a change of plans...

Our laptop crashed Monday right after my last blog posting. So off it went to the Geek Squad at Best Buy's. We finally got it back Thursday afternoon.

And Tuesday (which was when we planned to go to Ham's Peach Orchard) was rainy when we got up, so we decided to postpone that little excursion until next week.  

Instead we headed for the Mall and Eataly's again for walking and coffee. Granddaughter came with us. She decided to try some coconut gelato this time... while I had my espresso hit and DH had his black coffee.

granddaughter

Since we didn't have our laptop this week, we couldn't do our online curbside pickups...  so grocery shopping got postponed too. I mean, we could have gone to the grocery and shopped inside with our masks on, but we 've gotten so spoiled with online shopping that we really didn't want to... unless fixing the laptop was going to take longer than expected.  Luckily it didn't. 

And I have to admit too that that awful tragedy in Florida where that Condo collapsed has taken a lot of my attention this week. How could that have happened?  Watching the video on TV is so appalling...  it almost defies belief.  I continue to pray that they will find more people alive (as hopeless as it seems when you see the devastation).  But miracles do happen...  and I'm certainly praying for one. 

I know this is short, but just wanted to let people know that I haven't  kept up with blogs or made comments these lasts few days due to our laptop problem. But hopefully that is fixed now and life 'as we know it these days' can resume. 

Also...  when dusting today, I came across my old critter chess set we made as a clay project years ago. I still like it... (although it's a bit rough).

 clay chess set

close up of chess pieces

I made the King and Queen (center) a dog and cat, Bishops were  rats, Knights were rabbits, Rooks were snakes... and Pawns were birds. It was a fun project (although it took a bit of time).

Well, stay safe... and have a good weekend!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

 

  

finally walking in the mall again...

Having espresso and hot chocolate at Eataly in the mall

Our youngest granddaughter came with us to walk in the mall this past week. We stopped in at Eataly's so I could get an espresso con panna in their coffee shop. (I love good espresso and don't find it in many places) Granddaughter had hot chocolate and DH had black coffee...

She was impressed with the large wheels of cheese

There are so many displays of food that it's fascinating to walk through this place. There were even larger wheels of cheese on the other side of this counter... and rows and rows of pastas... and breads... and chocolate!  We ended up buying some of their home-made pizza and taking it home for lunch. I got cheese and DH got salami - but the proper names were: Quattro Formaggi and (I forget the other?).

DH and granddaugher by fountain

Next time we go I want to take home one of the home-made pasta dishes... 

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new cat doormat

We saw this doormat online not too long ago... and thought it perfect for our front porch. The black feral cats are usually hanging around the porch or walkway all the time anyway - might as well let them know they're welcome. 

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Started this post Thursday - and now it's Friday morning about 4 am. Went to sleep at 10, so did sleep about 6 hours pretty well, but decided to get up, have a cup of tea and a piece of toast and maybe go back to bed in an hour or so. 

We need to run some errands this morning... pick up my print-out from the Physical Therapist for exercises I'm needing to do to strengthen my core, stop by Walmart to get some things that weren't available on our curb side order, and get a cheesecake from Central Market for DH's Father's Day. And if the weather isn't too hot, we need to start using that pressure sprayer to clean the windows and back porch. 

I find it hard to believe that we are in the middle of June already. And I am worried about the increasing heat. Our Texas power grid is not up to these extremes in weather. It should be... but it isn't... even though our governor is trying to say it is fine. It isn't. After what happened during the Arctic freeze we experienced this winter, nothing has been done (as far as I know)...  just talk. Now they're advising us to conserve energy as it's getting close to the limit already and it's only June. 

And although the pandemic seems to be (how do I put it) being 'held at bay' possibly due to the vaccines, it's still out there - with variants threatening. So, even though many (including myself on a limited level) are loosening up on what we do, I don't think we can stop being vigilant... not yet. If another wave comes due to variants or people dropping their guard too soon, we could be in big trouble... (and all we've gained could be lost). 

OK... it's now 5 am, guess I should think about going back to bed.  Thanks for listening to me ramble on - and have a wonderful Father's Day weekend!

Oh... thought I'd add this on here. It's now Friday afternoon and I did go back to bed and slept until 8. And we've now finished all our running errands. 

Thought I'd leave a pic and a video of the game I've been playing since the pandemic started. I've mentioned it before I know. It's called Animal Crossing and is on Nintendo's Switch. Anyway, my granddaughter is now addicted to it too. So I gave her a character on my Switch to work with until she gets her own game (which I may give her sometime this summer). 

Anyway, here is a picture of one of my characters on the island... and a short video of her in front of her house on the island. I wanted to do a video of her swimming in the ocean, but hard to handle the camera and the Switch controls at the same time. 

Nintendo Switch 's Animal Crossing

Hugs (virtual),

Rian 

Breaking news... we venture out

Breaking News!! (only interesting to those who know us) 

DH and I finally bit the bullet and ventured out of our self-imposed (but common sense called for) isolation. We both have some 'issues' which could make us possibly more vulnerable to Covid and it's lasting effects. So... we have been exceptionally careful to remain isolated this past year plus.

But since we are both now totally vaccinated we felt safe being around our children who are also totally vaccinated this past Easter. Now just recently we started doing 'take-out' again - which we have avoided in the past year due to not being comfortable about those preparing the food for take-out. But since it seems that the virus isn't transferred by food, we decided it was time to regain this luxury which we have missed (and besides as much as I love to cook, after a year plus of home-cooked meals, it was beginning to be a bit much).

And now today we took a step further and actually went to the Mall to walk. This is something we used to do twice a week pre-pandemic, but have avoided it since the 'shelter at home' started.  I have to say that it was crowded... which made us a bit nervous... but we persisted. We were double masked and needed to walk (and to be around people). 

And truth be told, almost everyone was masked. The Mall had a sign out front requesting masks be worn (and there were a few - very few - who didn't have them) but almost everyone did. 

We visited a new store that apparently opened during the pandemic. It is called "Eat-aly" (like Italy - but basically all food related). It is a fantastic store - 2 stories of everything you can think of from Italy - coffees, wines, breads, pastas, confections, jams, chocolates, etc. - rows and rows of food items from floor to ceiling as well as 3 restaurants and countless counters for sitting and eating or drinking. I had an espresso con panna from their coffee bar which was excellent. 

Only problem was that the store was so packed with people, it made us a bit uncomfortable after all this time of isolation. They were all masked and both a sign and a person out front was checking on this, but still...

We walked through, got the lay of the land, bought my espresso and left. But we will return next time we walk the mall and hopefully it won't be so crowded, so we can spend more time checking it out. 

You can google Eataly Dallas - and check out the photos!

Thanks for letting me share this bit of news... which may or may not be that interesting to anyone else. But it's amazing that such a little thing could do so much for boosting one's morale. I'm not that much of a people person, but it was nice to be out and about again.

I'm sure all of you have your own stories to tell concerning how this pandemic has affected your lives. I'd love to hear some of them if you care to share. 

Hugs (still virtual - unless you're vaccinated and masked),

Rian