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 |  Day to day stuff....a memoir without order. |
 Imagination is described by Webster as...The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses in reality. Albert Einstein said "Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere."  I never realized it until I read it somewhere but there are ways to boost one's imagination: Create a visual journal Draw whatever you see for 15 minutes a day. You don't need to be an artist. Think like an artist Cut out pictures from magazines & piece them together to create an original image. Listen to Bach Close your eyes while playing your favorite music. Or listen to the sounds of nature on a CD or in the great outdoors. Play word games Try thinking of as many words as you can that begin with MAR...or you pick. Daydream Let your mind wander, or focus on a single object & study its characteristics.     Everyone has a story....here's mine.....c ** Image ID #1701066 Unavailable **  |
| Although I'm near the beginning of my day when not much has happened, I find if I don't write now, the possibility of writing later decreases as the day goes on. So, I have to include some things that happened yesterday, maybe even earlier. My vision is a little blurry right now. On Saturday night I applied the prescription eye cream for the first time...just before bed because it plays with my vision. It did take away the burning almost immediately. On Sunday morning I woke with hazy vision but no dry eye symptoms so I guess you give up something to get something. I did not realize on Friday when my doctor prescribed the cream that the directions would say to use one week so there's that. This morning the haze is lasting a little longer but as long as my vision is hazy, there are no dry eye symptoms. Interesting. I'm glad I don't need to drive anywhere until Wednesday when I have a group writing meeting at the library. At least it's not until 1 o'clock when my vision has cleared. Yesterday it rained all day but around 7 o'clock in the evening it cleared and there was a double rainbow...beautiful, my neighbor captured a nice photo. So I was inside all day puttering around on miscellaneous things or watching YouTube videos. If it's dry enough today, I'm planning to do some weeding in an area where I want to plant some zinnias...all different colors. The package says they bloom all summer, hoping this happens. The last time I planted zinnias was after having my daughter in 1965 and they were prolific...but that was in Delaware. |
| I went to the pharmacy and picked up my eye cream today...will try it tonight. Eyes are burning and are so dry even with eye drops.I did check online and saw something new that I might order if the cream doesn't work well. It's an Aroma Season Heated Eye Mask for Dry Eyes, Warm Eye Compress. It has an electrically controlled temperature so I think it will work better than a warm washcloth that cools so quickly, but I will wait and see what the prescription cream does. The only thing I'm concerned with on the cream is that it has a steroid and I know that can be problematic. I'm sure I have too much screen time but what's a person to do...I'm addicted. There are so many great things to do and see so other than a 30 minute walk and daily chores, YouTube, Prime Video, Netflix and of course WDC are always calling me...I confess. I guess I could write with a pen...ugh. And of course there's art and reading But those other things are so much easier....guilty as charged. |
| I just got back home from my eye appointment and I, indeed, had a prescription change from a month ago so I was not imagining things wrong with my new glasses. Now, another wait of a week or so to get the new ones. I think I should have waited longer after cataract surgery for my eye to stabilize...hopefully, it is now. And for the dry eye my doctor prescribed some sort of cream to use at night...eager to try it. I see Ken Follett will have a new book out later this year, Circle of Days, checked my device books on Amazon and I have read 15 of his books....think I must like him a lot! I found another I had not read...Code to Zero...and put it on hold at my library. We have it so easy these days, just a click of the mouse and there you go! My local writers group has opened submissions for our Bacopa Literary Journal, very minimal submission fee ($3) if anyone is interested. Here is the link, https://writersallianceofgainesville.submittable.com/submit. There are several categories available. |
| I'm having to prune back...waaaay back....my honeysuckle bush as it has been invaded by little cherry trees. Thanks, birdies! It now looks like a right triangle. I pruned as far down each "tree" as I could but fear they will be re-sprouting. Cherry trees are very hardy! I'll keep watch. Our first 90 degree day (F) is forecast for next week...the first week of April. I think we are in for a hot summer. Easter seems very late this year, the 20th. I remember Easter in Delaware as being very cool if not cold with lightweight coats required for church...and Easter egg hunts. Our natural history museum has closed (UF) for expansion. No date given for reopening. I go several times a year, especially to the gift shop for birthdays for those unusual gifts. I'll miss them until they are open again but the art museum, the Harn, is open so I will probably go there more often. They have a nice gift shop too. I am really lucky to live in a university town with all the extra benefits....except for the student drivers. I'm continuing to have problems from my cataract surgery...red burning dry eye. I go back to my doctor tomorrow so maybe he will know something to help. Dry eye drops seem to be less and less effective. Screen time is not nearly as much fun as it used to be, but things could be worse, a lot worse, so I am grateful for that. Have a great weekend! |
| The hacksaw cutting was a total failure and I'll say no more except that the curtain rod is still up...for now...still with no center support. My daughter is coming down this weekend and maybe she will have a suggestion. Spring has almost sprung here in Gainesville, Florida, and pollen season is well underway. My back porch floor is a sea of yellow dust. We did have some rain last weekend that beat a few grains of pollen off my pine trees and more rain is expected this Sunday. Azaleas are in full bloom almost blocking out all the greenery of the bushes. It's definitely an azalea year. Redbud trees are coming out and I have already seen tulip magnolias and pear and plum tree blooms come and go. The grass/weeds have turned green. I'm feeling a trip to Home Depot's flower center coming on. |
| I have been attempting to hang a curtain rod over my French door to my porch. The doors are mostly glass. and curtains, even the light ones I bought, would help with cold and heat...and privacy. An old round wooden curtain rod (2 actually, 48 inches each) has been moved with me several times. They are decorative with end finials and pretty wooden hanger supports. I needed to "join" the 2 rods so off I went to the hardware store in search of a double ended screw, since both rod ends were already drilled for the finials. And, lo and behold, I found one for 65 cents! It worked perfectly and the curtain rod now extended 96 inches. But then, another problem, the worrisome middle sag. I installed the end supports 84 inches off the floor very securely with drywall anchors and set the rod in place. The mid joining point lined up with the top of the door frame making it seemingly impossible to use another of the wooden hangers for support. The story continues. I have "patterned" the door frame onto the hanger where the hanger needs to go and am waiting for Amazon to deliver a wood hacksaw to "cut out" the wood to make it fit flush. Wish me luck. |
| I had my left eye cataract surgery on January 16th. Those people who say it's nothing (and many of them told me that when asked) are very lucky. Mine was definitely something! The surgery itself (and yes, it is surgery) was the least of it, just some tugging and pulling and listening to the doc/ass't chatter back and forth. The day after and for around 30 more my eye felt like there were hairs in it, it burned, was red and my vision was very poor. The fact that I have glaucoma made it worse...also, my cornea is thicker that the normal bear's which led to corneal edema (swelling). My left eye constantly watered, light hurt it and screen time was out of the question. But, finally, it is getting better. I finished up with the special drops last Friday, and now, am only on my normal glaucoma drops. My vision has cleared (I got the intraocular lens for close reading) and it is 20/20. I picked up my glasses for distance last Thursday and they are like looking at a cinematic screen in technicolor. Of course, I must remove them for close work, but that was what I asked for since I have worn glasses for distance since I was 16. I don't mean to scare anyone off cataract surgery. Apparently, most people have few problems afterward. But, still, I'm not sure I would do it again, given the opportunity. Make sure your cataract bothers you enough that it's worth it. |
| Texted with my daughter this morning and she will come down on Friday to take me to surgery pre-op (cataract). So glad, I need some moral support and the traffic in that area is horrendous. One less thing to worry about, and I so appreciate her for offering to do that. I lost another schoolmate. He had a fall and did not recover. The three Billys in my class are now all gone, Billy Lyons, Billy Porter and now Billy Parker. Makes me think about my own "expiration date". All three still lived in my hometown in Delaware. I'm so sad not to be able to go to funerals living so far away, but all of them are in my thoughts...a lot. Another classmate, Barbara, let me know. Her son is married to Billy's daughter. Barbara and I reconnected via Facebook several years ago, and I am so grateful for that. I spent most of today painting a sympathy card for the family and just took it out to the mailbox. I haven't seen an obit yet so not sure when the funeral will be...and of course some people don't have funerals anymore, just celebrations of life. I've had the radio on all day, listening to NPR through my local station (WUFT). The "noise" is comforting and Sundays are Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me and other funny podcasts. Be careful of scams...they appear out of nowhere! |
| I talked with my half-sister this morning. Yes, I grew up as an only child thinking it was just me and come to find out I have 2 half-sisters...but more on that later. This half-sister lives near Tampa, around 115 miles from where I live. She has been to see me a few times and I visited her on Easter of 2023, compliments of my daughter's driving. I would not dare to drive that far. She is 4 years younger and maybe in worse health. Sometimes it's hard to tell. She looked and acted great on our visit but I know she has had back surgery and has a lung nodule (like me), but unlike me, she smokes. Lung cancer runs in my family and I quit smoking in 1975. And every time we talk, she has health problems of some kind. Today's talk was no different. Not that I don't think they're real, just that she seems to like to talk about them...which is a little depressing to me. I just listen and eventually she runs out of steam. So our phone calls are not lengthy, but enough to keep in touch and abreast of what is happening with each of us. I haven't done a whole lot this morning..yet..watched a few painting videos on YouTube and looked at new pictures on Bird Buddy, still enjoying both. It was in the 30s again this morning but like yesterday is in the 60s now, near noontime, which really is pretty nice weather. Hope everyone is having a good first week of 2025! |
| I'm in a Preventable trial for the effect of a statin on dementia and just finished my yearly phone call (test) to see how I am doing. It takes around 20 minutes and involves questions like date, current prez and vice prez, counting backwards from 100 by 7s, remembering a list of words...etc etc. All went well (I guess, they never say) and I am happy it's done for another year. It's a 5-year study and I don't know whether I am taking a "real" statin or a placebo. I do it in the hope of helping in a "cure" for dementia, so many people I know have or had it and it's really a terrible disease, to be alive without a mind that works. And my cataract surgery is scheduled for the 16th of this month. Because I am over 80, I must meet with someone in the anesthesia dept ahead of time...lucky me. The good news is a friend will be driving me on the day of (required) and staying for my surgery. I was a bit worried about who I might ask to do that, my daughter being at the top of the list, but she would need to take off work, drive 80 miles...and she has a dog. So I was very happy and relieved when a nearby friend volunteered. It is wonderful to have good friends. It's very chilly here this morning (36F) and getting chillier for the next week or so. I'll soon need to bring in my plants from the back porch. Hope everyone is doing well in the new year with no too tough resolutions. |
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