Candid shots of Harvey shamelessly sunbathing in the nude on our back porch.

What will the neighbors think?

Something I Thought about:

Taxes and finances. We really want to move to Connecticut when we retire, but we would be taxed on our pensions and Social Security. New York does not tax either. Do we stay where we are subject to less taxes, or do we live someplace we’d be happier? Hmmmmm.

Something I Saw:

The original movie “The Crow” (based on a comic book character) and its two sequels. (There’s a 4th movie we will watch this week.) All in preparation for the remake being released in August this year. I can’t believe I’ve never watched these films before. The concept is interesting (wrongful death victims are redirected by a mystical core to seek vengeance on their murderers.)

Something I Heard:

A wonderful new song “Guilty as Sin” by Chris Housman. (Thanks to Fearsome Beard for sending it to me.)

Something I Tasted:

Honey Whiskey with Ginger Tonic. It was lovely.

Something I Learned:

I’m more capable than I give myself credit for. I repaired a few minor things around the house that I initially deemed beyond my skill set. I wonder what else I could do if I tried.

Something I Accomplished:

My first cocktail party in years. 12 people were invited, 8 attended. I was feeling nostalgic for our party hosting days, so decided to throw caution to the wind and reach out to the few friends who have remained in our social circle. It was a fun evening and I may consider doing it again.

Something I Created:

A few new dishes for dinner: A chickpea summer salad with chicken; Chicken and Avocado wraps; and Greek style stuffed chicken breast served with mashed cauliflower. All were delicious.

A little detour from the normal Sunday 7 format: Here are 7 random things that happened since I last posted:

1. One section of our fence has been repaired and it looks great!

2. I bought some themed items for Bear Week in Provincetown in June:

Bear Week in Ptown is like my Mardi Gras, so I love getting into the spirit by wearing jewelry and clothes that scream “I love Bears.” (If the Bears ever scream back, I’m in trouble!)

3. Harvey somehow got cuter

4. We had 3 social engagements in a row: Friday we had dinner out with our friend Mark at a great Greek restaurant (Athos); Saturday we had knitting buddy Dave over for Sushi and cocktails; and today we had brunch with college friends Gladys and Julie who were in town for the weekend. (And we have social plans this Monday and Tuesday as well. WHAT is happening to us? Our reclusive couch potato life is in jeopardy here, people!)

5. We cleaned house top to bottom Saturday (takes us about 4-5 hours) and my mood instantly lifted. Apparently, I was just depressed about how dirty my house was. 😜

6. I rocked my X-Men sweater (and red sneakers) at brunch today:

7. I’m ending the lovely (albeit rainy) weekend watching a Fortune Feimster comedy special and sipping a Lemon Drop before heading to bed.

I’ve been plagued with an overwhelming sense of glum this week. There is nothing particularly wrong. My health is good. Work has not been overly stressful. There are no worries or woes that I’m aware of. But I just can’t seem to shake this heavy sense of glum. Not quite…unhappiness, but bordering on it. I feel like just the right amount of provoking and the tears would start falling.

It’s weird to be overwhelmed with an emotion without any known cause. Usually, I can pinpoint things that make me happy or sad or stressed. Not so this week.

Sure I’ve toiled away at a job for yet another week that I dislike and brings me no joy. But I’ve been doing that for a long time.

Sure, most of the weather has been dismal (cold and rainy) but it’s April in NY so that’s normal.

Sure, my weight vexes me, but that, too, has been a life long struggle.

Sure, we haven’t won the lottery or discovered gold, but that’s been true my entire life.

Sure, Hugh Jackman, Russell Tovey, Chris Meloni, and Ian Gomez continue to act like I don’t exist but, again, what else is new?

But there’s nothing new vexing me. No new twist or turn to my life story that explains the grey clouds.

The only good thing I can say is that I have not turned to my usual self-sabotaging habits of fighting the blues: eating and shopping. I’ve just sat with this feeling, pondering it, but not fighting it or trying to erase it. I assume it will pass in time…it always does.

In the meantime, I count my “blessings”, make lists of all the good people and things in my life, hug my hubby, and pet my dog.

Mostly, I remind myself: this, too, shall pass.

It was beautiful out today so I hustled to get the patio set up and cleaned off so we could enjoy post work cocktails and dinner outside, which we did.

Aaaaaaahhh! It’ll probably snow tomorrow, but I’m living in the now, baby!

Something I thought about: My health goals. I am working on eating better, exercising more, and shedding some weight. I have planned out meals and an exercise routine that I can stick too. I hope to hit my target weight before I return to Ft. Lauderdale next year. If I stick to my plan, I will get there way before then.

Something I saw: The New “X-Men ’97” animated series on HBO Max. The animation is impressive and the story lines, pulled directly from the comics, are staying fairly close to the source material. I’m impressed.

Something I heard: A new duet between Orville Peck and Willy Nelson: “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other.” I liked it very much.

Something I tasted: A lovely, well-seasoned Turkey Burger Pattie I made that sent my taste buds soaring. No condiments or bun needed. Served with a caprese salad. Mmmmmm.

Something I learned: There is a perfect back scratcher and it is this:

Something I accomplished: I finished two important research projects at work that were stressing me a bit. I can’t wait for the day that I am no longer stressed by work things.

Something I (re)created: A connection with old friends from Toronto whom we miss dearly. We fell out of touch and I’ve always regretted it. So I reached out and, to my joy, they were happy to hear from us and we are discussing an in-person reunion. Yay!

Happy Saturday (night)! I am currently sipping a Blood Orange Cosmo while watching episodes of “Blue Mountain State”, a horrible sitcom that we watch solely to see Alan Ritchson in various stages of undress, my current celebrity crush and future baby daddy! (Loved him in “Titans” and “Reacher” as well.)

I did not sleep well last night, but still managed to be full of vim and vigor this morning. After a few cartoons and a nice breakfast (coffee, over easy eggs, and toast) I got to work on laundry (2 loads) and stripping and washing the bed linen.

I also hopped on the treadmill for 30 minutes while watching a Tig Notaro comedy special. I have a year to lose 50 lbs. I’m already down 5 lbs, so I’m 10% there. (The above cocktail was only possible because I stayed below my calorie count and did cardio today. It’s all about moderation.)

I then took the most glorious nap…about an hour…and felt wonderful after.

While I was napping, our lawn guy dropped off wood to repair our fence as soon as it dries up a bit, hopefully later this week. Yay!

After a little more lounging and cuddle time with the puppy, I made my way to the kitchen and whipped up a healthy meal of turkey pattie’s and caprese salad.

Jeffrey is feeling much better but he’s not a 100%. He was able to help with laundry and eat a little today, and his congestion and cough was drastically decreased. I’m (cautiously) relieved that he’s headed in the right direction.

Our social calendar is starting to fill up and I am grateful we have so many people in our lives who want to spend time with us.

Tomorrow, I will catch up on blogs and hopefully do some more fun activities.

Stay safe, y’all!

Yup… after some beautiful spring weather, we woke up to winter again. Harvey likes it even less than we do, but a dog’s gotta do what a dog’s gotta do.

Fortunately, I worked from home today so I did not have to drive in it. Word was roads were quite slick for a while, but it’s already melting. hopefully it goes away quickly and stays away.

Jeffrey is sick again or still, depending on how you look at it. He seemed OK Monday, but started to feel sick Tuesday and worse yesterday so he went to the doctor and she confirmed that he needed stronger antibiotics to kick whatever this was. He took them last night and this morning, and stayed home because he was feeling awful, but seems to be having a reaction to the meds because he’s very bloated and uncomfortable. He does not plan to take them again. I hope he starts improving.

It was mostly an easy transition back to work this week, if I’m being honest. today was extremely busy, but I was working from home so it balanced out.

My home office is in the basement and I keep it pretty toasty with a small space heater and a larger electric stove heater. But, when I came upstairs, it was quite chilly in the house, so I pulled the blinds and curtains shut, and started a fire in the fireplace. Did not expect to be doing that on April 4th, but it is what it is.

I’m still mentally somewhere between vacation and work. Usually it’s a cold hard fast return to reality for me once we’re home, but I seem to be floating in this mental void between total relaxation and reality that we’re back home and back to work. It’s like my mind doesn’t want to accept that I didn’t actually retire.

It helps that we have our next vacation planned for the middle of May – my Annual birthday week in Ptown – so we only have to go a few weeks before we’re on vacation again. As I creep closer to retirement, I feel safer using vacation time, which I always hoarded before because of my unreliable health.

Jeffrey is attempting to get some sleep now, so I’ll just relax by the fire and read some digital comics on my iPad, with a snoozing puppy on my lap.

I caught up on a lot of of my digital comic reading in Florida and it really ignited my passion for reading them again, so I find myself needing to make time to read some every day. Today I will be catching up on the new Wonder Woman series (Vol 6, 2023.)

In the olden days, Comic companies just let a series run for hundreds and hundreds of issues if it remained popular. (My preference.) But the whole model has changed now, and they basically run series for anywhere from 5 to 25 issues. Then relaunch it, often with a new artist and writer. I guess the thought is that this allows new readers to jump on to a series anytime without feeling like there’s decades of history they’ve missed out on. The problem is that when you say you have “issue number one” of any given series, you have to clarify what volume and what year because now there are 6 Issue #1’of Wonder Woman, as the series stops and starts over and over again. It’s frustrating for an old comic collecting and reading curmudgeon like me, and it makes for a lengthy spreadsheet log when I have to enter 6 times, for 6 different Volumes.

Fortunately, I love making lists and Excel spreadsheets (is that a new fetish?) so I don’t really mind all the cataloguing.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to see what the Princess of Themyscira (aka Paradise Island) is up to these days. And maybe do a little spin, just in case.