A feeling of well-being

Is it thanks to recent trip or summer or what? Or perhaps as was quoted in a New Yorker story..."He had worked as a carpenter and landscaper for years and was happy, as he often said, to have no other responsibilities but to watch the sun rise and set."

Approaching the ATM machine, I am appalled at the litter of all of the receipts people leave around. I feel sort of lucky when I see so many that say "insufficient funds" or have a balance of $8.94.

Getting more emails and enjoying them less.
- Yahoo: 20535
- Google: Hundreds
- work: thousands
- left at my previous job: thousands

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.

A lot of spawning going on

Attended the re-dedication of the sign for the Fortescue horseshoe crab habitat, the first official horseshoe crab sanctuary in New Jersey.  Due to Hurricane Sandy, the sign was damaged.  There were plenty of horseshoe crabs spawning and we learned the appropriate way to HELP them if they get stuck in the sand.  One should never pick up a crab by the tail.  Pick it up from the side and just orient it so it can get back to the bay.  It was like an ORGY. Up to 14 males can attach to a female to fertilize the eggs. A female typically lays about 25 egg clusters each year.  Each cluster contains about 4000 eggs.  But only a small amount ever reach adulthood.  Some horseshoe crabs live twenty years, but it takes about 10 years before they can mate. Since I can't figure out how to get pics off of my phone, I had to steal this photo from someone in Maryland.



















Rushing today as had to use the Bridgeton Public Library computers.  They only give ONE hour and there is no room to put my STUFF.  But, they are the only library open on Thursday evening.

My trip is coming up and I don't have a plan for taking pictures.  I am getting in the mood to do that.

A pit bull named Precious

Why are my neighbors so predictable?  Looking out the window, I thought I saw them with a small black and white terrier-type dog.  Yesterday I was introduced to the pit bull named Precious (no leash).

On my bucket list is to travel using frequent-flyer miles.  Trouble is, you have to GO somewhere in order to earn them.  I can't bring myself to spend money on travel.  Each day that I procrastinate about upcoming trip, the prices go UP.  I keep looking for a nice little $1000 vacation and not finding it. I have said NO to quite a few $3000-$4000 trips.  Should I just bite the bullet and go?

Nice to arrive in Greenwich today.  Nice and peaceful.  I stopped the car and opened the window. 
Delightful boisterous sounds of many birds with some chicken clucking in the background.

Too much sun

I can't believe I just had to move my whole computer set up due to TOO MUCH SUN. I am constantly harping about my NEED for sun and warmth and then I had too much of it. It is hard to use the computer when there are a lot of reflections. Was reviewing my journal from the summertime and I had to laugh because I wrote that I needed to think about a vacation to somewhere COOLER. Now all I can think about is my need for a vacation to somewhere WARMER. The eternal malcontent, that's me!

So excited that I learned how to share a video yesterday. I kind of miss being FORCED to learn things in the workplace. It is tempting to fall behind when left to my own devices. The other day I couldn't even remember how to make a Word document single spaced. To be fair, I couldn't remember that even when I was working.

Wish I had access to my wreath I made from book pages. Now it is hanging in the Lummis Library in Greenwich. Today I was telling someone about it and wished I had at least a PICTURE to show. I was pleased that one of the fellas down there admired it enough to want to hang it up. I must add CRAFTS to my list of things to do at home.

Other people's TVs

Just returned from 12 hours of traveling to get back from San Francisco. Traveled by car and then train and then plane and then bus and back to car again. Finally broke down and bought the headphones to fully appreciate the interactive screen on Virgin Air. I enjoyed listening to songs by Bob Dylan and Jay Z. Strange juxtapositions of artists on the list...Bach or B.o.B., Brahms or Bo Diddley? Catching a glimpse of all the other people's screens, I also wanted to be watching Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, Sex in the city and Vanguard, this (illegal) American life.

I have a new brother-in-law. He does a good demonstration of someone trying to use a computer while sitting in those cramped airline seats. The trip home was a bit better than the trip out in some ways. There were more noisy kids, but the trip is an hour shorter coming East and I think the headphones helped.

I was also intrigued by the books people brought on the trip:
- Me: Monkey mind : a memoir of anxiety, by Daniel Smith
- My sister: Parallel communities, the Underground Railroad in South Jersey, by Dennis Rizzo
- Her boyfriend: The nautical chart, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
- Guy behind me - Beyond the wall, exploring George R.R. Martin's A song of fire and ice, edited by James Lowder
- Woman beside me - The men they will become : the nature and nurture of male character, by Eli Newberger

Stuff people ask the concierge

Lady wants to know why there is a discrepency between two different weather sites and what is the weather really going to do? Cripes!

Had a decent little breakfast at the Super 8 Berkeley. Found out it is reunion weekend at U.C. Berkeley. Ear plugs tonight! Am having a SECOND breakfast at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza where my sister is staying. Walked from my hotel to her hotel admiring the variety of stores and restaurants. Even the homeless people seem to have something "deep" to say when you are away from home.

All of my pills fell out of their containers in the airplane. I may or may not have gotten them back in the right places.

People and their phones

Really, MUST you talk on the phone when you are in a stall at the Philadelphia airport!?!?!

Am really enjoying being out of town. I hate packing but once I get going...look out.
Getting up before the crack of dawn is not my idea of a good time, either. When I went into the tiny cubicle they call a bathroom on the airplane, I discovered that I had my blouse on INSIDE OUT. That is what happens when you get dressed in the dark.

Had a great time flying Virgin Air. Now I LOVE Virgin as much as I HATE Spirit. They leave on time, the seats are somewhat roomy, they serve Diet Coke, they have a cool interactive screen you can play with, and the stewards are friendly. I am fortunate to be DRIVEN for a change, TO the Philadelphia airport and FROM the San Francisco airport by my sister. We drove over the University Avenue Bridge into Berkeley and almost slammed on the brakes to stop at the first Indian restaurant we came upon. I think I deserve an extra meal today due to the three hour time difference, don't I?

A cool and crispy day

Guy on Rowan University radio made me laugh this AM. I have heard of a CRISP day but never a CRISPY day. That is quite an eclectic radio station if you happen to be in the Southern New Jersey area (89.7).

Going away for the weekend. Being away from my car makes me anxious. I know fear of leaving home is agoraphopia. But what is it called when you are afraid of being far from your car? Also wondering whether I want to bother taking my laptop with me for a four day trip. Wishing I was the sort of person who knew how to live only from the phone, but I am not that person. I don't even have APPS.

Just finished another book, This is how you lose her, by Junot Diaz. Another book of short stories. I seem to be drawn to them. The stories may have involved the same protagonist, but they certainly weren't in chronological order. A lot of cursing and unpleasant thoughts about women but nicely put. Also a lot of Spanish, some of which I did not know. But I was happy about the Spanish words that I DO know! It was an easy read and gave a good flavor of ethnicity (Dominican Republic), poverty, young men coming of age, relationships, New Jersey, and ghetto life. I love Dominican people so I make a point of reading everything by this author.

I liked this description of a woman from the story The sun, the moon and the stars..."She's the nerd every librarian in town knows, a teacher whose students love her."

About another woman in the story called Miss Lora: "There were a lot of these middle-aged single types in the neighborhood, shipwrecked by every kind of catastrophe, but she was one of the few who didn't have children, who lived alone, who was still kinda young. Something must have happened, your mother specultated. In her mind a woman with no child could only be explained by vast untrammeled calamity. Maybe she just doesn't like children. Nobody likes children, your mother assured you. That doesn't mean you don't have them."

What I love about Ocean City...
- the alleys in between the streets
- the library/pool/arts center/Yianni's cafe and museum
- no alcohol so less chance of someone PEEING on your lawn
- the 2 1/2 mile boardwalk
- the "free" beach way down at the end

This is the first "vacation" I have been on since BEFORE I announced my retirement in January 2012. Some people would say my whole LIFE is a vacation since I am retired.
A vacation from the vacation?

Just finished a book by Joan Rivers, called I hate everyone...starting with me. Some of it was laugh-out-loud funny and much was over-the-top insulting, outrageous and politically incorrect.

It is hard to write while watching morning shows on TV. I am very limited in the multi-tasking deparment.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who takes pictures of their food", a woman said as I snapped a picture of the cheese plate unexpectedly received at "The red store" tonight. She came over and showed me the picture she had taken this morning of a "bacon doughnut". She was dinnering in Cape May Point, New Jersey, but had breakfasted in Nyack, New York.

This was only one of the surprises of the night. "The red store" is a building, it is red and it is a store, but it does not say "The red store" anywhere on it. It is also impossible to find.

My friend and I were a bit taken aback with the menu which was fraught with strange ingredients (or are we just country bumpkins?!?!?) Also, we weren't sure if we were UP to a four course dinner of "tastings" for $50. So we ordered an entree each. Of course, this was very difficult for her as she is "gluten free" and VERY picky.
So, this cheese plate arrives. We looked at each other in consternation. I hope they didn't think we ordered the whole shebang? But then there was the issue that I KNEW the manager. Perhaps we are being treated VERY WELL in spite of being cheapskates?
So we commence to nibble at the variety of cheeses, grapes, honey, quince jelly, nuts, burnt dried olives, toasted bread, and strawberries cut into creative shapes. Then MORE stuff comes...a squash fritter for me and for her, a special creation of roasted figs with a sauce including pickled onions. It sounds horrible but was surprisingly delicious. After our entrees of stew for her and lobster for me, we received surprise desserts. The bill was quite reasonable. It really pays to KNOW someone, and a special someone he is.

The other highlight of my day was taking a bike ride up and down the Ocean City boardwalk. It is 2 1/2 miles and it was a superbly gorgeous day with miles of fantastical clouds in every direction. I am a bad exerciser and was very uncomfortable on this bike which came with my cottage. Here is what was hurting me....my butt, my hands, my knees and my ankles. But I felt quite the sense of accomplishment for having done it and now I can cross THAT off my list. My friend was garnering quite a bit of attention as she rides a RECUMBENT bike which is a bit unusual.

So many places to rent!...(so little time). Just took a walk down the alley behind the dwellings on West Avenue in Ocean City. I have to alternate some ACTIVITY with the SLOTH. I AM the mistress of sedentary activites, after all. I met a guy riding a bike. He had a cigarette stuck in his mouth. One hand was holding the bike handle and one hand a leash with a rather large furry dog who ran beside him and right into me. "He's just checking you out", he said.

People I would like to meet, or, Why I no longer like 60 minutes.

In a class, we were supposed to think of someone we admire or would like to meet and picture them coming over to our house. I couldn't think of anyone, so I stole Johnny Depp from another student. Now that I am pondering this issue, here are a few people that fit the bill:

- Michelle Obama
- Queen Latifah
- Terry Gross
- Serena Williams
- Johnny Depp
- Meryl Streep
- Judi Dench
- Anderson Cooper

I used to love 60 minutes. Then I got a bit tired of all the repeats during the summer. So, I tuned in last week and saw that it was pesky football season and that the show was delayed. It seemed annoyingly repetitious and showed two segments of people I really never want to meet....NFL super agent Drew Rosenhaus and The Spymaster, Meir Dagan. It also seemed suspiciously repetitious...maybe due to football season? (I am still going on the OLD TV schedule where Summer was for repeats and Fall was for new shows. I think the schedule is different now).

Yesterday I went for a walk to the local library SO I COULD SHARPEN MY PENCIL. I am on vacation and doing my Sudoku and my crossword puzzles. Saw a about 20 people bicycling and perhaps 3 walking. I stopped and asked this bus driver if she could give me a ride back home. There I was, needing a ride. There she was, with an empty bus. But, NO, she said, "You have to have an appointment". I know it is the same in my town, but think about it.

You have to strike while the iron is hot! In other words, write your blog when your mind is racing, not when it is blank. Watching/listening to music videos on the TV as I write this. I think the songs are edited but they left in the phrase "douche bag". Can you imagine someone putting that in a song?!

Waiting for the sun to come out. I am down in Ocean City (New Jersey) and woke up to COLD weather and cloudy. I never want to admit that I am cold. I am the one who made it through all of last winter without ever wearing a coat.

Changed the look of this blog. No, it wasn't a lot of work. I just pressed a button, and I don't know which one.

Just came back to my little cottage from another dismal breakfast experience. Maybe I can't really leave home? Always with the expectations and then the disappointments. Yesterday did find ONE place I liked, though. Jon and Patty's on Asbury Avenue. I liked everything about it, the paint on the walls, the paintings, the friendly servers, the vegetable-friendly menu, the free copies of The press, the other customers. It might be back to McDonald's for me tomorrow. At least I know what I am getting. It is enough to make a person learn to cook!

Don't know how I feel about Ocean City. I guess ANY place loses it's allure in the bad weather (for me, that is). Feel like I am constantly driving up and down looking for things. Some businesses are closed, and I am never sure if it is for the whole season. You can't go out to eat and spend less than ten dollars (even breakfast). The closer to the beach you go, the stingier they are with the parking minutes and this policy of QUARTERS ONLY is really aggravating. Other places in town you can use nickles and dimes and you get more time. Oh, it is just SO much easier to just stay home.

Don't abandon your baby! - Do we really need an advertisement for this? It went by on the side of a bus.