Batteries and beeps

Today I tested all our alarms: smoke, water overflow (laundry room and kitchen), and carbon monoxide.  This is part of the training Sweet Hubby is taking me through in order to get me ready for the possibility of him predeceasing me.  This was my second time for testing the alarms, but my first time replacing the batteries in the smoke alarms, which SH does once a year.  And I must say, although this was a tiny accomplishment, I felt quite self-satisfied when the task had been completed. 

SH is incredibly organized, in a way I expect I will never be.  He's got a multitude of ticklers set up to remind him when to do chores like this one, tighten the screws in his glasses, replace this, refresh that, review something else.  I suppose I would do well to follow his example.  It's funny, though.  I have been an accomplished, independent woman for most of my life.  I was a carpenter, and damned good with a screw gun.  I was the office manager for a real estate company in Beverly Hills, and took care of a thousand details and a hundred egos every day.  I was a bank teller, and took pride in my cash always being accounted for to the penny at the day's end count.

But I admit that living with SH has made me a bit flabby in the arena of taking care of details.  He does so much for us that I don't have to think about, so I've gotten used to being able to live loosely-goosely, dancing down the road humming with my little hobo pack of dreams and fantasies while SH handles the the hard facts and tangible business of life.  These trainings, which are a splendid idea, are  not very comfortable for me.  I'm sort of like the Tinman, rusty and creaky, not used to having to call on my executive functions.

Really, I would just prefer to die first.  So much simpler - for me.

Almuerzo con mi esposo

Yesterday Sweet Hubby and I decided to try a new Mexican restaurant for lunch.  But that's not the entire Something New.  The most important part of the event was that we spoke only Spanish to the staff, all of whom were most gracious about our clumsy accents and hesitant delivery (and our mistakes, since it's likely we made one or two).

We asked for a table for two, ordered our food and drinks, verified that my order didn't contain cilantro, specified flour tortillas and no rice for SH, asked the waiter his name, asked for more iced tea, complimented the food, and asked for the check, all in our primitive Spanish.

I rather despair of ever becoming truly conversational in this foreign language, even though I take a lesson every day and have for almost a year.  I can certainly read a lot more of it than I used to be able to, and am even just beginning to dip my toes into past tense.  But I know that true fluency will only show up if I/we actually speak out loud with other Spanish speakers.  We run the risk of embarrassing ourselves, but not much is achieved without risk, after all.  I'm grateful to our camarero Gabriel for being so kind and good natured about our attempts.  And now we have another favorite Mexican restaurant, so it was a win all around. 

The Fancy Feast

Sweet Hubby and I had our anniversary dinner at the uppitiest restaurant in Seattle, and it was glorious,  dimmed slightly, but only slightly, by the fact that my upcoming colonoscopy (so glad that's over with!) meant there were a few things I couldn't eat.  The food was magnificent.  Six courses, and the first course consisted of three different bites.  

Seeing the extensive wine list (think telephone book or Cheesecake Factory menu) had me almost wishing I drink wine.  It seems like a lovely habit to have for one with a trained palate.  But I settled for a single glass of champagne and a glass of non-alcoholic Riesling.

I can certainly understand why there are some who recoil from the idea of paying so much for something as ephemeral as a meal, but of course it's not just the meal one pays for, it's the experience.  The food and wine are only parts of what makes this place special, and has allowed it to survive through three generations of a family.  The service is what really made the meal.  Although it was formal, it wasn't at all stiff.  Even though I'm sure SH and I were instantly recognized as Nouveau and Not Very Riche, we were treated as honored guests, with humor and grace all around.  We tend to interact with waitstaff at eateries of every kind, and all the people who came to our table (and there were a handful of them) were lovely and smiling and never seemed rushed and absolutely never snooty.

It was a beautiful evening, and the restaurant has a great, unimpeded view of the changing, darkening sky.  To top off the excellent service, when we walked out, the valet had already brought our car to the door.  I'm not sure exactly how that was managed, but it gave a sort of magical ending to what was a very nice splurge.

The broom closet and a fancy meal

Yesterday I did one of those Someday I'll Get To It chores, and it felt soooo good to accomplish at last.  I took everything out of the broom closet in the kitchen, wiped down the shelves, threw away a bunch of stuff (including 10 containers of coconut water which were so old they had turned the color of pee), and re-organized for the first time in the 14 years Sweet Hubby and I have lived in this house.

Once I get to a task like this, I almost always end up enjoying the heck out of it.  If the actual doing isn't fun, then the satisfaction of having done is exquisite.  That seems to be true of just about everything: starting is often ridiculously difficult, but once started, the doing ends up being no big deal.  That's certainly true for me with writing, and I know it's true for a lot of people about exercising.  If I look at everything I need to accomplish, an immediate discouragement sets in, but when I focus on one specific task, I become energized.

Today's Something New is taking Sweet Hubby to Seattle's most hoity-toity restaurant.  It's so posh, it's actually got a dress code, which is highly unusual in this casual city where people will wear jeans to the opera.  I've been hearing about this place since I moved here, and finally decided we should go.  We've just celebrated our 17th anniversary, after all, and what better reason than that to treat ourselves to a fine, expensive, snooty meal?  I didn't time this reservation too well, because I'm having a colonoscopy in two days and there are quite a few foods I'm not supposed to eat today (corn, tomatoes, berries, nuts, and seeds), but I figure I can still make a fine meal of whatever is served.  This is one Something New I am really looking forward to.

Cables and wires and phones, oh my

Today Sweet Hubby and I went to the Communications Museum, sometimes known as the phone museum.  This specialty collection of old telecommunication equipment is open to the public only on Sundays for a few hours every week.  It's run by knowledgeable volunteers who take small groups through the 3-story building, explaining the complex wiring and cabling and gauges and switchboards and old telephone models that fill the space.  It's a messy place, apparently still evolving.  It was like walking through a scene from the movie "Brazil".  I'm in awe of those who are able to make sense of it all.

I don't have any particular affection for the history of telecommunication, but I do have a particular connection to this museum.  A friend of mine is one of the docents, and years ago he hired me to record some of the narrative material that used to be used on the tours.  Now the tours are led by humans, because they are able to answer the many questions we visitors have during the tour.

I was surprised that SH wanted to come with me because it meant forestalling our usual Sunday paper-and-pastries ritual (he reads the paper, I do the puzzles, we both eat the pastries).  I think he was originally just coming along in solidarity so that we would have more of the day together, but it turned out he was much more interested than I in the information and demonstrations presented.  That shouldn't have been a surprise, given that he has a Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering.  He speaks the same language the docents spoke, if in a slightly different dialect.  I had had only about one hour of sleep last night, and we hadn't eaten anything before arriving at the museum, so my energy flagged noticeably about an hour into the 2 1/2 hour tour, while SH remained curious and engaged.  Still, I'm really glad we went, as it had been on my Someday list for quite a while.  

Lots of little Somethings New

My days have become as full as before COVID shut down the world.  Taking walks, socializing, writing, taking part in nurses' training programs, tunnel flying, etc.  I don't often have the time to do a bigger new adventure, so my Somethings New have been the kind I can fit into my schedule.

For example, I take a long walk from the train to the medical complex where I do the nurses' trainings, so every time I choose a different path there and back.  I'm often rewarded by coming across an unexpected piece of civic art, or seeing a house with a bright red door or marvelous garden, or stopping to talk to someone with a nice dog.  (It's always so easy to start a conversation with someone who has a dog.  Why isn't it easy with the dogless?)  I have also discovered a lot of new little cafés and restaurants this way.  I almost always take myself to lunch before the trainings, which are emotionally very draining, so I've been trying different places to eat.  My reward for that is having some really good meals from places I would never have discovered without taking these walks.

Last Sunday Sweet Hubby and I had planned to go to a specialty museum, one of the many mentioned in a special full-section focus on local museums in the previous Sunday's newspaper.  However, we woke up to a layer of snow and decided to stay in.  I do want to go to this museum, though, which is only open on Sundays for visitors.  A friend of mine who is actively involved in this museum years ago asked me to record some of the informative narration explaining the exhibits.  I'd like to hear that, because I don't really know what I sound like.  I think visiting some of the boutique and specialty museums listed in the paper sounds like so much fun, and may comprise my Somethings New in the future on those days when I have the time to go out exploring.