Bfth's Boring Blog

  It should be an easy question to answer, but... If you look on Google maps you will see this: However, the street sign says Old Orchard DRIVE.  It's a private road, so Google vehicles have not gone down it. (Additionally, they refuse to correct the fact that it is NOT a thru street.  The road ends with a private driveway, only to pick up past the drivway, but the two are not connected and the homeowner has it blocked off so you can't get from one end to the other so you cannot get to Spruce Cabin Road. )  How it got confused, I don't know, but it doesn't stop there. Old Orchard Drive (or Road) is in Cresco, PA.  SUPPOSEDLY, but look at this: Old Orchard Drive (or Road) is highlighted in yellow below: So if it's a drive or a road, it SHOULD be in Mountainhome, right?  But it's not!  But it IS!  But it you look up Old Orchard in Mountainhome (notice that I didn't say Google...because this will happen no matter what search engine you use), you get ...

 This weekend is an emotional one for me.  You might think it is because my son will be moving/going back to college.  That's part of it, but not all of it. Saturday, Aug 24th was the 9th week of sailing on Barnegat Bay and is hosted by Lavalette Yacht Club .  My parents were members there and for many years (decades) my father served on the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association .  While next weekend (Labor Day weekend) will be the final race (hosted by Seaside Park) with a big blow out afterwards (including the annual end of the year t-shirt, my father collected them all and I still have them along with the annual rooster flags [to learn more about that, read this excellent post:   https://propercourse.blogspot.com/2014/07/chasing-roosters.html ] and I need to figure out what to do with them.), this race and it's after party meant the most to my parents.   I, along with my son, would often go down to LYC with my mother.  My father woul...

  This summer has been about change.  This thought came to me when I went from sweltering humidity on Sunday to cold breezes while waiting for the bus on Tuesday.  We had gone from the heat of August to the chill of October in two days.  And I understand that we'll be swinging back up towards the 90s next week.  (Which makes complete sense; it's when my son goes back to college.  That scared me as the dorm he chose to live in had no a/c, but over the weekend he and his suitemates got notification that they've been moved to a different and newer dorm that does have a/c. Or so I've been told; we'll find out the truth when we move him in on what promises to be a hot day!)  We've had heat waves and floods and all sorts of crazy changes. But it's not just the weather that has changed this summer.  There has been violence.  There has been an assassination attempt.  There has been an abrupt change to party leaders.  There has been a surge ...

 (Note:  As I ocassionally have, I filled in for our interim pastor who is on vacation.  I wanted to celebrate a very special person during the service, which I did.  I will not give full names here out of respect for privacy.  As they say, IYKYK...and if you don't and have a really pressing need to figure this all out, let me know.) When I got the call (a phone call; not from God…I’m still waiting for that call) about filling the pulpit, I immediately said yes to this particular date.  It is always a privilege to share this sacred space with you; it is even more so on this day. For as some (or probably all) of you may know why.  Today is A’s birthday and there is no place I would rather be than here to celebrate and honor him, even if he himself cannot physically be here.   And even though he is not physically here, I would like to take a break for a moment and ask our choir director to lead us in singing, "Happy Birthday."  Maybe ...

On hot and humid days, I like to wear light tops with no sleeves.  (Bat wing arms be damned; I'm going to be comfortable.  That that skin/fat flap in the breeze.)  One of my most comfortable blouses has butterflies on it.  So I like to wear earrings that go with it. I bought a pair of "dangly" earrings some years back that had butterflies on them.  At some point within the last year or two, I lost one.  They were cheap (under $10), but I was upset that I lost one.  I really liked them and I could never find another pair that matched the original. When I put on my butterfly top this morning, I was thinking about all of this.  Then I remembered a pair of earrings I got when I first got my ears pierced.   This took me down memory lane... I got my ears pierced the summer before I went into 5th grade, back when 5th grade was still in elementary school.  The two fifth grade teachers, Miss M and Miss D, were very cool and very (1970s...

  About a block and a half from my home in a major intersection.  At the southeast corner (which is nearest to me), is an empty building.  Back in 1995 it was a Bank of NY (I remember this because they didn't shovel/de-ice their parking lot well and my husband fell and broke his ankle one Monday morning.  I recall this clearly because we were not yet married and it was the first day of a new job for me.  I had gotten on the bus to work and he was catching a later one; only he never got there.  Instead he ended up laying on the ground until an employee came to open up the bank.  Then he had them call an ambulance AND my mother who took control of the situation until I arrived home that night blissfully unaware of what had happened that day.)  It eventually became a Chase Bank; the second one in my small little town.  It eventually closed.  I'm not sure when but it's been empty for quite a long time.  (I do know that it was open in 20...

  After several weeks of no early morning walks, I was up and out this morning.  There were several reasons for this lapse.  First I was still "recovering" from the removal of a cyst on my neck.  The reflective vest that I wear when I walk would have rubbed again it and it was already irritated enough.  (To be honest the bandage adhesive did more of a number on my skin than the stitches...and I think it caused more pain/irritation than the actual incision.)  Also the past few weeks have been rainy and/or incredibly humid.  (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/its-too-darned-humid.html ); I guess I'm getting old as I just don't want to deal with that...getting to the bus stop was enough. However, today the air was cool(ish) and crisp, I was ready to get back out there and at it. It felt like years since I'd been out and my pace showed it.  I was NOT going fast...not that I ever really did, but...I do feel like it's harder to keep a pace ...

  The past three years have been rough.  I've blogged out it plenty so I won't go back and review all the "stuff" (which are admittedly first world problems) I've dealt with.    On July 31st, we finally closed the sale of the shore house (the one that was my parents for nearly 30 years) and I thought I had turned a corner.  I have/had some good news, which I am not quite ready to share (stay tuned for future posts) and although I am a bit nervous/anxious about what I've yet to publically announce, I was feeling good.  Excited.  Happy.  Wow! Then on Friday I got disappointing news from my place of employment that put a damper on the whole thing.  I allowed it to kill me joy for a good portion of the weekend.  I am hoping that this week I will be able to have a rational discussion with those who determine the fate of employees and that we might be able to come to a compromise of some sorts.  I'm trying to remain hopeful. Last night I ...

With apologies to Cole Porter's brilliant song "It's Too Darned Hot" (from "Kiss Me Kate"), forget the heat; it's the humidity.  In my area the humidity has been unbelievable for the past week (?)  The weather (partially due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debbie) has been disgusting.  (Of course it's nothing next to the havoc that the storm has laid out to the south east part of the country.  I know this is going to be a horrible year for hurricanes and tropical storms and in plain terms that just sucks.) Let me go back to last Saturday, because I THINK that’s when it began.   (Maybe it was earlier?   With all this humidity I think mold is growing on my brain and maybe some other parts of my body which I won’t get into, but ladies, you KNOW what I mean.)  I was driving home from PA and continually drove into downpours.  The rain was so bad that I could hardly see.  It would go on for about 5 minutes and then I'd clear the cloud and be good for...

  Although I do still feel a little like Sally from  The Nightmare Before Christmas   (photo above) only my scar is on the back of my neck not my front.   That's also why I really had to rely on my husband for wound care.  I couldn't see what it looked like and even with two mirrors it was a little difficult to get the full scope of the "wound."  He was good enough to gently wash it, dry it and treat it every night for me.  And as a result, it healed every nicely.  (The antibiotics to prevent the possibility of infection also probably helped.)  As it has been very hot and humid, I have not done my morning walks since I had the cyst removed, as the reflective vest I wear would have rubbed against it.  I also made a conscious decision NOT to wear any necklaces so that there would be no chance of irritation.  That also meant that I did not wear my work lanyard around my neck.  I was being very diligent. Diligence paid off....

  It's August 4th, so it must mean I'm wearing the sleeveless shirt with Tigger on it.  ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2023/08/same-old-outfit.html)   I'm also wearing the blue  WDW  shorts that I purchased in  WDW  in (I believe) 1997!  I wear the shirt every year...I try to wear the shorts too, but on days that I had to go to work, I couldn't so instead I'd throw on a navy shirt to match as closely as possible.   It is because on this ay 19 years ago I threw on these clothes and drove (and drove and drove) to go meet our son.  And the year after he was born, I decided it would be a tradition to wear the same outfit (or as close to it as possible) every year on his birthday.     Amazing, my son (being, for the most part, a good egg), puts up with me and every year we take a photo together.  Me wearing the same outfit and him, wearing whatever the heck he wants.  There are currently 20 photos of me in...

  Last month was a wild roller coaster ride up to the very last day.  If you add in the last three days of June (28-30), the past 34 days have been...intense!  It started with a 3rd quarter tax bill that forced me into reality and ended with the closing on a house that my mother bought nearly 29 years ago (give or take a couple of months).    My time at the barrier island which started in July of 1972 (and lasted only for a week) concluded yesterday. My parents had always been beach people (or at least as far as I can recall).  When I was young, we, along with my maternal grandparents, would travel to Harwich Port, MA in the summer.  (That's Cape Cod if you didn't know.)  I don't know how long we stayed; I don't have that many memories (sadly).  This was all before I was 6 years old.  What memories I do have I chronicled back in 2015 ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/memories-of-melrose.html ), which in itself is a long ti...