2024 Life Logs, Day 210: Shop ‘til You Drop
Date: Sunday, July 28, 2024
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High Temp 87, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister in Mooresville, NC

You know you are in the Bible Belt when there are book racks at the end of aisles full of Bible study books. And you know you are down South when it is so hot that the black steering wheel in your car is literally so hot you cannot touch it. So, yes, I am in the Bible Belt down South. Since it has been a year since I have been here, and since I am the person officially in charge of making sure my sister has all of the clothes and household items she needs, there have been a lot of things to buy. My first foray was back to Walmart to return some clothing items I bought yesterday that didn’t fit. Then I started on the household items. Commander Clips to hang to hang a wreath on Patsy’s door and photos on the walls. Duct tape to match her brown/ beige carpeting to tape down the long phone cord that had to be installed. The cord runs right in front of her door to the outside, so it had to be securely taped down. Paper towels, liquid hand soap, laundry detergent to wash her compression stockings each night, dish detergent. And on and on and on. I got back just in time for lunch. This Wednesday is the last day for residents here to switch their cable tv to a private account instead of being provided by Terra Bella. And one woman at our table has been given the run around by the cable company. Since I have dealt with this already, I had the private cell number for the man from the cable company who is supervising the changeover. I was able to text him and get answers for the woman as we sat there for which she was very appreciative.

The afternoon required a trip to the laundromat. For whatever reason, when I arrived on Friday, Patsy’s dirty clothes basket runneth over. Usually, the laundry is done a couple of times a week, but I don’t think that happened last week. While the clothes were washing, I went to a mattress store. Patsy bed is too high and can’t be lowered any further, so I need to find a solution. I think that will be buying a new mattress that is not as deep as her current mattress and a bunkie board instead of box springs. But that search will continue tomorrow, my last day here.

I was supposed to take Patsy out to dinner tonight, but by the time I got back from the laundromat, it was after 5:30, the time for dinner here at Terra Bella. Patsy was not in her room and she was not in her normal dining room. I found her in another dining room happily eating dinner. She had forgotten that I was taking her out. We did need to go out to pick up something from Brian and Judy Thompson, so we drove there and visited a bit before returning home to watch the Olympics tonight. All of the running here and there today totally wore me out. Hopefully that will help me sleep a little more soundly in the recliner. I miss my bed!

2024 Life Logs, Day 209: Fun BBQ at Tommy and Marilou’s
Date: Saturday, July 27, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 85, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister in Mooresville, NC

Most of today was spent checking things off my list of ‘must do’s’ while here with my sister. After a mostly sleepless night due to the Sudafed I took (the instant cold is gone), I got up at 7:15 to go to breakfast with Patsy. One of my goals while here is to determine if the food here at Terra Bella is just normal institution food or is as inedible as my sister says. After breakfast we worked on going through more piles of papers and cards and getting rid of as much as possible. We did this while watching a bit of the Olympics and suddenly, it was time for lunch. I decided to skip eating lunch with my sister so I could go shopping for much needed clothing essentials. That was a painful, but a partly successful venture. However, trying to find long-sleeved pajamas in the middle of summer just didn’t work. I did find some options to order after seeing the real thing in the store—just not in petites sizes. I am only 5 feet tall, and I look tall next to my sister. So she really is short. Anything not in a petite size is always too long in length and in the length of the sleeves.

When I got home from the shopping trip, I had leftover salad from yesterday’s dinner for lunch, watched more Olympics, and did more apartment organization. Then we were off to our nephew Tommy’s. And what a fun time we had there. Tommy’s wife, Marilou, has her 94 year old father, Bob, living with them. His 94th birthday was this week and his two sons that life out west were there visiting. Patsy and I played a game of Play Nine, a card game where you play nine holes (rounds) and the person with the lowest score wins. This is a game the whole family can play and the two 90 somethings scored in the top half. Such fun. Tommy was outside at the grill all of this time cooking a feast of grilled steak, shrimp, and sausages, potatoes and zucchini and onions. He has a cast iron grill that is fantastic. As we wrapped up the card game, the neighbors arrived, plus one of Marilou and Tommy’s daughters, Madeline. Added to all the meat and grilled veggies Tommy prepared, we had a beautiful fruit salad, cucumber and tomato salad, and a to die for chocolate dessert. It was all fabulous.

2024 Life Logs, Day 208: Falmouth to Boston to Mooresville, North Carolina
Date: Friday, July 26, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 83, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister in Mooresville, NC

It was an 11 hour trek from Falmouth to my sister’s apartment in Mooresville, NC today. Lynne took me to the bus station at 7 am. There was no traffic this morning, so we arrived at the airport in an hour and a half instead of two hours. Check in was fast, but then I had a two and a half hour wait for my flight. I was a little nervous as I was flying Delta, but everything was on time for the two-and-a-half-hour flight. But upon arrival in Charlotte, things slowed down. We landed on time at 1:40 pm, but it was 3:45 before I got in my rental and started the last leg of the trip, the 45 minutes to Mooresville. Once in Mooresville, I stopped to have a late lunch/early dinner, picked up some items at the grocery store and a drug store, and finally arrived at Terra Bella Senior Living just after 6 pm. Before we landed in Charlotte, I got one of what I call my instant colds. These ‘events’ are obviously an allergic reaction to something and more often than not, it always happens when I fly and is usually gone by the next morning with a little help from Sudafed. I sure hope that is the case this time.

Patsy and I have spent the evening watching the parade of athletes from around the world in the Olympic Opening Ceremony. She put me to work tonight taking a whole shelf of framed photos out of frames. I have a huge list of things I want to accomplish in my three days here, but tomorrow afternoon we will take a break and visit with our nephew who lives about 20 minutes from here.

I am sleeping in one of Patsy’s living room recliners for as many nights as I can handle. One of the tasks on my list is observing just how much assistance she is receiving in assisted living. It is 10:45 pm and no one has come in to take off her compression stockings and help her get dressed for bed. Hmmm. She pays an extra $900+ a month for assistance in showering twice a week and getting dressed in the morning and ready for bed at night. But when I arrived today, she did not have compression stockings on as per her doctor’s orders. It might be an enlightening three days.

2024 Life Logs, Day 207: A Little Bit of Everything
Date: Thursday, July 25, 2024
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High Temp 76, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

This was definitely a day of jumping from one thing to another, just a little bit of everything. Lynne went with me this morning to the bank to deal with some Encore business and she got to meet Christinia. Then we were off to the library where Christina and I were presenting a donation to the Friends of the Library as this year’s Encore charitable donation. Lynne served as our photographer to capture the moment, and then we headed to Heather and Jed’s to make sure Ollie was up and about. I then took Lynne home as she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. I changed into beach clothes, picked up Ollie and then two other friends and we headed to the beach for swim lessons. I dropped the boys and went back home to get Lynne so we could sit on the beach and visit.

After swim lessons, we went home so Ollie could shower and do his chores for today. He had to unload the dishwasher and clean his aquarium. We went to CVS to buy the things he needed for Scout camp next week, stopped at Stop and Shop to buy some clam chowder for Ollie, and then to my house to have lunch. I spent time outside playing with Shadow, fixed a leak in my garden irrigation system, and before we knew it, it was time to take Ollie home so he could get ready to go to the County Fair with Seton and his family.

Lynne and made up a new recipe for stuffed zucchini for dinner that required tofu crumbles. I have been wanting to make them all summer and finally got the opportunity. The crumbles which are fried with a spicey mixture make a great substitute for ground beef in a stuffed zucchini recipe. By this time, my back was beginning to ache, so while the stuffed zucchini baked, Lynne and I sat down and had a glass of wine. After dinner, I finally packed for tomorrow’s trip to North Carolina and we called it a day.

Tomorrow morning, just before 7 am, Lynne will take me to the bus station for the first leg of my trip to visit with my sister in North Carolina. Car to bus station, bus to Logan airport, plane trip to Charlotte, rent a car, drive north to visit briefly with my nephew Tommy, then drive on to my sister’s apartment in her assisted living facility. That will be my day tomorrow.

2024 Life Logs, Day 206: Lynne Arrived
Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Cooler; High Temp 69, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

It was another cloudy day with a little mist this morning. And it was cooler by just a few degrees but enough that it felt a little chilly at the beach. I had an morning meeting, picked Ollie and friend Teddy up from soccer, and then it was on to swim lessons. Teddy came home with us and I hung out with the kids until about 3:00 so that I would be home when Lynne arrived. Yesterday she drove from Michigan to Nyack, NY, and then on to Cape Cod today. I only get to see her once a year when she is home from New Zealand visiting with family for the summer. So, it is always wonderful to see her. We went for a long walk with Shadow, had leftovers from last night’s dinner, and watch a movie called, “Eating for Tomorrow.” A number of people recommended it, but I think Lynne and I were not as impressed as others. I think that is because we already know and believe what was being presented. We need to move to a plant-based diet to preserve our health and the earth.

2024 Life Logs, Day 205: Swim Lessons, Afternoon with Ollie, Dining-in Group
Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Weather: Rain Overnight, Misty Rain AM, Clearing Late PM; High Temp 74, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Early this morning, I headed to Mashpee to buy salmon for tonight’s Dining-in Group dinner at my house tonight. I rushed back, put the salmon in the fridge, and was off to my final PT appointment. I have been seeing a young man named Matt DeBona at the Falmouth Hospital Rehabilitation Cetner since March, first for my back and then for my knee. He was recommended to me by my friends Christina and Warren Brodie, and he was everything they promised and more. I left our last session with a long list of exercises that I need to do routinely. Now, it is up to me to make sure I get this done.

I rushed home to make the marinade for the salmon kebabs I was having for dinner and then took Ollie to his swim lesson. His friends Seton and Teddy were already there. Soon they were off with their instructor, Molly. She is great with them and in only a few lessons, Ollie’s stamina for swimming long distances has really improved. He said today that swim lessons are so much fun that he hopes to do them again next year. This is from the same child that refused to sign up for swim lessons at the very beginning of the summer.

After lessons, I dropped Ollie at home and went to my house to get the salmon cut into cubes and in the marinade and to make sure I had everything else ready for tonight. I grabbed lunch for me and Ollie and headed to the Goldstones. We had lunch and then did some household chores that took the better part of the afternoon. Jonah had walked downtown to get a haircut, so he had Steve’s Pizza for lunch. Jed was going to pick up Jonah to take him to a soccer game, and I really needed to get to my house to assemble the kebabs and do all the other last minute prep for dinner. That left Ollie alone for a while, but just before the arrival of my friends at 5:30, I took Shadow over to be with Ollie as he had agreed to dog sit for me tonight. I assumed that Heather would be home from work soon, but when I went to pick Shadow up tonight, I learned that Heather had a work function and still wasn’t home. She had come home for about an hour before going back to work, so Ollie wasn’t alone all evening until Jed and Jonah returned from soccer. Next time, I’ll check ahead.

The sun came out just about the time the dinner group arrived, so we had a lovely time outside visiting before coming inside for dinner. The Brodie’s brought the appetizer, the Baranowski’s a yummy napa cabbage warm salad,

the Woodin’s brought corn on the cob that was the best I’ve had this summer, and the grilled salmon kebabs and California Roll rice dish I made last night both turned out great. Then to top it off, Midge Frieswyk made an absolutely delicious cake from a recipe by Ottolenghi.

Now on to tomorrow. I have an early morning meeting, then take Ollie, Seton, and Teddy to swim lessons, and later tomorrow afternoon my friend Lynne arrives. So I had better get some rest!

2024 Life Logs, Day 204: Last Night’s Full Moon
Date: Monday, July 22, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 79, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Last night after I sent my log, Shadow and I went outside for his bedtime bathroom break. I had no idea it was a full moon night, but there was that beautiful full moon lighting up the nighttime world. If I didn’t have Shadow, I would never be going outside for a walk at 11 pm and I would miss seeing the beauty of the night. Thank you, Shadow.

This was my activity list for today:
• Go to post surgeries appointment with my primary care doctor.
• Go to the beach to pick Ollie up after swim class.
• Get lunch for Ollie and me.
• Check the to do list for Jonah and Ollie for today.
• Be on ‘watch’ while Ollie mowed the neighbor’s yard with his lawn tractor and his back yard with the push mower.
• Go over the list of things to bring to Scout camp with Ollie and make a list of things we need to buy..
• Drive to Mashpee to buy salmon for tomorrow night’s Dining-in group gathering at my house. (Unfortunately, I have to return tomorrow morning as they did not have enough of the salmon I wanted.)
• Come home and play outside with Shadow and do a little more yard work.
• Get the outside furniture set for tomorrow night’s dinner.
• Make the rice dish that does with the salmon kebabs for tomorrow evening.
• Catch up on the news of the day.
• Write this log.
• Collapse

106 Days . . . Go, Kamala!

2024 Life Logs, Day 203: Joe Biden Passes the Torch
Date: Sunday, July 21, 2024
Weather: Early AM Rain, Then Sunshine; High Temp 78, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

It has been almost a month since the disastrous (on both side) Presidential debate on June 27. In the meantime, we have had a building coalition of Democrats who have been very vocal in their thinking that Biden should exit the race. We have had an attempted assassination on the life of former President Trump. And we survived the Republication National Convention. And this afternoon, President Biden made the announcement that he is ending his bid for another term in office and passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. The only reaction I have heard from Biden’s opponent was a statement that Joe Biden is the worst president in US history. I just want to say that the records show that Joe Biden’s three and a half years as President have been very successful, maybe the most successful Presidency since FDR. History will be the final judge of that. But I just want to say that I love Joe Biden for the more than 50 years of his life that he devoted this county. And for the fact that after that many years living as a politician that he is still a man of principles. For the past few weeks, I have sounded like a broken record. I was convinced that Biden was our only chance at beating Trump, not a man of principles. After Trump beat Hillary, I have doubted that this country is ready to elect a woman as President. But Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as Vice President because he felt she was ready to step into the Presidency if something happened to him. He has now endorsed her. And I am with her all the way. I never doubted her. I only doubted the readiness of this country to accept her. I surely hope my doubts are unfounded because the stakes have never been higher. And so far, from the way people have responded to Biden’s endorsement of Harris today, it looks like a lot of people are very excited about Harris for President. Go, Kamala! And thank you, Joe Biden, for always putting your country first.

2024 Life Logs, Day 202: A Little Cleaning, A Little Organizing, A Little Gardening
Date: Saturday, July 20, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 77, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Slow, slow, slow. Everything I try to do these days takes me so long. My body just doesn’t move as fast as I think it should, so I keep thinking something is really wrong with me. So tonight I Googled, “How long should it take to feel absolutely normal after a total knee replacement?” The answer I got is that it takes “3 months to return to most activities and likely 6 months to one year to fully recover to maximal strength and endurance.” Then I Googled the same question for a laminectomy and the answer to that question was between two and six months. Well, it has been exactly six months since the back surgery, but then when you read on it says, “However, you may find the area that was operated on will never be as flexible as it once was.” So, okay. I am just 2 months and 2 weeks out from the knee surgery and 6 months out from the back surgery, so I probably should not be surprised that my energy level is zapped so quickly requiring frequent rest periods while I work. I just have to plan for things to take twice as long as expected.

That said, I did get a little cleaning done today (very little), a little organizing which required putting accumulated things back where they belong. I had to make a number of trips to the basement to put things away and what seemed like a million trips from one end of the house to the other getting things back where they belong. Late in the day, I went out to plant a few things that were still in the containers I bought them in. And I continued my daily pulling of unwanted vines that seem to be encroaching suddenly in all parts of the yard. And the big accomplishment of the day was getting the twin inflatable mattress deflated and put away and the sheets and blankets washed and stored. Then I got out the full-sized inflatable mattress and got it ready for my friend Lynne who arrives on Wednesday. That was the one thing I had to do today, so at least that is done. Otherwise, I only got half of what I wanted done, so that work will continue tomorrow.

The other thing I had to do today got done as well. Justin and family will be flying home to Puerto Rico later this week and I had a whole pile of things they had to leave here because of space constraints. I went to the Post Office to get a couple of flat rate Priority boxes and came home and got them packed and ready to send on Monday morning. Mission accomplished.

2024 Life Logs, Day 201: Beach and a Movie
Date: Friday, July 19, 2024
Weather: Sunny and 70’s; High Temp 76, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Today was a perfect beach day that I didn’t know I was going to get to enjoy. I had PT this morning (only one more session to go) and then went to pick Ollie up from soccer camp. The beach swim classes are only 4 days a week with Friday’s off, so I thought we were coming home. But we had a crossed communications and Seton’s grandparents were there for pick up as well and said that they were told to take Seton and Ollie to the beach even though there were no lessons. So, I decided to go as well, and I sure am glad that I did. It was a beautiful Cape Cod beach day. Plus, I got to know Seton’s grandparents, Betsy and Peter. The just moved to Falmouth from Martha’s Vineyard and we had a good time getting to know one another. When they left, Ollie was still in the water, not wanting to go home yet. So, we stayed for another hour just lazing on the beach.

We went home to check in with everyone. Ollie had been out in the sun for about 5 hours at this point and needed an inside reprieve. He has wanted watch the movie, Cars 3, but the older brothers are not interested, so we went to my house to watch. The movie has quite a timely theme—inability to see that it is time to retire and pass the baton to the younger generation. As I watched, I kept seeing parallels to our current political situation. “Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast cars, the legendary (race car driver) Lighting McQueen finds himself pushed out of the sport that he loves. Hoping to get back in the game, he turns to Cruz Ramirez, an eager young technician who has HER own plans for winning.” In the end, Lightening bows out and puts the young female technician in the limelight. Hmmmm.

I have big plans for this weekend. I host my Dining-in group on Tuesday and then on Wednesday my friend Lynne Kirwin arrives. So, I plan to get the house ready for company and do some gardening and weeding around the yard. And on Friday, I fly to North Carolina to visit with my sister for a few days. So, I need to get packed for that trip as well.