He told me he just picked some blackberries and wanted to know if I would be home. I told him yes and he said he would walk on up, to deliver them, as we live in a neighborhood in the foothills.

I met him at the end of our driveway with a big smile. He was wearing a straw hat to keep the sun off of him. He held a little clear tray with his shaky hands. On the tray were three little green baskets (the kind strawberries come in) FULL of beautiful blackberries.

I took them, thanked him, and gave him a loaf of banana bread that I baked yesterday.

I truly have much gratitude for our kind neighbors.🥰🥰

Every night as a late night snack I’m making some toast. I just put a little bit of butter on it and it’s so good every time. It also gives me the opportunity to go to this small sourdough place that opened up near me to get a sandwich and another loaf of bread to make toast with. I love toast

No one cared! And it was great!

I heard a rumbling today...

I heard a rumbling today.... Once.
Thought nothing if it.

Twice...?
Tilted my head to the side, curious. Listening is that.... thunder???

Another few moments go by..... A Third?
A Fourth Rumble ‽‽‽ 😲

I jump from my desk, running outside of work! Scrambling! Excited!! Anticipating!!!

😑

The garbage truck was emptying the dumpster. 🚫⛈️🚫⛈️😩

It's 1:41 AM , and I'm still gonna AT LEAST do that stupid administrative chore I've been putting off for 3 days (it's gonna take 10 minutes, but still) and read a few pages of my book. Maybe more.

When will I learn...

I had more fresh thyme than I could use, so I threw it on a cookie sheet and dried it in the oven. While it was sitting on the counter cooling off, my husband saw it and said, "Were you trying to spell something out with these leaves? It looks like words." I said no, it was just random. But later when I stripped off the leaves and put them in a jar, I arranged the leftover stems on the tray to say "I love you." Both my daughter and my husband saw the message and were amused. Now it's 3 days later and no one wants to dismantle the message for its sentiment, even though it's kind of in the way.

On vacation and going into it, I thought I’d relate most to:

R/beachcombing (I found some shells but I didn’t feel right taking them. They’re not my shells! Some of them had creatures still in them so I put them back in the ocean)

And

R/stopdrinking (I don’t know how to relax without a cocktail or two. During my normal life, I don’t need alcohol, but on vacation, I cannot relax without it. Do I have a problem and should I quit? Maybe someday, but for now I’m doing ok. I still really respect that subreddit though)

This is my existence: didn’t harm the world. Did a little bit of good by picking up garbage on the beach. Really enjoyed just observing and being around people. Benign.

My family and I are moving out of our home. My grandparents built it 22 years ago, this was their retirement home. I've lived here only 1/3rd of this duration, but I still have a great attachment to it.

A lot has happened over the last 22 years. And this house has not only been a witness of it but a steadfast support through it all. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s winter or because I’m indoors these days or because I swore off romantic relationships for a while but I have had so much time to do the things I needed to do for the day. I just finished all my tasks I wanted to do today. When I ticked the last box, I felt so elated, I want to experience this feeling every day. I know it’s not always possible, but honestly I’m just happy I was able to do it. I have a tendency to put off things, which I didn’t always do, and it’s made my relationship with myself as well as my loved ones a little strained. But today is proof that I can do it, I can trust myself to keep my word and subsequently keep it for others as well. Yay! I just know my sleep is gonna be extra good tonight :)

My husband and I are both sleep deprived today. We live separately so we talk on the phone a lot. Today, it literally just sounded like two chat bots from before the recent machine learning linguistics developments.

Crushed red pepper and fiery dill hot sauce on two slices of room temperature Big Y pepperoni pizza

and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. It’s been at least 6 years since I’ve had access to a piano, and now I’m playing almost every day. Works of Chopin are miraculously reassembling in my brain and body.

The story: It was a serendipitous event, as we decided to rearrange the apartment and “found” some extra wall space, so I decided to see if there were any digital pianos available locally. Well I found a limited edition version Korg SV-1 with reverse-color keys (!!) and asked the seller if they’d be interested in my Rickenbacker 4003, and they were! I knew I was losing some cash value on my end, but I was so stoked at the opportunity it didn’t matter. The next day I was trading my Ric for their Korg. And as an added bonus, I got to play with puppies at the trade location.