It’s been a while. Recovery has been far from
my mind: the presence of two interesting and lively grandchildren has poured a
new kind of “life” into me. Angus (14) and Emma (17) are here for three more
weeks. Emma’s working at Tim’s; Angus if clearing gravel from our flower bed.
This is a job my back just won’t allow me to do. He is doing a critical job for me.
These two are intelligent, articulate and
knowledgeable. Talking with them is always a learning experience. With their
parents (Caley and Joe) here for the weekend, the house was filled with
enjoyment and chaos! Things will change drastically for me tomorrow, as Beatrix
leaves for a much-needed vacation with her sister in Denver. I’m so glad I
could persuade her to get out of town for two weeks! But…I will miss her
terribly. Through this long winter and spring of illness and uncertainty, I
have depended on her a great deal. I feel a bit anxious to be without her near
for 14 days. However, it is imperative that she has a break before September.
For me, being at home with the kids is vacation enough this year. They are such
fun, and so incredibly interesting.
Today, we drove to Blue Sod Nursery and
bought two trees for the yard; a white lilac and an ‘amur’ maple tree. I had
fun digging out our pathetic and non-growing Linden tree to make room for the
lilac. Bruce will hopefully dig out the front yard for the maple later this
week.
The garage repair is finished, with a solid
foundation and a door that won’t jam all winter. The man who built the house
lied to us about this fault ten years ago. Everyone gave him such a personal
build-up that we didn’t question his word. The fault was there from the start:
a crack in the garage foundation, and an in complete central drain. No idea yet
what all this is costing, but at least it is rectified. All this digging and
gear-grinding about proper solutions to the problem was hard of my blood
pressure sometimes but our contractor, Bruce Zimmerman, is not only competent,
but a long thinker and a good, calm communicator. He’s been a joy to have
around. Over the next few weeks, he’ll finish up the front yard work and help
with the tree.
Over these busy weeks, my blood pressure has
been a bit high each day, surprisingly high in the morning. I’m surmising that
this is related to the back pain I experience upon starting to move at the
beginning of each day. Once I get mobile, this settles down, at least until
evening. I’ve begun taking my blood pressure later in the AM, after I eat, and
loosen up. As my dad used to say, “Getting old is not for sissies.”
Enough for tonight. Soon to bed, and
hopefully, to sleep. I’ll be in touch again before the week is out.
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