My Cherie Amours:
“On whose door dos the moonlight not shine?” ………………………………………Zen Guy
“REALITY and PERFECTION are synonymous” …………………………………… Baruch Spinoza
“I am the gates president foe the environment in history” …………………………..Who DOYA think
“We won’t get fooled again” …………………………………………………………….Pete Townshend
Well, contrary to my usual modus operandi, this will indeed be a short correspondence. The last two weeks have been a blur, culminating in our escape last Sunday to the heartland for annual mid-summer visit…… not a moment too soon.
Feeling guilty about blog- interuptus for three weeks, so decided on shortened nonsense from the Ohio residence this Sunday morning.
As you can see from the accompanying photos, we spent most of the prior two weeks ridiculously painting our house…………… A task clearly more appropriate for our grandchildren. The Queen essentially stayed on a ladder for 10 straight days with a camel pack and a poop bag (except for almost daily trips to Home Depot to buy more, more, more). We hired multiple people, of dubious lineage, to assist, all of which made matters worse. In the end, we only had to redo most everything they did.
In the midst of all this, we experienced the shared statewide PTSD, when we were amazingly threatened by severe flooding on the one-year anniversary of The Great Flood of 2023; essentially paralyzing the state for 48 hours of anticipatory angst, though resulting in little or no rain where we live; tho the Northies were pelted. I actually drove up north the day before to prepare for a full day state park retreat only to check into a hotel, spend 3 hours of zoom calls………………………………………… And then learn the retreat had been shifted to be virtual…………… Having never unpacked in the first place, I checked out, and drove home to spend six mind numbing hours on zoom the following day…………. Feeling guilty all day (sort of), while The Queen and the Assistance Dumpmaster tried to Bondo (now a verb) the entire house in prep for paint, fighting against 92° heat.
We escaped once or twice to find a dirt road and let off the proverbial steam………………………… Which required better mind altering chemicals than we had.
Sunday morning found The Queen back up on the ladder, until it was time to get in the car and drive 12 hours to our ostensibly “new” house……………………………………… I emphasize new, as in more trouble free (foreshadowing here) ……… So to our surprise we returned to a broken clothes dryer, ice maker and a failed hot water heater……. thus a dog days’ summer week in lovingly temperate (sarcasm!) Ohio with no hot water…… Groovy……
Still, we accomplished our mission, had two live performances with the band and multiple granddaughter extravaganzas; taking our youngest, little 3 y/o Parkie, on her first solo outing with Nana and Papi ………. To the Columbus Museum of Art, of all places, where she was enchanted by the abundance of color…………. Repeatedly asking who made that, Papi? We returned her for nap, and picked up older sister Sloanie, for our traditional, crazed 24-hour NanaPapi experience.
Today we are preparing for a giant party out by Dayton, and one more live show, before we gather our shit, and hit the road Tuesday, back to the little house on the hill until November-and to the leftover house beautifying fiasco.
Next week the band arrives for annual Vermont shows, and general debauchery………. A momentous event this year to honor our lost brother, Johnny 99, who left-as suddenly this winter. Trying to imagine 12 or so of our besties at the Manse for a week
We may be too old for all this………but can’t stop…. make it stop, make it stop…….
Time to get back on the train …. till then
Stu
