Random Thoughts on A Road Trip

I've stopped at the Senator Albert Gore (Sr.), Patsy Cline and Chet Atkins Rest Areas. I've driven on Sawyer Brown Road, the Andrew Jackson Parkway, and the Carl Perkins Highway. I've been to the Alvin C. York Veterans Administration Building. (OK, not really on that last one. But it was on the same exit with Whitts BBQ...:)

Forget Waldo. Where's Patricia?Three guesses...and the first two don't count.

Here are a few thoughts that have floated through my brain while driving, over the past three days and the last 1400 miles...and still counting...

1. Momma was right. She always said the roadbed of I-40 was poured, east coast to west coast, following the sun. Going from east to west in the late afternoon can be brutal on the eyes.

2. Papaw was right. If someone invented a giant vacuum to suck up all the cotton (lint) on the roadsides of West Tennessee this time of the year, he'd be a rich man. (Of course, Papaw would think it had to be a man to invent such a thing...so, maybe he was wrong, too...:)

3. I love the coast and The Beach. I love the mountains and the Piedmont. Heck, I <3 North Carolina altogether. But NC just doesn't really have a region to compare to the farms and fields of West Tennessee. And I think I need to get an infusion of it annually.

4. There is nothing like an old friend. One, who...when she receives a text out of the blue asking to meet...drops everything she is doing to make it happen. And then who picks up the conversation right where we left off, like it was 15 minutes, instead of 15 months ago. Is there something better than BFF? 'Cause that's what ATT is for me.

5. Seeing one of the last of your Mother's contemporaries frail and failing is a painful thing to witness. Not enough tissues in the car, dang it. Of course, this was the reason for my pilgrimage at this time, and to this place. Painful as may be, it was still worth it.

6. Seeing your 104-year old cousin in relatively good health and even better spirits is a remarkable thing to witness. Puts a song in my heart!

7. Having a brother & SIL who live "en route" of all my running about is a fortunate thing. Having ones who let me use their house like a B & B when they're out of town is priceless.

8. Having a husband who not only understood why I had to make this trip, but also insisted I go...and then dog-sat, painted the front porch rails, AND installed the new kitchen light fixture while I was away is beyond priceless.

9. Tennessee has, without a doubt, the cleanest Rest Area rest rooms...and the most anemic hand dryers. Three words. Paper. Towels. Please.

10. I love technology! Being able to stay in touch with everyone via my cell and texting is great. And what would I do without satellite radio?!

11. I hate technology! Just when you need to do something, you are in a NO SERVICE area. Never fails.

12. Being the driver, I can "take the road less traveled," i.e., US Highway 70, or a scenic drive...or, as Mr. T calls them "Bird Roads" (for the picture of the mockingbird, Tennessee's state bird, on the road signs). That's where you find the good stuff, like Mud Puddle Pottery.

13. I'm not so sure about technology. Mr. T said "Apple's 'Find My Friends' ap says you are about 300 miles from High Point." That's nice. Wait a minute...I wonder if it can tell I stopped at that yarn shop in Crossville? Hmmmm...

14. Mr. T is right. The slowest drivers are on those so-called scenic roads. Where is I-40?! Time to make tracks back home!

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Update: I'm back in HPNC, safe and sound...and only a bit worse-for-wear. Nothing a good night's sleep in my own bed won't cure. Glad I went...glad I'm home. No regrets.

Bell's Palsy Update - Month 5 Ends

Blah, blah, blah...Bell's Palsy...blah, blah, blah. Yeah, it's still with me. But it's definitely fourth quarter in this game...and I do believe I am winning.

Honestly, there really isn't much more I can say about my bout with Bell's that I haven't already said...with the possible exception of saying The End. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm oh-so-close. I still have some paralysis, stubbornly hanging on to the lower left portion of my bottom lip, probably more noticeable to me than to anyone else. When I'm tired or stressed or try to talk too fast, it's much more noticeable. And, though I've mastered...for the most part...my Ss, Bs, and Ps, I'm still doing my speech therapy exercises with my F-words...:-). You remember? "Phil fell fifty feet."

In a related note, I picked up my new-new glasses this afternoon. Better than the last time around...not quite as good as I'd hoped. I am not experiencing the nauseating sensations like I was before finding out I had a condition known as anisometropia, so I'm guessing the correction in the right lens is on target. Still, I do feel some bit of discombobulation, for the lack of a better word. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever again will I be complacent about "normal" vision! Or normal anything, for that matter!!

I'm going to need all my energy to be focused...not on Bell's issues or vision problems...but on an upcoming trip. You know I have mentioned Miss Caroline, my former piano teacher? She and Momma were "Henning Friends," graduating from RHS, Class of '38. After Momma died, she and I kept up almost-weekly phone chats and regular correspondence, and she has become like a Second Mother, filling a hole in my heart. An only child of only children, she never married...so, no children, no grandchildren. I like to believe I have given her not only continuity with "her old life," but also a measure of feeling loved.

Alas, her body is wearing out. She's been battling a persistent kidney infection for weeks now, and she is growing weaker with each day. I think I have gotten my various health issues controlled enough to be trusted out on I-40...which is exactly where I plan to be Thursday morning. More on that in my next post, I'm sure. Remember, no regrets.

I'll sign off this post with the Documentation Photos, taken on Day #154...the beginning of Month #6. And, yes...before you ask. Those glasses are really old. Really, really old.
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Kitchen Redo Redux Number Two

Everything takes longer than it takes.
-- One of Murphy's Laws of Life

I must say...I never imagined that redoing our kitchen would take almost six months to complete. Not in my wildest dreams.

All I wanted was to replace the World's Ugliest Formica Countertops with granite. And create a tile backsplash that would incorporate some hammered copper tiles (from our kitchen redo project in O'Fallon), and some glass mosaic tiles (although not for the entire backsplash)...with a clean, bright white ceramic background. Oh, and add some undercabinet lighting, since our kitchen is quite dark, especially with the cherry cabinets. And, while we were at it, I wanted to finally install a stainless steel organization system I purchased 7 years ago from the no-longer-open Home Expo in St. Louis for that MO kitchen...but never installed. Was that too much to ask?!

You've read all about the countertop installation which took place back in June, under Mr. T's supervision, while I was in Lville with Daughter-With-The-Broken-Foot. Need a refresher? Click here.

Here's a photo he took after the granite guys finished, looking at the "ceiling tile" backsplash we used over the stove.

Then came Bell's Palsy...and my life turned sideways for a while. When I was finally able to see again (after my cataract surgery), I felt comfortable in making tile selections, thinking we'd then call the tile guys back in to finish the job.

While selecting the tile, I was convinced by a fellow (whom I have never seen before in my life) that we could do this part of the project ourselves...and live to tell the tale. (Remember that post? Click here for a refresher.) After all, we have painted, wallpapered, built a deck, and-most recently-a patio together. We could do this!

I took these pictures as we were starting last Saturday, to remind us of what the wall looked like before our backsplash became a reality.

On Day One of the backsplash project, we worked long and hard on getting the design over the stove as close to perfect as possible. We'd looked at...and fiddled with, and redesigned six ways to Sunday...this part of the project for a couple of months now, as we had purchased tiles to "play with" (like a puzzle) on the breakfast bar. Here's what that part looked like after Day One, complete with the blue painters tape we used to make sure the tile adhesive held.

And then here's a close up pic, showing both the hammered copper tile as well as the glass-and-granite mosaic tiles in one of the 4x4 diamond cut-out ceramic tiles we used with a 4x8 rectangle to create a repeating pattern in the 4x4 ceramic tiles.

As a matter of fact, I went to bed on Sunday, dreaming of this idea of a repeating pattern throughout the wall space. Soooo, come Monday morning, the first thing I asked Mr. T to do was remove a section of 4x4s so we could create the repeating pattern. Ahem.

Day Two saw us finishing adhering all the non-cut tiles. Day Three was the hardest so far: that's when the cutting began. I measured, and Mr. T made the cuts with the wet saw. He became quite good rather quickly, with no breaks until it came to a couple of cuts for the tiles around the window sills. Ugh. Not fun.

After a two-day break for Thanksgiving, we got right back at it. Day Four we grouted, and Day Five we caulked and began the putting-Humpty-together-again part. While I caulked the parts I could reach (and then climbed on the countertop for the parts I couldn't!), Mr. T worked on extending the outlets...which you have to do because of the increase in wall-thickness due to the width of the tile. And then he mounted the organizers and one of two undercabinet lights.

Here's a couple of after-shots for your viewing pleasure:

Are we done yet? Well, as of this post, we still have a few things to finish: both the coffee maker and the can opener are spacesaver models that are mounted under a cabinet; a magnetic knife bar goes on the wall above where I keep my cutting board; and the remaining undercabinet light has to be returned/replaced due to missing parts. I'm "weeding out" some of the items that used to occupy prime real estate, so I'll have less clutter...I hope.

Then I can return the plants to the area behind the sink...and all will be done.

Ahhhhh! And to think, it only took six months.

BTW, if you are keeping score, I got three out of the four things I said I wanted in this project...and we only did one out of four things That Fellow told me to do. Oh well, I think we win, no matter what the score is!

Bell's Palsy Update - Week 22 Begins

This just in! Woman takes a Big Bite out of a Whole Sandwich! Film at 11:00!

Yes, dear friends. It has finally happened. At the approach of the end of five months with this nightmare called Bell's Palsy, I have finally, finally been able to order a club sandwich (the fabulous Orange-Cranberry Club from McAlister's Deli...:) and EAT THE WHOLE THING without having to dismantle it because of its height. Hurrah!

While I still have some paralysis in my lower lip on left of mid-line and I continue to seek benefits from twice-weekly speech therapy sessions, I know The End is in sight. Dawn is coming, and this nightmare will be over. Even if I must keep writing updates and taking Documentation Photos until the sixth-month anniversary (sigh), I will cross the Finish Line...collect my medal...and be thrilled to be through with it. Period. And the really good news? I'm a lot closer to The Finish Line than to The Starting Line!!

I'm happy to also announce my return to My Life. This past week was the Annual Meeting of Guilford Master Gardeners out at the Extension Center, and I eagerly prepared my Winter Fruits Salad with Lemon-Marmalade Poppyseed Dressing (recipe below) to add to the buffet table.

It was so good to be back in the fold...and to begin to feel like my life has meaning and purpose again! And even though I have stepped aside from any leadership roles for the coming year, I can still contribute through Media Outreach (writing articles)...and eventually as a speaker again through Speakers Bureau (yes, I've agreed to my comeback gig in January...how's that for confidence in recovery?). I also chatted with a couple of folks about the Education component in relation to the Demonstration Garden...great possibilities for outreach and using what I can offer there.

OK. Must close. We are tiling our kitchen backsplash today, and I need to get to work. I know, I know...I specifically said I would NOT do this Thanksgiving Week. Ah well, needs must, as the Brits say. Mr. T couldn't take any vacation days off before this next week, and this is definitely a two-person job. I am too short...or, more to the point, my arms are too short...to manage good placement and proper alignment of the tiles in the far corners, under the cabinets. I'll post pics when we are done.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with Doc Photos, taken yesterday, as Week 21 was ending. Not a lot of visible difference, so you'll have to trust me that things are improving. Snail's pace, true. But improvement nonetheless.

(BTW...Recipes below the photos...:~\)

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Documentation Photos, Day #147

Smile!

Big smile!!

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Recipes

Winter Fruits Salad

• 1-2 containers Earthbound Farm Organic Heirloom lettuce leaves, depending on number to be served (or 8-10 cups lettuce leaves)
• 8-10 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
• 1-2 crisp apples like Honeycrisp
• 2-4 pears, not hard but not overly ripe either, such as Starkrimson (red) and/or D'Anjou (green)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup glazed pecans (such as Diamond's), broken in quarters
• A citrus-sweet or Asian-inspired dressing such as Lemon-Marmalade Poppyseed (below)


1. Remove any tough ends from any lettuce leaves. Tear leaves into bite-size. Put in a large salad bowl for serving. Chill.

2. Grate the Gruyere cheese, using large-hole side of grater or disc.

3. Wash the apples and pears under cold running water. Cut each in half then into quarters. Cut away and discard the core from each quarter. Slice them into 1/8-inch thin slices. If serving a large crowd, you may wish to continue slicing into 'match-sticks.' (If preparing ahead, place the sliced fruit in an airtight bowl, pouring some of the citrus dressing on the slices to prevent browning.) Seal and chill.

4. To assemble, sprinkle the lettuce in the salad bowl liberally with the grated Gruyere. Arrange the apple and pear slices in a pleasing pattern on top of the cheese. Sprinkle the dried cranberries and the glazed pecans over the top. Serve immediately, with dressing on the side. (Note: you can toss the dressing with the lettuce, but wait until the last minute as the salad may get soggy.)


Lemon-Marmalade Poppyseed Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 T orange marmalade
3/4 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 T Dijon mustard
2 tsp finely diced onion
1 T candied ginger, chopped
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
2/3 cup oil
2 tsp poppyseeds

Directions:

1. Purée in blender the sugar, marmalade, lemon juice, mustard, onion, ginger, and salt.
2. While still running, add the oil to the blender in a steady stream, and continue blending until thick. Add poppyseeds at the very end of the blending process.
3. Store in refrigerator in glass jar until 1/2 hour before serving. Let dressing sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Give the jar a good shake before using.
4. Enjoy on Winter Fruits Salad...or as a tasty marinade for grilled chicken.

A Couple of Rainbows, A Couple of Wrinkles

First, let's talk about something good and happy...something to make you smile. Like rainbows. Yesterday, when I came out of Speech Therapy, I was surprised to see that we had had a nice rain while I was in the rehab building at High Point Regional Hospital...in a room with no windows on the outside world. It was still sprinkling, but right at sunset, the sun was coming out...and you know what that meant: rainbow!

Imagine if you will: I'm driving home, north on Eastchester/Hwy 68, with my phone mounted to the top of my steering wheel, snapping as many shots as I could. For safety's sake, I pulled over to the side a couple of times...but stopping in the afternoon traffic in HP is almost as difficult as DWOOing (driving-while-otherwise-occupied, a la Lydel Sims, a writer for the Memphis Press-Scimitar, from the olden times. If you follow the link on his name to learn more about him, you can click through to one of his columns. And you will see one source of my writing style..:)

There are actually two rainbows in this picture...can you spot them? There's an "echo" rainbow to the left of the one you can clearly see in the middle of the photo.

OK, I'll be the first to admit that the pic itself isn't the best, clearest, crispest shot I've ever taken. Fuzzy would be a better description. And that leads me to the wrinkles.

Fuzzy is just the word I'd use to describe the way I see the world these days. And with good reason, too. You see, I got my new glasses' lens last week (same ol' frames), and I've been feeling sorta sick ever since.

I kept telling myself that I just needed to get used to these new specs...keep wearing them and grow into them. Blah, blah, blah. No matter what, though, I felt nauseated, off-balance, light-sensitive, disoriented...you get the picture, I'm sure. Kinda like having one long episode of vertigo, but without the spinning sensation. Yeah.

So, I rummaged through my dresser and finally found some really ancient glasses...at least 20-25 years old, I'm guessing. BBB glasses. You know: back before bifocals. I wore them to work in the garden on Saturday and Sunday, for light and debris protection more than to help my sight, but needed to switch to the new ones when I came indoors for "close work," like to see to cook, read, knit, etc. Just don't look up quickly toward the TV across the room! Ugh...

Big sigh. Time to head back to the eye dr. I wasn't sure if I could take any more bad news about my eyes, to tell the truth. You see, Dr. T had already said the my night vision problem was probably caused by a wrinkle in my new implant in my right eye, from the cataract surgery. "It happens sometimes. You're still healing, so it may 'resolve itself.'" It doesn't hurt, but it does cause me to see a "starburst" around lights after dark, or anytime my pupils are dilated...like when I look at headlights of oncoming cars, taillights, street lights, traffic signals etc. They all are distorted.

So what do they look like, you ask? Take a good look at that picture above. Notice the "beams" of light radiating downward from the oncoming headlights to the street at 6:00 (if the lights were all faces on clocks)? Take that effect, rotate it and lengthen it to 10:00 and 4:00 (on the "clock"), and you would be seeing exactly what I see.

That's Wrinkle Número Uno. The second Wrinkle is what is causing my issue with the "new" glasses. After a test or two, it seemed pretty evident at the eye doc's that I have a condition called anisometropia. Joy. Here's what Wikipedia says:

Anisometropia ( /ænˌaɪsəmɨˈtroʊpiə/ US dict: an·ī′·sə·mə·trō′·pē·ə) is the condition in which the two eyes have unequal refractive power; that is, are in different states of myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) or in the extreme, antimetropia (wherein one eye is myopic and the other is hyperopic), the unequal refractive states cause unequal rotations thus leading to diplopia and asthenopia. Gross anisometropia is the difference of more than 2 diopters between the eyes.

Anisometropia can adversely affect ... clarity between the two eyes. The brain will often suppress the vision of the blurrier eye in a condition called amblyopia, or lazy eye.

The name is from four Greek components: an- "not," iso- "same," metr- "measure," ops "eye."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisometropia

And here's a link to some info from the UK: http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files%5C090427visionimbalance.pdf

So, what to do? Well, I doubt there is anything to do about Wrinkle #1, unless it resolves itself somehow. I won't choose another surgery (unless it gets a whole lot worse), so I'll have to adapt. That means limiting both nighttime driving as well as rainy-day trips.

Wrinkle #2 is a horse of a different color. The optician fiddled around with my prescription to get it to the point that I no longer have one eye 'a minus' (left eye) and one eye 'a plus' (right), giving me more balance to my unbalanced vision...a good temporary fix, at least until they do the cataract surgery on my left eye (which I do not need at present). The ophthalmologist readily agreed to the new scrip, saying only that I must remember that I won't be seeing as clearly out of the right eye. Actually it'll be better, since my only alternative was looking through these ancient specs...I could not continue to wear those new lens. So they have ordered me another set of lens with the new prescription. We shall soon see...we fervently hope!

So. Rainbows and Wrinkles. Such is life. Moving on...

Here's another picture of the Thursday rainbows. I'm going with "a sign of hope and good things to come;" how about you?

Garden 2012 Roundup

It was a bea-u-tee-ful weekend here at Casa 3917. Sunny and warm enough to be outside in short-sleeves, no jacket, at least until late afternoon. So, after a run to Tractor Supply for bird food and to Soviero's Tri-County Garden Center for bags of this and that (more in a sec), we took advantage of almost every moment, working mostly in the Kitchen Garden.

First, we finished removing Summer from the Warm Season garden. Mr. T had already pulled up the tomatoes and the okra last weekend, and I dug the sweet potatoes following our first frost... leaving just the peppers and the bean and pea fences standing. While he removed the fences, I weeded the asparagus bed and snipped all the yellowed ferns.

We'd decided to build a box for this bed, as we wanted to build up the soil around the crowns and make it easier to weed during the year...both important to the health and optimum production of asparagus. [You may or may not know...or care to know...that asparagus is a perennial vegetable, coming back year after year from the roots (or "crowns") you plant only once. It also hates to share space with anything, especially weeds...a real loner.] Mr. T had a couple of 8' boards for the long sides, but he had to cut two 3' boards for the ends. He screwed them together with deck screws, then nailed them to the corner braces he'd sunk into the ground. It ain't going nowhere!

We then emptied out the 'used' soil from the potato bags and spread out a good dose of mushroom compost. We will cover everything with a layer of straw after it has settled a bit. I can almost taste those tender spears that will pop us next Spring, can't you? Here's a pic of Ella Rae checking out our work.

Ella Rae approves of the new asparagus bed...but she'd really like to roll around in the compost!

Then Mr. T emptied out several bags of leaves* and ran the mower over them to give 'em a good chop. Next up, he got the big tiller running and turned the whole area under. I kept busy with the Mantis(r) tiller to dig new beds for daffodils behind existing daylily beds. When the Mantis conked, I continued pulling up the frost-singed zinnias and snipping the last of the rose-blooms. (Yes, the roses are STILL blooming)

So what's left, you ask? The cool season garden is hosting broccoli (pictured), cabbage, lettuce, a few carrots, fewer still beets, turnip greens, and collards. There are also a couple of rows of garlic that will overwinter and be ready next July.

Grow, baby grow!  Will you be ready for Thanksgiving?

We went out yesterday in the early drizzle (goodbye, good weather...:) and measured and marked the rows/paths for next year. We'll add amendments like lime (per our Soil Report), and North Carolina's own Kickin Chicken and Pete's Cow Manure before we put the baby to bed for the Winter.

You probably won't be surprised to learn that I took the measurements and spent the evening drawing up the Plan for Garden 2013. One can't be too prepared, can one?

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Leaves* - Hello, my name is Patricia...and I am a Leaf Thief. I admit it...I see leaves bagged up on the curb, headed to the landfill, and I can't help myself. I load those bags of once-and-future gold into my car and head home to the shredder. Nuthin' better to help loosen and build clay soils!

This year, though, I may have made the best deal yet. Our across-the-street neighbors have a beautiful front yard, lush and green...and they are fanatics about getting the fallen leaves off their lawn, sooner rather than later! I asked if we could trade all the veggies they want next year from our garden for their bags of leaves...and we would return the bags, too. We've had a similar deal with our next door neighbor...and our lawn guy, who brings us BIG bags of leaves that he "vacuums" from his customers' yards with his monster riding lawn mower. With all these contributions this Fall, we may not need to make the rounds of the neighborhoods the day before the HPNC yard waste truck does.

Still...I may hear the siren call...

Fun Friday!

Today was one of those perfectly marvelous days one dreams about. At least, it was for me. Day trip!

It began early-early...at least it did for me. I had set my alarm for 6:00, but I suppose I was too excited to sleep much past 5:00. I had already packed my day-bag with my tickets, a knitting project or two, my iPad, my iPod (for the audiobook I'm listening to, The Last Founding Father), and just in case I needed one more thing...a new gardening magazine. By 7:30 a.m., I was off on my latest adventure.

I've written more than once about how much I enjoy going to symphony concerts, especially the Friday Favorites series performed by the NC Symphony in Raleigh. And I have also shared a post or two about my love of train travel. Combining the two of these passions on an absolutely gorgeous Fall day, meant that I was eastbound on The Carolinian, leaving the Furniture Capital and headed for the state capital, as the sun began its steady rise in the cerulean* blue sky. Here we go! Second stop outta High Point (which got its name by being the highest point on the NC railroad between Charlotte and Goldsboro) is Burlington (pictured).

I arrived in Raleigh right on time and began the easy, less-than-10 minute walk to Meymandi Concert Hall, arriving with about 25 minutes to spare before the pre-concert lecture.

Lecture? I thought you said this was a fun day, Patricia! Well, it was a fun day for me...because I had the opportunity to learn something new. You see, growing up in the 60's and coming of age in the 70's in West Tennessee...and specifically Memphis...my exposure to music was limited to either Country Music (favorite of my Nashville-born & bred Daddy, and a little less fav of Momma), show tunes (Momma's favorites), church hymns, or Rock and Roll. Period. That's all I knew. Oh, maybe a march or two played by the band(s) at football games, but that was about it.

I know, I know... Miss Caroline tried her best to teach me something different during my 5 years of piano lessons. But I struggled so as the assignments got more difficult that I guess I just didn't get it. I never realized that the pieces she wanted me to learn were examples of beautiful classical music. Trust me, there was nothing beautiful about the way they sounded when I played them!

When I arrived at Mississippi State College for Women (MSCW) in '71, I was only being "nice" to my sweet (and talented) suitemate KD when I agreed to attend a concert by the W's orchestra, where she had won a spot playing the flute. When I first heard classical music played as it should be, by an orchestra, I was amazed...and I was hooked.

The train thing has been with me since Kindergarten days in Covington. We went on a train trip all the way to Atoka, Tenn ("two stores and a cotton gin"), a distance of maybe 12 whole miles. What a thrill! Moms were smiling and waiting at the station to drive us back, as the conductor helped a gaggle of us 5-year olds step off the train. Well, the other Moms were. My Momma was in tears, frantically trying to get in our car, which she had locked. With the keys in the ignition. And with Li'l Brother Jack snoozing in his car-seat. I don't know if he still remembers the trauma, but it did nothing to deter my new-found joy attached to train-travel.

[A note. As you know, Mr. T and I are extraordinarily compatible and enjoy many of the same things in life. But, he doesn't share my love of classical music...or trains either for that matter. So days like today are days that bring joy to me alone. Sigh.]

So, back to today. The lecture was excellent, and I learned new and interesting tidbits about Dukas, Debussy, Dvorak, and Mozart...all of whom were on the program entitled Mozart's Prague Symphony. I learned that the real reason composers used a Fanfare at the beginning of a piece was to tell the Audiences to, and I quote, "sit down and shut up!" It seems that 18th and 19th century audiences (especially in Paris) were a bit more raucous than we are. Who knew?

Following the education portion came a soothing 90 minutes of beautiful music, played well and enthusiastically by the NC Symphony, with a guest clarinetist...who, even though a Harvard graduate, looked to be about 15, but who played Debussy's rhapsodie for clarinet like he had many more years of experience. As usual, I found my seat in the first balcony and pulled out my knitting needles.

Yes. Knitting needles. I find that the act of knitting helps my busy brain to settle and focus on what is at hand. I choose a project that is pretty basic (no fancy patterns here!), that I can knit and purl in the near-dark of the concert hall, and that can be done on circular needles...so I'm not chasing a lost needle mid-Andante. And I purposefully knit slowly, to avoid clicking my needles and annoying the person(s) next to me. I've had folks make comments about "how do you manage that in the dark?" (it's not really totally dark). But I've never had anyone say that my knitting bothered them. They may have felt it, but no one has ever said it.

After the concert, I headed to my favorite downtown restaurant, bu ku, which offers a 10% discount to concert-goers. It was delish, as always! I had grilled salmon and pear salad with Asian Ginger dressing (pictured)...and since I didn't have to drive the train home, I treated myself to a lovely Gewürztraminer.

With about 90 minutes until I had to get back to the station for my return trip, I headed down Fayetteville Street toward the State Capitol building (pictured). It isn't really the prettiest I've seen (I reserve that honor for West Virginia or Georgia, with their gleaming golden domes), but neither is it the plainest (New York in my book). It's a replacement building, as the original burned in the mid 1800's...and I guess they were aiming for solid rather than showplace. The dome is copper...meaning it's that ugly brackish-greenish verdigris. The most interesting part was seeing all the trees on the square surrounding the building. Are they all NC natives? I'll have to investigate further...

Then I made my way to the State History museum. Be still my beating heart! All this history...and free admission to boot. I'd probably still be there if I didn't have a train to catch.

I have two more opportunities to repeat this Fun Friday in the first half of 2013. I can hardly wait to hear "All Aboard!"

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*Cerulean blue...yeah, I could have just called the sky Carolina Blue, but my brain has been on the Color Wheel this week. I wrote an article on Decorating for The Holidays from The Garden which is now available at: http://guilford.ces.ncsu.edu/2012/11/holiday-decorating-from-the-garden/

I know, I know. It says it's originally by Karen Neill, our Horticulture Agent...and that none of the pictures show up. She tells me there's a glitch or two in the way the site is set up, and she's trying to get it reworked. No matter. Enjoy!

Bell's Palsy Update - Week 19

Another one of those "not much to report" updates, which is either good or bad, depending on perspective, I suppose. I continue to see infinitesimal improvements, as I continue to see my Speech Therapist.

I still have some lingering paralysis in my lower lip, left of the midline, which means I still have a crooked smile...and trouble pronouncing certain letters. (You'll be able to see it in my "Big Smile" Documentation photo below.) This week, she gave me a page of verbal exercises to do in order to help me with the F sound, which - due to that bit of paralysis - seems to be my main issue at the moment. Say them with me:

1. Phil fell fifty feet.
2. Funny Fanny makes fabulous fudge.
3. Fill the funnel with fat-free batter.
4. The fox fit under the farm's fence.
5. The form failed to fit the false face. (I'm not sure what that means...I just say it...:~\)

You get the idea, right? It sure beats saying ooh-ee-ooh-ee-ooh-ee and la-la-la-la-la.

Oh, did I tell you what happened the other day at therapy? My session was winding down to a close, and I was on the last exercise. It's one where I open my mouth as wide as I can and run my tongue around my lips, more or less in a circle...making allowances for the fact that my mouth doesn't open in a "circle" yet. On this particular day, Tori had moved the second electrode pad to a different spot on my chin, below my lower lip, in order to stimulate the paralyzed part. Well, I ran my tongue over my top lip and started to complete the first circle when...did you ever stick your tongue to the end of a battery when you were a child? Yeah. Same shocking sensation. Needless to say, she and I were both laughing so hard that we had to call it quits. Zapper, indeed...:~\

Now, you will probably think that jolt loosened a screw or two, but I probably have Bell's Palsy to thank for saving my life. No, really. Ready for this?

Remember how my year began...with my unorthodox shortcut down the stairs on my rear end? That little episode eventually sent me to the Back Dr., and the MRI machine, both of which diagnosed an annular tear in a herniated, lumbar disc. And in April, that led me to my first (of potentially four) epidural spinal injection, which was performed in the Dr.'s office and which was described in pitiful detail in an earlier post. You may recall I didn't want to ever go through that while awake again, so I had decided if I absolutely must have more ESIs, to request the next one(s) be done as an outpatient, under anesthesia...meaning at High Point Surgery Center.

Anybody keeping up with the National news lately? Meningitis ring a bell? Specifically meningitis caused by tainted meds, mainly used in epidural spinal injections? Well, dear readers, any guesses where one of those patients who died from receiving a tainted ESI got her injections this summer? Three guesses...and the first two don't count.

But, because I left HPNC for KY in late May, and subsequently got Bell's Palsy in late June, requiring me to take a large amount of steroids orally...and because oral steroids are available in your body as help for back pain as well as jaw pain, I didn't need another ESI for my back when I returned home in August. Ergo, because I got Bell's Palsy, I didn't get meningitis.

Of course, one could say that because Missy M broke her foot, I didn't get meningitis. True, but that doesn't give credit for the oral steroids (which possibly caused my cataract to accelerate, but I digress). And, let's face it. I've been searching for a silver lining about Bell's for months.

130 days, to be exact. Nearly 19 weeks. So, let's just go with "Bell's Palsy Saved My Life." That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Time to document the wee bit of progress toward full recovery. Here they are...the Photos, "Smile!" and "Big smile!!"

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P. S. Good news from the ophthalmologist today. My right appears to have healed well, so he ordered new lens for me. I still need correction for the left eye, and I still need both bifocals and transition lens for both. But, good news is good news, right?