Well, already it is a rich and rewarding day and it is only 8:30. The day dawned, looking out the window I only see trees but I am not complaining. I am on the second floor so nestled in the branches and I – rather like a bird. Well let us admit if – a bird brain. Hahahaha I checked my emails corresponding with friends who email back. I did loose a lot of friends who were too busy to email me – but my gain is their loss.
Then I decided to throw on some clothes and go to the lobby and grab some coffee. Then when I was done I would take a picture of the massive pool and send it to friend Tracey as she had inquired, in an email of yesterday, if there was a pool here. I told her I would send a picture but had not gotten around to taking a picture. I stopped by the lobby and ended up getting involved in an hilarious conversation with a woman who shall be DPO. This stands for Disgruntled Property Owner. Disgruntled shall be the word of the day, and I do love its synonyms. Synonyms of disgruntled: poor service was the primary complaint of these disgruntled customers: dissatisfied, discontented, aggrieved, resentful, fed up, displeased, unhappy, disappointed, disaffected; angry, irate, annoyed, cross, exasperated, indignant, vexed, irritated, piqued, irked, put out, peeved, miffed, bummed, aggravated, hacked off, riled, peed off, PO’d, hot under the collar, in a huff, cheesed off, shirty, sore, teed off, ticked off.
DPO, an employee at this hotel, was complaining to her colleagues about her property which consisted of two and a half acres. What was she complaining about, prey tell? All of the work and maintenance required to keep the property neat and weed free. She has given up entirely on the back two acres – she is exhausted by dealing with the front (three quarter acre),
Me: You are NEVER going to believe this but guess who had a totally similar experience.
She: Who?
Me: Me, I was the proud owner of a similar piece of property in West Marin. It was years and years and years ago. But I know exactly what you are talking about.
She: It looked so nice in the beginning, I thought it was grass but then it is every prickly weed you have ever encountered. And you spend ALL of your spare time trying to rid you yard of weeds.
Me: OMG – you are so right! And you start thinking: “What was I thinking? What have I gotten myself in for here?”
She: Yes, this wonderful retreat becomes almost like a prison.
Me: Yes, a prison of weeds.
She is about to experience some relief as she met a wonderful man who is going to rent the ‘back forty’ and turn it into a strawberry patch. My story had a happy ending because I bought a house on a golf course and eventually sold the weeds.Somebody else is in charge of the lawns on the golf course. Even now, probably twenty-five years later I do not even have plants because I would have to water them. I was burned out by that experience.
DPO and I talked of many other things and found we had many other things in common. We talked about the alienating ways of parents – alienating their children from their grandparents. We did concur completely that the most important thing to do is NOT bad mouth the parents to the grandchildren and if that is avoided the grandchildren may come back to their Grannies.
I left the lobby, took a picture of the pool and grabbed a coffee. Then up to my room, read my emails and prepared to write this blog. There were responsive emails to the two women I had emailed earlier. It was most gratifying. The phone rang and it appears that I left my credit card at the Il Foranio restaurant last night. They sweetly called to tell me – I had not noticed it missing. I had an interesting early dinner there. I read yesterday’s blog to the handsome young man and he did agree that he felt he knew me from reading my blogs. It was so reassuring and he seemed to understand that I had some misgivings about it all. I also chatted with a man at the bar, an older man who is a physician who now does research on pelvic inflammatory disease at UCSF. There are strains that are proving resistant to penicillin and women are suffering. I realize that such a conversation does not sound very appetizing but it did not affect the nourishment and taste of the minestrone and the antipasto plate.
I am off to breakfast, then I will go and pick up my credit card, then write for a while. By then the fog will have burned off and I can go swimming in my new bathing suit. I am so looking forward to it all The attached picture is the pool.
