songbird's crazy world

 In last week’s Saturday 9 I wrote about my trip to Colonial Williamsburg when I was 14 years old.  It  was the first time I visited that place,  but not the last.  My sisters and I took my daughters to Williamsburg in 1996.  And Drew and I visited in 2021.  I blogged about it  here . I’ve only visited in the summer, when the weather is extremely hot and humid.  Last time I was there, I told Drew “If we ever come back it should be in the fall.” So … We are planning a trip for the fall.

 We had some sad news in the music industry.  Two icons have died, Sly Stone passed away last week.  His influence cannot be underestimated. And then came the new that Brian Wilson was gone.  The BeachBoys …the surfing sound …

 It rained all day yesterday, but stopped early enough for the Ducks to play their Saturday night game.  And we had tickets.     Yes, that’s me in a sweatshirt and windbreaker. Drew likes to keep score. Yes, that’s his name … A foul ball hit the empty seat next to me and landed in the cup holder!  You couldn’t do that if you tried. Alas, they lost. But it was fireworks night. And at least the car has a good heater ….

  I Will See You in C-U-B-A Welcome to  Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! Saturday 9: I Will See You in C-U-B-A (2010)     Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it  here . This song was chosen in honor of Father's Day.    1) In this week's song, Lucie Arnaz encourages us to hop a ship and join her in Cuba. Is your passport up to date? Yes.  I renewed it just before our Caribbean cruise in 2022.  2) She sings that Cuba is a great place to enjoy wine and Panatelas. Do you like the smell of a good cigar? 

 No way.   About 25 years ago I worked...

 Drew is far more patient than I am.  But he’s finally done. I would have been done awhile ago, There is a company that used to have brick and mortar stores.  Drew did business with this company for many years.  He bought many appliances from them, including a television, a lawn mower, a snow blower and a gas grill.  It was a great place to shop.   So when he needed a new gas grill, the first company he thought about … but they don’t have stores anymore, they’re strictly on line.  He bought the grill on May 5, with a promised delivery date of May 11.  He even paid an additional fee so that the technician would assemble the grill. It was not delivered on May 11.   It was rescheduled.  And canceled.  And rescheduled. Wash, rinse, repeat. Many phone calls, many excuses. It was supposed to be delivered on June 12.  It wasn’t.  They told him it would’ve delivered between 11 and 2 on Friday the13th. It wasn’t. He called. “This i...

 I took another walk.  Lots of aircraft overhead. It’s been hot and humid.  I think summer is here.  The community pool opens this weekend.  We should go  pick up our pool pass soon. I added a second bird feeder.  Put it where the cats can watch the birds.  Cat TV! I’m loving baseball.  The Mets.  The FIRST PLACE  Mets. The “best record in baseball” Mets. We’ve been watching the games on TV.  I hope to get back to Citi Field later this season. It’s so expensive, but definitely worth it.  In the meantime, we’re going to a Ducks game Saturday night.  They’re doing well, too. It’s fireworks night, so it’ll be a lot of fun. I trying to figure out what this plant is.  We have four of them in our yard, and several neigh I have them as well.  They can grow to four or five feet tall. Change of decor on our mantle. Yes, I think it’s summer.

 That tail …    Duchess is relaxing on the couch.  This is her new favorite spot.    Dreaming Shadow likes boxes.    Hanging in the living room

 Went back to the mechanic Wednesday morning.  It took all of three minutes to pay for the car.  I’m glad that’s over. In theory the gas grill (finally) arrives tomorrow. I’m not hopeful. I took a much shorter walk Wednesday afternoon. I saw robins. This bird likes a unique perch. Is that a mockingbird? And, as promised, the graduation display. Another pleasant walk. 

 So the mechanic called, my car was fixed and ready to be picked up. So Drew drove me to the shop.   The car is still at the mechanic’s. Computer glitch.  I wanted to use my credit card to pay.  My bank’s computer wouldn’t talk to the mechanic’s.  I have to go back tomorrow. Drew didn’t want to leave until the credit card problem was sorted out, but he had to go to rehearsal.   The shop is about 2.5 miles from our house.  I regularly walk 2 or 3 miles when I walk around the neighborhood.  It was a nice afternoon.  I decided to walk home. So I got to see parts of the neighborhood I hadn’t seen before. I had to walk about a mile before I was back on familiar streets. A unique lawn ornament. A couple of interesting houses. I love the name of this church. St. Bernard. I saw a robin  And a low flying plane. Three days ago this was a house.  I knew something was happening when I saw that the property was fenced off. Like we really need an...

It’s cold and dreary again.  We get a few days of summer, and then it reverts to misery.  Sigh. And don’t ask about my car.  Or the saga of the gas grill.  But baseball … watching the Mets … the first place Mets … is exciting. I haven’t mentioned my weight loss efforts in awhile.  I hit a plateau.  The numbers on the scale didn’t change.  It was a bit frustrating.  But Monday morning … I got on the scale and I’d lost 3 pounds.  That’s not a lot, but … well, it brings my weight down to a number I haven’t seen since I was in my 20’s.  It feels so good.  I have been trying for so long … It’s fun to buy clothes again. When the weather is nasty and I can’t take a walk, I use fitness videos on YouTube,  I’m actually craving the movement.   I feel like a different person. 

 The house that I kept talking about, the one where the Christmas decorations stayed up until Good Friday?  There’s a huge “congratulations graduate” display on the lawn.  I think it might be a college graduation, there’s no indication of which school they’re graduating from.  I’ll try to post a picture later.  We went out to dinner Saturday night.   Nothing fancy, just a casual sit down place.  A chain restaurant. No reservations, but you can join the waitlist on the website and wait in your car, they’ll text you when your table is ready.  They started doing this during Covid to keep the waiting area from getting overcrowded.  Just another way the pandemic changed all our lives. Drew watched on his phone as we went from #19 to #18 to #15 on the list …until finally our table was ready. The place also has a gluten sensitive menu.  Much appreciated. The restaurant was in Farmingdale, just down the road from Republic Airport. It’s a small, ...

And today’s theme … I’m sure you’ll figure it out … Yeah, I admit to being a bit obsessed…

 I always hate it when one of our favorite restaurants closes.  Even more so if it’s a local business, not a chain. Back in 2019 we found a quirky sandwich shop called Irving’s Pastrami.  Real mom and pop shop.  Food was great, different from anyplace else, but the business really didn’t fit with the vibe of the neighborhood.  So they relocated, which brought the store closer to where we live.  At the beginning of April we decided to get food from Irving’s.  The shop was closed, and a sign on the door said  they would reopen the second week of April.  They didn’t.  Google marked them as “temporarily closed”. Yesterday their website disappeared, and Yelp says the business is permanently closed. Their social media is gone, too. I can only speculate. Sigh.  

  Hold On  Welcome to  Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! Saturday 9: Hold On (1990) Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it  here .     1) This song gives encouragement to someone who is enduring heartache. Have you more recently given support, or received it? My friend has a difficult relationship with her mother-in-law.  Mother-in-law just entered hospice care, family members are flying in from various parts of the country, and things are obviously tense.  I’m trying to be a supportive friend.    2) "Hold On" is featured prominently in th...