Halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressed in costumes and going door to door, collecting candy. It is celebrated in most of the Western world, most commonly in the United States, Ireland Scotland and Canada. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition in North America in the 19th century.

I do not do anything different from an ordinary day on Halloween. The tenets at 1440 23rd St did not have trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Some may come visiting this year. Our four units are on the ground level and there are children in the neighborhood. I will have something on hand for them. It would be nice to have some young children come by.

Daylight savings time

Happy birthday, Steven!
That the purpose of daylight savings time (called “summertime” in many places of the world) is to make better use of daylight. We change our clocks during the summer months to move one hour of daylight from the morning to the evening.

Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. always ends a few days before Halloween (October 31). A bill to extend DST to Halloween is propose almost every session of Congress, with the purpose of providing trick-or-treaters more light and therefore more safety from traffic accidents. Children’s pedestrian deaths are four times higher on Halloween that any other night of the year. Also for decades candy the manufactures have lobbied for a daylight savings time extension to Halloween. As many of the young trick-or-treaters, gathering candy are not allowed out after dark, and thus an added hour of light would be a big holiday treat for the candy industry.

Enjoy the extra light in the mornings.

A new family member

Call it a clan, call it a network or call it a family.
Whatever we call it, whoever we are, we need each other.

Yesterday we welcomed a new member to the family. Rachel and Jered added a new baby girl. Gary called said that all when well. It was so soon after the delivery that he was not sure that they have a name for the daughter. Lisa and Gary now have four grandchildren, two boys and two girls.

Flu shots

The US Center for disease control lifted the high-risk restrictions and began asking health departments and providers who have sufficient supplies of vaccine to give flu shots to anyone who wants one. Especially those age 50 to 64.
St. John’s Medical Center gave me by flu shot this afternoon. Now all I have to do is hope for some luck. It is impossible to avoid contact with people to keep from getting the flu. I do and will continue to wash my hands often.

Telephone numbers

Mark Sommerfeldt is a person; you can call if you have meaningful reason about my well being. His cell phone number is: 310-456-0630. I am not sure if he has the regular telephone line repaired. I will check for that number. I will also get the numbers for Nick and Chris. They are away from home during the day. Nick is a student and so his hours are irregular.

Nothing

Being a bore is to tell everything.
I will spare you.
Nothing unusual had happened on Tuesday so.
…this blog will end.

Have a great day.

Projects

Doing projects has always been one of my hobbies. Is still is. Some things that I have recently noticed are: It takes longer to get started, it takes more light, my depth perception is not what it was and I am much less flexible. There is one thing that I have always noticed; the projects did not always turn out perfect. I have always had the patience to continue and so completed most of them. Now I realize why there were usually some troubles. In it because I have never done anything exactly like what I was doing. I should not think of myself as is doing them as well as a professional, just try to. I am looking forward to keeping up the enthusiasm.

Neighborhood dinner

Sunny Mc Lean’s Irish Pub, about a block from here, was a good place for the four us tenants from this complex to meet. Mark, Chris, Nick and myself each had a beer and a good dinner. I am fortunate to have them as neighbors.

Earthquake

Yesterday was a dark day with a light drizzle for most of the day. It was unusual for October in Santa Monica. Earthquake weather would be a good description for it. I am now more of a believer in earthquake weather. I was relaxing in my easy chair just before 9 p.m. I felt a strong jolt. I checked the Internet and found that there was a point 3 quake 2 miles away, just south of the Santa Monica Airport and 7 miles below the surface. There was no report of damage. How lucky can a person be? I was thinking of the 70,000 people killed by the quake in Bangladesh and last night a powerful tornado wrecking Cancun.

Earthquake

Yesterday was a dark day with a light drizzle for most of the day. It was unusual for October in Santa Monica. Earthquake weather would be a good description for it. I am now more of a believer in earthquake weather. I was relaxing in my easy chair just before 9 p.m. I felt a strong jolt. I checked the Internet and found that there was a point 3 quake 2 miles away, just south of the Santa Monica Airport and 7 miles below the surface. There was no report of damage. How lucky can a person be? I was thinking of the 70,000 people killed by the quake in Bangladesh and last night a powerful tornado wrecking Cancun.

Birthday

Today is Gary’s birthday. When a person is very young it is okay to tell there age. As people age they become more discreet and they may not wish their exact age to made known. I will not congratulate Gary on being a certain age. When people get older they are proud of their ability to have made it.

Birthdays are for
Reflecting….
Dreaming….
Enjoying….

Have a Wonderful Birthday

Weather

Don’t knock the weather. If it did change once in awhile, nine out of 10 people could start a conversation. The weather here has turned cooler and I like that. I don’t have anything really worth reporting so I will give you the weather forecast for you’re area. The weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning. I’m not that clever, give the credit to George Carlin.

Eating out

A new schedule of eating out has taken place during the past week. On Monday I ate it at Casa Escobar because it was rainy and did not want to walk too far. Yesterday I had lunch with Vivian at Clifton Café in downtown Los Angeles and spent sometime at the Los Angeles library. Paige called yesterday morning and said she would stop by the 8 o’clock to pick me up for breakfast at The International House of Pancakes. This coming Saturday us 4 tenants of unit A, B, C, and D, Mark, Chris, Nick and myself are to be at McCabes for dinner. The above is not my normal evening dining schedule. I am lucky to have the experiences.

Lucentis

Information about the disease macular degeneration ARMD came to me from about five different sources today. Ken a dinner partner reporting from the Los Angeles Times and from Norma by telephone summarizing and recommending a bulletin from ARRP. I will find that article. I checked the Internet for lucentis. All of these sources reported on a trial drug lucentis. Dr. Rosen my ophthalmologist has been treating my left eye with Macugen and with some improvement in its vision. The new drug , if the trials continue to show the good results, should be available next year. I do appreciate all the concern and information that comes to me. Thanks.

Stormy weather

There has been more thunder and lightning than I have witnessed since living in Colorado and Minnesota. It went on most all of last night and most of the day. There was quite a bit of rain from all of the showers. The Southern California rains do not usually starts this early. The people concerned with wildfires are pleased with the moisture. A 3.5 earthquake was felt by some of this area. The quake was 40 miles out in the ocean off San Diego.

DVD

“The notebook” a DVD that I watched last night is a great movie. This beautiful tale has a particular special meaning to an older gentleman who reads this timeless love story to his aging companion. In the 24th Street Liquor and sort of 7-11 store where I rented it a customer said, “It will bring tears to your eyes.” The cashier agreed. They were both right. Find it and enjoy.

Saturday

Last evening Nick and I had dinner at Rae’s on Pico Blvd. It is only an average restaurant. That is where he likes to eat. Talked with Lahoma Caldwell, who is mixed up in her life and needed some to talk. It was mostly a usual Saturday.

New eatery

A new restaurant has open near where I do my laundry. I do my laundry every other Friday. The wash and dry is the not too far away. Near the wash and dry is a small French restaurant that replaced an eatery that did not do too well. This new little place is now to small and too crowded because the food is good and the coffee is excellent.

Donations

“The Salvation Army 101” presentation at the macular degeneration support group was more interesting that I thought it would be. The one thing that I did learn that is worth passing on is that whatever you make a donation to a nonprofit group it is a good idea to specify what the money is to be used for. Otherwise it just goes into the general fund and they can do as they wish with that donation.

Jules Stein Institute

Molecular Degeneration Support Group of the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA is pleased to present, “Salvation Army 101”. That does not sound too interesting, but I will be there, the group always has some talk among themselves about how they are coping with their macular degeneration.

Work

Get happiness in your work or you will never know what happiness is.

My volunteering on Tuesdays for six hours is still a pleasure. It is considered a pleasure because I am helping people. Some need help. I also realize it is a pleasure because it gives me something useful to do and it makes me realize that I’m still able to contribute to the workforce. That is meaningful after having been retired since 1981, 24 years.

Eating out

Good food goes with what good talk. To talk at the dinner table must be better-than-average to get me to eat hospital most every night of the week. I have meet some interesting and good friend. It is a better way to meet than at other activities. The food is quite good. You can usually find something that will satisfy you.

Check Sunday's beloved for comment, if you wish.

Lorraine

The news of Lorraine‘s death came as a shock. Even though we known that she was not well and the would not be with us very long. Lorraine is Joan’s mother. The in-laws in this family have always been special people. Being part of the in-law family is what helps to make family life so pleasant.

There is no cure for birth and death. Lorraine contribute much to the future and enjoyed the interval.

What may be best for us?

For me, the following two sentences makes sense.
What ever we do it we must realize that existence is many faceted, that everything does not fit into one neat-niched arrangement, and that practically nothing is absolutely certain.

None of us really know what we want, what will be best for us until we widely experiment and experience.

Camellia Flowers

The camellia bushes outside the front door and in the alley at the back of the cottage are beginning to bloom. They are an early blooming variety called semi double. Their flowers look nice in a small simulated cut glass bowl on the table near the widow. They are an early blooming variety and they should still be blooming in February. These bushes have been neglected by the previous tenants. The hundreds of their buds show the effect of the pruning and watering.

Collapse

“Collapse”, is a pleasure to read, and as I had predicted it does give you a negative feeling. The following are the few lines at the end of the chapter on Easter Island that will illustrate that feeling. When the Easter Islanders got into difficulties, there was no where to which they could flee nor to which they could turn for help; nor shall we modern earthlings have recourse elsewhere if our troubles increase. If mere of thousands of Easter Islanders with just stones tools and their own muscle power sufficed to destroy their environment and thereby destroyed their society, how can billions of people with metal tools and machine power now fail to do worse?

It is a great book to read. Some books are page turners, this one is.

Generations

I my parents time and their parents in their day they used to expect no more of a farm than to produce enough to feed themselves. In my day a young adult expected to be poor for the next 20 years, and only thereafter, if you were lucky, might end up more comfortably. Now, young adults expect to be comfortable early; a kid’s first question about the job are “What are the pay, the hours, and the vacations"?

Spam

The Blogs have received have received a few spams. I know of no way to block spam blogs. Spam occurs in the comments section of the blogs. I can block comments, and I will block the comments section for few days and see what happens.

Memory test

Dr. Carol Miller of UCLA, summarized by latest series of memory tests. There were 20 different tests. The Dr. summarized each test and gave it a rating. The ratings were average for 4, high average for 7 and superior for 9. Her summary was that my memory had changed hardly at all in five years. The first test was in 2000, the second test was in 2002 and the latest was just a few weeks ago. I was surprised that she disclosed that from 80 to 86 years there was such a small change and the small chance for Alzheimer’s occurring. I feel so good about being able to participate in this study and than get such good news.

Check yesterday's comments if you have not do so. Sorry about the spam.

Life

This isn’t good or bad. It’s just the way of thing. Nothing stays the same.

The above quote is not a bad one to follow. Such a quote can get you past some bad times in a life.

Check October 1 blog, if you have not.

A good Sunday

Nothing new or different is expected today. This morning’s will consist out the usual hotcakes and eggs along with grapefruit and a cup of coffee. There is an intern minister at the UU church. The regular minister is on a leave of absence to write a book. A cup of soup from St. John’s Medical Center makes up my lunch. Late in the afternoon, I will be Santa Monica Center for dinner. This is not in an exciting day, but it will be a good day.

Doctoring

I have been seeing my rheumatologist once every two months. Starting In February, the doctor had me on 5 mg of prednisone per day. Next visit it was cut to 2.5 mg, than to 1.5 mg. Today, after our visit it was suggested that it to be cut to 1 mg per day, one month later to .5 mg. and then discontinue. The prednisone is to relieve my stiffness from polymaligia rheumatica. I have been having less stiffness as the months pass. It is a strange condition that makes you feel better when laying down or sitting. The longer you are a quiet the more stiffness when you begin to move. It is not take the disease for those who are a bit lazy. I am doing well.