Leroy Helps

Hello, I have felt quite useless. I do help a little, but I only spend a limited amount of time standing, sitting, walking, or lying down before I need to move. Getting out of bed to go to the bathroom in the night was a challenge. Mornings are noticeable as well. This morning Leroy made a list of chores. He has already made granola, washed and hung out clothes only to promptly bring them back in. I did help with that. As it turned out they could have stayed out longer, but it is fine to have brought them in. Leroy also has vacuumed much of the apartment. He cleaned the bathroom sink as well. He did not even grumble when I asked him to do a part of it over. He contributed a great deal to making breakfast. He sighs from time to time, but no complaining. What a guy! Where did I find him? Right now, Leroy is “working” on his stamps. He is fussing because he cannot find his stamp hinges which he uses to mount them. After looking every place, he could think of, he is giving up the search. Leroy was out walking when I saw dark clouds rolling in. It a bit there was a loud crack of thunder. Before long, Leroy came rushing and panting in the door. He said he noticed the clouds and then felt a sprinkle of rain. He headed for home at that point, but did not pick up significant speed until the thunder. We were both happy for him to get home. Paula

Aches and Pains

Hello, I have now joined the aches and pains group. Which means I can add to the conversation. There had been twinges in my hip for some time, but seemed like not enough to pay any attention. However, on Tuesday it spoke much louder. I went to work, but had some difficulty getting comfortable with the hip pain along with the pain down my leg. Seemed like sciatic nerve being compromised. Wednesday was my day off and it did not seem so bad after I did some exercises that someone recommended. I woke up Thursday to increased stabbing. I basically did not participate in yoga, but showed up so the others could do it. I worked most of the day, but went home early and saw the chiropractor up the street from us. When I left there, I felt better, but not completely better. I was happy to make an appointment to come back this morning. Because of my osteopenia, he did not use as much force as he might have. I was glad for no broken bones, but wished for more relief. Leroy said, “You must be feeling better because you are so much more at ease.” I feel even better today, but will go back on Monday. I still am uncomfortable, but for the first time in three days I noticed the itchy spot on my back that has been rather annoying for a longer time. Interesting how one thing takes top billing. Leroy has once again been instructed to put the anti-itch lotion on my back. He seems to be happy to do something productive for me. Leroy has been a big help doing some of my usual chores around here. I am grateful. Paula

Choir and Stamps

Hello, Yesterday, a college choir sang at our church. Leroy and I helped to serve the meal for them. Actually, I served and Leroy ran the dishwasher. For me it was more standing around than not. We came early enough that we could help prepare the tables. Certainly, helped us to feel useful. After cleanup and a quick meal, we went to the concert. It was very good. We were impressed with how well done it was. This school was somewhat of a rival of my college so I was not expecting it to be as good as it was. We came home quite late for us. We are seldom out after 9:00pm. It will be about the same tonight. Someone gave us tickets to the symphony. Leroy stayed awake last night. Wondering if he can manage again tonight. I try very hard to ignore him if he falls asleep. I would certainly wake him if he snores. He would not be so likely to do that while sitting up. This morning the local stamp club had a show or whatever it was called. It is a place that has a number of dealers come to sell stamps. Leroy said, “Many of the people who came were old. Often, they were trying to sell stamps to the dealers rather than buying more.” Leroy helped out at the door as well as looking around. He did not buy anything. He saw one set that he would like, but he tells me he has seen it for less advertised in a catalog of a company that he frequently buys from. Paula

Travel the World

Hello, We went to church last night for Maundy Thursday. We will go again tonight for Good Friday. Saturday will find us there as well, but first we will help hand out meals. Sunday is the culmination of this remembering Jesus’ last days on earth. To go along with that some friends told us they are thinking of a cruse in the late fall, and would we be interested in joining them. We certainly are, it is to see Mediterranean antiquities. Leroy, because of all his religious studies would be fascinated by seeing some of these places he has read so much about. I like to see new things, even if I do not know so much about them. After our trip to NM, I can tell you that my brain is not holding a lot of that information we received, but I still enjoyed that experience and do not regret going; I am happy that we did go. We have not ventured outside of the country since we went to Columbia just before the pandemic started. At least our passports are still up to date. Leroy saw his neurologist this morning. All his numbers were good, consequently he will be dropping his meds by another degree. That was very positive news. He will have to have another blood check in a bit time to see how things are progressing. After that he will stay on this amount for about another six months. Maybe some day this med will be even lower and then gone from his life. We are grateful for the help he gets from it. We will get that next booster soon. Someone told us they got sick from it so we will schedule a time when we can lay around for a day, if needed. Paula

New to us, salad with artichokes

Hello, We have been invited out for Easter dinner. There will only be six people there. I know that these people have also been vaccinated and do not leave their homes a great deal. Hoping for a virus free meal. I have volunteered to bring a salad and vegetable. My salad recipe had raves on the Internet. Does that mean it will be good? It has artichoke hearts in it. I hope people like it, if not, I will be bringing home quite a bit of it. Surely all will taste it a little so it should be ok. I plan to follow the recipe which in an amazing confession for me. I read that artichoke is good source of nutrition. If we like it, we will have artichoke in some other ways. The plan was for me to finish delivering the neighborhood newsletter, but it will not happen today. we do not want the paper to get one on someone’s porch. Leroy did not ride the bike because he is expecting it to rain when he wants to come home. It is indeed raining now, but not much however the wind is a problem with rain. I did go out earlier and get some winter onions out of our front garden. It seemed prudent to do that before the rain came. We will eat them tonight for supper. My plan is to use many of those onions this spring and repurpose that part of the bed. There are also some garlic sprouts coming. They grow quite well, but do not get very big and I am not so sure how to use them successfully. Paula

Who has enough time?

Hello, Leroy and I wonder how we used to get so much done in different areas. We both feel busy much of the time, but do not manage to get as much accomplished. For instance, yesterday was Palm Sunday. Leroy used to have more responsibilities at church and much of that spilled over to me. This year, we did have to be at another church that is actually a shorter walk for a joint choir presentation. It seemed quite early, but we made that. After being there for about 2.5 hours we walked home, ate a snack and relaxed for a time before we had to make lunch. As we were getting that together, the guy who was tilling the garden called to say he was ready to till today and he would see us there at one o’clock. I think we were there at one, but he had already come and gone. Luckily, some other neighbors beat us there and they were able to extract tomato cages and plant markers. I had been hoping to pick up all the trash that had blown in, but that was not to be. I did find some pieces that were on top and deposited them in the bag I had with us. We visited a little with the other couple before walking home. On the way home we started picking up wind blown trash. At a closer neighbor’s house, we had a long visit with the guy who used to live there. He is from another country and I had some difficulty understanding at times. But he did thank us for picking up the trash. I know that I appreciate not seeing it when we take our walks. We still needed more steps so we took another walk before going home. Almost hate to confess, but we did spend some time in the evening watching TV. We also both spent some time reading before the day was done. I try to keep Sunday as a nonwork day, but it is not easy. Paula

How much wind?

Hello, Are we the windy city now? It seems like it blows strongly almost all of the time. The garbage cans blow over even though they seem sheltered to me. We have now weighted them. The welcome mats have a new magic carpet feel as the wind drives under them. I returned a bucket to a neighbor, or at least I thought it was theirs, but they never took it in. Later, I returned it to the next neighbor with the same result. Today I once again found it blowing in the alley. I decided to claim it. Who knows, it might have come from a block away instead of next door. I thought I had this new word processing format figured out. That is apparently not the case. I wanted to make a new folder for this month’s letters, but cannot make such a thing happen. Guess I need a younger person in the house. Where are kids when you need them? Can you imagine I still have some knowledge? Our oldest wanted to know when house plants can go live outside for the summer. I had an answer that might work even though I do not know the type of plant in question. There is one white and one pink blossom on the two Thanksgiving cactus plants. I am trying to appreciate them every day as I know it will be some time before I see them again. Leroy rode his bike today. I believe he will have to ride into the wind on the way home. I walked a little bit, and was grateful for the protection of the buildings from time to time. Paula

I work Saturday

Hello, Yesterday, my memory was jogged by a coworker asking who would be working on Saturday. I had totally forgotten about it. I usually only work four weeks apart, but this time I worked just two weeks before since we had been gone on my required time. It least I will be there to open, etc. It is fine for me to work because there are so many books on my desk to be catalogued that they do not fit and they also occupy three and a half shelves on a book cart. Thursday when I worked, I did not get much cataloging done because I was at the front desk all morning and that involves other duties such as, checking items in, counting the many pieces in a STEM kit to make sure all have been returned, shelving some things from time to time, and getting the ILL items ready to be shipped that morning. As we have once again become busy with story time, there were a lot of things coming in and going out. There is never a dull moment for me in the library job. I have to confess that I did come to work half an hour late one other day in the week. Schedules have changed, trying to have more consistent hours. So, we open earlier and close earlier. After ten years, of going at 1:00 pm, I forgot and realized I should be there. After rushing around the house, I managed to get there just half an hour late. It is like true confession, but I also missed a doctor appointment on Wednesday. I do not recall ever doing that before. Am I losing my sense of time and schedule? Paula