Impressionism

I've been staying in a lot because of my arm in the cast, the heat & humidity, and feeling tired. I was lying on the couch & noticed how lovely the glass blocks made the outside look. It reminded me of a Monet painting. It made me feel very peaceful. Having this "down time" is something different and I'm looking for the positive in it.

Feeling rosey.....

I'm feeling pretty rosey about my blue toes. As a temporarily one-handed person, I'm delighted by small things I can do, like paint my toenails blue. An opposable thumb is not necessary for that!

Loo Books, part 2

On the downstairs "shelf" -- How to learn any language (farber), The Plot (will eisner), Guns, Germs, and Steel (diamond), Total Freedom (krishnamurti), The Code of the Woosters (p.g. wodehouse), Henderson the rain king (saul bellow), Cabinet magazine (issue#18), Mother jones (may/june 2006), Ode (july/aug 2006), Italian dictionary, Nouvelles en Francais, vol. 1,2,& 3 of Words in a French life (kristen espinasse)

On the upstairs "shelf" -- The art of the personal essay (lopate) There is no zoo in zoologly (elster), Dictionary of word origins, A word a day (garg), Another word a day, When presidents lie (alterman,) Italian short stories, Kabbalah 365, Steal this book (abbie hoffman), Zeek (fall/winter 2003), The 20th century (wallechinsky), A man without a country (vonnegut), Italian days (barbara grizzuti harrison)

Loo Books

In the July 23 NY Times book review section, Henry Alford wrote an essay about the books people keep in their bathrooms. I thought I'd share images of my current collections. Do you have a bathroom library? What's on the shelf?

Prepping for the big trip!

Okay, it's time to focus on the big trip (as opposed to The Accident!) We do have our tickets and our passports are updated. Now to book our Paris airport shuttle, our train tickets for NICE and BEZIER, and decide how to pack as little as possible for 10 weeks. Oh yeah, maybe I should brush up on my French.

The accident, part four.

Here's a picture of the medical device used to support my arm while it was being cast. I remember one being used in the ER. I was fascinated by it, even then in my doped up state of being. This is the one in the surgeon's offices. I am fascinated by it's being based on that old woven finger puzzle...where you try to pull your fingers out & it tightens. Same principle.

The accident, part three.

My sttitches were removed on 11 July. Major ouch! I had to be cast in fiber glass cause I was moving too much in the sugar tong cast and had bent the pin a bit. This cast, though brighter, was not lighter! I am sleeping with my arm in an upright position, propped on pillows, fingers pointing to the ceiling. Quite an interesting way to sleep!

The accident, part two.

Being one handed has been a chance to develop new skills. Dressing, bathing, washing my hair, and more. Negative things - everything takes longer to do, hard to prepare food, hard to sleep comfortably, pain management problems. Positive things - I have lots of time to read and I talk with my younger sister daily, because she's recovering from her bad fall. And she's worse off than I am since her fall resulted in a broken hip, and she can't walk! When I went to see the surgeon 5 days after my surgery (on 27 June) I was able to see my stitches and the pin protruding from my arm.

The accident, part one!

After a really nice father's day celebration, I went out with Smitty dog for a quick walk around the block. I didn't get far. Just as I turned the corner, I encountered uneven pavement. It was dark, I was rushing, the diifference was 2+ inches.
I hit the ground hard. Luckily, I had my cell phone & was able, don't ask me how, to call Chuck & he came, helped me up, don't ask me how, & we walked back to the house. I can"t remember much about that. I do remember putting ny head on the kitchen table & telling Chuck to call 911.

my bench

Chuck treated me to a posh new bench. It replaces a very rickety one. The old bench had been moved to several different spots in the yard until I found the perfect place for it, so the new bench went into that spot. For some reason, it is so right there. I feel so peaceful sitting there. I haven't figured out how to change the dates on posts yet, so I'll just note here that the new bench arrived in early June.