Carotid clippings

News from the waiting room.

My daddy is out of his surgery & looking good. Of course, after getting a carotid artery clipped & reamed out & reattached & having various tubes in arteries & throats (okay, one throat) & such, he's not extremely comfortable, but, hey--he's breathing & talking & able to wiggle everything the doctor thought he oughta be able to. Yay! His first incision has practically disappeared already in 3 weeks (my brother says he has miraculous healing properties) so we expect much the same.

Okay, so now I'm going to hand my computer back to my cousin's daughter, Samadhi. She's art-ing.

Blog alternative:

198. Samadhi suggests going to a waterpark. It may or may not be the weather for that, depending on where you live, so maybe just take a bath. Or drink a tall glass of water (I like mine without ice) with a sprig of mint or a splash of lime.

My peeps...

So here I am, in Montana again. 'tis been a while since I've posted. January. Good grief, as Charlie Brown would say. Perhaps 750words.com is a good thing, but I do know there have been times I would have blogged had I not been doing that. Oh, well.

Why Montana, you ask? (Didn't know I could hear you, did you?) Well, I was going to be taking off on Sunday the sixth of March for Rochester, Minnesota, to take a SMART class (Stress Management & Resiliency Training, taught by Amit Sood, Md, head of complementary & integrative medicine at the Mayo Clinic, in case you're looking to enroll in same) when I got news from my parents that my dad had found out (at a Lifeline screening, which was not typically the sort of thing they'd opt for) that his carotid arteries (both of them) were 95% or so blocked & he was on his way to the emergency room.

I printed out the novel I was ready to send out (cross your fingers for The Secret Life of Suzuki England) & took off for Montana instead. 1044 miles the first day. 900plus the second. A new 2 day record. (My 1 day record is Memphis to Albuquerque, which is 1142, but the following day I only had to get as far as Phoenix.) He had the first surgery 3 weeks ago & is out with my mom delivering seed corn today. Second surgery scheduled for tomorrow. Complicated & dangerous but, hey, the first one was too & he did great with that. Definitely cross your fingers for my daddy...

After the first surgery, the vascular surgeon asked my mom to gather her peeps (not his words) in the small waiting room so he could report to us, as the entire surgery waiting room was full. She said everyone was here for my dad. "Is there anyone not here for John Hjelvik?" he asked. Not a single hand was raised. At the followup appointment he asked my dad if his support team was coming again & said he'd seen the waiting room full (30 or 40 people) but it was usually 10 families... My dad is well loved & he deserves every bit of it. (& my mom as well, I should say.)

I've played a bunch of cards, helped sort new baby calves & their mamas from the mamas-to-be in muddy corrals with my sister & her husband, visited with my ex-inlaws, helped mom move a bunch of my (r.i.p.) great aunt Lila's clothes out of a closet & on to Goodwill, where I hope someone will get some good use out of them. Sundry & various other things. Now I'm about ready to be home, after this surgery & a visit to my son & his fiancee & a bunch of friends in Minnesota. Funny, how you can be just fine with being away from home & some little internal switch toggles & you're ready to be back yesterday. It has been a really wonderful time with my folks. I can hardly imagine anyone having more fun with their parents than I just did, for several weeks & lots of hours.

Blog alternative:

197. Consider the mortality of someone you love deeply. Get as okay with it as you can. Consider that we all go out feet first & our job (until we're the ones feet-firsting-it) is to continue living & loving.

little winter flower grass seeks lightning bug for illuminating conversation

little winter flower grass

stillwater river gorge

nye, montana

christmas day

I am sitting in a comfy chair in the window at Barnes & Noble. I finished my 750words & drank a green tea latte with whipped cream (the extra super giant size, whatever starbucks italian is for that. grin) & now I am writing to you.

My scottevest GoTo jacket is sitting in another comfy chair. Actually, it is rather sleepily reclining on this rainy day. My umbrella is at my feet, at the ready, bored by the dry weather in here. Someone asked if the chair was available & I said no. Not for scottevest's sake, but my friend Elizabeth will join me soon. My scottevest is just saving the seat for her. (But don't worry, scottevest, I will let you drape gracefully on the back of my chair when she arrives.) [a postscript to this section of the post: the woman who asked if my chair was available rather crankily (but kudos to her for asking for what she wanted) questioned whether the chair was actually being used. "It's been half an hour!" When I explained that my friend was indeed coming she said it wasn't fair to "hog the chair." I told her I wanted it back when my friend arrived & asked if she would like it. She said (even more snippily) "Yes, I would." So I gave it to her, with the caveat that I got it back when my friend arrived. grin.]

Did I tell you I got carded in Corydon, Indiana, on my way to Montana? That was fun. I can't even say it was just because they card everyone, because another table ordered alcohol after I did, & they didn't get carded.

Five days until the end of the two-faced month: forward & backward, outward & inward, past & future, present & accounting, now & zero, ephemera & infinite, etcetera & whatever is the opposite of etcetera.

I've been straightening up my space lately, both exterior & interior. Not a resolution but the next logical step. That reminds me that I usually write a letter to myself about the year just past & the year to come & here it is 26 days into the year to come & the letter is still in the mail. (or, perhaps more appropriately, in the female. I believe Mark Twain would agree that that is the lightning, rather than the lightning bug.)

I shall bid you ah-be, rather than ah-do, or even adieu.

Blog alternative:

196. Take 3 unrelated books that interest you (rather than 3 books on the same topic) & come up with an exercise that relates them--& you.

(Currently I have Train Your Brain Engage Your Heart Transform Your Life: A Two Step Program to Enhance Attention; Decrease Stress; Cultivate Peace, Joy and Resilience, and Practice Presence with Love by Amit Sood, MD MSc & Architectural Drawing Course: Tools and Techniques for 2D and 3D representation by Mo Zell & A Guide to Small Business Management by Hollingsworth & Hand)

Iowa didn't lie...

the chaos that is dogs

(title by Tiffany)

This little swirl is Mac & Cheese. Zach & Tiffany, my son & his fiancee, belong to these dogs. I recently belonged to them too, for one week. I did have good job security as a doggie pillow. The benefits were unique: besides a nice warm lap &/or legs &/or shoulders, I had my fingers licked clean, kind of an automated finger bowl. Cheese would have licked my mouth too, but I declined that particular "benefit."

I left Rochester this afternoon after a lovely visit with Zach. Tiffany was up at her apprenticeship training, but I got to hang with her yesterday. Zach & I went to breakfast at Cheap Charlie's, always a splendid thing. Trinh (could be spelling that wrong) practically picked me up when she saw me. I had the grilled ham & cheese with extra pickles! I had a couple bites of Zach's chicken noodle soup & he has some of my fries.

I won't bore you with everything I've eaten since I last posted, because that would include my entire Montana/Minnesota vacation. Suffice it to say that foods were eaten & drinks were drinked. Grin.

Highlights, in nonchronological order: Getting stuck for an extra day in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (the roads around Mitchell were nasty) & Jamestown, North Dakota. In Jamestown I had coffee at Babb's with my friend Debbie's daughter-in-law & hung at the public library, reading E=Einstein & some pop-quantum-physics. Hanging with many relatives & friends. Playing poker on Christmas day. Put in $5 & came out with $12! (Some baby games like 7 card no peek, but also a bunch of 7 card stud, sometimes with variations like roll your own little chicago & some texas hold 'em.) Sit down Christmas dinner for 22. Seeing Nick & his girlfriend Chloe for the second time in a month! Playing pitch with my parents. Playing pinochle with my parents & Nick &/or Chloe. I got both 1000 aces & 1500 trump while playing as my mom's partner & Nick & my dad finished off the pinochle games with 800 kings.

I came down south of Rochester on highway 63 through Waterloo, Iowa. Zach was very skeptical of my route, since that's a 2 lane road with usually lots of trucks, but 90 through Wisconsin was reporting snow & slick stuff & Iowa said, come on down, the roads are fine. Zach darkly suggested Iowa was lying, but his cynicism was not warranted. Fabulous roads. I made 348 miles (even though I did not leave until 2--& even got my tires checked & gas after that.) All the way to Hannibal, Missouri, boyhood home of Mark Twain.

The other fun thing was seeing the temperature go up up up as I drove into the winter night. Started off at 11 degrees & it was 22 by the time I reached Hannibal, some 6 or so hours later.

Blog alternative:

195. Provide a lap for a dog. Or a cat. Or a baby. Or just sit & hold your own inner child for a little while. Maybe tell a story. Maybe sing a lullabye.

Angels' albino dust bunnies play pinochle

Nick doing dishes

We have four inches of--something.

Derrick says it's vanilla ice cream. I said, "no, it's, it's--" whereupon our young friend Marshawn said, "soap!"

I think it's likely that the angels have been sweeping out from under their beds & off the porch steps & we've been showered with four inches of the angels' albino dust bunnies. Whatever it is, it's beautiful. Perhaps I'll go out later & make an angels' albino dust bunnies angel.

I guess I didn't talk to you in November. What a good month. My son Nick & his girlfriend Chloe came for varying portions of the Thanksgiving week. (Chloe just for 3&1/2 days; Nick for twice that.)

We had the perfect turkey day dinner. Cooked a turkey. Cut one piece off to test it. Played pinochle. Decided to go for a walk at the Arboretum. Covered the turkey with foil & shoved it in the fridge. Walked while doing various sorts of work. (Derrick was steadily writing philosophix on a sticky note pad. Nick was lifting heavy objects to make it a real workout: large logs; rocks; at one point, on a steep uphill part of the trail, me. I was taking pictures of them, except during the part when I was being carried uphill.) Then we came home & ripped some turkey off the the carcass with our bare hands. Chloe arrived the next day & she & Nick finished divesting the carcass of its flesh--one container of dark meat & another of white--so I could boil it into soup stock later. I'm so sad I cut that one piece, otherwise it would have been all finger food. Mano a birdo. Next year!

Nick helped me teach people to play pinochle, which was so fun! Jonathan & I beat Nick & Derrick. Chloe & I beat Nick & Derrick. (A couple times.) Did Nick & Derrick care? Not a bit. Nick just loves to play & Derrick was happy to be picking up on the nuances. He has turned into quite the pinochle monster. Grrrrr.

Nick turned me on to this website called 750words.com which is like morning pages (The Artist's Way) online, so I've been doing that. Lots of fun, except when it's not. Grin. I'm being honest. There was one day when I was writing that I didn't think this sort of journally writing was good for me & voila, in the midst of doing that very thing I got clearer on something. So I continue. The writing is never seen by anyone but the writer & you get points for making 750 words & for maintaining "streaks." I will blow my streak in Montana, because I won't have internet up at Nye, but I'll do the 750 words anyway, on my word processing program. & Nick will do it with me when he's there!

Zach & Tiffany won't be making it to Montana for Christmas but I will see them in Minnesota when I drive back. I'm looking forward to that. Tiff & Zach & Mac & Cheese. What fun!

Okay, I'm ready to be doing something other than blogging, so here it is, what you've been (hopefully not) waiting for, your:

Blog alternative:

194. Figure out how to make a big bubble in your hands while doing dishes.

Leaf peepers, the eleventh plague...

the fabric of spacetime, found in a coffeeshop

The good news is

I found my summer clothes.

The bad news is

it's October.

The good news is

it's October

& the leaves are being peeped with great delight,

with highs in the 70s & lows in the 40s.

The good news is

I found my winter clothes.

The good news is

there is no bad news.

Blog alternative:

193. Consider that you make your own news. Make some good news out of whatever olds happen to be around.

Hot-wired peach guava eudemonics

I took someone's old red car for a spin...

Last time I mentioned that I was about to enter the end of E, & that--by the time I reached the beginning of A--it would be the first time I'd looked at every page in my dictionary. How fitting that I would mention that before delving into E, because way back when I looked at every E-word & wrote bunches of them down for my then-husband because he'd written a program--unused now at IBM, so I'm cleared to release this information--called ELAPS & he wanted a good E word to start of the name. IBM just LOVES acronyms. I can't remember if Bruce had already decided on Eclectic Logical Analysis Processing System, but he put a bunch of the other E words on the announcement of little baby ELAPS's birth. (Including "egregious." Let it never be said that IBMers lack a sense of humor. One of them, at least, has a very good one.)

I did go through E again & wrote down a few strange & lovely words for your edification.

eutaxy: (rare) good & fitting order or arrangement

euplastic: healing readily

eudemonics: the art or theory of happiness

May you have eutaxy in all things & be well-versed in eudemonics &--should occasion rise that you are injured or unwell--may you be euplastic.

I just purchased a bunch of colored pencils & pastels & various papers & paint brushes & some strange antiquing paste from an art supply store that is going out of business. It was my second trip there, after hearing about it from a barista who is also an artist. I purchased a few strange things to try out at a deep discount. Who knows where it will lead? Stay tuned. No, don't stay tuned--tune into your own adventure.

I am experiencing an increasing state of eutaxy, &--to celebrate--I shall drink some Odwalla peach guava smoothie with coconut juice & take a nap.

Blog alternative:

192. Take someone's car for a spin. Or their motorcycle. Or their trike. Or their RV rollerblades figure skates wheel chair dune buggy etcetera. Hotwire your imagination, rather than the vehicle. You can even take off in a police car that way, & no one will be after you.

(I know, their does not grammatically work with someONE's & there is no punctuation in that list. I did it that way on purpose. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I just wanted my juice & the commas would have slowed me down...)