The Other Don Kelly

We were supposed to go to Connecticut today, but when we got up this morning Anne was sick, either something she ate or (more likely) some stomach bug, which she may have caught from Iris, who has been “pukey” and out-of-sorts lately.

I’m currently at the Essentials Cafe, a new place in the old Moravian Church parsonage on 3rd Avenue. This is probably run (maybe not directly) by the Moravian Church, as a “pay what you can” breakfast/lunch spot. Pretty decent, quiet, it just opened a few weeks ago. They have food, but I just got a cup of coffee; my ultimate destination is Bitty & Beau’s, the coffee place catty-corner from the Brew Works.

If Anne feels better tomorrow we’ll probably still head up — her sister’s mother-in-law passed away and the funeral is Monday. Long drives with a stomach bug are not fun, and nobody wants to be the super-spreader of anything at a funeral, so we’ll see.

We’ll be heading to LA to visit Ben & Jenny on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I was down visiting my parents last week, and we also drove up to a bike shop in Alfred NY for Anne to buy a new recumbent bike. (Alfred is just past Corning, so on the way home we stopped at the Museum of Glass.) We finished the week with a visit to her Aunt Kay in Jim Thorpe. Lots of traveling going on!

The Sporting Life: We’ve been getting a lot of hiking practice in lately, getting ready for our New Jersey section hike on the AT with Julie. (There’s also been a lot of research, and some buying/borrowing of equipment we’ll need but don’t have, thanks to neighbors Ed & Jan and Matt & Diet.) The weather may go back to “winter mode” soon, but we’ve been enjoying the warmer weather with a bunch of bike rides. Spring is coming.

And finally, even the slowest horse crosses the finish line — Anne and I are both done with all the Slow Horses novels and novellas. We don’t know what to do with ourselves now… I’m currently reading “Great Feuds in Mathematics,” which is kind of meh but it keeps me occupied.

So that’s my story!

The sun, if we could see it for all the clouds, is slowly going down on the last day of the year, 12-31-23, 123123…

We’ll be going out to the Grover Cleveland Democratic Club (where we are members, thank you very much) for some early karaoke before going out on the town with John & Donna to help ring in the new year.

Anne and I did a walk over to Nisky Hill Cemetery this afternoon, and we’ll probably do a hike tomorrow, to walk in the New Year.

…speaking of which, Happy New Year, Everybody!

By the way, this and this are what I wrote 10 years ago. It feels like just yesterday, and it feels like a different world.

Happy Birthday to my brother Chris!

Today is another Iris day. She’s taking a nap right now, so we’re chilling and getting a few things done, like blogging…

Saturday was our CAT Holiday party. Great crowd, tons of food, and our beer choice (Sam Smith’s Winter Ale) was a hit. Yesterday was Christmas Cookie Bake Day for Emmi and Anne, so Kyle and Emmi were over with Iris for much of the afternoon, then we went over to John & Donna’s later in the evening, to watch Christmas shows with them and Diet. It was a busy, social weekend!

Up next: I have my cello lesson in a few hours, and tomorrow Donna H and I are playing duets.

It’s not quite the countdown to Christmas here yet, but today is the CAT board’s annual holiday party at our house. We’re getting the place ready this morning.

Yesterday was an Iris day, and we also had a few visitors: next-door neighbor Jim came over with a gift loaf of of bread, and Lisa from Cutters picked up my touring bike — she was borrowing it as a sizing demo for another customer.

Anne was out on some errands, so Iris and I were on our own when our visitors arrived. We’d just spent some time in the neighborhood, and also in the backyard where we’d walked all over some fallen persimmons — it was all in our shoes like dog poop. We came inside and I took our shoes off, and that’s when I noticed that Iris’s hat was missing. Uh-oh, it could be anywhere in the neighborhood, but hopefully it was just out back — we went outside and it was right in the wet grass, and now my socks were wet from the rescue so I took them off too.

I got Iris’s shoes cleaned and back on her feet, but still hadn’t dealt with my footwear when our visitors arrived. So there I was, barefoot outside in December, holding Iris and a loaf of bread and chatting like it was the most normal thing ever. At this point, I guess it kind of is…

(Lisa texted later– they got the sale!)

Not much else going on.

I’m back fro a weekend visit to my folks, Friday through yesterday. I helped them with a few errands, we went to Manasquan Reservoir during the nice weather Friday afternoon (first time there, for me), and on Saturday night we went out eat at Appleby’s. The rest of the time was just hanging out, talking and reading.

(I’d managed to get my Cloud Library app back up and running, so I borrowed Titanium Noir by Nick Hardaway, and just burned through it during my visit. Pretty good: a near-future sci-fi murder mystery, like Phillip Marlowe by way of William Gibson, and fast-paced.)

Now I’m home, doing laundry and getting other things done like cello practice, my Native Paths project, and bike maintenance –bikes took some heavy use the last few weeks, and there’s much overdue work that needs to happen.

Anne is home from Vermont, and is now working on her own projects. We both made it through a very busy time mostly unfrazzled (mostly!), and are both ready to just get back into our usual routines.

What a great weekend! Anne and I went to visit friends at their Massachusetts beach cottage, on the beach and practically in New Hampshire, for a few days of road cycling. We were there with our hosts Ed & Jan, and their friends Gayle and Bob & Beth, and Jen C. We did 32 miles Friday, 30 miles Saturday before the rains came, and another 20 on Sunday before we drove home. In between was pizza, and lobster, and a potluck at the cottage…

Now we’re almost back to our regular routine: we’ll have Iris overnight and tomorrow, and I’m planning to do some Museum volunteering this week. I have yet to get back into the swing of the cello, but I played last night and it felt good.