Some Things We've Done - 2024 Edition

By 2024, two things had happened: first, since I had long ago stopped blogging about my fun outings, I mostly stopped keeping the ticket stubs, Playbills, and other mementos that would allow me to recreate this information later.  Second, I did fewer fun things; work was a disaster, S and I were going out on the town less frequently, and there is just generally less to recollect.  Regardless, here we go ... 

2024

SLSO - The 2023-2024 season included classical music such as Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, Brahms' Symphony No. 2, and Verdi's Requiem and Kyrie, plus popular shows like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Rhapsody in Blue.  One of my favorite shows of the season was called "Operatic Favorites," which included selections from L'Orfeo, The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville, Manon Lescaut, Norma, La Gioconda, Mignon, Carmen, The Tales of Hoffman, and Orpheus in the Underworld.

Paintings by Jim Weidle - Mom came to visit in the spring of 2024, and we headed up to Fairfield, Iowa, for a show at the Icon. Mom has known Jim Weidle since college, and I have a lot of his work in my house (as does my whole family).  We saw his show, spent the day with him, toured around Fairfield, and generally had a good time.

And, I found a painting that I liked so much that I bought it when the show was over. The particular one I bought is no longer on his website, but it is in the "Bike" series.  It has a prominent spot in my living room and I still love it!

Wave: Ripple Effects - Also while Mom was in town, we went to the Matisse exhibit at SLAM, and it just so happened that they were hosting an art-inspired chamber music concert, which we also attended (along with P, of the Hamilton tickets). 

OTSL - the summer's opera season was a great one: Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Puccini's La Boheme, Handel's Julius Caesar, and Glass's Galileo Galilei. All good shows, but Galileo was the surprise hit! 

Our themed meals were for Barber and La Boheme.  For the former, we had spinach and chickpeas, salmorejo, and almond cake, plus Spanish wine.  For the latter, we had ratatouille, coq au vin (the all-around favorite!), and tarte tatin.  

Head of the Charles - C and I took our double to HOCR in Boston in October.  It was a really fun weekend - Boston in good weather is such a wonderful city! - even though our performance wasn't great.  I felt pretty good, but I think our fitness just wasn't where it needed to be, and we were heavily penalized for crossing the buoy line a couple of times.  Oh, well - we had a good time!

One of the non-regatta highlights was our brunch at the Boston Public Library.  Did you know they have a restaurant in there? (Two, actually!)  I didn't, but thankfully C did.  We four (C and his wife, plus S and me) ate at the Map Room Lounge.  The setting was fantastic, and the food was good too!  Definitely something to repeat. 

Ambassadors of Harmony - my sister-in-law and I, for our now-standard Christmas tradition, were treated by our mother-in-law to the AOH holiday show at UMSL.  This year's first-half theme was "Christmas in Space," plus we had the Vocal Spectrum halftime show, and the Christmas standards in the second half.  Lunch was at Maggiano's; I've been there a couple of times in the last couple of years, and each time I'm surprised by how good it is; better than your average Italian chain, for sure! 

Florida - S and I took an extended work-from-Florida holiday for Thanksgiving, which gave us lots of time with K, J, and mom.   

Cyprus - again finding ourselves nearing Christmas with no travel plans, S and I looked at a map, looked at flight prices, and decided to head to Cyprus for the holidays.  We didn't know much about it other than that it had Greek heritage and part of the island was taken over (and remains held) by Turkey, with the UN keeping the peace between the two.

Similar to our trip to Ireland in 2024, we rented a car and took ourselves on a driving tour.  We landed in Larnaca, then traveled to Pano Lefkara, Agros, Omodos, Paphos, Polis, Nicosia, Agia Napa, and back to Larnaca.  The Christmas markets were great fun (especially the one in Agros, where we rode on the tractor-pulled train through town - possibly slightly intoxicated, as it was meant for children), and the Christmas Eve dinner spread at the Elysium hotel was truly astonishing! 

As with Ireland, we both really loved Cyprus and this is definitely a trip worth repeating! 

Goals 2021 -- November Recap

I did better with friends this month than I did with family.  I'll spare the details, but just say that I met my monthly goal for friends.  What's funny about the goal this month is that I didn't really behave much differently than I otherwise should -- and probably would if I were less absorbed in my own day-to-day obligations.  Having this goal made me think about each friend a little bit more, and do a little follow-up that otherwise I might not have done.

As for family, that was less of a success.  I did get one phone call from a family member I don't talk to that often, so I made sure to take it and make time to talk.  That was lovely and unexpected.  And of course there was Thanksgiving; it was spent with my dad, sisters, and the associated folks, and was a grand old time.

Goals 2021 -- November Edition

What is a good goal for November?  I still have some holdovers from October, but those are boring.  So here's the plan: contact at least three friends I don't see or talk to as often as I should.  The contact must per personal, even if it's not in person.  Phone calls, letters/cards, visits, and the like are acceptable.  Text messages other electronic-only contact is not.  And, while I'm at it, I'll throw a few family members in there as well.

Goals 2021 -- October Recap

This month was not a massive failure.  Here's where I succeeded:
- Cleaned out and weeded the columbine bed, and divided some of the bigger plants to fill the holes.  Of course, immediately after doing that, the leaves started to fall, but perhaps that's a project for next month.
- Clearing out the raised beds that were finished for the season.  Some of them are still going strong -- strawberries, peppers, and the lettuce has reseeded itself.  Oh, and I have some volunteer potatoes in one of the beds I cleared, so maybe I'll get a few more of those yet this year.

Now, here's where I still have work to do:
- Patching the holes in the interior walls.
- Cutting the canna and wrapping the bulbs.  I thought about this several times, but the canna still look pretty good, and the front of the house seems so bare without them that I like to leave them to the last possible minute.

Though not on my list, I also did a LOT of work clearing weeds out of the cul de sac.  There is what I think is vinca growing there, which I would LOVE to have as ground cover, so I cleared away everything except the following: vinca, ferns, hosta, and a few of the more well-rooted cedar saplings.  Obviously the weeds I pulled are going to come back with a vengeance, so I just need to stay on top of this project (which took the better part of two weekends!) in order to give the vinca and other little guys a chance.

Goals 2021 -- September Recap

I am pleased to announce my triumphant return to monthly goals!  This month, I have tried (when it hasn't been too hot) to work out on the porch as much as possible.  We also had some folks in town and did as much outdoor eating as we could possibly handle -- and boy, was there some good stuff to be had!  I also hit up an outdoor concert, with one of my oldies and besties, E!

We had a great trip whitewater rafting in West Virginia, running the Gauley River Marathon.  Thanks to all our awesome friends who braved that crazy trip with us!

S and I also took a wonderful fishing/camping trip to celebrate our anniversary and his birthday, for which the weather was absolutely, stunningly perfect -- warm during the day, chilly at night, sunny, slight breeze.  We could not have asked for better.

We planned to go up to Iowa for an Oktoberfest this coming weekend, but the likelihood of rain at our destination changed our plans, and instead we'll stay home and enjoy the weather here.

What I'm Reading Now -- Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

Having finished the long-overdue At Ease, I am on to a book that is not part of my 2021 Reading Challenge.  Why, a person my ask, am I interrupting my already challenging reading year to insert a book that doesn't meet any of my categories?  Because it's a postal book club book, of course!

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art could qualify in the April category of my Reading Challenge if I had not already read Stiff.  Alas, I have, so I suppose my postal book club book is just going to be considered good, old-fashioned, recreational reading.

Thanks to E for what is starting out as an intriguing read!

Goals 2021 -- September Edition

It's Labor Day.  To all the laborers out there, enjoy your day!

I'm enjoying a break in work right now myself.  It was a bit of a crazy last six weeks, but starting mid-August I got good news about a break coming up.  It took a week or two to get out of the fog, but now I am out!  We'll see how long it lasts.  For the time being, I'm enjoying.

S and I took a most impromptu trip out to Arizona to visit some folks we have out there. It was a lovely trip, despite the temperature.  Arizona in summer is HOT! I had to get out first thing in the morning to go running, and even then I was drenched in sweat.  I thought there was supposed to be no humidity out there, but 25% is plenty when it's 100 degrees outside to be completely soaked after a few miles. We also had the pool at our disposal, so that was helpful through the afternoon and evening hours of sunshine.

How about a September goal? Even though I've missed several months, I haven't forgotten that my theme this year is Adding a Little Fun.  This month, now that the temps are down a bit, I am going to get back to the great outdoors.  Does this sound familiar to one of my goals from this spring?  Yes, it does.  But I love being outside, so (especially when the weather is nice) let's make a habit of it!

Goals 2021 -- April Edition

You may have noticed that I'm several days late with my April goal.  This is, in part, because S and I took a short little backpacking trip over the last weekend.  The weather was beautiful, the hike was secluded, and the lack of cell service (actually, the lack of even a cell phone) was refreshing.  (Of course, there's the mountain of un-dealt-with work that one must inevitably return to after such a respite, which is no fun, but let's pretend that's not real.)

So for the remainder of this month, I will make an effort to get outside, sans telephone, to enjoy the spring weather.  With any luck we won't be drowned with rain, so my efforts will include the following:
- Mountain biking
- Dining al fresco
- Reading in the fresh air
- Getting the remainder of my gardens planted

This calls back to my goals from February and March - separating work and play, and getting the springtime yard/garden work done.  How, one might ask, does this Add a Little Fun to my life?  Well, same as I said last month: unlike many people (and unlike many other tasks -- looking at you, cleaning the bathrooms), I enjoy yard work.  And of course I enjoy being outside.  And eating, and reading, and biking, and podcasts. So let's do more of those things.  Because they're fun.

Goals 2020 -- April Recap

Massive success!  Here's my April calendar recording of my outdoor activities -- six days per week!

St. Louis City and County Quarantines Announced

There has been much speculation in the last week over whether St. Louis would go the way of Illinois in issuing a quarantine to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

And now we have.

Sort of.

The St. Louis City and St. Louis County orders are so riddled with exceptions as to be nearly useless.  Surrounding counties have not issued any stay-at-home orders yet.  St. Charles County's leader doesn't believe "that the government should dictate which businesses should stay open and which should close. 'We will continue to educate our residents that they should stay home except to go to work and procure the services they feel are essential.'"

Because that's going to work.

Paintball!

You may not believe it -- I could hardly believe it myself -- but until a couple of weeks after our wedding, I had never been paintballing!  It was something I desperately wanted to do, so my dear friend M arranged the outing.  She brought us coffee and bundt cakes for breakfast, S and I provided a cooler full of beer, and it rained like the dickens near the end but we played anyway.  It was a total blast!

Can you pick me out of the crowd?

I had so much fun that I decided we needed to do it again, but unfortunately our first attempt at v2.0 was rescheduled due to freezing rain that I thought would make it no fun for anyone. We lucked out with a totally beautiful but quite muddy day on Saturday.  Another wonderful outing!

Goals 2020 -- February Edition

This month, I will unsubscribe.  This includes primarily email lists which are not beneficial and people/organizations I follow who don't add anything useful to my life. 

Goals 2020 -- January Recap

I had success in January by eliminating no fewer than four items which have been lingering on my to-do list for longer than I care to admit.  So I have exceeded my own expectations by one third.  Go me!

Goals 2020 -- January Edition

This month, I am going to cross three things off my to-do list.  But not in the way that you normally see that happening.

We all have to-do lists, right?  And we all have some things on those lists that just hang on forever because they are not high enough priority to actually get done.  But we keep them on this list because we have the idea that some day we will do them, and then we will feel better for having done so.

However, during all those intervening days and weeks and months when those things are just hanging there on your list, staring back at you, they make you feel bad.  Useless.  Unproductive.  And the truth is, since they've been there so long and still not gotten done and the sky has not fallen, they're just not that important!

So this month, I will pick three things on my list and just get rid of them.  Not do them.  Just eliminate them.

And how will this further my goal of Clearing My Mind, Simplifying My Life?  By getting those items off my list, out of my eye line, and off of my brain, I can free up that space that's always reserved for, "oh, yeah, I really should do that..." for other things!

Goals 2020

My 2020 goals will have an overarching theme.  Each month, I will identify my goal and tell you how it fits with my theme of Clearing My Mind, Simplifying My Life.

Why this theme?  Simple: I have too much going on.  Some of it is of my own making, some are things that I feel others expect of me (even if they don't), some are things that others really do expect of me, and some are just those obligations that we all have in life whether we like it or not.

So I'm going to spend this year trying to pare down some of those things.  I don't have grand visions that at the end of the year I'll be an enlightened, homeless, obligationless individual.  But I do hope that each month I can inch a little bit closer in that direction.

Goals 2019 -- December Edition

My December goal has been accomplished.  I ended up making four charitable donations.  I feel okay about this for two reasons:

1. Everyone can only do what they can do, and time is what I'm running lower on than anything.
2. Most places just want money anyway, and then they can do with it whatever they please.

It's probably more economical for the organization to amass multiple donations and put the job/project/task in the hands of one person who actually knows what they're doing than it is to have 20 people volunteering their time to complete a project but no one has a clue.

And look at that -- I'm wrapping up the year on a successful note!

Goals 2019 -- November Update

K reported to me that she did not meet her daily water intake goal, but she did do substantially better at drinking water than she had before the month of November began, so that's improvement!

Additionally, for my part, I did get that last salad (in a manner of speaking)!

Goals 2019 -- December Edition

For December, K and I will both celebrate the holidays with four charitable actions.  It might be a donation, it might be volunteering, it might be something else, but we will make the world a better place in a few little ways.

Goals 2019 -- November Recap

It turns out that as long as one is conscientious about eating salads, it's not too hard to do.  As long as I get one last salad in today, I will have crushed this month's goal, including having a couple of extra salads!

Goals 2019 -- November Edition -- Take 2

From K:

No sooner did I decide that I was a failure at food related goals, then the one that I am setting for myself in the month of November is to drink more water. I think I can be successful at this for several reasons a) because I’ve done it before, b) because I’m trying to follow doctor’s orders, so I have fear as a motivating factor and c) because I also want to try to go to yoga more, and I always drink more water that way because otherwise, my hot yoga class may kill me.

Another friend of mine at work is trying this as part of Rachel Hollis’ #last90days, but that would mean that I would have to drink half my body weight in ounces. That’s a lot of water! I would never succeed at that and my work schedule could not accommodate all of the time lost visiting the restroom as a consequence. M is right when she says that one’s goals need to be measurable, so I need to pick a more reasonable measure. For me, that’s going to be 48 ounces (or two full 24 oz. bottles) a day, which is a pathetically small amount of water for a regular human being, but for me, it will be about 36 ounces more than I drink on any given day right now. Perhaps you can see why the doctor had something to say about this.

Here’s to hydration!