RIP, Archbishop

 Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died at age 90 after a life of fighting apartheid and offering moral leadership to the world. I was incredibly fortunate to meet him once. I was stage managing a large church assembly at which he was the preacher at the opening worship. The processional was designed around the energy of African tradition with dancers holding a golden cloth over the heads of the participants as they walked down the aisle. In the Archbishop's case, he danced down the aisle. His red robes flowing around him as he kept the rhythms of the music. Bless their very America ministerial hearts, the preachers in the line behind him tried their best and were obviously so up tight about moving with that energy in church. My dancer's heart could but grin. 

In the huge convention center auditorium, my crew and I were stationed on the floor stage left of the raised platform. Even though we were in plain sight, we were also invisible as lights and worship participants kept congregational attention focused on the stage. As we moved into the celebration of the Eucharist, the worship leader invited us to pass the Peace to each other. I looked up to see the Archbishop leaning down to take my hand and offer me the Peace of God. He looked me in the eye and blessed me and moved on down the line of "invisible" crew. 

The Archbishop did in that setting what he had done all his life: he saw the invisible ones and blessed them ~ in our case with the Peace of God, in his homeland with a fight for justice and equality. No one from that stage (and I stage managed a number of those assemblies) had ever reached down and acknowledged our presence just off stage left in plain sight but invisible. 

The world was made better by your presence in it, sir. May your heavenly dance continue. 

ER

I had a rather nasty episode last week and went to the doctor to get an antibiotic. He couldn't find anything and, although he admitted he might be overreacting, sent me to the ER for a cat scan of my brain. Whoa! I admit to being scared. Well, they ran a battery of tests and everything was negative. You can be very busy in the ER as they take you here, there and everywhere, move you through this machine and that machine and poke you in this arm and then that arm. 

They found nothing except a rather low oxygen level. They ordered the oxygen too late in the day for delivery and so they sent me upstairs to an observation room for the night. Interesting situation when you left home at 11:30 am expecting to be home in an hour. I did discover the toothpaste and toothbrush they provide so that helped. 

I came home with several oxygen tanks and a permanent oxygen machine was delivered about an hour after I got home. So - for now I am on oxygen 24/7; I have home health care to work on balance because there is still some vertigo symptoms present; and I miss my workouts with my trainer. It is my goal to get back to those as soon as possible. 

ER observations: everyone is friendly, helpful and tries to figure out what may be wrong with you. They will feed you anything you want whenever you want it. If you are allowed food, you may have it. They don't want you to be hungry. However. when you don't get to order breakfast, you get the absolute worst omelet in the world. I found out it is prepackaged and tastes like sand. My egg salad sandwich for lunch was made with real eggs and the salad was crisp and tasty. 

A big sign on the wall of the room said "Call nurse before getting out of bed!" I kept Jorge, my night nurse, hopping. He was great though and stopped once to sit and visit which was really nice. I was very glad to get home. I'm getting better although still struggling with some vertigo and staying on oxygen for a while. Staying inside is easy right now as we are in the middle of an atmospheric river of snow. If I had to visit the ER, I'm glad I made it in and out before the river arrived!

 

Ta-dah! Just Like That ~

 ~ I have a treadmill!! 

Friday night I thought the exercise equipment we had talked about but had no where to go just might go on the front deck. Saturday morning I mentioned it to Dean. By Saturday afternoon, he had gone to Craig's List, found a treadmill for $100 in Tahoe City about 5 minutes from our house, made contact and plans to pick it up Sunday morning. By late Sunday morning, I had a treadmill ~ with some effort on Dean's part of course. 

It's located in the most protected corner of the front deck, covered in a never-before-used grill cover which is perfect in case the snow does blow. Last night it snowed, coming straight down but I was still glad the treadmill was covered. I'll just bundle up to take my morning walk. I'm so pleased we found it, bought it, and set it up before the snow came. Dean's timing around snow arrival has been great this year so we are ready for winter and I am ready to enjoy my morning walks on my front deck. 

Age Adjustment

 As I grow older, and I have to admit I am growing older, I am learning it is wise to make some adjustments to compensate for that fact. This week it came in the form of making apple sauce. 

Traditionally I would put the crate of apples on the counter and cut and chop and cook and blend until the whole crate was gone and apple sauce was in the freezer. 

This year I found lovely Apple Hill apples at our Farmers' Market and chose a lovely selection to mix into the blend for apple sauce. Then my body aches started - my personal trainer even sent me home from our session when he saw the way I was walking into the gym. I ached. And I had apple sauce to make. What to do? 

Well, think about it, Susan. The whole crate doesn't have to be used all at once. Solution: yesterday I made two pots of apples. Today I made two pots of apples. Tomorrow I will finish the crate. Once the apples were cooked, I let them cool while I ate lunch and took a nap. Then I blended them and put them containers to freeze. Done in a way that gives me my terrific (if I do say so myself) apple sauce and at the same time didn't wear me out and made me hurt even more. 

Folks, I don't like to admit to hurting and feeling bad and not being as active as I once was ~ and the fact is, that's the way it is. So, I adjust. I'm learning and every adjustment keeps me moving forward and staying in good shape for 78. I'm grateful for life and all it's flavorful adjustments! 

Country Ham

 

A North Carolina friend sent country ham. Or as my cousins used to say, "coun'ry" ham. We served it up with grits, red eye gravy and fresh squeezed orange juice. Delicious!! The only thing missing was biscuits but Dean had his usual pecan sticky bun and, as you can tell, I had my usual English muffin. So yummy!

So here's a Southern breakfast story for you. We were in North Carolina a few years ago and this friend and his wife took us for breakfast at a restaurant for a real Southern breakfast. I mentioned I was going to have the ham with poached egg. His wife said that North Carolinians may not know what a poached egg is. I tried to order it anyway and our server didn't blink an eye and my egg came perfectly poached and all was well. 

A little over a week later we took cousins to a diner for breakfast. Again I ordered country ham with a poached egg. The server looked at me like I was nuts. "Poached?" she said with a wrinkle in her brow. Quickly I remembered my friend's previous comment and said, "over easy, please". The eggs came perfectly done over easy and all was well. 

My childhood summers were spent in North Carolina where my uncle would also have a Smithfield county ham that he parceled out over the summer both for breakfasts and dinners. I miss having it readily available and am grateful for a friend who knows me well enough to send a care package occasionally. So good regardless of how my eggs are done. 

Shopping Basket Art

 For years I have admired the woven shopping baskets for sale at the Farmers' Market and watched women carrying them as they gather their purchases. I always wanted one but thought that my tote bags and lately my grocery bags were sufficient and I didn't need to add to my collection. This week I decided I really did want one and they didn't cost that much and so I bought one. It is lovely

It is light weight and big enough to hold tomatoes, potatoes, grapes and spinach, strawberries and peaches and one very special cookie that I indulge in at the market. 

Now, here's the fun thing I didn't know. The company that makes them was started by a young Kenyan woman who came to this country to go to school bringing with her a suitcase of souvenirs to give to new friends. She soon realized that she just might be able to  sell such products, made by the women of her village, and help support the work of the women from home. And so she could. You can find these lovely baskets and other woven goods at https://www.gitzellimports.com/

Air Quality Index

 I have become fascinated with the Air Quality Index

Early this morning it read 282 (Very Unhealthy). Now it is 315 (Hazardous). Without reading it, I know that my eyes are dry and itch, my sinuses are stopped up, and I have a smoky headache. And at the same time it is rather interesting to know what weather science says about all that. 

Yesterday was gorgeous! The sky was blue. I could breathe outside without a mask. At the Farmers' Market, strangers talked about the blue sky and the view across the lake. Dean and I ate lunch on the deck for the first time in a week. Before we did, I wiped the table which was black with soot from smoke. It was lovely. And then things began to change. 

We say the smoke will come or go depending on the wind shift. Well, yesterday afternoon there was no wind. The sky was blue ~ and then it was sort of grey-ish. And then a bit darker grey. The West Shore disappeared from view and the forest had pockets of grey between the trees. No wind blew. There was no creeping in like fog. It just ~ changed. The full moon rose like a blood orange with nothing else visible in the sky. And the Air Quality Index crept slowly upward. 

Even as I write this, I am so grateful that all we have is smoke. Blessings to all those who are in the fire's path. Please, hold thoughts of safety for all our fire fighters both in the air and on the ground.