some flowering plants in hanging baskets yesterday, but I am going to leave those in the baskets and hang them in the front. Today, I went to Home Depot (while waiting for the call to retrieve the girls from the beautiful parlor), and they had no geraniums, but I did get some plumbago's for the front bed. I think I had some last year, but they apparently did not survive the winter. I will try those again. But, the search continues for geraniums. I don't need them to be big (4 inch pots would do), three plants for each bigger pot, and I would like more than one color, too. Red, white and pink would be perfect. Let me know what you find. Pam, Diane and I went to four estate sales today, and I don't think any of us bought anything. I am planning to go back to two of them tomorrow, not that there was anything that I desperately need, but tomorrow will be half-price day. And, I will be out looking for geraniums, anyway. The girls are all beautified, too, so all is well here at the Curious House. I have got all the clocks started again, but two of them are giving me fits. Patience is called for here, and I am in short supply of that.

Volume 16 - Day 208/158, 2024 - Friday

I was up at 4 o'clock this morning, which is not that unusual for me. I usually start waking up around then, but I try to stay in bed at least until 5:30 or so. But, I got up, and got some stuff done in the office, which is not a bad thing. I had a lot of things to do today, just clearing stuff that would have otherwise been cleared over the past 15 days or so. I really don't think that I am suffering for any jet lag, so I am happy about that. I did have a nice walk with Paul this morning, and there were five dogs along the way that were happy to know I was back. I am the cookie monster for early morning walking dogs! I had some errands to get done on the way in to the office this morning, and I was happy to get those chores done. All was good in the office, and I got everything on my desk taken care of. I had a couple stops to make on the way home, so more or less, there is really no evidence that I was gone for two weeks. Since I got home, I have been watching a lot of the Olympic stuff on tv, and it is interesting to see things on tv that I saw myself a couple weeks ago. The shots of the Eiffel Tower were very nice, and I just thought I would share this photo of the tower that I took after a very nice dinner with Michael and Lynda.

Volume 16 - Day 207/159, 2024 - Thursday

Well, I lost a day because of flight challenges, but I am back home at the Curious House. I got the girls, and they are doing just fine, everything is just kind of falling into place, as if we are picking back up where we left off. It is interesting to see the Olympic coverage on the television, noting that I was there at a couple places they are showing. Speaking of television, there was very little television watching for the last two weeks. There was no television where we stayed in Paris, I don't remember if there was on in Avignon, and Michael watched Tour de France occasionally when we were in Nice. Speaking of Nice, how did I ever get lucky enough to have such nice friends? Did you see what I did there? Michael and Lynda were nice enough to invite me to tag along with them on this trip. Paulina, Val and Oliver were nice enough to take great care of the girls while I was gone. James was very nice to collect mail and watch the house. Pam was nice enough to check on the house and make sure plants were watered. And when I got home, I found three gifts (estate sale finds) from Pam and Marian. One is a Seriolithograph by Michael Kachan called Eiffel Song. It was done in 1999, and you can see the Eiffel Tower behind the dancers. So thoughtful and topical. Another lovely piece of art and one little Buddah piece. All three lovely things that I will like forever. AND...there was also a baked chicken, a chicken taco kit, and a HUGE apple pie. What could be better? And so, you can see Eiffel Song above, accompanying this journal entry. Lovely. And now, I am going to go a try to get some sleep. More tomorrow.