TWiP: Abandoned in New Jersey ⋆ Polka Dot Cottage

Our kids have flown the coop this week, abandoning Neil and I in New Jersey, while they go off on separate adventures: one taking a six-week road trip across the country, and the other flying to western Canada for a 14-day visit with friends. We’ve been at loose ends a bit with our nest temporarily empty.

Last night we were talking about dinner. I pointed out that the kids rarely join us for dinner while they are here, and yet, when they are far away, going to any effort to prepare a meal feels…

“Pointless?” Neil suggested. Yeah. Kind of.

Of course, feeding ourselves healthy meals is not actually pointless, but neither of us felt like expending the effort when they first left. I will admit I indulged in more than one “meal” that was just a big bowl of pretzels and a hunk of chocolate 😬

Fear not, though! I suspect we are turning a corner as far as that is concerned. I had lentil soup for lunch yesterday, last night we had a nice bowl of pasta for dinner, and I baked a wineberry crisp to enjoy over the next few days.

In other news, Neil pulled everything out of our overflowing linen closet this week and got us started filling up bags and bags of stuff for giveaway. It seems that I eat an overabundance of junk food when the house is too quiet, while Neil throws himself into decluttering. My way of coping may not be the most productive, but it’s more enjoyable 😜

P.S I just noticed so many of my photos in this mosaic are about food. Not really surprising 🤔

So, what is This Week in Pictures?

It’s a roundup of the little (and big!) moments I have captured all week. Some of these images are posted on Instagram, but many aren’t posted anywhere but here. Some days there may be no photos, and other days there may be multiples.

Photos taken with 📷 (Canon EOS 80D) or 📱 (Samsung Galaxy S9).

Saturday

Story for Saturday

Sunday

Visiting Neil’s Mom and Dad, and sneaking a picture while nobody was looking.

Wineberries – ripe and unripe – in the late evening sun

Tuesday

It felt like a “work on the bed” kind of morning, and it was until the battery unceremoniously died.

When I was a student at Drew University, I loved to hang around in the woods behind the dorms. Now those woods are in danger of being sold off for development. I made a little donation and put out my lawn sign, and I hope it helps. Local peeps, if you want to know more, check out Friends of the Drew Forest.

Neil and I took ourselves out to dinner tonight, someplace we’ve never been before (Black River Barn, two thumbs up, will happily go back sometime). Our kids are away from home for a few weeks getting to experience new places and things, so it felt only fair for us to shake up our routine, too (and maybe forget for a few hours that they’ve ditched us 😆)

Thursday

Either Past Me was a terrible bag labeler, or she was a good bag repurposer. Ichoose to believe the latter 😀

Attempt #246854 at a new profile picture. Not sure about this one either. I’m too picky 😜 Dyed my hair a crazy color again, by the way. I’m not going to repeat last year’s summer long rainbow hair thing, but a few weeks of green felt like it would be fun right about now.

Friday

As if I needed one more thing to distract me from my day job today, here it is: we’ve collected enough fruit to make a delicious wineberry crisp 😋 Must wait until after work. Must wait until after work. Must wait until after work…

I managed to be a good little worker bee until the end of the day, and then I baked. I split up the batch: some for Mom, some for me and Neil.

Thanks for helping me celebrate the week! If you want to see some of this stuff as it happens, please feel free to follow me on Instagram ♥

Same Week Previous Years (2014-2021)

1 thought on “TWiP: Abandoned in New Jersey”

TWiP: Montague ⋆ Polka Dot Cottage

July 25, 2022

[…] know myself well enough to realize that if both of my kids are off on grand adventures, I am likely to feel a tiny bit jealous and wish I was on an adventure of my own. That’s why, […]

TWiP: Montague ⋆ Polka Dot Cottage
July 25, 2022
[…] know myself well enough to realize that if both of my kids are off on grand adventures, I am likely to feel a tiny bit jealous and wish I was on an adventure of my own. That’s why, […]
Loading...