Friday, April 29, 2011

Broken Door Handle

The bad news this week is that I broke the handle on the bathroom door after Carol told me not to pull too hard on it.  I couldn’t  figure out how not to do that.  She says she is bummed she has to fix it.  I apologized.

We were watching a cooking show and Carol saw a dish she said looked good.  I thought she was suggesting I make it.  I said I wouldn’t be comfortable chopping the vegetables.  She said she meant for her to cook it.  That reminded  me of a goat cheese stuffed chicken breast recipe in a book at my ex, Donna’s.  I asked her for the recipe.  It does include some cut up sun dried tomatoes  I can do that safely with a butter knife.

My new old tv series passion is Six Feet Under.  Very fun, if dark, stories.  Carol has the set.  I am working my way through it impatiently.

The present moment is soft.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Seattle Insight Meditation Society

    My friend Jude has been giving me rides to another friend Ange who gives me free acupuncture. That makes the trip last a half hour rather than one and a half by bus.
    Jude does Insight Meditation, which I also do.  On our ride, together, she mentioned she is going back to Seattle Insight Meditation, lectures by Rodney Smith, that meet at St. Mark’s Cathedral.  I had gone there, but stopped, several years ago.  I had found it hard to make a commitment to be there every week.  The talks build on each other. Jude had a conflict every other Tuesday, but felt she could follow the thread. I figured I could, too.
    I was a bit nervous that my movements might distract the person sitting next to me. My next door neighbor was Mary.  She started to chat to find out what my disease is.  Mary said she was happy I sat down next to her, because my HD put her concerns in perspective.  Very helpful for me that she said that out loud.
    The present moment is sunny.   

Friday, April 15, 2011

No Fear of Falling

I had been using the walker only outside, since I hadn’t had any falls indoors.  I had one, last week.  It’s a bit of a challenge remembering to use it indoors, now.  It’s a drag having to clean off the wheels.  Carol pointed out that that would be easier if I had a second walker.  At first I thought the extra one would get in the way.  Then, I realized she was right (those magic words).  I had the one my friend Leslie had given me downstairs as a spare.  I moved it up.

Using the walker indoors means I can’t vacuum (unless I take my friend Mary’s advice and get a riding vacuum cleaner).  I feel badly adding that to Carol’s already long days.  She says maybe we can hire Lena to do it.

I also fell outdoors when the walker ran across a crooked patch.  A reminder to slow down.  I think my 18 years of Aikido helps me remember to fall safely, even though that was a long time ago.  It doesn’t scare me.  Just feels stupid.
 
That reminds me of a conversation Carol had with her mother about the fact that her mother found using her walker embarrassing.  Carol asked, “Is it less embarrassing to fall in front of your friend.?”

My friend Rose also does Interplay.  She gave me a ride there, this week.  At first, I was nervous about doing the improvisational dance movements with the walker.  I have to remember to have one hand on the walker at all times.  The leader Christa pointed out that I could sit and dance.  She put a few chairs down and invited the others to use them for their dances.  She acknowledged that I am a lifetime dancer, and said I never have to stop Interplay.  She also got my permission to push me in the walker in a dance, which was fun.

I noticed that, after I went to the trouble to separate the meat from the dishes I cook, the teenager hasn’t been eating them.  She is on a run of deli food and pizza from the food coop.  Carol says it is all right to put the shrimp back in the rice and beans.  I remembered I know how to make meat loaf, also comfort food.  We can  rotate the beef with turkey, since iron is implicated in my HD.

The present moment makes me laugh.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Dance Me to the End of Love


Last night we went to see Madeleine Peyroux perform to review for my column. Carol turned me on to her. Her name didn’t sound familiar to me, until she sang “Dance Me to the End of Love,” Oh, right, that Madeleine Peyroux.” It is a great song. Carol reminded me she had added it to the playlist for our wedding. She wasn’t sure whether Peyroux wrote the song so I googled it and found out Leonard Cohen did. His music and lyrics and her voice are a fantastic combination.

I had been assuming Instant Breakfast would mix with water, so it would be easy to do at the gym. It takes milk. I figured out I could add instant milk. Carol hates the taste of powdered milk because her mother watered down the real milk with powdered when she was growing up, because they were poor and five kids went through a lot. She didn’t think it was a very good solution. My only childhood association with milk being gross was after someone told me it has formaldehyde in it. My friend Mary suggested I might be able to get milk in the vending machines at the gym. I told her there is actually a cafe that has it. I think I will go with the cheaper version.

Oscar did indeed help me with my computer. I offered to take him out to dinner. He just wanted some pasta at home. I wound up having an extra free ticket for Cris Williamson’s concert, since Carol has a conflict, Oscar agreed to use it. When I said I would like to take Carol out to dinner to thank her for for all the work she did on the computer, she reminded me we have coupons for free dinners leftover from our wedding.

By the way, my friend Alice, who is a technical writer, offered to help with the setup.  It was good to know we could ask her.  Carol wound up figuring it out herself. We did ask Alice about something that was turning up on Carol’s computer, which we use as a backup, that looked like a virus after a computer shop had cleaned out viruses and set up better protection. It turns out what we had was malware. She told us how to download free protection from it.

The present moment is springlike.