Back From Cape Ann

Hi Dear Folk,

We are back from our trip to Cape Ann it is absolutely lovely up there and we had wonderful weather.  We arrived home late last night.  Unfortunately I had to go straight to the doctor's this morning, Mr. B. had made me an 8:15AM appointment.  I badly sprained my ankle and I'm waiting for the Xray results to see if it is worse than that.  Plus the doctor wrapped it in an ace bandage, he gave me a prescription for one of those boot things, but will wait a day and see how it goes, not sure if my insurance will cover that.

Rob had picked me up on Saturday evening from the AirBnB to take me back to dinner Tierney had prepared.  There was a parking area in front of the place where I stayed, with a rounded curb and when I got out of the cab of the pickup truck, having forgotten something I fell off the edge of the curb into the road, where I was just laying totally winded and in pain, Rob had to help me up.

We did have dinner, but with me sitting on the sofa with my foot surrounded by ice packs.  I also took ibuprofen which is an anti-inflammatory and helps with the swelling.  Still it has been swollen and very sore since then, and walking on it for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday has not helped.  It's hard to know what to do when your on vacation.  Even where to go.  I found an old stick in the woods near Wingaersheek Beach, one with a knot at the end, like a handle, so pretty good for a walking stick, tad on the short side though, that was put to full use.

At the moment I'm sitting with my foot elevated and cold packs on it.

I think I like Cape Ann as much if not more than Cape Cod, so many little inlets and salt water marshes all along the coast, huge wide beaches and tiny little cove beaches.  Will share my wanderings with you in other posts.

I came home to my first real crop of tomatoes, not eaten by the squirrels, it has not been the greatest year for me and tomatoes.  I couldn't even find the name tag for these, but aren't they a lovely shape?

I also had an envelope from England waiting for me, it was a postcard I bought off eBay.  It is a picture of my old school Hadham Hall, before it was a school.  The postmark is dated  24th July, 1930 posted in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.

On the back she writes.

"We went over this place yesterday the house and gardens were open, including our exhibition of needlework in aid of the Queen's Institute of District Nursing.  It was more lovely than I can say. Louisa"

I must say I did enjoy my High School years here at Hadham Hall.

Christine

Blepharoplasty -Upper Eye Lid Surgery

Hi Dear Folk,

I took the 6:49AM train to Jefferson Station and walked the one block down to 9th and about six blocks over to Walnut Street.  My appointment was 8:45AM, but I was there by 8:00AM.  It I had taken the later train it would not have got me there in time,  I got the paperwork done, sat down and had hardly sat down, when I was called by the nurse.  She took down my medical details.  I waited about 10 - 15 minutes then the doctor came.  This is what I need done.

Blepharosplasty, upper eye lid surgery.  I have now decided that I can't stand it anymore, it was an epiphany, why am I putting up with this?

 I did not inherit my mother's lovely open eyes, rather I inherited my father's hooded eyes, he had to have this surgery too, when he was in his sixties.  Not only that but both my tear ducts are blocked high up and even though I had surgery over twenty years ago twice on my right duct, it never did solve the problem, I constantly have to wipe tears away from my eyes. All those tears get trapped under the skin folds of my lids and cause lesions which is at the minimum annoying and to be quite truthful, painful.  Plus I always have a feeling of heaviness and my peripheral vision is to say the least limited.

Five years ago my optician recommended an ocular plastic surgeon, who I did visit, at a satellite office. He did a test on my tear ducts just to make sure nothing could be done and said yes totally blocked near the tear duct and the operation for that is only 50% successful, so I decided against that.  I spoke with him about my upper lids, he took some measurements and he said it would only get worse and to make an appointment to come back and be tested.  I never did because I was concerned that my health insurance would not cover this.  But the good thing is he has my records from my previous visit and it has obviously got worse since then.

I also chickened out after looking at pictures of Kenny Rogers, before and after and Renee Zelwegger who so altered her looks as to be unrecognizable.  There is an interesting article here about her ethnic routes and how she stood out in Hollywood from the Barbie Doll look before her surgery.  Plus she was young.  When I was young I didn't mind having hooded eyes it was who I was, but as you get older things change.

As this ocular plastic surgeon already had my records and since he also works out of Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, a highly renowned institution I decided to go back to him at his main office. He looked at my records and said "I can see it has got worse." This time he sent me right down the hall for a visual field test.  This is where you wear a patch over one eye and have to click every time you see a light, this is done on each eye.  Then they tape your eyelid up and do the same test on each eye with your lid taped up.  A comparison can be made between the two graphs.

Back to the doctors office.  A young woman assistant doctor came in and took measurements, and finally I saw the surgeon for a summery.  He said yes I did need upper eye lid surgery as my vision is quite impaired.  You don't actually realize how impaired it is, because you unconsciously compensate, by tilting your head up and raising your eyebrows to raise your eye lids.  In fact when he went to take a photo of my eyes I was facing him and he said relax your eyebrows and it was only then that I realized how when I look at people I raise my eyebrows, to have more peripheral vision, but never realized I did this.  Now I'm conscious of it, I catch myself doing this all the time.

Fortunately I do not have a problem with the eye lid muscles just the skin, so the surgery is about 45 minutes to one hour for both eyes.  A cut, remove the excess skin and stitch up.  But you do look like a prize fighter at the end of a boxing match when it is all finished.  It takes up to two months to totally heal, is what the doctor said.  And sometimes each eye does not heal at the same rate.  I asked about time off work and he said some take as little as three days, but I will take at least a week and see how it goes.

I had to wait over three months for this appointment, with this particular surgeon.  My original appointment was five months, but was able to call back and get it moved up, so was surprised that surgery is scheduled for Nov 6th.

I had a friend who had this surgery done, but she went the route of a plastic surgeon as opposed to an ocular plastic surgeon.  I think she paid for it herself.  I did phone them, but with my problems they recommended an ocular plastic surgeon and I was concerned about my pre existing problems too and the fact that it pulls more clout with the health insurance company, at least I would think it would, if you go to a ocular plastic surgeon, at a renowned eye hospital.  Obviously you must have a medical reasons for getting it done and not just cosmetic, for insurance to cover it.

I asked my surgeon if the insurance company would cover this and he said if they turned me down, he would go to bat for me.

Will keep you posted.

Christine

Vietnamese Pots

Hi Dear Folk,

These are the pots that I bought at Ollie's, on that rainy day last Wednesday, they are all made in Vietnam.  It's a good time of year to buy pots as the season is ending, these were 30% off and Ollie's is a discount store in any-case.

I couldn't pass this one by with the birds sitting on a branch, it's so whimsical.  A triangular pot, it was the last triangular pot there with this design.

Last Sunday Mr. B. helped me to level this up on the bricks and fill it with soil.  Some dirt, some compost and some potting soil.  I went digging in the composter, not an easy job, and twinged my back again.  This is a big pot and I don't think the photo shows how large it is.  I had this lovely red flower in a plastic pot so is temporarily in here, until I figure out what I want to grown in this blue pot maybe another fig.

On Saturday The Boy helped move and set this pot up for me.  I had herbs growing all over in different gardens, basil, parsley and oregano, so gathered them all here in this one earthy pot under my kitchen window.  I love it.

This was another area of my garden,  hard to grow anything, as it is so dry.  I like using these coloured pots scattered throughout my garden, the splash of colour gives me joy to look at.

Mr. B. found this white wicker chair for me in the trash.  For about three years I had another white wicker chair here also found in the trash, but the leg was going, so an opportune find.  I had temporarily used a wicker chair here from the oak tree patio, also a trash find, but now it is back there.

The weather has been on the whole cloudy and overcast with some rain.  Hoping it's good for our Cape Ann trip.  Well at least not rain.

Christine

Crochet Cardigan My Own Design

Hi Dear Folk,

A chill is in the air, the wood pile is stacked and kindling is stashed away to dry.  We never have a lack of kindling it continually drops out of our oak tree, but one must have patience to gather and box it.  Mostly Mr. B. does that, but I do help.  It is so lovely to come at during the winter, all neatly boxed in the garage, then staged in the basement to bring up and use in the fire.  If you  have ever tried to light a fire with slightly damp wood you will understand the joys of dry kindling.

I have resumed my crochet cardi.  It is my own design, following the basic instructions and photos here.  Some times I like a pattern, but others I like the freeness to use up some yarn from my stash, even smaller lengths and the joy of looking at all those colours and putting it together.

Fortunately I had written down a few notes and had stopped in strategic places, where I did not have to figure out too much what I had done over six months ago, I'm not good at that.  We will see how it turns out it is still a work in progress, but will be ready for Autumn, I have promised myself this.

I want to get into our garage, I keep having visions for it, but it will have to be a share vision as boy and garden things have to be housed there, but could I please sneak out a corner, or maybe half.

Christine

Rainy Day Blues and Bakery

Hi Dear Folk,

A day of rain, so let's take a damp rainy tour first of the garden, just a sneak view out the kitchen window at my trumpet fine, with a little light on the matter.

No light on the matter.

Autumn is about to tumble in, I love autumn we were married in October and it is a beautiful time of year here, usually with an Indian Summer, nice to look forward to before winter sets in.

With all the rain my Prairie Bonnet is trailing over the path, so found a little bit of old trellis to hold it up.

Under the kitchen window.

I have visions of more pots from Vietnam for my garden.

On the pond patio.

Under the oak tree with acorns raining down.

Two flea market finds, a carpet beater.  My old physics teacher used to go around the lab with a wooden carpet beater.  He didn't use it on us, but that carpet beater could make any poor inattentive teenager jump out of their skin when it was slammed down on the lab bench in front of them.  Love that red handle.

My other find an old wooden ironing board, I've always wanted one, and even left in the sitting room doesn't look half as bad as the metal monstrosity.  Mr. B. was home he doesn't work on rain days, good job too, because it takes two people to put this ironing board cover on, you think the thing will never fit.

I had made arrangements to meet a friend for lunch, but before that I stopped off at the drug store for some ibuprofen, I've been suffering from back ache since Saturday, when I bent over with the watering can and zing I felt it give me a twinge and it's been giving me trouble ever since.  Then over to Olies to buy some more Vietnamese pots for the garden.  I found three I like and as it was the end of the season they were 30% off.  I had wanted another tall rectangular one, but they didn't have any of those left.  Still I'm happy with what I have and will debut them when I finally have them all placed, where I have a mind to put them.

I met my friend in Abington not too far from the Hospital, as her husband is in hospital, so nice to get together at The Corner Baker, which is a franchise.  We both had soup and sandwich, I had broccoli and cheese soup with smoked turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich, very good, along with a chai latte which hit the spot.  Who would have thought growing up you would be drinking such things as chai lattes.

On the way out Mr.B. gave me instructions to get him some kind of bakery item, but I forgot then remember that I would pass Weinrich's Bakery on the way home, now this is not a franchise, they have been in business since 1919 and at this location since the fifties.  There are so few family run bakeries left that it's a treat to stop off here.

In the above picture to the right you can see a photo of their original bakery.

Isn't this front so very fifties, especially with that advertising on the roof.

Mr. B. got his chocolate eclair with yellow custard and for The Boy and I a chocolate cup cake with white icing.

So for a dull damp day, things were accomplished, Mr. B. cleaned the microwave and took the AC unit out of our bedroom window, and worked on one of the water down pipes that has come off the wall, I laundered The Boys sheets, even though he does his own wash, or else they would never come off his bed.  Friends were met.  A good day.

Christy

What's New On The Thrifted Front?

Hi Dear Folk,

I have cut back on my thrifting, but it was a Tuesday and I was off, and it's the day they give seniors 30% off, so I took a look and this is what I came back with.

Lovely hand made table cloth, I would never do all the beautiful embroidery and pulled thread-work. It is exquisite though.

These shoes ever so slightly slope back towards your heel, it's meant to make your legs work harder, use calories and build up muscles, who knows, but they are quite comfortable, except for the tipped back feeling, but I think I will get used to that.  Brand new, all leather and originally sold for over $100.00.

I love swing jackets and this one is in very good fake fur and has a lovely very heavy satin lining.  So good quality.

Black leather boots, hardly worn.

Could not pass this little evening bag.  I think it's polished water buffalo bone, nothing goes to waste out east they recycle everything.

Christy

Mountain Bike Mounted on a Miata

Hi Dear Folk,

I looked out of my Simla window one day to see my shepherds hook in the middle of my lawn, with something red hanging from it, I thought what in the earth is that?  It was Rob using my hook to hang his mount on while spray painting it in red.  It was sprayed with quite a few coats.  I said there better not be red paint spray on my hook.

The Boy has been working on this project, how to carry his mountain bike on his Miata.  First of all he bought a rack off eBay, but didn't like that arrangement, so sold that and came up with this idea.  The red and blue handle which he has bolted into the back of his car.  He takes the front wheel off his bike and mounts it through the front fork.

The back wheel is held down with a suction cup mounted on the trunk.

He's pretty happy to try out his new camel back hydro pack and riding shorts, which arrived from where else but Amazon,  and off  he goes with his whole new ensemble, mountain biking.

Christy

Labor on Labor Day or should I say Labour on Labour Day?

Hi Dear Folk,

How was your weekend?  Saturday and Sunday were pretty much a wash out,  dull and then torrential rain on Saturday, dull and sprinkles on Sunday, the sun did eventually show her face.  But today Monday is glorious.

I started off with a cup of tea, and then got it into my head to tackle the monster, the monster being the trumpet vine, which I had pretty much let lose all summer.  The trouble with a trumpet vine is that the flowers only appear at the very end of the sprigs as it stretches out towards the sun, so if you cut them back you cut the flowers off and then what is the point of having a trumpet vine.  The hummingbirds and bees love the flowers, so I have left it until now before pruning medusa back.  You can see how thick and woody the main vine is.

Now my poor rose can start grow the other way, as she will have some sunlight from a more rounded prospective.

Tuppy found herself a little sleeping bed in the dust bin lid.

Here is only about half I cut off the trumpet vine, the rest is in the trash can.

I weeded the garden, and planted a few flowers I had growing in other locations that were not doing to well, so gave them another try here.  There is probably only about six or seven weeks left in our flower growing season, but will get to enjoy them.

One of my biggest thrills is that new shoots are showing on my clematis. I dug up my Henry Clematis, it had been in it's previous location for several years but never thrived.  I did have a Henry Clematis in this location and it loved it, but being a very silly person, I tried to tidy it up and I tidied it up too much and killed it.  This one I will just leave alone and let it do it's thing.  It has a lovely large white flower.

I dug it up on one of those hot days, trying to get all the ball stock, I was in one of those moods, "if it lives it lives and if it dies it dies."  I admit though to being very happy that it is happy.

I left some of the trumpet vine trailing above my kitchen window, it's lovely to look out the window and see that greenery hanging down.  In the autumn before winter, I am going to ruthlessly finish cutting it back.

My recent project has been a journal for my trip to Cape Ann.  So I did not mind the rainy days.  I rummaged around to use what I had in the house.  An old Franklin Covey two ring binder, old leather bought up in the Amish country, crocheted Japanese flower and a gathering of old papers for inside.

After I have been to Cape Ann and completed it I will show you, I've had a lot of fun working on it.

Mr. B. has made chocolate chip cookies and that will go down very nice with a cup of tea.

Bye for now,
Christy