My New Toy

My sweetie has been ill and I did not expect a birthday gift from him, as he has been unable to get out of the house, except for medical appointments, for a couple of months.  But today a box arrived, and it turned out that it was a birthday gift for me.  It seems he had given money to my son and one of his daughters to get together and come up with a gift for me, and they came up with a doozie:

If you don't recognize it, don't feel bad -- it's not something you see very often today.  It is a "lap steel guitar" made by Fender probably in the 1950s.  I have never played one before, but thanks to the internet there is lots of information available.  I tuned it based on instructions I found online and experimented with it, strumming some chords and singing along, but plan to purchase an instruction book.  At my "advanced" age, I don't want to waste time trying to learn it on my own, as I did with other instruments I learned to play at an earlier age (much earlier, actually).

Wasn't this a wonderful surprise?

Joanie

A Birthday Diary

Here's how a "senior" lady spent her birthday:

7:30 am -- got up.  Made coffee.  Fed the cat.
8:00 am -- checked email and read newspaper on line.  Printed crossword to do later (from Wash Post).
9:00 am -- checked C's blood sugar and blood pressure.
9:05 am -- fed C. through stomach tube.  Also gave morning meds, crushed and dissolved in water.
9:55 am -- took C. to dialysis
10:15 am -- dropped mail off at the post office
10:20 am --took king-sized bed quilt to local laundry (too big for my washing machine)
10:30 am - grocery shopped
11:30 am -  home, unpacked groceries.  Ate bowl of cereal and fruit.

12:45 pm - drove back to dialysis center.

12:55 pm - checked C's blood sugar at dialysis and gave him an insulin shot

1:00 pm - fed C. at dialysis via stomach tube.

1:30 pm - visited friend CAG who is on crutches due to knee injury.
2:30 pm - picked C. up from dialysis
2:45 pm - ate peanut butter sandwich
3:00 pm - got cash from ATM and picked up quilt from laundry.
3:15 pm - back to groc store for birthday cake for me (small cheesecake)
5:00 pm - checked C's blood sugar, gave him an insulin shot, and checked his blood pressures.
5:05 pm - fed C. via stomach tube.
5:15 pm - fed the cat
5:30 pm - started making dinner for my son and me
6:45 pm - ate dinner (chicken, potatoes, asparagus)
7:15 pm - cleaned kitchen; empied and reloaded dishwasher
7:30 pm - watched Jeopardy
8:00 pm -- started watching House premier; worked crossword printed off earlier in the day
8:50 pm -- prepared C's meds for feeding
9:02 pm -- fed C. through stomach tube
9:30 pm -- answered emails
10:00 pm -- started writing this blog
10:14 pm -- and here's how the cat celebrated my birthday:

When Bloggers Stop Blogging

When I first started blogging, one of my greatest pleasures then (and now) was visiting wonderful blogs I'd discovered along the way. One of those I enjoyed was The Shabby Romantic, where I found the picture above of the white piano.  But it has been a long time since she's posted anything to her blog.   In fact, her last post was Friday, January 18, 2008.  Have you ever followed a blogger who stopped blogging?  Do you wonder what might have happpened in her life to cause her to abandon blogging?   Maybe she started a new blog--but didn't let her followers know about it?  Or did her life change in a way to make blogging no longer relevant to her life?  'Tis a puzzlement.

Joanie

Have you been to Houzz?

I learn a lot from visiting my favorite blogs.  I'm sure that it was from one of them that I found out about Houzz, but I can't remember which one (darn these senior moments).  I've found a lot of inspiring photos there of beautifully decorated rooms that appeal to me.  Here are a couple of the rooms that I found on Houzz:

The bedroom above appeals to me because of the soft blue color on the walls, the white trim and ceiling, and the warm tones of the wood floor.   

More blues (the good kind) -- in the room shown above. I especially like the white bookcases with the blue background, the upholstered blue and white chairs and pillows, the white kitchen, and the wood floor.  These two pics are just two of the many rooms you can see on houzz.  Enjoy.

Joanie

A wonderful surprise

I arrived home a couple of days ago and there was a package on my porch addressed to me. I hadn't ordered anything recently and could not imagine who might have sent it. The return address said "Jackson and Perkins." I sometimes order plants from them -- could I have ordered and forgotten? It's true my memory isn't as great as that of a younger person. But I was certain that I had not placed any recent orders.

I brought the package into the house and opened it, and it contained a beautiful basket of yellow and coral miniature roses. Inside there was a tag that said "just because you're you" but there was NO NAME!!! The following photo is from the Jackson and Person website, but I assure you the actual roses are even more lovely than this photo. After a couple of days, one of my stepdaughters "fessed up" to sending it. Wasn't that a sweet thing to do? Life has given us some challenges recently but this unexpected gift lifted my spirits, and continues to do so each time I look at it. When the blooms fade, I plan to plant it outdoors in hopes to perpetuate the joy of the beautiful roses and the memory of an unexpected gift.

Joanie

September 11th

Where were you on Sept 11, 2001? I was here in my home. It was a sunny, cool, beautiful September morning. I had a train ticket from Fredericksburg, VA to Williamsburg, VA, where I was to meet my sister for a couple days shopping at the Pottery Factory. Williamsburg was "our place" -- where we traditionally got together as sisters, away from family demands, to spend a few days together and indulge in our love of shopping for bargains.

When it became clear that the U.S. was under attack, I left here and drove to Williamsburg to meet my sister, who was driving up from Florida. I could not bear the thought of my baby sister alone during this frightening time. Fearing to travel down the East Coast, I drove the back roads through the Shenandoah Valley. The whole memory of that time my sister and I spent together is surreal. I honestly don't remember much else about our time together -- where we shopped, where we ate, etc. I just remember being glued to the tv, radio, or newspaper, and being fearful.

I spent 31 years of my life working in the Pentagon, but had retired before 9-11-2001. In the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, I often dreamed about being in the Pentagon in the weeks (and years) to follow. My most recent dream was last night.

After the 9-11 attacks on America, I bought the above license plate for my car. It is a reminder of the horror that was inflicted on our country on 9-11-2001. I will have had my car 13 years this coming December, and I have only 45,000 miles on it so far. I expect to drive it for at least another 55,000 miles. Will I live that long?

I still have my train ticket from Fredericksburg to Williamsburg on 9-11-2001.

Where were you on 9-11-2001?

What Happened to Summer?

The last time I posted was the 4th of July. Today is the 4th of September. What happened to the two intervening months?

Our lives were touched by surgeries, illness, and medical emergencies (byproducts of growing older), and I have learned that I can do a lot more than I ever thought possible. But I don't want to go into details here. Before all of this happened, I planted some flowers and they pretty much had to fend for themselves, but we had adequate rain until recently. Most of the flowers are annuals and when frost comes they'll be history. Here are a few shots taken today, to record what worked in the summer of 2009:

Hope your summer was lovely with beautiful flowers.

Joanie