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1. First, some medical stuff: A) I called my dentist to request a new prescription for my fancy fluoride toothpaste, and B) I called the gastroenterology people and now know which of their two offices my colonoscopy will be at, and that I don't need to panic about getting a pre-procedural screening. So that's good! I didn't call to schedule my mammogram, but I did get a patient portal message from my GP saying that she's sent a written order to the mammography people, so I should be good to go once I make the call.

2. Today was mostly an email day at work -- answering inquiries, and sending out lease copies/welcome emails for the remaining stack of Collegetown leases I was plodding through.

I did show one prospect around a couple apartments, to no particular result -- I got the feeling they weren't thrilled about the building, and also they got kind of sketchy about either providing a lease guarantor or sending their financial aid letter/some other proof of income, but eh, whatever.

I also staged one apartment, which was NOT, in fact, done with turnover, but was close enough for me to insta-decorate, take photos and video, and strip back down. The previous tenant had an emotional support animal (a cat), and the carpet is full of snags, to say nothing of cat hair clinging to all the chair cushions. Also, they left a bunch of pills and such in the medicine cabinet which the turnover crew somehow missed. I am less than impressed, tbh. But I'm pretty sure Ms. Rise-And-Shine will yell at them for me (I left the pills sitting on the kitchen counter, except the Benadryl and Tylenol, which I nabbed for myself) and make sure the chairs get vacuumed.

3. After work I hit the grocery store to buy some supplies for the long weekend get-together (with a bunch of other NFE regulars) on Cape Cod that I am headed for. I am bringing tortillas and salsa, cheese platter supplies, and a couple other miscellaneous items. And then I filled up my gas tank, so that's all set.

I have not actually packed, but it's just a four day trip so I figure I can shove some stuff into my suitcase tomorrow morning and call it good. *wry*

And now, I think, it is time for bed. I have a long drive tomorrow. :)
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I am taking my annual summer vacation early this year -- Saturday May 27 to Sunday June 4 -- for various and sundry logistical reasons that are not worth unpicking. Suffice it to say that I have started to pull together some items and will start actually packing my suitcase tomorrow.

(It's basically clothes, my laptop, some books, some snacks, cosmetics/medications/earrings, mandatory things like my phone and my wallet. Nothing terribly complicated.)

The thing I'm dithering about is what craft project(s) to bring. I have an embroidery sampler kit thingy, which is designed to teach several basic embroidery stitches while producing a spiral of flowers and leaves, which I definitely want to bring. But I also want to bring a cross-stitch project in case it turns out that I dislike and/or am virulently frustrated by embroidery. I have two kits and a handful of patterns for which I'd need to buy some supplies Thursday or Friday (or perhaps in the twin cities).

The kits are quotes with flower borders, which I've done before but might elaborate on with different color choices?

The patterns are:

1) A stylized spreadsheet with text saying, "RELAX, I have a spreadsheet for that" and a square frame with flowers at two corners

2) Two cats sitting on a crescent moon (facing away) with some stars dangling down on strings

3) A hummingbird drinking from a morning glory, with some other blossoms/leaves and random decorative curlicues in the background

4) The present I have been TRYING to design for my friend Cat but life keeps getting in the way so maybe I should focus on that first???

...

Anyway, like I said, I am pondering options. Probably the embroidery sampler kit will occupy all my non-reading, non-hiking, non-cabin-chore-related time, but eh, why not dream big? :)

---------------

In completely unrelated news, tonight was my congregation's annual meeting. We passed the budget, elected four new members to the Board of Trustees, and passed a resolution to put some tangible actions behind our Welcoming Congregation status. \o/
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My flights on Monday afternoon/evening went smoothly, and I arrived in MSP around 8:25pm. I spent the night at Nick's house (he is doing better, and is now working to get an appointment with Mayo Clinic for a specialized type of inner ear scan), as did Mom and Dad -- I slept on Nick's living room sofa, which is not really a sofa-bed but it's just long enough (and I am short enough) that it works as a bed in a pinch.

This morning Dad and I did a quick walkthrough of his and Mom's new house (a nice townhouse/duplex thing in suburb of St. Paul) and then drove up to Cass Lake. The drive took longer than planned, due to interminable road work (something something shoulders/medians) on north I-94, but we made it safely to the marina and the boat trip to the island was dead easy -- the water was literally mirror-smooth most of the way.

We currently have no functional internet, so I am using my phone as a mobile hotspot. It's all right for text-based sites, but it's utter shit for anything that involves images, let alone gifs and videos. Alas! Hopefully we can get in touch with Centurylink to fix the wifi soon.

Hmm, what else...

Our main task is to move the shore station outward along the dock (it's a very minimal dock this year, just four sections extending outward and no crosspiece or L-turn, due partly to unusually high water and partly to our dock guy having trouble finding staff) and then get it settled under the sand instead of sitting on top. Dad's plan is to hook it onto the back of our boat and slowly drag it along, while I walk beside/behind and keep it from bashing into the dock. We shall see if that works in practice.

We also need to clear some large fallen branches, lay the old boards around the edge of the cabin (for walkways in rainy weather), and assorted other cabin-opening tasks that got short-circuited when Nick had his crisis and my family had to book it back down to the Twin Cities last week.

Dad has a virtual Finance Committee meeting in about 10 minutes, and after that I think we'll tackle dinner.
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Today I:

1. Changed linens.

2. Did laundry.

3. Bought more potting soil.

4. Bought picture hanging hooks for some art I bought in my church's recent online auction.

5. Walked around the Ithaca Festival where I purchased two sets of earrings. (Look, cool earrings are one of my biggest weaknesses. I have never hidden that. Besides, I deliberately left myself two days to rethink after first seeing the items in question on Friday, and I did still want them today, so. I think I was as reasonable as can be expected.)

6. Had a conversation with Downstairs Neighbor S and managed to extricate myself politely in under 15 minutes! (I like Downstairs Neighbor S, but it is very difficult to exit any conversation with her. She does not provide natural breaking-off points.)

7. Made a list of stuff to pack for my vacation and pulled out my suitcase and backpack.

8. Checked in to my flights.

...

Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to take a small nap before I start to actively put stuff into my suitcase.
edenfalling: colored line-art drawing of a three-scoop ice cream sundae (ice cream sundae)
I worked 9am-1pm on Friday, then drove down to NJ where Mom and Dad cooked me a very nice one-day-belated birthday dinner of steak, scalloped potatoes, and green bean casserole, with pflaumenkuchen for dessert.

Today I slept in, after which Susan came over for lunch and conversation for several hours.

Mom and Dad continue to sort through their stuff and divest themselves of various items in preparation for moving. As part of that, I am taking eight boxes of books up to Ithaca to donate to the Friends of the Library book sale. One box is a bunch of children's books from my and Nick's childhood, which we sorted through on Friday night to claim anything we wanted to keep. I have made off with a modest collection of Dr. Seuss and some other items. :) We also offered Susan the chance to take any she wants for her own impending baby, and she nabbed a few which should now have a good home. :D

I took advantage of my parents' washer and dryer to do my biweekly laundry, and my car is mostly packed. Tomorrow I will get up at 7am, hit the road by 8am, and drive directly to Not the IRS for a 1pm shift start.

And then it's back to the regular grind, as one does. *sigh*

Still, it was good to see Mom, Dad, and Nick, however briefly -- and Susan, too! -- and I think I needed the mental break and the chance to sleep in of a Saturday rather than sit around the rental company office attempting to edit photos while someone repaints the walls. *wry*

And now to bed.
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Nick and I left the island today and are now at his house in the Twin Cities. We left at 4pm, had dinner at The 502 (the restaurant attached to Chase on the Lake in Walker), and then continued south while Mom and Dad returned to the island for one more day.

I have checked in for my flight tomorrow, which involved some annoying faffing around with the FlyDelta app since Nick doesn't have a printer and I therefore needed an electronic version of my boarding pass.

Tomorrow I will do... I dunno, something or other for dinner in NJ. Thursday morning and afternoon are wide open, after which wedding stuff commences. Thursday evening is bachelorette party, Friday afternoon is mani-pedi appointment, Friday evening is wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, Saturday morning is hair styling appointment, Saturday afternoon is wedding, and Saturday evening is reception.

Then I drive back to Ithaca on Sunday, probably leaving around 3pm because heck if I'm getting up early after all that.

And now if you'll excuse me, I need to go trim a cracked toenail. :(
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Day three of vacation: very satisfactory. :)

I got up at 9:30am instead of 11:30am, made myself a nice breakfast (scrambled eggs, English muffins, a clementine, tea), and then spent the day mostly reading (in the cabin and down on the dock), working desultorily on a puzzle, and doing some dinner prep and cleanup.

I also took a two-hour afternoon nap, which was lovely. I intend to pay down a significant portion of my chronic sleep debt by the time I leave the island.

Tomorrow should be cooler, and Mom and I plan to go on a hike -- possibly all the way around Windigo, possibly in the morning. Other than that, my schedule is wide open.

Hmm.

In reading news, yesterday I finished Harrow the Ninth, which is indeed a head trip. But in a good way! My one quibble is that the narrative voice which is eventually revealed to be Expandspoilers ) doesn't have quite the right word choices before the reveal, though there are some hints. Anyway, I am now desperately curious for the third book.

I have started A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (who I was interested to learn is married to Vivian Shaw (who I somewhat "internet knew" from Homestuck fandom) -- I am always a bit surprised to be within six degrees of contact, however loose, to people whose books I read), and while I haven't gotten far enough to have much of an opinion, I can definitely say I'm not bored. :)

In nonfiction realms, I am working through Medieval Maritime Warfare by Charles D. Stanton, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz, In the Interim: Strategies for Interim Ministers and Congregations (2nd edition), and An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire by David Mattingly. I tend to have several books on the go at any time, and switch between them based on my mood for any given day or hour.

In writing news, I opened the file for "Guardian" chapter 18 and skimmed through the parts I'd previously written, but did not get any farther than that.

I am also slowly continuing to crosspost my Three Sentence Ficathon fills to AO3, which feels nice and productive. *wry*

And now I think I may go to bed, so as to continue paying down my sleep debt and be in good shape for a hike tomorrow. :)
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
It turns out that my family changed the plan and then I think my mom and my brother both assumed the other had told me of the new itinerary, when in fact I had not been informed at all.

In summary, rather than Nick meeting me at the airport and me spending an afternoon and night in Minneapolis, Mom met me at the airport and we drove straight up to the lake. Nick will arrive on Saturday.

I am not complaining! Extra lake time is a good thing! But it was a little confusing, you know? *wry*

What I did yesterday was mostly snooze in the car en route to the airport, get a bit lost trying to find my way through the correct security checkpoint (Newark Airport currently suffers from highly inadequate signage), snooze and read on the plan, and chat and listen to a podcast en route to Cass Lake, and have really delicious homemade BLTs for dinner.

Then I slept about thirteen hours because I NEEDED SLEEP.

Today I have: read, forwarded work email to Mr. Geniality, sat on the dock to read some more, overheard part of an antiracism Zoom event Mom is attending, and read a bit more.

Tomorrow I may venture a hike. This evening, our plan is to tackle the 1000-piece Monet garden painting puzzle I brought. We got the edge put together last night (I had saved all the edge pieces in a separate bag, because that was the one part I managed to finish at home before life (and my lack of adequate table space) interfered), but the rest will be fiendishly difficult because Impressionist painting lacks the clear edges and shapes that one tends to rely upon when reconstructing a picture.

Tomorrow I may also venture some writing. I am hoping to get somewhere on a couple stories this week, since I won't have my job always in my face and I have also begged off from a bunch of church stuff for the very good reason that I am ON VACATION, dammit. I have already missed a Zoom meeting this evening and I feel no guilt whatsoever.

Vacation is nice that way. :)
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
I am at my parents' house overnight and will catch a flight to Minnesota tomorrow morning.

The drive down took a bit longer than I'd hoped, which was partly because of construction and partly because of rain and darkness. *sigh* But I arrived safely in the end!

This is a weird and messy vacation, because I kind of chucked a whole bunch of stuff into boxes and baskets (in addition to my suitcase) -- see, I needed to bring clothes to wear tomorrow, and pajamas for tonight, and all my wedding-related clothes and accessories, all of which I will leave here. So basically the first thing I did upon arriving was unpack everything and repack 75% of it for the actual airplane trip.

I need to hit the sack soon, because I have a "limo" (really they're just a taxi company whose entire business model is driving people to and from Newark airport (probably also JFK and La Guardia)) coming to pick me up at 10:00am and I would like to be ready to leave at 9:45 in case the driver is early.

Also we have another bout of church drama impending and I so completely and utterly Do Not Want To Deal With That. *flops*
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
I am home!

My flight from the Twin Cities to Detroit was slightly delayed by Delta having network-level computer woes, but only about fifteen minutes so that was fine; I still had time to buy a quick fish sandwich at McDonald's between gates. Then my flight to Ithaca was delayed by about twenty minutes because they had to rebalance the plane (??? the pilot's explanation was unclear) so in the end, I didn't get home until just after midnight.

But I did arrive safely, and today I got into work in a timely fashion despite the weird summer bus route changes caused by intensive construction on College Ave.

Also, I have a new coworker! I have not met her yet, but Mom Boss says she seems likely to work out -- more like Miss Goldberry than New Hire 1 or New Hire 3. Still, I will just call her New Hire 4 until further notice.

I get to meet her tomorrow, because Mom Boss and Aunt Boss will both be out of the office, so New Hire 4 and I will work together two days in a row. Fingers crossed!

Hmm, what else...

Oh, and in plant news: all my tomatoes survived and are growing well, my lettuce took a beating from heavy rain but survived, my eggplant is thriving, my carrots are thriving (though they also took a beating from the rain), my chard is mostly doing all right for itself (though see above in re: rain woes), my overwintered peppers are budding like flowers are the best thing since sliced bread, my jalapeno is growing enthusiastically, and my clementine seems to be enjoying its somewhat larger pot.

On the less good front, about half my baby pepper seedlings got uprooted while I was away (woe!), my poor munched Wine & Herb Fest bell pepper has made no move yet toward regrowing from its base, my onion is just kind of sitting there brooding to itself, and so far as I can tell, not a single one of my zucchini sprouted. Also the garden patch went ENTIRELY to weeds. I am going to have to spend HOURS pulling up unwanted greenery on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

I have no idea what did or didn't happen to the Brussels sprouts, because between the weeds and the uncertain light (evening under a flat rain-heavy sky), I couldn't make out any details in that section of the garden.

I am debating whether to plant new pepper seeds in some of the empty spaces, or whether it makes more sense to just consolidate the survivors into fewer containers. I should probably decide that by tomorrow evening.

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Elizabeth Culmer

August 2025

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