The Other Don Kelly

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.

I really don’t have much to say, but I wanted to post a few photos of Iris:

I took that Monday, when we had her for an overnight. She is so fun! She’s taken her first steps, and is just about to start walking on her own, and we love just letting her explore her world. (We are constantly forced to upgrade our child-proofing…)

I’m home at the moment, just waiting for Anne to get back from the big Women’s Overnight Bike Ride. This was a combined CAT/Adventure Cycling event that our friend Jennifer C put together, and I helped by borrowing Sarah A’s pickup truck (she was also on the ride) and doing support duties. It was a long exhausting two days, but now I’m just hanging out at home in our newly air conditioned house…

Yes, we finally broke down and got a species of AC called a mini-split, which works like a heat pump: heat in the winter, cool in the summer. It took about a week to get installed, and we’ve had it running for maybe a month now. I love it, though it’s a bit weird to be so disconnected from the outside weather in our comfort bubble.

Here are pictures I took while they were installing the system:

We have no room for ductwork in our walls, so the working fluid (air? water?) runs in the piping/conduit installed on the outside wall; I guess this is what makes it a “mini-split.” They are super quiet and really efficient, and are very popular in our neighborhood, where most houses are of a similar age and design. Anyway, we’re keeping with the Joneses…

We had them installed and working for one day, when I had to travel down to Florida — but that’s a story for another post.