The 50 Plus Cafe, Pub, All-Nite Greasy Spoon and Dive Bar

I like gizmoes. Old stuff. Cars, motorcycles, guns, farm equipment, machines, houses, and old books. My grandfather used to say that they don’t make them like they used to. It’s true - they don’t. A lot of stuff is better. Cars are safer. Houses are more energy efficient and safer, too. But I learned a lot from my grandfather about older things as well as many things in general. Mom always said that he wasn’t all that mechanical, but he certainly knew a great deal about how stings worked. And he had the gumption to tackle a project without necessarily knowing precisely how it worked or was going to turn out, and this was well before the advent of Google.

He was into an obsolete brand of cars. He was driving a 1949 model when he died in 1981. I learned how to work on cars with him when I was younger. In middle age, I was looking for (another) hobby and I found a 1947 coupe of the same brand for sale for what seemed to be a reasonable price. It’s mine now. It’ll be my retirement project. I may ditch the job but I’ll have plenty to do. And I have thought of getting something from the teens also. Talk about anvil technology. And it makes me think of a set of books that he had.

Granddad (we all called him by an old family nickname) had a secretary in his living room. My parents had had one when I was little and they had junked it. They’re not the most practical piece of furniture, but they were a thing once, and he had his. The top portion is a set of shelves behind glass doors. Smack in the middle of his was a five volume set of an encyclopedia of car technology. His set dated from 1920. During the time I lived with him as a teenager, I would explore that set of books. I was fascinated by the old ways of doing things and the discontinued designs. It was a good education on the evolution of car form and function.

He died about 10 years later. He had married wife #3 by that time. She did nothing to endear herself to many of the rest of the existing relatives, and in fairness, many of us many not have been as welcoming as we might have. Anyway, we all gathered at the house for the funeral and memorial rites and the dividing of the loot at the reading of the will. That was for the children, and as a grandchild, I wasn’t included. I do recall the last time I saw that set of books was the last time I stood in that room. Last I had heard, she had a roll-off dumpster delivered and she had emptied the house, which he had left her life rights to, into its maw. Apparently that set of books as well as a lot of other keepsake-type things of his wound up in the landfill.

I have held it against her - and her ghost - from then until today.

Something made me think of it today. I was chatting with a friend about old books. Remembering that Google is a trusted friend, I decided to try to remember the name of the series and to see if I could find a set for sale online. I should have done this earlier, but we don’t know that we don’t know until we know that we don’t know, and then we can ask. Honestly, it took an entire 10 minutes. My guess at the name was almost exactly right, and it seems that even though his set didn’t survive, that m,any others have, and many of those look like they have languished safely in a secretary for longer than half a century. A very nice version was an option at an online vintage bookstore for just under $100, and not much over that with shipping. This set - my set - is from 1919, but they’re the same bloody books. Good enough. They arrive late next week.

I felt a kind of weight lift. I was able to forgive a self-absorbed old woman for her sins, real or imagined. I let her go. Hell, I didn’t know I was still carrying her around. So she is now forgiven and well on her way to being forgotten. And if I ever do buy a 1916 Orphan-brand, I’ll have the research material to figure out how it works, and as it turns out, I wanted access to the knowledge all along. I’ll have it soon and in my favorite format - old books.
She's been living rent-free in your head all this time. Glad you finally evicted her! 🥰
 
Another productive day! I woke up early (for me) at 1000. It felt... odd... to be up so early! 😆😅

My young helper came to work in the yard with me. We cut a rhododendron bush that was over 10 ft tall virtually in half!

Before:
IMG_20250920_214233.jpg

After:
IMG_20250920_214242.jpg

We filled up the yard waste bucket and 3 black yard waste bags!

I also started painting the powder room shelf holder the wall base color. I've done 2 coats. I'm going to let them dry overnight then bring it up to see how it looks in the room. It may need another coat of paint.

And! I baked! My trainer had her bodybuilding competition today. I will see her on Tuesday and have promised her a basket of goodies. Today I made brookies. If you look closely, you can see the layer of chocolate chip cookies on the bottom. Brownie on top:
20250920_213513.jpg

And chocolate chip cookies. This is 4 dozen.
20250920_141451.jpg

One disappointment was I missed a call from my friend. I'm hoping she and I can connect tomorrow. I will be baking again but should have my phone with me this time. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

It's still the weekend! Enjoy your Sunday, everyone! I'm a tired girl! 💝✨💖
 
Another productive day! I woke up early (for me) at 1000. It felt... odd... to be up so early! 😆😅

My young helper came to work in the yard with me. We cut a rhododendron bush that was over 10 ft tall virtually in half!

Before:
View attachment 2566080

After:
View attachment 2566083

We filled up the yard waste bucket and 3 black yard waste bags!

I also started painting the powder room shelf holder the wall base color. I've done 2 coats. I'm going to let them dry overnight then bring it up to see how it looks in the room. It may need another coat of paint.

And! I baked! My trainer had her bodybuilding competition today. I will see her on Tuesday and have promised her a basket of goodies. Today I made brookies. If you look closely, you can see the layer of chocolate chip cookies on the bottom. Brownie on top:
View attachment 2566084

And chocolate chip cookies. This is 4 dozen.
View attachment 2566085

One disappointment was I missed a call from my friend. I'm hoping she and I can connect tomorrow. I will be baking again but should have my phone with me this time. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

It's still the weekend! Enjoy your Sunday, everyone! I'm a tired girl! 💝✨💖
@Lilianna23 A very productive day for you and now you have a well trimmed bush out front and a few things for us to sink our teeth into…. What’s not to like?
 
I do too but it being such a tourist attraction sort of left it out there. But since we were only gonna be 100 miles away I figured why not.

It was actually very cool.

75,000 gallons a second go over those falls. It’s massive and the power of the water is amazing!

Maybe that’s where we should have our 2nd annual lit together!
It is an amazing experience to do the falls. The area around is overdeveloped and tacky in my view but going through the falls on Maid of the Mist was unforgettable
 
I do too but it being such a tourist attraction sort of left it out there. But since we were only gonna be 100 miles away I figured why not.

It was actually very cool.

75,000 gallons a second go over those falls. It’s massive and the power of the water is amazing!

Maybe that’s where we should have our 2nd annual lit together!


Not in winter. Not from mid-October to mid-April.
 
Another productive day! I woke up early (for me) at 1000. It felt... odd... to be up so early! 😆😅

My young helper came to work in the yard with me. We cut a rhododendron bush that was over 10 ft tall virtually in half!

Before:
View attachment 2566080

After:
View attachment 2566083

We filled up the yard waste bucket and 3 black yard waste bags!

I also started painting the powder room shelf holder the wall base color. I've done 2 coats. I'm going to let them dry overnight then bring it up to see how it looks in the room. It may need another coat of paint.

And! I baked! My trainer had her bodybuilding competition today. I will see her on Tuesday and have promised her a basket of goodies. Today I made brookies. If you look closely, you can see the layer of chocolate chip cookies on the bottom. Brownie on top:
View attachment 2566084

And chocolate chip cookies. This is 4 dozen.
View attachment 2566085

One disappointment was I missed a call from my friend. I'm hoping she and I can connect tomorrow. I will be baking again but should have my phone with me this time. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

It's still the weekend! Enjoy your Sunday, everyone! I'm a tired girl! 💝✨💖



Yeah, talk to your friend before you get into deep doodoo.
 
Another productive day! I woke up early (for me) at 1000. It felt... odd... to be up so early! 😆😅

My young helper came to work in the yard with me. We cut a rhododendron bush that was over 10 ft tall virtually in half!

Before:
View attachment 2566080

After:
View attachment 2566083

We filled up the yard waste bucket and 3 black yard waste bags!

I also started painting the powder room shelf holder the wall base color. I've done 2 coats. I'm going to let them dry overnight then bring it up to see how it looks in the room. It may need another coat of paint.

And! I baked! My trainer had her bodybuilding competition today. I will see her on Tuesday and have promised her a basket of goodies. Today I made brookies. If you look closely, you can see the layer of chocolate chip cookies on the bottom. Brownie on top:
View attachment 2566084

And chocolate chip cookies. This is 4 dozen.
View attachment 2566085

One disappointment was I missed a call from my friend. I'm hoping she and I can connect tomorrow. I will be baking again but should have my phone with me this time. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

It's still the weekend! Enjoy your Sunday, everyone! I'm a tired girl! 💝✨💖
What a baker you are. Yum. As a type 2 diabetic, I have to watch my portions but I can still enjoy the sweet deserts. Last night my friends had a key lime pie. So I asked for a small slice. Yum. 😋
 
What a baker you are. Yum. As a type 2 diabetic, I have to watch my portions but I can still enjoy the sweet deserts. Last night my friends had a key lime pie. So I asked for a small slice. Yum. 😋


I love me some key lime pie. When I go to see the kids, it's what we have for breakfast the last day I'm there.
 
Good morning Wat and other denizens of the diner.

Productive and fun Saturday so my plan is a lazy Sunday. Not much planned. Just will see some friends.

Have a lazy Sunday.


Load #2 of laundry is in the wash, and #1 is in the dryer. Breakfast is warming. TDK is snoozing. We'll try to get an early jump on the shopping excursion, maybe. House is quiet.
 
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