Welcome, new and old readers to Crone Life, my newsletter dedicated to acting my age, whenever I figure out what that means. I hope my explorations will aid you in your own.
Thank you to the people who remained subscribed during this (planned) break in posting, and thank you also to my new subscribers who signed up even though apparently nothing was happening.
It’s February now. January with its snow and rain and wind and clouds and cold and sobriety and No Buy pledges is over. In January, I went back to work full time, started physical therapy 3x a week (once a week in the pool) and engaged in comfort reading. Work is work, though the two months off has improved my attitude and also I have someone to blame for doing things wrong (usually everything is my fault). I’ll get to the comfort reading in good time.
I scheduled my p/t for first thing in the morning (7:30 am) and I have been liking it. I’m not having getting up any earlier (the p/t place is less than 5 minutes from my house by car) and I enjoy just showing up and doing what I’m told. Because the rest of my life is all about solving problems, both mine and those of other people. It’s ok, I quite enjoy solving problems, but it’s nice to have a respite. Physicality is not my strong point. Guidance is good.
The guy who owns the p/t place (with his wife and another partner I haven’t met) is very very local, which interests me because I’m not. He’s clearly a former star high school athlete, and he mentors kids who are enrolled in a local college’s p/t program and has several of them working as interns. He’s very energetic and likes to Keep Busy. In other words, the exact opposite of me. But it’s good that he’s my personal therapist, because I benefit from being able to work through my lingering adolescent terror of sporty guys who don’t seem to read. I don’t mean to imply anyone’s an idiot, just that their interests and concerns are very different from mine.
I admire this guy. The place has been around for over 25 years, it seems to be doing well, he has a great staff, the equipment looks up to date and well-maintained. I like getting advice on physical things (like how to make my calves less tight) and I also appreciate the opportunity to keep an ear on the local Discourse. I even occasionally glance up at the many flat screen TVs showing ESPN and other morning shows, which I find delightfully exotic while at the same time contemplating the fact that for many people, morning tv is an accepted part of daily life. I briefly feel like I belong. Salt of the earth.
But occasionally there is a jarring culture clash-type moment, like when the aquatherapist revealed her anti-vaxx views. On Groundhog Day, when the biggest TV screen was tuned to local news covering the celebrations in Punxsutawney, one of the cute young interns revealed that going there was on her bucket list. This led to everyone learning that Punxsutaney is 5 hours away in the middle of Nowhere, central Pennsylvania (I had thought it was near Philadelphia), there is more than one Phil and that spring comes within six weeks no matter what the groundhog sees. Also reminding everyone of that time Bill DeBlasio dropped Staten Island Chuck and killed it.1
Physical therapy is weird, kind of like Pilates. You feel like you're not doing much (2 minutes of marching in place? 10 minutes on the bicycle? That’s not fitness.). And yet somehow my knee and foot are stronger, my balance is better, I’m walking more and they gave me stretches for my lower back that help a lot. I feel like I’m being educated into liking physical activity again, which I guess is going to be a recurring theme in my life, since if left to my own devices I will not exercise at all. Unless I have to walk somewhere. I’m not yet one of those people who have to drive everywhere. But I do like being fit, in the sense that I can walk or hike a fair distance without having to sit and rest. I don’t need to be able to go faster than everyone else or lift hundreds of pounds. I toured the Fitness Center at work (free for staff!) and am contemplating becoming a regular there, at least in terms of walking around the indoor track and then using the machines. There’s no place to change though, I’ll have to figure that out.
Now for comfort reading! I got a whole stack of books from the library which I haven’t read yet because, out of curiosity, I checked out a self-published series by another substacker and I got HOOKED. I was surprised since it’s a cozy mystery series and that’s usually not my thing at all, but it starts off well and gets better. The basic premise is that a young widow, Annie, has escaped west to San Francisco after a disappointing marriage, the death of her father, and tragic widowhood. She is in San Francisco because she inherited a house from her aunt (her only relative since the death of her parents), which is actually the house she herself was born in. She’s turned it into a boarding house filled with delightful characters. She impulsively investigates a crime and meets a handsome young lawyer whose existence leads her to contemplate remarriage.
I’m trying to narrow down the appeal of this series for me, without getting too meta. I like it because an intelligent thoughtful woman is the protagonist, because the side characters are intriguing (though some start off a bit wooden), and because part of the premise is that each mystery-solving installment is set in a milieu in which a woman could have been successfully engaged in the 1880s (as a domestic servant, medium, dressmaker, doctor, college student, typesetter, etc). It’s deeply researched without being didactic. I could go on, but I don’t want to reveal any spoilers. It’s called the Victorian San Francisco Mysteries and my only complaint is that I initially misread the title as Victorian House SF Mysteries and was disappointed there weren’t many deep dives into late 19th-century decor.
The writer’s name is Mary Louisa Locke2, whose substack is here. She also writes a science-fiction series which I’ve yet to check out. I need to read my library books first!
Other things I’ve read, seen, thought about and will probably write about:
Shere Hite and the Hite Report3
The internet belongs to girls4
Who else here remembers Shere Hite? What about Nancy Friday? What have you been reading? Did you miss me? Comment, like, share, tell me all about your 2024 so far.
This is lore, not fact, but doesn’t it make a great story? DeBlasio also ate pizza with a fork (wait, that was Trump as well)
If you want a taste first, many titles are available via the Hoopla app.
I had a copy of this when I was 16, probably too early to learn just how problematic m/f sexual relations can be.
Turning the “there are no girls on the internet” trope on its head.
Sometimes I’m a poster but mostly I’m a commenter; many of us are probably also lurkers, aka The Audience. Can you really be a Poster if you don’t have an audience?
Oh my heavens! I am so glad you have been enjoying the series, and what a sweet generous thing to do by sharing!
I’m putting Maids of Misfortune on my TBR list. I love that era and setting.
The Keep Busy people are just fascinating, aren’t they?