I’m writing this post on Friday evening as I think I’m going to leave early tomorrow morning, just in case there are any bus delays, which sometimes happens on the weekend. Don’t ask me why.
The rose bud you saw yesterday is opening. So pretty.
Another peony is opening.
And the peach roses in the memorial garden are opening.
Oh, spring. I love you.
I’m off to Manhattan to see Hamilton. I’m very excited, of course. I’m sure I’ll be suitably impressed. One of the Schuyler sisters – the female leads – is being played by a woman I coached the other time I worked on Broadway, Mandy Gonzalez. That particular show, Dance of the Vampires (starring Michael Crawford) was her Broadway debut. She has an extraordinary voice. Gorgeous. I’m so looking forward to seeing her shine on that stage. She has worked with Lyn Manuel Miranda before, in his show In the Heights.
I’m a lucky girl. Thank you to Don’s friend and colleague and to Don for getting me there. The only thing that would make this better is if Don were here to go with me.
Ah, well.
Happy Saturday.
Have a great time! From all I know it is truly an amazing show!! Your flowers are blooming and are so pretty. I’m enjoying a 2nd day of birthday celebrations! Hugs!
Fun!
Have heard nothing but fantastic reviews of the show. I know you will have a great time.
Travel safe.
Judy
How wonderful that you will get to see Hamilton! Your flowers are gorgeous!
Enjoy! Would love to be there, too!
It’s about 6:30 pm your time as I write this so, if you took in a matinee, maybe you’re on the way home right now…and I hope you had a tremendously-good time, Claudia! Looking forward to the lowdown tomorrow.
Lovely roses; I so love roses and I’m lucky that mine, too, are abundant right now and not fried by intense heat as we definitely have a return to June Gloom here in SoCalif, which I love, because it’s cool…although, when it does warm up, and it will, SOON, my planted veggies will begin to pop. I have baby yellow squash and baby zukes right now; fun to watch them grow. And I have one big, fat tomato just waiting to turn red; it’s going to be a delicious slicing tomato. I get tremendous pleasure in my few pots and raised-bed planters…of growing some or our own food just right out the back door; it’s easy; so enjoyable. We’ve got it down to what’s entirely manageable from when we formerly had a much-larger veggie garden in summer, which took a lot of water and work. It’s another way of downsizing but it’s worked out well. Anyone could do what we do, on a small terrace, a balcony, even a patio or porch (as long as you’ve got some sun). Organic; delicious!
It’s just …what would be the word…restorative for me to read your happy posts, Claudia.
I’ve had a rotten dozen or so days since my accident where I was the victim of a hit & run. The latest ‘drama’ was that yesterday, about 20 mins after leaving my primary care physician and I guess feeling the effects of the follow-up exam which included seeing how much rotation I had in my neck and shoulders (because I want TO DRIVE and am tired of being chained to home and dependent on somebody else to take me places as I’d heretofore mentioned; frustrated yet grateful but not wanting to inconvenience)…my husband and I went on to do an errand while we were out (I never got out of the car) and my neck started screaming within 15 mins. Fortunately I had x-strength tylenol on me and it helped, but I began having trouble with my vision…and here is it closing time, nearing 5pm, on a Friday night, at any medical office, and I’m 20 minutes out of town. So, trying to under-react (sometimes I do that to my detriment), got home, googled a few medical sites for explanation; decided to wait til morning…but, no change.
I have trouble with what they call a gi-normous (gigantic/enormous, well-defined) eye floater, for the past 15 months. Floaters are common; harmless. But this one is a doozy; uncommon. After I fell on my head last September, it shifted off the center of my vision to the side. I noticed it immediately on THAT trip to the ER. (I am just ‘way too familiar with my local ER.) Yesterday, something more happened. Car accident result, or not? Floaters and light flashes are, again, especially common in extremely-nearsighted and aging people like me. But this yesterday, all night and this morning was ‘way too much ‘lightning strike’ and stuff swimming in my eyes…so, you can’t fool around with it; it could be a retina detaching and if you don’t act on it within about 3 days, you can go blind. My mom had a retinal occlusion, same thing, a Friday, didn’t get it checked out til Monday, and she lost vision in that eye for the rest of her life. She was totally blind in that eye, forever after.
Lucky, lucky. My ‘eye doctor’ picked up his home phone on a Saturday; bless him. Got me into one of their clinics in another city this morning which is only open for half a Saturday, once a month; they weren’t closed yet. I was there for hours; had all the exams; retina, for the moment, is okay. But, two new things: The gi-normous floater in one eye split, simultaneous to a new gi-normous floater in the other eye. So, yes, more debris in my field of vision. Certainly was NOT my imagination! The new floater has something to do with an active situation where the vitreous something is pulling away from my retina in the ‘good’ eye. They have to make sure it’s not tugging so hard that it pulls my retina. I’ll go back in Monday. As of right now, I have FIVE doctor appointments next week and I really can’t quite believe that although, again, lucky; what if I didn’t have these doctors. And what if my husband had been at work today? He often works Saturdays. I’m not released to drive yet. I would have had no ride; we don’t have taxis here; I guess I could have leaned on a relative I have in a nearby city but time was not on our side as the medical office, not nearby, was closing at noon. Oh, the what-ifs…
After all this, this morning, I simply walked into the house when we finally got home, blurry-eyed from dilation (and tears), pulled the covers over my head and wept. I am very tired of ‘crisis’ mode. I slept for an hour. I refuse to be DEFEATED but I’m fighting it, clearly. Feels like I’m dodging bullets. Gotta pull on the brave-girl pants. Be a grownup! Other people have much-worse problems than I’m having, and that’s for sure. Made myself get up and despite my efforts to reduce caffeine, just had my second x-large cup of coffee at 4 pm which means I’ll probably be up all night, but I don’t care, because the coffee perked me up (haha, pun, perk/perc…).
So, the doctor didn’t say definitively – – but look at the coincidence. Had the stupid floater for six months, then it dislodged when I hit my head last Fall. Had the stupid car accident 12 days ago and now the floater divided and I got a new problem with the other eye. Blow/hit to the head in Sept; blow/whip to the head in May (both a fall and a whiplash can cause concussion). Can’t tell me this new eye thing doesn’t have anything to do with the car accident and my poor whipped/wobbled head & neck. Jostled brain!!! I’d like to find that guy who caused this accident and wring HIS neck. (God forgive me for saying that and of course I don’t mean it; I’m a non-violent person; I’m trying-trying to forgive…) But he has really put a curb on our lives and we still have no car yet. And it’s a mess of paperwork now between two insurance companies, my own car insurance and my health insurance (again, grateful; so glad I have insurance but it should be HIS insurance, not mine, who’s covering the bills). I look at all that already-increasing stack of paperwork (four envelopes alone came in the mail today…forms and more forms to complete) and I just can’t deal with it yet…but I will.
Tell me all the ‘happy’ tomorrow, Claudia. I’m living vicariously through your adventures right now!!!
One really heartwarming thing that happened this morning was that a gal I’ve known from the one ‘eye’ place was working at this sister office in the other city; I haven’t seen her for a year and she’s in my age group. Has worked hard at her job to get her kids to college and one just graduated from UC Berkeley. Anyway, she’s been severely obese and she was sitting down at a counter but I knew something was different even with my weird eyes when I first arrived. She has lost a TON of weight and she’s doing it the hard way; no gastric surgery, in menopause, I imagine she’s in her late 50s or early 60s, with a job where she sits most of the day. Here’s how it went down: She was at an amusement park…Universal Studios in Hollywood (theme park) and wanted to go on the Harry Potter ride with her young great-nieces/nephews. They test you first, to see if you can fit on the ride, and they couldn’t fasten her in because she was too overweight. The kids had to ride without her and were scared (I think it’s a roller coaster?); she felt embarrassed. She waited til the kids got on their way on the ride without her and were out of sight, and then she just dissolved into tears of regret and humiliation. It was her epiphany; the last straw. Ever since, she’s built up to walking five miles a day, has cut out meats from her diet; has cut out bread; heavy on the veggies. She looks absolutely marvelous but it’s what’s in her eyes, the joy of achievement; the joy of taking action; very empowering. I hugged her and congratulated her. Weight loss in the senior years is not easy. We have to keep moving and be active. I loved seeing her so happy. I keep thinking about it and it gets the smile back on my face in a hurry!