Where Did The Week Go?

Amy returned to Cleveland yesterday; we had a full week here in Covington. Amy, besides being busy updating the apartment in the other half of my house, which entailed a long list of vendor phone calls and appointments, spent time working with me. She is helping me to organize the boxes of papers stored in my closets in preparation for having them scanned commercially. A whole career’s worth, recording years spent in various agencies and places. I have some vague idea that someday I would do a memoir and want those papers to refresh my memory. But they need to be winnowed out and put in some format, other than papers buried in my closets, in order to be useful. I keep thinking I will get to writing, but events keep getting in the way. Someday...

It felt good to get caught up on housework and paperwork and to enjoy walks in the evening together. One day I had lunch and caught up with a long-time friend. (I almost wrote “old friend” but she would object to that: “I’m not old”, she’d say.) Once, after a particularly busy day, Amy and I dined out in the evening, thanks to my sister, Martha’s, Applebees’ gift cards. Our days were full; we retired early, had no trouble getting to sleep and rose early to greet another busy schedule. The weather was wonderful; we worked outside as often as we could. The deck had a particular draw as the trees in the backyard began to turn color. Twice we saw deer along the back fence. Yup, they cropped the tops off the hostas again. The squirrels have dug holes in the area we re-seeded - a wonderful place to hide their winter stores, they think.

While Amy was finishing up her to-do list, I enjoyed Soup and Bread Lunch at church yesterday. It was fun to see friends and hear their happy greetings. I feel like I have been away such a long time and indeed it has been several months, but trusting that all will go well with the cataract operation on the left eye Thursday, I should be able to return to Covington before the end of October. I’m looking forward to that.

Jon writes from their trek in the Himalayas that the mules ate, or at least chewed up, a pair of his precious merino wool socks. The trekkers had spread their laundry upon a fence to dry. No horses were there then and no one else’s laundry was touched. He decided the merino socks must be tasty to horses.

My mother instinct was to want to send replacements; socks must be such an important article when trekking. But where would I send them? Son Jon, c/o Guide, The Hardest Trek in the World, somewhere on the Jhomolhari trail, Bhutan? Seems unlikely they would reach him by mule train before the trek had ended.

Of course, my mind righted itself, knowing that Jon, worker of detailed preparedness lists, has already accounted for any exigency and I need not worry.  It is a blessing, though, to receive the short notes (160 characters at a time) we receive by satellite hook-up. Recently he was exulting about how wonderful a shower felt in a 4x4x7 ft. canvas tent, after a week on the trail. Hardy souls.

The wind chimes are playing out on the patio and leaves are drifting down. Fall is definitely here. Be seeing you....

Cars Get Thirsty Too

The trip yesterday from Cleveland to Covington went well with only one caveat. I “stole away” in the early hours of the morning before the others were up, so that I could reach the Covington Post Office before it closed at 2:00. About twenty miles into the trip, I noticed the car was running hotter than usual. This always signifies that the coolant is low. Coolant is topped off when I have the car serviced and it was serviced not that long ago. But I have done a lot of “long-haul” driving in warm weather recently. I anxiously watched for the highway rest stop I knew was coming up soon. 

At the rest stop I checked the coolant and it was definitely down; the fluid level did not even come up to the minimum level mark. I always carry coolant in the car so I dug out the container and poured in enough to get it well above the minimum line, not too sure just how much to put in when the car was hot, and proceeded on my way. The engine temperature dropped off a little, but not to the point it usually indicated. So at the next rest stop, I filled it up with all the remaining coolant I had, and that did the trick. From then on, the temperature indicator rested at it’s normal level.

In Covington, I returned my unused audio books to the library and picked up some DVDs for the evening when Amy would be joining me. (We drove in two cars as she will be returning to Cleveland before me). Once the car was unpacked and I had some lunch, I started peeling apples. It was really pleasant on my back patio; there was a nice breeze rustling the trees and many birds. I prepared six pints of applesauce for the canner.

It is good to be home, if only for a short time. I’ve opened all the mail, but have not responded to any of it yet. I did manage to reconcile two bank statements with no problem. I doubt my brain would hove been able to tackle looking for errors. By this time I was really tired. Nothing like one’s own bed in one’s own home. I travel frequently, sometimes I’m away for long periods, but short or long, coming home to my own bed always elicits a luxuorious sigh of pleasure.

It rained in Bhutan. I gather from Jon's short message, their “rest” day was kind of soggy, at least underfoot. They were a little sore but not more than expected after their first three days of the trek. As I write this, (they are 10 hours ahead of us) they have just finished a ten mile hike reaching up to 13,000 plus feet and down again. He writes the views of the mountain peaks are almost unbelievable.

May all of your travels be pleasant. Be seeing you....sometime.

Chipmunks and Applesauce

Finally! I have been trying for two weeks to get the surgery for my left eye scheduled and there was evidently some snafu at the office. Today I finally got a call and it is scheduled for October 2nd. I was afraid I would have to wait another whole month for it to be done.

The good news is that at my final check-up on my right eye yesterday, Dr. Lass said that the cornea looked good and that I would not need a corneal transplant until much later - maybe never! That sounded really good. Now if we have just as good luck with the left eye....

I asked Dr. Lass for a prescription for a new lens for the right eye and he readily gave it to me. But we had the same problem as before. Neither LensCrafters, nor Vision World would do just one lens. It is a company policy. So if I want a different prescription for the right eye, they have to make me a whole new pair, using the current prescription for the left eye. And then when the left eye is done, a new pair of lenses all over again. At $200 a pair. Sounds like a racket to me. I think someone could make good money setting up shop to do single lenses for the hundreds of people who are having cataract surgery. Of course, one has to consider that Medicare and some insurance companies will pay for only ONE pair of glasses after cataract surgery.

So once again I have not changed my glasses. I now have to switch back and forth, putting glasses on for close work and taking them off when not doing close work. It is definitely easier to drive without my current glasses and it is not so easy to see the computer with my glasses. So I will be REAL happy when I am back to one pair of bi-focals again. Even with the new lenses, I will require correction for both far and near vision because of the astigmatism.

Amy and I are planning a trip to Covington for next week. I need to collect my mail and take care of bills and other errands. She is going to do some business related to the house I rent from my son, as my son Jon is on the Snowman Trek. They’ve been on the trail for a couple days now. The group has gotten to know each other and get along well. In one of Jon’s emails, he said they would be meeting up with the Bhutan crew and 30 mules! to pack all of their supplies, bags and equipment. The mules pass them each day so the crew can go ahead and set up for the evening camp. It should at least give them a breather to allow 30 mules to pass them by.

I am sitting on Amy’s front porch to write this and continually distracted by the chipmunks running across her lawn and under my car, and sometime nearly across my feet. They sure are fast. As Amy said, sometimes they look like their feet don’t even touch the ground. 

Yesterday I peeled some of the apples I picked up under Lucy’s trees and made a big batch of applesauce. The rest of the apples are going home with me tomorrow; I put up applesauce nearly every year for the winter. And the price was right - free for as many as I wanted. 

It is definitely feeling like fall. Cooler nights, warming up during the day time. Some leaves are beginning to change color. My potted dahlias are still blooming so pretty on the porch. I am pleased that I will be done with my cataract appointments while travel is still pleasant. The only “downer” is that the CD player in my car has quit. I miss the audio books when I drive long distances.

Be seeing you...sometime.

A Wonderful Party

It was a wonderful party! Several people said they did not know how it could have been better. We set up the punch bowl, the large cake, bowls of peanuts and mints and M&Ms on tables covered with a lace tablecloth while the musicians set up right next to the table. We were in the cafeteria of the Skilled Nursing Home.

The music was country western, Phil’s favorite. He looked really handsome in a light short sleeve shirt and navy pants. It was my job to keep an eye on him and I “lost” him in the first fifteen minutes. He wanders continually if left alone; I was pretty sure he hadn’t gotten by me at the door, but I immediately ran outside anyway to look and caught no sight of him. By the time I ran back into the room, he had been “found”; he had just wandered back into the kitchen area.

As more people arrived and the musicians started playing, he was easy to keep track of because he loves to dance. When his wife is not immediately available, or her knee is bothering her, he searches for some other woman to dance with. I was standing next to some folks, with whom I had been visiting, and he came up to me, said not one word, took my cup of punch out of my hand, carefully set it on the table and pulled me onto the dance floor. Speaking in sentences is not easy for him. But on the dance floor he is fluid and keeps time with the music. It is a puzzle that he can dance so well, yet sometimes can not stand still without losing his balance or having a sudden weakness that requires him to sit down.

Actually it was the perfect setting for him; he did not have to try and make conversation as long as he could be dancing. And the cake and ice cream were a big hit! About 40 relatives, friends and neighbors stopped by to enjoy the music and watch Phil and Lucy dance. There was a lovely floral centerpiece and a basket of anniversary cards to take home. 50 years is a long time; “in sickness and in health” was certainly played out right in front of our eyes in the most charming and dignified manner. We were all enchanted.

Lucy was lovely and so happy to see the wonderful turn-out. Even several of her original wedding party were able to attend. And the cameras were out in force. We had our own version of paparazzi; there will certainly be plenty of pictures to commemorate the event.

Lucy was tickled with the note they received from Jon. He wrote that since he and Bath could not be there with them for the party, he was taking them with him on the Snowman Trek. He enclosed a picture of himself with a laminated picture of Phil and Lucy attached to the strap of his daypack.

I am so privileged to be part of such a wonderful family!

I called again today about scheduling surgery for the left eye; they are working on it, I was told. I’ll be heading back to Cleveland tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on the weather. Be seeing you sometime.

Rainy Day for Travel

Sept 13, 2014 10:00 P.M.

I am so glad I decided to break the trip to Watertown up. The first day, Friday was for the most part overcast, sun breaking through in spots and then more sunshine as I turned at Buffalo and headed east. It was cool but nice enough for Nancy and I to take a walk, wearing sweaters, after I arrived at her place in Newark. 

Saturday was the opposite; it rained all the way, never stopped until after I got to Lucy’s about 4:00. But since I had done more than half the trip the day before, it was not too bad. I doubt I would have been able to do it all in one day in the rain. It was slower going and I had to pay much more attention to driving and I could not drive without my glasses as the visibility out was not good. But I arrived safely and not too tired.

Lucy’s apple trees in the back yard are just loaded with apples and there are already many lying on the ground. Last year when I was here I picked up many, many apples, some were rotten and worm-eaten, but many were still good, Some even good enough to eat out of hand and others wonderful for applesauce. Just thinking about the wonderful applesauce that we made from apples last year makes my mouth water.

Tomorrow is the big party day. We gals have been checking out wardrobes and discussing what we will wear. All of the food has to be carried in so lists are being made lest something is forgotten. 

This is not the usual 50th wedding celebration. My brother resides in the dementia ward at a Watertown Hospital and we are taking the party to him. Lucy has faithfully stood by Phil as his condition worsened from forgetfulness to something that resembled Alzheimers and then was re-diagnosed to a much more complex form of dementia. He knows familiar faces when he sees us, cannot always come up with our names, but is happy to have visitors. We will have music as he loves to dance. And of course, pictures and lots of laughter. A small party of relatives and members of the original wedding party have been invited.

Hopefully all the rain is over; it is supposed to be cool but sunny tomorrow. The weather has turned cold quickly. It was 46º when I left Newark this morning and is unseasonably cold, even for this north country. Maybe we will get some “Indian summer” days yet. The leaves are not turning color much but if it stays this cold, it won’t take long before they do.

I discovered today that even though I had to wear my glasses all day today due to the rainy weather, my eye never got “scratchy” so that is a pretty good indication that it is too much close work with glasses that causes that discomfort. My eye feels really good tonight. There is hardly any difference in the feeling one eye from the other.

Since I do not have wi-fi here at Lucy’s I have dated this when I have written It. I will try and get to a wi-fi connection when I am in the city tomorrow. But that might not happen. At least when you get it, you’ll know I am thinking of you all. Be seeing you... sometime.

A Little Adventure, Anyone?

Today Jon and Beth, my son and daughter-in-law, set out on the first leg of their journey to Paro, Bhutan, where they will embark on the Snowman Trek, “The Hardest Trek in the World”. It covers some 225 miles across the Himalayas, at altitudes up to 18,000 ft. at times. They have been training for a year to get in shape and have done a whole series of day climbs this past month to test their mettle. At the end of the day’s climb which takes between five and six hours they ask themselves, “Can I get up and do it again tomorrow?” Because that’s what they will be doing, for over 20 days, with the exception of a rest day every so often.

I learned a new word as they recounted their preparations: flashtrekker - a person who takes along an unusual amount of technical equipment for purposes of recording events and transmitting communications. Jon has a satellite phone which will allow him to transmit a text message at specific times to us, giving us their GPS coordinates so we can follow along. 

Meanwhile Amy and I do our stretching exercises and pat ourselves on the back if we get in a daily walk. The motivation to prepare for The Trek and the discipline to do the hard work to get ready must be very strong and the desire very great. It will be the experience of a lifetime, I would think. We are excited for them.

Tomorrow I will get ready for a trip to Watertown, NY. I will be breaking the trip up so I won’t be driving the 6 1/2 hours in one day. Friday, I will drive to Newark, NY, and stay overnight with my cousin, Nancy. A visit to her is long overdue. Then Saturday, I will drive the rest of the way and stay a few days with my sister-in-law, Lucy. 

My eye is “scratchy” at times, particularly if I spend too much time doing close work. The drops do help to keep it more comfortable. My distance sight continues to improve. I can now read the writing on a cardboard box across the room, which I have been unable to do without my glasses until the last couple of days. And when I go outside to water the flowers, the sunlight no longer bothers like it did right after surgery.

I wanted to get the surgery for my left eye scheduled but so far they have not been able to schedule it. There’s some problem internally at the Doctor’s office. When I called about the appointment, I also asked about eye drop prescriptions for the left eye and the nurse said, “Can’t you get refills?”  It never occurred to me, but when I looked at the prescription label which was not on the bottles, of course, as they are too small, it said 25 refills! I hope that is not an omen that I might have to use more than one bottle of these eye drops for each eye. I sure don’t want to be putting drops in my eyes for 25 months!

However, even that would be a small price to pay for good eyesight. Be seeing you.

Plop Goes The Drop

Plop! The drop fell on my cheek and rolled down my face. “Come on, Fred! We are supposed to be doing this together. First you are too slow, now you are too fast”. Fred says nothing. “Okay. Next time I'll be ready for you!”

I had noticed that the drops fall quicker from the bottles this week, perhaps because there is more air in the bottles as they are emptier. This week I only have to put drops in my eyes twice a day, and as of last Friday, I no longer have to plaster the Shield over my eye at night. That is a blessing.

But I am also beginning to understand why my father did not want to have his other cataract removed. This is just tedious! Boring! And I ask myself, since my eyesight is so much improved, do I need to have the other cataract removed? There is a temptation just to get on with my life, instead of fussing with my eyes for another whole month.

Then I apply the 10-10-10 assessment. What are the consequences of my decision in 10 minutes, in 10 months, in 10 years? Will I be sorry if I don’t do it now? 10 minutes or 10 months probably wouldn’t make a difference, I tell myself, but in 10 years I just might be happy that I had the other cataract out 10 years ago. So I will schedule the left eye surgery for early October. That way I will be able to come home in mid-October to rake leaves, one of my favorite chores, and return to Cleveland for my final check-up in November.

I could return to Covington now, but my brother and sister-in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary party is in Watertown, NY on the 14th and it makes no sense to drive home for only a few days and turn around to make the long haul to Watertown. So I am staying at Amy’s in Cleveland until Friday. I will break up the trip to Watertown, staying overnight Friday with a cousin in Newark, near Rochester, and finishing the trip on Saturday. I’ll be there for a few days and return to Cleveland for my final eye check-up on the 18th.

On another topic, (aren't you glad?) Amy had been wanting to try making kale chips. She had to go out to a meeting last Saturday and when I asked if I could do anything to help her, she asked if I was willing to try making the kale chips. I had never made them before either, but she had a recipe from a friend so I said, sure. Well it took me an hour an a half to make four cookie sheets of kale chips. They did - (the last batch that did not get overdone) - have a nice rich kale taste, but it was a pretty labor-intensive job for what one gets out of it. She decided it might be better to buy the chips, though she buys very little that has been processed at all. We eat lots of organic fruits and veetables. Today I am working on making vegetable soup. 

Be seeing you - sometime.

Great Road Construction Campout

Yesterday we missed the mailman. I offered to take the letters to the post office. It turned out to be a bigger challenge than I anticipated. Just as I turned off our street, I found a whole block of construction equipment that had not been there yesterday. There was a flagger but she was not being very proactive, so I waited and then carefully edged my car past all of the machines, workers, open truck doors and breathed a sigh of relief when past them. Then I realized that, even though Amy had drawn me a map to avoid another street all torn up with construction, I would not know when I got to the turn because I had not used that street before. I had to turn on my GPS to tell me the streets coming up. And then put on my glasses to see the GPS. 

That worked. Once I had correctly turned onto the new street, and then recognized the entrance to the service road where the P.O. was located, I drove quite a distance further than I thought I should have. I was about to turn around, thinking I had missed the P.O., when I saw it up ahead. 

Mission accomplished. Now to navigate back to the house. I turned off the service road where I thought I had entered, only to find myself on the torn-up street, (which we had been trying to avoid) Two-way traffic shunted into two lanes bordered with orange barrels. That made me very nervous so the first left turn I came to I turned, stopped my car and programmed my GPS from that point. With the GPS talking me through, I got back into Amy’s neighborhood okay and then, because I had walked enough in the area to know the streets there, I was able to navigate around the construction at her house. Even though it was not much fun, I did successfully accomplish the errand, and I am sure that since summer is the Great Road Construction Campout, I am likely to run into such situations again, so this was good practice and boosted my confidence a little.

Last night we made spaghetti with zucchini noodles. (Yup, that was new to me, too). Amy sliced the zucchini with a wide bladed peeler and then we sliced those into thin strips. She put them in a sieve and added salt, to extract some of the water from the zucchini. It was tasty, topped with spaghetti sauce and cheese, not as filling as regular spaghetti noodles, of course. But a good vegetarian dish.

Amy bought two hanging baskets, one of petunias and one of calibrochoa, and I can see them out the window, gently swaying in the breeze, a very pretty addition to her front porch. She does her daily meditation there.

Two days ago, I slept in until 9:30. I was amazed, but I had been up later than usual the night before typing up my last blog. (Sometimes it is hard to get on the internet during the daytime and I wanted to get the blog out.) Then at mid-afternoon when I put in my drops, I fell asleep and slept an hour. That surprised me too. I wondered if I would have trouble sleeping that night, but no problem, fell asleep with lights out. My son, Jon, says sleep is one of the greatest healers, so be sure and get enough sleep. Aye, aye, sir!

Be “seeing” you soon.

Where's The Popcorn?

Today I went driving for the first time since surgery. Amy and I went to the grocery store and to the drug store. We were gone about two hours total.

Actually driving without my glasses was a piece of cake. It’s the switching of glasses all the time that’s a pain in the neck. Once in the store I have to put on glasses. Then I couldn’t find the popcorn and I asked for help and the clerk took me to the correct aisle and said it’s just down there a little ways. It was in bulk foods, she said. There were at least 20 plastic dispensers for various bulk foods. I looked all the way down the aisle. Then I took my glasses off and I looked again and I still did not see popcorn. Later Amy looked and she agreed, there was no popcorn there. So I guess I got a bum steer. When we asked at the check-out counter, the clerk walked back to the snack aisle (where I had already been) and pulled a package off the very top shelf. I had been looking low, because that’s where it is in my grocery store. This time I was not “looking up” far enough.

Driving, I had no trouble at all. But when we got home, it was time for eye drops and after I put them in, I just laid there resting for another 45 minutes, not sleeping, just resting. So, since stamina may be an issue I am not keen on driving too far just yet. Normally I have no trouble doing 6 hours of driving a day.

I had a shower and washed my hair! To wash my hair was becoming a bigger and bigger need each day. I’m not supposed to get the eye wet. Amy and I discussed going to the beauty parlor just for a shampoo or having her help me wash it in a basin, or getting one of those Dry Shampoos from the drug store.  Finally I taped the shield on my eye with lots of sticky tape and using the hand held shower, leaned my head back while in the shower and just used a little shampoo and lots of warm water. It felt so-o good!  And the eye stayed perfectly dry.

That tape on my face, though, leaves the skin irritated, so I am using a  special Vitamin E lotion on my face every time I remove the tape and that helps take away the discomfort.

This housing development where Amy and Barry live backs up against a ravine and some woods that are only a couple blocks from their house. I enjoy watching the animals. There are several deer who wander among the houses and browse. Once when I was walking I saw a doe cropping grass on the tree lawn. She saw me and just kept eating until I was coming up about 12 feet from her. Then she raised her head and stared. When I got about 6 feet away, she moved out into the street a few feet, which caused the motorist behind me to slow down, but when I got to the corner and looked back, she had returned to the same patch of grass as before. In our backyard there is a young woodchuck, a couple squirrels, a family of chipmunks and a marmalade cat that walks along the back fence. And a huge oak tree that is beginning to drop its acorns; I hear them rattling down the roof when I’m going to sleep. Which is where I’m going now.

Be “seeing” you.