Now when I look out my window here and the sky is cloudy, I’m glad that the sun, hidden by those clouds, can’t boil my brains. Were it sunny, I’d be moping over how I really shouldn’t, but would like to, call the awning company and have them make up something custom (and way too expensive). Home improvement projects are on hold for now, including the deck, which really needs to get done before anything else.
Memo to self: there are disadvantages to working in a south-facing sunroom with a wall of windows and no overhanging eaves to provide shade.
It’s also unseasonably warm again, might go into the high-40ºs, even up to 51ºF. This is weird. We will take another “Arctic plunge” in February, apparently, but each time it’s followed by these crazy spikes. Summer is going to be interesting. The climate is changing, and the weather is going to whipsaw us.
The lay off/ job loss, highlighting as it does our dependence on money as well as our advancing age(s), does throw into stark relief once again the issue of housing. Do we stay here, on the North Shore, as well as in this specific house? It’s a no-brainer both ways. On the pro-side: it’s a great house, which we’ve already tweaked to suit us, and which, with a few more tweaks, will be even better and will afford us the kind of “rooted” home where our children – and eventually their children – will always be able to visit. It’s not something we can duplicate in Cambridge or Boston, either. On the con-side: it’s close to Boston, but it’s also not in Boston, therefore relatively far from the action if what you want is easy proximity (and that is what I want). It still needs more tweaks ($), and property tax keeps going up. We’re also not especially socially connected here, although that’s our fault. But I was thinking of J’s Sunday gatherings, and how X. once said she’s never met anyone interesting there. And I remembered convincing [2 other friends] to go, but they stopped, and then I wondered how our social tastes are similar, and whether [the friends who dropped out] in this instance were “right” (because, in agreement with me, or rather, ready to reach a conclusion much more quickly, one which I’ve arrived at more slowly). So, what is it we’re seeking – in social interaction, in going to events, to parties? To gatherings? It’s a mystery to me in many ways. I supposed it’s a certain level of curation, and not just a pell-mell jumble of randomly thrown-together people.
