Friday Five!

1. We are approaching the new season at the ancient monument I volunteer at. I have spent a bunch of time preparing for this as I lead a team of 16 volunteer guides.

2. I took my brother in law (sister’s husband) for a colonoscopy. All went well, the doctor that did the procedure did remove a couple of polyps but they look normal to him and he expects good results from the lab tests, like the last time.

3. Visit to the hygienist went well. Booked another appointment in 6 months plus will see the dentist at that time.

4. I have been “decolonizing “ all week with antibacterial shower gel and also antibacterial nose gel that I apply twice a day. I have also stopped taking my blood thinners in readiness for the knee surgery on Monday.

5. My son had his last day in the office today before it closes down completely. He and a few others will continue to work from home. (It’s complicated)

I'm a day late, but I fell asleep watching the Olympics last night.

1) There's been a dove sleeping right up against my sliding glass door onto the balcony overnight. It's -25F wind chill and snowing on and off, and the poor thing looks half frozen. I am wondering if it's one of the ones that hatched out there last Spring. I put some seeds (flax, chia, oatmeal, sunflower hearts, etc.) that I found in scrounging through the pantry into a little dish and set it out for the poor dear. The bird flew away, of course, when I opened the door. Daughter says she's seen it out there every now and then recently, so hopefully it will come back and eat. Put the dish in a low box, so it should help with being out of the wind a bit, too. If it comes back. This kind of weather is so brutal on the critters. The snow has not melted at all, and tonight is to be colder still, they say. Usually the balcony is sheltered, but there's snow blowing into it today.

2) Cold. The new furnace is splendid. Some combination of the new furnace and putting plastic up on all the windows has cut my natural gas heating usage in roughly half from this billing period last year.  It's still going to cost more than last year, as will the electric, because of the supply and other charges, but it ticks the "it's an improvement" box.

3) Still studying French. Also looking at the Netherlands. No sooner than Spring of 2027 for a departure unless things turn much worse. As long as the daughter's work keeps extending her contract periodically (which they keep doing, while telling her they can't extend it again each time), she can't be considered my dependent, so I can't get her into an EU country to live with me. Apparently France has no "digital nomad" provisions, and I'm willing to bet that if they did and the kid went over on one THEN her work would end the contract and she'd be screwed. I need to look at Spain again, I guess. If we stayed to the north we might beat the heat. I'm even thinking Mexico, but apparently gringos are becoming quite unwelcome there - for justifiable reasons - and we'd have to locate literally right on the ocean to beat the heat. Ah, well.  Maybe things will work out and I can just spend the rest of my days here in the library or puttering in my garden. I'm too old to keep having to pull up stakes every few years.

4) I do genealogy as a hobby. I have been looking, for over 40 years, for a great-aunt and a great-uncle for whom there were no records. They were just a rumor traded among the older members of the family. Then I found one did exist, and a name. A few years ago I found the other one's name. All I could find initially was the baptism record of the older child. Looking backwards from census docs, I wrote to the RC Churches for that area of NYC and asked if they had records for the family (I was able to give them a 4 year time window).  Miraculously, one found a baptism. From that info, and a stroke of luck in finding matching address info on a census mortality schedule for 1880 I had a death month/year for the older child. I have been writing to cemeteries - many cemeteries - over the years trying to find her. I had tried to get a NYC death certificate years ago, but without the birth date I couldn't get one. With the month/year on the mortality schedule I tried again now that the records are online and there was only one showing the right name, the right area, and the correct month. NYC sent me the certificate. It named the cemetery where they were buried. With that I wrote to the cemetery asking if they had, by any chance, them both buried there.  They just returned my SASE with a letter that says they both are there, and the exact location of the grave in which they are both resting. I need to get to the LDS library to see if they have a microfilm of the daybooks - sometimes there will be notes written in the entry for each burial - to see if they have any other info that the cemetery otherwise cannot release. I'll be trying to visit the grave in the spring. It'll be over 140 years since anyone probably has, but still.... Calvary Cemetery in Queens, by the way, is absolutely huge. There are millions of people in it now.  It was rural farmland when the kids were buried there. (Diphtheria, as toddlers.) Why bother? Nobody deserves to be forgotten, no matter how long they were able to be with us.

5) The subscription here ends tomorrow morning. Apparently it's not possible to freeload, as it was back in the earlier days - you have to pay to subscribe, which involves a record of payment, potentially removing any anonymity my VPN has given me. So I may or may not be back.  If not, I wish all of you the very best. I still remember most of our time in the UK fondly, and miss that tremendously. I hope Brexit and the insanity coming down the pipeline treats you kindly in the future.  Take care, stay safe, be well.

If we don’t see you again, then good luck in your future endeavors.

My items this week are mostly health related.

1. Monday was a knee replacement and amazingly I recovered well enough to be discharged the same day so less than 12 hours in hospital. By 4pm I had passed the physiotherapy tests, had an x-ray which the doc said was good and I began the discharge process. I did have time to eat my dinner before my daughter and wife arrived to take me home. (My wife hasn’t driven for a few years because of poor eyesight)

2. Tuesday I dropped the codeine medication and just stuck with Tylenol. We did get out for a short walk, 3 lampposts.

3. Wednesday I stopped using my sticks around the house. My home exercises are incredibly painful and I have been having very little sleep overnight but am very pleased with my progress. 4 lampposts that day.

4. Thursday the weather was far too wet to risk walking outside so I started going upstairs again, good exercise. (Our master bedroom and bathroom is downstairs so no need for me to use the rooms upstairs )

5. Friday back outside for a much longer walk, and in the afternoon drove the car a short distance to deliver some vegetables to our daughter. That brings us to today, Saturday, where I drove a short distance down to the town followed by a walk to a coffee shop to have breakfast with our son. This afternoon more walking outside, probably over a mile.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the pub as usual in the afternoon for a couple of hours but my sister will drive me and her husband down there then pick us up.

The new me. It's the first day of spring. It almost feels like it.

1) Have to make an epic run to the trash bins out in the alley - been putting it off due to the cold and the wind. It was Very windy here this week, around 70mph in some places. To the electric company's credit, we did not lose power in our neighborhood, although some areas did as the trees came down on the lines.

2) The latest batch of lettuce has sprouted under the grow lights in the library. Planted some tomato seeds yesterday as well. The onion sprouts are four inches high now. The snow is all melted but the ground is still frozen, so it will be a few weeks before they can be transplanted.

3) I tried a new low-carb baking mix this week - CarbQuick.  It had a metallic aftertaste, like too much baking powder in the mix, but made good-looking scones. And also had soy in it, which was not mentioned in the advertising blurb, which actually mentioned the lack of soy. That was painful and unpleasant. Thankfully the merchant sent a full refund.

4) My daughter was struck critically ill a few weeks ago. Thankfully the ambulance arrived within minutes. Recovery is slow now that she's home again, but she is doing as well as can be expected at this point. Thank the heavens. Copies of the bills being sent to the insurance company are arriving daily. The cost  without insurance would have been staggering, and there's still a long road to go. Out of the blue, that was, and definitely a time for a priority recheck. Not a lot else matters right now.

5) I received an invite to a website for alums of my high school. I've missed the 50th anniversary meeting by a few years, but I don't think I'd have gone anyway. It's too far away and don't really know any of them anymore - and haven't for 50 years.  Was disturbed, though, to see so many of the people I used to pal around with have died already - some quite a few years ago. The website put their high school graduation photos up in their memorials, which was a nice touch. But so many of them died so young. Where did the time go? Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Welcome back in your 3rd, 4th? iteration. Not sure why you need so many duplicate accounts but that’s your business, I don’t need to know. You are fortunate that this site allows duplicate accounts, many don’t.

Your daughter’s medical event sounds really scary, I’m pleased to hear that it turned out well.

My Friday Five is as follows:

1. Had appointments with my surgeon and physiotherapist on Wednesday and was signed off by both after only 6 weeks. The wound has healed remarkably well plus I have full flexibility and motion in my new knee.

2. I have started back on full 5 hour shifts as a volunteer guide at the Priory plus I continue as the volunteer supervisor of the 15 guides.

3. The Priory gives free tours and I trained up 2 new guides this week to be tour guides in time for the tours starting in April. Although the tours are free we usually get some nice donations at the end.

4. On Thursday I went to a local restaurant with our son and a good friend. It is a regular thing where we arrive just after 5pm, share some starters and have a drink. We are done by 6:15 usually. Our son works from home these days, 2 weeks on early shift (7 to 3:30) and 2 weeks on lates (10:30 to 7pm).

5. We drove out with our son to the coast (6 miles) one morning for breakfast. Now that Spring weather is with us it is absolutely beautiful.

Only currently have one active account. Got myself locked out of my first one.  I think there might have been a two-day overlap between the last one and this one, but not sure. It let me log into the account earlier this week, but I couldn't post anything. So it's gone, as far as I know.

Glad to hear you are up and around again.

Yes, it was the stuff of nightmares. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Enjoy the spring. I assume there are daffodils?

Only currently have one active account. Got myself locked out of my first one.  I think there might have been a two-day overlap between the last one and this one, but not sure. It let me log into the account earlier this week, but I couldn't post anything. So it's gone, as far as I know.

Glad to hear you are up and around again.

Yes, it was the stuff of nightmares. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Enjoy the spring. I assume there are daffodils?

For sure, thousands and thousands of daffodils

 

Oh, man, I really miss those daffodils. It seemed that once one bloomed there would be hundreds more magically appear overnight. And the little white bell-shaped flowers that grow under the trees.  I do wish things would have worked out for the daughter there, as there is so much about the UK I really liked. 

Enjoy those flowers!