After a run of very nice warm winter weather out here on the hilltop, while much of the rest of the country has undergone a particularly cold and brutal winter, we have momentarily reverted to the cold and wet that winter is generally thought to be about. It’s 50 degrees out and pouring rain today, but the good news seems to be that the rain will end some time this morning and the temperature will…
Our nearby neighbors have five kids. You don’t see that much these days. I have no idea if that’s a religiously driven situation or just a family plan preference. They are lovely people and we have a good relationship all up and down the age range, having employed each and every child except the youngest in one household chore or another. They have even hired my son, Tom, to do some business videos for the…
Today I am wearing a t-shirt given to me by my daughter Carolyn. It is a light blue shirt that simply says, Easy Breezy. I suppose that it might be a statement about the weather here on the hilltop. Today, a day in early February, it’s scheduled to be in the high 70s, which usually means it will end up being in the low 80s. Right now at 8am its sunny and 65. From the…
The Tyrol (or Tirol) is a historic region in the Alps that straddles the Austrian-Italian border. There’s the Austrian Tyrol, which forms the Austrian state of Tyrol (Bundesland Tirol) with its capital of Innsbruck and South Tyrol (Südtirol/Alto Adige), the southern part that became Italian territory after World War I. That is now an autonomous province of Italy with its capital being Bolzano/Bozen (the place of my state’s heritage). There’s area is still largely German-speaking…
Everyone knows that health is wealth, but it is also said that “Health is not valued till sickness comes”. Well, this past Sunday morning, for the first time in a long time, I awoke to the beginning symptoms of a cold. A typical cold follows a fairly predictable pattern over 7-10 days. It starts with scratchy or sore throat, sneezing, and fatigue. Then symptoms intensify – nasal congestion becomes heavy, runny nose with clear or…
Like in most of North America, spring does not officially start on this hilltop until march 20 with the Vernal Equinox. However, with tempertures trending for over a week now into the mid-80s, it’s hard not to think of this as a spring season. Both my plants and my gardening instincts are starting to bud. Last week I planted nine new cacti/succulents mostly along the lower drive and roadway. I am noticing those areas more…
Today I took two sports jackets into my local tailor to have them significantly cut down to size. On Sunday, I went to put on one to wear to my sister’s 75th surprise birthday party and I felt like I was putting on a moo-moo. I was swimming in the jacket. That caused me to take that and another jacket in for the resizing. I have found a decent local tailor that is very reasonable…
Last night we attended a surprise birthday party for my older sister, Kathy. Kathy is three years my senior, so she was turning 75. As an aside, both Kim and I are quite amazed at how young and vital she seems at 75, an age we have spent a lifetime thinking is old and yet which Kathy Reid very well. She is still very engaged in her architectural work and goes out into the field…
Every morning, Kim spends her time with her puzzles. People are drawn to puzzles for a surprisingly rich mix of reasons. The most obvious one is the satisfaction of solving something. There’s a genuine dopamine hit when pieces of a puzzle click together or you crack a solution. It’s one of the few activities in life with clear, achievable “wins” that you fully control. There is also the mindful escape aspect of puzzling. Puzzles demand…
Yes, today is my 72nd birthday and I feel great. I am two years older than my father was when he died and the same age as my maternal grandfather when he died (in an accident), but still 28 years shy of the age goal that my mother attained. I’m sitting here thinking about my day and find myself thinking about how fortunate I am and how good I feel about my life at this…