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 

a virtual walk through the woods...

This is me virtually walking through pristine wooded forest full of huge trees and giant fern...  Actually I'm walking around the circle that goes from my kitchen to my dining room to front room to game room and back to kitchen. I do it 10 times and then up and down the stairs about half a dozen times. That's my daily exercise since we can't walk outside. Think it's 101 F today... possibly 103 by this evening.

Next Tuesday we will be in September. Hard to believe that this pandemic has gone on this long and may go on even longer. Even harder to believe is that some still aren't convinced of it's danger. I guess the only way they will be convinced is if and when it hits home with someone they love.  

My oldest son told me back in the early days of the virus that it wasn't a matter of 'if but when'. I've thought of this a lot.  And lately it's gotten closer... our SIL (83) was in the hospital with Covid, and both my grandson (21)  and grand daughter (18) have young friends that have tested positive. Not 'if but when'...

And the sad thing is that we know so little about the virus. The young ones may not have to be hospitalized, but there are studies showing dangerous long term effects of the virus on the body of both the young and the old. Our 2 DIL's  are nurses and work with Covid patients - so we hear a lot. But if you google 'after effects of Covid 19', you can read how even after recovery there can be devastating long term effects.

And with the schools and colleges opening... well, the spread is not going to be contained.

November is fast approaching. God help us. This year I'm not looking forward to either Thanksgiving nor Christmas... all because we have to endure the 2020 Election first. And no matter how it turns out, there will be chaos. How did we get to this??  

Well, I had no idea what I was going to write about when I started this post...  possibly laugh a bit at my walking through the virtual forest... but I ended up talking about Covid again. Sorry.

Those of you that can get out and enjoy nature, please do it and share it with the rest of us... through pics and posts. Those of you that are able to take car trips to the beach, etc. and continue to maintain social distancing, etc., please continue to share. 

One thing I would like to address here is how important it is not to have personal beliefs referring to either Covid or Politics disrupt your family. Don't go there if it's a hot spot... which it can be to some. Almost all of us have family members who don't share the same beliefs. Agree to disagree. I personally believe that most of us want the same things, but just don't agree on how to get there.

Enough. It's Friday! Happy TGIF! Even though every day seems the same, I still look forward to the weekends - habit I guess. 

I thank God that no family nor friends (neither in Texas nor Louisiana) were affected too badly by Hurricane Laura. And I pray for those whose homes were in the path of that storm...  

Hugs,
Rian

some thoughts on aging...

You know you’re old when…

   For us (DH and myself), it was the first time we visited the Senior Center in our area – the same Senior Center we used to drop my mother off at several times a week 20 years ago. Someone had told us that it had been recently been remodeled and renovated and that it had a really large well stocked exercise room.  Since I have had trouble convincing DH that we need to exercise more, I thought this might offer a possible solution. It was close. It was convenient. And best of all - it wasn’t expensive.

   We have found that many fitness centers are expensive and most people don’t continue after the first few months. We do walk at the mall twice a week. We walk the upstairs and the downstairs each once… and keep track of the other ‘walkers’ who are doing the same. We have names for them (not their real names – but made-up ones like the ‘Pat look alike’, ‘the serious walker’, ‘the couple with the friendly wife’, etc.).  We do wonder what they call us...?  But generally, we see them all on the days we walk… and occasionally have begun to either smile or wave at each other.

   There is no shopping done during these expeditions – well, almost none. Occasionally I will run into a store for a specific item (like candles at the bath and body shop - I love Campfire coffee or Hot Cocoa and cream), but since DH is waiting, there is no real time for shopping around. And on occasion, I find it necessary to grab a Mocha Frappuccino at the Mall Starbucks. DH would prefer a Cinnabon – and once in a while we do indulge. 

Anyway, this is how reaching 74 has found us… and I thought it might be interesting and fun to share just how life is at this stage of the game. You may find that a lot of this sounds very familiar.

So for the next few postings, I'm going to mention other things that perhaps are 'age-related' and occasionally funny, sometimes sad, but none-the-less worth mentioning (IMO anyway).

If you can remember times like these, I'd love to hear about them.

As always, thanks for visiting.  And hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

- Rian