Denis 🌏

so this is maybe awkward... for my birthday party I said no presents, but my closer friends did give me plants which was nice, and a medium¹ friend a bottle of cheap wine (he was clear about that and we joked about it) but another medium friend gave me what I *think* (if the internet can be believed) a pretty pricy bottle of wine. I mean seriously, this may be in the $100 range...

I'm not *completely* sure, and maybe I should have done more research first, but I did text him back said "holy cow, I'm going to have to keep this for a special occasion"... but now I'm worried I'm wrong and it's more average, so... I dunno.

But I've also decided this is not on me to feel awkward about. I'm pretty sure I've never said to him I'm a wine connoisseur [which I'm not], so if this *is* in fact a pricier bottle than I would ever spend on myself, it is what it is and I should enjoy it without guilt.

#gifts #birthdayGifts #friends

¹ "medium" as in he's more than an acquaintance but I wouldn't say he's a full-fledged friend yet, either.

so I don't have anything I *really* have to do today (well, a few but they're not big effort). But as always it's hard to not feel "well, I *should* do X Y and Z" (and X Y and Z are not just chores, they're even fun things, but some of them take some effort)

The next few weekends are quite busy, though, so I think being lazy today is proactive self-care.

#selfcare

• was not rear ended on 101 this morning. But honestly I thought it was going to happen.

• travel day uneventful, despite being delayed an hour.

• Walnut, my friends' dog! Always happy to meet new people. I mean, she's met me before but it's been a year, so I think I count as new again

#ThreeGoodThings #3goodThings

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

• did another stint of babysitting for my niece and her husband while they packed. They were super appreciative.

• bought myself 2 new pillows at Ikea on the way home. Haven't bought new pillows in... well.... geez, I have no idea. Definitely way too long and have been intending to for a while.

• started a new self-help book (yes 😒) which, so far, describes my behavior to a T. Scarily so. Now the interesting part is what the advice is going to be to address these things I'm not happy about in my life. (yes I could probably look up what he says but it's an audiobook so I'm okay waiting for the reveal)

I think there's 3 distinct anglo/caucasian populations in Petaluma/Sonoma County.

1. People who used to live in The City (aka SF) or East Bay when It Was Cool and have since moved up here.

2. People whose families have been here forEVER. Ranchers, farmers, city streets with the family name, etc.

3. People who moved here from somewhere else entirely, like me.

No judgment call on any of these.

(*I know nothing about the Hispanic population so I won't speak to that, and Petaluma, at least, seems to have very small african american, asian, south asian, etc population.)

#petaluma #sonomaCounty #whereAreYouFrom

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

• was sitting on Stinson Beach for a bit today and a couple did their wedding proposal nearby. It was very sweet, all of us around clapped and cheered.

• all the tweetering of the  red-winged blackbirds in the trees at the beach

• poetry reading at Stinson beach public library

• good sermon on gratitude this morning

• met a few interesting people at the church pool party

• beautiful light at sunset at a good (short) hike with Sonoma Land Trust at Sears Point Ranch

#threeGoodThings #3goodThings

#silentSunday

1. Very grateful that the Petaluma UU church seems to be such a good fit for me.

2. Grateful to be finding my place in and making connections here in town and in Sonoma county. It was my own fault for not attending to those needs when I first settled here a year ago.

3. Gifted with 2 large zucchini and 3 lemon cucumbers from someone at church today.

#threeGoodThings #3goodThings #uuism #uu

1. Excellent and meaningful (to me) sermon from Rev. Aija today

2. Such interesting people and the stories of their spiritual path at the Path to Membership meeting today.

3. While making the decision to move Alyssa back to MA was hard, and then my decision to move back to CA, it was the right thing. Her sister is excellent at managing her care at this stage of the disease.

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings #uu #unitarianUniversalism #parkinsons

1. We had a lot of fun at the Wait Wait Don't Tell Me taping in Santa Rosa yesterday

2. It was the first time N and I had been together since our relationship changed, and I think I did pretty well at not slipping back into old patterns. Not completely, but not terrible

3. There was a woman with a walker after the show all on her own and seemed to be struggling with her phone (she said she was going to call an Uber) so we gave her a ride home 😊

#3goodThing #threeGoodThings #WWDTM #WaitWaitDontTellMe

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

• pretty light day at work, so I took care of some personal stuff

• got lost for way longer than I should have in reading a Sonoma county newspaper from 1875

• nice walk around the neighborhood at twilight.

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

• randomly went to car wash (which is pretty infrequent for me, but car really needed it), they were having a labor day sale so was only $5 instead of $13!

• Hank Mobley's album "The Turnaround!" (playing right now). Especially their interpretation of The Good Life.

• the brushstrokes of the high pink clouds at sunset were just gorgeous

• free tai chi by the river

• twice today I slipped into old patterns of being really anxious and self-pitying and twice I said to myself "what the f* are you whining for" and got myself out of it and back to feeling like the awesome person I actually am

• I did a good yes-I-am-apparently-now-an-old-fart functional fitness exercise youtube video this afternoon. little by little.

#threeGoodThings #3GoodThings

• going to see live music this evening

• riding my bicycle there and back

• art class this morning in Wickersham Park

(bonus

• haircut: I really like Trina who cuts my hair. We have such great conversations about life and the universe and showing up and being authentic. And she does a passable haircut too 🙂)

#threeGoodThings #3goodThings

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

• saw my former partner at her assisted living place for first time in a year. She seemed very happy to see me.

• I'd say she hasn't degraded much mentally--already very significantly cognitively impaired--which was nice to see (but pretty drastically physically. We're definitely in a new phase)

• good dinner with my boss and a colleague that I haven't seen in person since mid-pandemic, iirc

• drinks with my friend Steve

• my library hold of audiobook of Emily Wilson's Odyssey came through much sooner than expected!

• I think I've figured out what I'm going to do for my birthday

#3goodThings #ThreeGoodThings

1. Had SUCH a good time dancing tonight. [will explain more in another toot] Haven't danced like that since... yeesh... high school?

2. And it was even better now, because now I don't give a f* what anybody thinks of me.

3. Despite the deer chomping a lot off my tomato plants, have tomatoes growing!

#threeGoodThings #3goodThings

• fun rehearsal with Occidental Community Chorus. I think I'm going to enjoy singing with this group.

• obviously my audition went fine. Piece of cake. Everybody all smiles.

• brought lots of plums home from rehearsal! Somebody did a big harvest off their tree(s)

#threeGoodThings #3goodThings

• good last visit this morning with Alyssa

• Akka the dog in the office

• more or less on-time fight departure 🤞🏼

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

• first rehearsal tonight in the performance space was not as bad as it could have been 😅

• many hands made light work of envelope stuffing & stamping for the group's fundraising solicitation letters

• all you weirdos here on the fediverse. You make me happy

#3goodThings #threeGoodThings

• got an actual honest to goodness compliment from our choir director. She's very parsimonious with them, so yay!

• rain. Only a bit, but still. With petrichor.

• the pre-rehearsal bass/tenor sectionals have been very helpful and much appreciated and I was the one who instigated them, I'd say