December mornings

These days move as fast as the wind which has been sweeping down the canyon shifting the sand from the sage to our patio and walkways.  Tumultuous times these.  We were, Mr. Ed and I, creative yesterday to take some holiday ideas north for a tiny tree for a tiny apartment.  So we dealt with a number of tiny objects some plastic, some metal, some minute screws and a few cuss words.  Of course we had spent some time at Walgreens and some time earlier at the dog groomers.  Even though Fritz was fluffy and clean and loved he stayed well away from our afternoon craftiness.  O what fun Christmas can be.  And what a surprise when others see and o and ah about our tiny tree.  What a surprise!  Oh what can it Be!

Seriously we are getting ready for the new hip and the northern trip.  I found this wonderful, amazing site which enabled participation and learning in how to do a hip transplant.  This educational site was complete with an instructor, a test, and graphics which moved from procedure to procedure.  Both from the standpoint of the patient and the idea of actually being a participant this was a challenge to complete.  My orthopedic skills were duly noted.  I don't think I could actually do the holding of the scalpel but I certainly could assist.  The technology available to learn new ideas from the internet provides the old brain cells more materials than time.  It is a good thing that I never was one to faint at the sight of blood but I may err toward the vampire because I find it so fascinating to watch.

Well I spent this morning in my six o clock awakening, reviewing the blogs of my sweet, talented and beautiful family.  So I know that yesterday was fun for everyone.  Trees are showing already in many living rooms north and south.  I swear I will not however bake another sugar cookie until the new year.   That is unless somebody else will help eat them.  This year Pilsbury's sliced cookies brought back memories of my own grandmother Nelson who always, always had a jar filled with sugar cookies in the pantry when her grandkids came running into the house.  My brother agreed the taste and the memory are wonderful at this time of the year.  So as Grandma goes north she will need someone to help with a tiny tree, someone to help bake cookies, and someone to eat them.  Do you know that someone?  Ed already has agreed to be a member of the crew.  How about you?

Update, Latedate,Holidaydate,

What else can I say.  I had forgotten my own blog in the interest of reading others and the summer went by.
   
Time waits for no one as the song goes, it passes you by.  It goes on forever like a cloud in the sky.  Never heard that before?  You must be thirtyish.  The time is now fall and snow and rain coming shortly.  Big yard sale here in Kayenta and we probably will miss it.  Getting older one collects many things.  Dusty things.  Things that encourage spiders and a lack of space, drawers, outside storage and on and on. And like barnacles on a whale your body collects things which you would like to trade to someone else. Ah but then you look at your daughter, your grandchildren and great grandchildren and realize everything has a price.  So little to pay for such walking happiness, beauty and fun.

And I like everyone else mourned the passing of Steve Jobs.  So we increased our itoys and spent the past two weeks exploring new iways. Life wirelessly requires new brain work and a little shouting at each other.  We can now print from anywhere, our house, your house, the moon.  One wonders about the cloud and if it will rain on our parade but we keep pushing the buttons.  I have created one masterpiece which will endure.  Read on:

In September early October we visited the balloon festival in Albuquerque New Mexico.  Of course even the iphone got up at 3:30 a.m. to see balloons and take some pics.  First you drive to a bus stop, park your car and along with other excited travelors you get on provided school buses and travel north to the acres of land donated to huge balloons which are transported there by comparatively tiny trailors.  I took many, many, too many photos but there were so many beautiful, glorious colors and balloons of all sizes taking off and firing up.  Somehow I pushed the video button on the camera's side and got a mixture of still shots, video and grass and our own silly noses.  Well video was most appropriate after all and the iphone has a mind of its own I think.  After much struggling I managed to get an 11 minute movie.  Some scenes continue to explore grass & wave about at nothing but I did manage to edit out a lot of wasted space and to get it all on a movie.  I probably will share the movie with everyone like it or not.
I think the accompaning music is x rated but I don't hear well enough to sort it out and I like the beat and the mosaic display.

Maybe I will wait to share this blockbuster movie after Rachel, Lisa, Chris, David or Laurence helps me edit.    

TGIF and Peeping Toms

As a retired Granny,  I am not working so the  title TGIF might be a little weak except that a glorious sun is holding the sky.  Still not walking, I am in my shorts trying to take on some rays, and.....I managed to cook breakfast for us for a change.  Blueberry pancakes for a blueberry sky.  Also I figured out a way to weigh my body minus the boot, which I was certain weighed about 10 lbs. at least.  Guess again.....2 lbs.  This computation means that I have gained some pounds thanks to everyone's royal treatment of me, Ed's cooking and then my own commiseration over restricting freedoms  and boredom of a recovering patient.  I have never been known to be patient by the way.  But indulgent chocolate and ice cream remedies for sulking never work in the long run.  Now I have to check all my diet lists so that I can get back into summer clothes again.

Freedom is also gradually returning.  Here I am at my very own computer.  So now I can tell you about the  window peeping tom.  Every morning in the west bathroom I spend some time doing my hair, cosmetics, and dressing.  Not to mention a basin bath and clean up.(I have to have limited showers because Ed has to be there to help some.)  Anyway, I began to feel I was being watched. (I do have the shade up on the window each day to let in the sun.)  So imagine my surprise to see this little gecco that goes up the stucco supports of our ramada hanging to the side and watching me.  He is the same gecco because he has a little stripe of black around his neck, and he has kind of grey and red colors which match the stucco.  He watches me for a time and then he leaves.  This has happened for about three mornings now.  I think the guy has a crush on me.  Maybe he is related to the television gecco because he has an amazing personality for a gecco.  Do geccos have brains?  Can they be trained as pets?  I hate to end our relationship.  What do you think?

Mending tendon or whatever

So the last time I wrote the words were full of self pity, remorse and frustration about cracking the glass table top all over my leg.  Impatience may be a virtue to thrust one ahead in life but more times than not haste makes waste as my mom used to say.  Blaming it on one's genes doesn't help because after so many years on this earth one would gain wisdom above basic instinct.  Never too old to learn.  Myself and this black boot are not the fashion statement I wanted to make this year although it does compliment my new black toner sketcher.  Hobbling around the kitchen for the next month, sleeping with the boot which requires no cover and will be an increasing source of warmth in the approaching summer.

Missed Havesu and all the fun.  Missed Africa and the glorious promises of the travel brochure.  Instead I have been the recipient of many condolences, gifts, cards, visits and kisses from friends, family and my dog Fritz.  He, Fritz, follows my hulking footsteps wherever.  Always on the ready to send a howl of distress if I need it.  We have the patios front and back, red towering mountains and cliffs and an ever increasing cascade of color with desert broom, cacti, roses, geraniums and indigo all fighting for attention.  The prolonged rainy season only receives grand applause from the desert foliage...  We are so lucky.  So now I am breathing in this sunshine and fragrant breeze while taking the time to observe calesthenics of geccos, flights of humming birds and finches and desert doves.  And then there is the marvelous culinary treats provided by chief chef Eduardo and friends.  Magnifique!   And quiet hours to read and enjoy.  Who knew rehab could be like this?  Thanks everyone.  I love you.

Sunday in the Desert Snow

We, the four of us, started at 9:00 a.m.  Not early but just late enough to take the chill of the air under a partly cloudy sky.  The canyon already had numerous hiking groups.  Not nearly the popularity the canyon will have in a few weeks.  We had a brochure which describes various hikes.  Ten+ years we have lived not more than a mile and a half away.  In fact if we could throw a rope over the top of RedMountain it would be much less than that.  I was so surprised at the number of marked trails and the variety of milage attached to each.  We were looking for a before breakfast hike so not much over 1 or 1 and a half miles.  I have not been hiking for a few years and was not certain to what level I could handle or for how long.

I cheated and so was not worried about breakfast.  Ed has challenges with eyesight when cliffs and heights are involved so we wanted to pick a hike with a moderate trail difficulty.  No matter which trail one picked in this canyon the beautfy was certain to exceed expectations.  Yet there are always challenges in places for those of us not in condition or trained for some decending trails.  I took a few pictures with my new iphone.       I must explain that I have never used a phone to take pictures and I also didn't have the manual for the iphone with me.  I took 5 and that seemed the limit to which it would respond.  Obviously I need to study the capabilities to adjust the camera to meet my needs.  I am now.....if I can....going to add them right here and then Rachel and Lisa can critique my work.  Thank goodness for the young bright minds in this family.  I think they get impatient with the need to repeat for old forgetful brains but I pester and pester.  Sort of role  reversal after 30 some years if you get my meaning.  

Sunday morning in the canyon (Snow)

We had such a fun hike with our friends Lanelle and Allen that I tried out my new pfile:///Users/efuria/Desktop/IMG_0002.jpghone's camera.  Now I will try toput some pics on here.file:///Users/efuria/Desktop/IMG_0004.jpgfile:///Users/efuria/Desktop/IMG_0003.jpgfile:///Users/efuria/Desktop/IMG_0004.jpgfile:///Users/efuria/Desktop/IMG_0005.jpg

All's Well That Ends

Nothing is ever as bad as it seems.  No problem with rotator cuff and apparently it was just a pulled muscle.  
and.....back to golfing, bridge, lessons, cooking, playing with dog, shopping etc, etc.  Doc said new hip could be gotten at anytime.  It is just up to me.  Only thing I have a really difficult time doing is putting on socks on the right foot.  I cannot bend forward or down and it is really a pain in the butt.  I can do it however if I puff and pull and get the sock over my toes.  Now one would really think that should be so easy.  No wonder I laughed as a baby when I could grab my toes.  All in all however this old bod is serving me well enough and I just need to respect it and exercise, eat right, and be glad for every day.

I had a wonderful visit on the phone with bro Gary, and Sister Glenna.  Not as good as seeing them but such a warm feeling to hear their voices and to get up dated on all the doins in SLC .  Also managed to get hold of Granddaughter Rachel, most likely because she was home feeling under the weather.  Discussion of Christmas return problems.  So agravating for both of us that this long into the New Year we are still trying to resolve a bill issue on a returned item.  Well!  Finally today an email that the company has received the return package.  I  will make a copy and send to Rachel.  I hope they will return and reimburse the postage as well.  Internet shopping does have some drawbacks that is for sure.  It may save me time and gas for the car but time spent is an issue.  I will be more careful who I order from in the future and certainly I WILL NOT USE THE AFOREMENTIONED COMPANY.

Most of tonight I have spent getting my new iphone updated and synced to computer.  I can make calls etc, take pics, play bridge, practice Spanish and French, read mail Oh the things that I can do!  And then there are the things I really don't know how to do.  Rachel, our photography expert, assures me the camera on the phone is great.  Ok.  I may try it soon.  There are other things that it can do which I haven't accessed and somehow I have not synced our calendars(critical to do).  Sometimes a lot of time is wasted just learning.  And I need to grow longer fingernails with points to use the small key board.  I get verrrrrrry   frustrated hitting the wrong letters,deleting, backtracking.   I don't think I will ever text.  Who knows.  GTG Lo

Time & Meditation & the Superbowl

There is something in the Superbowl that portends danger for me.  Four years ago on Superbowl Sunday while hastening across my kitchen I tripped on my lowlying dishwasher door(forgot it was open) and flattened myself on my tile floor.   Consequent clinical attention = one broken humerus.  Left arm.  No problem just medical bills, physical therapy bills, pain, movement restriction and a requirement to be patient with another orthopedic episode.  I did take comfort in that it was left side involvement which still allowed me to be a functional cook etc.  Now 4 years later,  not waiting a week for the great Superbowl, I mistakenly got into a war with a long sleeve top while hurriedly dressing.  Mistake.  One sleeve was inside out and I got tangled up with one arm in and one trying to get in and cussing did not work.  I heard a snap.  I thought I had torn the garment.  That would have been simple.  There is something in the body like a garment called a rotator cuff which has lots of tendons, muscles and stuff under the scapula.  This probably is why good football players wear shoulder pads.  Now I believe through the help of a good orthopedic surgeon I am going to become further acquainted with the appendage which is on the right side.  Although  I will not be playing football I will wear my ice pack, take my ibuprofen and Iwill empathize with the pain of every tackle and pile up I see this Sunday.

The internet docs are not too optomistic about aging shoulders and rotator cuffs.  I don't know if one can actually hear "tears" in a tendon.  That is, a tear such as tearing material or tears you get in a tendon, not sobbing because you are angry about being careless and hurrying.  Or angry because you may never swing a golf club again.  Or angry because you may not be able to lift your greatgrandbabies into your arms, or shampoo your loved shnauzer, Fritz.  The only thing you can take comfort in is that your name is not in the obituaries, you have a left arm that can learn to do a lot of things, you have a wonderful husband who knows how to cook, you can still dance, read and sing, take pictures of the great grandbabies... and buy a new IPHONE from Apple.  Hey make my day Mr. Jobs.  I am so lucky.  And when I get x-rayed or whatever I can have my right hip checked as well as my right shoulder and get a 2/4 one.

Everybody sing.  "Put your left shoulder in put your left shoulder out, Put your left shoulder in and shake it all about, Put your left hip replacement in.  Put your left hip replacement out.  Put your left hip replacement in and shake it all about.  Put your right shoulder in.  Put your right shoulder out.  Put your right hip out ......Ouch.  That's what aging's all about."  Lawrence, may I please borrow your shoulder pads for the next Superbowl?.....

Warming Up in a Cold Year

Even the desert is dripping icicles.  Our hot tub has snow on the edges for this past week.  Today however the temp reached 50.  Ed was working all day so it was just me and Fritz to take care of the homestead.  I took him for a walk which took a little convincing because he just splayed his legs and wasn't going to budge.  However, he doesn't know he has met his match.  I think Ed(the softie) is more lenient.  I just took into a jogging pace for a hundred steps.  He didn't know that my New Year's Resolution involves him and that I vowed to walk with him at least three times a week.  I will have to get two more in because it is tough to walk out there when there is snow.  And we played golf yesterday starting in 36 degree and working up to about 48.  Still the sun was shining even though I couldn't putt some balls through rims of ice at the edges of the putting green.  And it was weird to see golf balls hit ponds and then take a 30 ft. bounce on the ice and just roll across the pond.  (not mine)  I must have counted 10 balls on the pond.  I think the men playing ahead of us just wanted to see if the ice would break.  You know how men are.

But I digress.  To get back to Fritz and I he doesn't know that not only does my first resolution involve him, but the second resolution involves intervals in which I follow a rapid jogging pace for a count and then a slow walk for a count.  The second method is to get your body out of routine and to break a plateau in weight loss.  I feel reasonably successful at removing the after-cruise weight.  So much so that I got out all the size l2s I packed away last year and managed to button the buttons and zip the zippers.  Hooray.  Made my day and gave me enthusiasm for the pending walk.

Now to the last resolution:  This one is to revisit closets and drawers and not only clean but rethink the function and practicality of how things have been arranged.  I think motivation came to tackle this chore because of the bright purple rug I bought for the bedroom.  Something about mixing purple and green really charges my system.   At this point I have moved two drawers in the kitchen.  Found new places for all my cookbooks, as well as craft books related to painting, mozaics and writing.

Rainy and cold days make rearranging a good activity to pursue.  The golf courses are usually closed or unbearable and the walks are windy and wet.  Still I need something to tear me away from the computer, the IPAD, the camera, the photos, (I have a large collage board waiting to rearrange family pics.  Most of all I am neglecting my reading.  I dropped Eat, Pray and Love after the first part of Italy.(boring.)  Now What is the What which I do enjoy courtesy of Pat.  Because the Sudan may gain its independence this week I have developed a personal interest in the newsbroadcasts following that happening.  All the information and history make me so glad to be where I am and have the blessings I have in this country.