Showing posts with label brilliant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brilliant. Show all posts
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Saturday, November 9, 2013
10 November 2013: Sunday ... listening to the mellifluous founder/host of loe.org, Steve Curwood, as the teapot boils ...
What a morning at Paper Mill Park where I walked the pathway around the park because I was early and we did not have choir rehearsal this morning. The day was brilliant and I thought, when I was hanging from this bar and seeing my shadow, what a nice picture it would make. So, I got down and waved, hid the iPhone and snapped and sent it to Facebook before I continued my walk. Just amazing, wonderful technology.
Then, we were treated to a magical, engaging, fun-loving, singing, stomping and spirit-lifting service by Clem Bowen, storyteller, musician, pantomimist and trained clown.
He strummed this dulcimer made for him by a instrument maker in Newark. It was simple and his songs had just a few word lyrics but we sang robustly and enthusiastically about peace (Shalom) and about a fox and his home. Magical interaction ... what a talent.
My candle had four parts to it ... beginning with a shout out to Andy Levin, who played and sang for us and who sang a lovely song that I thought was a nice gesture to his granddaughter, a baby, visiting the church for the first time; the performance of Serafin last Sunday afternoon; the performance and help of Delaware Hospice regarding my mother and assisting my father; and the safe arrival of Liz, my cousin, who was travelling to Delaware from Connecticut as I spoke my joys.
One individual, who I found quite attractive and had an empathy to match her beauty, lit a candle for the victims of the typhoon. She is a meteorologist and she works a lot in the RE wing of the church (today's service was intergenerational) and she was very knowledgeable of the storm in the South Pacific and she mentioned her husband, a printer, who does the shopping and the cooking while she does the laundry and the cleaning, quite a gender neutral household. Her name is Terri.
Addendum: Before bed, I sort through the records on the shelf in his TV bedroom and I pull them out and fire questions at him. MY gracious, does he know his records, spouting out facts on the performers and the words in a rapid pace. No mental loss here. I am astounded that he knows so much ... where have I been? Why have I not been questioning him and learning from his vast store of classical music knowledge. It is awesome.
On my walk, I have a unique exchange with Doug, who I called after trying to talk in the morning as I walked Paper Mill Park and he walked the fairway at Atlanta Athletic Club. Like a kid, he told me of a dining experience the previous evening at an exclusive steak place, very expensive, with a gazillionaire patient who was hosting him and a couple of his friends. He asked whether his date, a former beauty pageant winner from Hawaii all buxom and curvy and wearing threadbare clothing went on to drink more than a few Cosmopolitans and spout her bisexuality and the food came and the hors d'oeuvres and the wine and the bill, believe it or not, was at least a $1,000, all picked up by the wealthy patient, who eats at this establishment about five times a week. Go figure.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
2 November 2013: Saturday, up since 3 a.m., working on blog ... dad up early, looks better ...
It is Saturday morning and I worried about dad as I've been up since before 3 a.m., working on this blog and thinking about the insulin issue (forgot to mention that we misplaced the Lantus, which stood atop the TV set as we searched the floor with my big light) and agonizing that dad might perilously hypoglycemic, but he was fine and up early, taking a bath and sounding good before 5 a.m. He was in mom's room checking on her. He asked about feeding her and I said that the earliest I get her her breakfast and her medications is 6 a.m. I will let her sleep, but I am happy at my interaction with dad this morning. He seems better rested.
Had a FB IM with Robin Lennon ... she'll be in town to visit her mom in mid-December. We made a date for a drink. She did not know of the whereabouts of Maude Carey but I did a search and actually paid for a short-lived and cheap membership to PeopleSearch for $.95 and got the following address is Newark, DE, and phone number for a Maude Carey:
Mom and Dad are breakfasted and medicated and I'm getting set to leave for Philadelphia Pike and George's to meet with Bob and Alice for breakfast myself. Will bring Dancer with me and see about heading to a park in north Wilmington.
It was a bonanza of a walking adventure through the woods, a brilliant fall late morning and Dancer in the water with the yellow leaved trees lining the shoreline and creating a lovely image and my walk, over 3 miles, through leaf-strewn path to the mansion and hardly any people, amazingly. Such a sterling morning and so few people. The picture below has the proper cutline information locating Dancer in northern Delaware ... Bob says that he travels the park with Bo and insisted that I keep Dancer on a leash ... Cindy's four dogs got out and she got a fine, unbelievably high, of $1,000 or $250 per dog, Alice told me.
Stunning fall colors on a fabulous November day in northern Delaware as Dancer tests the waters of
Shellpot Creek in Bringhurst Woods Park.
Bob and Alice look good. They beat me to George's and were already seated. We ate heartily and talked a lot. I did most of it but learned that Bob is retired as of last year -- thus the emeritus status -- but is still teaching a full load this semester. He will not teach next but he has an editing assignment on disability law and is working with a number of other law educators. Alice is crazy busy working with her classes as non-tenure track faculty employee who teaches writing and works with the future graduates, I think, on their writing and employment application process. They will get back to me when their time frees up and maybe I can see Caleb, who stayed in bed with their pet Golden Retriever, "Bo" (I think), in his bedroom. We had a nice visit. He mentioned the park and the great walk that it provided and said we ought to do it, together, with our dogs in the future. I had a great hour plus walk, over 3 miles, with Dancer and got educated on the woods, brilliant in their late fall plumage, and the mansion at Rockport Park. Such an amazing late morning with nary a person taking advantage of such a sterling day.
Phoned Ron when I got home about the arrest of Brad Holstein, Jr. (he lives with his parents and his father, my classmate at JDHS, is the principal of Anna P. Mote Elementary), for child pornography, and I mistook his father, who graduated with me, with Danny Albright, who graduated with and played b-ball with Ron and whose father worked as a driver's education teacher at JDHS. Ron informed me of this fact but had sobering news that he's dealing with at present -- he was let go from his job of 35 years. Manufacturing was not in the future plans and he was shown the door with a modicum of benefits and an 18-month cushion on his health COBRA benefits, but as he told me, who is looking for 56-year-old unemployed men. There is age discrimination as I well know and it will be interesting if Ron's expertise in dental materials will figure into him getting another job. He has some time and I hope it works out for him.
Made a quick trip to Bachetti's for liverwurst, ham and cheese and picked up a loaf of bread, too, as dad requested the former on Holland rusk. He has just completed both rusks with the liverwurst and watches a war film on TCM, both my parents are enamored of the movie channel. This movie stars a young Clint Eastwood. Go figure. On the radio below, Garrison Keillor intones in his mellifluous voice, Prairie Home Companion, broadcasting live from Minneapolis on WHYY. I will be taking Dancer on a final walk around the neighborhood as an exclamation point to the incredible walk this morning through the leaf-strewn and auburn and burnt yellow trees of northern Wilmington near Mount Pleasant High School.
Something remarkable or perhaps not as it probably has always been there, though hidden by years of being together and just taking it for granted, was the affection shown by mom and dad prior to saying goodnight. He leaned over and they sort of kissed but the looks on their faces were priceless. True concern and love for each other. It was unmistakable. They do so care about one another. It may be hidden but it's there and it is a force.
So tranquil, so comfortable with one another. Dad looks good in that sweater and his khakis, Mom, too, in her sweater and colorful dress.
Had a FB IM with Robin Lennon ... she'll be in town to visit her mom in mid-December. We made a date for a drink. She did not know of the whereabouts of Maude Carey but I did a search and actually paid for a short-lived and cheap membership to PeopleSearch for $.95 and got the following address is Newark, DE, and phone number for a Maude Carey:
73 Cypress Tree Circle
Newark, DE 19702
(302) 994-1086
Mom and Dad are breakfasted and medicated and I'm getting set to leave for Philadelphia Pike and George's to meet with Bob and Alice for breakfast myself. Will bring Dancer with me and see about heading to a park in north Wilmington.
It was a bonanza of a walking adventure through the woods, a brilliant fall late morning and Dancer in the water with the yellow leaved trees lining the shoreline and creating a lovely image and my walk, over 3 miles, through leaf-strewn path to the mansion and hardly any people, amazingly. Such a sterling morning and so few people. The picture below has the proper cutline information locating Dancer in northern Delaware ... Bob says that he travels the park with Bo and insisted that I keep Dancer on a leash ... Cindy's four dogs got out and she got a fine, unbelievably high, of $1,000 or $250 per dog, Alice told me.
Stunning fall colors on a fabulous November day in northern Delaware as Dancer tests the waters of
Shellpot Creek in Bringhurst Woods Park.
Bob and Alice look good. They beat me to George's and were already seated. We ate heartily and talked a lot. I did most of it but learned that Bob is retired as of last year -- thus the emeritus status -- but is still teaching a full load this semester. He will not teach next but he has an editing assignment on disability law and is working with a number of other law educators. Alice is crazy busy working with her classes as non-tenure track faculty employee who teaches writing and works with the future graduates, I think, on their writing and employment application process. They will get back to me when their time frees up and maybe I can see Caleb, who stayed in bed with their pet Golden Retriever, "Bo" (I think), in his bedroom. We had a nice visit. He mentioned the park and the great walk that it provided and said we ought to do it, together, with our dogs in the future. I had a great hour plus walk, over 3 miles, with Dancer and got educated on the woods, brilliant in their late fall plumage, and the mansion at Rockport Park. Such an amazing late morning with nary a person taking advantage of such a sterling day.
Phoned Ron when I got home about the arrest of Brad Holstein, Jr. (he lives with his parents and his father, my classmate at JDHS, is the principal of Anna P. Mote Elementary), for child pornography, and I mistook his father, who graduated with me, with Danny Albright, who graduated with and played b-ball with Ron and whose father worked as a driver's education teacher at JDHS. Ron informed me of this fact but had sobering news that he's dealing with at present -- he was let go from his job of 35 years. Manufacturing was not in the future plans and he was shown the door with a modicum of benefits and an 18-month cushion on his health COBRA benefits, but as he told me, who is looking for 56-year-old unemployed men. There is age discrimination as I well know and it will be interesting if Ron's expertise in dental materials will figure into him getting another job. He has some time and I hope it works out for him.
Made a quick trip to Bachetti's for liverwurst, ham and cheese and picked up a loaf of bread, too, as dad requested the former on Holland rusk. He has just completed both rusks with the liverwurst and watches a war film on TCM, both my parents are enamored of the movie channel. This movie stars a young Clint Eastwood. Go figure. On the radio below, Garrison Keillor intones in his mellifluous voice, Prairie Home Companion, broadcasting live from Minneapolis on WHYY. I will be taking Dancer on a final walk around the neighborhood as an exclamation point to the incredible walk this morning through the leaf-strewn and auburn and burnt yellow trees of northern Wilmington near Mount Pleasant High School.
Something remarkable or perhaps not as it probably has always been there, though hidden by years of being together and just taking it for granted, was the affection shown by mom and dad prior to saying goodnight. He leaned over and they sort of kissed but the looks on their faces were priceless. True concern and love for each other. It was unmistakable. They do so care about one another. It may be hidden but it's there and it is a force.
So tranquil, so comfortable with one another. Dad looks good in that sweater and his khakis, Mom, too, in her sweater and colorful dress.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
2 October 2013: Wednesday, We move forward on this gorgeous Wednesday, temp to hit in mid 80s for August feel ...
Well, I found the post from yesterday, so all is copacetic at present. I can move forward on musings and events for this Wednesday, the completion of my first full week at home. My walk with Dancer through the developments and past St. John the Beloved Catholic School ended as I entered the home and the digifit voice intoned, "Two miles."
As Dancer licks my left forearm, asking for attention (I just fixed her dinner with two fried eggs, she should be satisfied, but the gorgeous day beckons and the fall light descends quickly -- see Ray Webber's Whitmanesque FB post of closing up his pool and observing the colors and the sounds of autumn at his home -- and I take the time to remember some of the day's highlights.
Cleaning -- I bought a pail with an attachment to squeeze a mop-head and a mop from Pathmark this morning and proceeded to mop both bathrooms and wash the urine-tainted (in the main 2nd floor bathroom) rugs on the delicate cycle (added mom's rug at her suggestion during the wash cycle) and they turned out fine (concerned a little about the drying but kept it on delicate).
At midday, I got fatigued and laid down on my single bed and listened through the iPhone to a discussion of alligators in SC on Your Day, a Clemson-based radio program aired on SC Public Radio, Monday - Thursday. The station playing was WLJK in Aiken with Dyana Daniels. I slept, off and on, as I hit the snooze button on the iPhone and went straight on into Here and Now from WBUR in Boston and hosted by NPR, which took the place of Talk of the Nation. Well, it was a lengthy rest with dad downstairs and mom in the room next door, the oxygen concentrator with its perpetual purr and Dancer outside in the brilliant sun, a summer-like day in the 80s today.
In the mid-afternoon, Dad and I undertook a few tasks. We considered DMV for my license and plate change but I decided against it so we tried the library for my card. The computers were out. We took Old Capitol Trail to Kirkwood Hwy and then Limestone Road to the Limestone Medical Center to get an appt with Dr. Milner for Dad's follow-up on his eye laser surgery (which is problematic, he has some floaters and says he has some some eye issues when he lies down). The computers were down. So, we next went a few blocks down Limestone to the TD bank and the coin cruncher. I guessed $63.45. It came in at over $80.00. With the 8% commission, since we did not have an account with the 7/24 bank, Dad got about $74.00 and change in an envelope from Erica, or "Bank" as Dad called her (the appellation had her name and the place where she worked on it).
In the evening, I vacuumed, quite thoroughly, the TV room (aka, Dad's bedroom) and used the roller vacuum (an old acquisition from Nanny) that worked well in a small section of Mom's bedroom, which I'd previously vacuumed (no sense in bringing out the big vacuum to do such a small job.
Wrong color ... Mom's (or Nanny's) is red
but this basic tool works well and without electricity.
Watching and listening and doing Google searches of various interviewees on the PBS' NewsHour with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff with Dad, who informed me earlier, that Dancer wetted his bed comforter. I took it to the laundry, set the new washer to "SUPER" on warm and just a few minutes, removed the damp cover and placed it into the dryer. Will walk the dog as night falls and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi address the press as the 2nd day of the government's partial shutdown concludes. It will get truly serious when the debt limit is reached in a couple of weeks and whether or not the US will default on the bills it owes.
As Dancer licks my left forearm, asking for attention (I just fixed her dinner with two fried eggs, she should be satisfied, but the gorgeous day beckons and the fall light descends quickly -- see Ray Webber's Whitmanesque FB post of closing up his pool and observing the colors and the sounds of autumn at his home -- and I take the time to remember some of the day's highlights.
Cleaning -- I bought a pail with an attachment to squeeze a mop-head and a mop from Pathmark this morning and proceeded to mop both bathrooms and wash the urine-tainted (in the main 2nd floor bathroom) rugs on the delicate cycle (added mom's rug at her suggestion during the wash cycle) and they turned out fine (concerned a little about the drying but kept it on delicate).
At midday, I got fatigued and laid down on my single bed and listened through the iPhone to a discussion of alligators in SC on Your Day, a Clemson-based radio program aired on SC Public Radio, Monday - Thursday. The station playing was WLJK in Aiken with Dyana Daniels. I slept, off and on, as I hit the snooze button on the iPhone and went straight on into Here and Now from WBUR in Boston and hosted by NPR, which took the place of Talk of the Nation. Well, it was a lengthy rest with dad downstairs and mom in the room next door, the oxygen concentrator with its perpetual purr and Dancer outside in the brilliant sun, a summer-like day in the 80s today.
NewLife Elite Airsep Oxygen Concentrator 5 Liter
In the mid-afternoon, Dad and I undertook a few tasks. We considered DMV for my license and plate change but I decided against it so we tried the library for my card. The computers were out. We took Old Capitol Trail to Kirkwood Hwy and then Limestone Road to the Limestone Medical Center to get an appt with Dr. Milner for Dad's follow-up on his eye laser surgery (which is problematic, he has some floaters and says he has some some eye issues when he lies down). The computers were down. So, we next went a few blocks down Limestone to the TD bank and the coin cruncher. I guessed $63.45. It came in at over $80.00. With the 8% commission, since we did not have an account with the 7/24 bank, Dad got about $74.00 and change in an envelope from Erica, or "Bank" as Dad called her (the appellation had her name and the place where she worked on it).
In the evening, I vacuumed, quite thoroughly, the TV room (aka, Dad's bedroom) and used the roller vacuum (an old acquisition from Nanny) that worked well in a small section of Mom's bedroom, which I'd previously vacuumed (no sense in bringing out the big vacuum to do such a small job.
Wrong color ... Mom's (or Nanny's) is red
but this basic tool works well and without electricity.
Watching and listening and doing Google searches of various interviewees on the PBS' NewsHour with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff with Dad, who informed me earlier, that Dancer wetted his bed comforter. I took it to the laundry, set the new washer to "SUPER" on warm and just a few minutes, removed the damp cover and placed it into the dryer. Will walk the dog as night falls and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi address the press as the 2nd day of the government's partial shutdown concludes. It will get truly serious when the debt limit is reached in a couple of weeks and whether or not the US will default on the bills it owes.
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