We bought a house in May

It's not a stunner, but as we told Rebecca (who we co-bought the house with since she'll be living in while in Georgia), the outside is a blank slate for upgrades.

I'd put a photo up, but folks can reverse search images so I'd rather not post the address for those who do such things :)

Last month was our 25th milestone

I'd already written a third of this and then magically deleted it, so that was fun.

All to say that in May we celebrated our 25th anniversary, and it was awesome.

Originally our plans had been to do an all-inclusive in Cancun, but as the time drew near (we'd scheduled back in November) we realized this pandemic was still going strong and leaving the country wasn't a great idea. So after more thought we settled on an area we'd seen on TV for the Outdoor Classic (ice hockey).... Lake Tahoe. Booking our flights there routed us through Atlanta, so we were able to visit with Becca both ways for a bit too.

All during this pandemic we've been up to Maryland a few times to see K, been to NC a couple times to see N, and seen R a couple times in Georgia. No luck getting to the UK to see J, and he didn't make it home even for Christmas, worried about the quarantining both ways or possible last minute country closures. He is scheduled to come home for the summer tomorrow... cross your fingers it all goes well. First on the scheduled... vaccinations.  Ian and I were both vaccinated back in January, but still mask up when we go indoors with crowds (we live next to a mall) because of these highly contagious variants making their way over.  But vaccines still matter, so he's going ASAP.

So we made it to (south) Lake Tahoe on a Saturday, for a week of relaxation. Our anniversary fell in the time between the closure of winter activities and the opening of summer activities - no people! Several things were closed or limited hours, but that's right up our alley anyway. 

Tahoe is not a secret, but it was completely new to us who usually hit the beach for our vacations. On Sunday we checked out the little town that's split by Stateline Road between Nevada casinos and hotels on one side, and a California ski village with shops and restaurants on the other. Monday we drove around the entire lake, with stops at the 1960 Olympic Games village in Squaw Valley (currently undergoing a name change for obvious reasons... which meant that there were no souvenirs to be had that didn't have SQUAW all over them), and then the Donner Memorial Park in Truckee.

Sad remaining snow.

These cones are massive.

Not many countries in the 1960 winter Olympics

When the Donner's were traveling, the snow was THIS high.

Tree.

On Tuesday, our anniversary, we decided that the weather would allow us to take on what so many people go to the Tahoe and the Sierra's for... hiking.  So we're not real hikers, obviously, but the Eagle Falls hike was nearby and super easy. So easy in fact that we decided to go ahead and take our time up to Eagle Lake, into the Desolation Wilderness.

Desolation Wilderness is beyond the normal bounds of the park authorities, and usually requires registering with the park rangers before entering.  Eagle Lake is a natural and easy destination, but the trails continue on for miles beyond to more lakes and higher peaks and if you don't know what you're doing (like us) you don't go there.  But Eagle Lake had an obvious, if slightly more challenging than Eagle Falls, path and we didn't have anywhere else to be, so off we went. Huffing and puffing and taking breaks, the only person who got hurt was me (on level ground, I might add, and here we are weeks later and my ankle is still a little off), and it was a delightful time.

On the way up...

"Flat" ground

The Lake was lovely and a great place to take a snack break.

We were wiped and ready to get some lunch and return to the hotel. The afternoon was lazy with some time in the outdoor hot tub to proactively treat the sore muscles to come - and it worked.  We weren't sore the next day when we took on a couple escape rooms, played in a casino hotel arcade, and attended a live performance magic show. If you're in Lake Tahoe, check out Puzzle Room for some escapes that are fun and affordable.

Thursday we completed a third escape room before going to an early dinner at Sage Restaurant in one of the hotels. This was our official anniversary dinner and we'd wanted a view of the sunset over the lake. For a number of reasons, it wasn't a perfect dinner, and that included the lack of a sunset due to a snowstorm blowing in over the lake. 

Over the course of the week we had every season and it was kind of delightful to also have snow, even the next day when signs popped up on on our drive out of Tahoe that said the road was treacherous and cars should be equipped appropriately. We did make it over the ridge and the downward stretch towards Reno was completely dry and deserty. Since our flight was early Saturday morning we'd decided to overnight in Reno across the street from the airport, but with time on our hands we checked out one of the local casino hotels and did... yes, one more escape room at the GSR.

Throughout the week we'd grocery shopped for some snacks to keep in our suite, we are not against spending time together indoors watching movies, reading, snacking, and enjoying the fireplaces while on vacation. We did go to a few restaurants. Base Camp Pizza (get the Thai chicken) was good with nice outdoor seating, Kilani's was excellent for the food if not the decor, Sage was fine but for the price it should have been better, Creative Crepes were good (though do plan to give them time as they only have 2 crepe pans and each is made fresh), and a couple times at Joe's Sports Bar to watch the Capitals lose in the playoffs.

It was a fantastic time for both of us, and we're reminded once again how much we enjoy traveling and especially traveling together.

Happy Anniversary, love. Let's do something fun again next year. Or in June.

OK. So what do we do when we're now in double "lockdown"?

Pandemic and... post-insurgency military presence? *sigh* 

We watch TV. A lot of TV. Eventually there will be no TV left to watch.

"Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults" - We both assumed this would be a crazy, over-the-top documentary, even knowing the ending before it started, but it was so much not that. It made us both sad.

"Murder on Middle Beach" - A documentary made by a former SCAD student about the murder of his mother. It's a story we hadn't heard and while we'd hoped for a better resolution, the story is compelling.

"Lovecraft Country" - filled with mystery, monsters, and science fiction, and set in segregated 1950s USA, this one really entertained.  We recommend it (yes, there's sex and violence and some language) for being so different and well-told.

"Mr. Robot" - a great series that hadn't been spoiled for us so we didn't see the ending coming. It's a mind-bender and a lot of fun to watch in a sort of "alternate now."

"The Masked Singer" - what's not to love?

"The Masked Dancer" - I was curious, Ian indulged me.

Yes, more 90-Day Fiance.  Does it get old? Yes, yes it does, but it's also mindless and we do other things while it makes noise in the background.

But guess what, hockey is back and with the funky scheduling there is So Much Hockey to watch! Yay!

Pandemic related stuff:

Food: We've started a Blue Apron subscription for 3 meals a week. The program supplies all the ingredients and the recipes, and it's so nice to avoid the "what's for dinner?" especially on work nights. We've really enjoyed it and are slowly learning some cooking techniques as well. Some of the recipes have been amazing.  I'd say 2 or 3 have kind of missed the mark.  We make our meal choices several weeks before they are delivered and it's been a great adventure in new foods and flavors. It's also great to keep us out of the grocery store, so now we're investigating whether grocery delivery make sense for us.

Fogging: Our glasses fog when we're masked, like everyone else. We tried NerdWax and found that it just doesn't cut it. First off, it has to be applied every day. Just be aware. Then, it doesn’t prevent your glasses from fogging, it just fogs.... differently. Normal fogging is opaque, still happens over time. But if you’re only walking into the store, this can work for you because the first minute or two, it really seems to work - the glasses fog some and then immediately unfog with each breath, which is nice. But after a few minutes, the moisture gathers not so much as fog but as a watery film that is just as hard to see through as fogging. Everything goes wobbly, like if you open your eyes while swimming underwater. Wipe it off a couple times, and eventually, you’ve wiped off the NerdWax.

Vaccine: Due to weird situations with the deployment of the vaccine, somehow the State Department received a number of vials and those who wanted were able to get it beginning Dec 29. I had my first on Dec 29 and Ian on Dec 30. Ian had minimal reaction, I had a pretty sore arm for 24 hours. I had my second shot on Jan 15 and was pretty uncomfortable for 24 hours with a sore arm, headache, fever/chills, upset stomach. Ian's second isn't scheduled for a bit yet.

Game: We've done a boxed escape room game (Exit) and a boxed mystery game (HuntAKiller). A few tips - If you play the Exit game, photocopy all the pages prior to playing the game.  The reason? It's one-time use, and it felt SO wasteful after a 1-hour game to just throw it all away. After completion, I looked through to see if there was a way to kind of rebuild it, but no. So - make copies of all the pages in color. and sort of rebuild the book (the one we did was only about 8 pages) before you play.  Having said all that, the game was fine.  The puzzles were similar to basic escape room puzzles and there wasn't really a story.  For HuntAKiller we chose a "premium" all-in-one box (rather than a current monthly subscription or an older subscription that's boxed) and truth be told, it was just OK. The biggest issue we had was there was no real starting place, we didn't know who we were in this game world.  While there is a bag of stuff to filter through and some on-line clips to watch (for us, they were about the town we had just moved in to), that was it. And at the end when we'd figured out the puzzles and made a guess, there wasn't a way to figure out if we were right without being told the final answer. Unlike an escape room where if the key doesn't fit you try something else, in this if you guessed the key the only way to know if you were right was if the answer was handed to you.  We didn't care for that.  Thankfully we were right, but still, ya know?

That's what's up with us.  How about you?

6 DAYS

SERIOUSLY.

6 days.

6.

Hold. My Beer.

We talked about this.

2021 arrived.

Hello 2021

2012: GO

2013: OUTSIDE

2014: CHANGE

2015: SIMPLIFY

2016: MINDFUL

2020: PACE

2021: BREATHE

If I'd known what 2020 was going to be like, Breathe would have been last year.  But now that we've been holding our breath for nearly a full year, it's a good reminder that that is, well... unsustainable. We're all turning a little blue.

So - Breathe. Yeah. Good word.

Now that's out of the way.

Here are some ideas for how to start this year off, some thoughts on how to make the next few months, or even year, a little better right off:

Learn your blood type. 

Make your To Read list for the year.

Clean out your Inbox and your saved items folders.

Buy/Make a new face mask. (You deserve it.)

Clean out your medicine boxes.
Store your expired meds, unsafe for flushing, for the next drug takeback day.

Dump out your ice cubes.

Buy a succulent.

Hand wash your sweaters.

Replace lightbulbs that are burned out, or ones that aren't. Maybe use these.

Clean out the tray under your toaster.

Run your coffee pod machine with a cleaning cycle.

Snip the vacuum brush roller clean, and wash the vacuum filters.

Launder your kitchen and bathroom mats.

Vacuum under your couch.

Turn/flip your mattress.

I realize that it's been a while. You understand. What with the election and the pandemic, my sleep was disturbed and trying to read didn't transport me away like TV and movies and Animal Crossing did. Now with brighter skies ahead, there's definitely a glimmer of calm seeping in to my brain and reading is back on the menu. I'll finish A Promised Land.

The holidays were special this year. My youngest was in the UK by choice, even if it was a forced choice by restrictions, lockdowns, and quarantines, and called in by Messenger. My Marine was given 48 hours leave. My Marvel kid drove to Jax, NC to pick up the Marine and then made their way here. She stayed with us the longest and her best friend joined the day after Christmas for a few days. Our oldest came down for the holiday afternoon with her SO. My parents called in over Messenger. It was as right as it could be with games, gifts, laughter, annoyances, food, and more togetherness than we've had in a long while.

So here we are.

2021. May it never say "hold my beer."

On to September

Jonathon came home from the UK on 10 June and started teleworking on 15 June, he's been keeping himself busy while social distancing and earning the monies, while Ian enjoyed his decompressing homeleave time. A couple weeks ago Ian started working again, and goes into the office a couple times a week with me.  We scooter in on those days with our brand new electric commuter scooters.  It takes roughly 25 minutes from door to desk. The pandemic continues though, and while we're getting out more on our scooters it's a good thing we enjoy spending time at home. With the hot and muggy summer days it's not hard at all to sit in the A/C and watch a lot of TV and movies.

On that note...

We've watched: The Third Man,  Midsommar, My Inconvenient Truth, Chinatown, Apocalypse Now, Alien, 13th, Jaws, Apocalypse Now, RoboCop, Shutter Island, Inception, Bonnie and Clyde, The Hospital, Dog Day Afternoon, the doc The Jinx, a doc on Galaxy Quest. Some of those were rewatches.

TV shows have been a little less diverse.  I convinced him to try "Castle Rock," a series that works in season 1 until the very last episode, but we'll still try out season 2 at some point. "Ramy" was OK, Ian enjoyed it more than I did. "Picard" was really good.  A totally different feel to other Star Trek series, but definitely the right creative move.  

There's been a lot of 90-Day Fiancee, coupled with 90-Day: The Other Way and 90-Day: Happily Ever After?  I definitely need a break from all that "reality" TV. We do recommend "Travel Man" with Richard Ayoade, "Upload," "Modern Love," and the new "Unsolved Mysteries." And of course, QI. At the times we need background, you can't go wrong with Dr. Who.

All in all, a lot of quiet downtime at home, amidst the continued bread baking and dinner making. In May, my last grandparent passed away and I've spent a bit of time on ancestry.com building what I can of our family lines. Some old photographs and documents have surfaced from my grandmother's items and I'm slowly creating a history - a superficial history, granted - for my kids. 

Animal Crossing and The Witcher books and walks to Starbucks take up the rest of my quiet time.

Katherine came down for a few days, Jonathon stayed with her for a few days, then Becca was here for about a month with Mokka.  Nicholas is still in Norway and we look forward to seeing him soon.

Take care of yourselves. 

Not even 6 months in to the year.

It's been a week. Like opposite sound waves that cancel each other out, it's been a week of great highs and extreme lows. When you sit in the middle you're not sure what to listen for or what direction to turn.

What a week.  But what else should I expect from 2020.

---

My last grandparent died yesterday.  My favorite grandparent, my Babcia, who never had an unkind word to say to anyone, who loved her family above all else, who had nothing but smiles and food for everyone who knew her. She was steadfast and reliable and lived a life of challenge and loss and laughter and history.  She was easy to love and she will be so, so missed.

---

We've spent a lot of time watching the news. There are a lot of thoughts in my head, but they are mine and they have no place speaking over the words that those marching and protesting voice and what they live daily. Words are what I have and they are insufficient and have no purpose but to make me feel better. And this trauma is not about me.

---

Ian came home Wednesday night.  He's home, he's home for good. It's a wonderful thing.  It was a long 11 months, 11 months we hadn't planned on being apart, with about 7 weeks together in those 11 months, which sounds great, and was great, but still.... 11 months. But now he's home, and home is good. The sun is shining, the weather is gorgeous, we have some great food and each other and a cat.

---

The launch yesterday was a shining spectacle of ingenuity.  Kudos. We watched liftoff and then again today for the docking and hatch opening and it really is an accomplishment to be proud of. We've been watching "For All Mankind."

---

And the brightest moment yesterday, 5/30/20, was Rebecca's graduation from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Summa cum laude with a BFA in Production Design... she has worked fiercely for her degree, cultivated relationships, earned recognition, and pushed through uncertainty and every challenge thrown at her. We all see what's ahead - more uncertainty, more challenge, more work. Her industry is exploring how it can reopen with new safety guidelines and she will process through it together with the rest, and we'll be there to assist as we can. We can't restart Amazon or Netflix or any part of the entertainment industry but we can help her with other things as needed. 

---

Several horrible things.

--- 

Several great things, and we need them, all of them. These huge things. And the small things, the tiny things, the minuscule things. The birds at the bird feeder, the puffy clouds, the hand holding, the Starbucks, the comfy couch, the clean water, the lack of rockets, the ability to stay safe at home. 

We are lucky and we are privileged, and we will not speak above the voices that need to be heard. We will use our votes and our funds to do what we can to amplify the voices that do matter.