to stay, to move, to improve

This old house in Monterey got an indoor bathroom upstairs in 1953, thanks to my parents.  When my father could no longer go the stairs, he had a commode installed in a closet downstairs.  We took that out in 1988 when we moved in with strong legs and two kids.

Assuming we should have a bathroom downstairs (and we so assume), the big debate is whehter to build on or put a half bath in existing space.  I wrote down pros and cons to help me think it through.  It helps. It did not solve the issue.

 Reunion Tent

Right now, 4:00 p.m., Thursday, 2/23/23, my Apple watch is registering 70 degrees outside.  What's going on?  I don't like these reminders of fossil fuel splurging.

I do like that this weather reminds me of happy days last summer.  We rented this tent.  We had it put up in the meadow.  All 25--yes, each and every current family member by birth or marriage--of the Lester and Elva people showed up for the day.  Take a look at that.

Calendar pages turn, stop

 

The year turns. At least calendar pages do.  I equally rely on a pocket calendar and my iphone.

Before I tossed last year's paper calendar into deep storage, I copied several pages, which illustrate that we have been building an addition to our house. Deciding takes time.

Some good reasons to build:  be prepared for nursing care, have a downstairs bath for guests.

Some reasons not to:  why enlarge when I need less space now than I did with a family of four.  Would it be good money after bad?  I am not a family budget philosopher.

 Is blogging for me?  We'll see.

Going back in the blog archive to October 9, 2014, I noted the sweet potato harvest that fall eight years ago, by the renter that year of my small field across the road, one Amos M.  This year Amos and Fannie S. rent. They planted the whole acre in squash--delicatas, acorns, and butternuts (in photo above).  They line them up shoulder to shoulder, all the easier to pack into crates.  The crates are stored in their basement, and sold off in lots over the fall and winter.

Why did the blogging stop? The blogs petered out with two perfunctory notes in 2015. One in 2018 and one in 2020.  The genesis for that last one, I guess, was ennui--the pandemic isolation was getting to me and I was reaching, I guess, for delight in the past--in that case a vacation in Montreal in 2009.

Is blogging for me?  Is it a thing, even? Maybe.