Norms Bait and Tackle

Vanilla-Jackie · April 26, 2021, 01:39:33 AM

Be going by taxi, for my second covid vaccine booster 9.30am, also expecting my organic delivery box any time now, 6.30 - 7.30am, hoping he delivers early like he usually does, and before i go out, as a different driver has delivered later, also expecting a small parcel delivery and i know our Royal Mail post comes around 11.am so hope i get back by taxi by phoning when i am ready for collection from the GP surgery on time, as i live in an apartment block where some deliveries have been left outside the main door..It is all down to timing this morning...
I also want to query with GP reception that i have so far had no feed back re, my MRI scan of three weeks ago from my MS Neurologist Clinician...

Edited: new young man on the block, my organic home delivery arrived 7.30am...he was more helpful than the previous....

so_P_bubble · April 26, 2021, 04:50:37 AM

MaryPage, why didn't I chose to go and settle in Annapolis? it looks like the most interesting place to go! Croquet competition sounds fascinating. Thanks for all the details.

Vanilla-Jackie · April 26, 2021, 05:40:06 AM

I am back, and guess what, for the second time in a week our one ( yes just the one lift ) only small boxed lift is out of order again, manager said somebody got stuck in it...I had to get some help for someone to take my rollator down then up again on our fire safety concrete stairs, ( had taxi waiting ) and of course i too struggled hands clinging along the walls as i moved from one step to the other along our hallways...
Any way i am now " fully " protected...well more than i was an hour ago from this covid, and my small delivery parcel was waiting outside my door..Now i am going to tuck into my late breakfast..

MaryPage · April 26, 2021, 09:43:17 AM

Back to THE bridge. Looking out at my lavish portion of the bay, the bridge just fits in the left-hand boundary to the north. Like everything out there, its hourly changes are quite simply astounding. Just a long smudge of dark blue against the lighter blues of sky and water some days, it can flip through so many different shades your mind marvels. Often it is quite dark, but with a certain light it is almost pure white! At night, it is full up from end to end with many different displays of brilliant lights that mean one thing or another to motorists up there in the heights or ships passing in the deeper channel beneath. Some days no bridge is there at all! Seriously. Heavy mists or cottony curtains of fog hide it from seeking eyes.
Back to "That Time:" The setting sun turns our bridge into a bright pink and/or a deep salmon. The water is aqua, turquoise, deep azure, aquamarine, peacock blue. This beauty is fantastical!
If you saw it in a painting, you would think the artist quite, quite mad.
The true painter is our universe, and these moments in the passing hours of my days serve as a reminder of all the wonders I will never see, or even know exist. They also work as medicinal crutches, if you will, against the strong unseen arms pulling my emotional being back towards the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Shenandoah. I tell myself it is not the same, back there, and know this is true. We are all gone, my family, and everything is changed. There was a place there for me, and now there is not. I am pretty much an agnostic, but have entertained "what if" pictures of a myriad possibilities of an afterlife. This is the one that has stayed firmly in my head for decades now:
It is a grey, wintry sort of day. My Greyhound bus pulls up by the Feed Store and Parker's Grocery. I grab my small brown suitcase, say my thank you to the driver, and descend the steep escapeway to the street below. Looking up and down the Valley Pike, I cross over to the house directly opposite. Up the blue-grey steps to the front door, I open the storm door and then push the heavy wooden door inward. I call into the open arms of the center hallway, "Grandma, I'm Home!"

patricia19 · April 26, 2021, 11:32:16 AM

MaryPage, you have the ability to bring your reader into your writing and emotionally identify with it. It's made me remember that series of photos and texts you had of sailing and the Navy midshipmen and their base's proximity to your condo in photos.

Marilyne · April 26, 2021, 11:49:13 AM

Mary Page - I very much enjoyed your description of the changing colors and moods of the Bridge and the Bay. Although I've never been to your part of our country, I now have a visual picture in my head of the view that you enjoy every day throughout the year. Like you, I also indulge in the occasional, "daydream trip", back to my childhood home, where I walk in through the back door, and slowly move through the house - checking each room, and remembering the colors, the windows and curtains, the wallpaper, the pink bathroom, etc. Each detail in every room is clear in my mind. Even the closets, the clothes and shoes, and the vacuum cleaner, the carpet sweeper, the folded sheets and towels in the linen closet.

I also have my favorite hopeful scenarios, of what will happen when I exit this world and move into whatever comes next. About 25 years ago, I read the small pocket sized book, "The Five People We Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom. (He is best known for, "Tuesday's With Morrie".) "Heaven", is a short story of an ordinary old man who dies . . . and then we have a review of his life. The past, the people, the choices and mistakes he made. Of course the main part being the five people from his past. Well yes - it's a sentimental fantasy, and as we used to say, "corny". It is . . . but it also gives you something to ponder on those long nights when sleep doesn't come easily. Who would my Five People be? I know who I would WANT them to be, but it's much more complicated than that.

Jackie - I'm hoping you get the results to your MRI scan today, and that it will show that there has been very little progress as to your MS. Also very unpleasant that your lift/elevator, is out of order, and that you had to struggle to get downstairs from your apartment. The good thing, is that you got your second Covid shot, so now you're totally protected!

MaryPage · April 27, 2021, 11:26:16 AM

I certainly relate to all that, Marilyne. I think, despite all the fears about our own abilities in childhood, there is never a time or a place where most of us felt so safe, so secure. And we cherish and miss the group we belonged to. Oh, if only we could Tell the individuals making up our own family how dearly we honor and miss them.

Denver · April 27, 2021, 01:27:01 PM

Oh my goodness, JACKIE. SO pleased you got your second JAB done, but good grief what you had to go through with the lift being out of order. I hope and pray you will hear the results from your MRI soon and the news will be better than you might expect 🤞 I do wish you could locate to a ground floor unit that you could just roll straight out.

MP, I fell I love with your location years ago, but enjoyed every bit of what you shared with us all again.

MARILYN, I have a walk through my minds past as well at times and always enjoy trying to remember details. Many times when I needed a place to go, during dental treatments or the like, I always would go to Point Lobos State Park to a special spot that I love so much🥰🥰

Have a wonderful day💐

Jenny

MaryPage · April 27, 2021, 05:09:25 PM

The ships are another whole catalog of knowledge out there on the Chesapeake. A kaleidoscope of water life. Early most mornings you see little grey destroyers they call "Yard Boats," and you know some midshipmen are learning navigation by book and practice. Our future admirals, you wish them well.

I wonder for the zillionth time how it came about I landed here in my last years, right around the corner from the United States Naval Academy, rather than on the shore of that most beautiful of rivers, the Hudson at West Point. For 3 years, I looked out of my bedroom window at the spectacular view painted by the Hudson River School so many times. Ours was the first family to move into the brand-new officer's quarters overlooking that river just below the North Gate. That was 1935. Thanks to Google Earth, I see those homes have been replaced with culs de sac. The view will never be admired as expansively as the one that little girl had so long ago.

Humongous cargo ships glide northwards towards Baltimore. Wednesday Night Sailboat Races courtesy of the Annapolis Yacht Club and Thursday Night sponsored by the Eastport Yacht Club move as fast as they can from the mouth of the Severn across my entire view, turning about over on my far right and hoisting their colorful spinnakers. They are like young girls in pretty frocks dancing up the Chesapeake from the direction of the Atlantic Ocean. Cruise ships slip quietly down from Baltimore around suppertime. The Volvo World Race stops to visit before lining up under The Bridge to begin their last leg.

Marilyne · April 28, 2021, 12:43:07 AM

Mary Page - Yes, I also wish I could tell my departed loved ones how much I miss them. So many of us seem to have that same wish, along with other regrets of things left unsaid.

Jenny - Years ago we bought a mobile home from some friends of ours, in a lovely mobile home park in Pacific Grove. It was facing Asilomar State beach. We used to go down there on weekends, and really loved that area so much. Often visited Monterey and Carmel, and went to Big Sur, a couple of times. One place I always wanted to see, but never did, was Point Lobos State Park! Your mention of it being a special place for you, makes me sorry I never got to see it.

Did anyone see the "Pink Moon" last night? People on my Next Door, were raving about it, and posted a few pictures, which did have a definite pink glow! I looked tonight, but it's just the old familiar man-in-the-moon looking back at me. Nothing pink about it, but if I wake up during the night, which I usually do, I'll take another look.

so_P_bubble · April 28, 2021, 09:25:21 AM

Quote from: Marilyne on April 28, 2021, 12:43:07 AM Often visited Monterey and Carmel, and went to Big Sur, a couple of times.

Your mention of Monterey and Carmel brought back to my mind the 10 days I spent there in '59. That "village" was like a place frozen in time, so quiet and special. I am sure that with time it has become quite busy and "modern". I loved it, especially the little Japanese shops full of exotic sculptures and ceramics. I wonder if those tortured cypress trees are still standing there like forlorn sentinels?

Sandy · April 28, 2021, 10:49:20 AM

I love the California Coast from San
Francisco down to LA... Monterey, Pebble Beach etc..

I have been to the West Coast a couple of times in my
life and it is gorgeous. Still fancy Maines Rocky coast
but my visits to the West coast were memorable ...

patricia19 · April 28, 2021, 11:23:42 AM

I was in California on a family trip in 1956 after visiting my paternal uncle's Northern California nut orchard. However, the only thing that sticks in my mind other than not visiting the sea was Knott's Berry farm as a couple of cabins and exhibits, and In my defense, I was only five on that trip. We couldn't stop to go in the sea as it was a drenching downpour when we went by. My father planned vacations with a stopwatch and was not open to backseat suggestions.

I went back in 1970, but unfortunately, it was on another brief trip. I really don't feel I know California all that well. I've never been to the sea in California, and when I was briefly in Jack's Beach, Florida, and my difficult pregnancy forbade any sea adventures.

so_P_bubble · April 28, 2021, 11:43:39 AM

Oh Patricia, I have such good memories from Fisherman's wharf in San Francisco and the fresh shrimps one could savor there while looking at the seals and sharing with them... It's like in another life when comparing now and the corona limitations.

patricia19 · April 28, 2021, 12:51:03 PM

What I remember about San Franciso in 1970 was the hills, bridge, and almost vertical streets. We were there overnight visiting with my then husband's relatives.

Edit; there was something I just remembered about a hotel? facing two different streets on different levels?

FlaJean · April 28, 2021, 02:12:55 PM

Beautiful day here in Northwest Florida. Haven't posted in a couple of days but have read all the posts and enjoy reading all the different comments.

Our daughter-in-law had a very bad reaction to her Pfizer vaccination and was told not to take the second shot because it would be worse. My son who has MS had a slight reaction and decided to also forego his second shot.

Mary Page, I've certainly enjoyed your descriptions of the water scenes. My husband and I took a walking tour of the Naval Academy in 1978. Such an interesting tour---seeing the precision of how the cadets must store and fold their underware and socks, the huge machine for making thousands of hamburgers. I must say the tour was very thorough. However, the best part of the tour was the beautiful chapel.

Life here in the Panhandle is just plugging along slowly. Time to get busy. have a nice day all.

MaryPage · April 28, 2021, 04:00:46 PM

The Navy Chapel is a beautiful place, Jean. They just recoppered the dome. The outside is not all that unusual in a church, albeit the setting is lovely, but the inside is perfection. I have always said Army has the more beautiful Cadet Chapel from the outside, but Navy wins hands down with theirs on the inside. It is my favorite place on "the Yard," as well.

Marilyne · April 30, 2021, 12:46:36 AM

Looks like MaryPage, was the last one to post a message here, and that was over 24 hours ago! I had all sorts of things to talk about, and questions to ask everyone, but was never home long enough to spend any computer time, except for emails. We had lots of do today, so we were both in and out, all day long. An early trip to a neighboring town to drop off AJ's car at a Toyota maintenance garage . . . then I had an appointment with my ENT doc, that lasted a long time. Then back to pick up AJ's car. Anyway, all tedious tasks, that took up most of the day.

Jean - Sorry to hear that your dil had a bad reaction to her vaccination! Younger daughter Sandy, had her first shot yesterday, and it was also the Pfizer vaccine. She called me last night and said she was feeling headachy, and had a sore arm . . . but today I got an email, that she was feeling much better. Our son and wife also had Pfizer, and had no problems. It was the Moderna vaccine, that caused problems in our family! I had a bad reaction to it, but granddaughter Ashley, age 39, had the serious anaphylactic reaction, and had to be given epinephrin. So of course, she will not be getting her second shot.

Patricia - Your uncle's orchard here in Northern CA, was most likely either almonds or walnuts? Pistachio's also do well here. Knott's Berry Farm, is located in Southern California, in Orange County - next door to Disneyland. It's still a very popular vacation spot, and has grown to become a theme park, with rides and attractions. However, the old original Berry Farm is still there, as is the restaurant that served great meals, and delicious berry pies.

MaryPage · April 30, 2021, 10:17:55 AM

Good beautiful sunny morning here on the bay. Son Chip took me to Homestead Gardens and Bru-mar Nursery, where we bought 10 geranium plants in s number of shades of pink. I will plant those today, and go back in a week or so for some more to fill up all of my blue pots. I have to do everything in smaller increments these days.

I remember driving a very dear friend of my mother's (mother was gone then) to pay a visit on a friend of hers who was 104 years old. While we were there, I looked around at the group present, and saw my mother's friend had nodded off in her chair and had her mouth wide open. It was so unattractive, and this woman had been so super fastidious all of her life, that I vowed then & there this would never happen to me!

Ha!

So for several years now, I have hounded the internet for gidgets & gadgets that vowed to fix my problem. Spent money. Bought most. A box of plastic lip forms did not stay on at all. A velcro chin holder was better, but eventually fell off. And so it went.

Recently, daughter Becky (Kansas City) was visiting granddaughter Judith in St. Louis and she told her of my intense aggravation. "Simple," spake Judith. "Tell her to use a band-aid."

Back to internet searching. Found the best one was probably a Curad Truly Ouchless Silicone bandage ¾ x 3". Chip could not find it at any of the local groceries or drug stores, so I ordered from Amazon. Have been using them for weeks now, and they are Wonderful! If you share my problem, they are the solution. In case you cannot read the letters, that size is 3/4 x 3.

The medically trained members of my family tell the rest of us that a reaction to the vaccination shots is a Good Thing, generally speaking. Of course, not an anaphylactic one, but the soreness, stiffness, fever, etc. I had just a small amount of stiffness and soreness the morning after, and it was all gone by noon. But I am told that shows my immune system is not a strong one, rushing to war against an intrusive enemy. Most reactions are to be celebrated as just that: your strong and alert immune system is on the march to create those essential antibodies. With all the nasty ingredients human life has dumped in our planetary waters, soils and air, I feel deeply gratified our Public Health System has found a way to protect me from the resulting contaminations and help towards my goal of reaching my century.

I think those are what are called Mute Swans, but I am not sure. No expert, me; just a swan lover.

Marilyne · April 30, 2021, 11:16:38 AM

Mary Page - Thanks for the Curad alert! I plan to go on an Amazon search this morning, and decide whether or not they would work for overnight use? I wake up numerous times during the night, with "dry mouth". A miserable feeling that I have to attend to, with either a glass of water, or dry mouth lozenges that I keep in a container beside the bed. Both work, but would be much easier to use an ouchless band-aid. If that doesn't work for me, I'll use them for cuts, scrapes, etc. on my hands and arms. Seems I can't do much anymore in the way of housework, without an accident! My skin is extremely thin now, and only needs a slight bump or picking up something with a sharp edge, to start the bleeding. I have plenty of Band-Aids here, but it's a true pain to remove them. Always leaves my skin sore and red.

Be sure to post a picture of your geraniums in the blue pots. I would love to see what they look like when they're all planted and thriving. I have a visual picture in my mind, from many years ago when you mentioned your geraniums, so you might have posted one here in S&F in the past?

MaryPage · April 30, 2021, 11:53:47 AM

Oh my, yes, Marilyne! I have posted (Bubble has posted for me) many photos in past years. After lots of experimentation with having a garden confined to pots, I found the geraniums much the best for my needs. One thing I feel compelled to comment on: I plant them at the same time every year here, but notice them lasting further and further into the waning days of the year before a killing frost whisks them off to geranium heaven. They bloom profusely all those many months, but my own personal little garden is telling me our winters are now shorter and less cold. And, like the boring old "I remember when" story teller I have become, just like my own elders, (whom I found fascinating, actually), I remember wearing wool skirts and sweaters by the latter weeks of September and having snow by Thanksgiving. That seems a humongous exaggeration to the youngsters of the family who only know the nothing much winter we just had. You know what? My great grandchildren don't even know what galoshes are! Or wool snowsuits that got wet and chafed your thighs a bright and ultimately painful deep rose.

The comment on Mute Swans should have been in Photos. My Bad!

Yes, Marilyne: I am told that open mouth breathing is very bad for our health. Seriously.

You can search about bandaging your mouth. The Internet advises for it. For me, the Curad stays on all night until you pull it off in the morning. And no, it does not hurt at all. And amazingly, it has enough stickum that you can pull one end of it up to let go of a good stomach belch, and stick it right back in place and it will stay! Woo hoo! I so love having the little miseries of ancienthood resolved.

MaryPage · April 30, 2021, 12:09:26 PM

This long article gives all the pros & cons of mouth taping. I have the high blood pressure and heart condition listed that dry mouth seems to contribute to. Thus its particular interest to me. We all know that what is good for one is not necessarily good for all. But I give you my word of honor: this taping works, and works with complete comfort, to me. I tape just before I slip under my covers.

https://alessifit.com/2021/01/25/i-tried-mouth-taping-for-three-days-and-this-is-what-happened/

patricia19 · April 30, 2021, 12:51:45 PM

Good morning from a chilly Interior at 24 degrees with an expected high of 35. We didn't get the inch of snow they had on the ridges or lower foothills. However, we did get a dusting on the yards and not on the streets. Our light is back, it only starts to get dark at ten PM, and even that isn't a full dark. By mid-June and the summer solstice, we'll be back to 24/7 daylight. Then we start losing that light minute by minute until the winter solstice.

Marilyne, my Uncle, had walnuts and another large family of all boys. The Knott's Berry Farm exhibit that I remember and the photos shown were two small cabins and a field. It must have changed tremendously. While we also went to Disneyland, I don't recall any of that.

Jean so sorry to hear about your family's vaccination side effects and your family's Marilyne. We had the Moderna here with no side effects in the building. My sister and her family also had the Moderna version in Idaho with no side effects. I understand the ones with side effects were under four percent. I'm sorry that you had them in your family. I guess we need to work n our immune systems, MaryPage.

I suppose everything changes as we age. I, too, remember being sure I wouldn't do or be something when I was young. Somehow, MaryPage, I don't think Judith has fallen far from the family personality tree! Your mention of belching with bandaids gave me a morning chuckle,

Jean, I haven't had time to find my photos, but our two swan types are Trumpeter swans and Tundra swans, who used to be called Whistling swans. Sometimes we will get a few Whooper swans coming from Asia at the refuge.

I remember those geranium photos, MaryPage, but didn't they go back to one of your daughters?

Marilyne, I also get a dry mouth and usually only on the left side, which wakes me up coughing. I keep a large bag of honey lemon drops close by. My normal blood pressure is ninety over sixty, and I've never heard of mouth taping. But, with my deviated septum, I don't think taping would be good for me. I've been told in the past that I don't snore, altho like everything, I'm sure that's changed.

On an interesting note, they did three heart tests because I was in such distress when I fell. Once at the apartment, once in the ambulance, and then at the hospital. My blood pressure was at 144 over something, and I think that was more of a concern for them than my sprain.

patricia19 · April 30, 2021, 01:00:39 PM

One good thing coming from my sprain is that I lost 17 pounds of the twenty my then doctor wanted me to lose in 2017. Now, I'm committed to losing the final fourteen to bring me back to my weight in my forties. That was when I walked everywhere, often ten or more daily miles.

MarsGal · May 01, 2021, 07:50:51 AM

Good bright and sunny morning everyone.

MaryPage, I neglected earlier to say that I am happy to see your posts again. It's been quite a while. I'll have to remember the bandage remedy. It might come in handy if my nose is not stuffed up too much, otherwise it is a shot of nasal spray at night for me.

I've been fairly busy going through stuff to throw out or give away in order to clear out the clutter. There are several outdoor projects coming up this month: landscape work at the bottom of the yard, the house is getting a power wash, and I need to contact the local animal control person to get rid of the groundhog under my front porch.

My first COVID shot went well, although they gave me Moderna rather than the Pfizer I was expecting. Apparently they were out of Pfizer. I am a Pfizer stockholder so I was a little disappointed. Anyway, I had barely a reaction to the shot. Now I must wait until the end of the month for the second.

Jackie, how frustrating that the elevator was not working. I am glad that you were still able to get out for your second shot.

Jenny, I do hope that Michelle is improving.

Vanilla-Jackie · May 01, 2021, 08:22:58 AM

MarsGal...
...happy to hear you have now had your first covid vaccination ( without any ill effects ) and know you will feel better after your second...

Yes frustration on our building only having the one lift, this is a mid 1980's retirement building...

Oh, you have a resident groundhog that needs to find a suitable new home...wonder what attracted it to your porch...

CallieOK · May 01, 2021, 11:46:12 AM

Merry May Day!

I had put out the hummingbird feeder more than a week ago. Noticed the syrup level was going down but had only caught a glimpse of a hummer once. I thought the recent high winds had probably tipped it so syrup spilled out.

Went out to enjoy a beautiful evening on the patio yesterday and noticed the feeder was completely empty. So I put it on the work cabinet behind me to bring in when I'd finished my "sit down".

Suddenly, a beautiful hummer was hovering very near my shoulder. It inspected the feeder - and me - and I could imagine it saying, "Why are you just sitting there? Get my dinner!!!" So I did!

It was almost dark by the time I got the syrup made and the feeder rehung. I'll keep an eye out for a Happy Hummer today.

Wishing Everyfriend Everywhere an Enjoyable Day.

Sandy · May 01, 2021, 12:27:33 PM

Good Morning everyone from the clear and
warmer rocky coat of Maine.

Yesterday I bought me a new
Friedrick window air conditioner
to replace the one I have been using
here since 2012.

My old one still worked but I was
fearing the worst as some things are
not working any longer on it (The remote)
so I got me a new one, which I hope lasts
for a very long time.

The best news is that they will deliver it
to my apartment and take my old one
away , so I don't have to deal with
trying to get rid of the old AC ..
which is always an issue .. they are too big
and clumsy so it is best I let the movers
take it away.

What a relief to have my AC problem
solved.. Hooray!!

Have a good day, Everyone!!
Sandy!!!

patricia19 · May 01, 2021, 12:52:19 PM

Good morning, 32 degrees here, so no need for an air conditioner! According to the weather gurus, this colder weather will extend thru May. It does say progressing to the early seventies the last week of the month. It warns of scattered showers thru the eighth. Last winter's cold streak has turned into spring's cold streak. I have to wonder about the farmers and gardeners here.

Callie, I would love to see a hummingbird or two. It has been years since I saw them in the states.

MarsGal · May 01, 2021, 02:14:19 PM

Jackie, the neighbors next door had their back deck ripped out and a whole new one put in. The groundhog was living over there somewhere and got chased away by the activity. Groundhogs are vectors for rabies, so in Pennsylvania, according to PA law, they are killed when trapped. Sorry, no new home for this one. If I want to sell the house, it will have to go.

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