We Have Nice Superbowl Sunday
Monday February 5 2007
O it is February blue. I recognize this blue sky of February from New York City and it is same February blue here. Such a pretty blue. Such a February blue. I forget about February but it really is transition month to Spring. It is special in its own right. Even in NYC they began selling the potted hyacinths in February, it is the smell of February back in NYC. Here in Tucson it is lovely shade of blue, same shade as in New York.
Both dogs have arrived in the sunshine. Lulu is on her sun couch, just looking around. Beanie is at the back fence patrolling it, he is looking for something to bark at. And he just found it. O that is not Beanie barking, it is the dog on the other side of the fence who discovered Beanie is there. Beanie has run away. He is running into the house to his Daddy. I just heard Bill’s welcome. “Hi Beanie,” and he is saying what he will cook for him later. Beanie is always busy. But he is still such a new arrival from the pound, has only been here two months, that we don’t yet know what Beanie really likes to do. As he gets more secure here he may not be so busy all the time, he will settle down more.
Bill’s friend Jim came over to watch Superbowl with him yesterday. The whole day was high drama because we have not had company of any kind for a year or two. The house had gone to pot during the two weeks of cold and rain when no one wanted to do anything. There were so many dishes in the sink I could no longer find a fresh cup for coffee or fresh spoon to stir it. All the dishes we regularly use were piled up in the sink along with a bunch of cups I had found in back of closet and had been using for coffee and glasses for apple cider. But Bill announced he was going to sweep and mop and vacuum whole house, so I went in to put up two loads of dishes, one huge load of all the plates and glasses and cups and silverware, and when that ended the pots and pans Bill had used for cooking when he was in cooking mode last week.
A big housecleaning went on. Plus Bill decided to move all the furniture he doesn’t like or doesn’t use from the big room the sun pours into, into the second living room, a huge room which was added on to the original house. That huge room looks like a storage room now, it is so cluttered. It has two couches no one uses with stuff piled up on it, and tables and worktables and chairs. Anything someone doesn’t want has gone into that room. And it used to be such a beautiful living room.
We used it a lot the first 10 years we were here because we didn’t have heat in the house and that room has huge fireplace. Bill would build fire in the fire place and keep it going all evening. We had a TV in there and a couch and we spent all our winter evenings there. But when I learned how to go on internet and email I got addicted to my computer, I didn’t want to leave it to be near the fire, instead I got a space heater and stayed in here. And Happy stayed with me. So when Bill called “the fire is up, everyone is invited to enjoy the warmth,” only Bill and Lulu went in. And eventually it was too much work when no one really wanted to go there. And when my mom paid for us to have heat put in the house, the heat only reached this part of the house, it did not reach the add-on (the add-on is the huge living room and a back bedroom). So then we all stayed in this part of the house, except I like sleeping under 4 comforters under open window in back bedroom.
Yesterday during the big clean up for company for Superbowl he did move all the stuff out of the sun room he doesn’t use for art, and moved it into the big room. The sun room is practically empty now, just an art table and a couch the dogs like to go on. It looks nice, very empty, very clean. When Bill and Jim watched Superbowl yesterday Bill wheeled the TV in from his room, set it up, Jim sat on couch, and Bill sat on one of Caren’s mother’s bridge chairs he brought in from the room of wall-to-wall clutter and furniture.
Bill finished the huge project of cleaning the house just in time for us to have nice swim at Fort Lowell pool before the game began. The original plan was that Jim and I would go to Costco before the game began and I would join up me and Jim (Helen sent the check for me to join but Bill doesn’t want it and Jim does). And we would pick up a pizza there for Superbowl, because everyone says Costco has good pizza, and pizza is what Bill and Jim wanted for Superbowl. I already had lots of soda in the refrigerator.
I called Jim and said “pick me up at the Fort Lowell Pool, it’s on the way to Costco, and I will join up you and me, and we can pick up a pizza and be back in time for kick-off.” But Jim takes care of his aged mother, he is living in her house, and said “I don’t know if I will have finished giving her her lunch and getting her into bed before then, you call me when you get back from the pool.” So I said “OK.” This is the 3rd time I have planned with Jim to go to Costco together to sign us both up, and the 3rd time the plan got aborted. So after the pool I said to Bill, “Just in case Jim and I don’t do Costco, let’s stop at Sunflower for baguettes and lunchmeat, we can have hero sandwiches and soda during the game just in case there is no pizza.”
The result is Bill and I got home at exactly the time of kick-off. I said to Jim “we're home, maybe you want to skip Costco, you can have hero sandwiches here, or we can go at half-time.” He said “let’s do it now, I’ll pick you up right now.” So I got my purse with Helen’s check to Costco. I had figured out how to do the whole thing. The man at membership said “everyone who lives under same roof can join,” and he said “the address on check has to match the address on Drivers License when you pay.” Since Jim refuses to own a debit card, he would write out a check, but I would use my debit card. So I decided we would give Jim’s address. I thought this was a good solution.
But Jim picked me up and the instant we started to drive to Costco his car acted up, and he said “I don’t think we will make it.” And at first I said “we will make it,” but then the car really acted up, so I said “OK turn around and go back to my house, we won’t have pizza, we will have hero sandwiches.” I think Jim really wanted pizza, he said “there are other pizza places closer by, or we can order in.” But I am a New Yorker, I know what good pizza tastes like, and I didn’t want any of the pizza places close to my house.
So we came home. I was starving and made myself hero sandwich right away. I had bought a nice selection of lunchmeat at Sunflower, plus their good baguettes. And I had it in backyard with a Sprite. It was the last of the sun. Bill said “bring Jim out a soda.” And Jim said he wanted Coca Cola, so I brought that out to him, and told him “everything is out on the counter, you can make yourself a sandwich.” But then I called in “Bill, you help him, show him how to make the sandwich,” because I thought ‘what if Jim is shy about making himself a sandwich.’ And I heard Bill take out the lettuce and tomatoes for him and onions. I heard Jim say he doesn’t want lettuce, just tomato and onions with it, and I heard Jim whistling while he made his sandwich. Bill whistles when he is happy and it was joy hearing Jim whistle when he made his sandwich. I think the sound I love above all is men whistling, it is the happiest loveliest sound in world.
Because Jim’s car acted like it would conk out any second all the way to Costco and behaved perfectly when he turned it around to head for home, I thought “Costco is just not meant to be and I am going to return the check to Helen.” Jim kept saying “we can do it another time.” But it seemed that Costco was not in my stars. When I said “turn the car around, let’s go home,” and he said “I don’t even know if the car will make it home,” I thought Costco isn’t going to happen for me. There had been so many aborted trips to Costco and now that we were actually on our way and going to do it, the car was threatening to plotz half the way there.
After I had my sandwich and Sprite in backyard and heard Jim whistling while making his sandwich, I relaxed. “I am going in to watch ‘Monk’” I said. Jim said “aren’t you going to watch the game, it will be a good game?” Jim and I talk football all the time, he doesn’t know I don’t watch the games. I talk football with Jim because I talk it with Bill. He watches the game, tells me everything, and then I consult my Higher Self and we have intelligent conversation about the games. That is why I have had many good football conversations with Jim about games. Between what Bill reports and what I learn from my Higher Self, I have grasp of what is going on. But of course I’d rather watch “Monk Marathon” than the game, I love “Monk.” It’s funny because I have watched so many games with Bill, baseball football and basketball, and always enjoyed them, and yet if I have first choice to watch what I want, I choose one of my own shows.
Jim is the one who told me about “Monk.” He kept pushing it in the pool. He pushed so hard that one day when it was “Monk Marathon” I thought I will have to turn it on and watch one show so I can face him. I don’t think I fell in love from that first show I watched, but it held my interest. And since it was marathon there were two more before marathon ended. And by the end of those two last shows I was hooked.
I curled up under all four of my quilts under open window in back room and watched “Monk Marathon” while Bill and Jim sat in sun room and watched the game. And when it was 8 o’clock and a show began that I had already seen before, I came in to ask the boys if they wanted me to shut the windows and doors and turn on the heat for them. Our nights are tremendously cold. But Jim said it is time to get back to his mom, he doesn’t like to leave her alone too long. And I said “I bought valentine cupcakes at Sunflower would your mom like one?” And he said “she loves cupcakes, yes she would.” So I left two pink ones and two red ones in the box, two for her, two for Jim, and kept back two for us. I wanted to send Jim off with a gift, he is such a nice guy.
And Bill said “I want to wait to make sure his car starts,” and it did. Then he moved TV back to his bedroom where Lulu was snoozing on bed so he and the dogs could all watch TV together and be warm and cozy, the way they have been doing every night of our cold winter. Altho for some reason when I leave computer to go to back bedroom to watch TV or read or sleep and snuggle under my 4 quilts, Beanie leaves Bill and Lulu and their cozy trio, and comes in with me and lies on top of the 4 quilts and the flannel sheets, like the real princess who was given port in the rain. He stretches himself out like the little prince, and is a wonderful companion for me. And only comes in to pay a visit to Bill and Lulu when I get up to fix myself a snack or help myself to a soda.
So Bill set himself up cozily with the dogs. I turned on the heat. I went to computer and posted for about an hour on my news forum, and then went back to watch rest of “Monk Marathon.” And Bill, who was too excited to eat while his friend was here and he was showing hospitality, fixed himself a nice hero sandwich, and shared it with the dogs of course.
It was a nice Superbowl Sunday all things considered.
And beautiful Monday morning to wake up to filled with lovely February blue and bright sunshine.
everything worked out well for me and Bill in Tucson
Saturday, January 27, 2006 “Cooperating for happiness”
I think secretly this is my favorite season, the long march to Spring, altho not as long here as in NYC because bright light speeds it up. In Tucson the trees look like an Easter basket, are in full leaf, on my birthday in early April. In New York it wasn’t till early May they were decked out in their green finery. But the process is the same. It begins with the branches shooting straight up to heaven, which happened here yesterday. I woke up yesterday morning and saw it, and knew what it meant, and I was thrilled. Back in NYC it seems to take place in early February, just a few weeks after it takes place on the desert. Then the trees turn red. I have not seen that here in Tucson, I used to watch it from my window in New York. And then the buds begin. And at first it is all yellow. Then chartreuse. And finally Kelly green. New baby leaves of Kelly green. There was a tree which reached up to my 3rd floor window in Manhattan so I watched it intimately there. Here I am not as familiar, even tho the trees are in my yard. Also because the leaves here are not leaves, they are curlicues, I am not yet as familiar with all their stages, but this spring I will try to watch and learn.
Yesterday was a nice day. The day before, when we had been at Edith Ball Pool, the one with the tent over it so I don’t like it as much, Bill said “the game won’t come on till the evening, I’ll have nothing to do when we get back home at 5, I’m willing to take you to all the stores you want to go to.” I was so thrilled and happy I could barely focus on my swim. But then I realized I had not brought my purse. How could I buy Amber Romance perfume spray at Victoria’s Secret at the mall, a warm sweater on sale at Lane Bryant, and go to Costco and get membership there, if I have no purse. So I said to Bill “let’s go home first, I can get my purse, and I’ll get the stuff from Motor Vehicles, we can do the emissions test at the same time, they are in the same area.” And he said “I don’t want to do all that driving around at rush hour, we'll do it all tomorrow.” And it was such a let-down, after having been so excited I could barely swim with my excitement.
But when we got to the car he had a bright idea. He said “you can use my debit card to get the perfume you want and the warm sweaters you want, and then we'll drive over to Costco just to check it out to see what is like.” And I got so excited and happy again.
So first we drove to the Mall. “You don’t have to park” I said, “I know where Victoria’s Secret is, just stand in front of the mall, I will be very fast.” And I bought Amber Romance which I love and I was out of. And I bought another one they had on sale for $2. I wasn’t crazy about it, and neither was the sales girl, but the one everyone is crazy about is $22 and I didn’t want to spend that. And while I was waiting on line, they had little ones of two other kinds of scent on clearance for 1.50, so I got them too, it just seemed fun.
Then we drove over to Lane Bryant and I said “I will be very fast.” I had bought a bulky cotton sweater when I was there last time because our mornings and nights are so cold, and the salesgirl told me she has 3 of them and she wears them all the time, they keep her so warm and toasty and she loves them. They only had very pale colors then, so I chose pale purple, and to my surprise I haven’t taken it off since I got it. She is exactly right, it is the only thing which works in our cold mornings and cold nights, it is heaven. So I went to get two more while they are still on clearance so I will be set up for next winter. There had been a pretty blue one but it had been size too small, I thought I would get it anyway. They didn’t have the blue one, but they had dark colored ones now. The pale purple one has already picked up so many stains. So I chose the two dark colors, the red and the orange, the orange is more like burnt umber. I didn’t like it, but she said it is pretty, so I got it.
And then we set off for Costco. I told the man Helen had bought me membership for Christmas present and it is home, the check she made out to Costco and the form she had filled out for Costco. And he said sorry there is nothing he can do for me, I have to come back with it. I said “can I at least buy a slice of pizza while I am here, my friend at swim pool said Costco has good pizza.” He said “you can’t buy anything, not even pizza.” Bill said “can we go inside and look around and see what Costco is like?” And in order to even do that, Bill had to show his Driver’s License and the man wrote down all his numbers.
I liked the location of Costco, the parking lot faces the beautiful mountains and is next to the wash where Bill takes the dogs from Fort Lowell Park. It is flooring beauty. Bill said “let’s check out the computers, somewhere during the year membership you might want another computer, if something happens to yours or as back up, we can get you a much better computer and I can use yours.”
But the man said “we have no computers now and when we get them in they will be 800 or 900 dollars.” I had gotten my Compaq on sale at Office Depot for $500. I didn’t know if Costco’s was such a great price. Bill didn’t think it was such a great price either, and he pointed out that when I buy the computer at Office Depot, I call them every day for a week because I need help learning my new computer. He said he doesn’t know if Costco would do that for me.
Then I saw everyone on line for pizza and I was starving. Luckily I had a change purse with two dollars in it and I got on line. She said “what kind of pizza do you want?” And I said “whatever is your favorite.” The man had said I was not allowed to buy pizza. But all she said was “that is two dollars please,” and I paid her. I was so happy to be eating my pizza.
And then we went home.
And I put on the new warm red sweater I had just bought, it was freezing.
And we both said what a good idea it had been to do everything today, then tomorrow all we have to do is take the truck for Emissions and that is it.
And he spent the evening watching the games and I watched Judy Garland musicals.
So yesterday morning when I woke up and saw the tree branches shoot straight up to heaven, I was happy. I knew Spring had started. And the sun had come back which is always lovely. It had been stormy sky all day the day before, with that huge wind which had preceded the storm.
And it was lovely having such a clear and simple day.
I tried to write but I was in too high excitement about spring starting, I wrote two sentences and gave up. Then I did email. And went to sun couch instant Sun rose above the mountains. And read A Course In Miracles at the outside table. And after Bill took his shower and walked the dogs and sat outside in sunshine in frontyard with them, he said “let’s do Emissions and get it over with.” He finds Emissions Test very stressful, all that suspense about “will it pass?”
I said “I’ll help you, I’ll do the paperwork, it will be a cinch.” And it was a cinch. It was a beautiful drive there and not so much traffic even tho it was Friday. There was no one on line, they took us instantly, it worked like a charm. And I did the paper work. And we were free. And he was so happy it was over.
And we both thought it was so luxurious we didn’t have to go to the Mall and Lane Bryant and Costco because we had done it all yesterday. We just felt so free. And he said “I’ll take you to the pool with the bright sunshine even tho it will be short swim,” and I was overjoyed. We only had twenty minutes, but it was glorious twenty minutes. There is nothing like swimming under blue sky and radiant sunshine. The water sparkled. Everything was bright and alive and joyous. And all 3 of Bill’s friends were there, Doug and Jeff and Alfredo.
On the way to Emissions Test he said he likes Doug because he reminds him of his father’s family. “All my father’s brothers were like Doug, they all looked like Doug, and were same as Doug.” The conversation on the way to emissions test on how Doug is just like his uncle Buster was one of the sweetest conversations I have ever had with Bill. Everyone has a side of their family they see all the time and have all their family gatherings with, and a side of the family they almost never see. Bill spent all his time with his mom’s Italian family and hardly any time with his dad’s family. For me, we spent all our time with my dad’s New York City family and very very rarely with my mom’s Rochester family.
And I understood what Bill meant about the difference in the two families too. The New York City relatives seemed so sophisticated and cosmopolitan compared to the Rochester relatives. And for Bill the Italian family was the wealthier and more sophisticated family, more au courant.
He told me about his uncle Bus. He said “Bus must be short for Buster” and how Doug is so like Buster. And he said Doug is a nice name, if we had had kids he would have liked to name the boy Doug. He said “Bus is a nice name too but he might not like being named Buster, that name went out of fashion.” I said “if we had had kids what would you have wanted to name them?” He said “I like Adam for a boy, that’s a nice name, and Douglas because Doug is such a nice nickname, and Gus.” He said “those are nice names for boys, Adam and Doug and Gus.” And I said “yes they are.” I said “what about for a girl? I thought you liked the name Andrea for a girl.” I thought this was very broad-minded of me, to suggest we name our daughter Andrea because Bill had said how much he liked that name because it was the name of his former girlfriend before me. He said “Andrea is a pretty name” but now he wasn’t sure he wanted it. I said “what about Millie, the name of Bus’ sister?” He said “too old fashioned; maybe Rose” he likes Rose. He said “I don’t know about girls’ names, I just know what boys’ names I would like.” He said “I also like Andrew, Andy is a nice nickname.” He said maybe in a future life he will have these sons and name them Adam and Gus and Doug and Andy.
That conversation took us right to the Emission Test, which went fast and easily. Then we had our glorious swim, and then he said “do you want to stop at the market?” I said yes, and we bought delicious food. It wasn’t that we were out of food, it was that we were out of everything we liked to eat. It was so much fun buying all delicious things we love to eat, it had been dreary only having things no one really wanted to eat, it made the larder feel discouraging.
It was small shopping but a good one. Bill liked it that it was both. He said “we don’t have to bring in a lot of heavy bags.” And on the way back he espied a woman walking a dog who looked just like Beanie, “stop and ask her what breed the dog is, so we can find out what Beanie is.” But we had already passed her. So I said “I’m willing to ask.” So he drove around 3 times and found her. “What breed is your dog?” I asked, “because we just adopted Beanie from the pound and he looks just like your dog.” “She is Border Collie” she told us, “and they are working dogs, they have to be in control.” Bill told her ours is Corgi mixed with her dog. She said “Corgi is working dog too.” She said “both Corgi and Border Collie have to be in control.” Bill was thrilled to find out the other half of Beanie. “He is Corgi and Border Collie, you finally got a collie” he said, “the dog of your dreams.” What girl does not wish for a Collie after watching “Lassie” her whole childhood and when her favorite book was “Lad, a Dog.”
And all the way back home Bill said how Beanie is border collie. And that is how the outing ended..... on very nice note.
And he spent the afternoon doing yardwork in our huge yard. And I did email and posted on my site. Then he cooked delicious supper from the food we had bought. And I watched “American In Paris” and new episode of “Monk.” And he watched the game.
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