Hi, everyone! Whether you’re enjoying your summer or winter, depending on your global location, I hope you are doing well this season. We are currently in the hotter parts of summer, though going outside hasn’t been appealing because we’re downwind of the Canadian wildfires. Detroit was said to have the worst air quality in the world a few days ago. Before that, it was Chicago. Guess who lives between Detroit and Chicago?
I can’t stay inside too long, though. We’ve taken to feeding birds this year.
I’ve stopped weeding the front landscaped area. The landscaping garden was there when we bought the house, but we purchased when there was snow on the ground. Now that I’ve quit pulling what looks like weeds, I’m learning many flowers in the past years lost their brilliance needlessly. Turns out I have Columbines and Phlox. The irises I found on Facebook Marketplace two summers ago are spreading. The Rose-of-Sharon plants from Craigslist have shot up and flowered.
Nick and I got some Tiger Lilies from my mom (everyone say, “Hi, Biscuit!”) and planted them in an area of the yard we sectioned off with bits of wood. I’m slowly trying to get rid of mowing area.
Because we don’t spray the yard like the previous owner did, we now have an abundance of crab grass and butterflies. WORTH IT. Can you spot the butterflies?
Of course, it wouldn’t be the Page house if we didn’t have berries. This is the first haul of the summer ready for flash freezing.
I’ve also been working. Part of it is setting up my own business, Melanie Page ASL, LLC. I worked to get signed up as a freelance interpreter through different agencies. One I’m excited about is a Deaf-owned agency that offers interpreting across the country. I also recently met a local Deaf business owner who cares for Deaf clients with care needs who wants me to interpret for her intermittently.
The bulk of my time the last month has been spent with my main work as an employee of ZP Better Together (also known as Purple). I spent two weeks training and am now in extended training. So far, I’ve done some live supported calls, which means I’m actually interpreting for people using the service, but a mentor is there monitoring me and can give me advice on what action to take. If I pass the quality assurance test, I will start taking calls on my own. It’s been wild. Consider how one three-credit interpreting class in college is 45 hours of class time. In the last three weeks, I’ve had 98 hours of interpreter training with Purple! If you’re curious about what I do and what it looks like, click this link and scroll down to the VRS Explained video.
While I do enjoy working from home (no commute, food here, can exercise on my lunch break), at one point I realized I hadn’t left the house in four days. I decided to fill my calendar with different local book clubs, some of which I don’t plan to attend having read the book, but just for the socialization. I don’t want to go feral, you know? I do read for my Spooky Book Club; in fact, I’m now the leader. I also joined the Rotating Reads book club, which chooses a different genre each month. I appreciate that!
One book club I used to attend was full of good folks at an excellent location, but they kept picking thrillers or historical fiction — a lot of women’s fiction, if I’m being honest — and I didn’t want to read it. By women’s fiction I mean books that focus on women’s feelings. Sometimes the plot is a love triangle. Sometimes women in extraordinary situations. But the focus is always how they feel. Am I explaining this correctly? I want to read books by and about women, but we’re more than a pile of emotional reactions. If the book is recommended by celebrities Jenna or Reese, it’s probably not for me.
Alrighty, that’s all for now. I hope you’re doing well. Feel free to let me know some highlights from your summer (or winter) in the comments.
Grab the Lapels 
First of all, you both look wonderful, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you this summer. As you already know, I lost my rental house when they sold it. A second offer also fell through when that sold too. Another offer for 6 weeks, and I decided I might as well pack up and head home.
So, here I am, sweating it out in Florida. It’s not where I want to be, but it is home for now.
After my early morning, daily, 2 mile walk, I keep myself entertained by reading with the AC as my friend. I have gone thru 4 novels in the past 2 1/2 weeks.
Missing you, ❤️ you!
Granny
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Granny, you might have to face the fact that you’re a Floridian now. You are home, and Michigan is the place you visit. I hope you are happy and comfortable in your home. I hope you visit Keith and his family, and I hope that your sister Ann’s family is there to visit, too. And it sounds like you are establishing it yourself! You’ve got your house, your air conditioning, your books. Heck, why not throw up a poster and try to start a book club in your little neighborhood? People don’t even have to read the same book. You can get together for an hour and have everyone talk about what they’ve been reading lately. A lot of folks like book clubs like that. Everyone loves a reading granny. I miss you too, and I hope you are happy. Also, less sweaty. ❤️❤️❤️
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You look happy, like the rose of sharon bushes! I planted a few a couple years ago, but the one that lived still hasn’t bloomed, and it’s in a location where a previous one did well. Who knows why.
I’m babysitting my grandson 6 hours a day, five days a week and it’s a lot. I’ve had to cut back on a lot of the other things I’m doing, for the time being. I won’t be babysitting for more than another six months, so it’s fun (and exhausting) for now.
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You know what’s funny is I also gave my mom one of the Rose of Sharon plants, but hers only just now is about a foot tall with little baby buds. Ours are getting almost as tall as me, if not taller.
I hope you enjoy babysitting your grandson. I’ve heard there’s a trend lately where a lot of grandparents feel used because they become the de facto caregivers. If you’re enjoying it, that’s great, but if you need a break, make sure your voice is heard. You don’t want to feel burnt out, not take care of the things that you also want to do in your retirement years, and potentially feel resentful, even if it is only short term.
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Oh, this was part of the plan when they moved here, and I was all in! The thing is, though, I have this tendency to think I can still do most of the stuff I used to do when I was younger and I’m finding out that 65 with a baby most of the day is different from 35! I’m learning to pace myself.
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Ohhhh, I see what you mean! Thank you for clarifying. I do wonder how some parents care for their kids when they are pregnant over 35. I’m physically tired just doing my life. I can’t imagine a baby. That means the grandparents are even older.
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Great to hear where you are up to Melanie. I like how you understand the pluses and minuses of the freelance life and have quickly developed strategies for the social negative.
I also loved hearing about your garden activities and plans. Looking and sounding great. House ownership is a big learning curve isn’t it? Never stops because houses change, our lives change, but you are able to go with that I can see.
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Yeah……. the one thing that I forgot to add, probably because I erased it from my memory, is that our attic was invaded by chipmunks and mold, so now we’ve got a big fat $14,000 bill to take care of. Home ownership certainly is something! Earlier in the spring it was the $7,000 garage roof replacement after straight winds ripped a hole in it. I’m trying to not sweat it, because if I do, then I’ll just be sweaty.
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There are certainly significant costs to home-ownership … the worst are the surprises.
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First things first: Hi Biscuit!
Melanie, I’m glad your interpreting business is coming together.
I get that way at home, too, forgetting to go out. It’s a good thing that work gets me out of the house for a few days a month at least. Even so, I go from sitting at my desk to sitting behind the wheel with very little exercise in between. I’m amazed some times my legs still work.
Lots of rain here, a proper winter for once. But our bushfire season will come soon enough.
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I know what you mean about the sitting. My job is all sitting. However, we take a 10-minute break for every 50 minutes that we work. I never sit down during that break unless I’m using the restroom, and during my hour lunch, I spend 30 minutes riding my recumbent bike in my house. Once again, I wish it was easy for you to get a copy of that novel that I recommended by Dave Newman, the one about a trucker who also has an English degree. He reminds me so much of you in many ways, and one thing I do remember from that book, is that he spends all of his stops, jump roping or walking around and eating healthy food.
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Hi Biscuit!
You and Nick are so cute and very matchy-matchy in a subtle way.
Happy to hear work is going well on all fronts! And also, you berries and plants look great! Any toad sightings lately?
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I’m so glad that somebody noticed that we were matching but not really! That was the goal. I wanted to look like a couple, but not a brother and sister lol. I haven’t seen Toadman at all this summer because last summer we replaced the security light over the garage for something much more energy efficient (yay, you’d be proud!) except now it doesn’t create heat, which I realized attracted bugs, which I realize attracted Toadman. I bet he’s living his best fat ass life out somewhere behind the garage.
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Hello hello! I too have been enjoying my flowers, birdwatching, daily walks, and several book clubs. My noontime bookclub at the library is a hoot! I recently returned to running after my sprain last summer. I love how I have lots of time to do fun things since I retired. Apparently I’ve acclimated well to retirement life! Take care! ~B 📚🐦⬛🌸🏃🏽♀️
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I’m so proud of how well you’ve taken to retirement. I was worried you might get antsy, but you have a wonderful, rich life! Also, when you say your book club is a hoot, I feel like you are required to add that at the last meeting one old lady said about the book content, “She cut his dick off!” Spicy 🔥🤣
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They are a colorful group who do not mince words! 🔥🔥😂
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Your yard looks awesome, and you got some great pics of your bird (and squirrel) feeder. Your job sounds very cool, and I hear ya on working from home! I have a balance – three days in the office, two days home, which works.
Re: your comment on books about women’s feelings. This made me LOL. I love a good Reese’s pick, but I totally know what you mean, I need to break up those books with other things. Having to discuss those books at length with other women regularly would get old pretty quick, so it’s good you are attending a wide range of book clubs. Spooky reading season is just around the corner for me!!!
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Thanks for all the kind words! I love our house, though I forgot to add that we recently learned there are chipmunks in the attic. That was $14,000.
I recently googled celebrity book clubs, and one that caught my attention isn’t necessarily a book club, though people follow it: Sarah Jessica Parker Lit. She has some interesting options, nine if which are any the heart and feelings of women. I do worry that those kinds of books perpetuate the stereotype that women have too many emotions to be in positions of power. I mean, if they spend 300 pages deciding if they should allow themselves to fall in love, I get the concern. Look what a big deal that Crawdads book was. 😵💫
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I never read the Crawdads book! I’ll have to look up the SJP book club though, that sounds interesting
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I saw the Crawdads movie, and the whole thing was whether she should leave her house in the swamp and did she love this dude. I mean, if you’re circling over the same feelings for years, we’re probably not going to be a good fit.
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That is a lovely photo of you and Nick – you look very happy! Glad to hear work is going well, and that working from home is suiting you 🙂
I want to read books by and about women, but we’re more than a pile of emotional reactions. This made me laugh. I’m glad my online book club is a whodunnit one, because I also do not love this type of fiction. I have been thinking about trying to start a book club at my church, because although it’s a church with a lot of social activities attached, most of them happen during weekdays when I am at work. The main thing that’s stopping me is the memory of how quickly my last in-person book club started reading mostly women’s fiction!
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I hate to admit this, but if I’m tasked with running a book club, I’m picking the books. I’m not turning into the in-person Oprah book club, I’m not becoming a young adult book club, we’re not gonna read 101 thrillers that start with the plot synopsis, “they were the perfect couple… [something something] secrets.” You wanna pick the book? You run the club.
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I’m so happy to hear that things seem to be working out for you and your work/post schooling life! Really hope it all continues to be good!
We also bought a house with a well-kept, high maintenance garden (complete with water feature and garden statues) and 10 years later it would probably horrify the previous owners but we get lots of hummingbirds and bees visiting and we enjoy using the space.
I do enjoy reading a lot of books that are about women’s feelings but it also bugs me that that’s viewed as “women’s fiction”. I was just talking to a co-worker about how books for men are usually about concrete things happening while books for women are more about emotions. (Though the fact that we can also immediately all identify books as being “for men” or “for women” also drives me crazy. When people ask me to help them pick a book out for a child or a friend or whoever I deliberately never ask the receiver’s gender.)
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I just don’t want the whole entire book to be about making one decision. Should I leave my husband? How long will I put up with him yelling at me? Am I going to continue being crapped on because I’m shy? Etc. If that stuff was interspersed with other things happening, I would totally read that book. But the ones that just sit in the emotions over one decision? Ick. I’ve read books by men about men that do the same thing, and I hated those too. I don’t think they happen as often because that’s not really a marketable feature to male readers, and I’m not even sure if women are interested in reading about men’s feelings. Either way, it’s really hard to describe simply, but to be fair, anyone who sits there and chews their nails over the same decision for a year is not somebody I want to hang out with in person, either.
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I think I get what you’re saying. I find those types of books frustrating too – especially the ones where the main character spends the whole time dithering over whether to leave her abusive partner and he’s obviously terrible and she should. I find those types of people frustrating in real life so I don’t really want to spend my leisure time reading about them!
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YES, THAT
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