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Jeremy and I took yesterday off work (mostly) and took my parents to Longwood gardens, about an hour west of Philadelphia. This is a place that I personally had wanted to visit for a while now, and I wanted especially to take my parents as well as I thought they would like it too. I had wanted to go during the holiday season, but the timing never worked out (my father had cataract surgeries) and it was very cold and the tickets were always sold out, so we decided to postpone it until spring. It was a beautiful day yesterday, I love going on the weekdays because it’s not so crowded – I did not need to buy any tickets in advance or make reservations for lunch. They just renovated an enormous glass conservatory and rebuilt the restaurant, so I was excited to go and check it out.

One always worries that the long drive (about 2 hours) & expense (both in time and money) would not be worth the attraction in the end, but Longwood did not disappoint at all. It was delightful, fun and though Jeremy needed to be back home by 3ish for a meeting, we did not feel rushed – we saw only about 30% of the grounds, though we saw 100% of everything under a greenhouse.

There are two main conservatory buildings – one old and one new. The old one was fantastic and unbelievably lush and full grown.

I loved the children’s area where everything was pint sized and I got to brush a statue’s teeth. There are lots of fun fountains in the children’s area and we saw a few very wet, very happy toddlers.

This seemed to be a quarter mile of green wall which is the *hallway* for the bathrooms.

The highlight, for sure, was the orchid room. They have a few thousand orchids in their possession and a few hundred are on display in the orchid room where they do get rotated daily.

Then we went to lunch in their newly renovated restaurant and had a great time. Both the food and service was delightful and excellent – we started with this elegant cheese plate. And then we took a walk around the grounds to help with digestion and take a look at a field of crocus (which pretty much were the only outdoor flowers in bloom).

Overall, a delightful and wonderful day trip. We timed it so that Jeremy would slide right into his 3 pm meeting at his desk, but we did hit traffic on the way home, so at about 2:30, I switched with him driving and he started his meeting in the car and then I dropped him off first at the house and then dropped my parents off at their house.

On another note – I’m completely enchanted by this outfit that I put together which included rented pants and this ponco of my mother’s that she gave me and I remember her wearing a lot when I was about 5-10 years old. It thrilled me to wear this combination which I did not realize was possible until the morning I got dressed.

Jeremy, good husband that he is, about 10 minutes before we left to pick up my parents, went into his closet to change into his yellow shirt which also delighted me. We are goofballs that are ready for spring.

I’m not really good at taking photos these days, so words will have to do.

We finally got our heat pump dryer delivered after about a month of waiting and during the entire month, I’ve patiently been hanging laundry to air dry. We were using very crunchy and stiff bath and hand towels because that is what happens to them when you don’t tumble dry. Because of missing the dryer, I did get into the habit of doing laundry everyday (which I don’t really enjoy), but it means that I don’t have a huge pile of laundry to fold in my office which often led to unfolded laundry that littered my office well into the work week (which I also don’t enjoy). I was prepared to not like the new heat pump dryer, because I thought it would underperform the former, regular electric dryer, but it has gently surprised me. It works well, is quieter, dries within the time range I’d like it to, so I could do like 5-7 loads in one day if I wanted it to. I love that it doesn’t vent to the outdoors and that we can finally switch the positions of the washer/dryer set so that I can stand in the middle of the open doors that will fold out like wings rather that fold together like a book blocking me from either open orifice.

The appliance delivery happened on Saturday – the same day we drove downtown to buy a new ebike. We’ve been talking about this for a long time and we need an extra mode of transport between the three of us. We drove downtown so I could try this particular bike out which advertised, as it’s lowest setting, a person with a height of 5’2″ which I am – though on a good day, I’m 5’3″. Really, we needed a way for Felix to get to work (about 5 miles) without exhausting himself and/or asking us for rides.

Saturday evening – Jeremy mentioned that the dishwasher was only capable of running the regular cycle and would’t go into the express cycle and I asked him if, maybe, we not buy a dishwasher that day, because Saturday was shaping up to be a rather expensive day already, and I didn’t want to fold in another dishwasher as well.

I baked pistachio lemon bars on Saturday morning which I sampled myself (and the family too) and then brought the rest for coffee hour after the church service. They were, I thought, OK, but apparently the NYTimes had featured that recipe that week in the general cooking section, so lots of people had read about it and thought about it and were dreaming of those lemon bars.

I’m having a lot of fun at the UU church these days, I miss so terribly a place where I go and there are lots of people just there. I don’t have in person work (for which I am grateful I still get to stay at home), I’ve become used to being alone. And though it feels hard to leave the house sometimes, when you do, interesting things happen. I love that music is part of my life, like all the time. I’m grateful for the piano lessons as kid, so I understand at least some music theory and how to read music.

Sunday night, we went to Sunday night dinner. Francie is having a big surgery in a week or so… Colleen had asked if Francie could stay with us while they are traveling to France to visit Sarah, I had initially hesitated only because we are kind of full up with Felix and Ginny is on maternity leave and so I’m doing lots of Edda care myself (I recently asked Eliana to come both days on the weekend, because we’ve lost a bunch of care for Edda) and I thought it was a kind of minor surgery, but the surgery is bigger than I thought it would be, so I have a feeling Francie is going to be here for 10 days in April.

The daffodils are coming up and delighting me.

Megan and I volunteered at Main Street on Saturday which involved a ride in Megan’s new Prius with the high tech package that she’s really excited about. It’s actually really, really impressive. It parallel parked itself in a space and you can constantly see everyone all around you. Very, very fun.

What was also fun was the volunteering –

I had a really great time hanging out with friends and drawing.

Meanwhile, Jeremy went on a long bike ride and got himself ice cream for lunch.

And he practiced off leash with Elka.

Who found a bone. Of course.

Since my big decluttering of the house a few years ago, I’ve been eyeing Vince’s stash that he hurriedly packed before headed off to college. They are in about 8-10 boxes sitting in the basement on shelving that I’d like to reclaim at least about 75% back for ourselves. I’m so pleased that we’ve made great progress on household organization – it all takes time and effort, but I feel like the house is lighter, more organized and that I know most of what exists in all the closets and storage that we have. I’m better about thoughtfully buying things we need because I know what we have and more easily get rid of things that we don’t need – usually donating it, sometimes going to the dump. It’s hard to let things go, it’s for sure a skill that you get better with practice if that is something you want to do. We’ve also made great progress on keeping the house relatively neat. This all takes time and I could not have done it when the kids were little and there was so much of their stuff around and the simple fact that I did not have any time and my interest was very low.

It’s been fun going through clothes and, of course, many of them have memories and I’m going aawwwwww a lot.

I found these shoes that are too small for Vince and I thought they fit perfect for me, but they are a little too big. Which is a shame because I like them.

There is a lot of stuff here. It all is musty and needs to be laundered. But we still don’t have a dryer! Fingers crossed it will come tomorrow. I also know this is all Vince’s stuff and I wouldn’t declutter anything without his permission, I just want to make it easy for him to look through it and decide quickly. I know he’s game. He’ll be home in a few weeks. I already made an eye appointment for him. lol.

I’ve been dreaming of jazz singing. We had a guest soloist on Sunday who is a professional jazz singer. During all the choir pieces, she’d sing her solo and then tuck herself back into the choir just beside me and then sing the alto part with us! What a buzz! a joy! to sing next to a really great singer. Ahh, I can’t really even describe it. I’ll link to her web page. I’ve been listening to her singing on Spotify – so wonderful. The world is still full of beautiful things.

Jeremy’s been walking with Elka off leash in some of the woods behind the house these days. Yesterday, Elka found two bones! She’s such a sweetie, she’ll give them up if you ask her to. Deer? That’s what we came up with – not chicken, not bear, not a cow.

Jeremy managed to go on a bike ride this weekend. It was a nice, social weekend. Meghan (a colleague of Jeremy’s, not Edda’s teacher) came over on Saturday night. It was a really nice time – Jeremy made a delicious chicken meal from a childhood cookbook which had notations from his mother indicating that this particular recipe was delicious (and it was!). We discussed various political things (which did not send Jeremy in to a funk…I think it depends on the person he’s talking to) and also about home renovations and pets. I really love Mehgan’s energy, I’m always looking for good energy.

I had a really wonderful time singing this weekend at church and now I think, I’m pretty set as part of the financial committee, so I’m excited about it. I got to handle money that isn’t mine on Sunday, trying to learn the ins/out about a budget that is about 10x bigger than my own household budget. As far as I can tell, the books are great, the accounting is clean, lots of people are looking at it and it’s fun. And then you get to decide together how to spend the $. Also fun.

We went out to dinner with Megan at Main Street last night. It was winter Olympics themed. We showed up a bit late, so we sat a little bit on the side and participated less in the group activities, though we were very chatty with a few of the residents. Matthew sat with us for a bit, but then he moved to another spot and then Naomi came by and kept us company. It was boneless chicken wings from BWW. Sometimes the meals at friday vibes come up a little scant, so we had plans to have dessert afterwards. Shhhh.. Our goal tonight was to give out birthday invitations (which turn me a little shy, I get nervous inviting people to stuff… sherah, they are on the table in the photo and everyone admired them…oooohhh, ahhhhh….) and we did pass them out – though the first three were immediately turned down for the following reasons: 1. I will be in New Zealand 2. I will be working 3. I have horseback riding lessons.

And then we walked down the street to Ben and Jerry’s – just the four of us to have ice cream (well Megan had a hot chocolate).

So I really enjoy baking and trying new recipes, but it’s hard to have all the cookies and cakes around the house because you just want to eat them all. So I decided that I’ll try new recipes on the weeks I’m singing in the choir and then it’ll be a chance to share when I bring them to church.

I made these oatmeal iced cookies. I added a bit of chopped cherries in them. I also used only 3/4 of the recited sugar as is my nature. (I’m turning into my parents – as one does when one grows older. My mom likes to cut the sugar in recipes too.) I sheepishly told Jeremy that I used only 75% of the sugar and he looked at me and was like – you totally couldn’t help yourself could you. And I said that I had to do it. Jeremy was like – make smaller cookies if you want the serving to have less sugar. And I was like – I don’t want to make smaller cookies! I know when I’m messing with the sugar, I am messing with texture vs crispness vs chewiness vs caramel-iness. Anyways, I am my mother’s daughter and the highest compliment a dessert can have it – it’s not too sweet! lol.

They are suppose to be all cracked and craggy looking with the icing not completely in the cracks. Felix wanted a few without cherries, so his are in the back with sprinkles the color of the swedish flag. Lets see if some of them make it to the service tomorrow.

Photographic evidence of Felix! I took him to an art store yesterday – a store I’ve never been to before, but only 10 minutes from the house. (There are lots of places I haven’t been to within 10 minutes of the house). He needed charcoal for art projects this week. It’s fun to watch him shop and deliberate about supporting small businesses vs spending his very limited money. I am completely sympathetic to these impulses and feelings and it’s all one big contradiction. I loved this little non-chain shop, so I bought a little dot grid notebook that I will use in the future (I use a paper notebook everyday).

My real errand wasn’t the art shop, rather it was the dog park. Elka waited patiently in the car during the shopping errand. Felix is a very good tennis ball thrower. It’s obvious that Elka has no idea what the word “ball” means.

Because of the desire of actually experiencing Korean BBQ for dinner, we all went out with my parents to a place 5 minutes from the house in a shopping center which had incredibly difficult parking at 6 pm on Thursday. We found a single spot, tucked in the back and we only lucked out because it was a handicapped spot. This was an incredible meat-filled meal. Felix, who lives in a mostly vegetarian household, was both a little taken aback and enchanted. It was delicious and satisfying. There were some veggies but the weight ratio meat:veggie was like 156:1, the volume ratio might have been slightly better. Felix lamented that all this protein was wasted on a rest day (from weightlifting) and thus muscle building. Fun.

I was late showing up to choir practice – but only by 5 minutes. I asked Jeremy to drop me off at church and that I would either walk home or bum a ride. So many people were there! I remember on practice where I was one of 4 altos, but tonight, there were easily 10 altos. I’m having a lot of fun singing. Arabic, Latin, english, – so many different styles. And my friend Claudinna gave me a ride home.

Spring is in the air. It got up to 65 yesterday and my spirits were lifted. The daffodils are coming out of the ground in the backyard. Last year, I planted a bunch more bulbs and crocuses in the front, we’ll see if anything happens. We are doing well on getting out of the house and being with other people even though it is 10,000x easier to stay at home. Jeremy made it to DC at least twice this week, once for an evening happy hour and today for coffee. I went to a finance committee meeting Tuesday night, volunteering at a photo shoot Wed morning at Main Street and then to vespers on Wed night. There are too many people now who know my name and I don’t know theirs because I don’t practice remembering names, but I will try.

Elka continues to brighten our day and takes us out for walks, which we all appreciate.