It's better if I stay home

Had to go pick someone up yesterday in an unusual place since she is living with her son. Started out following my MapQuest directions as I was trying to find a shorter way to get there than the one she suggested. First problem is I run into a TRAFFIC JAM on a highway where I usually just tool along at 65 miles per hour. They were repaving Route 55 and not only was it slow, they had CLOSED MY EXIT. So, I was really stewing and cursing and wishing for an anxiety pill and had to drive about 15 minutes to get extra far from my destination. Then I underwent a sudden panic attack and had to pay $2.99 for 24 hours of Sprint Navigator on my phone. I was suddenly very unsure about where I was and where I was going. So, it took me about an hour of driving to get to the first phase of my journey. Then another hour to get to Philly and was forced to drive fast due to fears of being late for the theater. Two setbacks in Philly....my street was closed and then more streets were blocked off due to the annual OUTFEST. The play was good (Rapture, blister and burn), the dinner was good and the drive home long and dark. More streets blocked off but I overcame it. Was in a bit of a snit about the whole thing. The entire expedition took me from 11:30 AM until 8:15 PM. At least I got home in time to watch the Eagles beat the Giants. I had to turn it off at half time cause I can't stand to watch the sacking and the grandstanding. Happy that the Eagles did well anyway.

Those darn squirrels! (book), by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri. Spoke to my condition as I have a squirrel living in my ceiling. A very cute children's book about a man trying to defeat the squirrels and then giving in and appreciating them.

Younger next year...for women (book), by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge. Got this book on interlibrary loan. So hard to follow their advice which is to exercise HARD 6 days a week and don't eat crap. Already, I feel my will to exercise today sinking. Their philosophy is that you are either growing or deteriorating and the only way to grow is to move. I agree but it is so hard.

Nausea?

Nausea can be a symptom of FEMALE heart attack or EBOLA. Luckily, I rarely experience this symptom.

All the light we cannot see (audio book), by Anthony Doerr. Cried near the end, not sure why. Very moving the way the author brings together the stories of the young German soldier and the blind girl from Paris and St. Malo. Quite long and involved, detailing the flight of a young girl with her father from Paris at the start of the war. Always surprising to learn the trail of events in various countries during the war. A mystery of a missing diamond and its three copies. Almost wanted it to be over before it was over, but after that was when I cried.

Went to Philadelphia yesterday. Lured by a lecture called "Paris awakens". Was dismayed when I realized that I have been a member of the Philadelphia Museum of art for 10 months without going once. Now I am in the mood. There is a lot to see...sculpture garden, trolleys to the Perelman Center and the Rodin museum and who knows where else. If I go once a week for the next two months, maybe I will get my money's worth? I liked the feeling of being a member. Spending money to save money on parking, food and gifts. My favorite discovery was Charles Demuth...gentle watercolors. Part of a show of Steiglitz and his associates. That section included works by Steiglitz, O'Keefe, Demuth and Dove.

41,959 people

That's how many of us were at Citizen's Bank park for the Phillies game last night. I was really there to see Mike Trout, local boy and success story who still loves his home town of Millville. Let's just say it was an experience. Many nice, helpful people and then some who just gave totally erroneous information and didn't seem to care. It was all quite confusing, what with the elevators, the escalators, the condiments bar and the freezing cold wind. I found escapes....the VIP elevator entrance, the freight elevator closet and the ladies room. Mike's team won. He didn't do much exciting but then again he didn't make any errors, either. He was very SMALL as I was sitting on the fourth row up (the "nosebleed section") Our home team (the Phillies) is not his team (The Los Angeles Angels) so there was a lot of cheering to both sides. Hope I am not going to catch a cold from the extremely frigid and windy conditions. Some people had on ski jackets and gloves and there were a lot of young girls with even less clothes than I had on.

Came down to Cape May Point where my sister has rented a house for a couple of days. Unfortunately, it looks like a couple of raining, cool days.
But fun to get a change of scene.

Spent the day cancelling newspapers and mail and doing I don't know what.

35 million of us

This is now many people are filing at the last minute. This is how I have been every year of my life. It really ruins the days approaching April 15th. Tax preparation, like cooking dinner, can expand to fill up all of the available time. I did it and redid it and had great nashing of teeth, alternating between thinking it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to do and then perhaps possible. I just don't like the RESULTS...as in owing almost $4000. BUT, I am going to pretend I didn't notice that you should pay penalties for this. (Isn't that just like adding INSULT to INJURY!)
All is not lost. I shall proceed to ask Social Security to take hundreds of dollars from my measly paycheck each month so that I can come out perhaps about even next year. Came to the library and attempted TaxAct, a free service. But I kept going around in circles and getting sort of like error messages. Then I switched over to fillable forms, but that got on my nerves, too. SO, I am back to copying each form over in blue or black ink and sending it by US mail. See, once I go online, I will no longer receive the booklet in the mail and I really look forward to reading the booklets from cover to cover (twice).

The museum of extraordinary things (book), by Alice Hoffman. Liked the title and I like all fiction writers with the first name of Alice although I have trouble telling one from the other. The book takes place in the New York of the early 1900's and the Hudson River figures prominently. Also freak shows and the Triangle shirt waist fire and mean fathers and daughters who swim like mermaids and want more out of life.

Today went on an excursion with some friends...to the National Archives of Philadelphia (a well kept secret) and to the Reading terminal market. We went to see an art exhibit called Archives alchemy. The archives was getting rid of a lot of stuff...books, papers, microfilm. They donated it to an artist group called the Dumpster divers and suggested that they make ART from those materials. My friend had one of the best ones.....they really used to wrap things in cotton and secure them with cotton RED TAPE. She somehow got words on the red tape and hung it like a door screen, weighted down with US and foreign coins. It was called, "No scissors sharp enough to cut the red tape of immigration". There was a lamp decorated with microfilm and microfilm reels going all up the pole. The exhibit has been extended until the summer and the end will coincide with the closing of this branch of the archives. They will be merging with another location which is in some far away Northeast section of Philly. A handful of archive locations are being closed down for budget cutting. Sad.

No, I'm NOT packed yet!

Like Christmas, or cooking dinner....my packing expands to fill all the available time.  Here I am online when I still haven't ironed out my products nor my purse.  Getting ready ahead of time is just a foreign concept to me.  But the lack of being ready colors all of my time with a vague feeling of unease and dread.  People say, "Have a great time!" and I just feel inadequate and worried.  Sigh.....  Here I am spending a LOT of money to go somewhere where it is colder and wetter.

Feel like I am going back into the dark ages.  Having a non-technology vacation.  Just a pencil, pen, yellow marker, black marker and a notebook. 

Saw a great play yesterday called Bootycandy.  About growing up gay and African American.  Most of it was hilarious and inventive, with of course some serious, unpleasant stuff thrown in and the required naked man.  There is always something to shock you at these plays I attend at the Wilma theater in Philadelphia.

At least there's no zombie apocalypse

There is a Zombie run in Philadelphia on Sunday.  250 zombie spots have been filled.  I think they are going to CHASE the runners?  The woman on NPR said that no matter what problems we may all have, we can at least feel good about the fact that there is no zombie apocalypse!

The birds are enjoying the back yard.  Even more than usual due to my neighbor's "tarting up" of the back yard?  Or maybe just because it is Spring?  I am enjoying the back yard more too.  My yard energy only goes so far as my one window box.  (I have three pansies planted there that I got for free at the recent SICC dinner).  We have a taller, better water container, some suet I got for free from the Amish Market (!), bare sticks that my neighbor thinks will bloom and become hydrangeas, lots of statues, benches, empty pots and stuff planted here and there.  Don't know how my yard guy will mow what with all that STUFF.  But, anyway, I read first that my yard guy was arrested for having a stun gun and just a few days ago, he was PUT IN JAIL for filing a false police report.  What are these guys UP TO?  They are very polite and religious when talking to me.

Going to a British tea today.  There seems to be some difference of opinion about how to dress.  A man friend told me they wear dresses and hats and then he gave me a book about teas and two teacups to take along.  Then we saw someone going in wearing a pants suit.  I am so reluctant to dress up.   In fact, I seem to be going around all the time wearing my exercise clothes.  Today it was with false hopes about fitting in some exercise.  Too busy going out to breakfast, shopping for stuff to make fruit sticks for a reunion tomorrow, dealing with phone messages and now using the computer at the Cumberland County Library.  All out of time!

You can't make this stuff up

Comment when I told the tale of my sister, who dropped her keys down the slit in the elevator on the way to her apartment in Soho on Christmas eve.  The next night she left her car unlocked and running.  No one noticed until we woke up in the morning.  Luckily, that was in someone's back driveway in New Jersey and not in Soho.

Returning this book to the library.  I didn't really enjoy Drift, by Rachel Maddow.  The subtitle is: the unmooring of American military power.  OK, so not too inviting.  I had gotten enthralled with her on TV around election time so I checked her book out of the library.  According to a blurb on the back, "she tells the epic story of how American warfare came to be both never-ending and practically invisible."

Had a nice trip (my annual) to the Reading Terminal market in Philadelphia today.  Got really busy and crowded.  Nice that it is all indoors, once you get there.  A panoply of mostly food stands...cheese, honey, spices, teas, breads, restaurants, meats, ice cream.  It was quite bright and festive.  Bought a few things until. I couldn't carry anything more.  Buying spices in bulk reminds me of when I lived in Barcelona and went to the market every day.

Turn off your watch alarms

Was ordered to do this before the open rehearsal of the Philadelphia Orchestra today. Don't know how to do this. My watch beeps once every hour and the alarm goes off at midnight, 5 after, 10 after and 15 mins after. I don't know how it GOT that way and I don't know how to make it stop! So I took off my watch and put it in the pocket of my coat.

All the things one thinks about during a classical music performance. For some reason, I started thinking about past lovers. Professions of cello players, urologists, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, cameramen, art directors of movies, I could go on. Countries of origin, US, France, Tunisia, Columbia, Guatamala, to name a few.

Today I had my first experience of the Kimmel Center. OK, I am a few years behind the curve. Walking in is a WOW...wood, wood, wood, and beautiful rose colored seats. Nice that you can park underneath for only $10 if you arrive before 10 AM. But, no parking attendant, they make you use this machine which was confusing to the elderly. There was a big long line of people trying to get their tickets before 10 AM. The machine did not give change, to make it REALLY user friendly. Someone put in a twenty dollar bill before they discovered this unpleasant fact. When we left, no one checked our ticket. How necessary IS this ticket? Do I want to find out? Anyway, this gorgeous wood symphony hall is inside an ultra modern glass building. The Verizon Symphony hall wood reminds me of a boat or a cello. In fact, the ceiling is shaped like a cello. Highly recommended is the TOUR of the building. My friend said she took the tour THREE times and it was different stuff every time. it is given every day except Monday at 1 pm.