Adventures of the Poor, Little Boob

 

I got a call that there had been a cancellation and would I like that appointment earlier in the month? I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.

After the scan, I had to wait for the on-site radiologist to review it. She said calcification was common in older women. She said if I were younger, she would have me wait 6 months for another scan. She said the calcifications looked suspicious to her. She recommended a biopsy to be sure nothing was really wrong.

T Stands for Cemetery Visit

 

We had been sick off and on during April and May so I had missed visiting the folks at Easter and Mother's Day.

Their 83rd wedding anniversary would be on July 4th. I told Himself I never heard the end of it from Ma if I missed this date. So on July 2nd, we headed out to the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam, Massachusetts.

We were in the middle of a heatwave with high temperatures and high humidity. Like a jaguar which lives in the rainforest, I don't mind this kind of weather. However, it was too hot for Himself to be sitting in the car even with the AC running. 

There was also a Committal Ceremony going on when we arrived. The color guard and riflemen were going into the chapel to present the bereaved with the flag and the cartridges from the gun salute. So I didn't want to stay too long as it looked like Dad's area of the cemetery was going to have a new neighbor. 

Usually on the ride home, we stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast or brunch, but I didn't feel like going there. Instead, I found a diner in Sturbridge called The Little Rest Stop. It was in a cozy, little house and they put on a substantial breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, home fries, and raisin bread toast along with a cup of tea. The waitress was a little too perky, but the service was good.

As a special for the Fourth of July, the restaurant was also offering fried dough. So we each ordered that, too.

I didn't expect the fried dough to be the size of dinner plates! I was expecting the fried dough to be about the size of your hand. A normal size like Ma made. I had a small taste of the fried dough (delicious) and took the rest home.

A cool thing happened when we got home. The new door lock recognized my phone so automatically unlocked the door! The only problem was the time from phone recognition to opening the door was only 30 seconds. I'm not that quick to make it from the car to the front door in the amount of time. So the door locked automatically again and I had to use my thumb or personal code to get in.  Still, it's pretty cool. I've since changed the time to 2 minutes.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Where Did The Dumb Trail Lead?

 Friday last, I was asked "What's a dumb trail?" A dumb trail is usually a touristy thing to do. It usually entails a long ride to get there and then the emotion of "this is it?" It's the feeling you get when you go to see the world's largest ball of string. The term was coined by Teague and her Brother after the first time they felt the "this is it?" emotion.

With the Young One visiting this week, I wanted to do a few things that would get us out of the house. I searched around. I found something fun that I thought would be meaningful to her., but I warned her it was a Dumb Trail. She said she was game as it sounded intriguing.

With Himself chauffeuring, we took a drive, almost an hour because of afternoon traffic, to Lincoln, Massachusetts. We were close to the historical towns of Lexington and Concord. Did we visit Minuteman National Historical Park to see Concord's North Bridge, the "shot heard 'round the world" bridge? No. Did we visit Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott where she wrote her novel Little Women? No. Did we go see the Bauhaus the home designed by architect, Walter Gropius? Nope.

Where did we end up? We drove down the Old Sudbury Road in Lincoln to a field. If you drive too fast down this country road, you will completely blow by:

Ponyhenge

According to articles I read, no one knows how or who started Ponyhenge. Just in this field, rocking horses of every shape and size started appearing. The ponies are usually arranged in the classic circular formation as Stonehenge in England. Sometimes the ponies are arranged as if they are racing as they were on one Kentucky Derby Day. One year, the ponies were arranged in orderly rows for the first day of school.

I thought the Young One would enjoy seeing the rocking horses. When she was 3 years old, Santa brought her a rocking horse for Christmas. He was dun colored with a blue "saddle blanket" The plastic blanket had a cross-hatch, diamond pattern. She named her horse, Diamond.

As we were crossing the road, I said to her, "Wouldn't it be cool if Diamond was here?"

and then she spotted him right out front!

He was a little faded from being out in the elements, missing the dowel to hold on while rocking, but it was him.

We wandered through the henge admiring all the beloved steeds.

Some wooden

some rusted and some had names like Poppy

This beauty was painted in the style of van Gogh's Starry Night

Thunder, eternally races across the plains

The Blaze Twins. The horse on the left was missing his right, rear leg

Another diamond, saddle blanket. I named this one Black Diamond

Some ponies had yarn manes

some were plush. A lot must have newly joined the herd as they barely looked touched  by the weather.

It took us longer to get there and to drive home than the amount of time we spent wandering around. The Young One said it was a wonderful, whimsical outing.

God-steed, Diamond

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Pansies and the Vines Himself forgot the name of

Earlier in the week the Sunflower bloomed

It didn't take long for the Goldfinches to start nibbling on the petals

Someone left us a message in a clot of dirt.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

No Drawing Needed! Paint a Perfect Watercolor Cat Using Just Your Thumb Print 🐈‍⬛✨

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. The Young One arrived at the airport on time no delays.

2. The four of us having dinner at the same time under the same roof.

3.  The girlies and I were abruptly woken up by the basement smoke detector going off. The alarm was silenced and it didn't go off again. Happy Birthday, Young One! A bit of fresh air after checking nothing was wrong silenced it. It went off again in the evening. We called the Fire Department. The smoke detector on the main floor never sounded. They checked  and found nothing suspicious. They thought the smoke detector going off might have been caused by the humidity.

4.  Spent a fun afternoon at WAM with the Young One.

5. The Young One and I spent a nostalgic afternoon on a dumb trail

How was your week?

TBT Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

   In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Danse Macabre

Conversations with the Weebles can turn to morbid thoughts. Usually, this happens around the holidays . "Well, I wonder how many Christmases I have left." "This may be my last Thanksgiving." Deep sigh. Forlorn look. I'm never sure if the comments are to spark some sympathy or some sort of death wish.

Dad and I were having a cup of tea. Ma had nodded off and her tea sat untouched and getting cold. Dad shook his head and heaved a deep sigh.

"Sometimes, I don't know. Maybe it would be better to just." He raised his index finger and pointed it at his temple.

"Don't you dare!" I yelled horrified. "You're not going to leave me to handle this by myself."

He gave me that "what are you going to do about it look."

"If you do. If you do.." I tried to think of the worse thing. "I'll wear red to your funeral and dance on your grave."

He laughed. "That's alright. I won't mind."

I didn't think quickly enough on my feet. I thought of the perfect answer on the way home. What I should have said: If you do, I'll bury her in the same hole!