Saturday, December 31, 2022

The Haircut

My husband was never too picky about where he got his hair cut. But once he picked a barber he tended to stick with him/her. I actually got him to visit my hair stylist in the Midwest once. He really didn’t notice any difference. When we first moved to DC it took a while to find someone he liked. It seemed every time he went that one side was shorter than the other, or he got nicked, or some other story was told. By the end we were driving to Alexandria where he found a shop, but the results were still the same. When we moved to northern Virginia it took another few tries to find a place he liked. Then we settled on McLean Hair Center because it is located close to the house. It is supposedly the oldest barber shop in town. When my husband feels like he needs a haircut that means he needs it right away. After taking our morning walk in Alexandria yesterday and stopping off at Vaso’s Kitchen to pick up pizza and dinner, we stopped at Gravelly Point to eat the pizza and watch the planes fly in to Reagan Airport. When driving home he called to make an appointment with his favorite barber Tina. She wasn’t able to take him immediately so we waited a couple of hours. It’s not the kind of place people usually make appointments. It’s more like a first come first served type of arrangement. But Tina recognized him and gave him the nod when he entered. And the place was packed because of the new year weekend. My husband was attended to in short order and he always feels so much better after a haircut. I’m just glad he found a place that he likes. He really doesn’t make a fuss about much - not even a haircut. 








Friday, December 30, 2022

Eye Doctor Visit

It’s bad enough to see a physician once a year, but having to go twice a year is not only more expensive, but can be nerve wracking. My husband and I try to keep our eye appointments together. It just makes it easier to get it done at one time. When our last eye appointment was due, he needed to have a procedure done related to his cataract surgery from three years ago, and subsequently his eyes were checked as an after visit. I hadn’t made my appointment and by the time I got around to it it was past the six months mark. But I wanted to get it in before the end of the new year because all of the deductibles had been paid. So I got an appointment for Friday, December 23 - a day no one wants to work. In spite of the atrocious weather last week both my husband and I walked over to the office. He kept me company and would be on hand in the event I would need to have something done. Even having been in health care for thirty years my anxiety level sky rockets whenever I see a doctor. My heart races and my blood pressure climbs - which is why I alway bring a history of these measurements to share. My eye pressures have been on the higher end for as long as I can remember. I’m currently taking drops for that and it’s been “stable.” The doctor needed to recheck the eye pressures because they seemed a bit high this time. I asked him if my eye pressures would rise like my blood pressure  - and he said that could be likely. In any event the pressure was already lower with the second reading - which is what always happens. Aside from the fact that I still don’t need cataract surgery and everything else was in check makes me happy. I can’t tell you how many visual field tests and optic nerve photos I have had. Then out of the blue I lost vision on the right side of my right eye this week. I haven’t had this happen for at least four years. It’s almost like a migraine event with eye involvement. It’s scary, but usually subsides once I lay down, take two aspirins, and rest a bit. Thank goodness I know what it is and have had about eight instances of this since it first started way back around 1980. I’ve been on baby aspirin ever since after having had a CT scan and a neuro consultant. I have a lot of little things wrong with me and they are starting to add up. Let’s hope this new year is good to us. 













Thursday, December 29, 2022

Jenny O Turkey Breast

Long before we moved to DC I wasn’t really in to making turkeys. Our family was small, and my husband doesn’t really care for turkey, and they are a pain to prepare. So I found Jenny O turkeys - the really easy freezer to oven brand that cooks in a bag. You literally just put it in the oven from the freezer and it’s quite good. But it’s not always easy to find, but I eventually do. I have also found the Butterball brand is is also good. Earlier on I also ordered the turkey through the Jenny O website but you can’t order there anymore. We also drove to various grocery stores here, even Target one year. What’s even nicer is that you can now get Jenny O as a breast only rather than a full turkey that is way too much for two people. Last month we were in Harris Teeter and stumbled upon the Jenny O turkey breast in the freezer area. I was so excited because I hadn’t seen it there for a while. We unexpectedly ended up staying home this year for Christmas - our family stopped in the following Monday - and we were delighted to know that we were prepared for dinner. We had already bought the gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing mix, so we were all set. So last weekend we made the turkey breast and it was delicious. Even though it was less than three pounds we still had a lot left over. Obviously I had to make a sandwich or two, and yesterday my husband made turkey soup with most of the leftovers. It hardly matters what you put in the soup it always turns out great. I’ve always liked turkey for Thanksgiving. Mom always made pierogis for Christmas even and ham and kielbasa on Christmas Day. I like sticking with the turkey. 






















Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Memorable Christmas Gifts

We were thrilled to get pierogis for Christmas. It was a great gift from our kids. Four dozen different kinds that were delightfully tasty - just in time for Christmas Eve. We weren’t able to visit family this year - again - and we were happy to learn that our daughter in law and grandson were going to stop by our house on their way home from Baltimore back to central Virginia. We would all go for dinner at the old fashion supper club vibe in our neighborhood. We were surprised to get even more surprise gifts and it was fun to open them before all we went to dinner. My husband got a book about J Edgar Hoover, and a tea pot with two different kinds of tea leaves. The poetry written on the side of the tea leaf boxes was rather interesting. Every time we visit the kids we always go to the Waffle House - as a joke - but it’s certainly become a tradition of sorts. We got two Waffle House coffee mugs. We could use some new coffee mugs! I got a lovely colorful box filled with L’Occitane creams, shower gels and soaps. It smells so nice and the creams really work well on dry skin in the winter. We also got a bottle of wine from a winery in Virginia. It was fun to open the presents since we missed the opportunity to do it on Christmas Eve at their house. After that we drove over for dinner and had a wonderful time together. We are also expecting our grandson to visit again this week with his girlfriend who we will be meeting for the first time. Our lives have been quite sheltered over the last few years. We are hoping things can become more normal in 2023. We need to make up for lost time. 
















Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Pierogi and Salmon

We hit the jackpot with pierogi this year. In our home it was customary to make Polish pierogis on Christmas eve. We always had potato and cheese along with sauerkraut, cabbage and hamburger. But now we rely on Mrs T’s for every day affairs. They make a great side dish as well. This year our son and daughter in law sent us some very different pierogi from a place in Colorado called Baba & Pops, care of Gold Belly. There were four dozen pierogis - two dozen potato and cheese, one dozen pulled pork, and one dozen tomato, basil and mozzarella. So we tried the pulled pork on Friday night as the main dish. We added a bit of barbecue sauce. It was good, but too much meat - for us. But we should have made fewer and had something else with them. Then on Christmas Eve we decided to stay with the traditional potato and cheese but we mixed them up with some salmon, along with broccoli. All of the pierogis look handmade and we were not disappointed with this batch. We are now looking to trying the “Italian” batch. Rather than try those on Christmas we had a small turkey breast, mashed potatoes and peas. It’s always nice to get consumable gifts. It’s interesting to try different things. In the end we always like our own cooking the best. But this was a great diversion! 












Monday, December 26, 2022

52Frames Break the Rules Photo Challenge

I belong to a weekly photo challenge. A specific subject must be followed, we visit a few places in town for some options, a photo is uploaded to the 52Frames website from photographers all over the world, and 52 are selected out of over 3,000 or more that are judged to meet the criteria best. Last week’s subject was “break the rules.” My thought was to use the panoramic feature on my iPhone - using a crooked rather than follow the straight horizontal line, and also I thought I would try using a crooked vertical line. So keeping that approach in mind we tried a few shots in the neighborhood park. Some of them turned out really well - so much so that when we drove in to DC I wasn’t really thinking of anything in particular in mind because I thought I already had what I needed. We started out at the Smithsonian gardens and then walked over to constitution avenue towards the Capitol. I always like taking images of the Capitol reflecting pond and there were a couple of nice ones of the Grant statue. Then we walked by the American Indian Museum and back out on the mall. There was something about the Washington monument that got my attention. I tried a few crooked horizontal views, but when we approached the monument the vertical crooked view seemed like a better option. After that we drove in the car around town trying a few random photos here and there - but nothing seemed to grab my attention. So when I was editing the photos the neighborhood park images still looked good, but the crooked Washington monument just seemed so much more interesting. And that was the photo selected for this week. So I’ll keep my fingers crossed and see if it gets any attention. 



























Sunday, December 25, 2022

Christmas Eve Day in Georgetown

Since it was too cold to walk outside yesterday we took a turn in the condo garage. It takes about eight times around the three story structure to reach two miles. But it is rather dreary! We always like to take a short ride after the walk but decided to wait until later in the day to see if it would warm up at least a little bit. The sun was brilliant so it seemed better than what it actually was. And since we were getting anxious from being cooped up we decided to give it a whirl. We started out heading in the direction we usually take on a Saturday. But rather than turn right towards Arlington we took the bridge over the Potomac river and drove to Georgetown - a place we haven’t been to for quite some time. There were plenty enough people milling about on M Street - including the Grinch with a big red bag slung over his shoulder. We turned down Wisconsin avenue and saw Martin’s Tavern - famous for the “famous” people who frequented it. We have been there several times for brunch. I actually got my first pair of glasses in DC at Georgetown Optical. The overall vibe always felt like a tourist trap to me, but it is definitely worth seeing. It has all the inconveniences of Capitol Hill which we are all too familiar with. The homes are really lovely but impractical, and obviously much more expensive than we could ever afford. And of course you can’t leave town without checking out the steps made famous in the Exorcist movie where M street and the Key Bridge meet. After that we drove through thee  Palisades down to Clara Barton’s house, then turned around and started home. It was nice way to break up the day since we don’t have any plans to see anyone this weekend. Holidays can be a two edged sword - some are better than others. 






















Saturday, December 24, 2022

Christmas in DC

It’s too cold to take a morning walk on the National mall. It feels more like Wisconsin than Virginia. That’s one of the reasons we escaped from the Midwest sixteen years ago. Today we walked in the condo garage just to get in at least some exercise. But over the last few weeks we have visited Capitol Hill to take in the Christmas decorations. We lived there for thirteen years and have visited many of the same places so many times before. Even before we moved to DC we visited those same places. So today’s blog is a compilation of images of some of our favorite spots. The Christmas trains at the US Botanic Gardens are always a treat along with the monuments made out of plant material in the main conservatory. Believe it or not the gardeners are still planting winter pansies around the Bartholdi fountain in these cold temperatures. Of course the Capitol Christmas tree is a favorite. We haven’t had a chance to see it at night yet - maybe before New Year. At the Smithsonian gardens there are always decorated fountains and Santa’s made of greens. Inside the castle is another tree in the main lobby. Near the White House are the tin soldiers at the entrance of the mainstay Old Ebbitt’s Grill. At the White House is the White House Christmas tree and the Menorah. All of the states and territories also have their own trees surrounding the main one. The White House and executive office building have wreaths and garlands. We had so many delightful strolls this holiday season. It’s hard to believe we can still enjoy all of the seasonal sights. But for today looking at the photos is about the best we can do. Merry Christmas!