Sunday, I did some cleaning, finally took down those awful bifold doors that close off the washer and dryer and hung the shower curtain that my BFF got for me. I love it — except for the fact that it is about 18 inches too short. I haven’t decided what to do about it. I see that I can get an extra-long black vinyl shower curtain liner for $12 on Amazon, which is what I will probably do. I really like the picture. It goes nicely with the framed poster of the rebuild Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche from Berlin that’s on the wall at right angles to it. Both the black and white color scheme and the fact that it’s of a large metal tower work feng-shui-wise for a room on the north end of a home. Both pictures bring back happy memories of time spent in both cities. You will notice a black tail with a white tip at the bottom of the frame. He fits in well with the color scheme also.
My mom got back from her trip to Chicago on Sunday. The plan was for her to call me as the bus was coming into town and I would meet her and MD, the friend from church she went with, and take them home. After I got done with my house cleaning early Sunday afternoon, I took a shower and washed my hair. When she called, I was sitting in the living room knitting, while my hair dried, clad only in my unmentionables. I threw on some clothes and boogied off across town to where the bus was to let everybody off. (When I got back to my house, my odometer read” 2309,” which means I’ve had the car for 199 days and have put approximately 1100 miles on it over and above the1200-mile trip to Pearland and back — not counting the 7+ miles it had on it when I bought it.) She said they had a great time and fabulous weather during the whole trip. She came home to hot weather. As I drove by the bank at 50th Street and Indiana Avenue en route to pick them up, I noted that at 6:15 p.m., it was 91F/32.7C. It had been in the high 80’sF/30+C and occasionally into the 90’s F all this past week. Sumer is icumen in, I fear.
They were gone 8 days, and she only took “a couple of hundred pictures,” which for her is not many at all. She had a friend’s husband check the capacity of the memory card in her camera the week before she left and he said it would hold up to 1000 pictures, which is good. That gave her plenty of room. Still, she only takes pictures of two kinds of things: Things that move and things that don’t. Even if it’s a picture of you taken on your own camera, I don’t think it’s technically a “selfie” unless you’re also the one who’s working the camera. Otherwise, my mom would be the queen of the selfies. She’s got pictures of herself standing in front of half the world. I was surprised to hear that she was not the oldest person on the bus. There was a lady who was 94, and equally as spry and active as my mom, who will be 91 this year. MD, the lady who went with her is only in her early 80’s and she’s already had a knee and a hip replacement, and is due for replacement of the other knee next month.
When I called the apartment manager yesterday morning to see if the new management was going to raise the rent (they aren’t — whew!), I was informed that Thursday morning I would have to have the cabinet under my half bathroom’s sink emptied out so they could come fix my sink faucet. That’s where the water shut-off valves are. I doubt the faucet can be fixed. It’s so rusted and corroded that it will need to be replaced. I was also told that the cabinet under my kitchen sink would also need to be emptied out, since I am getting a new dishwasher also. This is great news since the baskets in my current dishwasher are so rusted that pieces are broken off, and the rusted bits are leaving rust stains on my white dishes. This means that I shall have to clean house Wednesday and get the office and hall closets sorted out (finally), and clear stuff off my dining room table and the dresser in my office, get my yarn stash sorted, dust and vacuum, do a load of clothes, and otherwise get my house presentable.
I spent Monday getting caught up on a good two weeks’ worth of blog reading and belatedly learned the unfortunate and very sad news that a blog friend, SilverTiger lost his beloved cat Freya June 2nd. The news, coming hard on the heels of my own recent losses in April and May, was especially saddening. My heart goes out to him and his partner Tigger. Freya was their only companimal*. Life will go on, as it must, and one eventually comes to terms with the loss, but one doesn’t really ever get over it.
The Owl Underground Archive II 
I love the shower curtain. I am mid-refurb in the bathroom and my wallpaper has images of the Eiffel Tower and French script on it. We are still awaiting some decent temperatures. Although it was sunny yesterday I still needed to wear 3 layers when I went out. Although I didn’t need a coat, I still wore a vest top, a long sleeved top and a cardigan. It feels as if it is going to be one of those years that we have the occasional sunny day and that is it, which means that when Winter comes it seems as though we haven’t seen the sun for a very long time; those ocasional sunny days are easily forgotten.
Your Mum really is a marvel. My MIL was 90 last month and is failing fast, both physically and mentally.
Just a quick note, as I’m out of town and making use of the library computer. I’m happy your mom’s home safely – tell her she can show me her gazillion photos any time. And I’m sorry about your friend’s kitty. I’m trusting my kitty sitter this time, enough not to call her. But I am having a friend stop by this evening to be sure there’s food in the bowl. If the check I left is gone, that means that someone’s rolled through.
Happy housecleaning!
Thanks for your kind words.
I’m glad your mother enjoyed her trip and returned home safely.