Month: May 2023

24 May ‘23 …

Made the Dandelion Pesto yesterday using lime salted almonds and grated pepper parmigiano with the olive oil. 

It turned out quite good.  I had some last evening with those small wheat crackers.  Will try it as salad dressing later today.

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Had a loooooooooog visit with the Mastermans (Paula and Larry) whom I have known from the time I was working in the Emergency Department.

At my age I am Blessed to have wonderful memories about wonderful people.  I could tell you memories which still make me laugh, and memories of the ER tools which defused so many interactions with frightened children and the little boy who was frightened by a clock which chimed the noon hour loudly while he was sitting on the stairs watching the clock and waiting for the spaghetti dinner.  His eyes got bigger than I thought a kids eyes could get when the cock began to chime and over he went to his parents’ protection.  

Another memory is being able to hold the younger son when he was only hours old.  And enough other memories to fill a book.

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Went to the clinic early on Monday for the blood draw.  The young lady who tried the draw was having a not so good start to her day and blew the vein in my right arm and got so uptight she called someone else to give it a try. 

The second was the assistant to my FNP I had just seen last week and he hit it right away.  

He remembered my name from my appointment with Claudia last week and told me at that time he was getting ready to go back to school to get an RN and probably a BSN and I agreed that was a good goal and I would have done that were it an option when I was in training.  

Instead I studied and was one of the first group of  120 California RNs to become a Certified Emergency Nurse.  

Were I just starting my career now I might not stop at a BSN and go for at the very least a Masters degree and maybe even a Doctorate in Nursing.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to have an MD say “Please help me with this procedure Doctor.” and I’d be wearing a name tag indicating I too was a Doctor?

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The “Michael” iris are coming into bloom.

I don’t know what their real name is because the starts were given to me by middle son Michael who received them from a friend many years ago and I brought some starts with me from the farm to my present house. 

I found the place where I got the start for the unusual green rose which was my Daddy’s favorite and which grew and still may be growing at a corner of the backyard outdoor living/dining/room building on the farm which we called the pergoleebaliss (a mash of three names for an outdoor garden building which I can’t remember right now).  It is an heirloom rose available grown only from a cuttings since it has no flowers, only sepals which look like leaves forming a corona ring hence no seeds.  

I’m on the waiting list for one of the plants from this year’s cuttings of that rose.

Also found a source for a black lily which was also one of Daddy’s favorites.

John will be helping me create an iris garden in my small plant area in the front of this house for which we found a couple of purple/black iris and some others which I like.  Am leaving just one clump of daffodils for contrast.

The rhubarb which John put in the yard in a spot I can reach to gather stalks for pie or sauce was pruned to an almost-not-there by a local doe.  But we were shown where several plants were growing along the creek at the end of the cul de sac which came from a garden where the local landscaper for the Village grew up as a kid so there are now two rhubarb plants in my “garden”.

There are at least five asparagus plants along the side of the driveway.  And I am soaking green beans for a planter on the porch.

And there is a thyme plant near the Michael iris.

A very small food garden.

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To close the week …

Be grateful for all the people who were kind to you and you pass it along as a random act of kindness.   Other people then become kind to other people … and it becomes addicting.  

So ‘til next week …

18 May ‘23 … 

Spent some time Mother’s Day morning gathering Dandelion leaves for pesto using the Dandelion leaves, a few Basil leaves, some garlic, some almonds or pine nuts and Olive oil plus grated parmigiano, sea salt, and black pepper.

Put all the ingredients in the processor even if used as a blender or a mixer and have a spread, crust for chicken, or as an all purpose chip or veggie dip.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

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Recent read … River God by Wilbur Smith

Fiction/Historical setting – 1300 BCE

Worth the time spent reading since the author knows a lot about Africa, both current and past. 

I was particularly interested in learning about the introduction of chariots and horses to early Egyptian culture.

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If you don’t know Rusalka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZVyq2ooPI4&ab_channel=RareMusicalsVideos

 you’re missing some great music.  Rusalka, Op. 114, is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. A rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river. Rusalka was the ninth opera Dvořák composed. 

Written: 1900

Language: Czech

Listen particularly to Renee Fleming singing “The song to the Moon” from the first act. 

And if Opera ain’t your thing, listen to and watch the following cut of Reinking doing a lead number from Chicago.

You’re welcome …

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Spent the afternoon seeing my FNP.  Final diagnosis … not in bad shape for the shape I’m in at my age.  

I’m to go back Monday as early as possible (non-fasting) for a lab draw.  The clinic opens at 0900 so John will pick me up and have me at the Clinic about 0930.  

The Blood draw shouldn’t take too long and I should probably be the first or soon after and be out and back home before1030. 

I don’t expect any surprises.  

Report to follow.

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To close the week …

What do you find when you open a book?

What are you seeking?

So ‘til next week …

11 May ‘23 … 

Weather felt like Spring last week until Monday afternoon when the wind came up and clouds began to form. 

Then we had a couple of days of snow skiffs and then rain clouds followed by sun and warmer temperatures.

Now we can expect just about anything.

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Got an email from a Tyler cousin with a note that soon he will be 91. He’s the generation behind me. There are only two of us left in my generation and we are 91 and nearly 93.  

Spoke with Dottie’s daughter Theresa.  She told me Dottie (the one who is 91) isn’t feeling well.  I’ll check with Theresa in a day or so.

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I am part of an on-going general health test sponsored by two MDs in Massasscutes titled the VITAL Study.  It is using people over 50 so I qualify nearly times two.  

Had to answer yes to several questions on the once a year survey.  My yes answers were related to my age.  I used to have no “no” answers. Now I don’t walk as good as before and I lose a word here and there.  

I wonder if they compare the yes answers with my age?

Oh well …

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Speaking about the VITAL Study (“The VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL — VITAL)”, which began in 2010, is an “ongoing research study in 25,874 men and women across the U.S. investigating whether taking daily dietary supplements of vitamin D (2000 IU) or omega-3 fatty acids (Omacor® fish oil, 1 gram) reduces the risk for developing cancer, heart disease, and stroke in people who do not have a prior history of these illnesses” (I never took the dietary supplements so I must have been/are in the control group). The MDs who are conducting the study are at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and are studying people aged 71 and older, so they must be adjusting the responses to the yes/no for age (see the previous paragraph).

“Each year that a participant is in the research study, he or she will receive an emailed questionnaire that takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The form contains questions about health; lifestyle habits such as physical exercise, diet, and smoking; use of medications and dietary supplements; and family history of illness.”

If it’s like the last test of which I was a part using nurses as test subjects. And since I am a nurse I knew I was in the control group that time based on my lack of the symptoms I expected were I in the placebo group.  

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Interesting overlapping facts from the Old Farmers Almanac … 

Dr. Benjamin Spock and Dwayne Johnson were both born on the 2nd of May and both Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover died on that same date. 

Interesting coincidences.

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According to the Old Farmers Almanac, this month’s Full Moon is “Depending on which Native American tribe’s culture, the Full Moon in May was called the Full Flower Moon as well as Mother’s Moon, Milk Moon, and Corn Planting Moon”.   

Which do you like?

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Yesterday, Tuesday the 8th, I went out with the Monday Lunch group which I haven’t been able to be with for several months. 

Some Ladies in what I think may be called the McCloud Catholic Altar Guild since they are the Ladies who are responsible for the flowers etc. during Mass and all other events, held a fundraising salad luncheon.  I was able to go with the remaining four of the Monday Lunch group but not yet able to handle my cane and a buffet plate at the same time so one of the Monday ladies, Bless them all, looked out for me and filled a plate for me as well as one for herself.

Those church ladies did themselves proud. There had to have been at least two dozen kinds of salads offering at least four or five kinds of pasta salad including rigatoni.

When our plates were empty, Darlene went back for seconds and returned with plates for me and herself and fluffy white cake for dessert.

It was a day out really a gift for me and a real Blessing when they all came back to my digs.

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There are now what appear to be endings for many of us.  Sometimes I have trouble differentiating between endings and beginnings. 

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So to close out the week … What I’m learning about grief is that it sits in the space between laughs, comes in the dark, steals the warmth from the bed covers, threads sleep with thin tendrils, is a hauntingly familiar song … yet you can’t remember the words. Grief rolls in like a heavy mist, settles into the crevices, lingers on the skin, visits, then visits again. It is chaotic laughter from splintered memories.  It is jagged cries and single tears.  Grief sneaks up on you.  It can come like a whisper or as loud as thunder.  It leaves a hollow, to be filled with a new planting when you wake to another day that feels oddly the same as the last. Eventually, it will say “See, it’s not so bad. I got your back.” What I’m learning about grief is to acknowledge its presence.   What I’m learning about grief is that it is still learning about me … learning that I am strong and resilient. If the trees can keep dancing … So can I. Author Unknown So ‘til next blog …