life in the old lane

Excellent dinner with my hospital “boss”. She is a dear friend. AND, no longer “boss”. That’s a good thing because I have apparently produced the last CMS-required batch of Covid data. And this is a good thing. Because, Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. And I don’t want to be in the ED waiting to die and have someone run in and ask me where is the May data?

Peg is also a recidivist. I slipped back into online shopping, doom scrolling, social media, YouTube, and games. Must do better. 

I have zero interest in any of the ports. I am spending 14 days at sea for one day of the Panama Canal. I’ll have no trouble amusing myself, doing nothing much. 

I would love to think that I could use the time to get completely caught up on photo culling, processing, and editing. But, I don’t want to take my computer. I can travel happily with a phone, iPad, and Kindle. No need to add another 3 pounds to my bag. And, no need to risk my computer and all of its data. (My data are all backed up. But, I hate to think that someone would gain access to it.)

Note to self: These are first-world problems. Enjoy them. 

Now. There is an hour until dinner. Why don’t you cull and catalog some photos?

 

The First Rose of Summer, looking good today.

Today. Ten years ago today, Carlton was told he had Merkel Cell Carcinoma and maybe 6 months to live.  He didn’t quite make 6 months. He died a week shy of 6 months.  But, they were good months.  Of course, I would have preferred a different outcome.  However,  I didn’t get a vote. 

Slept on my friend’s sofa last night. Another friend has the duty tonight. We have a “Health Care Unit” where we could go if we must. But we all want to stay in our own rooms. And we try to make that happen for each other.

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. Too old to consider going to Egypt to see the total eclipse in August 2027. But, a total eclipse in Karnak would be awesome. 

Sprung my friend out of the hospital this morning. We have sort of been ignoring her all day – which is what we would all want. But, I am going to sleep on her couch tonight. It’s a “just in case” thing. Mostly to make her many friends feel better. 

 Feeling old and fat today. I think it’s because I have been eating everything in sight with total disregard for nutritional content or lack thereof. As a result, my joggers are fitting more like leggings. 

Saw this great dump truck en route to the hospital this morning.

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. And spending the day in a hospital waiting for a friend having hip replacement surgery has made me rather tired. So, this will be brief.

No. I did not see the eclipse. Didn’t even look in fact. In 2017 I went to Tennessee to see that eclipse. It was great and hope that everyone in the path of totality had a fine sunny day. 

I did see the inside of a hospital.

I also fed The Princess Cat. If looks could kill I would be dead.

Warning. Cat picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not one single whimper of a complaint about today’s weather. Walked a lot and worked on my garden box a little. 

Also spent way too much time thinking about taking/not taking my computer on the upcoming Panama Canal trip. I already sprung for Wifi.  14 days with no Wifi might be too much of a digital detox. 

Gotta admit that the phone doesn’t take acceptable fireworks photos. But, I don’t regret getting rid of my photo gear last year. That was early-stage Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. 

Going to the hospital (not my hospital) with my friend who is getting her hip replaced tomorrow. She has to have someone stay while she is having her “procedure” as the medical folk like calling surgery which involves saws and hammers. So two of us are going with her. She is supposed to stay overnight and when I get back to the Asylum I will feed her cat its dinner. On Tuesday morning, I will feed the cat breakfast and we will spring her out of hospital. I will spend Tuesday night on her sofa. And another of our circle will spend Wednesday night. Hopefully, by then, she can safely be left Home Alone. And, I have volunteered for catbox cleaning duty. 

The crab apple blooms are almost finished. Some will produce crab apples to the delight of the squirrel population. 

Some times the mindless babbling of the political class manages to penitrate the filters I have constructed for myself. 

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old.  One friend had a heart scare last night and went to the ED, and another is having hip surgery on Monday. These situations are a real wake-up call about our age, but they also remind us just how lucky we are.

Even though we moved into the Asylum for assistance as we age, the truest support comes from each other. We’ve built wonderful friendships here, and that’s something to be truly grateful for.

While I was hiding inside and complaining about the rain – the lilacs started blooming. 

Nice easy old woman kind of a day today. Boring but nice.

Expect a blizzard tomorrow. I washed my so-called winter clothes today and put them in the “Off-season” storage box. And put the summer clothes into play. 

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. I don’t think that I will ever “need” to buy any more clothes. I am sure I have enough to last until the end of my days.  However, I am equally sure that I will acquire more clothes. Just trying to live by “One In One Out”. 

And hey, it’s the weekend.

I rather like dandelions. They saved many a person from dying of scurvy. 

The Garden Box seems to have survived a week of cold and rain. I was happy for a few hours of sun this morning. Got 2.5 miles of trekking about today. Not sure I made it to “brisk walking”. 

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. And, I am trying to stop beating up on myself if I decide that I want to take a nap. One reads on the internet that “old people who take naps are more likely to get dementia”. Well. Tough noogies. (I had a fine nap this afternoon.)

And, I finished up my travel arrangements early this morning. Turns out that this boat ride that I am taking is the last part of Princess Cruise Line’s 2024 Round The World Cruise. So some of the passengers will have been on board since January 18.  That’s a long time.

So here’s the plan.

April 24 – JetBlue to Ft Lauderdale. Spend the night
April 25 – Steerage from Ft Lauderdale to Los Angeles – Island Princess
May 9 – Southwest Chief to Chicago
May 11 – Capital Limited to DC
May 12 – Back in The Asylum

Have everything except a place to stay in Ft Lauderdale nailed down. 

Gratitude

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Grateful to be able to just get up and go. 

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It’s not the transit of the Panama Canal that I would have most wanted. BUT. Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. And I don’t know how many more chances I get. So inside cabin on an old ship it is.  

It was an indoor kinda day. And I don’t have much to show for it. Yoga class is about it.

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. Got the name of a hearing aid guy today from a tech-savvy “older” friend who seems to have good luck with his hearing aid. And the hearing guy isn’t far from The Asylum. Don’t need hearing aids yet. But, it’s good to have a name to call when I can no longer hear “fine”. 

Did think about a little trip. Princess Lines is running a trip from Miami to LA via Panama Canal late this month. It’s cheap. (As long as I avoid all the ways they try to get me to spend more money.) The ship gets crappy reviews because it’s old. But remember: Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. So, I shouldn’t  bitch about a ship being old. And the ship I took to the Bahamas in February was old too. I am just taking the trip (1) To transit the old locks in the canal (2) To get away from The Asylum for a while. So how great does it have to be?  I can fly down to Miami to catch the boat and then make my way back east. 

It’s dreary and gray today. April showers and May flowers. You know the tune.

Sprung for Annie Jacobsen’s book Nuclear War: A Scenario earlier today. I haven’t started it yet. But, as a part of my campaign to keep my brain functioning, I decided to allocate 30 minutes per day to nonfiction reading. And by definition that excludes the newspapers.  

Working on 2023 photos a little today.  Some places are just magical.

Places that are rattling around in my head at this instant include the Panama Canal, the Mediterranean – by sailboat and Tasmania. But, I think it might be the wrong time of year for Tasmania. And, I am not sure an old woman without a car can do Tasmania anyhow. And there is always that freighter/passenger ship in French Polynesia. 

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. But, I still have jackrabbits in my boots.

The highlight of the day was Easter Brunch with the accidental family.  Since we have few religious obligations – we got the early shift. And made a speedy assault on the dessert table.

I brought bagels. The Asylum always has lox and smoked salmon. But the house bagels can not be counted on to deliver. Fortunately, Einstein’s Bagels are just a block away.

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. I am trying to do one thing at a time.  My ability to successfully multiprocess has vanished. But, that’s OK. I can deal with serial processing.

Hello, my name is Peg and I am old. It’s not 100% bleak.

Now maybe the important but unseen body parts are also “not too bad”. Parts like brain, heart, lungs, pancreas, etc. You never know. And do you want to know?