Setp 8 - Sept 18, Still Home.

 We have settled into our now retired, Covid-19 at-home mode.  Peter has no trouble spending his days on the computer, working on his various blogs and tax writings.  He also has a few consulting jobs and is giving a tax seminar on hobby loss.  And, his Margaret Fuller documentary film is finally finished.  Now, to promote it.  

  We walk each day, around the block from our condo, and back.  A 1- 1/2 to 2 mile round trip walk.  Sometimes, we go out to a nearby park or lake, to hike, just to get out and about.  But, other than that, we are pretty much staying home--unless it is to go to the grocery stores.  I actually, finally, went to get my hair trimmed, at a local salon.  Wearing a mask to get a haircut, is an interesting experience.  But, it hadn't been cut (other than having Claire chop off some of the bangs and back) since last January, when I went to Robbie's hairdresser in California.  

We had the pleasure of having Anica bring Quinn and Owen to the condo for a visit last weekend.  They haven't been out of the house for a visit anywhere since Covid began.  We have felt pretty comfortable having periodic visits with Anica's family and Tamara's family, since we know how careful and strict they are about Covid preventative measures.  But, with the coming of the kids going back to school, in the near future, we might need to reconsider our visits.  So, we wanted to spend some time before Quinn stops her remote schooling and goes to a hybrid system.  What a challenge for ALL parents to have to deal with the school issue, the child care issue, and the work-from-home issue.  While they were here, we went out to play on the rocks, and Peter suggested we hunt for golf balls, since we are right across from the golf course.  I poo-pooed the notion.  However, while walking the grassy area, Quinn and I DID find 3 golf balls!  Later, Quinn took Anica and Claire out looking for golf balls, and they found 6 more!  I kept saying Peter will never let me live this down.  We also found an area under the trees, where other grandchildren visiting grandparents living in the condo had started a little fort area.  Someone had put a face on the tree--really cool.

Also last weekend, I drove my car, filled with Claire & Ian's stuff, along with Claire & Ian in Claire's car filled with moving stuff, out to their new-to-them home (aka Orion's house).  We unloaded it all, and it is now at least in the room where it will end up, once unpacked.  There's still a bit more to move, but, all in good time.

I stopped at Tamara's house on the way home, to drop off some items for Siena from Anica, and a castle made from paper, that Quinn had made for Savannah.  She did a really great job, as it had furniture inside, a picture on the wall, a person inside, a moat complete with drawbridge and alligators, and a large meadow.  All her idea, and Savannah loved it.

Anica, Quinn & Owen's visit here photos:

Photos of Cheyenne, and Savannah atop Sugar Loaf Mtn across from their house (from FaceBook) since I didn't take any while up there:

Aug 26 - Sept 7, 2020 - At home

   Aug 27 - Claire and I went to their new rental house in Shutesbury (formerly Orion's house) to continue getting it ready for them to move into.  Our biggest project was taking down the screen-wall that Orion had put up between the dining room and the kitchen.  It really opened up the room and made it much brighter, and let you get from the living room to the kitchen easily.  We had to take apart the entire wall to get it out.  And, there must have been at least 50 screws, 4 to 5 inches long, to remove.  Thank goodness we had a drill to do it with.  That night, we finished our 3rd jigsaw puzzle.

   Aug 28 - Peter finally decided he wanted to cut his hair, for the first time since this Covid-19 began.  However, he still felt uncomfortable going to his regular barber, so I bought an electric hair clipper/trimmer with 6 different length comb attachments.  Of course, I have never used one before, but we think my first effort done on Peter's hair and beard came out pretty good.  He now wants to change barbers from his old one to me.

The rest of the week was nice weather, stay at home, work on blogs, baked a peach fruit crisp, grocery shopped, and walked 2 mile round trip around our neighborhood each day.  Typical Covid-19 days. A nice happening to celebrate was that the Margaret Fuller film that Peter has been working on producing for many years has finally been finished!  He now gets to figure out how to promote it.

Sept 5 - We (actually I) finally decided we needed to get out and about, so drove over the the nearby Buffamville Lake hiking trail.  This is such a nice hike, right by the water's edge, starting in the woods, and ending up at the beach (albeit a now closed beach).  This is an Army Corp of Engineering project done in the 50's for flood control.  But it has several really nice trails.

Sept 6 - Anica & Aaron rented a van from Home Depot to bring furniture from Orion's house to theirs.  They stopped at our condo to pick up a lot of Claire & Ian's boxes and furniture that they are moving out to Orion's house.  So, I went to Anica and Aaron's for the day to babysit with Quinn and Owen.  What fun.  We played inside with legos and did crafts, read books, we went outside to play and walk the neighborhood, we hung out, with them on their iPads, and we ate some of Anica's Chocolate Cake!  Nice day.

Taking down the wall at Orion's photos:

Finished 3rd jigsaw puzzle photo:

Peter's new look photo:

Babysitting with Quinn & Owen photos: