Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
April 9, 2016
The doctor says no surgery. It won’t change a thing happening with my back. He is, instead, referring me to the pain clinic hoping they’ll find solutions which are quick acting and will allow me to walk longer distances.
I think the news buoyed my spirits. Tonight I’m having friends over for dinner, and usually on the day of the dinner, I start to regret the invitation purely because of my back. Today I am raring to go.
I have a list. I always have a list. I also have a flow chart, and I am already behind my time. Talking to my sister did that. She wasn’t on any list.
Dinner will be Indian Chicken and Cashew Rice and a side of green beans for color. I don’t want to get your taste buds aroused but appetizers are blueberry, feta and honey-caramelized onion naan pizza and honey prosciutto with gouda on flatbread. For dessert I’ve already made my dark chocolate cream pie.
When I was a kid, I would have laughed if you had told me I’d be eating Indian food. Now it is among my favorites. Traveling has opened up my mind but even better it has extended my palate. I have eaten the oddest foods I would have cringed just looking at when I was young. Buying a live chicken for dinner would have grossed me out. Chicken comes in packages from the supermarket. Killing and plucking are not necessary. In South American I ate what in the United States are pets: Guinea pigs. They were tasty. In Finland I have no idea what I ate. The second language is Swedish. I just ordered what looked good.
I didn’t even know foods like hummus and falafel existed. I ate Wonder Bread not pita bread or lavash. The most exotic bread I ate back then was Italian scali bread.
On my first trip back to Ghana, I couldn’t wait until I had fufu for dinner and kelewele for a snack. They were my Ghanaian comfort foods.
Morocco was my last trip before the two and soon to be my third trip back to Ghana. Though the country is in North Africa I wasn’t eating African food. I was eating tasty, varied and delicious Moroccan food. Some of it I knew as I could translate the French names but others I chose by appearance. I never made a bad choice.
Part of the adventure of going somewhere different, somewhere new, is eating unfamiliar and maybe even unrecognizable food. That it is sometimes in a foreign language helps.
When I get to Ghana, I want kelewele and those round donuts the small girls sell. I love that in a far different country than my own I have favorite foods which don’t come from stores but from aunties, as older women are sometimes called, who cook and sell the food along the roadsides.
Stop the car!! It’s dinner time.
Categories: Musings
Tags: blueberries, cashew rice, chocolate cream pie, dinner party, flow chart, friends over, Guinea pigs, Indian chicken, lists and more lists, live chickens, no surgery, pain clinic
Comments: 12 Comments
April 8, 2016
Today is sunny and beautiful. The ever-present wind is making the chimes play. The trees are swaying. More bird than I’ve seen for a long while have been at the feeders all morning. I’d label today hopeful.
At one I have a doctor’s appointment to discuss my MRI. I saw a line description of the results and it said: abnormal, referral to Doctor so and so. The doctor listed, aka so and so, was my surgeon on the last back operation. That didn’t make me too happy; however, I did see a bit of humor. I love the movie Young Frankenstein. When the doctor is putting together the parts of his creation, Igor is sent to get a brain. Something goes wrong and the doctor asks whose brain Igor chose. He says Abby Normal. That’s what ran through my head when I saw the one line results. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
When I was a kid, we never regularly saw dentists or doctors. My parents as kids hadn’t either so they just followed tradition. I did finally see an orthodontist for braces which were rare in those days. We even had to go to Boston by bus and subway to see him. I was seven or eight. The doctor’s name was Dr. Nice. I have a school picture of me in the third grade with my mouth closed, no smile. I was hiding my braces.
When I was about ten, I fell down the stairs which started my tradition of falling. We went to the doctor the next morning. He just cleaned it. I swear he used an SOS pad. All the way through high school I never saw a doctor. There wasn’t any need. Visits to doctors and dentists were based on pain.
Once when I was in the eighth grade I had a toothache and did go to a dentist, my father’s childhood dentist. I think his nickname was Butcher. He was about ninety, didn’t use novocaine, and I swear he pedaled to make his drill work. That was my last visit to the dentist until my senior year in college when I had to have my teeth checked for Peace Corps. I think I needed hundreds of fillings. That dentist didn’t hurt.
I saw the doctor once when I was in high school. It was for allergies. When I was getting ready for Peace Corps, I had to have a physical. I went to the same doctor as I had seen seven years earlier.
Now we’ll jump ahead. I have so many doctors I forget some of them. Other than check-ups I don’t see them more than once or twice a year except for my regular doctor. I see him when anything has gone awry. He’s the one I’m seeing today.
When I was in Ghana, if anything was wrong, I had to send a letter to the doctor in Accra to describe my symptoms. Luckily though I was healthy for the whole two years. I don’t think I even fell once. The closest I came was in the Sahara when a camel took off with me riding it. By the time I stopped the beast, I had just one leg thrown over the wooden saddle-like thing, and I was still holding the one rope rein. The camel and I were face to face. It spit at me. I am not a fan of camels.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Abby Normal, beautiful day, camel riding, dentists, doctors, falling, Igor, MRI, novocaine, sunny, warm, windy, Young Frankenstein
Comments: 14 Comments
April 7, 2016
The day is gray and windy but is 55˚ so I’ll take the drab and the windy for the warmth. This has not been the best of days. Whatever I do to make the computer screen black I did again. I also fixed it, and I have no idea how I did it. I just know it took a couple of tries. Next came the blasted keychain requests for passwords, one request after the other. It didn’t like my first password though I knew it was the right one as I had broken a computer commandment and written it down. I kept forgetting the newest ones of the last two days so I needed a constantly updated list. I believe all is settled because no new boxes are asking for my attention or my password. I’m exhausted, and my two typing fingers no longer have fingerprints. I wore them off.
When I was about nine or ten, I got a typewriter. I think the body was red and I remember it was part plastic and part metal. I loved the sound of the keys clicking one at a time as I typed. It was slow going as I had to hunt for the letter I needed by going up and across the rows. After I’d found the letter, I’d hit the key then go hunting for the next letter. A mistake got X’ed out, and there were so many of them you’d think my message had been redacted. I think it was only a few months of hunting and pecking before the typewriter stopped being entertaining for me.
My favorite gift was my first transistor radio. It was a square leather box with holes across the front for decoration I suppose. It had two controls on the top: one for off and on and the other for choosing the channel, all AM channels. It wasn’t all that small but it didn’t need a cord and that was the best part. It could go anywhere. I even sneaked it into school and listened with the headphones. My next radio was so much smaller you could hold it in your hand. It was totally plastic. On the front was the tuning wheel with the channel numbers around it, still all AM. I don’t remember the color, but I do remember everybody had one.
I listen to the radio still but only in the car. None of my favorite channels are AM.
Categories: Musings
Tags: AM channels, AM stations, black screen, clicking keys, computer problems, fingerprints, gray, keychain, passwords, transistor radio
Comments: 22 Comments
April 5, 2016
I saw the sun this morning. The day was lovely for about a half an hour. The sky was so blue it didn’t look real. It looked painted, a combination of blues, maybe even by Van Gogh. I can hear the drops from melting snow so we’re above freezing. If this were January, I’d be happy with melting snow.
The sun has just come out again and I can see blue appearing from among the clouds. I’m hopeful that the sun will decide to stay for a while.
The Sox and the Indians were postponed yesterday because of the weather: no surprise there. The game is today and starts at one. The Sox are now being introduced to boos, of course. Most of the team is wearing the jersey head coverings just in case. The stadium is fairly empty. The announcer is wearing his winter coat.
When I was young, I didn’t care about the weather. It wasn’t as if I could do anything about it. My day to day didn’t change come rain, snow or sun. I walked to school no matter what. I tended to hurry on the rainy days and saunter on sunny days. On winter days my friends and I huddled to walk together, the better to stay warm. I remember it was hard to breathe on the coldest days and sometimes my nose would run. I’d use my sleeves for that problem because no self-respecting kid carried a Kleenex or even worse a handkerchief, besides that’s why sleeves were invented. It grossed out my mother so she’d sneak and tuck a Kleenex into my jacket pocket but it usually stayed there most of the winter. Sleeves were far more convenient.
I always moaned and groaned at the trials and tribulations of being a kid. Life was ordered so I didn’t have a whole lot of choices. What I didn’t realize was I didn’t have a whole lot of responsibilities either. I had to go to school unless I was close to dying. I had homework to do. I had to bathe occasionally. When I got home from school, I had to change from school clothes to play clothes. My vegetables had to be eaten, but my mother generally served the ones I liked so that was no big issue. I had to go to bed early on school nights. Early was contested all the time. My mother and I differed on its definition. I usually lost. That was part of being a kid: losing arguments with parent, but I’d start one anyway. I was always hopeful.
Categories: Musings
Tags: being a kid, blue sky, cold, handkerchief, head coverings, Kleenex, melting snow, Red Sox and Indians, runny nose, sun, walking to school, weather
Comments: 16 Comments
April 4, 2016
It’s snowing again with that wet, heavy snow. The roads are clear but the lawns and tree branches are covered. I’d guess January if I had only what I can see out my window as a hint.
Today is opening day for the Red Sox in Cleveland. I wonder if they have boots with cleats. Are their gloves flannel-lined? This is a game to be watched on TV in the warmth of my house.
Baseball is my favorite game. Even when I was young, I loved baseball. I think it had to do with how easy it is to understand. Football has too many positions and too many plays. I get the gist and know a few of the infractions which is more than enough for me, but with baseball I even get the nuances and can understand the lingo like around the horn, Texas leaguer or hitting for the cycle. I can even explain the in-field fly rule. A pitcher’s duel is the most boring game of all despite how mechanically good the game is. A rough and ready game with lots of hits, a few silly errors, steals and maybe even a manager ejection are the most fun to watch. The Sox have several young players so I’m going to have to learn the roster. David Ortiz, hated by some but loved by many, is starting his last year. It will be strange to think of the Sox without Big Papi. I have high hopes for this season but then I had high hopes for last season and look what happened. Red Sox fans expect to suffer. It’s in our DNA.
I watched some of Sarah Palin’s Wisconsin speech for Trump. At first I thought it was a Saturday Night Live parody as they do her so well. “What the heck are you thinking, candidates? What the heck are you thinking when you’re actually asking for more immigrants — even illegal immigrants, welcoming them in,” Palin said of Trump’s opponents. “Even inducing and seducing them with gift baskets: ‘Come on over the border and here’s a gift basket of teddy bears and soccer balls.” Imagine the stampede of illegal aliens hurrying to the borders before the gift baskets are gone.
Categories: Musings
Tags: around the horn, baseball opening, boots with cleats, David Ortiz, flannel lined gloves, in field fly rule, Red Sox, Sarah Palin, Snow, Texas leaguer, understanding baseball
Comments: 18 Comments
April 3, 2016
“In the lane snow is glistening…” We got a dusting of snow last night. It is wet and heavy. I know this because I went out and made a snowball to throw at the spawn of Satan eating from the suet feeder. The snowball was the perfect heft for an accurate throw, and I hit the spawn dead on. It sort of jumped in surprise then took off on the deck rail down into the yard.
The sun has just appeared backed by a cloudy blue sky. The wind is dying down. The day is beginning to have possibilities. We didn’t go to the dump yesterday as it rained all day, but it looks as if today might just be the perfect dump day. Strange, I never imagined myself talking about the perfect dump day or any dump day for that matter. It seems I’ve turned into such an odd conversationalist.
The snow is dripping off the roof mimicking the sound of a rain storm. I can see small clumps of snow falling from the branches. I filled the bird feeders the other day so the birds are many and varied. My usual gold finches, chickadees, titmice and nut hatches are here as are house finches, woodpeckers and a sparrow of sorts I don’t know by name. I’m sure the doves are here as I did throw seed on the ground for them.
Getting ready for spring takes more time than getting ready for winter. The outside furniture has to be uncovered and cleaned. All the decorative items like the fountain, the painted tables and the tree candles have to be brought from the cellar. The three bins filled with summer I keep stored under the deck have to be emptied then filled with the furniture coverings. The pictures have to be hung on the house wall facing the deck. The gnome and the flamingo are last on the deck. They formally announce the beginning of summer.
In the front and on the side, the gardens need to be cleaned and the dirt overturned. Two branches too close to the house on the front pine tree have to come down. The lawn needs tending. When the weather is warm enough, flowers need to bought and planted to fill any empty spots. The annuals in the herb garden need replacing. The window boxes for the deck need to be repainted this year then filled with flowers and herbs. The small vegetable garden will only have tomatoes as they seem to grow best there.
In winter the furniture gets covered and all the gardens turn brown. The front yard gets its last cleaning. The dead flowers are cut. The deck is bare and abandoned. Only the feeders are left. It never takes long to ready the house and yard for winter. I always think it’s the saddest day, the day I have to admit fall has finished its course, the day the gnome and the flamingo come inside.
It is so easy to love spring.
Categories: Musings
Tags: birds, blue sky, candles, cleaning the gardens, conversationalist, deck cleaning, dump day, flowers, gold finches, chickadees, titmice and nut hatches, planting herbs, ready for summer, Snow, spawn of satan, sun, the flamingo, the gnome, windy
Comments: 13 Comments
April 2, 2016
“It’s raining. It’s pouring. The old man’s snoring. He went to bed and bumped his head, and he wouldn’t get up in the morning.”
The poor old man has been in bed now for two straight days. Yesterday it rained on and off with a few torrential downpours in between. Today it is raining constantly, but the rain is softer, quieter than yesterday’s. I woke up to the sound of the rain on the roof. I stayed in bed a bit and listened. I have always been a lover of rain.
I am going to the dump today, not my usual day, but I figure the rain will keep most people away so it will be a quick trip, no waiting. I need to go to the ATM and I need gas. How nice it is to need only a few things.
When I was a kid, a rainy Saturday probably meant going to the movies this time of year. My dad would drive us and most times we’d walk home in the rain. Whether the rain was light or heavy determined our route home. A light rain meant we’d go by the town barn and check out the horses. From there we’d stop by the ragman’s house. I remember his porch sagged under the weight of all the piles of newspapers. A second building was where he kept his horse and wagon. I don’t remember ever going into his yard. We just checked everything out from the sidewalk. I don’t know why but it is one of the brightest images in my memory drawers. The two buildings formed an L. The long part was his house. I could see the door but not the windows. The paper piles were too tall. I think at one time the house had been white but by this time it just looked dirty. The short part of the L had a wide doorway so he could back his wagon inside. The driveway was dirt and stones and led right to the horse building.
Sometimes we’d go straight home from the ragman’s house; other times we’d go back a couple of blocks and take the railroad tracks. The choice depended on how wet and cold we were. The tracks ran behind the ragman’s house, pass the old train depot and the red store. We’d stay on the tracks only a bit further until we reached the tracks closest to the field not far from our house. We’d then leave the tracks and walk up one street to where we could cross the field. That left only the hill to our house.
We were always soaked by the time we got home. Kids don’t mind being soaked. It is one of the neat things about being a kid.
Categories: Musings
Tags: "It's raining. It's pouring. The old man's snoring, horse and wagon, ragean, rainy Saturday, Saturday matinee, second day of rain, torrential downpours, town barn
Comments: 18 Comments
March 31, 2016
This morning I woke up with horrendous back pain. I had to grab hold of knobs and corners of bureaus to make it to the bathroom. Happily I got there on time. When I finished, I decided coffee would be the panacea so I tentatively made my way down the stairs and then sat on the couch for a bit feeling quite sorry for myself. I got up, put the coffee on and went to get the papers. I didn’t stop to look at the flowers.
The phone rang. It was the Nielsen people for whom I’ve been keeping track of my radio listening for the past week. They called every day. I didn’t answer after the first two calls because each call had exactly the same script. Today I answered. I shouldn’t have. She read the script so fast I didn’t understand her but I didn’t need to. She was thanking me, wanted to know if I was keeping track each day and would I please send it back on Thursday, today. I then let her have it. Was it necessary to call every day? Did she think I was either dumb as a doornail or had no memory at all so I needed reminding? Didn’t she understand how intrusive all these calls were? Here I was doing them a favor and in return they harassed me. She never answered my specific questions. She just read from the script, the same script. There I was asking her if she thought I was dumb as a doornail and she said thank you and don’t forget to send the survey out today; of course, that’s what she said. I doubt the script has a section on what to say to a crazed woman. I said never bother me again and hung up.
It was my back which prompted the nastiness. I needed happy so I called my brother-in-law but got my sister instead who thought the whole incident quite entertaining. She was sympathetic, reminded me to take the pills the doctor gave me and suggested I lie down and watch a movie, a funny movie. She got a chuckle out of my calling Rod so I could hear a happy voice.
I got to thinking about happy and what makes me happy. Being with family and friends is an easy one so I dug a bit deeper. My garden makes me happy especially now when I get to watch the flowers break ground and begin to grow. Hot fudge sundaes with marshmallow instead of whipped cream make me very happy. A lazy day lolling on the couch always makes me happy. Add a good book and I’m nearly delirious with happiness. Chocolates, especially caramels, make me smile, chew a lot but still smile. Christmas makes every part of me happy. Mums and the colors of fall flowers always make me pause to look at how beautiful they are. I can feel the ocean inside me when it has tremendous white caps and a strong wind off the water. Sitting on my deck doing absolutely nothing makes me happy.
Okay, I am sorry for being obnoxious to the phone lady but really only a little sorry. The pill worked, and my back is fine. I’m going out on the deck to fill the bird feeders. I might even make my bed today. That is a sure sign of contentedness. All I needed were a few reminders.
Categories: Musings
Tags: back pain, chocolates, Christmas, coffee, dumb as a doornail, flowers, happy, hot fudge sundaes, mums, Nielsen, panacea, script
Comments: 31 Comments
March 29, 2016
It is a lovely morning, totally unlike yesterday with the monsoons. The sun is shining so brightly you have to squint from the glare. The blue sky looks unreal, as if it were painted in broad strokes. A remnant of last night’s heavy winds still blows bending and swaying the pine trees in the backyard.
I know spring is here as I can hear a blower being used to clean the yard next door. The season of machines has begun.
I have nothing I need to do today. The laundry has made it to this floor from upstairs and, according to my usual pattern, tomorrow the laundry will get downstairs to the washing machine. Once washed, it will sit in the dryer awhile.
Easter was wonderful. We sat on the porch where all you can see from the windows is the ocean. I wore a flowered dress and my Easter fascinator which is a small white hat with flowers and colorful feathers standing tall from the back. It raised quite a stir. As I was standing waiting for my table, I had to laugh when people noticed my fascinator as I could see their eyes moving right up to my hat. After we sat down, I saw a table across the room pointing at me. I waved. They waved back and mouthed that they loved my hat. I got a few thumbs up from them. People walking by stopped at our table to compliment my hat. Another table of women waved, smiled and pointed. My favorites were two young boys both of whom said they liked my hat, “Great hat,” was one of the comments. That hat turned into quite the conversation piece. I wore it the whole meal.
Dinner was delicious. I had an odd choice for me: carbonara. It had the usual pancetta and cheese as well as peas and crabmeat. It was rigatoni rather than the usual spaghetti. I had two drinks and for the life of me can’t remember what they were. They were strong. That much I remember. I had a coconut coffee after dinner. It was scrumptious. I think the rum helped.
When I got home, I took a wee bit of a nap, about an hour. That’s all I needed. I was totally refreshed and even managed to eat a little bit of the chocolate from the Easter Bunny.
We have best of all Easters filled as it is with good friends, lots of laughter and wonderful traditions, some old and some very new.
Categories: Musings
Tags: blower, blue skies, Easter, fascinator, Laundry, lazy day, lovely morning, machines, spring, swaying pine trees, winds
Comments: 14 Comments
March 28, 2016
The story connected with today is a long one. It’s a bit boring but not because of length. It just is. I’ll start at the beginning as I figure that’s where everything starts. I had my annual physical today. My doctor is okay, not spectacular but okay. He had on a nice shirt for which I complimented him. His wife bought it. That was the pleasantry. He then went through the blood tests with me and decided I was relatively healthy for my age. He actually said that last part. He also said something about people of my generation. I ignored that. He said I needed to exercise more to lose weight. I explained as I do every time I see him that my back prevents that. I walk then stop then walk then stop. By then the distance I’ve walked can be easily measure in yards. I told him I take a handful of Aleve when my back is bad. Not a good thing he said. It will affect my kidneys. We then talked about my kidneys. It was an enthralling saga. He asked if I would be averse to a narcotic for pain. Silly question. He also decided I’ll have another MRI and go back to see the surgeon who did my last operation. He said to come back in two weeks. That was it I was done.
The library was next. Leave three books, get three more. I chatted a bit with the librarian then went back out into the pouring rain. I haven’t mentioned the rain before. It was pouring, a deluge, raining cats and dogs, torrential and relentless. I went in and out all day and never really dried.
My next stop was the pharmacy. I waited for prescriptions to be filled. The lady beside was wearing blue Converse sneakers with white laces. I told her I really liked her sneakers. We had a conversation about how we all wore them as kids. She has another in grey. I told her I had pink and purple high tops. She loved it. I got my prescriptions and went back into the rain, the torrential rain. My next stop was to have blood drawn. I just had that done Thursday but had to have it done again after a change in dosage. By then it was after two. I was hungry. I decided on Chinese food.
I went and bought my lunch to eat at home. It was tasty. After eating I decided I needed a nap. I slept until 5:15 so here I am.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about Easter. I was quite a hit.
Categories: Musings
Tags: chinese food, Converse sneakers, drug store, Easter, kidney, library, pharmacy, physical, pills, Surgery, walking
Comments: 14 Comments
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 