Yard work

Going meta for a moment. Weekend posts are going to come all at once for the foreseeable future. Rather than recaps, I prefer separate posts so there’s a record of the day to look back on, but there’s never time in the evenings to sit down, write and post. Those evenings when I have time to write, I simply spew, getting down everything so I don’t forget what happened or what was said or what stood out. Much editing is required.

Today is pretty easy to recap. I worked in the yard this morning. We’ve had lots of rain and heat this summer, and every unwanted tree, vine and weed has taken over. I had a cluster of volunteer locust trees to saw down and poison with stump killer. I let them go too long so it’s my own fault that I clobbered myself on the head more than once. I also nearly cut my wrist open with a bow saw when I carelessly reached for something with my free hand while continuing to saw. I went inside and dug out a pair of leather gloves after that.

I had just finished clipping and sawing everything to lengths that the garbage company will accept when what should appear in my driveway but Blaine’s ultra shiny SUV.

Under other circumstances I would have been thrilled to see him. Current circumstances had me dressed in an ancient pair of frayed jeans, my beloved Badass Brooklyn Dog Rescue t-shirt and beat up tennis shoes. I was unshowered, sweaty and had leaves stuck in my hair. I was holding clippers in one gloved hand and a bow saw in the other. Conversely, Blaine was all spiffed up in his Sunday best, looking crisp and sharp and somehow even more appealing because he’d left his sunglasses on and, damn, suit plus sunglasses is a really good look on him.

“Good morning!” he smiled, and even though I couldn’t see his eyes I knew by the size of his smile that they would be full of amusement. He said the senior ladies group at church had asked him to deliver a plate of cookies to Eve’s mom. He’d just come from the hospital, and since it’s in my neighborhood…

I had at least brushed my teeth before coming outside, so I smiled back.“Good morning!” I held up the bow saw in front of me. “Don’t come any closer.”

He did anyway and reached down to pick up a few of the small branches that had broken off the trees. He tossed them into the fully packed garbage container, then, having proven to himself that I was harmless even though I was fully weaponized, he gave me a quick kiss. “I can help,” he offered.

Only if you wipe your memory of this visage, I thought. I hadn’t planned to do any more today. Next week I’ll tackle a rose bush that has gone rogue. It’s nothing I can’t take care of myself.

We talked for a short time. He passed along thanks from Eve and Paul for helping with Izzy on short notice. I said I hope they realize I’ll always be available whenever they need me. Blaine said, “Like everyone else, they don’t want to put anyone out by asking for help if they can take care of it themselves.”

“I see what you did there,”

“Good.”

Blaine went home and I showered and went to Mica’s. I helped her with some weeds that are in her neighbor’s yard but are growing through the fence. Besides looking terrible, one of the weeds has thorny stickers that the little white dog’s fur attracts like a magnet. We pulled what we could and then she sprayed with weed killer.

We took the little white dog to the dog park, grabbed takeout on the way home, watched some “Blue Bloods,” took the furry thing for a final walk, and I came home to do enough laundry to see me through the next day or two.

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Perfect walks

It has been awhile since I’ve seen Izzy. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of me walking into the house all by myself. She greeted me with her usual happiness but then walked down the hallway to see if Paul and Eve were there and wasn’t sure what to think when she didn’t find them.

I took her for a walk right away. She did beautifully. No pulling, no going crazy, just absolutely perfect loose leash walking. I rewarded her by taking her around an extra block.

Back at home she was still uneasy that she couldn’t find her people. She kept going to the doorway of the bedroom and barking. I could distract her with a toy for a few minutes at a time, but she would always return to the bedroom to look for them. She settled down after a little while. I sat on the floor so she could lay against me and chew on a toy. I took full advantage of her state of quiet by watching the first couple innings of the Cubs game. They trailed by six at the end of the first. The Cardinals have some kind of crazy juju over them this season.

Blaine called after he dropped Allison off at home. He let me know that Paul was back and I could leave. I took Izzy outside one more time, gave her a treat and a kiss on the head and went on my way.

Blaine and I hadn’t made plans for any part of the weekend in case either of us could be of help to Eve and Paul but we had agreed to get together at his place and do nothing together.

We went for a long walk through his neighborhood. The temperature was in the seventies and there was an intermittent breeze--perfection in my heat-hating world. As we walked, we swapped information about our days and the things on our minds. I suddenly felt something overwhelming. It was fleeting and I couldn’t pin it down. I hesitated for half a step and threw off our pace. Blaine paused until I fell in step again.

“Was there something there?” he asked, looking back for something on the ground. I told him no. He repositioned our hands so instead of loosely interlaced fingers, they were palm to palm, a more secure hold.

After passing a couple of driveways, Blaine observed, “You’ve gone quiet.”

I responded with silence because I didn’t know what to say. “Well,” I offered finally, “you should enjoy the quiet moments when you get them. I can yammer on pretty easily, as you know by now.”

“‘Yammer on.’ I like that. It doesn’t describe you though.” He’ll learn it does.

His neighborhood is a giant maze. There aren’t blocks you can walk around, just long meandering streets that horseshoe and lead to cul-de-sacs or roundabouts. I get lost if I drive into it from any direction but the one that leads directly to his house. I expected we would turn around at some point and backtrack. Instead, Blaine turned us down a golf cart path. We walked along the side yards of houses large enough to require two, sometimes three, air conditioner units. We finished the walk by crossing the golf course. I asked how many homeowner association rules we were breaking. I had gotten to read the bylaws, covenants and other rules a while back when Blaine was going through the approval process for adding a roof to his deck. I couldn’t live in a neighborhood where neighbors could boss me around. As I told Blaine, I’m a rule follower but I don’t like to be told what to do.

“The HOA doesn’t set rules for the golf course so we’re safe from the,” he said. “We are violating one or two rules of the golf club. If anyone asks, we’re looking for a lost ball.”

We weren’t on the course long. We crossed one green and were in Blaine’s back yard. The roof over the deck is finished, and it’s lovely. What was a wide open, often hot space now a more private, much cozier spot. We poured drinks and sat at the patio table, the arms of our chairs pushed together. Sometimes we leaned so our shoulders touched and sometimes turned so our legs did.

My phone vibrated on the table and Blaine’s text alert sounded. It was Eve letting us know the doctor had just left and what he had said. We replied separately and set the phones down again. We looked at each other in the way you do when you’re hoping the other person has an answer.

We remained outside until the fireflies had gone for the night.

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Friendship

I peeked in the mirror before I left work and thought my face looked unusually shiny. I keep a cosmetic bag of incidentals—comb, Neosporin, bandages, mascara, pressed powder and the like—at work for emergencies. I don't use any of it often but have used all of it at least once. I pulled out the pressed powder and because I was in a hurry, I opened it and began dabbing. By the time my brain processed what it was seeing I already looked like a Kabuki performer. I grabbed a tissue and wiped it off as best I could then found a compact of powder makeup and dabbed to repair. Fortunately, I was heading to a dimly lit sports bar.

I met Eve, Paul and Blaine at a dive of a place that’s in my neighborhood and near where Eve's mom is for the next couple of weeks. The food was really good but it isn’t a place I’m in a hurry to return to. Aesthetics and wait-staff attitude aside, it was a nice couple of hours. Eve was tired and quieter than normal but Paul and Blaine were at the top of their games.

Paul has to go out of town for the day tomorrow. He asked if I would go over and walk Izzy at noon. Blaine asked Eve if he and Allison could visit her mom tomorrow afternoon. She lit up.

I’m so glad they have Blaine right now, and I’m so glad he and Allison had them.

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This and that

The urologist is retiring and suing his employer for age discrimination. Also, he’s looking for someone to reupholster a teak sofa.

Henry visited my office today. He’s just back from back-to-back-to-back, etc., trips, some for business and some personal. He and Julia attended a family wedding in Maine, and now he wants to retire to a quaint village they found. Julia, however, refuses to live in a town where they shut the water off for the winter.

Upon arriving home I found two cans of wasp spray by my back door. Shortly after, my brother called to see if I had seen them. I told him I had and asked if I had a wasp problem. He didn’t know; the spray was on sale.

After a particularly annoying meeting at work, I sent a text to Blaine asking his secret for maintaining his cool at all times. He replied, “Decades of practice and occasionally Maker’s Mark.”

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Reading

I’m listening to an audiobook about the sinking of the Lusitania and reading a book published in 1915 about the Lutheran church in America.

Overnight I became an 89-year-old, gray haired, tweed jacketed gent who has doilies protecting the arm of the most comfortable reading chair.

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Hospital

I’m not good with situations such as this: Eve’s Mom is in the hospital for tests  to figure out something that is baffling but not life threatening. I have never met Eve’s mom so it isn’t appropriate to stop by the hospital; however, I want to offer Eve support during a stressful time. So far I’ve relied on a text here and there to let her know I’m thinking of them.

Until now I’ve never given much thought to the way our friendship has formed through work and now Blaine. And Izzy. It’s strange to be connected through a very close friend but to only be a casual friend yourself.

I’ll probably continue with the texts for the time being. I wish I was someone who always knew what to do and what to say.

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Yeah, toast!

Typical for Saturdays now, I went to Mica’s in the morning so we could take the little white dog to the dog park before the heat of the day hit. Until now we have avoided teaching him “dog park,” because we didn’t want to have to start spelling that in conversation. We’ve changed our minds with the hope that he will learn to associate car rides with fun. I don’t know. We spend too much time trying to out think a Bichon Schnauzer. 

After we dropped him off and made sure he was cooling down OK, we went with me to my office. I needed Mica’s help to set up a backdrop and be my guinea pig as I experimented with camera settings and poses. I need to retake staff portraits. What they have now makes everyone look like they’re in a mug shot.

It was back to her house and the little white dog. He was all about me which doesn’t happen that often anymore.

I told her about the Paris conversation and how it didn’t go the way I thought it would. All these months I’ve dreaded and tried to avoid bringing up past relationships--that one in particular. I thought it would point out all of my flaws, all of the reasons he should look elsewhere. It’s true I didn’t give him blow by blow details, but I also think there was only one loser in that whole situation and it wasn’t me.

Mica rubbed behind the little white dog’s ears and told him in a talking-to-the-dog voice. “And it only took her more years than you’ve been alive to figure that out!”

“Who’s not as funny as she thinks she is?” I asked him. He abstained from commenting.

After stopping at home for a shower and a change into non-furry clothes, I went to Blaine’s. The roof over the deck is coming along. They expect to finish it next week. He told me he got lucky. The developer built the first three sets of townhouses with footings that will support the addition of a roof. Further down the block, they’ll have to have new ones poured if they want the addition. I nodded thoughtfully as he shared this.

I don’t think I mentioned that his new Bluetooth speakers arrived. Those who delivered them had no idea what he was talking about when he said they were to set them up too. He hired the daughter of someone he works with to do it. She recommended arranging all of them in the open space of the kitchen, living and dining rooms for more of a surround sound. It sounds great. He moved the old ones into the bedroom. In the smaller space, they sound awesome too.

“Now all you have to do is learn how to use Spotify or Pandora,” I teased.

Propped up on pillows, we set up a Spotify account on his phone and started saving music. Whereas I look for whatever springs to mind and organize it into playlists later (or never), he needs to be methodical. Genre, artist, playlist.

It was dark when we realized we hadn’t gotten around to having dinner. “See,” I said, “this is why I embrace peanut butter toast. You need a little something, you stick a piece of bread in the slot and you get toast.”

“Toast!” he exclaimed.

My mouth dropped open. “You do not know the toast song.”

“All around the country and coast to coast,” he began, “people always say what do you like most? I don’t want to brag, I don’t want to boast, I always tell ‘em I like toast.”

“Yeah, TOAST!”

As if I needed another reason to like him.

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