The 21st Century

Taxes

I’m well on my way. Now the waiting is for the statements from banks etc. which will come in on February 18.

Surgeries

With my past, living in the Dutch East Indies for seventeen years, in Hawai’i for twelve and in Arizona for fifteen, my skin has had a lot of sun exposure. In the early years, sunscreen did not exist, in the middle years I used sunscreen but still was in the sun a lot and happy with a tan, and now, in the later years, the effects show up in cancerous spots here and there. Over the years I have had a few surgeries, on my face and my arm, and now I spent the past weeks to make arrangements for some more, on my right leg. Squamous cell cancers, all. Yesterday I had the first two, and I am scheduled for two more on Thursday, and then one on March 10.

The surgeon was great, so was the nurse, and everything went well. I won’t go into details, but if every surgery goes as smoothly as these, I’ll be very happy.

May your days be peaceful and happy too,

Until next time

Ronny

Art in the Netherlands

Night Watch by Rembrandt, brought to life . . .

The Rijksmuseum museum in Holland had an idea: Let’s bring the art to the people and then, hopefully, they will come to see more – at the museum. They took one Rembrandt painting from 1642, Night Watchand brought to life the characters in it, placed them in a busy mall and the rest you can see for yourself!

Take a good look at the painting above……, then Click to see the video. Make sure the sound is on.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ a6W2ZMpsxhg?feature=player_ embedded

This week I took time out: I started to prepare for our tax returns.

We have done them together with TurboTax for many years, and it really gets easier every year. Still, it takes time to prepare, and because I want to have them done early again, I have started with the paperwork. We use a TurboTax CD and as soon as our son comes over to fix a computer problem I have been having, I can start on the computer. The darn thing shuts down each time I stop working on it and leave to do something else. Then when I come back I have to start from scratch with name and password and so on. Of course I could choose to stay and keep working and reading and writing until I fell asleep together with the computer.

May your days be fulfilling and happy,

Until next time,

Ronny

Whatever happened

to my blog post of last week? I could not line up the paragraphs properly on my Mac, and when I read it on my iPad I noticed that part of the text is in a very small font. No idea how that happened and I hope it will not happen again.

Snow and Ice

The past weekend’s weather forecast was so threatening that I went to Trader Joe’s on Thursday, in the rain, and stocked up on necessary items to be independent for three days. Even though we had about two inches of snow on Friday night, and temperatures in the twenties, the maintenance men here took the necessary precautions and the sidewalks were safe, a snowplow cleaned the road in the night, and the remaining snow was beautiful – and a new adventure for Lani. After walking in the snow, she came home with ice balls on her paws, which were hard to get off; but today the snow did not stick that much anymore and she was fine.

A Snowman

When the sun was out and I took a walk on Sunday afternoon, one of the old ladies was sitting in a chair outside the front entrance. “Are you going out?” I asked her. “No, I am just resting. I built that snowman over there.”
“A snowman? Where?” And there, on the front lawn, stood a cute three feet high snowman, with black eyes, a “carrot” nose, a red mouth, a red scarf, and a red heart at the end of one of his outstretched arms.
“Did you do that?”
“Yes, I was just going to take a picture.”
“Would you like me to take the picture with you standing behind your man?”
“Oh yes, you came just in time. How nice of you!”

On the sidewalk, she handed me her cellphone. At the same time, Lani ran around her, the poopy bag flew out of my hand and before I knew it Lorraine fell on the ground and her cell phone landed at my feet. I was shocked, helped her up and picked up her phone, which looked ok. Then I loudly commanded Lani to stay at a distance and sit. She did. “I am all right,” said Lorraine, “I landed on my butt and that is the best place to land on if you fall.” I was worried, nevertheless. Bad things happen when people fall. But she walked up to the snowman and posed for two different pictures and was delighted. She got her phone back and went inside, and Lani and I picked up the baggie and went home.

The next day I called Lorraine and asked how she was. She was delighted that I called and said the pictures had gone out to all her kids and grandkids. “They always sent me pictures of the snow, and now I could send them one of my own!” We had a delightful conversation. She is eighty-seven years old, no less, and we promised to meet again soon.

Busy Times, Happy Times

The snow is almost all the way gone and I can safely walk again with Lani. I am juggling my time between taking care of Mike’s leg, organizing things at home, making doctor’s appointments for both of us and much more. This week, we happily said goodbye to the Physical Therapist: Mike has reached his goals (or her goals?)! And today, the wound nurse will be here for the last time to sign him out; I think next Friday will be our last visit to the Wound Healing Center, and all of that because the wound has healed. Hallelujah!

Just yesterday, I heard that there are three more spots on my leg that are cancerous. The Skin Center will only do two surgeries at a time, so I am up for 2 of those! They will be under local anesthesia, thank goodness. I may even be able to drive myself home afterwards. We’ll see. I’m in the planning stages.

A blessing of the snow days was that I actually finished a book! Daughter of Moloka’i by Alan Brennert (his novel Moloka’i was a national best seller) brought back many memories of Hawai’i, but I also learned gripping and gruesome details of the detention camps in California where Japanese Americans were detained during World War Two. Those details were new to me, probably because I have been focusing my research on World War Two in the Pacific and the concentration camps. What a blessing for all that those war years are a thing of the past.

May your days be peaceful and happy!

Until next time

Ronny

Expired medications

Do you have vials of expired medications stashed somewhere in the back of a shelf, like I do? They say: do not dispose of in the trash or in the toilet. I am an obedient kind of girl. A rule is a rule kind of person. When we first moved here, almost five years ago, I found that the police office in Cary had a bin where you could drop them off. Not the whole vials though. I had to stand there and open them one by one and empty them in the bin. They stopped doing that. The police have better things to do than dispose of expired medications, I guess. Then I read about a program that offered a one day a year drop-off. Yeah right. That never worked. I continued my research off and on, until I found, in December, that the hospital where Mike was for two days, would take them. But when I came there, nobody knew anything about it. I continued with Google and finally found there was one Pharmacy, in downtown Cary, where I could drop off what felt like my contraband. What a discovery! It is an old-fashioned Pharmacy, with an eating area with cafeteria tables and benches, a store with many articles, cards and gifts, and in the back was the Pharmacy, where, on the side, was a bin that said: Expired meds. for disposal. I came prepared, with a ziplock bag containing what looked like candy. I’m so delighted to have found that place so close to home, that I can’t wait to go back there, perhaps only for a cup of coffee and to browse the merchandise. Oh, and on another shelf I found some more contraband! So I will have a reason to go back again soon. But just not now.

January Covid Threats

More and more people are testing positive and go into isolation, or getting Covid for real and even have to go to the hospital. Yes, even here where we live. Until yesterday, we were not informed of the fact that one of the key Associates got Covid on Christmas Day and is now in the hospital, poor soul. After two vaccinations and a booster we felt so safe, so secure. But as it is, the threat of the rapidly spreading Omicron is real. We have ordered the official, “best” KN95 masks, and a set of do-it-yourself 15 minute Covid tests from Amazon. On our way home from the Wound Clinic last Friday, we saw miles of cars from both directions heading to a “Covid Testing Station; Registration required” in a side street: stop and go.

You know, in a way it conjures images of my mother’s experiences when we were incarcerated by the Japanese, and she had to get registered. The threat of not knowing what would happen to us, the loud commands and brutal treatment must have scared her immensely. Can you see her, a young mother with a toddler and a three-year old, not knowing what was in store? And then experiencing three years of harsh punishments, malnutrition, diseases and no medication, without any indication that the war would soon end? On a small scale that is what we are going through now with these terrible viruses. We are being punished with headaches, fever, breathing difficulties and even death. It has lasted for two years already and the end is not in sight! We ask ourselves, will it ever end or will we have to live with it for the rest of our lives?

We, in our cozy cottage, are doing the best we can to stay safe. We have cancelled appointments with the dentist, ophthalmologist and more; cancelled a flight from one of our children who wanted to come and visit. I just shopped at Costco with Instacart, groceries delivered to the door. The only doctor I saw last week was the dermatologist, who took a slice of my recovered wound (from the time in November when I fell off a step-stool) and sent it to the lab. Now I keep my fingers crossed that it will come back negative, benign, and not cancerous.

Let there be Light!

On January 10 we celebrated our 61st Wedding Anniversary. It was a wonderful, relaxing day, with fond memories of the reunion we had in the house on the beach last summer, to celebrate our 60th. Our son searched online for the kind of gift appropriate for a 61st Anniversary and could not find any, other than diamonds for a 60th. But what he brought was magnificent! Lights! A long strip of LED lights to put on top of our bookcase in our fairly dark interior. It replaced a four-year old strip, which had dimmed over the years.

For the same celebration, I did a fantastic kitchen remodel. I created four windows with an ocean view!  I had noticed that the Anthuriums I had never flowered again; and the orchid was not even growing new leaves. They needed light. I put them on the kitchen counter under the fluorescent light of the overhead cabinet. But plants need to be in a window sill, not on a kitchen counter, I thought. Right? So I went to work and in a few days, one Anthurium is sprouting two flower buds, the orchid is showing the start of a blossom stalk between the leaves, and the new Amaryllis (not in the picture yet) grew three inches! Take a look at my windows and let me know what you think!

It’s a Wonderful World!

Until next time,

Ronny

A Pictorial Blog Post

The past week’s time to write evaporated into thin air. We watched the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day, dozing off in our lazy chairs; I actually read a few chapters in a new book! My acquired wound dressing  skills became helpful when a friend in the main building called: he had fallen two days ago and badly injured his arm. A friend down the hall, who used to be a nurse, came to the rescue, but she put several bandaids on, and blood kept pooling underneath. It caused excruciating pain when I had to pull them off and, with all the leftover supplies I have collected from Mike’s wound dressings, I was able to put on a professional pressure wrap. The doctor and wound nurse were going to take over the next day.

On Monday, I cleared away all the Christmas ornaments until December 2022. Among them are two Arizona stockings which we have never used, because we moved to North Carolina. If anyone is interested, please let me know, and I will sent them to you. We have no fireplace, nothing to hang them from. So they are free for anyone who has a good use for them.

The temperatures dropped from the seventies all through Christmas and New Year’s, to the low thirties in one night, with a flash flood warning and torrential rains in between. some images from my walks in the neighborhood: this little volunteer wasn’t sure if it was still summer or whether to drop its leaves because it was fall…

This little pumpkin, leftover from Thanksgiving, was first “tasted” by a few birds, then by squirrels, who were looking for the seeds inside, and then visited by tiny snails. A sight for Halloween… I finally picked it up and threw it down the hill into the forest for whatever creature would be interested in feasting on it some more.

And if you look closely, new buds are visible on some of the trees by the main building. Lured into thinking Spring was just around the corner by the unusually warm temperatures.

2022

We have started a new year. I hope it will be a good year for all of us and wish everyone the very best.

May your days be peaceful and happy

Until next time,

Ronny

Christmas 2021

What a wonderful Christmas it was! We touched base with many old friends through the exchange of Christmas cards through the regular mail and email. It’s about the only time of year that I connect with them, apart from the friends on Facebook. We are still in touch with four couples we met on various cruises, dating back to 23 years ago. We heard about the loss of one friend and received a picture of my former 1974 boss at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Flintridge, California and his extensive family.

Our son and his family came over with a lovely supper and we spent some time talking and opening presents, installing a new light rope on the kitchen cabinets and the new Keurig coffee maker.

The Second Day of Christmas was my 83rd birthday and I awoke an hour later than usual, after a wonderful nine hours of sleep: a great beginning of the day. Just as I was ready to step into the shower our son called, so I walked back to the living room, when somebody rang the bell. When I went to look, I saw a man and a woman put packages on the chair by the front door. Oops! I quickly dodged into the office to watch them get into a car and leave. After I was dressed and opened the door I found two bags and a bouquet of flowers from Whole Foods: a surprise from our two daughters and their families. Croissants and orange juice for breakfast and a lemon birthday cake. What a lovely surprise. It was a good thing, I thought later, that they had not sent wine or champagne which would have needed a signature!

After our “time in the spa” I renewed the dressing of Mike’s wound (which takes a total of 50 minutes and I do it daily now) and we were delighted to notice great improvement over the “plateau” the doctor had mentioned the Friday before. “Ha! I can do it better than anyone,”I said. “Perhaps we can go back to the clinic on January 7 and dismiss doctor and nurses because the wound is healed.”

We opened mail and birthday gifts, received phone calls and had a totally relaxing day. I sat on the back patio for a while, enjoying the 70 degree temperature, and we took a walk around the pond. After supper, which I picked up at the Club, another surprise arrived at the front door: another beautifully frosted tres leches cake with fresh fruit on top, tied to a Happy Birthday balloon. That made my day perfect: I love balloons, and the cake is decadent!

Stroopwafels

For all of you who don’t know what a stroopwafel is: it is the most delicious Dutch cookie. Two thin waffles with caramel in between. Warm it on top of your steaming hot coffee or put it in the microwave for twelve seconds, and you will agree that there is nothing better and it tastes like more. In December, Trader Joe’s carries them, 8 waffles in a blue tin with pictures of windmills. They are stacked high by every checkout. How wonderful! I purchased two for my friend who was going on a trip to see her daughter and one for ourselves. Planning to get some more before they would run out, I went back a week later and found to my great disappointment they had not a single can left. “Perhaps I have some in the back that are dented, but the contents are still good,” said a helpful employee.
“I would like ten cans please,” I said.
“Oh well, I don’t have that many, but I will see.” He came back empty handed. What a disappointment. A December without stroopwafels.

Back home, I looked on Amazon, where I order just about everything. Surprise! They had original stroopwafels from a different bakery. I quickly counted how many I should order so I could share with the family too. Eight to a tin? OK, these came in boxes. I ordered five boxes. Five boxes of eight that would make forty stroopwafels. Enough to share.

A week later, Amazon delivered a large, heavy box to our door. When I opened it on the kitchen counter, I was stunned. There were five boxes all right, but each box contained not eight, but twenty four  individually wrapped stroopwafels. That means I now had 120 stroopwafels, individually wrapped! Hm. Great for sharing all year long! My goodness! Where could I store them? They filled up a whole pantry shelf! And the story does not end there.

When we opened the gifts from our family, there was one bag with three brown, beautifully decorated cartons, each with 8 stroopwafels from yet another Dutch bakery. Of course we showed our delight, and did not tell them that we now were the proud owners, for the first time in our lives, of twelve dozen, or 144 stroopwafels. How does the saying go? Death by stroopwafels?

Whoever would like to come over for tea or coffee, spend a night or two for more tea or coffee, all with a stroopwafel or more, you will be welcome here!

Pornographic email to Ronny Herman de Jong

For at least three months, first in my Trash, then also in my Junk folders, I received porn. It started with a few messages daily, but quickly increased until I had about two times 600 of them per day. At first I scanned the Trash, to see if there was anything I should open, but later on I just deleted all of them with several clicks without looking. I missed an invoice from someone, who caught up with me later, but I have no idea what else I missed. Anyway, I never opened any of the messages and decided I would delete my email address at the beginning of the year.

What happened? Just before Christmas I found only a handful of messages, and today, there were only two. They all gave up when they discovered that Ronny Herman de Jong was not interested in Russian girls and the like. Miracles do happen!

Here’s wishing all of you a wonderful, healthy, happy New Year. And Believe in Miracles!

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny

Amusement in the Waiting Room

When we exited the waiting room of the Wound Healing Center last Friday, we talked for a moment to the two ladies behind the desk. One is a Nurse-assistant, the other one the Secretary. Both are wonderful people. The secretary wears hats, a different one every time, underneath from which pours a river of shiny hair: sometimes black, sometimes brown, this time a glorious red. I commented on the red: “What a beautiful color, Sandy. My mom had red hair like that.”
“Thank you. I like your hair. I wish we could trade.”
“Well, we can’t trade my hair,” and I pulled on the short strands on top of my head.
“You should get a wig, then we could trade.”
“Oh, I have a wig, a long one, to my shoulders. But I only wear it when I dance hula.”
“You dance hula?” They both looked up and started laughing, waving their hands like everyone does when hula is discussed.
“Yes, but not like that. I dance the real hula.”
“The real hula? Oh, you must teach us. We can go in room 3, that is a bigger room, and we can take turns answering the phone.”
“No, it’s not that easy.” People do not realize that Hula is an art and takes many hours to learn.

Then I had a thought: “I can teach you one thing,” I said, and I went through my knees and made the Circle Island motion with my hips, first right, then left. “This motion means going around the island.” The people in the waiting room turned to watch the spectacle, and by that time the two ladies behind the desk were laughing so hard that Mike and I started laughing too. We opened the door to leave. Over my shoulder I called, “Room 3, I will remember.” They were in stitches. The laughter followed us all the way to the car.

Books

When I picked up dinner at the Club last week, after dropping off some Christmas cards at people’s doors, Julia stopped me and told me how much she had liked my short stories. “We should have a meeting every week,” she said, “where people read short stories and then discuss them. Like a Book Club for people who can’t see very well. There are a lot of them.” Julia is the leader of one of the two book clubs in our facility, and both clubs are reading the same book once a month. “I haven’t read a good book in I don’t know how long,” I said. Whereupon Julia commented that the book the club was reading this month was very, very good, a page turner. She asked me to wait at the elevator, went to her apartment around the corner and came back with a book, a second copy she had laying around. “Here,” she said, “you may keep it until the day after Christmas.”

What Julia did not understand was that I have a Kindle library full of great books, but I am lacking the time to read them. I have no time in the day to sit down with a book! It has been so for months. But she meant well, so I took the book, and that night after dinner, I decided to read one chapter. I did, and I was hooked. For that is vital for a good book: it has to have a hook right at the beginning. I read four chapters. But today, there was no time, and tomorrow we’ll see. But reading is something I love, almost more than writing. So, since I am retired from Book promoting, I am hoping I will have plenty of time to settle down with one of my good books in the near future. And then another one, and another one…

It’s a Wonderful Life!

I wish you all a Sparkling, Joyous Christmas.

Until next week,

Ronny

A Week in Review

What a week it was! Mike is doing well after his hospital visit and we decided that we will watch the church services from our living room for a while.

I need a few nights of 9 hours of sleep to be able to have productive days; this schedule of doctors and physical therapists and dressing changes is exhausting, even if most of them come to the house. So I am rewarding myself with a manicure tomorrow afternoon. I found a new short story to tell on Thursday: A Christmas Cup of Tea. I heard it on a DVD many years ago – just lovely. And the long story is about The Fourth Wiseman. A fun event to look forward to, Stories and Carols.

May your days be peaceful and happy.

Until next week

Ronny

Misfortunes never come singly

On Sunday after church, Mike sat down in his recliner and suddenly started shaking. I’ll make it brief: E(emergency)M(Medical) S(Services) came, administered medication in the Van, then took him to the ER. It looked like Atrial Fibrillation, irregular heart rhythm. We spent hours at the ER, had dozens of tests done. At 8 p.m. Mike was admitted to a room in the hospital; still on Sunday, and he was discharged today, Tuesday,  at 3:30 p.m. I can’t remember how many tests were done, cardiac and neurological, and of course lab tests, and everything came back negative! That’s good! The last MRI took place this morning, and it was like hell, said Mike. But it is all done now and he was declared in good shape and sent home with some different medications.

What a scare! I’m thankful that I can report a happy ending and we are both turning in early tonight!

May your days be peaceful and happy.

Until next time.

Ronny