A Dreary Morning Of Gray

6:06

9:11

It's 7:00, and after a rough night, I finally dragged myself out of bed at 6:00. I've been reading the newspapers ever since and decided to get the blog written before heading out to breakfast at 8:00 at the Ashville General Store. Today's mission: finish organizing and packing for our flight to Dallas tomorrow. We're staying at the airport Comfort Inn tonight and leaving the car there — a nice little perk.

Yesterday was a blur, as many days tend to be, since my routine doesn't vary much. I was up early and lucky enough to get in a good paddle before the rain and wind moved in. After paddling and breakfast, we published the blog, and then we both dove into the great packing debate. We know we always overpack, and we're trying — not very successfully, I suspect — to break that habit. I have it easier than Evie, as most men do. Throw a few things in a bag, and I'm done. I actually read something yesterday about happiness, and the takeaway was to stop agonizing over decisions and just go with "good enough." That's my motto now. What I've packed so far is good enough for Dallas. Evie has not yet embraced this philosophy and is still going back and forth about what to bring.

So that's how the morning went — packing, deliberations and some cleaning. I tackled both porches, sweeping and vacuuming, while Evie ran a couple of loads of laundry. I also called our dock guy and boat guy to let them know we'd be away for a couple of weeks.

Earlier in the morning, Evie had pulled a serving of pastitsio from the freezer for my lunch, so it was warming up while I finished the porch. I had to hustle — dark clouds were rolling in — and I got it done just as the sky opened up, a torrential downpour that lasted about half an hour. I had my lunch, watched a little TV, and then took a decent nap, having been up so early. Around 2:30, a message came in that a couple of prescriptions were ready, so I drove to Wegmans, picked those up, and did a little shopping. I also stopped at the bank and swung by Sherwin-Williams to get a couple of paint cans shaken up on their handy-dandy machine.

I was home by 4:00 and spent the next fifteen minutes organizing my pills for the next three weeks. It's one of those things I used to laugh about watching my parents do, and here I am doing the exact same thing — and I'm pretty sure I'm taking far more than they ever did.

I jumped in the shower around 4:30, and by 5:00, we were settled in with sushi, potato chips, and a glass of wine or two, talking through everything we still need to do before driving to Buffalo on Thursday. For dinner, we were lucky to have leftover Kentucky Fried Chicken — heated up in the oven, it was surprisingly good, and I managed three pieces — along with coleslaw and broccoli. We watched our usual shows until Evie headed up to bed, and I caught the first three quarters of the Cavs game. I found out this morning they won in overtime. I should have stayed up — or at least saved it.