Traveling

The following is a few words about travel. On Sunday going to and from Santa Monica to Anjuli’s party in Corte Madrea, this is the way it worked. A total of eight busses, two planes and two automobiles were used for the trip. No wonder that it was a relaxed trip, just sit back and relax, with eight bus drivers, two pilots, Carl and Paul as drivers. Those twelve people had all the concerns and hassles on my behalf. As you can see life does not have to be hectic.

Anjuli's Party

The party for Anjuli was another great one. Steven and Jyoti used to have birthday parties in a park and this reminded me of those events;. The crowd full of friends that had not been seen for long time, the weather could not have been better under and around the redwood trees, the food excellent, the Irish Step dance groups preformed beautifully on the grass and there was even a full dress and professional Highlander Page Piper. We all had a good time. We will all be missing Anjuli because of her new adventures in Ireland.

Wayne's Visit

Last evening Wayne, Matthew, Susan and a friend of Matthew stopped a little before 8:00. We shared a dish of the garden berries here at the cottage before a dinner at the Sizzler Steakhouse. They were on their way to Long Beach for a Memorial Day vacation. Cynthia hurt her leg and it was not a good idea to chance of making it worse. Andrew’s last day for this year of schooling was yesterday. They all are growing taller. Matthew is already taller than I am and Susan is a very nice looking young lady. Long Beach is a good place for a vacation and they will find so many things to do.

Education

The following is a quote for this time of the year for some finishing another year of schooling or are graduating.

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forges

Picture

Breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee at Saint Johns will start the day. The rest of the day is unscripted and only usual things are expected.

Saint Johns has featured four of us volunteers in their latest edition of “Saint Johns Magazine”. It goes to nearly every home address in Saint Monica and where else I don’t know. Most people I know have called my attention to it and are thankful that it was a good picture of me. I know that I look older than I think it should but the most I hoped that I look intelligent. I have a few copies given to me by friends and will hang on to them until I see some of you.

Birthdays

Today is my sister Marianne’s birthday. She has been doing well. I miss seeing her, as often I would like. She was born un 1926 and so in a year or two all us six siblings will be 80 or more, a marvelous group. All are living independently and actively.

It is also Jyoti’s birthday and I will be with her and her family on Sunday.

Just To Let You Know

The new VCR is connected and programmed. I am now back handling the media the way that best satisfies me.

The Memorial Day weekend highlight I will be being in Corte Madrea to be at Anjuli’s second graduation party and her going away party. I plan to fly both ways on Sunday; luck will be needed for that plan.

If you do not check the blog comments, you may want to as sometime they are added and are informative.

Warm Day

Southern California had a warm day. Some areas had temperatures at 112, many more 100 and some above 90. Mine topped out at 84. This cottage is warm on hot days. It is not insulated, has a roof directly overhead and three outside sunny walls. After opening the windows, I have six, and let whatever breeze there is flow through, turn on the fan and relax and then it is not bad.

VCR

VCR’s do not last too long. They are complicated mechanical and electrical devices. Mine has developed some corruption in its rotating head. All the cleaning has not made enough improvement. I use it for a couple of hours of recording each day so that means that it is in use about fours a day. I do not like commercials and I like fast forwarding through parts of programs that are uninteresting. I also like watching programs when I like and not necessarily while they are aired.

Immigrants

Los Angles has a Latino as it’s new mayor. I do not vote there but vote in Santa Monica, no election here last Tuesday. It is fitting that they have the 1st Latino mayor since 1878; I think that is the year. We deal with and depend on immigrants from Mexico for so much of what goes on in Southern California. If you look around they are the ones that do most of cooking in restaurants, construction work and I most all of the farm work. I have a friend who often travels to Switzerland and complains about the North African immigrations there. I said, “We are lucky to have most of our immigration from Mexico.” Nick, agreed that our immigrants are so much more desirable. I enjoy all that I work with at Saint Johns and others that I come in contact with. It would be nice to be able to speak Spanish well and enjoy their company even more. Their culture is quite relaxed and they are, usually, easy natured and friendly people. Being immigrants, they work hard to make a better life for their families here and to send money to their families in Mexico.

An Ordinary Day

This day should be another good one, sunny and not to warm, only ordinary events are expected. All is going well.

Ogallala Berries

The garden is producing an abundance of Ogallala berries this year. Two days ago a brought home two large paper coffee cups full of ripe berries. They are like larger than black berries and are sweeter if you let them get fully ripe. I will be pick at least that many today.

cspan

So far I have not been using cable for my TV. The main reason being that I do not watch hardly any TV, NPR is about all I watch each day for the evening news. The reason I would use to get cable is so that I could get CSPAN 1, 2 and 3. I get their live shows on the Internet and their other show are archived so that I can see and listen anytime that is convenient for me. Also I can watch as long as I like and end the session when I have something else to do. I can go back and rejoin the program when I wish. The computer can be used for other tasks while listening to CSPAN, not that I spend that much time on the computer.

Nice Day

Looking forward to a nice day without any unusual events. Hoping you all have a good one.

Missing Volunteering

This should be the 1st day that I have missed my volunteering I on my Mondays in about three years. The cold is not serious. It is causing little trouble. The voice is still hoarse and I do not want the cold to spread to my fellow works or to the patients.

Missing Volunteering

This should be a beautiful day in May, hotcakes for breakfast, UU Church, soup and coffee for lunch at Saint Johns, some gardening and dinner at UCLA Medical Center. The cold seems to be losing the battle. I am feeling quite good.

Sunday In May

This should be a beautiful day in May, hotcakes for breakfast, UU Church, soup and coffee for lunch at Saint Johns, some gardening and dinner at UCLA Medical Center. The cold seems to be losing the battle. I am feeling quite good.

Missed The Trip

With the cold that I have it was impossible to go to Benjamin’s Sorority open house in Santa Barbara. I will miss all the activities including spending time with him and Paul. I would have be good to chance spreading the cold especially amount the students during their final weeks of this University term. Paul said that it is an annual event and so I will look forward to the next year. The cold is progressing and I am suffering only fairly minor symptoms.

A Cold

This is the 1st time in five or six years that I have had a cold. This one started out as a slight one and so far is continuing to do so. Today the most noticeable thing has been my loss of my voice. My biggest concern is that I do not want it to become more serious. At the moment, this being Friday, I am going to have to come to a decision about going to Santa Barbara on Saturday. Paul will be at Wayne’s this evening and we can share a Motel/Hotel on Saturday evening.

Better Vision

The yesterday’s early morning check-up by Dr. Rosen contained no surprises. He said, “The eye shows an improvement.” I knew that but was not expecting the change so soon. There is more light getting to the sight nerves and the distortion near the center of vision is smaller. He suggests, if am willing, that we repeat the injection process in a month and as many times as I am willing. That seems like a good decision, as any improvement in the left eye might be needed if the right eye goes bad, as it is expected to do.

Eye Treament

The Macugen procedure from Dr. Rosen yesterday about 11:00 went off without much trouble. He cautioned me that the biggest problem might be an infection. They took great care in keeping everything sterile. I could not even talk for fear of some contamination. Not realy any pain connected with the injection. At about 5 P. M. as the anesthesia wore off it felt like a large grain of sand under my eyelid, so much pain whenever I blinked or move the eyeball. I called the ophthalmology department, already closed and was about ready to head for the emergency department when I took to Tylenols and went out for dinner. After getting back and laying back I could close the eye and feel relieved. I will see Dr. Rosen at 8:40 this morning. All should be okay.

macugen

This morning I will be at Kaiser West Los Angles meeting with Dr. Rosen for the start of the treatment with Macugen for the ARMD in the left eye. Up to now no treatment was intended to make a improvement of the eye condition, just to keep it from getting worse. I believe that the procedure will take two days. I am sure it willl be interesting and hopefully cause some inprovement.

Macugen

This morning I will be at Kaiser West Los Angles meeting with Dr. Rosen for the start of the treatment with Macugen for the ARMD of the left eye. Up to now no treatment was intended for an improvement of the eye condition, just kept it from being worse. I believe it will be a procedure covering two days. I am sure it will be interesting and hopefully cause some improvement.

Normal Monday

This should be a normal Monday, volunteering and out for dinner.

Mothers

Happy Mothers Day!
It in not necessary, I know, to remind each of us for our love and thankfulness for our mothers. Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it was love just the same. My mother did such a good thing in raising all us. She did not do it only with the things she said, a lot of it was in setting good examples in how to go on in life.

During all my many years with Norma I realize that Norma did not always know how to proceed with impossible family situations, but she did it with her love and her innate sense it the worked for the best. Thanks for mothers!

Bejamin's Open House

Next Saturday I will be attending Benjamin’s Fraternity House open house at The University of California at Santa Barbara. It will be a new experience as, I believe, he is the 1st to join a fraternity. Paul will also be there. It should be fun. I can fly to and from Santa Barbara the same day and still have time for the event.

Some Hobbies

Yesterday not much was happening. I was doing some of my hobbies, such as reading, listening to music and listening to silence. The new purchase of a wireless headset system is making listening to the various audio devices even better.

Today is laundry day. I need to go to a neighborhood laundry about four blocks away. I am able to get all the clothes into bags and backpack and transport them to and from with the Segway. Close to the laundry is a good bakery and coffee shop so it it’s not much of chore once every other week.

Walking

The Trip to the Post Office, the Library and to Norm’s for dinner used two buses and a walk that add up to thirteen blocks. I find that I can do the walking and enjoy meeting a person or two and seeing things new and interesting but the walking is not same. It is slower and not physically as pleasurable that is has been in the past. Such is life after 85! I believe the hips resent the movement more than the knees. Anyway, I am still out there among people and doing things. The Segway is a great joy.

Two Books

I am in the process of hearing a book on tape “River” and reading “ A Thousand Miles On An Automobile”. The 2nd written about a trip by car in 1902 and the 1st written a few years ago about a trip all the way from start of finish of the Green River. Books on tape and on the computer screen give me hours of pleasure. You can cover a great deal of country in books.

Two Books

I am in the process of hearing a book on tape “River” and reading “ A Thousand Miles On An Automobile”. The 2nd written about a trip by car in 1902 and the 1st written a few years ago about a trip all the way from start of finish of the Green River. Books on tape and on the computer screen give me hours of pleasure. You can cover a great deal of country in books.

ARMD

At the scheduled visit yesterday with one of my ophthmologist, Dr. Rosen. He and I want to do the procedure next week where Macugen is used to make a change in the left eye that is now useless for reading or much of anything else. That treatment makes an improvement in some patients some of the time. My big concern is that the second eye will also get the unavoidable and mostly untreatable condition, ARMD, in five years or sooner. I am hoping that they will develop methods for successful treatments.

Contentment

The reclining chair fits into a spot in this studio apartment and it is the best place for it. It is ideal for reading, watching TV and laying back and relaxing (catnapping). Leaning back and relaxing in that chair puts you into the perfect position to think and practice contentment. What you see are two large windows and through them nothing is in the viewing area but greenery. There are parking spaces between the shrubbery and the tall trees beyond but they can not be seen and there are some birds to give a little motion. Contentment comes easy.

Grandmother's Teas

Last evening while eating some strawberries and drinking some Camelmile tea, both produce from the garden. The tea was hot and not wanting to wait for it to cool, I poured some into my saucer. I thought about my great grandmother Lesher and how that was the way that she always drank her tea. It is a good way to cool it and get the good effect of the aroma from the brew. Grandmother Elias, rather than drinking coffee to tea in the evening, drank hot water. I have tried that and find that it to be a fairly good drink. Grand mothers are special.