Perspective

Sunday afternoon is a good time to rest, read, catch up on correspondence and do whatever didn't get done during the week. But today I've been thinking... (uh oh..you say... what now?)

Yep, thinking about how so many things are so very different from one generation to the next. Shortly after Alan and I married, he left for the Army and I didn't get to join him for several months. During that time, I do not remember a single telephone conversation between the two of us. (When we were dating, he lived in Memphis - some 20 miles away, and we talked on the phone Frequently.... like daily, even when we were going out that evening.) Our communication was by mail only. My letters to him were much more frequent then his were to me since he was BUSY all the time with Army training.

When he was stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas, I had a two-room apartment in the next town. No phone in the apartment, but one at the end of the downstairs hall. I remember calling home on my 21st birthday to talk to Mother, John and Mama. Charlotte was at work. Long Distance calls in those days were reserved for Very Important news, and were very expensive. So we wrote letters. Many letters.

When our children grew up and started marrying and leaving home, the communication was essentially the same... expensive long distance phone calls - made only rarely - and many many letters back and forth. Fortunately for us only two of our five "left home"... the others settling in the same area when they married and established their own homes.

THEIR children - in today's world - think nothing of calling home daily, or more often, on their Cellular phones, since it doesn't cost hardly anything. Some times are even 'free' in most of the cell phone programs. I doubt that any of the 'away' children have written more than a five or six letters while off at college or working, or even living in another area. Computers with all the bells and whistles of email, Skype and Facebook type communication have made communication an art of its own. Imagine seeing and talking to someone a thousand miles away, thanks to the computer technology..... which had not even been perfected in those "old days" I refer to.

How VERY different it all is these days from what it was 50-60 years ago!!!

Good news Bad news -- ugh

This is a copy of the "report" I sent to family members and friends yesterday when the power finally came back on after an hour or more. The thunderstorm we had was really bad, and the gauge showed over 1.5 inches of rain in about 30 minutes !

Monday - 5-24
We left home at 8:50 for a 9:50 appointment. But the WalnutGrove at G'town Parkway office was only 30 min. away. So we waited. And Waited.....
At 11:15 we were called in to see Dr Woodbury. He talked and typed at the same time, a mile a minute... (hard to follow,) then examined my scalp and face.... and gave me a print copy of what he had said/typed.

He called in some RXs to Wal-Mart for Special Shampoo and Soap .. and some OTC face stuff.... Topical, not systemic, thank goodness He said I should come back in August IF NEEDED.

He called my 'ailment' TELOGEN EFFLUVIUM.... hair loss, a natural pattern of extra shedding of the hair. There are several triggers for this kind of hair condition...including a great amount of emotional stress (childbirth is one of those, but I don't think it applies to ME !!!) and Major Surgery, thyroid disease (not applicable), and maybe inadequate protein in diet... I will eat more eggs and cheese, etc.

I had finished half of my "report" when our power went out. One hour later I'm back.
SO when the thunderstorm is completely out of our area and the puddles have soaked in more, I'll check at Wal-Mart and see what's there.

Following the appointment Alan and I both needed the restroom...badly. I went first, locking the door behind me as is my habit. Finishing what I went in for, I stepped on the scale in the corner to see what I weighed there..stepped off. and FELL backwards onto the floor, smack dab on my Tail Bone. It took a while to get me upright again. I had to scoot across the floor to unlock the door so help could come in.

One of the nurses had to go get a chair for me to climb up onto... and from there, I could stand. My tailbone is sore, aching and I must have pulled a muscle in the back of my left thigh, because it hurts to move or walk. (And I just said yesterday that at least I haven't fallen in a while !!! )

I still have not heard from Dr Mak's lab work on my blood, and Ruthanne said the Clinic is closed today - which she learned when she tried to call for an appointment. I sure hope Makapugay is not scaling down toward retirement or something.... I would hate to have to change Primary Care MDs at this point.

Tomorrow is our Landmark Woman's Club potluck luncheon at Yvonne's house... Charlotte got some potato salad to take so I won't have to cook the pasta salad after all. That suits me fine.

So now I'm going to go back to my book, and RELAX.

New week

So much has happened since I last posted, that I can't even remember where to start.
In addition to all the doctor appointments, I've read three of the delightful books in the Smart Chick series by Mindy Starnes Clark. They're fun reads. I have three more of her books in my 'to read' stack, and it's a big temptation to sit down and read instead of doing anything else. I got another Jill Churchill book at the Library; she's another author I enjoy a lot.

The good news is that from my cardiologist and lung doctor I got good checkups both places... the cardiologist said 'come back in 3 months' and the lung doctor said 'six months'. So I'm doing well in those areas. BUT the hair loss continues, and continues to bug me badly. I don't know what's happening or why.

I saw my Primary Care M.D. last week and he took extra time with me talking about the numbness in my feet and ankles, explaining the difference between peripheral neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease. He thinks the former is my problem, since the pulse is good in both ankles.

However, none of my medical advisors have offered any solutions to that problem, nor have they had a solution for the hair loss. So----- I now have an appointment with a Dermatologist on Monday. This doctor was located in C'ville, which was fine with me... I like to keep things Local. BUT his office is now about 10 miles away in Germantown. Ugh. But I'll go anyway, just to get an opinion about what, if anything, can be done to stop this aggravating condition before it's too late. I sure would like to know why - seemingly all of a sudden in the past 2 months - my hair is thinning so badly. My surgery was in December '09... is this an 'after effect' this much later?

Shifting gears: Our weather has been really nice and springlike, until earlier this week. A cold front came through and kept us and my dear friend from having our "sitting on the porch" visit. We had to move indoors on Tuesday to get out of the chilling wind and 60-something temps. Brrrr. After so many beautiful days, the drop in temp was hard to take. We had a good visit, though, even if it did have to be inside the house.

Granddaughter Anna came by yesterday with the latest ultrasound pictures that shows a Girl ! Granddaughter Maureen, in Florida, had the identifying ultrasound earlier and they also expect a Girl ! Looks like our "girls first" family tradition is continuing.

But hey.. wait a minute... those new additions will add the title "GREAT" to me and Alan. Not sure I'm ready to have that ancient-sounding designation. Being a GRANDmother is wonderful, and I've enjoyed and loved every one of our Eleven grandchildren... but being a GREAT-Grandmother takes some 'getting used to'. Alan hasn't said much about being a GREAT-grandfather... but maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet. After all, we ARE old enough - even if we don't feel the years or want to admit the numbers!

Interesting encounter

Wandering around Wal-Mart this morning, searching for but not finding my favorite kind of slacks and shirts, I stopped at the end of an aisle. A tall young woman with a cart full of grocery items stopped in front of me, saying she liked my top.

My 'top' is a plain white shirt with red and blue stars embroidered on the collar. I think that was merely a conversation opener. She went on to say that she would like to pray for me, and did I have any special concerns? I do, so I told her I was concerned that my hair is thinning at an abnormal rate and I think it's due to the medicines I'm taking. She asked my name, and the said, "May I pray for you right now?" I agreed, and she did - offered a beautiful prayer on my behalf, quoting the Bible that says God knows the number of hairs on your head, asking for wisdom for the doctor I'll see on Thursday, and more.

When she was finished, I asked her name - she said "Amy" and went on to complete her shopping. I had been trying on slacks before that time, and was getting too tired, so I checked out and came on home with my one shirt purchase.

This was a most strangely interesting morning for me. It's never happened before, and though I don't understand why it happened today, I do appreciate the woman's concern and her prayers.

What a Week !

Looking back at my calendar, I realize what a ‘busy’ one it was, even though it did not seem so at the time. Starting with Sunday School, and then the UMW General meeting on Tuesday. After the meeting Charlotte, Ruthanne and I went to Wendy’s for lunch. When I got home, instead of resting, Alan and I went to the Opening of the Farmer’s Market and bought a box of strawberries. They were home grown and delicious.

The Friends meeting on Wednesday was a busy one with a lot of discussion about the grants that we would make for various items on the Library Director’s wish list. 31 members were there to take part in the meeting.

I enjoyed sitting on the front porch two mornings for a delightful ‘rest and read’ time. I enjoyed the warm breezes and listened to the Carolina Wrens singing in the trees by the porch. Those precious little brown birds have a Very loud song, and are easy to locate when they’re perched nearby.

For Mother's Day John and Debby sent me a huge bouquet of flowers, delivered by UPS. The florist included instructions for care and packets of plant food. The tall square vase that came with the flowers was perfect for the arrangement. Several different colored lilies, Dutch iris, tulips, daisies, and greenery made a beautiful centerpiece for our table. In the mail was a lovely Mother's Day Card with an enclosed gift card for shopping - from Ginny, Bill, Shaun and Michael.

Charlotte, Ruthanne and I went to Bartlett on Saturday for the meeting of our Colonial Dames of the 17th Century chapter. Ten members were present and it was nice to see the friends. This group meets 4 times a year, so it had been a while since we were together last. Saturday was Jay’s 28th birthday, too. They celebrated by going to a movie later in the day.

Mother's Day started with Sunday school. Each class member told something about his or her mother. That was interesting. During the afternoon, each of our 'local' children came by to visit and brought gift cards for local restaurants (or a promise to go to the new Captain D's when it opens next week.)

The Floods

I'm sure everyone has been following the disastrous rainfalls and floods that took such a toll in human life and property the past two weekends. No one has ever seen anything like the amounts of water recorded in various counties, or the number of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. TV pictures and commentary are hard to comprehend. We had 6 1/4 inches of rain in our gauge for Friday night and Saturday. Some areas of the county, and state recorded much, much more.

The Fair on the Square was Rained Out for the Saturday part of the festivities. That is a 'first' in the 35 year history of this activity. More of same (rain storms) was predicted for Sunday, May 2nd, but the sun came out and shone brilliantly all day long. Many of the vendors had given up and gone home on Saturday, and no one could blame them. Those who stayed had what looked like a moderate crowd of browsers.

We drove around to see what was flooded around town... Collierville actually sits on fairly high ground, but north of town in the Wolf River bottoms, water was out of the river banks and into Peterson Lake and Johnson Park's nature walkways. It was amazing to see.

It's been really nice - dry and sunny - since Sunday. The temperature got up to 89 today... which is a little bit warmer than it should be this early in May. And all that rain, two weekends in a row, is making our grass (and everything else) grow like crazy. Just when we had the yard nicely mowed - thanks to Paul and his air compressor - we can almost see the grass getting taller.

The UMW meeting today was interesting, with a speaker from the inner city church and community. Afterwards, sister and daughter and I had lunch together and then went out to vote in the primary election. I was not surprised when my sister and I were there, that only one other voter came in. The poll workers were not busy at all. Voter Apathy is awful and has been a problem for several elections over the past several years. Wonder when people will wake up and realize that their voice Does make a difference if it's Used ! The polls have closed now, so the results will be available on TV shortly if not already.

Friends of the Library meets tomorrow, and we'll be discussing what grants to offer for the Library collections and programs. There's a never-ending need for more books in each category and genre. The Book Store and Book Sale revenues go a long way toward fulfilling those needs.

Books = pleasure

I mentioned some of my choices at the Library last week. "Under the Cajun Moon" by Mindy Starns Clark turned out to be an intriguing story, full of different characters and locales but primarily set in the Cajun country area of Louisiana. Many twists and turns keep the pages turning, and sometimes confuse the reader. But it's a delightful novel by an author who's new to me.

Our Library has several copies of Clark's list of published novels, so I'll be looking in the C section of hard copies as well as paperbacks on my next trip to the Library. Clark has several 'series' books, so I'll be on the lookout for those, as well.

Linda Lael Miller's stories, all set in the West of our young country - late 1800s and early 1900s - are always fun for me. She relates the adventures and misadventures of various members of the same family in the books I brought home from the Book Store. It's interesting to see her character development and follow along as she gets the hero into and out of 'trouble'.

As the saying goes: "So many books, So little time." (So now I'm going back to the current novel to see how Gideon solves his several problems.)