Stuffed Sweet Peppers; Swimmers; Practicing My Songs.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015.

Stuffed Peppers; Swimmers; Practicing My Songs.

Good evening, each and every one of you! Have a relaxed evening, and then a restful sleep. John, you can do this, too, but at a different 'time on your clock'. 

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Stuffed peppers: They can be so delicious. At the grocery store recently, I saw four peppers in a net bag, on the discount shelf. I looked them over and bought them, as they were quite good, only a couple of minute blemishes. Today I made those four sweet peppers into stuffed peppers. Usually I use rice as part of the filler, but today I opened a 14-oz can of mixed vegetables and mashed them with a fork into smaller pieces of carrot, potato, corn, lima bean, pea, green bean, and celery. I had drained the juice to use for something else.  

I browned a little ground beef to add to these veggies. I mixed them well, added some of the Flavor Mavens herb seasoning The Cow's Meow, and put them in the peppers (I had cut the top off about 3/4 inch from the top and cleaned out the seeds and innards). In a soup pot, I poured a little olive oil, and put the stuffed peppers with their 'caps' on in the pot, covered it and simmered it about fifty minutes. MMMMM-mmmmmmm, the aroma was nice, and the stuffed pepper was delicious. I put the other three in little containers to keep in the fridge. 

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This next 'article' happened about a week ago when I drove through Central Park (a quiet lovely place that has two small lakes in it) because the end of that road comes to the chiropractor's office. I had an appointment for helping my neck. It takes about 4 or 5 minutes to go through Central Park, as the speed limit is 15 mph. 

In my opinion, it is quite difficult to keep the speed at 15 mph ~ many times my speed is 20 mph when I glance at the speedometer. 

I always like to go through that place, it's quiet, green, lots of trees but none to hide anything, playground for kids with their parents, walking trails, and a game of throwing the disc. Also, though, what I like better, is looking at the two lakes. There is a large area to park your car if you wish to look out at the lake. There was swimming in that lake last week, quite a few swimmers, all naked! Well, they did  have their feathers on as usual, having the greatest time ever.  There were quite a few ducks and geese, at least forty of them. People sometimes throw feed out to them, or even put some feed on the grass. I don't park to watch the swimmers, because the speed limit does let you have many glances of the beautiful ducks and geese on the lakes. 

A couple of times I did see on the quiet lake a blue heron, and another time, a white heron. Another time, Bill and I were going through Central Park and saw a bird of prey quite close up. It had caught something.

Well, that's all for the naked swimmers  ~ 

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Last evening I practiced singing my group of songs, and I did enjoy it very much. I am going to do that again, this evening. The more you practice, the better it sinks into your brain. But of course, you do know that.  

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Today Was Quite Busy.

Thursday, May 28, 2015.

It's almost 7 p.m., and it seems I could be ready for bed. 

This morning I went for the chiropractic treatment, and my body was aching from arthritis. It is my fault, because I was eating too much of cooked white potatoes. I think I have told you before, that the 'nightshade family' causes pain to those who have arthritis. These members of the 'nightshade family' are potato; peppers of green, red, and yellow; tomatoes; and eggplant. I have loved potatoes since I was a toddler. 

The chiropractor manipulated the top of my shoulders, and did a little twisting of my arms (I had been having pain there the last couple of days), and he stretched and pulled my neck and did so many little twists and turns, and pressing, and rubbing the muscles. It felt so good after he was done. He didn't want to adjust my neck, but did say that he might do that next time.  

This time it was four weeks between visits, and next time it will be two weeks. Then I had to lie on one of the cots in the resting room, for about fifteen minutes.  

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After that, I went to the Kroger Pharmacy for one of my medications: losartan potassium 100 mg. While I was there in the grocery store, I spent quite a lot of time walking around looking at things I needed. Finally I was ready to check out and go home. 

As I was going to the check-out line, my cellphone rang ~ it was AnneMarie. She was on her way from home to Denver to catch a plane to CA in the morning. One daughter will take her to the airport, and the other will pick her up when she comes back. Maybe coming back, AnneMarie will take the shuttle bus from the airport to Denver. (We suggested that I go through the check-out line, and talk in my car out in the parking lot.) 

It was a nice talk, and she was really looking forward to see the California families. There is a party over the weekend, for Purnima's 'Birthuation', as she calls it: she graduated from high school on May 22, her BIRTHDAY.  Joyce and Gerry will be attending, too. I hope that Megan will be able to go to the party. AnneMarie will probably go back home Monday or Tuesday (she told me when but it slipped my mind). She arrived at Esther's house, so we hung up. 

I went home. It was quite warm today, but a little chilly in the large grocery store. Another shopper, as she hurried past me in the frozen food section, said that she was shivering! I bought some frozen packages of okra, and I'll try some tomorrow. 

When I got home, I spent a lot of time handling some of the purchases from the grocery store. One item was a savory baked chicken, and I took all of the meat off the carcass and will make stock tomorrow. I put most of the meat in the freezer for 'next time' when I get hungry for chicken. I bought quite a lot of mouthwatering zucchini and yellow crooked-neck summer squash. Beautiful to behold! 

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The weather report says that there might be thunderstorms here every day and night for almost a week! Wyoming is having a lot of rain, Texas has much more than they expected ~ there is so much storm going through it; Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska are being pounded. Alabama is suffering, and the whole northeast is having trouble. The weather is so very different than it was a couple of years ago.   

I'll see you at the Corner Post. 

Decorations On Guitars; St. Nicholas' Day; Christmas Play; ROBINS!

December 6, 2014.

Today is St. Nicholas Day, December 6. 

It is also the day that our Mom, Josephine Toth Banko, Gram B, was born, in 1915. If she were still living, she would be ninety-nine ---- 99 ---- years old! 

Bill and Jennifer picked me up at 5:10 p.m. last evening (Dec 5) to go to Vespers at church, and right after that, the Christmas Play would be put on by the Teen Group. During Vespers all the Teen Group (almost twenty of them) sat in the two front pews, in the Nave. They looked wonderful to me! Our eighteen-year-old Veronica was on the end of one pew, right across the middle aisle, from me! Lovable Veronica! 

It was very nice to be at church. I was in pain, though, with my hips from "the exercise" that I gave them the evening before (Dec 4) when we went to the Art Exhibit of a songwriter, who had spent so much time decorating many old guitars with beads, buttons, little tiny mirrors, and all sorts of little items. I stood around those decorated guitars, making a camera shoot so I could look at those decorated items, more than once. I couldn't take myself away from all those old guitars so thoroughly decorated. Each one also had some thoughts written on a small sheet of paper. 

About "the exercise," I was really hoping that it wouldn't get worse! But this morning it feels a little better, thank goodness! It was pure pain for quite a few hours afterward. There's still some pain, but not like yesterday.

I just took a look at the outdoors from my front door, and most of the leaves are gone from the trees, leaves are blowing 'all over the place' with such gusty winds. The biggest thrill was that there were so many birds between the backyard (which I didn't look at) and the place across the street! The neighbors have a round tree on their front lawn that is so magnificent. So many birds love to fly around the tree, and use it for 'parties' and 'conventions'. 

This morning I thought they were blackbirds, and I just stood there watching them flying to and fro, away, then they came back again and again. They would be flying up above the front lawn here, up over the front door to the roof probably, and as they flew over, I suddenly saw the color of their breasts!

Golly, it is December 6, St. Nicholas' Day, and they must be celebrating, because these lovely exciting birds turned out to be ROBINS! Robin Redbreasts! I can hardly believe it. Did they come back for spring, or what? Are they all testing the area so they can stay here now? The weather has been unusual this year, and they probably think it's almost spring and time to get their nests going. 

Or, could they be flying south from northern areas, and took a nice place to relax for a half hour? I am truly flabbergasted. I dearly love to see the birds return.  

Back to the Christmas Play at church, it was about St. Nicholas, a bishop from Myra, who would secretly put coins in shoes after bedtime, depositing coins for young ladies who desperately needed dowries so they could get married. It was a very moving little Christmas Play, and the Teen Group were so good at playing their parts. Near the end of the play, they sang, first the girls, then the boys, and my eyes teared up quite a bit. It was so lovely. Our Veronica was playing "grandma" to one girl, and I would certainly love to see Veronica in a play again, as she grows older. She was very good.  

After the Play, there was a very enjoyable Snack Time of many kinds of hummus and many different kinds of chips. There was also a plate of veggies for dipping, but I think the chips were so interesting that they won over. 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

A Stop at the Doctor's; Elderberries and Apples; Ice Fishing.

October 30, 2014.

A Stop at the Doctor's; Elderberries and Apples; Ice Fishing.

Hello, dear people, may you have a wonderful weekend.

I had been in the hospital, and when I came home there was talk of an appointment to see my family doctor and he would see how I am doing. But for some reason he wasn't going to be in, this week, so the nurse said to come anyway this morning, and she went over my case quite a bit. Another nurse was going to go over it, too, so I had two little separate visits right then and there in the same room. The appointment was at 8 a.m., and I am so glad that my son was my chauffeur.                              

My son knows much more than I do, about all that the nurses talked about, because I listen closely but can't take notes while I'm listening. I hadn't eaten breakfast because I had an idea that she would take my blood test, and sure enough, she took two vials full. They want to see what's going on in my system. I also gave a urine sample.  

Since I had to wake up quite early this morning, I went to lie on the bed at noon, and had a power nap. Then this afternoon, about three o'clock, I had another short nap. It seems that I have been needing naps. The discovery of 'short power naps' really helps one to manage the whole day. 

I'm doing a load of my laundry at the moment, and just had a little meal of hamburg and vegetables. I can't have any bun with it, and am munching on a rice cake with elderberry jelly on half, the other half seemed to want hummus. I also had a teaspoon of peanut butter. I love that elderberry jelly! Did you know that elderberries are very nutritious? You can make jam and jelly, elderberry juice, and wine. When we would go to our grandparents' farm, we would admire all the elderberry blossoms as we went down the farm driveway. The bushes grew along the whole length of the driveway. Then when the berries were ripe, we would help to pick them. I've always loved the elderberry bushes, the blossoms, and the jam. Grandma would give us a piece of home made bread with jam on it as we were leaving for home ~ I always think of that. 

  

Back to the subject ~ with my problem of having not enough potassium ~ the nurse said that possibly I would be given a prescription to take potassium every day, but I'd have to wait until the blood test shows something. I have some papers telling about which food gives more potassium. This is quite surprising: raw apples and applesauce have low potassium, apple juice has moderate potassium, and dried, cooked apples have high potassium content. Now, I don't know if that was dried AND cooked apples, or dried apples and/or cooked apples. I have been cooking my apple pieces during the last couple of months, and I feel lucky doing that! They had seemed to satisfy me more than fresh pieces of apple.  

It's going to be 58˚cold this weekend, they say. I keep wondering who "they" is. They seem to give correct weather reports, then you find out that something other has been lingering around. I hope the winter will be a nice one. Now up in the north, like NY and PA and WI, they always  have nice winters that are cold, very cold, windy, very windy, and the residents LOVE to get their snowmobiles and ice-fishing poles out of storage. Can you imagine that lakes up there freeze so thick that vehicles, even trucks, can go out on the ice to the owners' fishing huts? They get out of their trucks, go into their small fishing huts and drill a little hole in the ice so they can put their saws in the hole and enlarge it just so. Then they hang onto their fishing poles and drink favorite beverages. They often take lunches with them, too. Some people fish alone, and some have small groups in those tiny fishing huts to do a little socializing and maybe some politicizing. 

Isn't it amazing that I can be talking of one subject, and in the blink of an eye I am completely on another tale, memory, idea, or thought? 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Another Hospital Visit? Home Again; Beautiful Flying geese.

Friday, October 24, 2014. 

Another Hospital Visit? Home Again; Beautiful Flying Geese.

I must admit that some of the stay in the hospital was a good rest for me. I didn't watch much TV, nor read anything, and I did a lot of napping and dozing. There is always someone gently knocking on the door and coming in, for various, sundry, and necessary activities, shots, questioning, taking vital checks, and many more reasons.  

There are several interruptions of one's sleep every night. You just fall back asleep after the necessary thing is done. 

Even in the daytime, you can doze off to sleep, or just lie in the bed and rest, look out the window, or very often, take a real nap. 

There were a few nurses that I liked very much. All of the nurses were doing their jobs well, and each and every one of them was very kind, attentive, and caring. 

There was a lot done in the little time that I was there. When I was taken to the Emergency Room, honestly, I was quite scared, because I didn't know why I had been so nauseous, so very tired so often in the day, and because I didn't know what was happening to my body. Now I feel more knowledgeable, and I am so grateful that I could come back home.  

My potassium had gone so low, the magnesium also, and  the sodium. That could lead so quickly to having trouble with the heart. We must try to take good care of our bodies. If you are not feeling well, and are very tired for no reason, or you have nausea very often, or any strange changes, then quickly hie to the doctor and find out what is wrong.

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This evening as I was looking out the front door, I enjoyed looking at the blue sky and the thickening of the vapor trails up there. Sometimes there are so many vapor trails that they make criss-crosses, some designs, sometimes straight long lines are made. Once in a while I can see so very, very far off in the distance up very high, a new vapor trail of an airplane that is only a dot way up there ...  

All of a sudden, there came quite low, a small flock of geese with their beautiful calls. There were about twelve geese flying in a single line, flapping their wings as usual, every goose flapping its wings to match the flapping of the second goose from it. That seems to be a way to produce the perfect stream of air around them, that eases the work that they must do to fly for a long time.  

It's always so pleasant to look at the sky, no matter what it shows.  

I'll see you at the Corner Post ... 

The Colonoscopy Outpatient Place; Nighty-Night.

Thursday, October 9, 2014. 

We arrived just before our appointment time, and waited a little while, then were called up to the receptionist's counter, and I filled out some papers. Then we were taken to the little room (Bill went in with me in the first little room). As we began the very short trek, the nurse said, "Prepare to stay for four hours!" Apparently the doctor was working on another patient, while I was filling out papers and answering questions to the woman who came in and asked me so many questions of my medical events, etcetera, then another one came in and asked me some more. After this one, Bill had to leave the room while I changed completely ~ not from Grannamae to a princess, but clothed to you-know what. 

When I was finished changing, Bill could come back in. The second girl had gone to get the paraphernalia for giving me anaesthesia. It really took quite a while for all of this, and then the doctor came in ask if I had any questions. I did have a few, he answered, seems very polite and knowledgeable. He left the room, and the woman called Sierra came in to roll my single little bed into the 'procedure room', and there was a lot MORE paraphernalia with thin tubes and other similar pieces. She wanted to find a place to prick with the needle for the 'nighty-night' medicine, and pricked the back of my left hand. Three little groans for those pricks, - it was awful! She took that one out, asked me to hold down the cotton, ran to get a bandaid, and so much for that hand. 

She took my right hand, poked around with her finger, 'slapped' my hand to make the veins or arteries stand out, and finally found a place by the knob on the outside of my wrist ~ oh, my gosh ~ THAT one hurt even more! Well, that one was a good place to put the 'nighty-night' kind of slightly thick liquid. I said to her that the needle felt thicker than the usual needle, and she said that the med is a  bit thicker. 

Then the other girl went on my left side while the one on the right was going to put it in, and the girl on the left was talking with me and I was talking with her, and I was, of course, looking at her face. We talked only about one minute or less, and her face began to get so blurry! All of a sudden, zing! - nothing after that.

The next thing I knew, was that Bill and one of the ladies were saying something, and Bill looked at me and said a couple of words, and I saw another lady or two. We were back in my cozy little room ~ they must have trolleyed my cot back into my room, and I didn't even know it! I would have liked the ride.  

The doctor came in and talked with us, showing me the eight little photos of what my colon looks like, told me that my whole colon has diverticulitis! No wonder I hadn't been feeling well for a few weeks! Because of that 'nighty-night' potion, I don't remember now very much of what the doctor said. He left the room to get on with his work.  

Finally after a couple of minutes, the nurses  said that I could get up and sit on the side of the bed. I did that, 'with a little help from my friends', and finally I was all right. Couldn't even remember any dreams, but I know that I had been very happy in 'that place'. They helped me to get down off the cot, and they all went out behind the curtain, while I put my garments back on. I was wobbly. I am so glad that I didn't fall down. I sat down on the chair, and put slacks on, then my shoes. The nurses talked with us for a few minutes, then it was time to go. It turned out to be quite a long time in there. 

Bill had to hold my hand because I was sincerely wobbly, like almost falling over. That potion was strong.  

We got out to the car, and he asked me if I needed anything from the grocery store; yes, I did, and I was really glad he asked. We went to the nearest Krogers, asked if I'd want to sit in the car, and I said no, that I thought I could manage standing up and walking. But he still had to hold my hand. When we got into the store, I could hang onto the cart. He fetched everything I needed (not very many items) and he took me home. He stayed for a little while to put a new battery in the smoke alarm, but the battery that I had was a very old battery. I didn't realize that.

He went to Rite Aid to get a new one. After he returned and put the battery in, he went home, very tired. My Hero.    

There you have it ~ another interesting (?) event in the life of Grannamae. I think that I have had enough of hospital 'events'.  

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

What A Gorgeous Day! A Few Other Thoughts.

Monday, September 22, 2014.

This morning the sky was so blue!  It was such a lovely azure color of the whole sky, with not a cloud in sight; my oh my, how beautiful. 

This afternoon I went to see what the Mailman left, and there were about eight or nine fluffy little white clouds scattered all over that astonishing azure sky. The Mailman did not leave those clouds, they just came to see what he was putting in everyone's mailbox. 

Late this afternoon, I went out to check on my big azure sky ~ the western sky was a lighter color, and the clouds were all gone. The outdoor temperature is seventy-seven degrees.  

The announcer on the radio just said that Autumn is going to Fall this evening at approximately 9:29 p.m. I had been wondering exactly when Autumn WOULD Fall. 

I've been getting quite tired recently, and have taken a nap a few times this past week. This afternoon I lay down for a little while, and it turned out to be about forty minutes. I'm happy that my six-month check-up at my family physician will take place on Wednesday. I would like to know what is going on with this 'sixty-six-year-old' body! 

I am going to wash the dishes now, and settle in for a more relaxed evening.  

Last evening I watched Miss Marple in A/The Caribbean Mystery, and it was quite interesting and enjoyable. When I was in my twenties, I read many of Agatha Christie mysteries, enjoyed them very much! I was on a binge for mystery novels. Miss Marple was a  character in Christie's mysteries.  

When I went to a rural school for fifth and sixth grades, I would go to the little-town little-library to borrow and read all the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, and Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales. Now, that  was a binge, too! Before that, in earlier grades at a school, I read all the Bobbsey Twins books!  

Some of Hans Christian Andersen's quotes: 

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.

Where words fail, music speaks. 

That's the nice thing about the world, my friend: People.

No one's ever really alone. 

Just living is not enough ... One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

(Thank you very much, Hans!) 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...