YOU KNOW YOU ARE GETTING OLD WHEN....

This week I had a birthday. It wasn't an important or landmark one--just another birthday. Mostly I would just as soon forget about birthdays and getting older but I did have a sort of awakening as the day passed. You know that you are getting old when your friends either can't remember that it's your birthday or are too sick to celebrate it. I think I have reached the age where just having another day is all the celebration that I need.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE COLD

This weekend my 89 year old mother came down with a bad case of allergy/flu/cold/congestion, something going around down here with people of all ages. You cough until you feel like you have split your sides, wet your pants, and make undignified noises. Anyway my brother got her to urgent care yesterday morning where she got run through the x-ray and all their other tests for a total of about 4 hours and came home after a shot with pills, liquid, an inhaler and you name it. We probably got her there in the nick of time. Two of my neighbors were being hauled off by the paramedics at 7 a.m. this morning as I was getting ready to leave for church. I'm glad we got ahead of the game a day. By tomorrow she could have been really sick. She isn't all that well today in spite of the medicine to tell the truth. Anyway, I have said all this to say that I stopped by after early church and visited her a few minutes and then came home and started some chicken soup for our lunch. Chicken soup always seems a good prescription for whatever ails one. The aroma certainly is inviting. It is nearly noon and still overcast, damp and dark. It reminds me of Ohio River Valley weather without the ice and snow storms. Got to taste test the soup. Happy Sunday everyone.

TEA AND CRUMPETTS

Not long ago while browsing in the refrigerated section of Publix for something, I found English crumpetts. I suppose I have heard of tea and crumpetts for as long as I have known about fairy tales and story books. I always had an image of something delicious and perhaps somewhat exoctic although I never really bothered to ask anyone or read anything descriptive about them. They look like a little pancake about 3 inches across and browned on one side as though cooked in a skillet like a pancake. The flip side is white and full of air holes all the way to the surface which makes me think they are probably poured into a little round form on a griddle and cooked until the batter is done all the way through. The package had no instructions for heating or eating so I guess it is surmised that if you buy the things you know what to do with them.

I took 2 crumpetts and popped them into the toaster oven to heat. I tried eating them with syrup and also with lime curd, a delicious spread that I especially like. They were bland and had a less than tender texture and none of the toppings made them really palatable. I guess the rest of the package will go in the trash when garbage pick up time rolls around again. What a waste and a disappointment. Not only was it a disappointment to my palette but it has spoiled the whole image from childhood of tea and crumpetts. A good old pancake like my children's father used to make from scratch will replace that dream now. I guess it goes to show that some things are left best to our childhood story books and fantacy. From here on out it will be a Thomas's 100% whole wheat mini bagel for me toasted up good and spread with Kraft softened honey and nut creme cheese. Now that is good with the cup of tea. The mini sized bagels are much more tender than their larger counterpart in case you have trouble with the toughness of some bagels like I do.

Cheerio, everyone.

GET BLOGGING

OK family. Wish some of you would get blogging again. Seems that Cheryl and I are the only ones holding the post right now. How are we going to know what is happening if you don't write?

As for me, I don't think that I have yet disclosed, although most of the family already knows, that I am having hip replacement surgery on May 17th at 8 p.m. Several people have joked that they hope that my surgeon is not celebrating St. Patty's Day before the surgery. Son John will be with me for the surgery and daughter Natalie will be flying in the next morning to spend 3 days. By the time she leaves I should be ready to return home. I will be so glad to have all of this finally behind me. Hip replacement is way easier than knee replacement so it really doesn't amount to much unless you are the one having it. Probably the worst part for me will be that I won't be able to sleep on my left side for quite a while. I have been trying to practice sleeping on the right side and have moved my TV to the opposite side of the room but it is a hard habit to break. I guess the pain will keep me on the right when the time comes. A couple of months ago by brother built a nice wide step for me to use getting in and out of bed which really helps a lot. I talked to a lady this week who had the surgery 10 years ago and she says that her artificial hip feels no different than the real one and most of the time she can't remember which side is which. That was nice to hear. Right now it is difficult to visualize that I will be able to walk and go up and down stairs normally since I haven't for so many years. Absence of pain is almost unbelieveable. I hope that it is true.

Next week my kitty, Kiki, gets spayed so that will keep my mind occupied for several days. She is so tiny that even though she is one year old she still seems like a baby. I would be so lonely and lost without my kitties. The other kitty, now 5 years old, is as big and fat as Kiki is tiny. She is black and white and lazy. Kiki has fur that looks like a ratty old fur collar on a coat at the Good Will and yet she is beautiful--what I refer to as brindle in color--with stripes and a racoon tail.

I hope to spend some time browsing at the book store this afternoon. I'm also hoping to get the power steering fixed on my car this weekend. The pump went out and I have been driving a muscle car. Wow! We forget how good power steering is. I've been not driving much lately--betweent gasoline at $3+ and no power steering it's easier to stay home.

Have a good weekend everybody.

BUSHY TAILED

I feel bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning. I have had my usual breakfast--a cuppa (tea, if you aren't familiar with the expression) and a granola bar with a few almonds. I slept well and the extreme food craving of yesterday left with the help of a little peach colored pill that the doctor prescribed for me. I was up once in the night to potty and went right back to sleep without wanting to go to the kitchen and eat. It was wonderful. Isn't it interesting how different a day looks when one has had good rest.

So today I am off to a 10 a.m. eucharist at church, an hour of piano practice which seems like 15 minutes to me, and then to a noon meeting of a group that I attend. I can feel that it will be a blessed day already. The sun is shining and our weather is superb right now. God is in his heaven and all is well. Amen.

STEROID HIGH

I am on a steroid high due to an illness that I have had diagnosed that requires a fairly high dose of steroids. My emotions are all over the map and I have this huge appetite that I am having a really difficult time keeping in control. I had forgotten what it was like to have an insatiable appetite. It is awful--day and night I'm struggling. It is about all that I think about and I hope that it soon passes. I don't want to develop that marshmallow look that so many people on steroids have. I have taken an antianxiety drug tonight and hope that I can read for a little while and then sleep peacefully. This is awful and I do not relish this being the way of my life from here on out.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

I hope everyone I know remembered the ones they love today. Personally I bought myself flowers but I also gave some away. I love flowers in my house and I have found that the way to never to be disappointed is to buy them for myself. I wish that I had learned that about 25 years ago. It would have made my life easier. Flowers give me a lift that is hard to describe to anyone who doesn't share that feeling. I also like chocolate but I am less inclined to buy myself chocolate and almost anyone who knows me can guess why that is.

Peace and love to you all.

BUSY DAY

It was a busy day but a good one. I suppose that most good days are the busy ones except for an occasional day of reading and napping--especially if the weather is cool.

Tonight a friend and I met at our local "cheap seat" theater to see Charlie Wilson's War. We both came away amazed. Somehow it is a story that was lost in my history or maybe it was carefully kept hidden for a long time. Anyway, we both came away a little amazed and a little aghast at how things get done in Washington. It is a shame that politicians can't be open about so much of what they do because it would never fly among the other politicians. It seems that the system is almost sure to be covert by the very nature of how it all works. I'm almost certain that in the years to come we will hear of a lot more covert--more likely devious--things than this when all the history of the last 8 years is revealed. I'm sure more will be revealed. I had seen this movie panned by a critic so I didn't go with much expectation but I am really glad that I saw it. On tap for this weekend is a specialty screening of In the Valley of Elah. I do have great expectations of this movie.

FAT TUESDAY

This is "Fat Tuesday" or Shrove Tuesday, the day before the beginning of Lent. If you are Episcopal that means you go to church tonight and eat lots of pancakes in preparation for the Lenten fast of 40 days. We usually give up something like chocolate, Coca Cola, or something else that we regard as a sacrifice. It is one of those traditions that we have to remind us of the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus. Right now I don't much feel like eating pancakes and won't this year since it is also super Tuesday. I had already planned to join friends for a little election celebration this evening before I realized the conflict. I will, though, attend the Ash Wednesday service at my church tomorrow evening and a study group on subsequent Wednesdays. I enjoy the period of Lent and feel like it is a beneficial time for me spiritually.

Speaking of Super Tuesday, I think that watching the Primary returns tonight will be a little bit like watching the Super Bowl. It will be a nail biter to the end which will be when the California votes are tallied sometime late tonight. I thought that Hillary was "sparkling" on Letterman last night as well as being a super politician.

I also thought that it was touching last night to see Craig Ferguson, The Late Late Show, take his oath of citizenship on his show. It was especially apropos politically since a huge percentage of those taking their oath were Mexican. And it didn't hurt any that Hillary came on in a little spot announcement and congratulated Craig on becoming a citizen. Most of us take citizenship for granted and never think about the solemn occasion that it is for those who are participants. It reminds me of the feeling that I get when we baptize someone at church and the rest of us say a few lines reminding us of our own baptism.

BUYER BEWARE!

I just came from my laundry room where I started a load of clothes in the washer. I always use concentrated All detergent because you get twice the amount of loads out of a bottle and it isn't such a heavy jug to manage--yes, I admit, I use liquid. Anyway, when I opened this new bottle I noticed that they had changed the lid on it to a larger one with a very indistinct line in it to measure the detergent--in other words the lid isn't designed so that one full cap equals one load. I believe that this is probably a distinct act on the part of the manufacturer to get you to use more detergent than needed to wash a load. I am really ticked off about this because now in order to measure 1 ounce of detergent I have to have a separate measuring device handy at the washer. I'll bet most people are dumping 4 times as much detergent in their machines and wondering why the jug isn't lasting very long. Buyer Beware! They will do it to us every time. We have to stay smarter than the marketing execs.