(Sunday Paper, Year V, Issue 11)

This hasn’t been a terrible week all around.

The weather was unseasonably pleasant.

I’ve lived in the northeast long enough (my whole life) to know that it doesn’t mean we’re 100% out of the woods when it comes to “no more snow” or consistent nice weather…

…but it sure was nice to enjoy a preview of what’s coming around the bend weather-wise.

(What I didn’t realize was that by the end of the week we’d have a sneak peek of what summer vacation would be like as well.)

We’ll start with the weather, since that’s what I originally planned to write about: If you need a reminder of the kind of weather this time of year can bring may I remind you of the April Fool’s Day blizzard back in 1997? Or when it snowed on Opening Day in New York? Those are April examples, and I know we all remember bitter cold days in March.

So far, this March, that hasn’t been the case.

I took advantage this week by doing some warm-weather activities, including a barbecue for the first time since the fall (we just didn’t get around to breaking out the grill this winter despite the lack of snow)…

…and then at the end of the week the girls’ school was canceled for the rest of the month and some of the warm weather activities I dabbled in this week are going to become a way of life for the next two weeks.

To wit:

-I don’t know how much barbecuing we’ll be doing these next two weeks…but perhaps if the weather is nice enough we can eat a meal or two outdoors to change things up.

-I did get out and run and bike a bit this week…and when the girls were home on Thursday I broke out their bikes, put air in the tires, and got those ready for the season. There will be quite a bit of bike riding happening over the next two weeks. (My youngest is just on the cusp of learning. We’ll get there this week for sure.)

-I did some yard work on Thursday morning. Between running and actual work and yard work there’s no time for all of this to happen consistently…but I am excited to have some time to get the yard cleaned up for the spring and summer. My biggest problem right now is the leaf pickup doesn’t happen until mid-April and I want to pick them up now and I don’t know how to keep the bags of leaves dry enough for a month so that the bags don’t become sopping wet and rip apart.

-And, of course, there’s walking the dog every day, which is nice to do when one (or more) of the girls joins us.

In the days since the school cancellation was announced Kathy and I put our heads together about other activities we can do to help keep the girls occupied: we’re going to try to do consistent game nights (Scattergories and Bananagrams are a couple of our favorites), movie nights (‘Stargirl’ is a book two of the girls have read and that came out on Friday on Disney+, and as I write this Disney is announcing that they’re putting ‘Frozen 2’ on Disney+ ahead of when they were going to for people stuck at home, so we’ll watch that), and a friend of mine mentioned puzzles which I forgot about - we have one that’s been sitting around waiting to be done.

So we’ll get by.

Stay healthy everyone.

Writing

*I’ve gotten quite a bit done this week…but I still have some unfinished tasks that in some ways I’m dreading because maybe I’m setting myself up for rejection but in other ways….who knows. Maybe it’ll be good news. But I have had to work harder than usual on figuring out who the exact right person is to get that work to. That’s been an unexpected roadblock.

Comedy

*Saturday night was the March edition of Comedy Night at Exhibit ‘A’. I went back and forth on whether or not having the show was the right thing to do. I checked with the comedians all week and they were fine with it (one backed out for health reasons which is exactly the right thing to do) and Exhibit ‘A’ kept things clean and was very clear with people who bought tickets that they could get refunds before the show…and some of the tickets that were returned ended up being sold again pretty soon after. So it was clear people wanted a show.

I think we gave them what they wanted, and it was a good time and as long as everyone (not a huge crowd, incidentally, and everyone was pretty spread out) in the room was healthy, I think it was a good thing. My show next week was canceled and I have nothing in the foreseeable future until Exhibit ‘A’ in April so now I have nowhere to go and nothing to do for the next few weeks.

Works for me.

Things I’ve Been Enjoying

*Guys. I don’t want to bring you down. But last week I told you how much I was looking forward to this time of year because it’s March Madness leading right up until Opening Day and it’s my favorite couple of weeks of the year. Well…that all was canceled/postponed and I’m pretty bummed about it. The fact that the girls are home has really softened the blow (I am much more excited about them being home with me than I think they are about being home with me) but obviously it was a disappointing week.

That said, Boston University won the Patriot League on Wednesday night, meaning they would have gone to the NCAA Tournament if there was one. So that was exciting to watch on Wednesday night, before everything shut down on Thursday.

Thoughts on Dog Ownership

*Tate’s birthday was on Wednesday…when the girls still had activities…but also when school had been called off for Thursday. So we were able to celebrate after dance class with some cupcakes and a few presents. Tate really liked her presents - they’ve been big hits as far as time spent playing with and chewing. She hasn’t destroyed them yet, which is always a bonus. Also, one of the presents was a little dog bed for my office so she can sit down here when I’m working (lately I’ve been sitting up on the couch with her). I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

Notes

*I have a feeling I’ll be on Twitter a lot in the coming weeks - you can follow me there at this link. I also might experiment with doing more on the Facebook page, which you can Like here. I don’t know, but at the very least I’ll be posting something every Wednesday in addition to the Sunday Papers and other writing links.

*Some of you might remember one of my favorite Christmas decorations is hanging all the Christmas cards/pictures over the entryway between the dining room and living room. I usually keep that up for anywhere from a couple to three months after Christmas. I took those cards down this weekend. But for now I’m keeping up my all-time favorite Christmas decoration - the year-by-year family pictures. I need a little bright spot to look at.

*All right friends. Be smart this week. Take it easy if you’re able, stay away from big crowds, and, you know, wash your hands. If you need someone to talk to and help pass the time feel free to reach out. But, like, not in person.