Antibiotics are our friends!

Well, as per the routine as of late, the sinus infection turned into chest congestion and then into bronchitis. The doc gave me a script for the good old ZPack last night and I started them today. They knocked this out of me in record time last time, so hopefully it will work again. I hate being sick. I'm in the middle of a project or moving furniture from room to room to rearrange the house, and of course, that has to be put on hold. Not much in the mood for writing - between being sick and the antibiotics making my head wacky I'm not capable of much coherant thought these days. Hopefully, I will write again soon. Our poetry group has been offered two challenges for the October session - one to a write poem on crickets and the other to do a scary poem. So far just looking at myself in the mirror these days has been scary enough. Sick people look like hell!!!! Or maybe it's just that we think we look as bad as we feel. Anyway...just wanted to update everyone. Stay healthy!!!

Sinuses/love/and other stuff :-)

Thursday morning I woke up feeling a bit out of sorts and knew something was up. Later that day my sinuses started their partying and by the evening I couldn't talk without coughing and choking. Even with drugs this continued through Friday. Today I still have some issues and a very scratchy sore throat that makes talking difficult. So, I've decided to write instead.

On my sister, Victoria's, blog she asks three questions. One is what does love mean to you. Recently I've been thinking about that myself when it comes to my relationship with my husband. Love to me is being able to disagree while respecting each others opinions. Anyone who says they never fight doesn't have a real relationship. Anyone who claims their spouse is perfect needs a reality check. No one is perfect...no,not even me...but relationships are built on being able to love each other even while having differnt opinions. Some of the best marriages I know are people who admit they don't always like what the other does, but they always love them. I used to tell the kids that when the old - you don't love me line - came out of their mouths. I would tell them, I don't like you very much right now, but I will always love you.

Another thing that makes me smile is he calls me Zucchini instead of that tired old overused squash others call their husbands or wives...you know...pumpkin! We have a variety of names for each other that no one else would even think of and to us they all mean I love you.

So, while life is not perfect I am still finding it interesting and fun. As I told one of my younger friends, last tuesday, with each new era I find more things to enjoy and make more discoveries about myself, so I don't regret the years moving on, but look forward to what awaits me next. Life is one big adventure and each experience is something to build on. I think I'll keep this life awhile longer.

Expressions in Verse and Music - September

To say we had a great time last night would be an understatement. The interaction was wonderful and the poetry and songs as usual were top rate. Every month, the open mic, surprises me and delights me. Even though I am a words person I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. They express the joy of the night. We had a hard time breaking up last night and ran to about 9:30 when I finally had to close up shop. Conversations continued in the parking lot after, so yes, I would say the night was quite a success. Enjoy the pics.

Finding Solitude

I always have to laugh when someone asks me to do something with them, and I say no, I have other plans and they get irked and say something like, 'I can't believe you'd rather do that than do what I'm doing.' I laugh because I'm thinking the same thing about them. We all have things that make us happy. I used to enjoy going around from bar to bar, cafe to cafe, whatever listening to different bands, etc. But that was mainly when I was with the music company, in Florida, and that was part of my job. Hey, a tough job but someone had to do it. Lately though, I've been reverting back to what I liked to do 30 years or so ago. No, not snow skiing! Finding solitude.


When I lived in Erie, PA I had relatives who lived right off the bayfront. Now there wasn't access to the area where I went because it was all private property. Luckily for me, my cousins not only lived there but had a welding business there. When I wanted a quiet place to sit and think, write my poetry, or just comtemplate the meaning of life I would cross through their property, unlock the gate at the bottom that lead to the bayfront and find my peace.

Recently while reading a blog of a friend in CT, she spoke of a place where she finds her solitude and her sanity. Unfortunately the day she went things weren't what she remembered or sought.


While her space will be back for her, since the motorcycle club won't be there all the time, mine has permanently changed. Erie in it's infinite wisdom decided we no longer needed the beauty of the bay but instead needed a parkway - why they call it a parkway when you can't park there is beyond me - that connected one side of Erie to the other. The access to the bayfront is gone and their are condominiums where there was once quiet serenity. The last time I was home I was saddened by the changes that weren't really for the best. We already have streets that go from one side to the other, but this one has no stops which, I guess is important to some people. But I miss the access to what was one of the most secluded and beautiful spots in Erie, PA.

I've found some spots in Sumter, but nothing to match what once was in the bayfront of good old Erie. I still seek that spot where I can find complete solitude to commune with nature, my thoughts,write my poetry, and find that peaceful easy feeling once again.

Oreo

Down the street lives a family with an adorable black and white dog named Oreo. Now Oreo has a problem. He is an only dog. Sort of like being an only child and both his parents work. Now, the husband has a habit of leaving the gate open and Oreo will come down here during the day. Why? Because he can go into our backyard and play, through the fence, with the dogs on either side of us. Each of our neighbors has two dogs and it's so funny to look out and see Oreo running up and down one side of the yard or the other and the two dogs, on either side of the fence, racing with him. He looks so happy! He will often sleep outside there and eat leftover food the stray cats don't finish. He's one happy dog. When his mom gets home and finds the gate open she knows where to find him and comes down to take him home. Sometimes she sends her husband, because after all, it was he who left the gate open. So, Saturday night there's someone with a flashlight walking around our yard. The doorbell rings and I'm thinking it must be the police or something. I open the door a crack, chain on the door and say, "yes?". "It's just Oreo's mom," came the reply. She realized the flashlight must look suspicious and said she didn't want to scare us, but she'd just gotten home and her husband had once again left the gate open and Oreo got out. We laughed about her always knowing where to find him. He's a very sweet dog and we don't mind him hanging out and she's happy knowing she won't have to go far to find him.

Spring Cleaning in September

Yep, I'm spring cleaning! When we moved in here we shared a bedroom, then Keith needed a breathing machine due to his sleep apnea and the sound of it kept me awake all night. On top of that. if he woke up in the middle of the night, he liked to turn on Coast to Coast. Which was fine, except with the breathing machine being so loud he had to turn up the radio volume which, yep, you guessed it...woke me up!

Now, I'm not saying there weren't times I woke him up, because I did. If I had an asthma attack or coughing attack in the middle of the night he woke up too. So, for our sanity and the sake of our marriage I moved into the bedroom at the end of the hall. That way if he needed me - he has a heart condition - and he couldn't call he could bang on the wall and I would hear him. (It's right next to his room). This would be great except for one minor detail. The CATS!!

They have a little game called spring board and guess who's the springboard? They charge down the hall, jump up on me, turn around, spring back off and charge back the other way. Of course, this wakes me up. It's such a joy to wake up at 3 a.m. with a couple cats springing off you. So, I decided this is not working for me!

We have another bedroom across from the the main bathroom we were using for a library. I spent a couple days taking books, videos, magazines, etc off shelves and moved two of the bookcases today and moved my bed into the other room. I still have a lot of moving to do, but that's enough for today. Now the cats can charge down the hall all they want, but they won't have me to kick around anymore!

Of course, my moving kept getting interrupted by trivial things....making lunch, cooking dinner, doing dishes....sigh... so now I am done for the day and will pick up where I left off tomorrow.

The big picture is I will move my bedroom into the library, the library into my old bedroom. Then I will move the wooden table (in the kitchen) into the middle of the new library to give us a place to read, stack books, write, etc...there is a half bath in that room which makes it really nice.

Then I will move the dining room table (that's in the small area off the kitchen) into the kitchen to give me more working area for cooking and baking. Whoops! I keep telling people I don't cook! Then I'll move the loveseat under the window, in that little area, and put the coffee table and a standing lamp there for a quiet reading area where the cats and I can look out into the backyard. My queen anne chairs will then be set around the living room. It should give us more space. I'll then clean up the area around my husband's chair (he stacks things around and on top of things) and give him a space to keep it all neatly.

Keith says my energy level exhausts him! He teases me that I am slowing down though, and I am. No one can do the same things at 59 that you can at 29, 39, or even 49, but hey, I don't know many 59 year old women who can move heavy bookcases from room to room by themselves, on top of all the other stuff I moved. I just do it a little slower these days.

So, that's what I did on my Saturday. What did you do on yours?

Ashes to Ashes

Since my husband and I are getting older, and many of our friends and relatives have died in the past few years, we talk about our own pending deaths and discuss what we would like done. We both agree we want to be cremated. At one time I was going to take his ashes and take them back to Erie, PA where we grew up and spread them over the railroad tracks as he loves trains and especially the old lines that used to run through Erie. Well, he is also very interested in the Russian Orthodox religion and the Soviet Union in general. Today we were discussing the movie "The Russia House" and I commented that I should find an online friend in the Soviet Union and when he dies send his ashes there to be spread around in strategic locations. He liked that idea, so I said if I die first I want my ashes sent to Ireland. After a pause he asked, "couldn't I just pour a bottle of Guinness Stout over them and flush them down the toilet?" Laughing I told him that worked for me! Of course, that means instead of a trip to the soviet union he gets a couple pieces of incense tossed in with his ashes. Hey, we all have to go sometime so we might as well go out laughing.

The child or the mother?

I'm still not sure who should be hogtied here. Yesterday I went to the laundramat. I do that every week, but this week there was a mother with a young son...between 5 and 6 maybe. He had two hard plastic balls that he bounced on the hard concrete floor....continuously!!! Clack, clack, clack, clack,.....for about 10 minutes. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and said, please! stop! The child did - the mother laughed and said something to the child I couldn't here. He then went over and proceeded to bang the plastic balls against a metal pipe. I looked at her at this point and said, please, that is irritating and is giving me a headache. She laughed. I looked at the child and he stopped and went and sat by his mother. She again said something to him after which he threw one of the hard plastic balls, across the room toward me. It missed and rolled under the table. I looked over at her laughing and said, ma'm, this is not a playground and you need to not encourage him to act badly. She laughed and told her son to come with her they would move. Her wash was way at the other end of the laundry, but she was watching a talk show on the tv at the end I was at. Anyway, eventually, they came back and she told him to go get the ball. He refused so she came over and crawled under the table and took it. I said nothing and she didn't encourage him to act out after that either. Now, it seems to me that this child, while being aggravating did at least listen to an adult who asked him to stop, but his very immature mother found it amusing and kept egging him on. She did settle down when she realized her child was listening to me in the end and not her, but still.... if she is an example of what is parenting our children of today it helps me understand why children are so disrepectful of adults and act out in school the way they do. Their parents teach them well!

Who said cats aren't smart?

Every morning, between 5:30 and 6 a.m. I go out to get the morning paper, and feed two stray cats who come around for breakfast. I like to feed them early because if they don't come at that time they'll surely be there as we're leaving and then I feel guilty if I don't take the time to give them breakfast.

So, the other morning I go out to get the paper and I'm calling Scarface! Little Friend! and I hear a meowing from the guys house next door. On his SUV is his cat that I usually see sitting inside looking out the window. The cat keeps meowing and indicating it wants to go in. I told it I was sorry but I didn't live there so couldn't let it in and it would have to wait until the guy got up to let it in. Well, my two strays didn't come around, but next time I looked out the cat, from next door, was sitting outside our door meowing to be let in. Well, I had said I couldn't let it in next door because I didn't live there so it figured it would just come in where I did live. I opened the door and saw Scarface out there, so went to feed him and the neighbor cat decided it would be better off going home. Whew! At least it didn't get into a row with Scarface aka Snagglebutt. Haven't seen it out since, so figure it's sticking close to the home fires and not venturing out these days.

Other than that...it's still too hot and humid for me. I love it when people say it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Uh uh! It's the heat AND the humidity. Still playing chauffer to Keith while he has to continue to wear the walking boot. He goes in Thursday for another Xray to make sure it's healing right. Please!!!!!

That's all the news from the homefront here. Hope everyone is well.

Updates! Updates! Get your updates here!

Happy Labor Free Day to everyone. Stay safe! Don't drink and drive! Don't use your cell phone while driving!

So, what's been going on with all of you lately? We've been having an interesting time. As most of you know my husband, Keith, where's a brace on his right leg. Well, to add insult to injury he twisted his left ankle getting out of his car a few weeks ago, at the school, and injured his left foot! At first they thought it was just a sprain but had to wait a few days, to let the swelling go down, before they could Xray it. We finally got it xrayed and the doc said he saw no breaks or anything. Then the next afternoon we get a call that another "real" doctor had looked and found a small fracture in his foot.

Okay, so now we go to the orthopedic doc who gives him this big boot (sort of like one of my old ski boots but higher) to put on the left leg. So, here he is trying to get around with both legs trapped in one device or another. He had to take a few days off away from the school and then when he went back I drove him and spent the days there. He wasn't confident in his balance at that time. So, while there to make myself useful I cleaned his office. Now, I'm not saying it was horrible, but when I was done (it took me the entire week) the secretary of the dept. brought people down to see the office! Everyone cheered me! Comments like "wow" I can actually see the floor!" or "I can walk through now" and other such things were said. Yeah, it really was a dramatic difference.

Other than that it's still been too hot here for me, but as I keep telling my family back north who is having a good time heckling me when it's only in the 70's and low 80's there....winter is coming! And then it'll be my turn to laugh at them!

I came across this saying the other day and loved it so will end this missive with it.

"Life isn't about how many breaths you take, but about how many moments take your breath away."