A New Life! Retirement at its Best 2020-73

Memorial Day Weekend

The week went by faster than ever. I spent time making phone calls about wrong products being delivered, talking to the new ED, making appointments with the dentist, ophthalmologist, you name it; mostly for checkups. But then, one night, I noticed Mike’s sock was bloody and when I took it off I saw a bloody wound on the inside of his left leg. I treated it as best I could, but ten minutes later it was oozing again from underneath the bandaid. So, via the front desk, the EMS car came with flashing lights and brought bags and a gurney. I told them it was only a leg would, so they came in without the gurney, but since it was raining, I told them to bring it in anyway. To make a long story short, after one shower the next day, which I messed up with a plastic bag around the leg, I thought of Saran Wrap. And that did the trick: it covered the whole bandaid patch and kept it dry.

Via our daughter in California, whose friend is a would care specialist, I heard, after sending a picture of the wound, that I should try to roll out the skin flap with a wet cotton swab to cover the raw part as much as possible. With two wet swabs that worked! It does not cover the raw part completely, but it is better than folded over. And now we wait for it to heal, and quickly, because we are going on our long awaited family reunion at the end of the month.

Sunday Brunch and Concert

We had our first Sunday brunch again after eighteen months of Covid. The understaffed kitchen did a fantastic job and created a delicious meal. Everybody dressed in their Sunday best, well, almost everybody, and we had a good time. The annual Memorial Day Concert was performed a little differently, and without a live audience, but it was beautiful.

Because going out for dinner is getting more and more difficult, we had friends over for pizza and wine again last night. Can you imagine what “going out for dinner” entails for most people here? 1) We have to make reservations at a restaurant that serves dinner outside. 2) The weather has to be good and not too hot. 3) Each couple has to provide their own transportation. We are lucky that I still have a car and drive; but Mike’s bike fills the whole back end, so that we can’t transport anyone else. 4) the other couple has to take Uber (for a while not available because of the gas shortage) or I would have to drive twice to pick them up, because one of them has a walker. Aaaah! No way! So we invite friends from the main building over here and the evenings are wonderful. And we are invited back to others’ apartments as well. We have had Pizza dinners, Thai dinners, Mexican dinners, and an Italian dinner. Red wine goes with everything, but champagne is great with Thai, and I discovered Margarita wine at Costco via Instacart. I have not tried that yet, but when the restaurant refused to serve a Margarita-to-go (although they did the first time) I looked for and found Margarita wine.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny