days_unfolding

I woke up from my nap at 5 AM. I want breakfast, although it will make me less hungry for Dim Sum. It occurred to me that I could go to the Pinecrest, which is open 24 hours. I could have a breakfast sandwich, which won't fill me up too much.

I did go to the Pinecrest. On the way, there was a guy collapsed on the ground--I saw him nodding off early--and I was wondering if he was okay. But he was sitting up when I came back.

Okay, my stuff is packed, and I've checked in for my flights. Now I have time to kill. Tried lying down, but I can't sleep. I hope that means that I will sleep on the flight tonight. Texted with Erik about meeting him later.

I checked out of the hotel at 11. Erik came by at 12. He has an electric car, so we got in a discussion of the pros and cons. (He loves it.) He also almost sold me on an iPhone. He's one of the people whom I really listen to. We had a great time catching up and pigged out on Dim Sum. We ordered too much :) Afterward, we walked around in Aquatic Park, where I had been planning to go. He dropped me back at the hotel. I've been reading books on my Kindle. I'm reading an interesting book on the importance of having a quest, The Happiness of Pursuit. I can't think of any quests that I'm on except posting to LJ and DW every day.

I'm charging my phone in the "Business Center" at the hotel. I'd like to be able to use it for my boarding pass, although I did print off the boarding passes here.

Hmm, now I'm looking at electric cars, and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid looks appealing.

Finally, it got to the time for the driver to pick me up. Someone called, but didn't answer when I picked up. Someone called several more times, so I ignored it. He then texted me, and I texted him the name of the hotel and address. He asked me if he should pick me up at 8:05 or 8:30, and I said 8:30. At 8:15 he calls and says that he's at the Westin. Huh? I told him where I was again, and he said, Oh no. Eventually he got to my hotel, but it took him several tries to pull in, which didn't give me the warm fuzzies about his driving. I did NOT give him a tip.

I've been pondering why I always get frazzled in airports. I think that it has to do with pulling everything out in security. OTOH, I passed a guy who was strolling along slowly like, I always take my luggage for a walk! I see people who are knocking their luggage over, etc., and I think "You are my people" :)

I got here way early for a midnight departure, hence the 8:30 pickup. My gate was the farthest one, of course. And they changed the gate twice. I found an electrical outlet and am charging my phone.

I really want to go to sleep. I hope that bodes well for sleeping on the flight. It did. I slept the way to O'Hare and found out how to get to the other terminal. The gate was the farthest gate again. (Is the Universe trying to tell me that I need more exercise?) I dozed at the gate, and I dozed on the flight. The shuttle guy called right after I got off the plane.

Now I'm back. Zara is all excited that I'm back. I haven't seen Mimi yet. I'm making lunch. Lunch was good. Hunger is the best sauce.

Now I think that I'll take a nap, then shower, and then do laundry.

Zara is telling me that she hasn't been fed. Liar :) And Mimi is telling me her tale of woe.

Had a nice nap. I could have slept longer, but I want to be able to sleep tonight. Had a nice shower, but my razor is refusing to shut off. Do I need to replace it every four months? I'm not thrilled. Mimi is upset that I shut her out of the bathroom.

Got laundry going. Sorted the mail, except for the Daily Look and Stitch Fix boxes; I want to get it out in the recycling. Fed the girls and mollified them. Got the garbage and recycling out.

The Southfield Park District has golf and tennis lessons, both of which I'd like to learn, but I think that I should concentrate on relearning to ride my bike. Speaking of which, it's ready at the bike shop, but I'd like for them to put the turn signals that I ordered on eBay. Plus I need to get a bike rack from Amazon. The Park District also has a gentle yoga class that I'd like to try.

Had dinner. Got the clothes in the dryer. I want clean, dry pajamas before I go to sleep.

I was thinking that I really don't enjoy flying any more, but given that I want to go to Hawaii and Europe, flying it is. Train travel is more civilized though. I just IMed my Italian teacher to see if he's back in Italy. I think that my "quest" is to work really hard on Italian for my trip next year.

Hmm. I usually stop first at the AIDS chapel at Grace Cathedral at the beginning of any San Francisco trip, but it opens at 10 AM. My breakfast place opens at 7 AM. So I need to stall for a while.

My hotel is on a great street for people-watching. I saw a really cute guy waiting for my DoorDash yesterday. I guess that I'm seeing the sights :)

Wow. I have some large bruises on my left arm. I have no idea what happened.

I'm looking at other train trips that I could take. I told Dad that I might take the train to Washington DC to see the museums. We got into a conversation about the Smithsonian. New York is another possibility. Hmm, I wonder if I could swing a short trip next year.

I also told Dad that I wanted to go to London and see the museums. He said that he never wanted to go to London. Then we talked about Paris, and he encouraged me to go. I'd want to brush up on my French though.

I need to charge my FitBit watch, so I have more time to kill. I removed my nail polish because it was chipping. I like how it looked, though, so I'm going to pick some up at Walgreens. I got my camera strap attached to my camera with the help of YouTube. Hmm, now I'm looking at a nail salon near Union Square, but I don't know its hours.

I stopped at Walgreens and bought some nail polish and makeup brushes. The person working there loaded me up with freebies, even though I told her that I was traveling and had limited space.

I found the breakfast place. It's crowded, which is a good sign. I had Smoked Salmon Benedict, and it was perfection.

I made it up Nob Hill, stopping to rest a few times. I made it to Grace Cathedral. Apparently they're charging for entrance now, which annoyed me slightly but whatever. I sat in the AIDS chapel for a long time. It is still a peaceful place. But this time I felt a message of survival. It seems wrong in a way, given how many people died, including two of my friends. But the world keeps on turning, which is reassuring. I also walked the labyrinth outside. I like how it brings you close to the center and brings you back out. Like life.

The following picture is of the Keith Haring triptych at the AIDS chapel. I felt a little guilty taking a picture inside Grace Cathedral, but no one else was there and no one stopped me.

I went to Chinatown and shopped until I dropped. I bought a sweatshirt that said "The City" (what locals call San Francisco). An incense burner, a bracelet, and a kite. And an amber necklace. Now I've stopped for lunch in a Chinese restaurant. The waitress didn't understand me--I was the only non-Asian person in the place--so I wound up with crab soup. It was good though. And I brought the leftovers back with me. I need to pick up some utensils.

I went to City Lights, and got a pile of books, mostly on Buddhism and one about the social construction of the self, which sounded interesting. I'm glad that I bought a pile of books because I want the bookstore to stay in business.

Then I had way too many bags to walk back. I ordered an Uber, and a guy showed up in a Tesla! Only in California :) I gave him the wrong address though, so I had to walk up the street to my hotel.

I need to find a post office or UPS store and mail packages back to myself. There is a UPS store in the Fairmont Hotel that's open tomorrow. Excellent.

7818 steps so far :)

Now I think that it's nap time.

Nevada is growing on me. Dad wants me to inherit the house and live here, and I've been dubious. But I like the mountains and living close to Tahoe and the Bay Area. Hmm. On the other hand, if I sold the house, I could buy one in Portland for about the same price.

Woke up at 6:30 AM. I want to take a shower but don't want to wake Dad up, who has a bedroom near the guest room. Hmm. Oh, maybe I'll close my eyes until 8 AM and then shower. Can't sleep.

We headed out early to Mono Lake. We hit construction. Lots of construction with one lane open for both directions of traffic. So there was a lot of waiting. We finally got to Lee Vining, which is the closest town, and stopped for lunch. I had a patty melt and some pie, which apparently filled me up.

We finally got to the South Tufa, where the rock formations are. There was a bit of a walk to the water. The lake was very clear and beautiful. We were watching a duck and some gulls swim around in the water. But then we needed to head back to get back for dinner on time.

I fell asleep during part of the drive. We hit more construction. We made it back in time though.

We went to a Thai place for dinner. I ordered a salad, but it had no dressing, so it was kind of boring, although it included some good salmon. I didn't eat very much. I also had some mango rolls that were good. I'm taking the salad and rolls on the train with me tomorrow.

Now I'm doing laundry. Then I'll repack and shower and get some sleep. I catch the train again tomorrow.

The time on my phone hadn't updated when my alarm went off, so I got up at 6 AM. Got myself together and my suitcase closed quickly. The guy who was keeping an eye on me showed up early and got my breakfast. I was done in plenty of time before getting to Reno.

At Reno, I had to wait for my bag. When I got it, I was bending over one of my bags when someone peered into my face and it was Dad. We ran an errand to a liquor store and then he drove back to his house. I said hello to my dad's wife Sue and we chatted a little. Then I took a nap. We had dinner here and watched Jeopardy. I ordered my bicycle to be shipped to a bike shop. Now I'm yawning again and am slightly peeved that it's only a little after 8 PM local time.

Dad is being kind of forgetful. He seems more "with-it" than Mom was though.

Given that my phone was dead, and I forgot my travel alarm, I had no way to set an alarm, but I woke up around 6 AM. This time, I was able to take a shower. It's set up for navy showers in that the water only runs for a set period and shuts off. I kept on hitting the button and got a decent shower.

There was a mirror in the roomette that I used for my makeup, so I didn't need a mirror.

We were stopped in Denver for a long time. Over the PA, someone asked if the sleeper cars were ready for the people getting on yet, and the guy who had been taking care of me said that people hadn't gotten off yet. (I made a mental note to scramble off of the train at Reno, but OTOH, it's less than a day to San Francisco, so no one is likely to get on the sleeper cars.) So I started over to the dining car. The guy taking care of me saw me and set that he would be right down to take my order. I asked if he would have time for it, and he said something like "anything for you, darling" so I went back down and waited. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and sausage, and a really good croissant that I shouldn't have eaten but did.

The landscape turned scenic shortly after Denver, when we entered the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The scenery was spectacular. I wound up rationing my GoPro time because the batteries weren't charging well either, and kept going, "this is nice but not GoPro worthy". LOL. I especially liked the area in the canyons by the Colorado River. The conductor warned us that people might "moon" us, but all I saw were people waving to the train.

One item of interest was some wires that run along parallel to the train. They are avalanche signals. If rocks fall on them, whoever maintains the tracks gets a signal where to look and trains get a caution signal. It's a little sobering as to how much of the trip had those wires.

I fell in love with a town near the Colorado River called Glenwood Springs. It oozed charm and also had great scenery. I want to go back there and spend some time.

Overall, I liked Colorado a lot more than I had expected. (And Day 2 is mostly Colorado.)

We stopped at a town at which Amtrak had a store, and the conductor mentioned that they sell phone chargers, so I bought a plug and a USB-C to USB-A cord. The plug didn't work for me, but the cord did! I now had a working cell phone again! I called Dad from the middle of Utah and told him that the train was running on time, so I should be in Reno at 8:30 AM tomorrow. I offered to wait and hang out if he didn't want to leave so early (it's a 1.5 to 2 hour drive), but he said that he'd be there.

Utah? Meh. I know that there are pretty parts of Utah, but this part didn't impress me. If you like desert with jagged rock outcroppings, though, it might be for you. There was some interesting light late in the day, so I spent my time playing with the DSLR.

None of the money has posted to Mom's bank account yet, so I transferred some of my savings to my checking account to pay the plumber. You bet that I'm going to pay myself back.

I bought the pretty shawl that I posted the other day and an aqua dress to go with it. Kauai, here I come!

The plumbers got here around 11:30 AM. They said that the laundry tub needed to be replaced. They took the old one out and went to buy a new one. While they were going to put the new one in, they found a hole in the pipe from the drain going down into the floor. They said that they would need to drill into the floor to replace it. Sigh. They had another job, so they're going to come back later or tomorrow.

I've decided that I want to donate the plastic drawers that the organizer took out of the basement. I'll go donate them after the organizer comes after I get back. I'll put them in the garage for the meanwhile.

I've been emailing Dad about how to contact him if my train is late (which it probably will be). He pointed out that there is a Train Status widget on Amtrak's Web site. He'll check it before he comes to pick me up. I'll call him from Denver (Sunday morning) as a cross-check.

Hmm. Amtrak offers room service for meals for sleeping car passengers. I might eat breakfast in my "roomette" because that sounds kind of decadent (plus I'm not up for light chit-chat in the morning) and venture to the dining car for lunch and dinner.

I don't think that the guys are coming back tonight. I'm going to take a short nap and start packing. The guys called shortly after I lay down to tell me that they aren't coming tonight, and I took it as a sign that I'm not going to have a nap.

Got my lock set on my suitcase. Packed my suitcase to check except for my blazer. Got my clothes sorted for the flight and train trip. My underwear keeps disappearing for no fun reason :) I just ordered some more to put in my suitcase. Socks too. Yay Amazon.

My "jump bag" for the train is packed, except for underwear and socks and one pair of yoga pants that have goop on them. The pink necklace that I wore in some of the pictures unfortunately broke when I tried to get it off. So I raided Mom's jewelry drawer. There's a silver braided choker that's very nice, but a bitch to put on. There's a longer set of silver chains that is very easy to put on. Unfortunately, a set of gray beads that would have looked very nice started falling apart in my hands. (I don't know what's with me tonight.) But I'm wondering if I should wear the lotus necklace.

I want to get up early to get the GoPro and camera sorted, so I need to go to sleep soon.

Holy cow. The plumbers want $5500 to fix the tub and drain. I guess that I need to transfer more money.

The person picking up and delivering Zara's meds doesn't seem to be really "with it," but as long as she gets the meds to me, that's what matters.

Threw myself together because I think that my meeting with the organizer is on Zoom.

Had a really good meeting with the organizer. She thinks that I should meet with an estate sale person sooner rather than later so that they'll know what to keep for the sale and what to donate. They have Saturday appointments, which works for me. And she said that I should go through the house and figure out what are my "must-haves," and set a limit on what I'll bring back. She said that they would get Mom's papers organized. Makes sense. I have a meeting with another organizer on Monday and will make a decision then.

Note to self: bring a death certificate to Dad for the life insurance.

The washer repair guy repaired the washer quickly. Yay.

Oh dear. The little plant that I bought as a replacement for Mom's plant fell over and dried up. I should have kept it in the front yard to keep an eye on it, though the last time that I looked at it, it was okay. I might stop by Home Depot this weekend to see if I can get another one, but it's kind of late in the season. At least I know what I'm looking for.

Got a Kroger order primarily consisting of bottled carbonated water. I was out, and I'm really thirsty today.

I have an appointment for a phone meeting with a grief counselor on a week from Saturday. See, I can get things done, but sometimes I need someone to recommend help that I can get.

Well! The guy dropped by Zara's meds, but he told me that Walmart offers delivery for pet meds. I looked into it, and they don't offer delivery, but they do offer mail order, which I set up. I just need to remember to change the address when I get back to Urbana. I should start a list of places to change the address (done).

The Web cam that I thought of was actually a phone mount, so I ordered a new Web cam for overnight delivery. My next guitar lesson is on Sunday.

I'm trying to decide whether I should hire a TaskRabbit person to pack up the pictures this weekend. I'm kind of peopled out. And I want to get organized for the organizer, which sounds weird, but I want to figure out what I want to keep and get my stuff more organized so that we can concentrate on Mom's stuff. I need to get my books and clothes in order.

I found a book shop that will come here to look at Mom's books.

Interesting. I found my Wild and Sacred Feminine Deck and drew the Muse. Maybe my singing vibes are permeating the house. Maybe Mom's spirit is also inspiring.

I ran out to get my mended clothes and dropped one more off. I stopped at CVS to get post-it notes to mark items that I want to take with me, and they had a bunch of inspirational notebooks that I got too. I came home and opened some clothes packages. I need to figure out what clothes to take with me on my trip this weekend, although there is one tunic that's on its way that I want to wear on the plane or first day of the train trip.

Well, hell. Something is wrong with my selfie stick. I tried on my aqua "peace" shirt with yoga pants and love it. I sort of have a picture of it.

I love the "breathe in, breathe out" ring.

I have a lotus necklace, but the chain was too short, and one chain went down the drain :( I want to go full bohemian when I meet my dad to make his mustache twitch :) It'll work for San Francisco too. One outfit down. I guess that I'll just try on clothes and worry about the fashion show later.

Okay, I have the shirts sorted. I had an avalanche of clothes, so I'm not sure where the black yoga pants went. I need to sort clothes. I need a necklace to wear on the plane with my black tunic. I have one somewhere. I found the yoga pants.

I'm running out of steam. I threw a load of Mom's clothes that were in the dining room plus a couple of my things into the wash. I think that I'm going to go to bed soon.

Oh ouch. I did something to my back while I slept. And the forecasters are saying rain until 1PM.

Woman Within is having a sale. Hmm. I wound up getting two cardigans, a wool dress in Claret, two jean jackets, and two swimsuits. They also had a leather coat that really I liked, but it was expensive and I'm working on having it not fit me. That made me think about looking at leather jackets on ThredUp, and I found a really cheap one that I liked. Oh, fuck it, I got the leather coat. I can always sell it on eBay when it doesn't fit.

Oh crud. The thrift store is now closed on Sundays. So much for bringing Mom's stuff over. I could go on Monday or Tuesday if I get my shower done in the morning.

Now I'm vaguely hungry, but I should probably wait until I'm very hungry. I certainly have lots of stuff to do.

Hmm. If I want to buy a van, I should do so in Bloomington or Springfield. They have CarMax there. And then drive it up here. I'd have to put stuff in storage though. But that beats getting myself out to Grand Rapids. Though how would I get to Bloomington? Huh. There is a bus to Bloomington.

My goal for today is to clean off the kitchen table enough to repot my orchids. Oh, and I need to cut up a pineapple and mangos too.

The cats want foooood nooooow. I've started schlepping stuff upstairs while their dishes are soaking.

I bought a cheap label maker to label my travel shampoo, etc. Once I get the extra pairs of yoga pants, I'll start packing for the California train trip in September. (Do you think that I'm excited about this trip or what?) I'm wondering if I should get a shawl with pockets for San Francisco, which might be cool due to the marine layer.

Now it's raining again, and I need to take out recycling after my voice lesson. Ugh.

Oh cool. My voice teacher is going to give me guitar lessons for singers. She does want me to learn the notes as well as the chords though, which is good. She brought up music theory, but then said that some of that would be included in guitar. I might as well take advantage of not being able to play piano by working on guitar.

Also, working on "Till There Was You" is really opening my voice up. I'm so happy!

It occurred to me to book an airport shuttle to and from Metro Airport for the California trip. Hmm, should I book one from O'Hare to the hotel?

I'm singlehandedly supporting Woman Within, but I got some tunic tops to wear on the train (and plane). It'll be very comfortable and stylish. And they could double as pajamas in a pinch. And I found a blue and black cape cardigan for cheap on Poshmark to go with them.

The cats want fooooood agaaaaain. I exist to serve. I fed myself too. I had a taste for cheese, and tonight's meal had cheddar in it. Awesome.

Okay. I scanned the receipt for fixing Mom's car, and sent the receipts that I have to Mom's trust administrator. I need to write a letter to the neighbors, who want me to pay the bills for trimming trees of ours that grew over the fence, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.