Confessions of a Grandma

I got smart today and took my bike ride early...before the wind kicked up to 30-45 mph.  The wind has been relentless for the whole month of March and it has been colder than usual (but not that bad relative to other areas, so I do not complain. Usually, March is the nicest month here. Mike's swollen ankle has gone back to near normal.  His blood test showed a high level of uric acid which indicates gout.  We thought he had gout before, but the uric acid levels were not so high back then.  He of course wants it to be something else because gout means diet changes.  I am hoping I do not have to become the diet police.  On the other hand, it might mean fixing just one dish for the both of us--lots of vegetables without salt.   We need to follow up with his primary care physician at home for a review of the medications and how they may be impacting his kidney function.  So many meds mean too many side effects.  At least congestive he...

This is a community near where we live.  It is a gated golf community that covers acres and acres of land. I am not a golfer, but there are some in my family who would consider this paradise--to walk out he back door and be on the links. I noticed some signs as I took my walk today part way around the perimeter of that place. Yep, plenty of those around. And, yes, some sand hill cranes nearby. The wild life was not interested in crossing the road today.  An egret and a heron were having a fine feast in the creeks that had filled up in yesterday's rain.  They were not planning to move away any time soon.     And of course, these guys were just feeling too lazy, hanging out in the sun, to bother with crossing the road.      While I was walking, I did see one man playing a golf ball off the sidewalk.  Better that then hitting into one of the water traps.

The past two Sundays have been iffy weather-wise, and with Mike not being up for adventure because of foot pain or the medication for foot pain, I have had to amuse myself.  If it is going to be rainy, out comes the sewing machine.  I put together another quilt top.  The top is the easy part, especially since this material has all those blocks built in so I cut big pieces.  Even here in FL, I am building up scrap piles of fabric.  I made a couple of fabric bins to organize a closet.        I did not bring too much of my card making/paper crafting supplies with me, but I was inspired by a project on The Paper Boutique to make this lap book out of file folders and patterned papers.  I plan to use it for my medical insurance and prescriptions and all kinds of relevant personal information that I like to have in one spot.   It folds up.  I still have to come up with some kind of closure.   ...

We bought our Florida house from the original owner, who was extremely organized and who left us all the information we would need about the appliances.  He had the air conditioning unit put in and maintained by a particular company, which happens to be named Honest AC.  Their contact information is on the unit outside and on the thermostat inside.  The owner recommended them quite highly. After we had the closing we were contacted by a guy who claimed to have worked on the air conditioner and wanting to set up a contract with us to continue.  He wasn't from Honest Ac.  Mike said if he would lie about having done the work before, what kinds of major "problems" would he be able to find upon inspection?  Vermonters don't know much about air conditioning. Mike went to the Honest AC office.  They had our unit on file with all the maintenance records.  He signed a contract with them and pre-paid for the service contract.  They would come twice...

They say that Florida has only two seasons rather than four.  There is the wet season and the dry season. Having lived in the Northeast for all my life, I am fully aware of the changing of seasons from summer to fall to winter to spring.  I am also aware of the joy a beautiful spring can bring after a long, cold, snowy winter. I have been reading other blogs that are either celebrating the arrival of spring or waiting with breathless anticipation the snow melting and the first green shoots pushing through the earth. These flowers beside our house have been in bloom like this since we got here in December.  I am hoping the recent rain will turn the grass a bit greener.  Maybe a little bit of the stirring of hope the first little purple crocus can bring in missing in our Florida life. Still, there are signs of spring here if one looks.  Little leaves are popping out on the Crape Myrtle tree.  I don't think we will see it bloom this year, though. ...

Google Image Mike went to the doctor referred by the doctor from the emergency room visit a couple of weeks ago.  He had been given steroids at the hospital, a five day course of treatment.  That did knock the swelling back, but it returned.  Only his right ankle this time, but it was very swollen and very painful. The doctor today did talk about possible causes.  At least it felt like a step beyond agreeing that there was swelling evident.  He ordered some x-rays and some blood test and made an appointment for next week.  He gave Mike a prescription for the pain, but he did a thorough review of his medications.  He asked him to stop taking one for a few days before the blood tests so its side effects would not interfere with a measure of kidney function.  I am hoping that the tests will lead to something that can be done. I do think that I am now committed to attending every doctor's appointment with my dear husband who did not wear his he...

I finished another quilt.     I am already planning the next one. I found this fabric at a yard sale. 

As in totally unreliable lately. I have to say I really miss our cable internet provider  even though I may rail at them often when we are in Vermont.  This wireless antenna thing is not working real well for me. I am finding it very difficult to stay online long enough to read through all the blogs, let alone make comments.  I think on Monday I will head to the library or to a Starbucks and catch up.

Historical fiction. Geraldine Brooks is the wife of Tony Horwitz , so I guess it was only inevitable that she would write about the Civil War some day.  March takes the characters from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women --the characters in which are based on the Alcott family.  Brooks' focus is on the experiences prior to and during the Civil War of the March family patriarch. Although a work of fiction, from what I understand of the Concord, MA, Transcendentalists of the 1800's, I would say the author has captured the personalities and the tenor of the times extremely well.  She has also captured the incredible awfulness of slavery* and the absolute horrors of war. I say this is a book that is well worth reading. *So, I'm sorry, but don't anyone try to tell me, as I have actually heard before, that slavery was beneficial to Blacks and that they were well taken care of.  I won't buy it. Historical fiction It seems that people either loved or hate...

I don't always pay attention to the news the way I should or the way I used to back in the days when I actually held some trust in news shows and newspapers.  Here are some random bits filtered through my memory of what I watched or read in the past two days. As of now, there is no new pope selected.  I see that there is an American under consideration,  No woman, though. Twinkies may be coming back.  The recipe was sold for "a pittance."  How disappointing...only 410 million dollars. The red tide outbreak has continued to plague this corner of the world.  I watched a news segment that was billed as "efforts to save the manatees".  They are sucumbing to the red tide toxin at a record breaking number.  The scientist interviewed sated something to the effect of "we need to save them so future generations can enjoy manatees as we do."  How?  Didn't say, but there is a HotLine number to call.  What is it? Didn't say....

The T. Mabry Carlton, Jr. Memorial Reserve is a 24,500+ acre area  used for nature studies and recreation.  There is a clipboard on this little building where people can enter the flora and fauna spotted.  There are horse back riding trails, biking trails, hiking trails, orienteering and geocaching activities.  There is a moonlight hayride sceduled for the next full moon. Panthers have been photographed here and one was noted on the day's list for Sunday, but we did not get to see anything that exciting. Still, it was a pretty day for a walk. It has been very dry.  The small ponds that are usually filled with wading birds were pretty much dried up.  You have to go to a golf course to see the water fowl in times like this.  Fire danger is high right now and it is not hard to imagine a field like this turning tinder.  They do call it dry prairie for a reason. We went on to the Sleeping Turtle Preserve nearby.  It is ...

Mike left early this morning to go to an antique motorcycle meet in Eustis, FL.  Even though he is no longer in the business, he likes to attend a meet just to catch up with old friends and acquaintances.  I joked about his trip giving me a day off--even though it was of course a day pretty much like any other.  I had coffee and read the paper, did the puzzles, emptied the dishwasher, and mopped the kitchen floor.  Ususally I like to get all the housework done on Friday, but not if Mike is out having fun. So finished the book I was reading, The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue.  From the reviews I read, this is a book one either loves or hates.  I loved it.  It is based on an actual divorce case in 1860's London. Although it is a work of fiction, the stained yellow dress and the question of a woman having sex with a man while the man is not having sex with the woman were actually part of the court records from the time. ...

Bay Preserve, Osprey, FL--Fog Bank       March already.  Yikes!  We will be heading back to Vermont in a month.  Time to start thinking about using up all the food in the freezer/refrigerator.  It is an exercise I find kind of like doing a jigsaw puzzle in reverse.  I always seem to end up with that open freezer bag of broccoli with maybe three icy stalks left inside.  Also we will leave on a Saturday and garbage day is Thursday, so there is that to factor in as well.     Some people use their winter time get aways as valuable reflection time and write posts about all they have learned in the time away.  See Thoughts of a Bag Lady in Waiting , for example.  I'm sitting here writing about freezer-burned vegetables and garbage pick-up.  I feel kind of bad about myself right now.   I did not go for a long bicycle ride I had planned for yesterday.  It was very windy and that takes a lot of th...

Last weekend I spent some time sewing pillowcases.  I am ready to do the quilting on my latest quilt, but I needed a break before tackling that job. An easy project!    Here is how it is done--at least how it is done by me.   Three pieces of material are needed: Main color enough to make a back that is 18.75 x 35.35" and a front that is 18.75 x 24.75" Contrast color a piece that is 18.75x8" Trim 18.75x2.5" I had to improvise to get the back measurement, but that worked out okay.  This is not rocket science. Fold the trim strip in half and align it with the narrow edge of the top piece.  Place the contrast piece under this with the right side up, aligned along the wrong side of the top.  Pin and stitch through four layers.   Pull up the contrast piece.  Press over the top edge, fold to cover the stitching on the trim.  Top stitch the contrast piece to the top piece.  The extra length on the...

It was cold this morning--only forty degrees outside.  The wind picked up around noon.  While it was mostly sunny, a few rain showers did spare me the effort of dragging out a garden hose to water in the new plants I have put in.  Red tide is once again affecting the nearby beaches.  While Mike is feeling better, he was content to read and watch a history channel show about the Middle Ages.  So it was a good thing that what I had planned for the afternoon was attending a demonstration put on by the Venice Area Quilters' Guild. The show was set up in a large conference room at the Venice Community Center.  There were guild members demonstrating each step of a basic guilt construction--from picking out the fabric to binding the completed quilt.  Other members demonstrated machine embroidery, hand quilting, Japanese quilting techniques, and quilt preservation.  There was a display of antique quilts.  There were also craft stations where k...

I spent the morning at the emergency room with Mike.  He had suffered with swollen and painful feet though last summer.  It finally went away, but then came back this past few days.  He was in such agony last night that he decided to go to have the situation checked out.  After three hours and numerous test, including one for Lyme disease (results will take a couple of weeks for that one), we were informed that he has swollen feet that are painful .  Hmm.  That was the exact complaint he gave when we checked in.  I just wonder how much it will cost to confirm his (non-medical) opinion.  So now he has one more drug added to his list of the other ten.  At least it is just short term. He gives me funny looks when I suggest Reiki or Qi Gong.  Could either possibly be less effective than "modern medicine"?