How Was Your May? Today Is The Last Day So Wrap Things Up Before June

So here it is, the last day of May. Another month wraps up and it's a good time to look back at the first few months of this year and reassess. How has your year been going? Are you on track to meet (or exceed) any personal goals you might have set for yourself? Or maybe you'd prefer a "do-over" instead? Well, you can't get the do-over, but you can take advantage of a brand new month beginning tomorrow. 

It's the last day of May today. Tie up your loose 
ends and start strong and new tomorrow. Don't 
worry about unfinished tasks, just understand 
that some things aren't meant to be completed 
quickly, just complete them within the fullness 
of your own time, to the best of your ability. 

A new month offers new possibilities. It will be a chance to clean that room you had planned on for May but just didn't get to. A chance to weed that part of the garden that you kept putting off. A chance to tell those you love how much you care for them - something that should be on your agenda all of the time in any case, but that sometimes gets forgotten. 

We should have some blooming lillies within two-three 
weeks. They've grown up tall, and are almost at their 
terminus and ready to put up buds. 

It will be a new opportunity to admire whatever weather and opportunities Mother Nature throws at you. Here, we'll have hot weather, some thunderstorms (some of which may be severe), maybe a tornado or few, and some hot days. We'll help our next door neighbors celebrate the High School graduation of their oldest child, and wish her well as she leaves the nest for a college in a different state. We'll watch our garden blossom into a riot of colors and shapes. Our lillies should bud and bloom in June, and our other plants, which were new little things not too long ago, will spread, grow and feature a riot of colors to attract the bees and hummingbirds. 

Our hummingbirds have definitely returned and are using 
the feeder. It's a lot of fun to sit outside and watch the 
little guys swoop in for a quick drink, then swoop back 
out again. Remarkable birds. 

Our hummingbirds will continue to come to our feeder. We've had hummers coming by now for approximately thee weeks. I checked with my oldest niece, and her hummers have been on the same basic schedule, so I chose properly when I put out my feeder. They've found it, and they flit in and out all the time while we're sitting on the patio, enjoying our Sundays. 

June is one month where we have no expectations. There is a holiday - Father's Day - but our fathers are long dead, and we don't have children, so that holiday passes us by. We can relax until the 4th of July, when the summer kicks into high gear and schedules will start to compress. 

My plans to attend my family reunion are undergoing 
revision in my head. It's just at a rotten time of the 
year, in a city that, although exciting, isn't really one I 
want to visit again, and I'll be compressed for time, so 
can't do the extra East Coast things I wanted to do. 
I'm probably going to pass on this yet again. Maybe we'll 
have another one in 2028. If so, I'll deal with it then. 

As for the family reuinion? I've pretty much given up on that one. Markus is staying at the Hotel St James, a block or so off from Times Square. I've never had a desire to see Times Square, although I've been to New York several times. I didn't check the room rates, but I'm sure it's up there - it's central NYC. But when it gets down to it, I just don't have the time, the money, or the time. Oh, did I mention the time? I have no idea if there will be another reunion in 2028, and I'm sure it will be in Europe again, not the USA, but I'll consider it then. Not now. 

On that note, I need to get moving. It's a "day off" for me, so busy, busy, busy. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

A Post of ARGH! No Sunshine and Lollipops Today

Monday begins a week of Jury Duty, something I really am NOT looking forward to. Chickie will have to work for me on Monday, for at least part of the day if not all of it, and of course my entire schedule for the week is up in the air. If I actually get selected for a jury and the case extends past this week, I might be stuck for longer than a week. For many people it's a minor inconvenience. For me it's a serious issue - I run a business and there are only three of us on staff. I've been excused in the past, but not this time. This time the state is insisting that I appear and serve. 

ARGH

That's totally F__ked up! 

I really could do without this. I got an 
extension once, but they refuse to grant 
me one again, and also refuse to allow 
me to pull out as a small business owner. 

I'll have to park in a parking ramp. I get paid all of $20/day plus 54 cents a mile to and from ($11.66). That's not going to go far to offset the costs of a parking ramp. But ... no choice. It's winter and parking on the street doesn't work in the winter. Plus, parking meters are set for a 2 hour maximum. Great for shoppers, not so great for workers or drudges like people on a jury. 

GRRRR - just GRRRR.

So, that's my week ahead. Thank goodness I have the opportunity to still get in my treadmill or swimming every day, but I won't be able to be there and at the shop every day, so that's going to be a problem for everyone. What a mess! GRRRRRR. 

I'm sure there are other things on my mind. But frankly, right now all else pales in the face of this reality. Of course, DH isn't talking to me yet again because he's "too stressed out" about getting the store ready to close. And of course I'm just beating my head against the proverbial wall yet again, trying to get through to him that there are good ways and bad ways to go about this, and that his way just isn't going to work well enough in the time we have. Additionally, he's having fits because I finally have firm dates for the family reunion and want to go to New York a week earlier to get an opportunity to spend some time in the various museums of the city before family festivities commence. Apparently that's unreasonable, and I admit the timing could have been better. But still. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an Egyptian 
collection of 26,000+ items and I want to spend a 
day or two or more just looking at what they have. 

So, it's been a post of complaint today. I don't indulge often, I'm usually trying to be upbeat, as much as possible, because we live in a world of hurt and sorrow. But I'm not achieving sunshine and lollipops today, so I beg your forgiveness. Have an excellent weekend. I'll be able to post on Monday, and we'll see from there if I have time for full posts every day or just quick pops in to reassure my readers that I'm still alive and well. Slava Ukraini. 

A Missing Event Planner Might Spell Disaster for the Family Reunion

As many of you know, I'm supposed to be attending a family reunion of my father's family in New York City in August of next year. At least that's the plan and the goal. Of course, the previous two reunions were held in Europe, and were planned by the family member who has joined all of us together through the genealogical research he has been doing. Since this one was in the USA, he assigned the organization to a volunteer named Lisa. Who seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. 

"Lisa" has dropped off the face of the earth, 
apparently. No-one's heard from her at all 
since mid-September, when it was a single 
sentence. You would think she would be in 
weekly contact with the family head, but no. 
She's totally MIA. 

That's leaving a lot of very frustrated and angry people in Europe and the Western Hemisphere without a firm plan in hand for this reunion. The location is supposed to be New York City. There has never been any inquiry that went out asking for a head count. There has never been a firm date (although most of us seem centered in on an August 18-20 date framework) and the last any of us heard from "Lisa" was a rather cryptic "Narrowing down the date" on our Facebook group in September. Well, here it is, December, and we haven't heard peep from her. 

I know nothing about New York City. I've been there a 
few times, but that's as good as it gets. I don't know hotels, 
schedules, places for a larger group of people to meet for 
a meal ... nothing. I can't event plan this one, so I'm really 
hoping someone else who is more knowledgeable than 
I can take over and make things happen. What we really 
need is an event planner. Hans planned the past two reunions 
in Europe, and he enjoyed doing it. He knew, however, 
that he didn't know anything about NYC, so relied on 
other people which may turn into a huge mistake. 

The group is becoming restless (quite understandable). Our European counterparts would like to get their travel reservations made, I would like to know if the weekend of the 18th is a yes or no because two weeks after that is the State Fair and Sharon's annual visit, so my time is rather compressed. We're all starting to clamor for specifics, and I have a feeling Lisa has gone to ground and we're on our own. 

There is at least one member of the family who has booked 
passage for himself and his wife on the Queen Elizabeth II 
ship which will put into port in New York City in time for 
the August 18th dates. If this falls through, hopefully he'll 
have a lovely time anyway, but that's a ton of money he's 
already put down for a voyage into the unknown. 

I'm NOT an event planner and have no desire to become one. I know NOTHING about New York City, and have no idea how many people are planning to attend, so without basic numbers, how could anyone even think about booking blocks of hotel rooms at various hotels or event halls for one large get-together with food and drink? I'm really hoping someone steps into the breach and gets this moving because we're almost out of time to get this nailed. I know it won't be me, and that it's also possible that the event may need to be postponed a year which would disappoint a lot of people who have already made travel arrangements (or are in the process of making them now). What a MESS! 

What a mess! The reunion that I've been looking 
forward to for more than a year is on shaky ground now, 
because someone dropped the ball on the whole thing. 
I've done large events before, I know what planning is 
necessary. This person has totally disappeared and 
this may doom the event completely. I'd be so VERY 
disappointed. 

On a positive note, at least my niece was able to resend my annual post-Holiday Party e-invitation so that I could triple-check it's appearing on my calendar. I missed this one because it's actually happening on January 1, 2023, not in 2022, and I hadn't looked quite that far ahead. I've got it down now, though. This one is easy - just a few miles down the road. No hotel or air flights necessary - LOL. Here's hoping you all have a good beginning to your week. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.