Friday, May 1, 2015

May 1 - 3, 2015, AZ

Friday, May 1.  I remember Mayday as a little kid, making these cute little May baskets out of paper, filling them with wildflowers, and placing them on the door of friend's houses.  I also remember dancing around a maypole in school, might have been kindergarten or 1st grade.  It is definitely a celebration of spring's arrival.

I got going pretty early this morning since we are supposed to see 100 degrees today and I had some things to get checked on the trailer.  When hooking up, I had trouble connecting the electric - just couldn't get it to latch and stay in.  That's not a good thing, so my first stop was at U-Haul to have it checked.  It is fine, I just need to use more elbow grease.

The next stop was the tire place to get them checked and all is good there - aired up and ready to roll. Right across the street is the car wash, so the winter's dust and bird crap is now removed.  When I got back home, I cleaned the insides of the storage compartments - they also manage to accumulate a coating of dust.  I reorganized some things and then it got too hot, so I parked it back in the storage lot again.  I'm really getting good at backing and hooking up.

Tonight, a few friends gathered at Chuck and Kathy's for a farewell dinner.  Chuck fixed clams, fish tacos, and garlic bread, and Connie topped it off with some yummy Spumoni.  Good times.

Saturday, May 2.   I woke up feeling really out of sorts this morning, shaky and hyper.  I'm sure it is the Prednisone that I'm taking - a side affect is increased blood pressure - something I don't really need right now.  Especially since my doctor called yesterday to get me started on high blood pressure medication.  I'm holding off until I see him Tuesday morning since I didn't hear back if I should take it with this other crap.  I sure hope this is the end of the health struggles for me for a while.

I spent the morning prepping for brunch with Nan and Dale and Monica and Loren - a farewell gathering since we won't see each other through the summer.  The menu is Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche, bacon and sausage, fruit salad, and croissants.  Unfortunately, Loren got called to work and Dale  is recovering from surgery, so it was just us girls - kind of a good thing because Monica was able to bring her wedding dress and modeled it. It is gorgeous, fits her personality and style to a T.  I'm hoping that she and Loren are able to make it to the family reunion in July or to Ashley's wedding in August in KC.

I met some new neighbors today, they moved in about 4 houses down on the opposite side of the street.  Mickey and her daughter, Hayley are very nice and friendly, newly retired from settling here from Portland and getting settled in their new home after making major renovations.  Mickey loves plants so I offered her whatever she wants to take cuttings from or to harvest baby cactus from my yard.

Connie and I walked tonight after it cooled down a little bit.  We got about half-way through the park and met up with Kathy and Mary who were starting out on a golf cart ride.  Along came Barb on her cart (she was taking her dog, Lola on her nightly ride), then Jim pulled up for a while on his cart and Don and his son went cruising by.  Then Tom, who was out walking, stopped to chat and another Tom, out for his evening walk, joined us for a bit too.  The conversations kept on for a while and we never did walk the rest of the circle.  That is something I really like about this place - it is very friendly and social.

Sunday, April 3.  It was another bad night of sleep, waking up frequently for bathroom runs, then unable to go back to sleep between 2 and 4:15 (the last time I heard the clock chime), and then I was aware that it was getting light out, but fell back to sleep until 7:15.  I was slow getting moving.  Tom came over to help me get the swing onto the patio and I wasn't even dressed yet, so he came back later d helped me out.  

The porch is cleaned off, pillows dusted and put in the house, the rug hosed off and stashed, and the  small things like lanterns and feeders are put away.  I think the yard and porch are done.  I hooked up the trailer and brought it here to start loading.  I'm making good progress and will have plenty of room for everything. I will be loaded down, that is for sure.

Connie must have snuck up while I was inside and she put a care and gift on my clip.  It is a very nice Lovethislife charm bracelet and came with this very sweet poem:

Lovethislife....
Is about welcoming the blind turn
and the possibility that there is no such thing as coincidence
and that empathy is incredibly sexy
and that it's never too late to pick up a guitar
or a paintbrush 
or to make an amend
or to make a new friend.  
Lovethislife...cuz it could go at any second.  
You rock.

She and I sure have become good friends and I'm really going to miss her.

I went to dinner tonight with Arlene, Sharla and Tom, and Connie to Red, White, and Brew for a delicious dinner and great company.  When we got back home, I took Frisco for a walk but it started to rain and then when we got back, it started to thunder, lightening, and then we got a real gully washer and it has been going on for nearly an hour.  That is so unusual for us, I had to go sit on the patio for a while and observe.  It smells so clean and fresh.