Val-isms

Weekend in Upstate New York

I had somehow forgotten how beautiful upstate New York is.  Even in the rain and fog.  Mountains, trees, valleys and the New York Thruway cutting through it all.  Just gorgeous.

It would have been that much more spectacular had it been sunny, but at least when we packed up the car Saturday morning, it was just misting out in Connecticut.  After stopping for the required large cup of coffee, we were on the road by 10.

We arrived in the town of Howe Cave about 1:30.  It wasn't raining anymore and the sun was breaking through the clouds.

Here's the view from the Cavern:

In a style that has become our tradition when traveling, we had not booked a place to stay.  We like playing it loose and figure if nothing else, there would be a hotel somewhere close by, but we were really hoping to find a nice B&B.

When we had gotten off the exit for Howe Caverns, there was a sign announcing a B&B 3 miles down the road, so after checking out the Cavern and confirming our reservations for the Sat evening Lantern Tour, we headed to find a place to hang out hats hang our coats curl up and relax!  Ah... the NY Times!

This was the main building of "The Gables". 

And this is the building that our room was in:

That lovely 3-sided window on the 2nd floor was ours.  It provided a lovely sitting area with lots of natural sunlight, we were to find out on Sunday morning!

The Innkeeper was a nice gentlemen who looked like the typical innkeeper... white hair and trim beard.  He explained, when I asked if there were any vacancies, that there was only a room with 1 Queen sized bed.  I smiled and said that that would be perfect.  :)

The room was very cute.  I wish I'd taken pictures before we lived in it, but these were taken on Sunday as were getting ready to pack up:

We really enjoyed staying there and the innkeeper recommended a lovely and unique place for dinner.  Fairuz, was the name of the restaurant, which advertised itself as a Mediterranean, Italian and American place.  Ok, then.  We like diversity, but hoped for a bit more ethnic!

It was in a house, right off the main strip about 1/2 mile of our B&B.  But because we'd be heading to the Cavern tour from dinner, we drove.  It would be an early dinner, which would be suitable for making the tour on time, but also because we hadn't eaten anything since first getting on the road that morning!

We noticed that there were tables on the outside deck to the side of the house, but we opted to eat indoors.  There was a room with a few tables off of the main entryway, with one of them set up with a laptop computer, which we came to find out, belonged to the owner, Alex.  And there was a table for 2, set up in what used to be the large kitchen of the house, but had been divided into a sitting area with a fireplace (where the table for 2 was right in front of it, square in the middle of the room.  The other end of the room had a counter dividing it from where we ended up sitting.  I'm not sure what was on the other side, as I had my back to it.

Alex, invited us to sit down at this lone table and to look over the very informal paper menu.  We noticed that we were the only patrons in the place.  Not surprisingly, as it was only about 4:30 in the afternoon!  We selected some Mediterranean breads and some hummus as appetizers.  The hummus came with slices of pita, so we had hit the jackpot with carbs with the first course!  The breads came with a plate of oils with various spices and olives in it, to dip the breads into.  Wonderful.

For dinner, I ordered Shrimp kabobs (over rice) and Linda ordered chicken shwarma (over rice).

The food was definitely made to order and fresh.  We know this as it took some time to reach our table!  This would have been annoying under different circumstances, but Alex treated us like friends of the family.  He was a smallish man in build and stature, probably in his early 40's and he had a thick accent that I couldn't quite place.  So I asked him.  "I'm from Egypt", he replied.  Interesting, I thought.  He then asked if we'd ever been there.  I smiled (knowing that he had probably noticed my Star of David hanging around my neck), "No, but we've been to Israel a few times!"

He smiled and then began a wonderful conversation between the 3 of us for the next hour that we were there.  Topics from politics (American), to food, to where he'd lived (Texas, New Mexico and now upstate NY) since moving here over 30 years ago.  He explained how he was given a hard time from people who wanted good food, but wanted it fast.  He said it was tough to make people understand that this type of food is not 'fast food' and unless you call ahead, he doesn't have the food just waiting to be bagged up for people to pick up! 

He made us feel completely at home and it was the type of atmosphere where you almost felt like you should clear your plates and join him in the kitchen to help wash the dishes, as when you go to someone's home and they've made you a wonderful meal.

When we'd finished the delicious food, he asked if we'd like to have coffee or dessert.  I replied that coffee would be nice and that we would be splitting the baklava that I'd seen advertised on the sign as we entered the place.  He smiled, nodded and said, "Turkish coffee coming right up!", as he went towards the kitchen.

The Turkish coffee, which we had never had before, we served in those cute little cups that espresso is served in and he instructed us not to add or do anything but drink it.  It was very strong, sweet tasting with a hint of cinnamon.  Very good.  But the highlight for us was that baklava.  Oh.my.goodness.  He cut it in half for us and again had specific instructions as to how to eat it.  "No forks.  Just pick it up in your fingers and eat."  And eat we did.  Layers of light pastry dough, with layers of finely chopped nuts, with syrup drizzled over it.  Oh, it was divine.  (next time, no sharing!)

We left there with a phone number of a bar that Alex would be at later if we had energy to go out and experience some  night life and feeling like we had kind of made a new friend.  Very nice.  See how easy it is for Egyptians & Jews to get along???!!!  If only.  Someday.

We at last reached the point of the trip north.  Howe Cavern.  Lantern tour.  There are tours given all day long at the Cavern that last about an hour and a half.  But the Lantern tour is only on Friday and Saturday nights at 6:30 and lasts for 2 hours.  It's the same exact tour that the other tours are, as far as what you see, but the difference is that when you reach the part where you take a little boat ride on the stream of water that is at the bottom portion of the cave, they cut the electrical lighting off and your group have individual 'lanterns' to light the cavern up, giving it a whole different look.

It's cold underground (about 5 stories below) - about 55 degrees, so I wore a sweatshirt and jeans and Linda wore jeans and a new fuzzy jacket that said Howe Cavern over her heart!  She looked great and she was snuggly warm inside of it! 

It was cool going thru the caves and seeing the work of nature in such an amazing way.  You weren't allowed to touch anything except in certain places so as to not impede any natural processes within the walls around.  Our guide was fun and our tour group was made up of 6 couples including us.   (The only gay couple!)  2 of the couples were friends and relatively young, so at some points towards the end, they started acting a bit high schoolish, but despite that, it was a great experience.

When we got to the boat ride part and before they lit the 'lanterns' (metal pails turned sideways and the handles moved to the side that was upwards, with a candle stuck thru a whole in the bottom side), they cut off all the electric lights and it was so dark that you could not see your own hand in front of you, even it it was held a 1/2 inch from your own face.  It was a little scary and I immediately grabbed onto Linda, but they turned on the lights again so we could light the candles. 

The ride with only candle light showing the cave walls was a little eerie at first, but then between the shadowy images on the wall and the sound of the water, it was kind of mesmerizing and spiritual, in a way.  Very peaceful.

When we turned around and returned to the 'dock', our guide told us that we could retrace our path back to the elevator at our own pace and he'd see us back there, but before we started back, he told us to all hold our lanterns up to look at this one wall that was behind us.  We did as we were told and then realized that there was nothing to really see and that he just said that so he could make his getaway!

The way back was nice.   We held hands and walked back in a strolling kind of way, with only one couple in front of us and the rest behind us.  It was an incredible way to spend 2 hours, which passed by very fast.

We were given complimentary coffee, tea, hot chocolate or soda and a large chocolate chip cookies upon our return to the surface, to warm up.  (My nose was freezing!)  Then when we headed out to our car, we realized that it was raining out and it was pretty chilly.

We headed back to our cozy B&B and read for a bit before turning in.

Even with the blinds down, the sun was so bright Sunday morning, it woke us up about 8, but we didn't get up til 9.  Very nice.

Downstairs, after a shower, I found local newspapers on the dining room table.  Coffee was made in a pot next to a cute basket with homemade bran muffins.  There was also a note to all the guests (by name) welcoming them and thanking them for staying with them and to enjoy the coffee and muffins and to have a nice day.  Loved that and though the coffee was eh, the muffins were very tasty.

We packed up and headed out about 10.

Now, what I hadn't mentioned was that we had taken the CR-V and the bikes were loaded on the bike rack.  We had read that there were bike trails around the cavern that had several routes of assorted distances.  But after seeing the local terrain and the busy roads that these routes were on, we decided to head south to New Paltz (where I lived between the ages 7-12 in the years of '65-''70) where there were local state parks to ride around in with spectacular views.  So off we went.

We jumped on the New York thruway and had driven about 1/2 hour when we passed a honda fit with a cute little bike rack on top of it.  I had been checking our bikes periodically in the rear view mirror all along, but when I looked back at that moment, my heart stopped.  It looked like Linda's bike was almost off the rack!  Very calmly I said, "uh oh." and started slowing down and pulled off onto the shoulder.  (I was very glad that there was a huge shoulder and that there was very little traffic).

We got out to inspect the situation and saw that if the bikes had not been locked up to the bike rack, her bike would surely have gone flying off onto the road, into another car, something.  What we figured happened is that my bike was on the inside and being slightly bigger, the handle bars had been turning with the vibrations of the road, and that in turn was pushing Linda's bike towards to the end of the rack.  Also contributing was that with all the rain, the straps holding onto the bike must have loosened up with all the moisture and the bike just popped out of one side and then pushed off and away.

I'm just thankful that we noticed early enough before losing a bike or worse, causing an accident!  Can you imagine driving along and seeing a bike flying towards you?!  YIKES!

We got things put together enough to get us to the next exit where we found a gas station where we got some gas, filled the bike tires, switched the bike positions so the my 'bully' bike would be on the outside and wound the bike lock around a few times to keep things very secure so that all the highway bumping around wouldn't loosen them up.

We arrived in New Paltz about 1 and decided to eat at our favorite Thai place "Lemon Grass", where we had some salad, and some shrimp appetizers along with shrimp spring rolls. 

Then we headed up the mountain. We took a wrong turn and found that the good bike trails were at Minnewaska State park.  We arrived there about 3 and were on our bikes by 3:20.  The parking lot was at the top overlooking Lake Minnewaska.  There were many walking and biking trails that circled the lake and/or went throughout the entire State park.  We opted to try and go around the lake and headed off.

At first, it was kind of scary, as it was very rocky and the trails were steep in some places (going up) and then steep heading downwards, with a little mud thrown in at times just to make you really pay attention, but it was great.  We stopped every so often to take pictures or just enjoy the spectacular views, but all in all we were out and about for 2 hours and we covered about 7 1/2 miles.  But at times, my heart rate was higher than it's ever been when I've been on the treadmill, but between the lovely breeze and shady trails, it was more than pleasant experience.

Here are some of our favorite moments:

We stopped in town in New Paltz to grab a slice of pizza and then got on the road home about 6, figuring we'd be home by 8. 

Not sure what happened, but we missed the exit off the NY Thruway for I-84 into CT and ended up on the Tappan Zee bridge to 287 to the Hutch.  Added another hour to our trip, but we were still home by 9.

Tired, but extremely happy to have had 2 great days together - full of adventure and fun.

Birthdays, Ears, Physicals & Ski's, oh my!

First of all, it's my youngest brother (Benjamin) 40th birthday today!  How that is possible, I'll never know!  Being 11 1/2 years older than he is, it makes me reflect on my age whenever he reaches a milestone birthday.  Today was no different!  Though, the fact that Linda is 8 months younger than he is, helps to keep things in perspective!

Upon Sophie's return from Florida on Tuesday night, the 3 of us (my ex, Sophie & I) sat down and discussed when the ear piercing would happen.  The soonest evening that everyone was available (Sophie seemed to be available ALL evenings!) was tonight.  After her annual physical.

Yep, Sophie's annual physical.  She has been asking if she was due for any shots since last week when she knew it was 'that' time.  Have I mentioned how much she HATES getting shots?  I mean, "works herself up with worry, upset stomach, needs to poop upon entering the doctor's office building' HATES getting shots!!!)

So when we first arrived, and right after she had to pee in a cup, I went and asked the nurse to check and see if any shots were in the near future for Sophie!  I was told no.  So I gave the news (along with a 'pinkie swear') to Sophie that she had nothing to worry about.  No shots this year.

Her eyes remain at 20/20 and her hearing is perfect, too (aside from that selective hearing that somehow seems to be an on again, off again situation!).  She had just had her bi-annual appointment at her ear doctor for wax removal yesterday.

She weighed in at 63 pounds (up 7lbs from last year!) and has grown 2 inches, measuring at 4' 4" tall!

All was good, until the doctor came in.  She looked over everything and started asking Sophie questions about her diet, school, etc... but all Sophie wanted to know was to confirm the no shot verdict that she had received earlier.

"Hmmm." , said the Doctor.  "Yep.  A Hepatitis booster".  Tears came immediately.  She was beyond worked up in a matter of seconds.  We tried to make her laugh by explaining to the Doctor that ironically the hysterically crying, shot-fearing child that was dramatically moaning "I don't want a shot", was, in fact, the same girl that had finally gotten her wish and who would be leaving the doctors' office and heading straight to the store to get her ear's pierced!  The doctor chuckled, shook her head and said that was great!

With her leaning her back up against me, and holding her other Mom's hand, the shot was administered with Sophie basically telling the nurse how fast or slow to move the needle!  Sophie couldn't move her arm until we arrived at the ear piercing store.

Now for the ear piercing saga... We arrived about 5.  We were told that there were 2 girls ahead of us and that it would be about 15-20 minutes.  We filled out the paperwork, picked out the earrings and thought we'd be out of there in less than a 1/2 hour.  Silly us!

It seems that the girl who was getting her ears done (Remy) was not only afraid, but terrified.  She wanted her ears done, but "Wait, not yet.  Ok, i'm ready.  No, not yet."  With her Mom, twin sisters, her best friend (Sydney) and Sydney's brother, Mom & Dad all cheering her on, Remy just couldn't do it.  But they were coaxing her, encouraging her and lord knows what else... for the next 20 minutes! 

We started worrying about what Sophie was gonna do upon witnessing this scene.  Finally, they decided that Sydney would go and Remy would do it another time.  Sydney was quick with the fist ear, though screamed over and over "It hurts!  It hurts!"  Her Dad leaned over to Sophie and said, "Don't worry, she's fine, she's just very dramatic."!!!  Sophie didn't seem worried.

Once Sydney had done hers, then Remy was given another chance and thankfully, mustered through it somehow.

Sophie was more concerned with anyone watching her, as there were many people (including us) watching Remy & Sydney.  But once that entourage was gone, the store was pretty much empty.  Once they had marked the spots on her earlobes, the 2 girls who were doing the piercing, asked Sophie if she'd like to have both ears done at the same time.  I chimed in with a "that's a great idea' (as I know that the longest and most terrifying period of time for me when I had gotten my ears pierced (and I have 2 holes in my left ear and 3 holes in my right ear) was that time between having one ear done and waiting for the next ear.  (Basically, you know what the pain is like and you're questioning your sanity as to why you'd like to have that pain again!)

Sophie replied, "Sure."  Before I could even line up a picture, it was done.  No tears.  No nothing.  She just sat there.  The girls working there turned to me and mouthed, "Is she ok?"  I replied that if it wasn't believe me, they'd know it!  Sophie does not hide her emotions well!

She said it didn't hurt.  Even when we got into the car.  She said she was fine.  Wow, was all my ex & I could say.  Oh and how proud of her we were.

What a day! Oh, but wait.  There's more!

This Sunday afternoon, Linda & I went to the ski shop and took advantage of their summer sale and got great deals for skis, poles & boots for us both.  Due to Linda's lack of height, we were able to get her a Jr pair of skis!  Nice on the old wallet!  They also had some great packages for kids.  This morning, we went in to pick up our ski's and get Sophie fitted for hers, but ours weren't ready yet. 

After getting Sophie fitted in some great skis, poles & boots (all for $99), they said that everything would be ready for pick up after 5 tonight.

So after getting her ears pierced, to the ski shop we headed.

Then we called Linda, and told her that everything had gone wonderfully and that we wanted to go to Red Lobster for a celebratory dinner of Snow Crab legs!  She was completely in agreement!

Here are some pics from the day:

 

I'm on vacation til the 3rd, when Sophie goes back to school.  My Mom is doing much better and goes to get her hand checked on Sept 1st.

Sophie's going to Long Island with my ex for the weekend and Linda & I are heading up to Howe's Caverns in upstate NY State.  We'll do some biking and cavern exploration.  Should be fun.

Here's to an early Shabbat Shalom.

Catching up

So last we left our hero, (my Mom!), she was suffering in the hospital with nausea, fever & a urinary tract infection.  This lasted the rest of the week, with fever spikes, night sweats and just generally feeling like shit!

We thought she'd get out of the hospital on Friday, as on Thursday, she was actually able to eat and was looking a bit better.  Unfortunately, she ran a slight fever Thursday night, so they wouldn't release her without being fever-free for 24 hours.

Linda & I had plans to go away for the weekend to Baltimore to visit a friend, so we had taken Friday off from work.  We didn't go away, instead hung locally so we could be available for Mom & Dad.

We took Dad to the hospital on Friday morning and then went for a bike ride around Westport.  Then the rest of the day, was just hangin' at the pool and doing stuff around the house.

Saturday morning, I drove my ex & Sophie to the train station for their trip to Florida to visit the grandparents.  It never gets easier doing this.  I know she'll have a great time, but having her gone for 10 days is going to be tough.  Between her new iPod nano, being able to play movies on my ex's laptop and all the game books and regular books, I'm sure she'll be amused for the 24 hour train ride there.

After dropping her off, went to run errands with Dad. One of the many things I've inherited from my Dad is the ability to plan errands so that efficiency is at the top of the list.  You go to places in order of location and get as many done in one shot as possible.  That's how it was Saturday morning.  He had the car loaded up for the dump run and for the Goodwill drop off.  Then we hit a few banks (no, not robbing!) and then headed for the hospital to see Mom. 

When we had spoken to her earlier in the morning, she sounded very sick and we figured she wouldn't be getting released.  But upon our arrival about 11:30, she had been told that she would be released.

Linda & I had been invited to a wedding of a couple we had known from our bowling league, but we had declined, as we knew we were supposed to be away.  But in talking to another friend, we were encouraged to come by one of the brides herself!

The wedding was at 4 - about 50 miles up the CT coast.  No problem.  We'll just be on the road by 2-ish.

It was to be a very casual event - shorts were acceptable! (My kind of wedding when it's 80+ degrees outside and the wedding is being held outside!)

I ran home to shower & change and pick up Linda.  Then back to the hospital by 1:30 to pick Mom & Dad up at the hospital (about 20 minutes from our house).  Then to the pharmacy to pick up the meds, and drop them off at their house.

We actually started out to the wedding about 2:45.

Traffic was tougher than normal (we learned later that there had been a total of 4 accidents on I-95 N that day!) and we actually passed an accident that had probably just happened, as no emergency vehicles or cops had arrived on the scene yet!).

We ended up missing the very brief ceremony, but arrived at 4:30, in time for cocktails and to enjoy the nice reception.  It was a fun evening and the brides, though very hot, seemed extremely happy! 

As our wedding day will be exactly 1 year from theirs (8-15-10!), the experience confirmed our commitment to have the entire day inside!  Ceremony & reception in a/c - YES!  (Us Bogners are a sweating bunch - not pretty!)

Sunday was 'moving' day.

Since my ex was away, which meant her house was vacant, she graciously offered my parents the opportunity to stay there, so that since they couldn't drive anywhere, they'd be in a location where stores & restaurants were within walking distance to the house.

However, the glitch was that Olivia, the cat, who is 15, is not thrilled with dogs.  So about 11 Sunday morning, I went and moved Olivia to our house (she is currently residing in Sophie's room!).  Our boys (Tommy & Petey) are very interested in getting to know Olivia, but Olivia also has no use for other animals PERIOD!  So the guys just hang out in the hall occasionally, staring at the bedroom door as if to will it to be open!  It's very cute.

It was blazingly hot (mid 90's) and Mom was not feeling that well, so we all agreed that moving them to my ex's would wait until dinner time.

So, Linda & I hung out at the pool and tried to stay cool!  It was great.

We headed over to get Mom & Dad about 5, got them moved in, left the dogs and went out for a nice Japanese dinner in town.  We finished dinner off with some Dairy Queen ice cream!

After dropping them back at their 'new home", Linda & I headed to the beach, where at 7:30, we headed out for a bike ride as the sun was beginning to set.  It was only a little bit cooler out, but at least the sun wasn't beating down on use.  We did almost 10 miles (in an hour) but finished up when it was pretty much dark out.  I went over a dip in the road that I didn't see coming, so my left shoulder is a bit sore (where are those shock absorbers on a bike when you need them?!), but I'll live.

And here I am back at work today... appreciating the a/c in the office and hoping that the animals are out place are doing ok.   We left  all the windows open and I even turned on the ceiling fan in Sophie's room for Olivia.

Looking forward to hitting the pool after work.

Oh and here's a pic of Sophie upon her arrival in Florida yesterday.  This is where they're spending the first 3 days of the vacation before heading up to see the grandparents:

She had dinner with all the princesses last night and loved it!  (Who wouldn't?!!)

Birthday update and then some unexpected excitement

Such a buildup to kids birthday parties.  Lots of planning.  Lots of anticipation.  Lots of praying for good weather.

Then the day arrives and it's P E R F E C T!

Beautiful.   Ah, but the craziness ensues, but kids are loving the excitement of all being together.  All 7 of ‘em!

Here are the highlights:

Ah, but the craziness ensues, but kids are loving the excitement of all being together. 

• Images of Sophie and her friends dancing the Makerena dance before sitting down for pizza dinner Friday night
• Blowing out the candles on her homemade “Sleepover cake”
• Leaving my ex’s home about 8pm with the kids getting ready to settle in for watching 2 movies (“Mall Cop” & “Legally Blondes”)
• Arriving at 9:30am on Saturday to see that all kids look well rested (they slept from about 11:30pm – 7am!  Not bad!) and happy from having pancakes, fruit & bacon for b’fast
• Doing the caravan from my ex’s to my house to cart the 7 kids across town
• Heading to the pool at 10:30.
• “Pushing toy boats with your nose” swimming races – very funny to watch!
• Regular swimming races
• Creative ‘noodle’ floatations
• Leftover pizza and b’day cake for lunch
• Then back out to the pool for the afternoon.
• Spectacular weather all day – sunny, low 80’s, nice breeze and no humidity!

 

(Sorry that I have no pictures to post  - my camera disappeared, so I'm waiting for my ex to send them to me.)

 

Sophie got a bunch of cool stuff from her friends, but the highlight gifts were from her parents:  Kids Singer sewing machine from my ex and an iPod Nano with a cool docking station/alarm clock radio from Linda & me.  She was a VERY happy girl!

 

The best gift my ex gave to Sophie, though, was that she stayed and hung out for most of the pool party’s events even though she’s never really interacted with Linda that much before. (kind of avoided the situations in the past).  She hung by the pool with all of us and then actually came into our place and had lunch and even assisted in serving and cleanup.  Very cool.  Hope this sort of thing continues to happen for all of our sakes.  Very civilized and whether she likes it or not, we’re all family now, because Sophie is all of ours.

 

My Mom was continuing to improve from her hand surgery and was starting to actually wiggle her fingers as she’s been instructed to do, to increase their mobility.  She’s had relatively little pain which is pretty incredible.

We went out Sunday night for dinner and then to see “Julie & Julia” – highly recommend the movie.  It was very funny and interesting.  Just make sure you’ve eaten first or you’ll walk out of there extremely hungry!

 

Some unexpected excitement came about on Monday when my Mom started having extreme nausea and really started feeling badly in general.  By the afternoon, she was running a 102 fever and had contacted her doctor.  After taking some Tylenol, her fever went down, but she was still feeling wretched.

 

Tuesday morning after I’d just gotten into the office, my Dad called and said that I needed to come and take them to the hospital.  It seems she has a severe urinary tract infection, possible slight pneumonia and they’re not sure what else, so they admitted her later in the afternoon.

Today, after another chest x-ray, and lots of IV antibiotics and fluids, she was still not feeling well.   Late in the afternoon, the urine cultures showed another type of bacteria which could be the culprit, but she’s still not able to eat or drink anything.  The doctors continue to be baffled.

I can’t express how touched I’ve been by all the F*ceb**k good wishes from my blog readers and personal friends over the past couple of days.  Thank you.  It meant a lot.

 

We’re all thinking positively and just taking each day at a time. 

SWEEP! YES!

Yankees beat Boston and beat 'em bad.  Not, once.  Not twice.  Not thrice.  But 4 TIMES in a row!  I just LOVE when this happens!

Yeah, yeah all you Boston fans... it's only August... whatever.   We're #1 NOW!

GO YANKEES!

9

Happy birthday wishes go out to my lovely and beautiful daughter Sophie today.

Pizza party sleepover is happening tonight with her 6 closest friends followed by a day of hanging at the pool with 4 of them tomorrow!

Pictures to follow.

Shabbat Shalom.

Recovery - it's a bitch!

It's amazing what can be done these days to alleviate even the more complicated of medical issue.

As I mentioned earlier this week, my Mom had surgery on Monday and was released and home by Tuesday night.  So not only do they do a 'wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am' job, they free up the hospital bed mighty fast, as well!

Drugs are a beautiful thing, so the early recuperation so far has been annoying, rather than painful.  There IS pain, though, too.

But think about it.  You are right handed and only have your left hand/arm to do anything.  Anything.  Yeah, that's annoying.  (i.e. going to the bathroom and eating (or rather cutting up your food).

Then, think about what your wardrobe can consist of when all you can wear must fit over your arm when it looks like THIS: (She has 2 shirts of my Dad's that she's been wearing)

This picture and the one below were taken Thursday night at the Westport Country playhouse, where my parents treated Linda and me to a night out with them.  A very funny play ("How the other half loves") that was very entertaining. Thanks, folks, for the great evening.

Here's another shot showing Linda with her future in-laws:

(Please note how the bandaged arm is almost the size of Linda!)

This coming Thursday, my Mom has an appointment to uncover her hand, so she can begin the process of exercising her fingers so they're operational, once again.

In addition to the annoyances mentioned above, my Mom is the only driver of the household and with her arm this way, obviously she cannot drive.  My Dad is legally blind, so they are home-bound at this point unless I go and 'spring' them!  I picked them up yesterday morning and we went out for a walk around St Mary's by the Sea with the dogs on a beautiful sunny morning.  Today, we went out for lunch, but it was raining too hard to walk around anywhere.

Mom --easy for me to say, but only 5-7 more weeks to go!  Hang in there!