The Blog: Spellbound by our own imperfect lives...

I should be writing about the Halloween Fun Run, which was fun, but my photos are in the other room so I'm going to forego that topic for now. Many reasons not to watch the news, or television for that matter. It's nice this year, not to be subjected to constant political ads, since we ripped our cable out after the last election. Not literally, but it went missing. Do people really make up their minds based on that drivel? Someone posted a link to an awful crime and punishment story on Facebook and I had to read it. Very, very sad. No reason I had to know about that. Now, I'm reading about Hurricane Sandy. I would have been long ago gone from that path. What the hell. An 11 foot wall of water? It sounds like one of those apocalypse movies and you know what a fan I am of those. I was driving to Mankato the other day on 169. I happened to be by the regional treatment center where the speed limit is 45. I was going 45 mph when a woman came barreling up behind me, got ri...

We are not complaining about the rain. At all. It's the first time we've had a decent rain in months. We are only complaining about the gloom that seems to have descended on everyone. We are hunkered down, sighing heavily, speaking in hushed tones. Our spirits have been hung out to dry...in the rain. Woe is us. We are lacking in gumption. Even to do the simple things like the dishes and picking up of stuff. Damp jackets hang limply from the backs of chairs. Junk mail is piled on the table, probably hiding today's to-do list. Even the dog is without ambition. A rational and thinking person would turn on the radio and make some cookies or invite a friend over for a glass of wine. But who can think rationally in the blue funk of this day? So, here we sit, lamps unlit, dinner not made, quiet in every corner. I'm going to grab the reins and drive this horse down a different road. Radio will be turned on and jazzy music will be heard. Something will be cooked. Candl...

We were up and down all night, first one then the other. Bed, couch, chair. Even the dog couldn't settle down. Must have been one of those nights my doctor used to describe as "forces in the universe at work". Regis has therapy at 8 so we're up and moving in the right direction. All is well when that's true. We're expecting rain today which is a welcome weather event. It hasn't rained enough all summer to even get the ground completely wet. Tomorrow will be colder. There must have been a football game somewhere last night. I heard the muffled voice of an announcer and the cheers of a crowd. It was kind of a sweet sound for a fall night but the distant noise is as far as my interest goes. As for who and what sport and the final score, I don't care. I went to a coffee training at work last night. I walked downtown in my new boots... a mistake. They're very comfortable but not for long distances and I almost wore holes in my toes. The coffee t...

I just wrote a paragraph about our continuing medical woes and then I promptly deleted it. I have vowed not to talk about medical stuff so remind me if I go off on a tangent about it. Enough already. I'm warming up my writing brain to do about four blog posts for River Rock this afternoon. They are in varying stages of completion in a notebook written in pencil and on my computer. I write spasmodically, if that's the word for it. I rarely write in long-hand anymore and can hardly compose an address unless I'm at the keyboard. Writing on cards can be a challenge. I looked at the marathon coverage in the paper this morning and had a brief moment of regret for not committing to that until I read about the folks who were vomiting and in need of IVs by the end. Nah. I don't think so. As I have said before, my right brain, the side that avoids pain and seeks pleasure is too well-developed. My mantra usually goes something like this, "If I walk for a while, I will fee...

I just reread yesterday's post. I was being optimistic when I wrote it, apparently. The truth of it is that we spent the day trudging slowly from task to task and from couch to recliner. I did the dishes, made two meals, and got my Halloween Fun Run costume ready but that's about it. My brain was resting a good part of the day. Today will be different. I'm picking Elliot up at 9:30 and Ella and Alex are coming about 10 o'clock to play. There will not be much resting today, believe me. The sky was clear when I was out with Gus at 6 but now it looks cloudy again. I don't mind...I still love these fall days. Our birch tree is raining yellow leaves, slowly slowly slowly. It's beautiful. Regis is still sleeping, Gus is taking his first nap of the day, and I am going to the kitchen to make coffee. There you go.

Regis and I are slowly getting our wheels back on the tracks. We woke up this morning at 4, got up and drank coffee in the dark, then went back to sleep for an hour. It's a strange kind of timeless feeling. The good news is that my sleeping patterns have been better knock on wood. No long periods of wakefulness for three days. I think we're going to take Gus to the dog park for a while this morning. Regis is itching to get out and so is Gus. I can drive and Regis can park it on a bench. His butt...not the car. I just ordered myself a new pair of boots. I have been so frugal with clothes lately that I decided I could splurge. Yesterday I washed my three favorite sweaters from the thrift and consignment stores. Two of them should have been hand washed but I'm not a believer in that monkey business so I tossed them in the washer on the delicate cycle. One had red wine stains on the front from the time I apparently had suffered an unfortunate head-on collision with a gl...

It's Friday finally...or already...depending on a couple of things. Surgery was a roaring success so we have that out of the way, just physical therapy for the next month. The hospital has been a good experience except for the food. I won't say where Regis had his surgery because you know my paranoia about google searches. The hospital gets it's patient food from a nursing home. It's an abomination that old people and sick people and folks recovering from surgery (who ought to have the very best nutrition) have to eat that highly processed tasteless food. Fake butter. Fake coffee creamer. English muffins that look like they came with a play kitchen set. If I ever have to spend time in the hospital, please bring food. Regis sent me a dream story by text sometime in the middle of the night. He was sleeping in the recliner in his room and woke to hear some noise in the hall. In his Percocet-induced slumber, he thought he was in a motel room but realized I was not there...

This is how I like to spend my time. Sitting, drinking coffee, eating something little and tasty like a blueberry tart, riding my bike, watching traffic. This will not be how I spend my time this week. This week my calendar is full. I don't even like to look at it now and there are some things I haven't written down. I wonder how I had time to work full time and keep up with my life before I retired. There must have been a lot of things I didn't do...or maybe I had more gumption. We had such a nice Sunday yesterday. I put out the Halloween decorations (of which there are a ton), cleaned up the house a bit, bought a take and bake pizza, and our friend, Emily came over for dinner and a movie. Such a nice way to end the weekend and begin a busy week. I slept fitfully last night. Awake until almost midnight, awake several times over the next few hours, awake at 5 am. I have decided to just put it out of my mind. There doesn't seem to be any fixing it and ...

We went to Canby to visit Mom on Friday afternoon. We had a good time doing what we usually do which is sitting around and visiting over wine and pizza. Saturday morning, Mom and I did a little looking around downtown. They have a new coffee shop and bakery so we popped in there. Busy place! When we got home, Mom took a nap and Regis and I did the scarecrow tour. There are a few pics in the slide show that are not scarecrows...some interesting homes (love the one with Big Bird on the porch), some tombstones in the cemetery, and some of the dog. Gus loved Mom's yard...especially the wild turkeys. We're going to spend today getting ready for a busy week. I am hoping that after October, things will slow down some. I don't like to be quite this busy. I'm more of a sitting around kind of girl. That's my Dad's cowboy hat I'm wearing. Mom gave it to Regis but I claimed it when we got home. It's a good look. Regis is wearing a shirt Peter left be...

I love the things I misread. I looked at one of my favorite zen blogs this morning and the title was "a journey without a goal", which I read as "a journey without a goat". I like that. My friend, Steve Schipp, used to say that the world is made up of two kinds of people, those who can drive a forklift and those who cannot. He was right. I've been in a very philosophical mood lately and I think it comes with turning 60 the end of the month. And it comes from spending so much time in doctor's offices lately. I have vowed not to spend so much time recounting our current woes (which are not really woes, but maintenance) because, for one thing, it's hard to keep them straight, and for another, it leads to no good. So, my philosophical state of mind. I'm reading a book about habits. How to change the bad ones and fortify the good ones. It makes it seem so simple, changing the habits of your life. I've never been much for philosophy. I took a...

I had a couple of very good naps yesterday, then slept well last night. What a gift a good night's sleep can be. I woke up several times but when I tried to read, my eyes closed and I drifted back to sleep. Ah, so nice. Versed is a good drug if you have to have a medical procedure but it seems to leave me foggy-headed. Of course, with my sleeping patterns this past week, it could be that, too. King Karl and Queen Silvia of Sweden were in St. Peter yesterday. I don't recall all the official reasons for the trip but I am sorry to have missed the pomp. Ella attended with her elementary school class so I'm sure she'll give me the full report, although I think she will be as disappointed as I was that they were not wearing royal robes and crowns. The forecast was for snow flurries this morning between 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock. I didn't stick my head out the door to to see if that transpired because I think there should be more than a week between sandals ...

I haven't slept well for several days. Tuesday night I was awake by 3am. Wednesday night, I was awake between midnight and 6am when I fell asleep for another hour and missed my workout appointment. Thursday night I fell asleep at 3am and woke up to the alarm at 6am. The sort of good news is that I had to go in for an endoscopy this morning. It's only what the doc calls surveillance so no need for concern. I've had these before and they make it pretty painless. And so the good news part of this is that the Versed and Fentanyl they gave me were a great gift of relaxation, then sleep. I can be a bit of a handful as a patient since I had a bad experience with an endoscopy without sedation once. The medical people who recommended that should try it themselves and see how they like it. The next time, memories of that led me to grip the handrails of the gurney on the way to the procedure room and tell everyone in a panicked voice that I am a nervous patient and they shouldn...

I'm sitting in front of my computer, thinking about River Rock's blog. I have to get the wheels going here to I'll hammer out the contents of my brain on this blog first. Thinking about writing. I rarely write with a pen anymore. At least not more than signing my name or writing on a card. I am fairly fast at writing on a full keyboard, but NOT on a phone. Not text messages. Regis said I give myself away as a person of the older generation (like this would be a surprise) when I text with one finger. Really? I cannot manage to write anything intelligible with my thumbs. When I was in high school, my grandma really encouraged me to take typing so I would have something to fall back on. Boy, that's a different time, eh? I wonder if they even teach keyboarding, or whatever the hell you call it, these days. I am going to watch my online cussing because I read some research that said a lot of online cussing is a sign of sociopathy. It's not the only sign, obviously,...

On October 1st, 2006, Regis and I started this blog. It had a different purpose when it started than the purpose to which it seems to have evolved. It started as a way to document our 500 miles walk but once we abandoned that adventure, it became mostly a documentation of our imperfect lives...cooking, eating, entertaining, books, Gus, grandchildren, and other miscellaneous observations and commentary. So, happy birthday to my blog! I think it should be Sunday today as I am not quite ready to take on Monday. Let's just do that, shall we?