day filled with appointments

Monday. I made it. Drove myself to Mankato for physical therapy, grocery buying, another therapy, lunch, and an undergarment fitting. I was home by 2 o'clock. The undergarment, speaking of it, looks like something used to launch cannon balls in medieval times. It's purpose is compression and I guess it does that, so who am I to complain?

The roads were icy going over and there was a dude driving a little pickup 35 mph with a mile long line of cars behind him. I didn't care as my theory it is better if drivers only drive a speed at which they are comfortable.

Tuesday has been a quiet day. I had tea and cookies with my friend, Betsy. Her husband Stan, sent me home with canned applesauce and grape jelly, both made with fruit from their yard. Birds in our neighborhood, known to have sophisticated taste in jelly, will eat Stan's homemade jelly. Or so he says. Haha! We'll see in the spring, Stan! Such nice people...right down the street from us.

Betsy and I talk until we are almost winded. We have a lot in common... same vintage, same issues, same therapy, same interests in buddha inspired living, same attempts to rid our lives of suffering. We talked away a couple hours in their sunny dining room.

I'm sitting at the dining room table with a nice beer and my laptop. BB King on the music player thing. Do I still call it a stereo? I'm watching the late afternoon bird crowd at the feeder.

I cut my hair this afternoon. Hair is one of things I let go of after cancer. About once a month I take the clipper into the bathroom and buzz it myself. It makes Regis nervous so I try to do it when he isn't home. He touches up the back for me.

Here's what Woodrow has been up to. We thought we had it solved with the orange peelings (I even replaced them this morning) then Regis came home to find this:

Waiting for my friend, Deb, to arrive. Her husband of many years died a year ago today in a terrible car accident on 169. Our community was stunned because Jim seemed larger than life. He was my neighbor and the assistant principal at the high school almost all of the years I knew him. He was a hoot which in my book, is high praise. We're going to reminisce, raise a glass to Jim, and watch the winter sun go down.

We're using battery powered lights this year. They have varied reliability depending on the individual light but mostly they suck. The first night we set them on timer (6 hours on and 18 off) and they were still on the next morning. Maybe next year, I'll spray the electric lights with Cat-Off if the smell is not too offensive.

I'm making it through these hard last days of autumn. Shorter and shorter...less and less light every day. Enjoy every day...we're on the right side of the grass. Life is good even when it's hard.