Field and Fen

I'm halfway through my target amount of postcards, and beginning to see light at the end of this boring tunnel. 

I'm at the point of snarling you better damn vote after I've done all this work!  And I note that the instructions for mailing point out that you must not rubber band the pack for posting. I guess people may not realize the post office won't separate them.

Years ago I experienced this when I found in my mailbox, after a few days away, a banded bunch of calls to artists, all separately addressed and stamped.  Mine, beginning of the alphabet, was on top, so they all came to me. 

I called the venue, a prized one for regional artists, explained, promised to remail the invitations separately, right away.   They said they wondered why they'd had no acceptances yet!  Very unusual. I'm guessing they had a word with the person in charge of mailing. But you can't count on someone realizing all this and resending.

I'm going to separate my cards and mail them in different boxes, to spread the load and make sure they don't stick together.

The audiologist appointment went well, she's very happy I had no complaints. So I'm boosted to 90% now, and adjusting again. I learned how to maintain the aids, clever design, easy to replace the end bit and the filter. Everything sounded loud going home.  

The door saga continues. We got a ruling from the HOA board which didn't surprise me. Owner responsibility. No help on where to buy them. My  neighbors are annoyed and upset, but I'm oh well. This too shall pass!

And I find that my mail rx people, after taking months and many requests, to process the smaller dose of one medication, have now apparently removed the larger dose of the same medication. I'm guessing their program doesn't allow for two different strengths, both taken daily, which add up to the right amount. Sooo I'm once again trying to get them to get it right. Sigh. 

And I have to call about the car recall. I've waited a few days in case they had a rush after the mailing arrived.

Meanwhile my bone doctor is very happy that I now no longer have osteoporosis in my hip, much increased bone density, and my spine is now totally normal, no bone loss at all. So this is good.  The medicine works. 

She diagnosed the dodgy hip as bursitis and gave me instructions on taking care of it.

Someone suggested that you not worry about something that won't matter in five years. At my age, that's just about everything😂. So there's that.

And you can catch a flower break 

It's all relative.

Happy day, everyone! I'm thinking about fall activities now.  So's Gary. 

He came over to say he has a large bag of bulbs for fall planting,  red and white striped tulips.  

He was going to MEASURE for 6" apart. I suggested he just strew them and plant wherever they landed. Another neighbor came bustling over to add her opinion, that you place them here and there, no measuring, no strewing. So we'll see. I bet he still measures.

Monday afternoon I did a matinee, an ancient Hollywood comedy, creaky but entertaining 

As unlikely as you'd expect, and my face blindness kicked in big-time, in that I couldn't detect the difference between the principal Clifton Webb and the snoop who lived with his mother and hybridized iris.

This definitely complicated the plot, until they appeared in the same scene and light dawned. 

This is not unusual in my life, and I've learned workarounds, also treading water until I identify who I'm talking to. To me a lot of people look like a lot of other people.  

I was happy to discover that I had this in common with Oliver Sacks. I'm in good company. And yes, I do know the name of the condition, having studied ancient Greek, before someone bustles in to tell me 😉. I just don't think it belongs in this paragraph.

The allergy season took a few days off and now I think ragweed is coming for me. Endless sneezing and swollen eyes, poor baby. But Tuesday is exciting -- Ruth and Laura get pushed up to 90%. 

I'm so happy with the hearing improvement I've been getting that this will be interesting. I've already dispensed with captions in movies, even for whispers and outdoor windy scenes, wheeee.  So now I wonder if, after I've reached the next level, I'll hear bats. 

Then the following day is Bone Shot Day, a biannual event, if that means twice yearly, not every two years. The bone density test showed improvement, so I'll get the official word then. 

This is a massively expensive shot, about $1,600 each time, and I'm glad to say Medicare covers it, after the doctor sets it up initially.  I'm also glad it appears to be working, a nice point. These old bones are suitably grateful. As am I, still walking daily, unaided, doing stairs, all that. 

I think my forays into sitting at stop signs waiting for them to turn red, and pointing my auto fob at my front door expecting it to open, are not particularly age related. More like dumbitude, seen at various ages, if younger friends are anything to go by.

Happy day everyone, feel free to share your own dumbitudes in the comments. 

Saturday was about enjoying slices of the chicken, really one of the best I've had, tender, and the flavor of the herbs just right, with shells tossed with my mayo, broccoli bits and capers.

Then I made a figgy demerara snacking cake, Melissa Clark, NYT. Except I used plums, natural cane sugar and extra vanilla because I didn't have brandy, or figs or demerera sugar. The sugar is sprinkled on top as well as mixed in the batter. 

I love this recipe, which makes quite a few pieces, the cake part rich with butter especially if you use lovely Irish butter which I did, then the plums just a bit tart and juicy. 

Here's the cast of characters, the plums prepped a couple of days ago, when I felt like it.  I used part white, part chickpea flour. 

Here it's going into a 400°f oven for about 40 minutes. 

It's a sort of sheet cake, which I slice with a pizza cutter, approx one plum quarter per piece.

I completely forgot to take pictures of the baked result, but a couple of pieces with a pot of tea went over so well. 

I've put a box of them in the freezer in case Handsome Son visits this week. He's working the holiday, as usual, but it's time and a half $$ Sunday and Monday, nice boost. His day off is midweek.

Then a neighbor came over to give me more dill, she's got a glut, and I gave her sage and thyme. We talked hearing aids and she's decided since I'm doing well, she'll go to my doctor and try to get my audiologist, nice Dr Han.

Her situation is different,  since cancer treatment caused her hearing loss, but the result is the same. She was impressed at the almost invisibility of the aids. I'm mainly happy they don't fight with my glasses!

Maybe Gary will also get around to it. He did get them made, but never went to pick them up! Men seem to be much more reluctant to use them than women, for some reason.

Anyway up to now they're going smoothly, and there's a significant drop in tinnnitus when I wear them. Right now I'm listening to crickets cricketing away. I thought we hadn't any this year. 

Turns out I wasn't hearing them, peaceful summer evening sound. At first I even thought it was tinnitus, until I realized how it varied. Oh, kerrrickets.

And now lookit, suddenly it's September. With Edith Holden showing it to us. That's a European goldfinch. 

Happy day everyone, I hope your crickets are the good kind, not the being ignored variety.

I'm looking ahead to when I'm no longer driving, and though friends and Handsome Son would help, they also have a life, and in the absence of public transportation around here to get me where I need to be, I'm investigating other options, too.

I found a volunteer group who drive  seniors and visually impaired people to local destinations, and amazingly, include my town. Usually these things go strictly by county. 

I live very close to one county, in fact most of my activities and doctors are there, but I'm in the extreme south of another, big, county where everything happens way north of me, and where they won't cross county lines. So this service is promising. Usually the county I do most activities in won't cross county lines to service my town. 

It's also overloaded and I spent time trying to get on the waiting list. Several emails explaining the basics, cost, etc, but they want a call. I explained finally the phone is difficult, that's why I'm emailing. They responded helpfully.  I'm now on the waiting list. So I'm a step further on. 

It's cheaper than uber, but not cheap. But when I use the service, I won't be running a car, with those expenses, so the math may math. I may be on the waiting list for a while. The plan is to try it out while I'm still driving, to see how it works.

Meanwhile I'm still driving locally.  And this afternoon is taken up with hearing aids, fitting, learning how to insert, whatever that entails.

Home again, with my little shopping bag, complete with charger, case, cleaning materials and Tootsie rolls for being a good patient. One for each ear.

You can't see the hearing aids because I'm wearing them, having navigated my weird shaped ear canals. The over the ear part is tiny, and pretty much vanishes into my hair.

On the way home from the appointment, I noticed various interesting things such as: the signal on my car is not silent after all. It clicks. So do the keys on my phone. 

I go back twice more to get the volume raised each time till it's normal, meanwhile I wear them all day, I read aloud to get used to my voice which is sounding weird just now, and generally discover sounds I'd forgotten about. 

This is fun. It's a strange feeling having things in my ears, but I expect to get used to it. At least, that's the plan. 

My bank account needs a Tootsie roll after the onslaught, but, oh well. Gary stopped over later on other business,  and he sounded so loud! He's thrilled that I'm going with the aids, very happy. 

After all this excitement I was still in time for Textiles and Tea with photographer turned tapestry artist Jeane Vogel. Her small, often four selvage,  tapestry works all have messages and she uses a lot of Jewish symbolism and iconography. But as she says, it's meant to work as art even if you aren't familiar with the meaning. 

Photographic images on fabric, on the right with sashiko stitching.

One of her tapestry looms with a work in progress.

Here's a spiral idea bursting out of the work

Happy day everyone, mine was packed with good things, even Tootsie rolls, so I hope yours was, too.

So early Monday and my  doctor's message system gets back as soon as they open to say no, they never received the rx refill request my online pharmacy claimed to have sent.  This is three times now. But they'll get the request pronto to my doctor and she'll be on it.  

By early afternoon, refill request noted by doctor and sent. Let's hope this works.

Always good to follow the trail. I learned this when managing many people and projects. Make the request, get the confirmation, then follow up to see if it happened! And be very firm and clear if it didn't. Fireworks.

Every morning I go out before it's too hot, water the flower containers pick a flower or two, just foliage up to now from my seeds, and rearrange my little bouquet.

We had massive downpours Sunday, humidity in high 90s, I don't think watering is needed Monday.

Gary stopped by to ask about a begonia he's started in water, and is worried about when he goes away this week! He's making plant preparations well ahead, but will probably pack in the five minutes before departure.

Louder for the people at the back: my list of funny but true questions was from over forty years ago. As I said. Were you as familiar with these concepts then? 

Unless you were in Florida where they've been a thing since postwar days, I kinda doubt it. Even if you live where they're common now.  

Nowadays you don't get this kind of confused wondering here, either. Back then there seemed to be total confusion about the different ways of property ownership. 

Assisted living was new here then, communes had been a thing. Then there were time shares. Co-ops mainly in the city  (here that means Manhattan). And now condos. I think people assumed they were some kind of amalgam of everything!

Meanwhile back to now, I called and rescheduled my hearing aid fitting. It's now going to happen in late August when I hope the temperatures will be lower than this week. I don't feel safe driving out in this heat.

Happy day, everyone, stay safe, and always

I like this array of good ideas. Permission galore!

The day started with a massive down pouring thunderstorm through which I had to drive, to the hearing test place. The test was interesting, various gadgets attached to my head and ears. The audiologist said my ear canals are too small for one of their tests which involved fitting a thing into the ear. So we went with headphones. 

Verdict: normal age related hearing loss, normal in the lower ranges, mild loss in mid range, marked to severe loss in the upper ranges, both ears the same. The upper range is where consonants are usually found, hence the difficulty with conversation.  She and the ENT both recommended I consider aids, though I could wait and recheck in a year. 

I'm going to get an hour with the audiologist in June to see about aids. I have a feeling that my tiny cute ear canals may eliminate otc, cheaper ones,  depending on how many sizes they cater to. We'll see. 

I've been weaving while thinking of all this

The Misfits box arrived, mercifully for the driver, the storm had moved on

The chard and naan will take part in an upcoming stew with carrots and sweet potatoes from last week, plus cannellini and red beans  already here.  

The cheddar will feature in a couple of tuna melts, tuna and whole grain bread  already here. Also the scallions I planted are growing 

so it's not a problem that misfits couldn't supply them this week, likewise Roma tomatoes, because I have diced toms here. I think pasta with a tomato sauce will happen soon.

The blueberries and gala apples continue to be good. Those apples are sweet, crisp and just right. Sold at a discount because they're too small for the stores. Yet just the right size if you have children, as every mom knows. 

And the pure cane golden sugar is a steady need.

Handsome Son is visiting today, so there will be one sausage roll I reserved for him, and apricot cake. 

That recipe makes a ton of cake. There's another container of pieces in the freezer when these are finished.

So long since we had a haggard hawks puzzle

Funny clues only! No shouting out the answer!

Handsome Son visited, approved sausage roll and cake, chatted, got updated on health, work and other things. 

Then before he left, he fixed the settings in my car so the tpms no longer alerts me to the fixed flat tire, my preferred radio station is back and the dash shows total mileage, not just trip mileage. Also it's all in English. This is several things I had tried to reset and hadn't managed.

Everyone should have a nice Handsome Son who lives nearby.

Happy day, everyone! Blink if you can hear me and want cake.

And if you thought life was exciting where you work 

The mourning doves are spending a lot of time sitting and fluttering around on the deck, and I wonder if they're planning  to nest. They've done this before, a scrappy little nest on the ground, and their eggs didn't survive. Better luck this time.

And Mary, Linda and other doll lovers might be interested in these Chilean significant narrative appliqued dolls, depicting actual people in everyday life

And here's one of the few remaining Ainu people of Japan still creating yarn and weaving it, from tree bark, a long, arduous process for a people with no access for centuries to other weaving fibers.

Nearer home, I've set up an ENT appointment in April, for a hearing test, to see what needs to happen about my hearing. It's harder to keep up with some voices now, and I may need to consider aids.

Yesterday afternoon I spent researching what's out there, how they work, and doing a variety of hearing tests, with results varying from hearing loss typical of my age, maybe requiring a fairly simple amplifier, to profound loss, it's all over for you!