Reading's the BEST

I have been reading like a maniac. I finished THE SHACK. Then I read a Madeline L'Engle book, LIVE COAL IN THE SEA, and now I'm reading Joan Didion's THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING. Wow. I'm trying not to watch TV so George can snooze in his recliner.

George is slowly recovering, but still coughing a lot. He looks a lot better, though, which is encouraging. Hopefully he will take it easy this week until he is really well.

People give me books to take down to the Art Center library, and if they look like a good read, I short circuit them into my brain before I take them down. Fantastic. I am slowly trying to sort through my mountain of books. Sigh. Not an easy task at any time, but as one gets older it gets harder. Now that parts of my brain have gone south, I find that I can read some of my favorite author's books without remembering the plots. They have been writing for twenty or more years, so their first books are now new to me. Hallelujah! One (if not the only) bright spot about getting old.

My eyes are doing well, my ears are operating, my feet even got into real shoes yesterday, and my mind is being stimulated by reading! Yippee.

Oh, yes, and I am going up to Battle Lake to get my paintings off the back wall. September is over. It is a beautiful fall day. Take care

Interesting Book

Toddle right out and buy a copy of "The Shack" by William P. Young. You will need your own copy because you will want to mark it up and go back later and wonder about parts of it. I was fascinated by it and read it straight through. Now I will mull a bit, and then go back and read it through again. Wow.

George coughed so much last night I thought I should take him to the hospital this morning, but he said he was feeling better! Go figure. It is so difficult to know what to do in this day of no home visits by doctors. Do you suppose we will ever get back to that time? It was great to have the doctor come to you. Also you didn't catch the germs of the other sick people... and vice verse.

I haven't got back to my art yet, but I am mulling it over, at least. Onward and upward.

Take care.

finger nails

I do not have a picture to illustrate this blog, but you can take it from me that I actually have fingernails. Strong fingernails. This is the first time in my long life that I can make that statement! The reason is rather bizarre and may make a statement about who I actually am.

I have moaned and groaned for many a year that my fingernails were disappearing. Strong grooves were appearing, from the base to the end of my fingernails and they would break at the point where the groove met the end. I actually thought the time would come when I would no longer have fingernails.

Then, last summer, while we were visiting at Lake Anna out east in Virginia, I met a lady whose business was raising horses. She introduced me to a product called "Hoof Maker" that she used on her horses and she said was great for fingernails. When I got home I looked at Fleet Farm and found the product called "Hoof Saver" which seemed to be the same sort of thing. I bought a HUGE container for just over $12. and applied it a few times to my fingernails. Wow.

I am presently typing away on the keyboard with fingernails clicking away on the keys! I have ears that can hear the clicking, and fingernails which are doing the clicking. Double Wow.

This getting old is a constant series of adventures. Yahoo. I don't know whether I will soon begin to whinny like a horse. If I do, be sure to mention it to me! I may have to rethink the advantages of strong fingernails!

Take care.

Tuesday

Okay. Take the pink away..and imagine my foot in the berks... My foot is getting along well, but the berks make me tippsier than usual. Which is pretty tippsy! I am trying to get up the courage to try my shoes, but my toe looks so new and innocent I am having a hard time working up to it. Next post.

George is still sick. The garden wonders where he is. To say nothing about the golf course!

I am about to start reading "The Shack" for book club. Everyone who reads it seems to be thrilled with it. I am waiting until close to the date we will be discussing it so that my memory is up to snuff. Where does the expression "up to snuff" come from? If anyone knows please let me know. I keep saying I will get one of those books that explain where old sayings come from, but I haven't done that yet..... As far as I know! This memory thing is for the birds. (Oops. There's another expression.)

Well off to another day with my nose to the grindstone... (oops) Take care.

tomato bisque

Well, thanks to the ear guy I had a way to search for a tomato bisque recipe... and search... and search... It turns out there are hundreds if not thousands of such recipes and as I am of rather an advanced age, I think rather than try them all I will just go to Bella's and ask for a list of the ingredients. Then I can decide which of the many recipes will fill the bill.

I suppose I could just ask for their recipe, too. AFTER I have first asked for the ingredients, in case they turn me down. It was yummy.

Changing the subject, my mother used to tell me that when you give a dinner party there are two subjects you should not allow... religion and politics. These subjects are too close to the hearts of those who espouse them, and the arguments get heated and personal.

The truth is, I think we should have more such heated discussions.. but why do they need to be so heated? This is a democracy and we are all entitled to our own opinions. I wish we could each state our beliefs, listen to the other person calmly, adopt some of their beliefs if it seems right and continue the discussion.

But the nature of the beast seems to be that those beliefs are passionately held, and the heat is part of the belief. And we each seem like nincompoops to those who hold the opposite or different position. Sigh. The less valid our position, the more heat it will generate. Sigh. And we insiste everyone have the same position. Not going to happen.

In a couple of months this election will be in the books. Thank goodness. And, of course, all will see the light and vote as I do! Right. Take a deep breath. Do some yoga. Or meditate. And pray that our old world will continue rotating for a few more years.

Take care.

cof cof cof

Well. I'm cheering myself up using a picture from camping last summer! The guy in the middle caught my cold and is miserably sick. That's what the cof, cof, cof is about. I'm pretty good, although i think I overdid on Monday so it took yesterday to recover! However, I'm the dirty dog that gave this cold to George, so I feel great remorse. He's bundled up in THE QUILT and having chills, etc. Oofta.

My nose is fine. The lunch was great. I discovered tomato bisque soup at Bella's. I LOVE IT!
If anyone has a recipe for it, please send. I haven't looked in the cookbooks yet having been waylaid by cof, cof, cof, but I hope it will be available somehow. I loved it.

The podiatrist said all was well with my toe. I = with my mordant humor = showed him the removed toenail, and he agreed with my diagnosis, and then asked if I wanted it back. I said no, so he threw it away, or I - of course = would take a picture of it to post here. I didn't think fast enough. Maybe, one of these days, I will post a picture of my sweet big toe. Stay tuned.

Our luncheon was fun as it always is when friends get together. I am still cof, cof, coffing, but am much better. (Yes, I do know that I should spell it cough! But WHY? Cof seems more phonetic to me.) I have discovered a new author that I am busy reading. I will report later.

Take care.

Monday energy

I'm going to the doctor who took out the whatever it was from the surface of my nose to see what he thinks of the result a half year or so later.

Then I am meeting the two K's for lunch at Bella's. That should be a hoot. My injured toe in my Birkenstock sandals, etc., etc. and a cold that came on after my sore throat. My friend, Elaine E. told me that I should take one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and one tablespoon of honey in a cup and add hot water, drink the resulting tea, and she was right. Both ingredients are easy to come by and cheap, so I rushed to follow her advice and the awful soreness disappeared. Followed by a sort of cold.

Then I go to the podiatrist this afternoon to discuss my nail-less right bigtoe. It's quite strange.
I have several hours of down time from the first doctor's appointment to lunch. I will take a book and go out for coffee. Then I will go to the Cherry Street Bookstore. Then to Bella's.

Eyes, ears, nose and Throat... Where did the toe come in? I will report later. Take care.

Rainy Day

Perfect day to stay home with my ouchy foot up in the recliner and read a book. We discussed "Infidel" at book club. We were all impressed with her writing and were carried away by the events of her life. Wow! It is very enlightening to hear what she has to say about Islam.

Now that the pleasure of watching some fabulous tennis matches is over, I must resort to watching endless political stuff. Obama was great on Letterman last night. He explained that when he said you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig - he meant the Republican agenda would be the pig and Sarah Palin was the lipstick. Anyway, he is very quick witted.

Today is a day when we remember 9/11/01. The pictures bring back those terrible shocking events with a vividness which is upsetting. My darling grandson's birthday is tomorrow, one day after those events. The memories surrounding that day are also memorable, but in a far more pleasant way. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATT.

Well, off for a day of reading. We are reading "The Shack" for next month. The pharmacist recommended it to George, so it must be outstanding. Donna was our recommender in the club.

Take care.

Ouch!

My comment about twinkle toes must have reached the ear of a malevolent spirit! Last night I managed to remove my whole right bigtoenail. OOOOOOOOOOOO. Now that hurt. I threw some bacetracin on it and a big bandage and hope for the best. I suppose I better go to see a doctor? I'm not supposed to get any wounds on my feet because of my diabetes. This is a doozy of a wound, take my word for it. Now what do I do? Just be glad I don't feature a picture of my toe. It is UGGGGGGGGGGGLY.

Okay. That's it for this entry. Take care. Better care than I took!

OKEEDOAKEE

I took your advice to heart, Fran, and changed my permanent picture. I don't know if that's such a great idea as KW was casting aspersions at its value as a picture. If she manages to take one of me that is better, I will use that! Yep, I'm stylin' all right!

I am feeling so much better I may just do a twinkle toes dance. Of course, as my gym buddies know, I don't lift my feet off the floor, so it might be a bit difficult. However, miracles do happen.

We are having crisp autumn weather. Beautiful. Okeedoakee. Take care.

If at first....

I have been trying to make my computer cooperate with my printer to print pictures. I am the "Artist of the Month" up at the AOTL gallery in Battle Lake, and I wanted a picture to include with my paintings on the back wall. (The gallery is now open Friday and Saturday, 10-4).

I tried everything under the sun, but only blank pages came out of my dear printer. The printer is HP and the computer is DELL. They don't necessarily like each other. The other possibility is that I don't know how to tell the computer what to do correctly! Is it possible.? Can it be?\

I am feeling much better. My medications have been adjusted in such a way that I have my "joie de vie" (spelling?) back. Wahoo. Watch out world.

Now what I am going to do is attempt to print the picture on my blog onto paper! I have done it with other blog pictures (Izzy and Enid's wedding) with some success, so here's hoping.

odd-li-o-dli. Which means adios in vickispeak. Take care.