Connie's Corner

My week....

With my supposed arthritis pain (it pains me even more to say I have arthritis), I have not been picking up sticks and pinecones and raking needles in my backyard like I should be doing. Yesterday, I made myself get out there and at least pick up the bigger stuff for the yard debris pickup on Tuesday. The pain does get better while I am moving but it always comes back. Acetaminophen is the only thing that dulls it while I am in front of the computer. I looked back at my entries and this has been going on since Christmas Eve, longer than I thought .

Last Tuesday morning I met with the prez of our writers' group and two techies. They will be designing a new webpage for us. We met at a local Starbucks (there seems to be one on every corner), I splurged and had a skinny caramel macchiato. Even "skinny" it was way too sweet. Raghu Designs (the techies) also do the design for our lit mag, Bacopa (on Amazon). Both belong to Hare Krishna...oh, do I want to learn more about that . I don't think the gentleman is married but the woman just had twins so I am assuming.... She is the designer and he is assisting her in the technical department. It's all Greek to me. Three to four months for the finished product.

Tuesday afternoon my critique pod group met, five of us now. We had a new member, Maritha, pronounced with a silent "h", originally from South Africa. Of course everyone was interested in hearing about her life. She even brought a quiche to share, and she is vegetarian. With all our eating, sharing and critiquing, it was 7:30 (started at 4) before anyone realized the time, a great meeting.

On a sad note, one of Jim's older sisters passed away. She lived with her husband in Minnesota and would have been 78 on April 1st. She was quite a character, hot-tempered with red hair from her mom (not the temper though, that was from her dad). We had not seen her for many years but I remember a visit they made down here in the late 80s. Her husband came on business so we took Jeanne to Busch Gardens in Tampa. Standing in long lines is an accepted thing at all the theme parks, but Jeanne was not a patient person. I think someone was holding a place for a friend in front of us and when that friend stepped in, it was the last straw for Jeanne...was I embarrassed? Yes. But that was Jeanne and you had to take that side of her along with her kind-heartedness. I know they do not sound like they go together but in Jeanne they did. Even though I hadn't seen her for many years, I often spoke with her on the phone. She talked a lot about the past, things so far back I had little connection. When her husband let me know of her passing, he said she had advanced dementia so that explained her rambling stories. She passed in her sleep...hope I go that way, too.

until next time...c