Moving along

Corfu, Greece

 

 



Wednesday haiku

Swimming in morning,

Coffee with the greatest group,

Followed by haircuts.

 

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Sometimes when you're cruising, you get to see the ship and the water.

 



A bit of independence

The therapist today said that I’m doing very well with the range of motion, and now it’s time to start working more on strengthening the arm and shoulder. It’ll be interesting to see what tortures they come up with on Thursday.

This was my first solo outing today, and everything worked out well. I didn’t do much, but did get to PT, Aldi, and WalMart. It is nice to be accomplish these little things. I know I’ll soon be back to hating the grocery store runs, but in the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the independence.
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I love the abstract patterns found in geology.

 

Comfortable routines

It was another lovely fall day here today. It surely did feel good to get in the pool, even if not to do the regular class stuff. It'll be a while before I'm ready for that, but any exercise helps.

The afternoon at bridge made for a long day, but at least I did get some good cards. I doubt that I was near the high scorer, but I did get some good cards.

I have two PT sessions scheduled this week (tomorrow and Thursday), so we'll see how the therapist thinks I'm doing. And I’m going to do a regular grocery run after PT. That ought to probably wipe me out for the day.==============================
Mountains along the Gulf of Kotor

 

The day after

Margaret left early this morning, and Jean left about noon. As far as we know, the only thing that got left was Jean’s iPad. I’ll be sending that to her tomorrow.

What a great weekend we had - capped off by the dinner get-together Saturday afternoon with family and friends. I know I said this yesterday, but we are so thankful to have this warm, wonderful circle surrounding us.

The rest of today was for laundry and resting up.

Things are going to get sort of back to the routine tomorrow. I’m going to start back to the pool - still not the class, but walking in the water and stretching my arm. We’re going to get back to our Monday afternoon bridge playing, too.

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Thanks to Margaret for taking some photos of our feast.

 

A wonderful day!

We've had a wonderful day with our great daughters and friends. Just good all around. Everybody's gone except Margaret, Jean, John and me. The food was exceptionally good. The leftovers are put away and most of the dishes washed. Football's on the TV and John got a nap in his chair.

I guess all's right with the world at our house.

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Gulf of Kotor

 

Friday Photo

 

Along the Gulf of Kotor

 



Preparation Day

Jean's been helping me do cooking stuff today. She did the cranberry relish while I assembled the squash casserole . Only sweet potatoes, cut up fruit and veggies, and dressing left to do. We'll do that tomorrow.

Jean went to K-Mart this morning, but just to get a couple of planned things - no “shopping” involved. John rowed, and the two of them took Leroy to the dog park for a walk.

I must’ve done my exercises well today, ‘cause I surely am achy tonight. I’ll be more careful tomorrow. And that was pretty much it for the day.

I hope everybody’s had a good Thanksgiving Day. And happy shopping to those of you who are into that sort of thing.
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Second man-made island in the Gulf of Kotor.

 

Medical reports

I saw the doc this morning. The x-rays are looking okay, and he says I’m doing well. I have clearance to drive and three more weeks of PT prescribed. At the PT appointment this afternoon, she increased the weights I’m to use and other strengthening exercises, and not as much of the stretching stuff.

Jean texted that she was leaving about 1, so we expected her about 4-4:30. Later she texted that traffic was awful and she’d be much later. On the 5 p.m. news it was reported that there had been a 10-car pile-up just west of Chattanooga on I-24. She finally got here about 6 or so - a normally 2 ½ hour trip took her 5 hours. She was whipped. So instead of going out somewhere to eat, John went out for Chinese.

It’s nice to have her here, and to meet Leroy - our new granddog. Plus we’ll be doing some stuff around here, including doing some of the Thanksgiving preparation. Thanksgiving dinner around here isn’t until Saturday, so we still have a couple of days to cook.

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Island chapel, Gulf of Kotor

Getting ready

Margaret called last night to tell me about all that she had already done for our dinner on Saturday and what all she was bringing. Jean will be here to help, too. We love all the stuff that goes with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, so I like to have it. But I think we'll be only 8 people, and that's really a lot of food for such a small number. Oh, well. If nothing else, the family, food, and friendship will be fabulous.

John took me to WalMart and Aldi this morning. None of the riding carts were fully charged, so I walked. That certainly got in my walking exercise for the day. And I've done my two sessions of PT here at home. I see the surgeon tomorrow morning, and then have another formal PT session in the afternoon. I think I have one or two more treatments prescribed, and we'll see what, if any, the doc adds to that. I hope I get more treatments. They've told me my range of motion has gotten pretty good, and now I need to work on gaining more strength.

Flo Jean’s at home now and working on her physical therapy, too.

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Chapels on man-made islands in the Gulf of Kotor.

 

Monday photo

Gulf of Kotor

 

 

 

Sunday

The shoulder was pretty achy all day today. No weather changes in the offing, so I don’t know what was going on. I only did one set of exercises, though, plus the usual stuff involved with Sunday breakfast and laundry. Another PT session tomorrow, though, so I’ll get back on track.

John did fix one of his gourmet meals tonight. One of the promotions at the Lady Mocs games is from Sonic. If the Lady Mocs scores at least 65 points, everybody in a designated section gets a coupon from Sonic. Last night, they had 81 points, and our section was the winner. So John went to Sonic and got us our BOGO foot-long coney dogs. Not the best of his special meals, but certainly good enough.
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Be sure to watch the Ken Burns documentary on the Dust Bowl tonight and tomorrow.  He collaborated with Timothy Egan on this one.  He's the author of The Worst Hard Times.
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Flo Jean went home from the hospital last night. They sent her home with one of the passive exercise machines and visits from home health care, so she’ll still be working hard.

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Cruising in the Gulf of Kotor.

 

It's basketball time

UTC 81, ETSU 48. The Lady Mocs looked pretty good tonight. 
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John’s going to push me to do some walking - trying to help me build up some stamina. We walked out to the mailbox and up the hill to the next driveway. And we walked one loop around the concourse at the arena tonight. Guess that’ll be increasing over the next few weeks. 
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Cruising in the Gulf of Kotor.

Ordinary Friday

Nothing unusual around here. I went to PT, and did a session at home. That about did it for the day. We had picked a rotisserie chicken at WM on Tuesday, and ate some of it that night. I put it in some bottled alfredo sauce with mushrooms for chicken alfredo tonight. John says I'm improving enough that I can start getting back to spoiling HIM - "like it's supposed to be".  

This year is the earliest Thanksgiving can be - the fourth Thursday in November is the 22nd. If it still was like it was originally, it'd be the following (5th or last) Thursday, which just happens to be John's birthday. He was born on a Thannksgiving Day, but it was changed a year or so after that. The reason was to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, which (in those olden days) didn't start until after Thanksgiving. So his birthday has never been on Thanksgiving since. (little known and totally useless information).

Basketball note: The Lady Mocs play tomorrow night, so that'll be my big outing for the weekend. And in a holiday tournament in Hawaii, Stanford knocked off last year’s national champion, Baylor.
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I haven't posted a photograph in a while.  Here's a fortress at the entrance to the Gulf of Kotor, on the border between Croatia and Montenegro.

 

Physical therapy update

I went to my 6^th PT treatment this morning. They do push (literally as well as figuratively). Necessary, though.

Of interest, I mentioned that friend was having a total knee replacement this morning, and I wasn't envying her the therapy. The therapist said "oh, that's not nearly as hard as the shoulder therapy you're having". I never would've thought that. Go figure.

The therapist keeps adding more things to do. The tasks are really hard at first, but do tend to get easier. And, she says that my range of motion is increasing satisfactorily - that was good to hear.
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Flo Jean did very well with her surgery.  I talked with her tonight.  She'll be running the hospital before she leaves - possibly on Saturday.

Easing back into the routine

Tough morning today, getting back into the routine. Poor John had to do chauffeur duty until 11. I had my regular rheumatologist appointment - just a check and lab work visit.

Then my first post-surgery grocery run. He took me to Aldi, and then to WalMart. Not too long at either one, but combined, I was really whipped when he got me home. And I used one of the electric carts at WM. John got all the groceries in the house and helped me put them up, then he went to the Y to exercise and relax. We both had killer naps this afternoon.

After yesterday's cold rain, today has been glorious - cool and breezy, but gorgeous bright sunshine. I hope, wherever you are, you’ve had a lovely fall day, too.
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Hold good thoughts tomorrow for our Flo Jean, who is having knee replacement surgery.

Cold and rainy

It was cold and rainy all day today.  The big excitement was the cleaning lady coming, and two sessions of exercises.

Maybe tomorrow will be a little bit more exciting...my first postop trip to WalMart.  Wow!

Discoveries

One of the good things about writing a blog is getting comments. I love the comments from long-time readers, who become friends. And I love getting them from new people - learning about people who read what I write.

This happened the other day when there was a comment from Yorkshire Pudding.   
How could I pass up a name like that? So I went directly to his blog. The post for that day was a poem he had written on Gluttony.  That was certainly enough to catch and hold my attention. He has a whole series of poems on the Seven Deadly Sins, and I’d suggest you check them out. He’s also a terrific photographer and documentarian of Yorkshire, England.
 
On the blog listing on Yorkshire Pudding’s page, I saw a link to Rhymes with Plague with an address in Georgia. I couldn’t pass that up - a link on a blog in Yorkshire, England, to a blog in our neighbor state. So now I’ve started reading a blog from a fellow who’s about half-way between here and Atlanta. What fun!

Check them out.

Honor

We honor our servicemen and women, past and present, - not just on this special day, but every day.

 

 

 

 

And our very own, Jesse!

OH! MY!! GOD!!!

CHATTANOOGA LADY MOCS   80

UNIV. OF TN. LADY VOLS  75

OH!  MY!  GOD!!!

Choice

It’s been all about choice.

Tuesday, the American voters made their choice to give Barack Obama another four years to try to bring us out of the Bush-era recession, to convince members of Congress that “compromise” is not a dirty word, and to get the disparate views in this country to work toward a common good.

A lot of the issues focused on choice: whom you can love; whom you can marry; who controls your health care; how much do you want your government to do for you; the list goes on.

And last, but not least, the Republicans have to figure out whether they went too far to the reactionary right or not far enough. And depending on that answer, they have to choose whether to move back toward the central position of most US citizens, or to move even farther to the rigid, reactionary right.

Thomas Friedman said it well in his column today Hope and Change, Part 2.  This is the closing paragraph:

The votes have been counted. President Obama now needs to get to work to justify the second chance the country has given him, and the Republicans need to get to work understanding why that happened.

And now we can take a deep breath!

At last this interminable election season is over.  And we can take a few deep breaths of relief that Barack Obama will be President for a second term!

And have you seen the great news about the Senate races - Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts were elected!

Election day - but we voted two weeks ago.

Not a good night - or morning. I was due for a pain pill about 1-2 a.m., with the next one to be at 7 (just before PT). I woke up about 3, unable to get comfortable, and wondering why I hurt so much. I moved to the chair, but was afraid to take another pain pill. I did sleep until about 6, and then took the med at 7. The overnight cold and rain probably didn’t help, either.

I told the therapist and said maybe I just thought I took it, but didn’t. She suggested that maybe I had dreamed it. In any case, I now know I need to be more careful with meds in the middle of the night. Guess I’ll have to be sure I’m awake and write down the time I take it, or else lay out the medicine so I‘ll know. The therapy session was no picnic, either. She made me cry once, but it was better after that. A couple of the stretches I did very well with (I think).

A haircut and shampoo after the session made life a little better. To say nothing of a nice nap and some quality chair time.

We might even watch a few election returns. There will be no local surprises, unfortunately, but I do have hopes nationally.

Ken's visit

It’s been a busy several days. My cousin (Betsy‘s son), Ken, came up from Texas for a visit this past weekend. It’s been great, getting to spend the chaotic family time and one-on-one time with him.

We went to Margaret's on Saturday. There were hordes of family and friends for Ken to meet, with lots of food and football. Tennessee ( awful game) and Texas (Ken's team) won. We spent the night at a local motel. I finally pooped out, but it was worth it.

We had Sunday breakfast at Margaret's, and then took the scenic route home (only had to make two U-turns to stay on track), but it was a lovely drive, with some great fall color. We stopped at home to let me off and John took Ken on a tour of some of the Civil War sites around town and to some of the scenic view areas.

We got more talking in this morning before we took him to the airport at noon. Now we’re all primed for him to join us at the beach next summer.

Physical therapy starts up again in the morning. I think all the niceness is going to be over by now. Oh, dear…..

First peek

Ken's flights got delayed, so he was later getting here than we had hoped (way too long in the DFW airport). But he's here, and we're enjoying getting caught up. We'll be off to Margaret's tomorrow.

I had my first return visit to the surgeon this morning. The staples were taken out, so that feels better. It's looking good, too. The doctor did get me back the hardware that was taken out at this surgery. I'm going to do something with it, just haven't figured out what.

Check it out - this is what my partial shoulder replacement looks like.