My mother’s brother passed away yesterday. Her sister passed in November, and she passed in February. Over the course of nine awful months, three of the four siblings died.
He had nine children. His wife and the kids were all there at the end. My heart goes out to all of them and their families. It’s only been six months since we lost my mother. I know how they feel.
Rest in peace, Uncle Jim.
Well, the four day weekend is off to a fun and exciting start, he said sarcastically.
I’m having myself a minor migraine. Isn’t that a treat? It’s not too bad but it is wiping me out a bit. I still need to clean out the car a bit, and I still need to put the clothes I put out for the weekend into a suitcase. Other than that and maybe putting my laptop and some various Apple product chargers into a backpack I think I am all set.
Hopefully I will be able to get some quality sleep tonight. Fingers crossed.
Happy four day weekend, everyone!
3.5 hours left in the work day. I started lunch late today so I am still on break. Just throwing out a lunch time post while I still can.
My wife’s friend and former co-worker is getting married this weekend and we, along with my step daughter, are going. The wedding is in Bar Harbor, ME, which is about five hours from home. That means we’re going for the weekend. We took tomorrow (Friday) and Monday off for the drive there and back, and then we’re spending Saturday sight seeing and going to the wedding on Sunday.
One thing on Saturday’s agenda is Acadia National Park. Expect lots of photos. My mirrorless camera is going on the trip, and so are both film cameras. One is loaded with color film right now, the other with black and white. Variety, right?
I am super looking forward to this little get away. Jen and I visited Bar Harbor once many years ago and it was beautiful and I have always wanted to go back. Now we’re finally going.
Three hours and 28 minutes to go until I can sign out of work. That’s 208 minutes. That’s 12,480 seconds. So close, yet so far. I still need to pack tonight, including charging camera batteries and grabbing some extra film. I can’t wait, gentle readers. I can’t wait.
My wife is amazing.
Was it yesterday or the day before that I wrote something about being curious about vegetarianism and how that would work in a post-gastric bypass world.
My beloved bride saw that post and hit Google looking for some vegetarian recipes. Tonight we had one. It was a fried potato and eggs dish and it was excellent. The clear take away for both of us is, “yup, I’d have that again.” Now while it will never make sense to me that chicken eggs are considered vegetarian friendly, it was a really good dinner.
She also shared a couple more recipes with me. We might have those later in the week, or maybe wait until next week. Neither of us has any intention of going full veggie. Consider us veggie curious. Let’s see what happens next.
There was one photo from Bellana’s graduation that I was really hoping would come out. It was the only picture I took with Dad’s Pentax K1000 that I had sincerely wished was taken with my Z5. I wanted to see the results immediately. Instead, I had to wait.
It came out fine…
I knew it was going to require a huge crop to get what I was after, but I got it. Grainy goodness and all. I am really happy it worked out.
We lost my mother’s older sister late last year. We lost my mother early this year. Today we found out that my mother’s older brother is going into hospice. He has kidney and heart issues and his fight is coming to an end.
Nine months ago there were four siblings in my mother’s family. Now we have to prepare ourselves to lose a third. This sucks.
Today should be a good day. It’s Geddy Lee’s 70th birthday.
It’s also the anniversary of the day that Neil Peart joined Rush, so for Rush fans it’s a two-for-one deal.
Unfortunately it is a sad day for my family. Today should have been my parents’ 56th wedding anniversary. Instead, it’s the first wedding anniversary without my mother. The first one since she passed away. My father is having a tough time today, but he’ll make it through all right. I hope he’s all right at least. He’s sad and he misses her and he just wants to be alone.
I miss my mother. We all do. We always will. Happy anniversary, mom and dad.
Oh, and to make matters worse as I was finishing up the last sentence I started having a migraine. Oh good.
Not much to report on the song writing challenge front over the last two days. Day 23 was Wednesday and I didn’t do anything. Day 24 was yesterday, Thursday, and I didn’t get shut out but I also didn’t do much. I wanted to do a car music and track some vocals and maybe get a mix or two in and maybe write some lyrics but instead all I did was add two new song ideas. Just a couple of bass lines and a drum groove. All midi. I’m a little disappointed in myself for two days with very little progress, but the weekend is almost here and I am hoping to get a ton of music in (as well as more photography goofiness). Jen has plans to work on a project this weekend, so I will dedicate myself to a project or two as well. Harry will be paying a visit too so I will dedicate however much time he is here to him. I also want to visit my father on Saturday. It’s his anniversary, and the first since my mother passed. It’s going to be very sad and I don’t know if I am up for it. Mother’s day was rough but I fear this is going to be rougher.
So now we’re up to date on (more than) the current music project.
I almost forgot about this one. Fortunately I am a nerd and added it as a recurring date on my Google calendar many years ago. Today is a noteworthy day, but this date next year will be a much more important occasion.
On this date, July 12, in the year 2004 I started a new job. 19 years later, I’m still here. 19 years, one promotion, countless reorganizations, one wedding, one house purchase, two high school graduations, one college graduation (and counting), one ridiculously invasive stomach surgery, and one continuing global pandemic later, and I am still here.
My 19th workaversary is a big deal, but my 20th next year… that will be a big deal. We’ll see what happens in the meantime. For now at least, go have a piece of cake or something to celebrate for me. You know, have the kind of sugary thing that I can’t eat anymore in honor of me not getting sacked at all over the last 19 years.
Does anyone have any plans for the 4th of July? It’s a holiday in the United States tomorrow. Jen and I are both off of work. Independence Day. How are we going to celebrate?
I have no idea.
Jen and I both had a bit of a stomach bug yesterday. She still has it, though I think I’m in the clear now. If she’s still under the weather then I expect us to just sit in the living room flaking in glorious fashion. If she’s feeling better, will we do anything? The weather is supposed to be garbage so I don’t think we’ll be doing much of anything out doors. I’d like to have a mini-cookout or something but I’m not holding my breath.
We have been talking about driving to IKEA and getting some furniture to replace what Harry took to Vermont with him. We’re thinking of turning Harry’s room into a den/bedroom that we can use when he’s not here. When he is here, it’s his room. When he’s not it’s an alternate living room space. We’re thinking of a day bed. Maybe a little desk too? Maybe a comfy chair? We’re thinking of getting another comfy chair for the living room next to the fire place. We have that area marked as a reading nook. IKEA would be ideal for all of this. I just don’t know if our health will be up to it.
Other than that, I plan on doing the next 5k training run. 30 minutes of walk-for-a-minute/run-for-a-minute. I will also hopefully start working on this year’s fake 50/90 challenge. The challenge to write 50 songs in 90 days is real. The fake part is that I am done with the fiftyninety website. No more logging in there for me. Tomorrow is the first day for this challenge. If I were smart I’d write 50 songs tomorrow and then take 90 days to tinker with them. Yes, that was sarcasm.
The 4th of July, 2023 might just turn into a day. More like a plain old Sunday than a huge holiday. We’ll have to see how everyone’s stomach feels. Fingers crossed we can do something fun together. I choose to be optimistic and expect everything to work out fine.
Inside the Red Head's Head 