Nature Songs ~~~~
NOVEMBER, 2001 ~ continued
November 21, 2001 - Yesterday? Let’s see ... er... the morning pretty much went as planned, but then that was all morning at Q4L with little time for anything else. However - I did get a phone call before leaving the house. It was even before Ms. Jay called. Yes, the one and only called needing some help from Mom. Would I please help out with NascarKid in the afternoon? Yes, of course. So ... I picked him up from school and brought him home with me until time for his Christmas program practice at church at 6:30. On the way back from church I stopped and visited with Mother for a short time.
No ... I didn’t go to the grocery store as planned and get dogfood. I did get some bags of dry stuffing mixes to use and other stuff as well, but I forgot the dogfood and I forgot the items needed for cleaning the house. After all why would I remember the two most important things I needed. I had already forgotten the dogfood one other time.
Bunches to do today and the children would be here this afternoon so I took off the morning from my exercise routine. Tbird called to invite me to join them for lunch, but I told her I probably would not have time since I wanted to get some things done before she brought the children. I made my circle of stops with a visit to the drugstore first. They weren’t busy, so I wanted for them to fill the prescription for me as I browsed the new Christmas items on display. Seems this year is all silver and white with lots of glass from most of their offerings.
Next was a stop at the bank. The lines at the drive-through were long and I was fortunate to have another lane open up just as I arrived and I got to jump ahead of all the others sitting and waiting when I drove up. Picking up what I missed at the grocery yesterday seems to have mushroomed into needing lots more than what I thought I needed. I spent twice as much today as yesterday as I kept picking up a “few” things that would be good to fix for the upcoming holiday season. Now to see if I actually make the recipes I thought of doing: a low-fat cake, cranberry relish and caramel pound cake.
My nails were way past time to be filled-in, so I wanted to get them done today. I knew that there would have to be some clipping on several of them before being redone because they were coming loose at the back edges. I didn’t know that three of them would come off when work was begun. There was more work to do on my nails than I expected, but when all was finished, I am quite pleased with my frosted purple shiny nails. Actually, they don’t look all that purple, but a deep red with a hint of purple. I’ll go for the red next trip and be ready for Christmas. It was 12:15 when I left the nail shop.
Lunch would have been out of the question, so I’m glad I didn’t try to meet the others in Hudson. Turning into the driveway, I saw Wendy’s car and wondered what was up. What was up was lots of dust all around the house. She and BingoKid were hard at work getting the leaves out of the front yard. BingoKid had to get the leaves up in order to get to go hunting tomorrow with Allan! Mom was helping only because I wasn’t home and she didn’t want to leave him there by himself using the high powered blower you push as the leaves twirl and dancing off in the distance from the force of it’s motor.
It wasn’t long until the house was all full of movement and noises. Wendy left for awhile, but came back by with BusyKid to join in the fun and wait for Wes to meet them for supper. Somewhere along the way, Dad came to get Giggles and take her home, dropping off DynoKid to practice his Christmas program at church. Lady came in the midst of the family commotion to clean house. Wendy and her crew all left for supper, taking NascarKid with them, and suddenly, it was quiet again. Only Lady and I were left for a while as she went about the house spinning her magic throughout the rooms.
Time to pick up DynoKid and stop by to visit with Mother for a short time. She played “let’s-stay-in-bed-today-and-get-more-attention” again today. We didn’t spend too much time with her as DynoKid had not had supper and I needed to get him something, stop at the grocery store close to his church to pick up some of those frozen biscuits his brother likes to eat here at home and pick up brother from church.
Guess I’ll be getting up early enough in the morning to mix and bake the stuffing to take for the big dinner we are sharing. At last count there will be at least 60 of us having Thanksgiving together. Thanksgiving ... already, the Christmas scene has overshadowed the sharing of Thanksgiving .. there was Christmas music on the radio stations today as I listened in my car making the rounds.
November 22, 2001 - Thanksgiving Day. It’s early and there is a full day ahead. This will be one of the busiest Thanksgiving Days I’ve had in a very long time. Seems this year, Thanksgiving has more true meaning for America. Talk of what the Armed Forces are busy doing away from home is part of the day. Feelings of how safe are we and the things we handle creep into our thoughts, making us more thankful for those we love and what we have.
I watched Garth Brookes last night as he performed aboard the USS Enterprise anchored in Norfork. He has come out of retirement to travel around and entertain the troops. Someone gave him an American Flag as he sang. Others will be joining him and travel around sharing with the troops.
Along with the Thankfulness we here in our area also have concerns and prayers for rain to relieve the drought we are in. In the past 58 days we have had only an inch of rain. On Tuesday I saw the smoke of a fire here in Lenoir. Seems an off road vehicle may have sparked a fire with sparks from it’s hot muffler. Seven homes were in danger so airplanes were called in immediately to douse the fire with foam as the forest service and many different fire departments rushed in to attack the blaze. Within hours, the blaze was contained and held down to only five acres of woods and the homes were safe. The watch and watering down of the smoldering that remained continued throughout the night as the fire was not completely out. I could hear the airplanes and helicopters as they worked from inside my own home. November - and some areas are on water rations as if it were the middle of summer...
Our group today will be sharing our celebration of Thanksgiving with our Australian friend, Carla, who is visiting. The week has pasted as quickly for her and all too soon she will be boarding the airplane to fly back home. Last night she was in Asheville to take part in the candlelight service in the Biltmore House celebrating Christmas. DynoKid was at the Biltmore House the first of this week. He and his class only counted the big and tall Christmas trees as they toured the mansion. He said they counted sixteen of them throughout the room throughout the two stories they toured. He was impressed with his first visit there.
tomorrow Tbird and some of her friends will be taking Carla to Virginia to see a play at the Barter Theater. They will return to Kernersville to spend the night with a friend because her plane leaves at 6 am on Saturday morning and they will be closer to the airport from there.
My day tomorrow will be filled with grandchildren. I will have Tbird’s three and Allan wants me to help with Buddy Boy. I’ll take these three up to his house with me and they can play outdoors. Allan wants to work on his new workshop/ garage he is building at his house. Soon he will be moving his landscaping equipment to his house from here. It will be strange to have my own garage empty after all these years. Hummmm ... Maybe I will get the trailer with all Mother’s craft stuff in it pulled into it. It still has to be entered and cleaned out .... one day .....
November 23, 2001 - The biggest shopping day of the year, and once again here I am at home. I’m not a big fan of shopping of the busiest shopping day of the year. Morning TV news reporters show long lines of people waiting in the predawn darkness for stores to open their doors. I’m glad to be here and not there.
All went well with Thanksgiving dinner amid Australian People-to-People visitors of summer past, their families and Carla. Even grandparents such as myself were there to partake in the bounty of shared dishes and memories. Highlights of the occasion would have to be when Carla donned her shark cap and the group sang songs (with actions added) to the delight of one and all. Over sixty-five of us from the very young to some older than myself made our own memorial day.
After the sharing of favorite recipes, memories of Australia and meeting one another the younger generation had come prepared for other activities. One youngster took off outdoors with his helmet in place prepared to ride his modern scooter. Others had their helmets and skateboards. There was also plenty of running, chasing and doing those things that youth exemplifies so truly. One brought his artwork to share as he worked toward creating his very own comic book. His brother brought in an electric bass guitar to plug in to the sound system and play while another took to the electric piano. Youthful energies flowed till midafternoon.
The boys chose to come home with me rather than go see the lights at Tanglewood. Their plans were centered around the computer, but alas! Something happened to the computer! It is very sick and unresponsive. Each time we attempt to turn it on a message appears announcing we need to insert the disk in order to continued. What disk? I know not. Has it come down with a virus? Is it a simple thing that had attacked? Are we in serious trouble with the computer? Have I lost all? There is no updated backup of all my notes and messages held within. No backup of my email ... Oh my! This could be serious stuff.!
Today I shall try to retrace exactly what the boys may have used, downloaded or - whatever - with the hopes of perhaps finding a disk that was improperly removed before ending the program. Thank goodness for my laptop. I would be really lost without it.
I was much too tired to make the trip over to spend time with Mother yesterday. The only place I headed to after returning home yesterday was my bed. How good it felt to rest. Today we will have to go over and spend some time with her. She sounded like she had stayed in bed once again yesterday. Seems to be happening more and more often.
Miss Giggles will be here shortly and add her energies to the day, or at least for part of the day. She spent yesterday tracing nearly every step her Mother took. At that rate, one day we are going to see another of our clan that speeds around in high gear all the time. Oh, that she will learn the art of relaxing a bit along the way.
Best I go about getting a few things done around here before she arrives since I don’t know how long she will be staying.
The day has only come to midday and I already know that I must recover and reboot my computer in order to get into it to do anything. There seemed to be no way to get passed the insert disk order. With lots of trepidation I decided to get the recovery disks out and attempt to fix my computer. Wes had not called in reply to my message left on his machine at home last night - no telling when I might get him to sit down and work on the computer for me. He has not taken well to the idea that I have allowed the boys to use it as they do. (How else can they learn the value of using a computer without the practice of using one?)
I proceeded to choose the option for not doing the complete recovery and loosing all that has accumulated since first getting the analytical engine. Thankfully, it worked!! I am left with a minimum of reprogramming and getting things up working again. It’s exhilarating to know that I’ve been able to repair my instrument without calling on others to step in and help. There’s lots us oldsters can do when we set our minds to taking care of circumstances.
OH! I admit there is a program that keeps popping up that it needs to be reinstalled. It is a lot of strange numbers and DLL. I’m not sure where I would fine the program that includes such a critter. Maybe if I sleep on it tonight I’ll come up with an answer.
Tbird came by with Carla and two others in her group close to noon to drop off Giggles. They were on their way to Virginia to the Barter Theater to take in a show. It will be in the morning when they return home. They will spend the night in Kernersville tonight and see Carla off early in the morning on the next leg of her American journey. A visit in two different cities of Texas and then she returns to her native Australia. Plans are being made now to work out a way for her to be the tour guide this coming summer when the next selection of youths will make a trip there.
RAIN! Glorious rain! Finally, some rain. It can’t be emphasized enough that we are - after around 60 days of arid days- getting a wee tad of rain. It is not enough to help the drought which plagues us, but the men out containing fire lines throughout the area are happy for the help and relief. There is a forecast of some more to follow. Any amount that falls is appreciated and indispensable. Perhaps, too, it will help to relieve all the sinus problems and asmtha so many people are having to endure lately.
November 24, 2001 - With retaliation it hit - P-R-A-I-N-G!!! Yes, of course, it happens every time. Has it been so long that I would have forgotten the drastic difference a low pressure coming into the picture brings? The much needed rain has arrived here. Enough rain has fallen by evening, the weatherman (excuse me - lady) announces the ban on outdoor burning has been lifted. All is good news; aside from the fact that the PRAIN attack presents itself. Along with the prain, another arthritic cyst pops up on my index finger and happens to get the skin broken across the top. Surprising how many times I am reminded throughout the day of its existence. Pesky psoriasis blisters decide to join in with their own extreme sensibility reminding me it is still hanging around. I am made aware of how much better things have been from within my body during the long dry weather. Why can people not have their cake and eat it, too? Life is so full of off-sets. For every plus there is a minus. For every joy there is a note of sadness. For me there is another reminder of the whole-body pain - a perseverance in my life.
Pulling onto the boulevard as we were leaving for the Thanksgiving meal in Conover, two young girls in a mini van in the other lane caught my eye. They had on strange looking hats of pink and white clusters of beads that moved gently as they were talking. I was reminded of the article I read in the paper about the Hmong celebration of the New Year taking place at the Caldwell County Fairgrounds over the next few days. Sure enough, the van pulled over into the right-hand lane at the stoplight to turn toward the Fairgrounds. The boys and I were surprised to see how many vehicles were already parked all around the facility.
Yesterday’s newspapers had more information about the event and pictures showing their native costumes, music for sale and a glimpse of food being offered.. (Ouch, I just rubbed my sore finger along the edge of my laptop.) Seems that the event is celebrated in different areas of the country at different times during the fall. Many of the Hmong people will travel to California, northward and here in the South attending all of the events.
This is the fifth year the Hmong have celebrated their culture in Lenoir. Thousands of Hmong have traveled to Caldwell County again this year to celebrate the new year. The Catawba Valley Area of the USA has the largest population of Hmong living and working here. Hickory has the largest community. There is a good sized community near Tbird’s school and they have changed their school program in order to accommodate their needs and language.
The Hmong fled from China to the mountains of northern Laos in the early 1800s.When the communist overran the country in 1975, 100,000 Hmong fled from their homes. Later many came to live in America, and this area reminds those living here of the mountains of Laos. Each year they gather to share in the customs of their homeland through song, dance, food, games and costume as the celebrate together for several days.
November 25, 2001 - The rain, the pain, the PRAIN all working together have caused me to change my plans again today. I want to go to church. I miss going for my shot of inner renewal by sharing with others at church and listening to the sermon. Some storms are supposed to come through here today. I’m not sure when that will be, so I shall remain close home today and not venture out into the heavy traffic of people returning home from Thanksgiving celebrations. Traffic has been very heavy around here for most of the past week, but today should be even worse.
I shall aim toward going by BoJ’s this morning to pickup two steak biscuits which are on sale and a large cup of decaf coffee (for moi). Mother has not had a steak biscuit in a long time and I would think she should enjoy munching on one this morning for a change. Hopefully she will have decided to get out of bed this morning, but from past experience, I can about guarantee that she has decided to stay in bed today since it is a dark and dreary day. At any rate, I plan to watch the church service on TV with her today.
If I get myself organized a bit, there is time to search for the big black plastic bag hanging around the house here with Mother’s little Christmas tree inside. The flat tray has been added to the top of her TV and we can once again place things on top. The special adapter I used last year is still in the wall socket behind the TV and I bought a box of small ornaments to add to the tree that should reflect the changing colors to add more dimension and sparkle. Mother wants batteries added to the clock so it will play Christmas tunes every hour, and I need to take her dog over that plays tunes as it’s nose blinks red off and on.
The Christmas Season is upon us. The staff enjoyed watching as we added new ornaments to the little Christmas tree that sits upon the top of Mother’s TV. Having used string to tie on the ornaments last year, it was a great relief that all was pretty much in good condition when the tree came out of the black plastic garbage bag. Arranging the limbs didn’t take all that long, but the light in the base that illuminates the long strands of optic tubes as the colors rotate was not working. Whether it be only loose or be it burned out I could not tell. I had no screwdriver to use to open up the bottom of the base and had to call Wes to see if he might come by and check things out.
Batteries placed in the back of the Christmas clock and behold! Every hour on the hour a different song of Christmas plays during the daylight hours. There was no search for the Christmas dog. I’ll take it over later. I decided to wait until December 1st to change the wreath on the door to the room. I need to get out the mice and their mailbag for Christmas cards as well... Wish getting things out for Christmas at home could be as organized and easy as it is in Mother’s room at the nursing center.
Once back home, I took some Tylenol to help me feel better and rested a spell. It was when I got up that my misfortune came upon me. It’s one of those things you intend taking care of sometime, but the time is never quite right, that jumped out and attacked me! There it was in the same place it has been for a number of months. I actually don’t remember exactly when it was that I moved that chair from its appointed place in my room. I do know that it was jutting out much to close to the door and I had found it an excellent place to drop off things to be put up later. Perhaps its convenience was my rational for leaving it there in that spot.
Today was the day that I happened to pass too close to the chair and WHAM! My right foot was attacked. My thought at the moment was, “I don’t need that. The last thing I need is another broken toe.” I wondered why the right foot. I lead with the left and it is the left toes I am always breaking or bruising. I had some bad bruising just a few weeks ago and handled it very well. This time proves to be the exception to the rule.
As I stretched out on the bed, I was more and more aware of the toes on my right foot. This is not my regular pain in the toe that I am accustomed to accepting. Perchance I’ve done a bit more than I usually do and decide to round up some tape to use to tape together two of my toes to help me keep movement down to a minimum. Ouch! That is not much help. I tape three toes and then put on a shoe to help support and confine the toes. It still hurts. Oh well, I went ahead and called Bonnie to say that I probably should not work out tomorrow being that the toes are bothering me a bit. In fact, at this moment I’m thinking I may end up getting the foot checked at the doctor’s office just in case I’ve injured a bone other than the toe or toes. Why do I do these things?
In the morning I still have to get Charlie and Oreo over to the groomer’s abode for their regular grooming. I shall play out my moves tomorrow according to have-to’s only.
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