When friends come over and look down at my flower garden they go wow, that’s beautiful, and I say only from a distance.  It’s a disaster close-up due to weeds and also just the interplanting that causes terrible overcrowding issues.  Then the other day I was looking at myself in the magnifying mirror and went Gaaah! And I thought my god I’m so much like the garden, only good from a distance.

Such are the ravages of age.  Though speaking of age, yesterday when Elsa and I were hunting for treasures I found a beautiful, vintage Dalton bowl embossed with fruit that cost $2.00.  People who’ve eaten here know that I’m not normal near China and of course don’t need another bowl, however this one sparked a beneficial and much-needed cupboard clean-out as I searched for a place to put it.

I’ve saved my grandmother’s chipped and stained coffee and tea pots for decades, yet when I looked at them yesterday, I realized they’re not worth keeping.  I have a lot nicer mementoes of my gramma than that beaten-up stuff.  You wonder why your karma’s stuck at times, then you clean a couple of shelves of greasy old dirt and suddenly the improved feng shui helps you move forward.

Apparently that’s what happened as I decided I need to go to Germany to see the relatives a few weeks ago but was unable to book a flight.  I’m frightened of how tired a person can become on international flights when one cannot sleep so I had made grandiose statements such as I don’t care how much it costs, I’m getting a lie-flat seat.

I am not getting a lie-flat seat as they’re over $7,000.  This caused me to abort the search entirely, and finally I called a travel agent at Lakeside Travel in Osoyoos and she’s booked the whole thing for me.  I’m biting the bullet and paying a lot for a Premium Economy seat as perhaps the extra space will allow me to sleep.  If not, I wasted a ton of dough as right now I could fly economy to Europe for $600.

Another treasure I found at thrift yesterday is a small pillow that says I AM RETIRED.  Then under that it says Don’t ask me to do a damn thing.  I have it sitting on my couch and it’s not only a nice match in colour, but the perfect note in case anyone has any smart ideas about what I should be doing. 

Though I have plenty to do around this house and yard at all times, and I just finished painting the railing around the front porch.  A nice handyman had replaced the rotten spindles and railing, and so it needed to be painted, and I figured really, how hard can this be?  I guess I should’ve thought of Marie’s dad who said to her, “If someone hands me a paintbrush, I’ll know I’m in Hell.”

Did you know there’s virtually no way to get paint off concrete?  I had to throw out the clothes I was wearing to paint, and also noticed I got white paint under a few fingernails which actually looks quite nice.  The next time something needs painting would someone please remind me that I have the skills of a blind bat?

Calvin was hungover the other day and I provided him my tested remedy of two Advil and one Gravol which he reported as being helpful.  Though time does ravage one, it also provides a lot of life experiences which can help in mentoring the young.