Aging

Driving by Pioneer Park in Walla Walla on the way to the grandkid's house.

Got some things resolved yesterday and relaxed enough to fall asleep by 8:30 in the evening last night and got up late.  It snowed again last night and its 29.  What the heck?  The weatherman sayeth it's the arctic vortex once more.  Supposed to be 36 by afternoon but quite a surprise to me.

I got a good checkup from my pulmonologist.  The asthma is under control and the coughing is some inflammation in my windpipe left over from the New Year's flu.  I actually feel pretty good.  I cancelled my cable TV, haven't been watching it lately and they just figured out a new way to charge everyone more.  The basic cable that I had will no longer include the PBS channels or the one movie channel they had.  Netflix I am yours.  Beginning March 11, they have manipulated the signal so no TV set no matter how digital or HD ready it is can get a signal without one of their boxes which will be free and then later have to be rented, not one but one each if you have multiple sets, which I don't.  I've been meaning to do this, they just gave me the extra push to complete it. I watch most things online or via Netflix anyway.  Are you happy with your cable provider?

I saw this article in the online Oregonian yesterday.  Tom Hallman a columnist for the paper is inviting readers to write in their stories on what aging means to them.  I am debating with myself about doing that.  What caught my eye was the approaching 60ish woman speaking of reaching the age that her mother died.

I'm getting within two years of the age my mother was when she died of complications from emphysema. I am trying to decide if that is meaningful to me.  This morning I don't think so.  Mom smoked like a coal factory all her life and didn't stop until 60 after being told she wouldn't live another 5 years unless she did.  She died at 74 a far younger age than any other woman in our family.  Meanwhile second hand smoke left all her daughters with asthma to a greater or lessor degree.  But there are drugs now to treat it, when Mom was young and had asthma, there were no drugs for that except later adrenalin shots.  So aging now at least means with Medicare, and newer medicines I will likely live longer and better shape than she did.  I will have to think about what else it means to me.

Marcia McDade McMann Oil Pastel "Starry Night" 

My friends and I have been posting art on our FB pages just for fun with an accompanying description of the artist. I have been working with oil pastels with my home schooled grandgirls so I've been searching out some pastel artists. I am thrilled at the talent to be found out on the web.

The new wood bedroom floors are finished in my condo.  I started taping and prepping for paint.  Post flu my asthma has gone crazy and even low VOC paint sends my lungs into spasms.  Heather, my son David's wife and my grandgirl Alandra have taken over and finished painting the digestive pink bedroom with a creamy white color and one pale gray blue accent wall.  This afternoon they are putting a very pale lemon lime color on the master bedroom walls and from there more cream color in the hallway.  I am so blessed that they would do this for me.  It it made me cry.  I wrote my notice that I am moving the end of March, the big move is actually on the 15th of March but the notice is out there.  I am really excited.  The only other things left pre-move are getting the carpet cleaner in and the locksmith out to change the locks.  It's happening, woo woo!

Grandgirl Natty, younger sister of Alandra, won  a Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key Award (the highest award at this level) for her flash fiction (a less than 300 words) story "A Loop in Time," and honorable mention for her animated film "Erratic."  The Gold Key winners will go on to compete at the National Levels.  I love that she is so creative and am amazed at the skills these kids are learning in crafts that didn't even exist when I or her parents were in middle school. Brave new world.

Last night my adult children and I went to see Richard ll at the Gesa Powerhouse Theater here.  It was really good.  The theater is an old power house that has been remodeled with a small stage that's a facsimile of the Globe Theater, not open air thank goodness.  Youngest son drove us all through the snow to get there.  Many ticket holders did not show up because of the weather and we got a parking place right in front to left of the entry doors.  The small, 368 seat theater was half empty sadly due to the weather and the last rounds of flu here.  Still the troupe put on an absorbing performance and we were really glad to be there even if it was a slow slick ride home.

This morning there were people trying to leave the parking lot of our apartment for work and getting stuck.  The snow removal peeps helped push those cars out into the street and on their way.  I stayed home.  My wheezy lungs are intolerant of freezing temperatures unless I wrap my head like a mummy in a scarf.  That warms the air you breath although when you exhale it drifts up and steams up your glasses if you are wearing them.  I have gone out and cleaned the powdery stuff off my van each day for a week and then carefully made my way around town on errands.  Not today.  And we have more snow.  Still nothing like the west side of Washington and Oregon or the eastern parts of the country.  Our schools opened two hours late Friday and were not closed like they were in Portland.  Freezing rain is threatened for Monday so maybe I'd better creep around tomorrow while the snow is still dry and blows away easily.

Today I made my favorite snow day meal for lunch, toasted cheese sandwich with a slice of ham in it.  Breakfast was a veggie frittata and a couple of cups of coffee.  Dinner, ha, ha, corn chips and salsa, an apple, and a banana.  It balances out in the long run.