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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   |
 It's a beautiful Easter Sunday morning here, just a little chilly. I had to grab my flannel robe, usually jammies suffice. The birds are out in full force, singing and doing that pecking order thing for the birdseed. Only one species allowed on the feeder at a time...sort of like us and our friends  . And Mopsy has her nose to the window screen, observing it all. The birds are so used to seeing her, they completely ignore her.I changed up from Cheerios this morning to Shredded Wheat with strawberries, banana, and blueberries. I like my blueberries dumped in still frozen to make the milk ice cold, very good. Now I'm on my first cup of black coffee as I sit here typing and watching. The renters across the street have four teeny tiny little dogs and one medium size Cocker Spaniel, I think...blonde and older. They let her (I don't know why I say "her" but...) outside often and she goes roaming up the street. The only time I notice is when I hear a horn blow and look out to see her in the way. Normally, the lady of the house comes out and calls her in. This morning "Blondie" just did her own thing and slowly made her way up their driveway and around the back of their house. I think they are saying "Sasha" when they call her. I feel sorry for her, she seems so lonesome  . I say a little prayer for people to drive slowly and watch out for her.I hear the trumpet on Jim's tv announcing "Sunday Morning". We usually watch when the lineup looks interesting, all about hope and renewal this morning, in honor of Easter and Passover. We'll phone our kids later this afternoon and catch up with their happenings. Hope everyone has a wonderful day.... until next time....c |
| My calendar Zen Cat for April says..."Zen Cat contemplating the Healing Beauty of a Single Flower"...Honshin. I have been so tired lately from getting up at night with Jim that anytime I sit down during the day, I fall asleep. I think Mopsy's catnaps are rubbing off on me. This morning I started back on something I used to do, hoping it will give me some more energy...a squeeze of fresh lemon juice in warm water as soon as I get up. And I'm substituting peppermint tea for coffee thinking the caffeine may be giving me a rebound effect. Oh, oh...tea has caffeine too, huh. Has anyone tried Yerbamate? It's supposed to be a coffee substitute. We'll see. Or then maybe I'm just tired .We hit 90 degrees on April 1st and have used the ac everyday since, until today, so far. A nice breeze is blowing in my window as I type and sometone nearby is mowing grass. The smell is wonderful. Jim had labs again today, we are awaiting results. So far the rice milk is really working to lower the potassium and he says he cannot tell the difference between it and skim, which I continue to drink. Well, I'm beginning to nod off.... until next time...c |
| I used to think the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words." was all about the picture. In other words, it meant a picture was better than words, that one could say so much more with 'just' a picture. It also seemed true that we remember pictures easier than words. Consequently, that is why we see all the pictures in advertising. But now, yes, you guessed it, I am thinking of all those picture prompts and the vast number of words in entries to describe those pictures. And how a picture can mean all different things to different people. Without the words, the picture probably only means one thing to each of us, yet with words, it can mean many things. Think of the cave drawings...just pictures to us...but stories WITH WORDS to the artists. I have decided words are much better than pictures. The words explain things, give us something to think about, and paint their own picture for each of us to see as we interpret the meaning of the WORDS. Take the Mona Lisa, for example. How many words have been put forth to "explain" da Vinci's portrait. Even you or I could write our own story to explain the image. But do we have to have the image? No. We can make an image with words. And then I was thinking, there is the poet versus the writer. Are they really that different or are they pretty much the same. Poetry must read smoothly to be meaningful...so must writing. Poets paint images...so do writers. I think all writers are poets and, conversely, all poets are writers. So why sometimes do we feel so different...we can only write stories...or we can only write poems. Societal interpretation has somehow inflicted this untrue truism on us. until next time....c |
| Today I planned to cut all the grass, but Mother Nature had other things in mind. I did get the front yard almost finished before the downpour. Instead of April showers for May flowers, we get March drizzle for April sizzle. We even had more thunder and lightning. I am tired of being cooped up already. But everything is green and looking new again. The little trees I planted are bursting with new growth, but the blooms on my rosebush have died so I pruned it back some. Otherwise, it looks good. I'm working on a story for the monthly site contest, Short Shots. When I looked at the prompt photo, my first thought was of a little boy who was "it" in a game of hide and seek...so I'm letting it flow as it will. Not sure if I will finish in time or even enter if I am. All my ideas seem so used. Maybe I'm reading too much  . Is that even possible?Well, I think the downpour is in a pause mode so I will go out and see if I can blow the wet stuck grass clippings off the driveway and sidewalk. Too late to do anymore mowing today, I think. until next time....c |
| This morning I saw my first cowbird of the season. For those not familiar, yes, that's really it's name, or their name since you hardly ever see one without another. Each time I see one, it brings back a special memory reinforced over many years of first sightings. Shortly after moving to Florida from Delaware we were enjoying a ride with a member of my husband's family when we passed by a field full of cattle. On their backs sat little brown birds, my first sighting of the cowbird. Intrigued by the apparent cameraderie between the two, I asked Frances about them. "Oh, those are just cowbirds." Now, Frances was known to be a jokester and I thought she was "putting me on." No bird would have a simple, stupid name like that, would it? I said nothing and acted disinterested so as not to be made a fool. But back at home, I investigated, and found that Francis was being serious. They are cowbirds, and you can read about them here if you are interested. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/id/ac Now, everytime I see one, I think of Frances and how my fear of being embarrassed kept me from learning what Frances knew about cowbirds...probably a lot. until next time....c |
Today on space.com I read all about why the spring equinox now falls on the 20th instead of the 21st, as it always did during my younger days. Not only that, it will not fall on the 21st again until the 22nd century! Well, at least, I don't have to keep saying in response to the question, "When is the first day of spring?". Oh, it's either the 20th or 21st. Now I know it's going to be the 20th for as long I have springs remaining  . Thank heavens I've cleared all that up and cleaned out some brain space  .until next time...c ps - I should have added this explanation from space.com...."The first day of spring arrives on varying dates (from March 19-21) in different years for two reasons: Our year is not exactly an even number of days; and Earth's slightly noncircular orbit, plus the gravitational tug of the other planets, constantly changes our planet's orientation to the sun from year to year." Sorry, didn't mean to keep it to myself . |
| We got the results of Jim's labs from last Thursday and the good news is, I think, we have conquered the high potassium problem with the rice milk, no potatoes, and no cantalope or honeydew. His results were normal. The bad news is his uric acid level is high and he is being prescribed two more pills. What it comes down to is that to keep his potassium normal, his acidity will rise because he cannot eat enough high alkaline foods. That old catch 22 again. He hates to take more medicine, but I guess it can't be avoided, and I hope the minimum doses work. Last week I received four little trees (very little, like around a foot tall) from the Arbor Day Foundation, a dogwood, a redbud, a crepe myrtle, and a raintree. They were in a plastic bag and were left, folded up, in my mailbox. When I took them out, I thought no way are these things going to live...but, surprise, surprise. I put them in a bucket of water for a couple of days, planted them, and they all have little teeny green leaves up and down their stems, trunks, whatever you would call them at that size. Isn't that amazing? I have to admit, at first, I thought I would not even plant them. Can you imagine how long it will take for them to be real trees? Too long for me, I think, but I couldn't let them die without a chance, and they surprised me...worth every bit of the work involved. And raintrees...have you seen how beautiful they become? In the spring they are covered in gorgeous yellow flowers, and in fall, they form seed pods that make them appear to be covered in pink blooms. Maybe I'll just have to live to be 100! Somehow a little lizard got into the backporch this morning, and of course, Mopsy had to find him, immediately biting off his tail, cat that she is. And wouldn't you know it, he speedily made his way (the tailless lizard, that is) into where I sit before this computer with Mopsy hot on his trail. He scurried under a small bookcase that sets to my left, and Mopsy tried to dig her way to China to get at him. He stayed put, and Mopsy finally gave up to go take her 3 P.M. nap. Then I saw the deformed poor little thing crawling out, so I got the broom and dustpan, trapped him as tenderly as a broom and dustpan will trap something, and released him into the wild outside the porch door. It is my understanding lizards can grow new tails. Don't tell Mopsy. until next time...c |
| Sometimes when I click on "add an entry" and I start writing about what has been happening with me, it seems so same, same, same. I get discouraged and log off. That has been happening several days in a row, and I am on right on the verge now, again. Anyway, to continue on, Jim had his last physical therapy session today with Jackie. She thinks he has peaked out with his feet in the condidtion they are in (some dry gangrene with poor circulation). He never mentions pain to me, but when Jackie comes and wants him to practice standing, they begin to hurt, understandably. So the physical therapy is over. He seemed happy about it. At times he seems very depressed while at other times he is fine...just day by day.... Our weather is beautiful and I have been planting some shrubs, even a rosebush. I dedicated it to my mom, who just happened to be named "Rose" . She passed away (lung cancer) in 1976 at age 49. I still miss her and talk to her almost everyday. Sorry if that sounds weird, but it's true. Her importance in my life grows with the passage of time. I must take very special care of my rosebush.I also planted four tomato plants, and they have just about doubled their size in three days...wow....seventy days to harvest the tag said...I think a little more than that! I love spring. It's almost here. I've been reading some more Laura Lippman. I like her. I think it was "Hooves" that put me onto her, but my memory does fail me a lot lately. She keeps me glued to the page and her setting (Baltimore) is familiar too. The current one is Every Secret Thing. Jim's ARNP was here for a visit today, too. She has been on vacation, 2 weeks...to Israel (Haifa) and had a fantastic time. She is so nice, more like a friend than any nurse he has ever had. She went over the notes of his kidney consult with us, explaining the whys and what fors. She treats Jim like a person instead of a patient...I guess that's the difference. I think he is lucky to have her, but maybe he does not fully realize it. He gets so bitter about things sometimes and is very verbal. Most people would "back up" a little, but she seems to take it in stride. Well, now I am even beginning to bore myself so... but as long as things continue as they are, I am happy and grateful... until next time....Connie  |
| if the wind stays quiet. It is wonderful outside today, warm and slightly overcast, just right for soaking up vitamin D. I listened to Money Money Money (Abba), Imagine (J Lennon), Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Izzy, the Hawaiian one), and Creque Alley (The Mommas and the Poppas) four times before I quit with a full trashcan. A workout for me, but really enjoyable and invigorating. I still have to fill up the feeders and birdbaths and sweep off the porches but I thought I would take a little break first and drink some iced tea. I started a new book last night, The Glass Cell by Patricia Highsmith. She has written a bunch of books. I always look at the copyright page to see when the book was written and the topics it covers. This one is 1. Ex-convicts 2.Judicial Error (Fiction). It also has Ms. Hightower's birthdate, 1921-. That set the numbers in my brain spinning. Wow, I'm thinking, she's 91. There's hope for me, yet. Then I turned the book over and at the bottom of the back cover it said she died in 1995 in Locarno, Switzerland. It also said the thing that prompted her to write this book was a fan letter she received in 1961 from a prison inmate, with whom she continued to correspond. I think it is interesting to learn how books come to be written. I can't believe I've never read her before. It's very good. I think I mentioned a fire at a fav pizza spot (Satchel's) a few blogs ago. Well early yesterday morning, another pizza restaurant (Blue Highway) suffered a similar fire...strange, but maybe just a coincidence. Satchel's weekend fundraiser netted over 32K for their 40-some employees who are out of work for around six weeks. That's amazing and wonderful! Okay, I've rested long enough...time to get back at it.... until next time...c |
| "Voyaging on the River of Life, Looking deeply, the Mysteries are Revealed."...Honshin Almost all of yesterday was spent at the lab and waiting for the Renal Doc. Jim lost his temper a couple of times, understandable. I think they schedule everyone at the same time...ugh. The good news is she thinks his CKD has stabilized in the 20-30 percent range. She doubled his daily dose of bicarb, instructed us to continue to limit potassium-rich foods, closely monitor his blood glucose...and keep moving onward on the voyage. The bicarb is for acidosis, which means your body is too acid, duh, in Jim's case from diabetes and CKD. If his kidneys functioned normally, he could counteract it with fresh fruits and vegetables, but because they are high in potassium, it's a "catch 22". Bicarb, which he takes in pill form for the correct dose, is the same thing that's in the old Arm and Hammer baking soda box. Anyone interested in checking their ph level (acid or alkaline) can purchase litmus strips and do a saliva test. It will vary some throughout the day, but 7.4 is supposed to be ideal. Most of us are somewhat acid due to our diet of processed foods. I have read that a leaning toward alkalinity will also help one's bones. That was interesting for me since I have osteoporosis. Caffeine seems to be a big culprit for acid too. I may have to eliminate my morning coffee. A smoothie would be good. It's warming up again...yay...but the wind keeps blowing (March). I have about a gazillion more pinecones to pick up, but I do love to get outside whenever I can. Listening to music keeps the pinecones moving from ground to trash can... until next time...c |
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