Tag: relax

Yikes! The Trees!

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2017, Summer at Sonnystone, updates1 Comment

Helllp!  I meant to get out of here and run chores all day while the tree-guys did their thing.  Up early, I got lazy…

They showed up in a gaggle and are out there putting all kinds of raucous motors to work.  I hate this.  But I’m awfully glad to get the dang thing down.  It has fallen a few feet every day, accompanied by the sinister snap, crack, and popp…  We were relaxed as cats out in the pool yesterday, when the swoosh and thwack of another fall sent us scurrying inside.  A bit of the branches are already on the wires, and we could just imagine ourselves fried to obliteration on our rafts and Michael would finally find us in a few days and be traumatized for life…or at least that’s what I imagined.

Now I’m hemmed in by various large trailers and forced to endure the sensory overstimulation that triggers my anxiety…

Deep Breaths…Centered..Om

Soon, though, just before the storms hit this evening, I’ll have one less worry and a lot less cash.

I hope this puts us back to “normal”, but I have to confess that I started re-arranging and cleaning as soon as I got home from NYC, so the house is in temporary disarray.   Yes, it’s another mental illness of mine…  This time, I’m really going to go through and throw things out.  Seriously.  All of the glassware!  Really, am I going to have a cocktail party for 40 and serve brandy in those snifters?  Am I seriously afraid that if my mother returns she’s going to want her stuff back?  Will Grandmother Mayne be checking to see if I still have her lamps?  It takes a lot of gumption for me to part with so-called heirlooms, as I consider myself a “Keeper of the Archives”.  Still, I have way too many broken-down chairs and chipped nick-nacks and I am determined to toss the excess junk.

Dreading it, but eventually this will culminate in a rummage sale.  I’ll let you in for a presale when we’re ready, probably a couple of weeks.  You need some new chairs…  and brandy is hip…

Peace

 

3 more days…

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn Sonnystone Summer SpectacularLeave a comment

After the kids have come and gone,  I always feel a little blue.   Last week was a bit slow-motion, but I’m revving up now for the First Day of School.  It is my custom to go back to the building on the day of 6th-grade Open House, set up my office and try to mooch as many free meals as the PTA can possibly provide.  I get to take a gander at the new crop of kids and see what sort of challenges they’ll offer.  This year the open house is on Thursday and our nurses meeting is on Friday–another free lunch!!!  We’ll be munching as we’re being lectured on head lice and vaccines…nice…

Let’s not rush through the Now, though…I have 3 more days of vacation.  Even though my to-do list is legal-pad length, I just might do something else…

loud music

why not

Sonnystone Summer Spectacular

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn Sonnystone Summer Spectacular2 Comments

Good morning, Sonnystoners!!  We’re coming to you Live this morning from the back porch here at the Acres, where we are kicking off Summer Vacation 2014!

I’ve only got 72 days of summer this year (wha???  there were 81 days last year), so we’ll have to pack it full of fun and festivities.   We’ve got a new pool to play in;  the garden is already lush and fruiting;  the camper is open and freshly leveled. We’re going to be screening in our front porch in June;  if you react to mosquito bites like I do, you’ll understand what a thrill that will be!    July will again be the month that the New Yorkers will grace us with their presence,  and I’m fishing for some other celebrities to stop by.  There are various fests and concerts around town and we’ll be there.

I wish the energy I feel this morning would last all summer…Jumped out of bed!  You’d think that since I just had so much time off I’d be a little less excited, but I’m darn near 100% now and ready to roll.  I’ve already watered and done laundry, drank some coffee and spent a few minutes swinging.    Our Memorial Day Week-end was very productive and still left us time to relax and get a little sun.   The weather was perfect and we’ve got some of the same on its way the rest of the week.

I’ll be blogging daily, whether here or at the garden blog, so follow me as we Swing through Summer at Sonnystone…

simple pleasures

 

 

Week-end wrap-up 10/13/13

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

We’re a barrel of laughs here at the Acres…give us a 3-day week-end with beautiful weather and we’ll plant mums and pansies, move around the rudbeckia, clean up the back porch, hit Rural King for breakfast (popcorn) with Olivia and check out the rummage sales, with plenty of time to channel my Dad while listening to Pokey LaFarge and Hugh Laurie—and that was just the first day.

Saturday we drove up to Harmonie State Park for a hike and to check out the local craft show…

It’s been a while since we hiked at Harmonie and we chose a trail that we knew to be easy and we thought was familiar.  Turns out fallen trees have changed the course…  It was still a beautiful hike, but unexpectedly new…

 

Pursue some path, however narrow or crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.       Henry David Thoreau

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on…And it makes me wonder…                                            Led Zeppelin

Yes, it makes me wonder, too…

just one more cup…

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

We got new carpet laid yesterday…in the dining room adjacent to the living room.  This floor has always been wood, so it has taken me 10 years to quash the guilt and cover it.  I like wood floors as much as anybody, but this floor had a large (inherited)  sun-stain the size of an oval rug,  as well as my contribution of water-stains.  A fella came in a couple of years ago and helped us wax and shine them, but he said then that they needed to be sanded and completely revamped.   While that might have been less $$ than carpet, I HATE  cleaning wood floors. (don’t get me started about cleaning ladies again).   So I’ve spent the last 2-3 days in a mess, and now I can put it all away, obsessing  over each little arrangement of Stuff on the shelves, placing my beloved junque just-so…

The Sun is Shining!!  After last year’s drought, I’ve learned to appreciate the rain, but  this Spring is tediously wet.  While I admit it gives me time to get some of this indoor stuff done, I’ve had to be very creative when it comes to getting in my walking…but I am keeping up.

The Summer Reading Program, wherein I stated I was going nook-free, is a bust.  I just can’t do it…  I finished up Little Women and have some good books from the library.  Right away I noticed that I have to use reading glasses for Real Books, so I bought up 3 pair and have them scattered throughout the house, ready to read…  Right now I’m about 1/3 through Wild  (Cheryl Strayed) and like it, but I couldn’t resist downloading another Nero Wolfe yesterday and finished it up in a day…  I’m sounding a little bit lazy, here, aren’t I?

We’ve got some music on the agenda again this week:  WC Handy Blues Festival is On over in Henderson and we’ll be having a little family outing on Wednesday.  In the meantime, I’ve got to get the dust off the dishes…

good day

A Day in New Harmony, 2/9/13

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

Cousin Lana and I met up in New Harmony today for some socialization…we luncheoned at the Yellow Tavern,  ambled through the gallery to admire a textile display, wandered around an antique store, then settled down at the Old Gymnasium for the Antiquarian Booksale…

025

I always have fun with Lana…

029

After the Cousin had headed back to Grayville, I walked the Cathedral Labyrinth, a replica of the Chartres Cathedral Labyrinth…

solvitur ambulando: it is solved by walking...
solvitur ambulando: it is solved by walking

I thought  thinkingly as I walked,  deeply…possibly figuring out a few things…maybe just finding that place inside that accepts that I’ll never figure it out…

067

Though I’m not sure if I found the Answer, I know the Solution:  (and it’s always the same)

Peace…

....Peace...

Movie Project…starting tonight

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

I’ve decided to watch all the winners of the Best Picture Academy Award, starting with the year I was born:  1953. (That’s 60 movies to watch in the next 42 days, prior to the Oscar Show of 2013 on February 24.)    This project  looks challenging–some of these movies are going to make me verry uncomfortable, as I don’t really like sadness,  violence even in war, or intensity of the scary kind.  Some of them I have seen, but I’ll watch them again. and husband is along for the ride.

List in hand, I headed down to Central Library to start borrowing…  The winner in 1953 was “From Here to Eternity” and I had to order that one from one of the library branches, to be delivered by Tuesday.  Rationalizing, the awards are given each year for movies released the prior year, right?  So it doesn’t (much) upset my OCD to start with the Best Picture of 1954:  “On the Waterfront” … followed by “Marty” (1955);  “Around the World in 80 Days” (1956)  and “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957)… I know you’re whistling now, but I probably won’t get to that one until tomorrow.

I’ll be blogging as I come up for air…

024

how i got my hat

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

last sunday was my first trip to churchill downs, but i had studied up…

casey and i visited keeneland in 2010 and i Thought i’d learned a little from that experience, but, alas, experience is the only teacher.  at keeneland, you really need a reserved seat.  general admission gets you standing room only and the crowd was deep… i had to stand on a bench to get a picture (or view) of the racetrack.  illogical logic told me i needed seats at churchill as well.

online, i ordered up 2 reserved seats for churchill’s live racing on sunday…best available, good enough for me…when we got there, we discovered we were sharing a very small, albeit well-placed, box of 6 seats with a family of four eating nachos.    we were polite.  with plenty of other empty seats surrounding us, we asked if we could exchange our tickets for a more private spot.   kari, kerry, keri, caree, cari…with the piercings, said yeah, great;  her bosslady said, no.  we expressed our genteel displeasure, so bosslady, whose name was monica or something, took us to patty, patti, or pattee.  after monick left, pattee told us to just go ahead and take one of the empty box seats.   we walked back up and moniq was monitoring…we told her that pate’  had said help ourselves and she said that’s just wrong, people pay lotsa $ for these seats, etc…   so we went back down to

Customer Service… and who greeted us but iris. ( not eyerhis)   we told her that we were fine with whatever, enjoying, first time visitors, just a little uncomfortable with…   she called for paatteey.    while she was waiting she started looking for stuff to give us and pulled out this great hat:

in short order, patty showed up and was instructed by iris to take us upstairs and get us past the guards to the excellent areas…