Friday March 1, 2024
Dear Diary,
I woke up at 5 a.m. I had slept really good. My dreams had been vivid and fun. I felt fully rested getting almost 9 hours of sleep. I got up and let Little Bit out, being as quiet as possible but Missy’s dogs heard me and I could hear them barking in her room. After Little Bit came back in, I laid in bed and wrote my blog. It was nice to have a relaxing morning to lay in bed. When the sun started coming up, Angel woke up. I finished writing my blog, posted it and got up with Angel. We made our beds and went into the kitchen. Missy got up and we said our good mornings. Angel had some toast and applesauce for breakfast. I drank the rest of yesterday’s smoothie and made a grocery list. I forgot to bring Angel’s schoolwork with me so for school, I had her read some of her kids books she had brought. She was not happy to be doing school on vacation but I wanted to keep her going on reading. The only way for her to get better at reading, is to keep reading. She argued and tried getting out of it but ended up reading 3 of the 4 books she had brought with the 4th book to be read when I got back from the grocery store. Missy has an extra car that she is letting me borrow while I’m here visiting. It’s a Volkswagen Jetta and it was fun to drive when I went to the grocery store. I wonder if she would sell it to me? Angel and Little Bit stayed at the house with Missy while I was gone. I enjoyed sight seeing on the way to and from the store and took the scenic route home so I could look around at more stuff. When I got back Missy was entertaining Angel with a search and find book. She helped me bring in the groceries and I put them all away. I made Little Bit some homemade food and made pineapple/grape/apple juice with my nieces juicer that she had brought over to her moms for me to use. Then I made a smoothie with Missy’s blender. After using a vitamix blender and a namaj2 juicer for years, it’s a whole different experience using a regular blender and juicer. My smoothie and juice were not as smooth and creamy but regardless I was very grateful to have a blender and juicer to use while on vacation. Missy has been very accommodating and thoughtful about providing everything I need and I deeply appreciate her kindness.
While I was juicing and making my smoothie, Angel read out loud her 4th book, which she had been hoping I would forget about. Angel and I talked about what we wanted to do today, Angel wanted to go to a park and I wanted to explore downtown. So I found a park near downtown and we headed out. Missy stayed home to rest and do laundry. At the park, we were the only ones there. Angel played on the playground and I wrote my blog. I was starting to get behind and wanted to get caught up. After a while, Angel came to sit in the shade with me and Little Bit. We were discussing what to do next when an older lady came over to us. She had a plate of homemade cookies and a banana. She said she lives across the street and had just made these homemade cookies and wanted to share them with us if that was ok. I took the cookies and banana and thanked her. She handed Angel a $10 bill and wished us a good day. I asked her name and she said it was Michelle and she asked what our names were. I told her and thanked her again and she walked back home. Angel was excited about the cookies and I doubted that little old lady had poisoned them so I let her have one. Little Bit was excited about them too but he didn’t get one.
When we left the park, I drove around downtown sightseeing for a while. Angel saw the streetcar and wanted to ride on it. I thought that would be fun but we had Little Bit with us. So we went back to Missy’s to drop him off and make plans for the rest of the day. Angel decided she wanted to go explore the wilderness nearby where she had gone with my niece yesterday. I was all for it and we walked around in the wilderness for about an hour or so. I loved looking at all the plants and we even saw a hummingbird. We foraged some lemons and grapefruits that had fallen from trees overhanging from peoples fences and on the way back one of Missy’s neighbors had a box of tangelos sitting out front with a free sign on them. I took a few and ate one as soon as we got back from the house. It was the best tangelo I’d ever eaten. It was perfectly ripe and super sweet. While I was eating tangelos, I received a text from one of my life coaching clients asking if I had time to do a phone call anytime today. Since Missy was taking a nap and Angel was playing with the dogs, I told him I could do it now. The session went great and when it was over, Angel and I went downtown to ride the streetcar, leaving Little Bit with Missy.
I found a place to park where the tracks were running through the roadway and at first we couldn’t figure where to get on the streetcar. There were bus stop signs along the sidewalk but no streetcar signs. I asked some ladies nearby and they said they were from out of town too and didn’t know. We saw the streetcar coming and ran to a bus stop. I waved as it got near. The driver stopped and told us we could get on the next block up. We ran up to the next block as the streetcar went past us. That’s when I realized that there were platforms in the middle of the road that you got on the streetcar from. We ran across the crosswalk and into the last door of the streetcar right before the doors closed. We found seats and sat down. I felt great from running, it had been a while since I actually ran anywhere but I want to add short sprints to my weekly exercise program. It did my body good and I’m all about doing my body good.
We rode the streetcar a few blocks and then Angel wanted to get off. So we got off and walked to a juice bar I saw. Angel got a smoothie and I ordered a green juice. We walked a few more blocks and Angel wanted to get back on the streetcar. So we got back on and rode a few more blocks until Angel wanted to get off again. We again walked a few blocks and looked around in some cute shops where I bought a some gifts for people. Then we got back on the streetcar and I let Angel continue to decide when to get off and back on, she liked being in charge. When it started to get dark and the shops closed, the bars were the only businesses open and the energy downtown completely changed. The streets now had people lying along the sidewalks that were obviously drugged out and it wasn’t a good environment for a child to be in. I told Angel it was time to go back to our car and we needed to stay on the streetcar now until we got to where our car was parked. She didn’t like not being in charge anymore but I overruled her protests.
We made it back to the car and headed back to my sisters. When we arrived, I made a big salad and chatted with Missy and Angel while we ate. Angel took a bath and got into bed. I chatted with Missy some more and Angel called for me to come read to her. I told her I would be there in a few minutes. I finished our conversation and went to read to Angel but she was asleep. I bathed and went to bed and fell asleep around 8:30 p.m.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria