We eat at breakfast Panera once a month or so. Danita has a loyalty card. Sometimes they have a bonus we can use. Every once in a while, they offer one free bagel a day for a month. I spend a month driving to Panera and bringing home a bagel. Panera offered Danita one free bagel a month. They also offered a free coffee subscription for 3 months. That’s a really big deal because coffee costs more than the bagel. I was able to get my own loyalty card and also sign up for the free coffee subscription. Now Danita and I are visiting Panera for breakfast every day. We get 2 bagels and 2 coffees for $1.37. That’s a deal that can’t be beat.

I use a GPS when I bike. I had a nice unit from Garmin, designed specifically for biking. It lasted two years and then it died. That was a bummer, but I decided to buy another one. The new one lasted less than 2 years and died. It would be silly to buy still another $200 GPS. I put my smart phone in a plastic pouch and started looking for GPS apps. It’s relatively easy to find an app that works well, if you don’t mind spending $50 / year. I do mind. I spent hours surfing for a better solution. I found it in Komoot. It’s a strange word. I don’t have any idea how to pronounce it. But I got a map that covers anywhere I am likely to ride for free. If I decide to ride somewhere else, I can buy another map for a few bucks, or I can buy maps for the entire world for $30. There’s no monthly fee. Maps and routes are stored on the phone, everything works without using cellular data. Best of all, the app works brilliantly. Voice prompts are well timed and easy to understand. I can import GPX files (those are routes) I already have. If I want to create a new route, their routing program works better than the one I’m using now. The only disadvantage is that it seems to be hard on the phone’s battery. I’m not sure whether my phone will last for my longer rides (over 4 hours). I’m sure I’ll come up with a decent answer. I’m not sure whether I’ll ever learn how to say Komoot.

Years ago, I put in a device called an AP (short for Access Point) to provide WiFi around our community pool. You never know when you’ll finish your book and need to download another one to your Kindle reader. The pool simply must have WiFi. The WiFi was marginal but it kind of worked and most people were happy. The AP stopped working after a little over a year. I came up with another AP that worked kind of OK, until it also stopped working, this time after several years. Right about that time COVID hit, and interest in poolside WiFi dropped like a stone in deep water. Recently, the board decided to upgrade our existing security cameras and add a new one. A new camera means a new cable. I talked them in to running two cables — one for the new camera and one for a wired Ethernet connection to an outdoor AP. With an wired connection, any old outdoor AP works really well. I got it set up this morning. It’s just in time. The pool has been open, but residents have to bring their own chair. Most people our age don’t want to do that, so the pool hasn’t been very popular. The board expects to allow residents to use shared furniture at the pool starting in a few days. That will make the pool very popular. And the new WiFi is ready — right in the nick of time.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

I’m in the dog house, and I’ll be here for a while. I locked Danita out of the house. Danita usually goes to bed after I do, watching TV in the basement. Sometimes she decides it’s too much effort to go upstairs and just sleeps in the basement. Wednesday we were feeling stressed and decided to have a wine and snack evening. When I went upstairs, I locked the door to the basement. I don’t remember locking the door. We’ve never locked that door before. I’m not even sure I understand why there is a lock on that door. But there is a lock, it was definitely locked, and it didn’t lock itself. Danita didn’t have her shoes or her keys. One can unlock the door with a screwdriver or other tool, but we don’t keep any tools in the basement. Danita tried knocking on the door, calling out for me, and calling my cell phone. I was out of it. Nothing woke me. The next morning, I got up early as usual and went through my morning routine. I finally got down to looking at Email and found a transcribed voice mail from Danita. I turned the door knob around so it’s impossible to lock anybody out.

We’re slowly getting closer to getting Mom moved to Charlestown. We expected the welcome package Friday. Unfortunately, the last person in the approval chain wasn’t available. Hopefully we’ll get the acceptance tomorrow.

Our neighborhood has started in-person parties. We missed the first one. Last night we had “Picnic on the Porch”. We had a boxed dinner and live Bluegrass music. The board decided they didn’t want the musicians singing. The idea was that singing musicians might spew more viruses. So the group was instructed not to sing. That lasted for a while. But musicians are musicians. Those who like to sing will end up singing. Everybody was having a good time and nobody objected to the singing (including our board president), except our events coordinator. She tried to stop the singing, but nobody paid attention to her. Poor Carol. She tried to do the right thing.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

It rained all day Friday. We had just one activity but it was a doozy. We spent 5 hours at the Science Center. Fortunately we were able to walk when the rain wasn’t heavy. B & E hadn’t seen the Science Center since they were tots. We all had a good time playing with the exhibits. As usual, I slept through the planetarium presentation. The pictures show them making jigsaw puzzles. The ride home was exceptionally slow, thanks to the weather. We had lasagna for dinner. Danita was smart. She used two smaller pans and froze one. So actually we had half a lasagna for dinner. I won’t say how much the kids liked it, but I will say there was one small piece left at the end of dinner.

Saturday it was time for the kids to go home. We went to the Rocky Gorge mini-golf. This outdoor course opened not too long ago, but it is actually a very old course. It had been closed for quite a while. Somebody bought it and repainted. The unique thing about this course is the original owner didn’t buy any of the hazards and decorations. He built everything himself from scratch. It is a fun course, including the last hole, billed as “The world’s longest mini-golf hole”. I believe it. Balls roll down a long, curved, banked hill. Everybody gets their ball to the bottom of the hill in one stroke. We had two holes-in-one this time. Both Nana and Bryon got one. In addition, Nana hit Bryon’s ball on one hole and knocked Bryon’s ball into the cup. Bryon got that hole in one stroke, but it wasn’t a hole-in-one. Unfortunately, there was no reward for the extraordinary display of golfing prowess. It was time to go home, clean up, pack up, and get ready for the flight home.

Everybody had a great time, bla bla bla. But wait! There’s more! The plane was delayed. The flight scheduled to leave at 7:15 actually left at 10. Here are some pics. Bryon isn’t in the golf pic because he was miffed. He kept on walking on the walls. It’s an old golf course. Walking on walls was definitely not the best idea. After asking him 3 times to stop, he did it again. So I reminded him in a more vigorous manner. Overall, the kids were on their best behavior and we really did all have a great time.

I hope this finds you doing well.

We were lucky. Addie and Suzanne had a half day of school Wednesday. Lynne brought them down to our house for the afternoon. We got them tickets to an escape room. After the plans were laid, we learned that an adult was required to be present. Danita got herself a ticket, but she stayed quiet and let the kids try to solve the puzzles. It turns out this escape room has very difficult puzzles. They solved several puzzles, but not quite all of them. Still, everybody had fun. The kids entertained themselves the rest of the afternoon. We enjoyed pulled pork for dinner.

Thursday we visited AVAM (American Visionary Art Museum). This museum used to be dedicated to folk art. It’s changed since the last time we were there. The majority of the exhibits focus on global warming, genocide, and other “light” topics. I felt like I was being clubbed over the head. They still had plenty of our old favorites. After touring the first building, we had lunch on Federal Hill before visiting the second building. That turned out to be an excellent decision, as it was beginning to rain when we left. We drove through quite a storm to get home. After the rain let up, we played indoor Monster Mini-Golf. We kept score this time, which turned out to be more fun. The kids tried harder to do well. Danita got a hole in one. Since the kids aren’t eligible for the traditional round of drinks, we went to Uno’s for dinner. Brian managed to eat his entire individual pizza. We tuckered them out for sure. After the evening movie, both kids went straight to sleep.

I haven’t been taking many pics. Here’s a few.

We took it easy on the grandkids Monday. They had to get up super early to catch their plane. They ended sitting near the back of the plane. They didn’t get to sit next to each other. No matter how young you are, travel is stressful. The plane got in a few minutes late shortly after 10 AM. We went to Patapsco park. I knew exactly where I wanted to go. Unfortunately, the only way I ever go there is on the bike. They don’t let cars drive on pedestrian trails. We ended up going to the wrong park entrance and driving around for quite a while. But we got there eventually. We had a picnic lunch. We walked the pedestrian suspension bridge. We walked in the river and rearranged stones. And of course we listened to the cicadas.

Mom had a person from Erikson visit Monday afternoon to look at the furniture she wants to move. She measured the furniture and has the apartment layout. She will propose a layout that uses as much of the furniture as fits. I wanted to be on the phone with them. So I went over to the car to use my cell phone. I was surprised to find there was no signal! I had to drive to the other side of the park. Mom had done a good job of selecting what she wanted to move. The meeting lasted longer than I expected it to. And I didn’t have time to warn Danita that I had moved the car. Fortunately, Danita also noted there was no phone signal. Unfortunately, the water bottles were in the car. But I the phone call ended, and Danita saw me pull into the parking lot. Everything turned out fine. Note to Julia: look for several interesting rocks to be somewhere in the luggage when the kids get home.

We had sloppy joe’s for dinner and watched “The Man Who Saw Infinity”.

Tuesday we ramped it up a little. After lunch we went to Arundel Mills Mall. We started out with the movie Cruella. It is a clever movie. Who would think Disney would make a movie where all the characters are “bad guys”? We went bowling. We ate at the food court for dinner, topping it with Hagan Dazes ice cream. I was surprised to see there was only one closed store at the mall, and it had a “coming soon” sign. For after dinner entertainment, we watched the movie “Wonder”.

It’s a lot of fun to see good kids turning into delightful people.

We made good progress on Mom’s move to Charlestown. We have one more meeting to discuss what furniture Mom will move and how it will be laid out in her apartment. The person who does the financial review will come back to work this week. We’re in “danger” of being ready to sign the contract and list Mom’s condo in Florida.

This week will be a busy one for us. Bryon and Elizabeth are flying in Monday and will stay for a week. Look forward to lots of pictures coming soon.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.