Showing posts with label card. Show all posts
Showing posts with label card. Show all posts
Monday, June 9, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
27 February 2014: Thursday ... brilliant day but chill ... crescent moon and brilliant planet (?) this am in the eastern sky ... bday of Marion Anderson (1897) ... busy day with 800 calls but A LOT done ...
Today is the birthday of the famed contralto Marion Anderson, a fact elucidated by the keen intellect and FB aficionado, Loyd Dillon 
(he texted me this evening after attending a tribute concert to Pete Seeger and spoke of the "religious experience" of listening to great artists, "Especially if we go back to the original meaning of the word "religion" -- a "binding together"). We exchanged some pleasantries as I mentioned her connection to dad's musical god Arturo Toscanini and how the maestro thought her voice "once in a century" quality. I even found a quotes page on the web site to the contralto with that particular quote listed.
Two, for a second time, group exercises today. Both were new to me. BodyVive in the morning with a new instructor for me, Pamela, where we worked out with stretch bands (I took one to taught and paid a price, they were difficult to stretch during the strength portion of the workout) and BodyAttack with the incomparable Renee who really gets you moving with a splendid exercise that she totally invests herself into and I felt, on my first go-round with the moves, totally out of synch with the music and my lack of timing. But I did sweat and feel total exhaustion. Afterward, had a great conversation with a splendid person and trainer, Carla, who I've taken BodyPump with on several occasions. She took the class with Renee and she is a former special ed teacher and is an RN, who worked in med/surg at Christiana for about 7 years before she had three kids -- two boys (one in college, the other HS) and a girl (13 years old). She is so dynamic and funny and just full of energy and warmth. She'd just gotten over a bout of illness and had missed teaching on Monday. I will have to get back to her class and develop this friendship. Out of a sense of comfort, I told her about meeting Katia and my date with her on Sunday. She is just someone you feel you can confide.
A few important and overdue 800 calls made today were rewarding. To summarize, quickly: called Bank of America credit card and cancelled dad's and got mom to call and request a detailed transaction list for 2013 and the taxes (in particular, what dad spent on prescriptions since he used his credit card at Pathmark and Walmart for his expensive insulin and other drugs for mom ... it could be quite significant ... it will cost a little less than $10 for the report, mom said put it on her credit card, which is still good through August of this year); called Delaware Health and Social Service and now have Delaware Physicians, Inc. as my selected provider and I was able to choose Dr. David Maged as my preferred physician (he is on that service) ... it will start in early April and in the meantime, if I need medical treatment, I can use Medicaid (if I can find a physician, according to my doctor brother -- no sub-specialties in the Atlanta area accept Medicaid but it might be different for primary care); and called AAA and when I renew, I can change my club status from the Carolinas to the Delaware Chapter of the automobile association. It was a welcome and needed set of calls and it all worked out, thankfully.
(he texted me this evening after attending a tribute concert to Pete Seeger and spoke of the "religious experience" of listening to great artists, "Especially if we go back to the original meaning of the word "religion" -- a "binding together"). We exchanged some pleasantries as I mentioned her connection to dad's musical god Arturo Toscanini and how the maestro thought her voice "once in a century" quality. I even found a quotes page on the web site to the contralto with that particular quote listed. Two, for a second time, group exercises today. Both were new to me. BodyVive in the morning with a new instructor for me, Pamela, where we worked out with stretch bands (I took one to taught and paid a price, they were difficult to stretch during the strength portion of the workout) and BodyAttack with the incomparable Renee who really gets you moving with a splendid exercise that she totally invests herself into and I felt, on my first go-round with the moves, totally out of synch with the music and my lack of timing. But I did sweat and feel total exhaustion. Afterward, had a great conversation with a splendid person and trainer, Carla, who I've taken BodyPump with on several occasions. She took the class with Renee and she is a former special ed teacher and is an RN, who worked in med/surg at Christiana for about 7 years before she had three kids -- two boys (one in college, the other HS) and a girl (13 years old). She is so dynamic and funny and just full of energy and warmth. She'd just gotten over a bout of illness and had missed teaching on Monday. I will have to get back to her class and develop this friendship. Out of a sense of comfort, I told her about meeting Katia and my date with her on Sunday. She is just someone you feel you can confide.
A few important and overdue 800 calls made today were rewarding. To summarize, quickly: called Bank of America credit card and cancelled dad's and got mom to call and request a detailed transaction list for 2013 and the taxes (in particular, what dad spent on prescriptions since he used his credit card at Pathmark and Walmart for his expensive insulin and other drugs for mom ... it could be quite significant ... it will cost a little less than $10 for the report, mom said put it on her credit card, which is still good through August of this year); called Delaware Health and Social Service and now have Delaware Physicians, Inc. as my selected provider and I was able to choose Dr. David Maged as my preferred physician (he is on that service) ... it will start in early April and in the meantime, if I need medical treatment, I can use Medicaid (if I can find a physician, according to my doctor brother -- no sub-specialties in the Atlanta area accept Medicaid but it might be different for primary care); and called AAA and when I renew, I can change my club status from the Carolinas to the Delaware Chapter of the automobile association. It was a welcome and needed set of calls and it all worked out, thankfully.
Friday, February 14, 2014
14 February 2014: Friday (Valentine's Day) ... Skeesha made it today as the temp warm and the snow melted (shoveled the walk again and by midday it was clear) ... Y workout ... meet young, friendly girl Madison who hugged me ...
An appropriate Facebook post for this Heart Day ... I googled "I Love You in many languages and came up with this website":
From "Ti amo" (Italian) to "nenu ninnu premisthunnanu" (Telugu, of course -- a Dravidian language predominantly spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, where it's the official language), this is a neat web page with the written words anglicized for 35 tongues.
A Facebook post regarding shoveling snow from yesterday's huge storm:
WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND:
I watched, yesterday afternoon, with some concern but with some inward laughs, too, as a pickup with a plow marauded around our neighborhood pummeling curbs and recently shoveled sidewalks with a cascade of wettish snow. My neighbor a few houses up, who I do not know, had a few choice words for the plower, which I will not share with my FB friends, complaining that the extra snow deposited on his pristine sidewalk had clogged his snow blower.
I was smug and untouched by the indiscriminate plow, until, I returned to shoveling my walk and did not see the return of the marauder. My driveway, moments earlier cleared of slushy snow, was covered again. *&^*%# ...
Sometimes a simple "Hi" can make your day. As I prepared my coffee after my workout -- styrofoam cup, creamer and sugar -- a young girl (about 8 years of age) came up to get a cup and said, without compunction, "Hi", to me, and I responded in kind. Later, when I took a plum from a bin at the front desk (absolutely delicious by the way), she wished me a "Happy Valentine's Day".
When I returned from the locker with my wallet, keys and iPhone, I asked an older man, sitting with her, whether he was her grandfather. He said, "Yes", and I commented how friendly his granddaughter was and how her gestures made my day. She proceeded to walk up to me and give me a hug. She gave me a hug. Extraordinary. Her name was Madison. What a delight to encounter such an open and loving girl in our litigious, predator-conscious world.
It's a full moon tonight. The walk was lovely, a little over a mile but that black ice can be tricky and disastrous. A few times, inadvertently, I hit a spot and the Nike would slip in the opposing direction and I envisioned a plummet to the asphalt with leash in one hand and dog potty plastic in the other. Not pretty, but the night sky was. I forgot what star was partnering with the moon tonight but it was to last most the evening. Wish I knew more about the stars and our universe. (Pondered a question tonight as I walked ... do a lot of thinking when I walk, thank goodness no music or radio station to detract like the many at the "Y" ... Just how did they figure out the speed of light? ... and then the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, all thirteen letters of them, and how reality staring you in the face can be obstructed by suffocating dogma and myth).
From "Ti amo" (Italian) to "nenu ninnu premisthunnanu" (Telugu, of course -- a Dravidian language predominantly spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, where it's the official language), this is a neat web page with the written words anglicized for 35 tongues.
A Facebook post regarding shoveling snow from yesterday's huge storm:
WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND:
I watched, yesterday afternoon, with some concern but with some inward laughs, too, as a pickup with a plow marauded around our neighborhood pummeling curbs and recently shoveled sidewalks with a cascade of wettish snow. My neighbor a few houses up, who I do not know, had a few choice words for the plower, which I will not share with my FB friends, complaining that the extra snow deposited on his pristine sidewalk had clogged his snow blower.
I was smug and untouched by the indiscriminate plow, until, I returned to shoveling my walk and did not see the return of the marauder. My driveway, moments earlier cleared of slushy snow, was covered again. *&^*%# ...
Sometimes a simple "Hi" can make your day. As I prepared my coffee after my workout -- styrofoam cup, creamer and sugar -- a young girl (about 8 years of age) came up to get a cup and said, without compunction, "Hi", to me, and I responded in kind. Later, when I took a plum from a bin at the front desk (absolutely delicious by the way), she wished me a "Happy Valentine's Day".
When I returned from the locker with my wallet, keys and iPhone, I asked an older man, sitting with her, whether he was her grandfather. He said, "Yes", and I commented how friendly his granddaughter was and how her gestures made my day. She proceeded to walk up to me and give me a hug. She gave me a hug. Extraordinary. Her name was Madison. What a delight to encounter such an open and loving girl in our litigious, predator-conscious world.
It's a full moon tonight. The walk was lovely, a little over a mile but that black ice can be tricky and disastrous. A few times, inadvertently, I hit a spot and the Nike would slip in the opposing direction and I envisioned a plummet to the asphalt with leash in one hand and dog potty plastic in the other. Not pretty, but the night sky was. I forgot what star was partnering with the moon tonight but it was to last most the evening. Wish I knew more about the stars and our universe. (Pondered a question tonight as I walked ... do a lot of thinking when I walk, thank goodness no music or radio station to detract like the many at the "Y" ... Just how did they figure out the speed of light? ... and then the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, all thirteen letters of them, and how reality staring you in the face can be obstructed by suffocating dogma and myth).
My JibJab videos went to their digital addresses today. One to Katia in Florida, another to Lindsay in Nashville, one here of mom & me doing a Brazilian dance, and the same Silent Film skit held the faces of Doug and Norma Virginia, which I sent to Johns Creek. He had not received it when I spoke to him by phone shortly after. Hopefully, he got it. There a lot of fun and so easy to do. The people who write the code for these websites are absolute wizards. They make it child's play.
In remarkable serendipity on the radio station WHYY, which continues to fundraise due to all the catastrophic weather events in the Philly area, Terri Gross, 63; Dave Davies, 61; and Marty Moss-Coane, 65; all were born on Valentine's Day. They got together to, you guessed it, fundraise this evening during a rebroadcast of Fresh Air interview with Robert Redford.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
5 December 2013: Thursday ... foggy morning as I walk out to post my first Xmas card of the holiday season to Elaine Crawford ... dad was up at 3:06 a.m. ...
Dad looks at the card he and mom received yesterday, par avion, from the Isle of Man from Graham Skinner and family. I sent this photo as an attachment to his e-mail address with the proviso that he not be alarmed by dad's appearance ... did not comb his hair but that he was not in pain and doing OK.
The words inside the card were short but powerful:
Thought for The Day.
Friends are hard to find.
Difficult to leave.
And impossible to forget.
To Rudi & Jean,
Thinking of you both.
From Graham & Family. XX.
I joined another online language service, speaklanguages.com, and they provide, free of charge, vocabulary lists, some of which have audio. Dutch does not, but I began to learn, fitfully but steadily, the days of the week. They are: Maandag (Monday), Dinsdag (Tuesday), Woensdag (Wednesday), Donderdag (Thursday), Vrijdag (Friday), Zaterdag (Saturday), and Zondag (Sunday).
Earlier, made a trip to Rite Aid at 8 a.m., where an officer had two stray pit bulls that had wandered into the store (I reached down and one lifted up and licked my hand ... very friendly), and bought a gallon of milk and the pill box distributor with two rows, one for AM and one for PM, perfect for dad.
Just set up the bubble humidifier for the oxygen concentrator on the Invacare 5L Platinum XL. Amazingly, I forgot that the tech from GlobalMedical had brought out all the necessary supplies to install one and I'd forgotten that I'd stored the materials in the closet. As a result, Delaware Hospice had to make a special trip to bring out a bubble humidifier. I need to check before I assume. It is infuriating that I don't have the materials necessary to extend his breathing line. Need to ask more questions, make sure I have the right stuff.
Dad is confused and uncomfortable with the set-up. He asked me how to get it back to the former state and I just unhooked it. If he's not OK with it, it's not worth it, and I just read for slow flows of 4L per minute of oxygen flow, the humidification is unnecessary.
Dad is confused and uncomfortable with the set-up. He asked me how to get it back to the former state and I just unhooked it. If he's not OK with it, it's not worth it, and I just read for slow flows of 4L per minute of oxygen flow, the humidification is unnecessary.
Lost my temper with dad this late afternoon because he can get particular and I can't seem to understand what he needs. It was over his evening meds and we couldn't figure out what he needed. Finally, I mentioned the metoprolol, which he takes twice a day, was required to take and he calmed and I calmed. As for mom, my voice rises and she is so sensitive. She can get like a broken record with her questions about how dad is doing and is he sleeping or eating or feeling any pain. I never know because if he's asleep, I don't want to bother him. Right now, at this time, 5:24 p.m., his eyes are firmly shut as the oxygen concentrator whirs.
Nelson Mandela has died in South Africa at the age of 95.
- Born: July 18, 1918 (age 95), Mvezo, South Africa
Loyd Dillon just shared and posted the same photograph above, only cropped, on his Facebook page as a memorial to the man.
Five Things I Am Thankful For Today:
- The chance to be there in the mid-morning hours for dad when he needs me.
- To have the opportunity to learn and yes, be frustrated, by figuring out how to humidify the air supply from an oxygen concentrator (to be patient and realize that you may be at fault and take presumptuous action and assume others are -- I had forgotten that supplies had been left by the GlobalMedical worker, a young and earnest man, when he dropped off the unit, an Invacare 5L Platinum XL oxygenator.) -- *Period goes inside the parentheses when the statement enclosed within is a complete sentence. It goes outside if the statement is a sentence fragment.
- To think first and not act spontaneously when I am discomfitted by ill thoughts, like my daughter's ingratitude at my letter/check for her recent trip to visit her grands this past weekend. (I did send an e-mail but it was tempered and prompted a nice response back from my Lindsay.) The same feeling occurs with my mom on a regular basis and it is inappropriate. She is an extremely bright and aware person and yes, her constant pain and inability to move and her unwillingness to attempt change is unsettling to me and I react. Last night, in a rather Patrician act on my part, I snooted at her persistent watching of ION and those crime dramas she loves. She got mad and basically said get lost. Within minutes, I was back in her room, making amends and I parted telling her I loved her and kissing her on the forehead (little did I know how I would hug her, almost knocking her down when she called to me in distress about "your father" at 4:10 a.m.).
- The opportunity to view the superb, as always, work of the NewsHour as they documented and displayed for 3/4s of their hourlong program, the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela. Charlayne Hunter-Gault gave a marvelous segment, obviously pre-recorded, on his life and the many times she got to interview the country founder, Nobel laureate and great humanitarian.
- Ability to phone and have a great conversation with Gail Emerson and lie, yes I lied, about how wonderful her soup was and how the parents and I enjoyed (which I will, starting today) it so much, but more to the point, she is a good person as she talked in her bed with her Bengal tiger cat and her newest iteration of Trixie beside her on either side. (She did ask that I keep and give back to her, the photo display of Trixie and friends, including mom & dad, that was in my room for years and which I have moved safely into Doug's old room. I promised her that I would.)
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