Last week I offered raspberries to the weather service, which couldn’t tell me whether there would be a heavy rain within the next few hours. This week I am re-aiming my target to OPM. That stands for Office of Personnel Management. It’s the agency that manages retirement payments for federal employees like Bud. Danita has everything squared away to settle Bud’s estate except for the final payment from OPM. She’s called OPM several times. Calling them is a major investment because it always requires waiting on hold for hours. Finally, OPM told Danita the payment would be processed in a few days. Danita was as excited as I have seen her for quite a while. No payment was forthcoming. Concerned that there was an error in the bank account number, she called OPM again. This time the agent said that Bud’s payment has indeed been assigned to a processing person, but they have up to 60 days to do the processing. Our lawyer suggested Danita call back, which she did. this time the agent said that processing can take up to 16 months. The lawyer decided we can close everything except the OPM payment.

Dear OPM …

We went out to dinner to get gyros at Tino’s Wednesday. Thursday, I decided we should eat out again. We wanted something good and cheap, so we went to Jason’s Deli. They include free soft-serve ice cream. That allowed us to skip the gelato food truck, which charges $5 for a “just OK” gelato. (The only place I have had great gelato is Italy.) I proclaimed we saved $10 and had our dinner for just $11. Yesterday we had a neighborhood cookout with hot dogs, hamburgers, and drinks. Residents brought a side or desert to share. Hopefully this will hold us for eating out until tomorrow morning, when we have Sunday breakfast at IHOP.

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

The first order of business Saturday was to get Liz on the plane to Charlotte. We went through check in, security, and got to the gate at the very end of the C concourse. Then we waited. The flight attendants were arriving on another flight, which was delayed. When it arrived, it came in to the A concourse. The crew had to walk the length of the airport. By the time the plane was loaded, they had missed their takeoff slot. They pulled away from the gate, but sat on in the gate area until the rush of morning flights was over and they could get off the ground. The rest of Liz’s flight was unremarkable, so it was time for the next adventure.

We drove up to JaMM’s for an overnight stay. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. Everything we planned was cancelled. Mark and Jiajia were remarkably flexible and we ended up having a good time. Coming back, the forecast was for more heavy T-storms in the afternoon. So we left earlier than planned and encountered … no T-Storms until after dinner. Raspberries to the weather service that can’t forecast rain 6 hours in advance. It wasn’t the weekend we planned, but we got to visit and we got home safely.

I made the final payment for our Turkey trip. I read that some international travelers would get Covid and not be able to get Paxlovid. So I got two prescriptions to take with us on our travels. People on statins (such as me) should suspend their statins while taking Paxlovid. Our doctor explained the restrictions quite clearly. When Danita picked up the Paxlovid, the pharmacist went over the restrictions again. CVS hasn’t been my favorite business to deal with lately, but I was favorably impressed with their performance this time.

We got good news this week. Our clubhouse is open. We can go back to having parties and gatherings in air conditioned comfort. Swimmers who don’t attend gatherings are also happy. If there is a gathering that includes alcohol on the pool level, we have to close the pool. Now swimmers can be assured the pool will be open all day. Provided there are no T-storms, of course.

The right front wheel of my bike started scraping against something the other day. After playing around with it, I found that I had a broken spoke. I decided to let the bike shop fix it. They did a good job, but then my right front brake started making a terrible noise. I didn’t want to take it back to the shop, so I spent a couple of hours this morning playing around with bake adjustments. I learned a lot. The next time, adjusting the brakes should take only a few minutes. It was a good time to get the brakes squared away. We’re expecting several days without T-storms. I’ll be spending some time on the road.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had an exciting week. Elizabeth, Suzanne, and Addie came for a week of cooking challenges. Elizabeth took an early flight Monday morning, up from North Carolina. The excitement started before we left the airport. Her suitcase didn’t show up. The plane she arrived on was going on to San Juan, so we know her clothes traveled to some exotic locals. Southwest was pretty good about it. The offered a $200 voucher. The suitcase arrived Tuesday morning, and Liz got some new clothes. Suzanne and Addie joined Monday afternoon.

Danita wrote cooking challenges, and the ladies were up to it. Each day had a different theme. The ladies had to prepare balanced meals. (Although one day onions were billed as a vegetable.) Each day they selected recipes, went to the store to purchase ingredients, and turn the ingredients into delicious food. And delicious it was. One day the theme was a cuisine from a country. The ladies picked France. We had French bread with goat cheese, mixed berries, quiche, and for desert, salted butter caramel chocolate mousse with whipped cream and caramel bits topping. The pictures of the mousse did not come out, which is a real bummer because it was a really great desert. Here’s one pic. There are more on the web site.

Addie and Suzanne went home Thursday afternoon. Friday Kathryn made a luncheon, which we shared with Mom. Unfortunately, Mom’s doctor called and asked us to arrive early, so I didn’t get pics. But Elizabeth, working solo, made a wonderful lunch.

All good things must come to an end. Early tomorrow morning Elizabeth will fly home. The cooking challenges have been met. But closing one door allows us to open another. Stay tuned …

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

It’s been a rainy week. Unfortunately, it was mostly drizzle, with little accumulation. Our area is in a severe drought. We have more rain in the forecast. Here’s hoping…

It was a pleasantly relaxed week for me, not quite so much for Danita. The play at Essex was very entertaining. We had a great time. Monday we had a Greek food truck. We ate a Greek dinner with the Joneses. Today we had neighborhood ice cream bars. That was a nice half hour.

Danita agreed to be the chair person for the pool for three years. This is her first year, and things aren’t going well. Lifeguards are doing things they shouldn’t do, and not doing things they should do. The pool heater isn’t working, and the water is down to 77 degrees. The guy that used to be the pool chair is running around saying “What are we doing?” I can’t blame the previous pool chair too much. He wanted to be on the neighborhood board. To do that, he had to give up the pool. It helps prevent a conflict of interest when voting on expenditures for the pool. He’s having a hard time letting go.

Next week promises to be considerably more exciting. Stay tuned …

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had no parties this week. But we are going to see a “Who Done It?” play at Essex College this afternoon. They usually do a good job on their productions.

We’ve had a deposit on a trip to Turkiye (as they spell it these days) for a while. Now it’s beginning to feel real. We have our visas We’ll be paying the balance and getting airline tickets this week. The trip is Sept 13 – Oct 2. We’re taking a Road Scholar tour. We had a great experience with them when we toured China. The flight is 9 hours. I was hoping to get an Economy + seat to have a little more leg room. Unfortunately, that isn’t available. Turkish Air is the only airline that has a nonstop from Dulles airport to Constantinople. They have economy or business class. Business class is $7,000 more than economy. It’s going to be a very long flight. But the rest of the trip looks great.

That’s it for this week. I hope all are doing well.

It was a busy week. We started off with a Jazz concert. We heard “small band” music from the 30s to 50s. The jazz group was quite good.

The highlight of the week was an “adults only” dinner. Ed & Lynne hosted Rick and Suzy and us. The food was great and the conversation even better.

We had a couple of indoor days due to the code red air quality. A gelato truck came Wednesday. We bumped into the Jonses and enjoyed our desert at their house. We had a very nice “Grill & Chill” neighborhood event Saturday. We wrapped things up with our last BSO concert for the season Sunday. The Brahms 4th Symphony was very well done, but overshadowed by the Prokofiev Piano Concerto. I didn’t keep my program, but the young lady who was the piano soloist was more than up to the very difficult piece. She was so energetic that she kept on getting off her bench while playing. It was an exceptional concert.

Today we are promised the first rain in a couple of weeks. We certainly need it. It’s a good day to stay home and write. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Bikes have two types of inner tube valves, Schrader (like a car tire) and Presta (not like a car tire). A bike set up for one cannot use the other.

My new bike had a slow leak in one tire. It went flat after 3 days. Then after 2 days. I used every trick in the book, but I couldn’t find the leak. No trouble. I had a spare inner tube in my emergency kit and a second in the cupboard. No doubt you see where this is going. For some reason, it took Amazon 4 days to send me new tubes. Trikes often have small 20″ wheels. They don’t sell many 20″ inner tubes. But really, 4 days??? Anyway, it looks like all three tires are good, and I now have the correct spare inner tube in my emergency kit. I am very happy I didn’t discover this when I was 20 miles away from home.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had three parties this last week. Our clubhouse is still closed, but the pool area is open. Friday we had a Chill & Grill event — frozen hamburgers and hotdogs with sides and deserts supplied by neighbors. Danita offered a very good Key Lime cake. Sunday was Ed and Lynne’s Parkton Open, a croquet tournament with plenty of good food. Tuesday, my nephew Rick stopped by on his way from Germany to the US to visit with Mom. His sister Kim flew in to participate. We had dinner at one of the Charlestown restaurants. That’s a class act Rick and Kim — way to go!

Breaking news – Successful visit to JaMM. We went up Friday. We’ll return today, hopefully in time for a BSO concert this afternoon. We had great success. Mark an Jiajia went out for an adult evening. Danita and I had a great time with Mira.

There’s not a lot to report this week. The Gelato food truck came Thursday. We enjoyed that. “Greek on the Street” was supposed to come Friday, but they cancelled. That didn’t even slow us down. We and the Joneses ordered carry out from Panera.

Traditionally we don’t go out to a nice breakfast on Mothers day. We are more likely to settle for someplace like Panera. But this year we decided we want an upscale breakfast. So we are going to a local place that opened not long ago canned “Jam”. To make it work, we are going to church this afternoon. We’ll be at Jam when they open at 6:00. We figure not too many mothers will want to go out that early. Wish us luck!

I hope this finds everybody doing well.