It’s National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

…said our daughter-in-law when she walked in this morning with a bowl of cookie dough and proceeded to bake cookies in our oven. At the same time, Dennis took me to the Club, where we had a final meeting with the two techies to prepare for my presentation on Monday, August 14. The Club has a TV screen, but no internet. After two sessions with laptops and cords, and no good results last week, Dennis brought his laptop and made it all work – after he had uploaded (or downloaded) my Power Point presentation to his laptop. He took out the trailer, which I am going to show separately on YouTube. Great to know that Dennis will be there to set things up, after which he will sit down with Mike to watch the show.

When we came home from the Club an hour later, the cookies were ready, and there are so many, that I have prepared two little plates for our two neighbors, who often share things with us. One neighbor bakes scones, the other one brings a delicious white chocolate cinnamon swirl loaf whenever she goes to her hairdresser in Raleigh. There is a bakery that bakes these loaves only on Fridays, and a warm slice with butter for breakfast is a treat.

Skechers Slip-ins!

I had seen the wonderful commercials on TV so many times, that I decided those would be wonderful for me, to use as house shoes, more supportive than slippers or sandals, and no shoe laces to tie. To find them on Amazon was too complicated, because I did not really know what I was looking for, but I found a Sketchers store in Cary, and selected a pair from hundreds of others, not all slip-ins though. What a find these are! They are so comfortable in fact, that I forget to take them off when I go outside. Our granddaughter, when she was here two weeks ago, brought me another pair, ones that she had outgrown, so I can wear those in bad weather outside. Since I now know what to look for on Amazon, I ordered a pair for Mike, to replace his moccasins. Three pairs came two days ago (try-before-you-buy for one week) and Mike made a choice at first sight. To get them on, after wearing only moccasins, was difficult at first, but to my delight it’s getting better. His feet are better supported, which makes for better balance, no more using his (or mine) middle finger to put the heel in, no laces to tie, and they look great. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Mike will get to like them as much as I do.

Amazing Facts about Bees

Physical Therapy

Finished the second week (of six) of PT and am feeling very happy! With only two Advils in the morning, I can walk all day without pain, and I only use my new walker for convenience, to carry multiple things from here to there. Just before Labor Day, the surgeon will see me again and I am confident that he will decide I do not need surgery. At that time, I will keep my dog walker for a while for the early morning walks, because there is so much to do in the morning, and I will take back the evening walks with Lani, leisurely, building up to full length walks. Where a month ago my Fitbit showed a total of about 800 steps a day, the last two days I made 2000 steps, and that is almost a mile. Getting there, one step at a time!

Downsizing= Finding a good home for my treasures.

The ipu that I made when I was dancing with Halau Hula Napuaokalei’ilima (Arizonahula.com) in Prescott, had been sitting in the closet ever since my last hula performances at Waltonwood. I realized that, after a torn meniscus, I should really not dance anymore. And so I offered my ipu on the Hawaiian Club on Facebook. Two people responded, and one of them, hailing from Oahu some nine years ago, came to pick it up. He also happily accepted three heavy seed leis, and to thank me he sent me a bottle of his Chili Pepper Water (Hawaiian Hot Sauce) he is specializing in. I already used it on a spinach quiche and on a fried rice dinner, and it is delicious. Thank you Kimo!

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time,

Ronny

Great News: No Surgery!

Last week, I had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. He showed me images of the results of the recent MRI of my knee, and explained the procedures of an arthroscopic surgery. That was much less invasive than I was mentally prepared for. It sounded so good, actually, that I almost said, ‘ok, let’s go for it.’ But then he gave me the choice: because I have no arthritis in my knee, 6 weeks of physical therapy would probably be sufficient to get me well again. So I chose for no surgery! It was such a relief that we went to Trader Joe’s to get flowers to celebrate.

A Treasured Family Visit

Ten wonderful days of family visits flew by. Our daughter with her two kids visited from Canada. They had rented an Air B&B and came over daily for games, cooking delicious treats and dinners, weeding the patio borders, taking Lani out for brief walks, shopping, visits to the neighborhood pool, and much more. I went with them to the pool, and sat on the steps, under water to my shoulders, moving my leg back and forth. Wonderfully cool! On Sunday, they flew back and landed safely back home.

Physical Therapy

I found a great therapist, four minutes from home and had my first session yesterday. He predicted I would be able to get rid of my walker soon. The blue walker I got on Amazon is great. Lightweight, with four wheels, a sturdy seat that covers a basket to carry things in, and easily foldable to put in the car. When I don’t need it anymore, I will store it in our big garage; because you never know if and when I will need it again :-).

Blessings

After therapy yesterday, I needed to drop off an Amazon package at the UPS store nearby. When I got there, I decided it would be too much of a hassle to get the walker out or the car and put it back in for the short distance to the door, so I took the package in one hand, my cell phone with the QR code in the other, gingerly got out of the car and closed the door. Very slowly, step by step, I walked to the entrance of the UPS store. An employee in an UPS uniform put out her cigarette in a large planter and walked to the door from the other side. When she saw me, she asked if I had a return. She then took the package and my cell phone, opened the door for me, bypassed the line of other customers in the store, got around the counter, processed my return and handed me back my phone with a receipt. Then she walked around again and opened the door to let me out. I am still emotional when I think back to it, both because somebody went out of her way to help me when she saw my need, and because I had never needed help like that before.

Books

Because I will continue to be very careful not to burden my left leg, and will sit down with my feet up as much as possible, I had time to read! I have read two books on my Kindle. The next one I will be reading is an actual paper copy of a book that was printed in 1929. It was a gift from an unknown giver, who left a sticky note with the words that he saw me once at Bucky’s Casino, hoped I had hit the jackpot, and that Angelina Jolie would produce a movie of my book. He signed with “a friend”. I have not read it yet, but it is on the table. The introduction is by Hendrik Willem van Loon, my father’s favorite author. The friend must be from Prescott, in his nineties, and must have known I studied at Leiden University. One of the first chapters is about Leiden University.

I have one friend that could have given me this precious book, who wrote two newspaper columns about me, and will ask him again if he did. He denied it earlier. As I am writing this I have another idea. Perhaps the giver is the daughter of a WWII veteran I met in Prescott: a book from her father’s library. Fess up friend! I want to thank you!

And that’s a wrap! Sooner than I expected!

Until next time,

Ronny

From Baker’s Cyst to Torn Meniscus

When a cortisone shot did not alleviate my pain, I went to get an MRI last Saturday. It showed a complicated torn meniscus and more. The orthopedic surgeon who reviewed it, sent me on to another surgeon, who specializes in arthroscopic knee surgeries. I will meet with him on July 24, and discuss details. Maybe I will benefit from that, they said, and be able to walk again. Well, I’d better! I have about three weeks to plan what to do during at least the first ten days when I can’t stand or walk, just sit. I will need more help, that’s for sure. I will get tips from a friend who lives alone and had knee surgery two years ago.

This Thursday, our daughter and grandkids will arrive, and stay for a wonderful ten days! They said they would take me to the pool in the wheelchair! Well, hopefully, I will still be able to take the few steps from the parking lot to the pool with a walker, and then I can glide into the water and be weightless!

Message from the Chief District Court Judge

At least somebody has pity on me! I received the following email yesterday:

Due to your unique situation, you are hereby permanently excused from jury service. It will NOT be necessary for you to report for service now or in the future.

Ned W. Magnum,
Chief District Court Judge

Thank you Ned!

Where there is hope, there is life

About five years ago, we received a beautiful Anthurium. We kept it in the sunroom of our cottage, but after the first bloom, sadly, it never bloomed again. It was barely alive, but I believed here had to be a better future for this beautiful plant.

When we moved to Apex, last Fall, I put the anthurium in my office, where it gets the first morning sun through the window blinds for a few hours. And lo and behold, the first flower appeared, then the second and the third, and two more buds are sprouting out at the bottom. Beautiful, dark pink blossoms. Our anthurium is happy!

It shows that when you keep up hope, as long as there is enough sunshine in your life, you will bloom profusely again, as you were meant to do.

Blog posts are created on my desktop Mac

Pretty soon, I will have to sit with my feet above heart level, days on end! I am pretty flexible, but I know I can’t write stories upside down. Which means that there will be an undetermined hiatus in my published Blog Posts.

Wish me luck and a successful surgery in the near future.

Until soon,

Ronny

A Baker’s cyst

Did you ever have one? I did not, and I did not understand where the agonizing pain in my left knee came from last Wednesday. Crossing the street at the end of my evening walk with the dog, I could just limp until I got a hold of the mailbox – my leg buckled and I almost fell. It got worse on Thursday, and on Friday morning Dennis took me to the ER. I was helped right away. They determined through an X-ray and an ultrasound that there were no broken bones, nor blood clots; it was just a Baker’s cyst. Never heard of the thing. Until now! The condition is named after the 19^th century surgeon who first described it, Dr. William Morrant Baker. If all goes well, it should disappear by itself in a few weeks with rest, legs up, a knee brace and ice cubes. Tomorrow morning I have a followup visit with an orthopedic surgeon in Cary. I have a list of questions…

For a few days, neighbors offered to walk Lani, and that was terrific. I thought for sure that I could walk her again by this weekend. No way! In two days, she got constipated because of lack of good walking. Today, I gave her iced pumpkin treats and baked sweet potato, which she loved. Then tonight, the neighbor who walked her came back with good news: Lani was “empty”, she had done three productions. Relief!

A Dog Walker

Never in my life had I thought about needing a dog walker. Me? I would rather be one! But one of our daughters sent me a link to a website: Rover.com. I decided to check it out. Just for the first week or so. Because I was sure I would be able to walk pain free again in a week. The first person I contacted did not respond, but the second one did. And golly, I found a perfect match for us! A young woman who happens to live around the corner, in the next street, two minutes from here. She is available all the times I need her, because she does this professionally. Now that is a great business if you are fit to walk dogs for half an hour at a time! A good income. But of course you need to be strong and fit and able to walk a lot. That’s not me at this time.

I am using Mike’s walker when he does not need it, and a cane at other times. Amazon sent me a very well fitting knee brace and two ice packs. And I have been siting with my legs up for longer than ever before. Yesterday, we watched a video of the Hawai’i Tropical Botanical Garden that we know so well. I recognized the huge Cook Pine, still there, and Turtle Beach, and more. But they did not show the lily lake, the water falls and the orchid garden. Nor the tree that my mother planted in 1991. It must be huge now. I have asked the owner of our former home if he would please go and take a look to see if Mamma’s name is still on the sign, with the name of the tree: Sea Putat. Close to the ocean and Turtle Beach. He will do that for me!

Hale Akai (our former Hale Kea Akai)

By the way, if you plan to go to the Big Island and want to stay 9 miles north of Hilo, you can stay at the studio on our former 5 acre property. It is lovely, sleeps three, has a private patio, and the owners, Randall Durea and his wife Donna are great hosts. Only $125 per night: a real bargain for Hawai’i!

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time, stay well.

Ronny

A Dental Drama

When we moved to this wonderful house in Apex, we got a referral for a new dentist. I still had a free cleaning with our dentist in Cary, but Mike went in with the new one. There were hurdles to take because the handicapped parking on-ramp was all the way at the end of the parking lot, so then we had to walk all the way back on a gently sloping sidewalk to the office entrance. Mike did that with his walker. Then to  get out one time and find it was raining was even more challenging. They had an umbrella at the door, so picture me opening and closing the door with one hand, then again, down the slope and into the car, followed by me walking back to the office under the umbrella, and running back to the car in the rain.

The second time, the nice hygienist had left the practice and Mike did not get along well with the new one. In the mean time, the dentist decided, based on x-rays taken, that several teeth had to be pulled. Several! He referred us to a dental surgeon. Weeks went by to get an appointment for a conference with the surgeon, then a date was set for the first two extractions – a third one waiting for another time. We had a Zoom conference with the dentist and our daughter in California and this was agreed upon.

We received a bill with the approximate cost of pulling the first two: #13 and #15 . Alarm bells in my head: NO!, those were the wrong teeth, healthy teeth! Calls and emails to the dental office. Oh yes, they made a mistake. The first two should be #5 and #12. Sorry!

The surgeon’s office agreed not to extract any teeth until after the panoramic X-rays had been taken in his office, on the due date.

In the mean time, I prepared for two days of liquid food and then soft foods for a while: puddings, yogurt, blended meals. A pureed vegetable soup seemed appropriate for the first night. I took my iPad and looked up recipes for vegetable soup. I found one that sounded good. When I clicked on it, several screens popped up with loud noises and flashing lights telling me that my computer had been hacked and shut down. “Click here to save your computer!” in a green square among the reds. It was sudden and scary. I did not click, but closed my iPad. when I opened it again after a few minutes, the threat was still there. Closed it again. And then, not knowing how else to get a recipe for vegetable soup, I emailed a friend in Arizona from the desktop Mac. That must have been the strangest request she ever got, but she gave mew the basics. And today, my caregiver prepared a pan full of soup, and it was delicious and filling.

This morning, we prepared for surgery: Nothing to eat or drink except for blood pressure medication; getting dressed in comfortable clothing and shoes. Our son came to pick us up.

The rain pelted down, the driveway was flooded. We made it out and to the surgeon’s office. We parked close to the door and our son went in to register Mike so he did not have to sit down in the waiting room but could go right in. We waited in the car, while the rain did not let up. I will make an already long story short. Our son came with a paper to sign and to pay for…a wrong tooth extraction, #30. I showed him the date on the sheet was wrong, there was an update. Ah, yes, the update showed #13 and #15. But I said I did not want to pay until the surgeon had taken/seen a panoramic x-ray. We waited longer in the car: they had an emergency, which took a good 45 minutes. Our son took Mike in for the panoramic and came out after ten minutes: it was impossible to take such an X-ray with a stationary machine. So Mike and I drove home again, very relieved, but extremely stressed, and our son had a discussion with the surgeon.

He called us later: the surgeon, based on the teeth he had seen in the (bad) x-rays of the dentist were not bad at all. No need to extract any! If one of the teeth would break, they would take care of it, and if there would be an infection, they would too.

The end of the story: we will have vegetable soup again tomorrow, and many nights of puddings for dessert, and soft foods like pancakes and scrambled eggs and the like: a new varied menu! There is always a silver line around every dark cloud, as my mamma would say. She would also say (during her days in a WWII concentration camp on Java): “De mens lijdt vaak het meest door het lijden dat hij vreest maar dat nooit op komt dagen: dus krijgt hij meer te dragen dan God te dragen geeft.”

I thought about that a lot in the last few days. It is so true.

And that’s a tired wrap!

Until next time,

Ronny

When the tide moves, you have to move the barrels 

I did, and I like it. Instead of hardly ever making my goal of 10,000 steps in a day, I changed the goal to 8,000, and that I make every day, and sometimes I go over. Peace of mind and happier feet! A little extra time in the day meant all the mending is done, and I can spend time in my flower garden. I actually gathered a basket of clippings and weeds and took them to the street.

Pneumatic garden waste collection

This is a very organized neighborhood. On Mondays, everyone takes his large trash and recycling cans from the garage to the street. But not before 3:00 p.m. After three, people come out of all driveways with their rolling garbage cans and put them just so:  10 feet from the mail box, and 3 feet from each other. No kidding. A great feature that I have never seen in other neighborhoods is that you can put garden clippings, branches great and small, flower pot contents, dirt and all, by the side of the road on trash pick up day. The following morning a large truck drives through the neighborhood with on the curb side a wide, elongated tube that moves down to the curb, sucking up all garden waste in passing. I knew that a pneumatic system with regular waste exists in big cities, but that it happens street-side with garden waste was new to me.

Dog rules

I was made aware, as the owner of one of two new dogs in the neighborhood, that dogs are allowed on the pavement and on the grass, but not on the “mulch” or rather, the pine straw that has been deposited nicely around all trees, shrubs and borders. Not a hard rule to follow, although I can see that dogs like to scratch through the needles to find just that special scent of the dog that went before.

Many dogs come to our neighborhood from other streets, and one day I noticed a disgusting number of large dog deposits in the grass next to the walkways. Obviously not from “our” dogs, because here they are all small. I think that Lani at 23 pounds is the biggest. The next day, all of the poop was gone. Somebody had walked around and picked up all of them, and likely not with a pneumatic system!

Wildfires in Canada

All of last week we received warnings about dangerous air quality caused by numerous wildfires in the area of Quebec, Canada. So far, over 10 million acres have been burned and more than 20 thousand people have been displaced.

The smoke spread far and wide, and even reached us in North Carolina. We kept doors and windows closed, but yet, the haze was visible, as you can see in this picture of the sunrise on Tuesday morning, seen from our back yard. I could look straight into the sun like never before. It made me think about fire safety at home.

Our home has vaulted ceilings in living room/kitchen and master bedroom. Looking up to find where the smoke detectors would be, I found none. When we lived in Prescott, Arizona, we had one in every room. Annually, around Thanksgiving, the batteries had to be changed. Or we would be alarmed by a loud shrieking sound, often in the middle of the night. Then, we’d have to walk from room to room, looking up to where the sound came from, and which one had a red light instead of a blinking green one. When we found it, we’d get the ladder from the garage and change the battery. Later, we could do that with a broomstick – safer than standing on a ladder.

Here, we do have a sprinkler system in our ceilings, but I know that those do not act as a smoke detector. They are only for protection in case of an all-out fire. So we need to look into that and find out what neighbors have in their homes.

I did Google: what to do to remove smoke smell from your home. It said to put bowls with white vinegar throughout the house, and/or bowls with ground coffee. Lemon juice would also be good, and the smoke smell would be gone in a day or two. Carpets and drapes would need a treatment with baking soda. We don’t have carpets or drapes, but baking soda comes in handy for all kinds of things. I will get some, and also some white vinegar, because I only have apple cider vinegar. I don’t think I would use the ground coffee any more for a nice cup of coffee once it has been absorbing smoke smells for two days, so I will go for the vinegar and lemon juice if we should get smoke in the house one way or another.

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time, be well!

Ronny

Grandkids

We have seven grandkids. Most of them live far away, but we are so proud of them! They are all excelling in the age-related activities they enjoy. This May was an exceptional month for everyone. One of them made it into the finals of the 2023 American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Championship, boat of 8, in Tennessee. Another one finished in first place of the final District Cross Country race of 122 students. They ran 1.5 kilometers. A third one graduated early from high school and will have a Private Pilot’s license by the end of this month. Number four is doing very well in college and won an internship this summer which will most likely lead to an interesting job right after graduation. Number five got ice hockey skates as a birthday gift and is practicing to join the Junior team in the fall. He is also a fantastic soccer player. We watched him score a goal from far away on the side of the field, and we loved to watch him run, faster than anyone else. Number six is a great artist and just joined a friend on the Rugby team. Rugby is like football, a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in Rugby, England in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is simply based on running with the ball in hand, without protection. I would love to learn the rules of the game sometime soon. Number seven has sung in Carnegie Hall in New York with multiple choirs, and is planning a trip to Switzerland with a group of friends this summer.

A Third Generation that creates great expectations don’t you think? And the Second Generation, consisting of three kids, well, of those we are even prouder, not only because of what they have achieved in their lives so far, but because of the warm hearted, caring, independent thinkers and doers they have become. We are truly blessed, and very happy that we made the journey from the Netherlands to California, USA, in 1972, with two daughters, a baby son and our chow-chow Roy.

Birds

After a while, we now have a lively variety of birds outside to watch. Through the window on the left, hummingbirds come and go, and other birds come for a drink of water from the bowl above the feeder. Through the window on the right we see cardinals, gold finches, house finches, North Carolina Blue Jays (smaller than the Stellar Jays we had in Lake Arrowhead and Prescott), small woodpeckers. A sparrow had a go at it, but was too large to land. And through the sliding door we see a couple of mourning doves on the patio. Lovely. I Google them all, so we get to know them.

Last week, when I was walking with Lani, a bird suddenly dove down onto my head and flew away quickly. The same thing happened again this week: same place, same bird. I must have stood too close to its nest; he kept watching us from the top of a street lantern until we were out of sight. Now I am trying to find out what kind of bird that is.

Doctors, doctors and more doctors

It seems that all our annual checkups were done in May. So we took trips to the audiologist, ophthalmologist, dentist, podiatrist, and en passant, when I was in Cary, I “did” Trader Joe’s and the Hallmark store. For all doctors, “My Charts” have to be filled out online with medical history, medications and much more. What a time consuming business!

On the Friday morning before Memorial Weekend, Lani developed a sore on her behind that she kept licking constantly. I called all the hospitals and vets in Apex and everyone was already closed for the holiday, or they would not see a new patient without having her checked and registered first. I finally called her old Vet in Cary and got a 4 p.m. emergency appointment with one of the doctors. What a blessing! We went home with a tube of ointment to be applied to her anus twice a day. “It’s a two-man job”, said the vet. I had only me! But this little Lani is a miracle. For a whole week, she came up to me, first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, we sat down on the floor in my office, and she lifted her hind leg so I could put the ointment under her tail. Today we went back to the Vet and he declared her well again. As a special treat we walked part of the trail in Wimbledon, where we walked every day when we still lived in the cottage at Waltonwood. Next week, she will get a proper grooming again. But twice things have gone wrong with this new Apex groomer, so I have special instructions for her again.

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone

We watched the beautiful Sunday night Memorial concert again, with tributes to fallen heroes and veterans present.

Well, I was only able to post a few lines every so often these two weeks. So many things to do and think about, and arrange, and change, I hardly ever  sit down! I just thought I should find my sewing basket and do some mending of things neglected since the move. Then I will sit down and yet won’t be idle 🙂 Mending is a far cry from the beautiful gowns and dresses and suits I created, but times and needs have changed. Memories are fun though. I remember making a floor length strapless evening gown of black velvet with a yellow velvet gore from top to bottom. It was 1959, I  was a sophomore in college and there was a big event with sorority and fraternity members. I went window shopping in Den Haag, a nearby large town. I saw THE dress in the window, took a picture, went home, made a pattern, bought velvet material and other necessities and started sewing. Not all in one day of course. I had a small electric sewing machine that my Dad had bought from a Chinese in Surabaya and had fixed up. It could only sew straight, nothing else. I think it was the very first electric sewing machine! Many years later, when we lived in Prescott, Arizona, I sold it for $100, but that was only the value of the antique carrying case it came in. I don’t know what happened to the machine itself.

It was a great party, and the dress was a success. I already knew Mike at that time, and he loved the dress.

Yes, I could make  patterns. My high school friend from Surabaya had moved to Den Haag a little earlier than I did, and I came to live very close to where she lived. Her mother was a seamstress and taught both of us first how to make patterns, then to cut and baste and sew anything we wanted. A wonderful gift, which I used my whole life! (Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!). I sewed a lot. Mike became manager of a knitting mill in the Netherlands and I had access to the most beautiful knits for many years. When the girls grew up, I loved sewing their dresses for years. And when we got a baby boy, well, we emigrated to the United States, and from then on Sears Roebuck was my go-to!

Fond memories!

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time,

Ronny

‘tWas  A Hard Day’s Night

Two doctors’ visits in Cary, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon tired us both out. We were late with dinner and everything else. In bed at eleven p.m., I could not sleep until past twelve, which made for a very short night. Our caregiver was sick, so we were without help for three days. And even though all the tasks are easy, being on my feet all day for three days in a row was not easy. I forgot to lock the front door and start the dishwasher before retiring, and had to do a major cleanup of my office on Friday. Next week, our Monday and Friday caregiver will be on vacation. Sometimes I think I can do it all myself, easy! But then, after a whole weekend, I am so happy to see a caregiver, so I can relieve my back, do some exercises, respond to doctors’ questionnaires online and more. On Friday morning I went to the Club for a meeting, and tacked on ten minutes on the leg press in the fitness center, my favorite machine. Well, that was just too much of a good thing. My hip hurt so much for two days that I had to take Advil and take it very easy. Based upon that experience, I have decided that at my age I have to scale back. My new goal is walking 8,000 steps a day instead of 10,000 or more. And the leg press? The next time I am at the fitness center, I will adjust it to a lower setting.

Home Cooking

Although I enjoyed the preparation, it was a little disappointing. We both loved the food, but I was in the kitchen, out of sight, for all the time it took to prepare it. Too long. I am looking forward to making banana ginger bread and ginger-carrot cake and banana-ginger jam, like I used to, but I hope to teach those skills to my mid-week caregiver.

Most of the days are uneventful and busy. The housekeeper did not come for four weeks because she was sick, and I have not had a caregiver for two weeks! One of them was sick and the other one is on vacation. Our good Apex friend has come to help me part of the time after her morning work, and she was a blessing. So I value my caregivers more than ever, and look forward to tomorrow, when our favorite person will be back, and Wednesday, when our housekeeper will hopefully be healthy again. They are talking about another Covid booster; but I am just not ready for that yet. I know the dates we had ours, because they are on the calendar, but I can’t find the cards that they were officially noted on. What’s new?

This is a wrap!

Looking forward to my next writing time,

Ronny

Birds and a more

We added our little hummingbird feeder to the tree in front of the other window, left of the fireplace. It took a week, but now the humming birds have found it! The ones I saw look different from the ones we had in Prescott. Looking forward to see more of them when (if) I sit down. Gold finches are coming and Cardinals, even a woodpecker. Recently, I saw swallows overhead and found out that yes, there are several kinds of swallows in North Carolina. A thin black snake looked at me from the border on our evening walk, and when I looked it up on Google later on, I read that black snakes are quite common in North Carolina, and not venomous. Two ducks, living in the large pond at the end of the neighborhood, like to travel around and I have seen them way on the other side, sitting on somebody’s front lawn.

The Kentucky Derby last Saturday, was a lot of fun. I met new people, had delicious food and tasted a mint julep, which I really liked. We placed $1 bets on the horses, but I bet on all the wrong ones, so I did not make any money.

Property Maintenance is in full swing. Last week, all white fences and patios were power sprayed with chlorine water, rinsed with regular water. Next week, the gutters will be cleaned. We get advance warnings of the date and time our property will be cleaned, so we can be prepared and move plants out of harms way.

Visits to a Berry Patch, salads and home cooking!

After six years, I felt like cooking again. I made authentic nasi goreng, with a fried eggs, pisang goreng and sliced tomatoes. Delicious! Next on the menu is Rendang with chicken over Jasmine rice, and I will throw in some haricots verts for good measure. I discovered that my rice cooker is not working any more, and my wok does not look very good. they need to be recycled in a special place and our son will take care of that for us. For now, I will make do with instant rice, but I hope to get a new rice cooker and also a wok soon.

DJ’s Berry Patch, a few miles from here, opened a few weeks ago and their strawberries are juicy and delicious. I bought a large basket and have been sharing with neighbors. One neighbor brought us a huge tomato from a road side stand in Cary. Well, that asked for Caprese salad! I bought mozzarella balls, and just now a basil plant, and on Mother’s Day we will have Caprese salad for lunch again. For breakfast tomorrow morning I will make scrambled eggs with toast and strawberries on the side. We haven’t had scrambled eggs for a long time, no toast either. Next on the wish list are pancakes. But hey, perhaps I will wait with that until our daughter and grandkids come over this summer. Let them do it!

Mother’s Day

We are surrounded by beautiful flowers, inside and outside, and with all these delicacies on the menu I am sure it will be a wonderful day. Early rise and shine, because these days Lani wakes me up at the exact time that the alarm usually goes off, even when I turn it off in the weekends. Have a lovely day, all of you!

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time,

Ronny 

Abundant Life

…at the bird feeder that is, and in the patio. We moved the bird feeder from the patio to the outside, in front of one of the windows next to the fireplace. It took a few days, but then a female cardinal showed up, and then another one. And now, they stop by regularly. We have yellow finches, and a few other little birds I don’t know the names of. The seeds are spicy, something that the birds do not mind, but that the squirrels hate. Today, we had an example of that. A squirrel, jumping on the feeder out of nowhere, took a few bites and then desperately moved in a circle, hanging from his front paws and falling to the ground. Ha! It worked! And it was funny to watch.

In the patio, we have three visiting mourning doves, obviously ground birds. So I sprinkled a variety of seeds in the border and on the cement in the area that we can observe from our chairs. They fly in and out, one went out by crawling underneath the garden gate. He just made it. I really have to do some gardening, pruning and fertilizing, sine the weather is getting beautiful, but I am still too busy inside. I did plant ginger, and perhaps I will get a few little tomato plants, in memory of Sallie, who used to give me three every year.

Why my days are shorter than yours

I figured it out: I spend nine or more hours of the 24 asleep! I could create longer days to get more done by setting the alarm an hour earlier, or to skip my afternoon nap. But I love to sleep! I will just wait patiently until I need less of it 🙂

Our Neighborhood

What a nice neighborhood it is! An unknown neighbor took care of large recycling items here and in the other street that did not fit in the large trash containers that come with every home. Another neighbor got a ten week old Goldendoodle and our two dogs are having nose to nose tail waving meetings, until the puppy starts jumping over Lani, back and forth, which is just too much for her, and she walks on.

Another nice neighbor came over to dig a hole in our backyard outside the fence, and planted a clump of potted grass I had brought from our cottage. And the only thing I asked him was if he had a shovel I could borrow. He came right over, with a shovel and extra soil.

An unknown plant in our border, with dark green leaves and burgundy stems, grew up fast; the stems fell over in the hot sun but straightened up again later in the shade. And now, the cutest lavender bell shaped flowers opened up. Nobody knows what the name is, and I would love it if any of you could tell me, or could look up the name somewhere. I can’t find it on Google. Anybody? Please let me know!

Last Saturday and Sunday we had heavy rain storms, thunder and lightning. During a break in the clouds I ventured out with Lani, without an umbrella. When I was in the other street, and it started raining again, we walked faster and faster, but then the rain suddenly came pelting down. Lani was terrified! We ran across the street to the clubhouse, up the ramp and to the door of the ladies’ restroom. It is an outside restroom, next to the pool area, and has the same door code as all the other doors of the clubhouse. I remembered it! We quickly dove inside and spent a good ten minutes there while waiting until it rained less. We made it home, drenched to the bone, but it was more scary for Lani than for me.

Not a day goes by without us saying to each other how happy we are that we made this jump, out of Waltonwood and into Orchard Grove!

And that’s a wrap!

Be well! Until next time,

Ronny