Maus & the banned book club

 

We've started a banned book club in our neighborhood. The First meeting is in a couple of weeks and Maus will be our first book. 

Celebrations 2022:Anniversary

This year we celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary.  

With COVID restrictions lifted we wanted to have a party with our friends. So we met at an exceptional Italian restaurant called Parma in a nearby town.

The Year 2022 in Review: Celebrations

 The next series of blog entries will showcase our celebrations from 2022. We start at the end of the year, with Christmas, and then work back to the summer.

Despite multiple health complications this fall I wanted to have a tree this year. So we got one of the neighbor kids to help us and got it up at the last minute. 

Christmas day dinner is traditionally prime rib and this year was no exception.

We invited other friends and family to the dinner, but it ended up being more intimate with just the two of us. Hoping you had a happy holiday too! 

Lake Waneka awaits winter

 The other day we headed over to our local open space park to capture the reduced water levels in Lake Waneka, but recent rains had partially refilled it. I decided to play with the panorama feature on my phone and was very happy with the result. 

Our local park suspended all water based activities this summer because of the ongoing water shortage resulting from the drought. This summer started very dry, but around August the monsoon pattern started up and we were getting significant dumps about every ten days. Now we have just enough water for our migrating Canada geese as they migrate through.  

   

Sunflower

 Here is an image of one of the many volunteer sunflowers in our garden this year. Birds have transplanted sunflower seeds from a neighbor's yard into ours and given us this gift. I love the transparent glow that comes from the side lighting of the flower. 

The answer is purple

 This is my brand new prayer shawl given to me by members of the United Methodist Women from my church. After seeing the color of my walker, they correctly guessed I'd like purple. It is very soft and comfy. 

Here is a image of my leg that is safe for the squeamish. It is an X-ray of my new knee taken at my two week checkup. Everything is looking good! 

I also had the outer dressing removed at my two week checkup. The white bands are the steri-strips used to close the wound. I was told to leave them on until they fall off naturally. After a week of being uncovered, they are still hanging on.

 More updates to follow after my next doctor's visit in a couple of weeks. Cheers 

And the legs have it .... Well at least the right one.

Adventures in modern medicine during Covid

Here I am at 5:30 AM, waiting for them to take me in for surgery. I'm having the surgery done at the Good Samaritan Medical Center here in Lafayette. We choose this hospital because it is rated in the top 50 nationally for surgical outcomes. Except for the other patients of the day, the Hospital was very empty that early in the morning. 

Here is a before photo of the leg. It will never look like this again!

Out of bed after surgery. The actual surgery took around an hour and the surgeon said he was very pleased with the results. The white stockings are compression stockings to reduce post surgery swelling. I will be wearing these on my right leg for many weeks.  

Needless to say, with everything happening to me, I was at risk for falls. 

Day 2.  Hooked up to the ice machine. This device continuously circulates ice cold water over my knee to help control pain and swelling. This now belongs to me and I'll be taking it home for daily icing. 

First real walk around the ward on day 2. Everything is working as expected. 

Out of the hospital. Rather than going immediately home, I spent ten days (9 nights) at my Mother-in-laws guest room. She lives in a single story ranch house. The guest room was only a few steps to an accessible shower and bath, and entry only required navigating a handful of stairs.   

Here's my knee post surgery. The bandage is waterproof and stays on for two weeks. So far, 11 days in, no leaks! Except when I bathe I'm wearing the white compression stocking from the earlier photo. 

See you in about a week with an update after they remove the bandage! 

 

Alicia Sanchez International School Open Space/Medical Update

 These images are from another visit to the Nature Kids Discovery Zone at the Alicia Sanchez International School here in Lafayette. 

When you see this posting on Tuesday I will be under the knife getting my knee replaced. About two months ago I was told that the damage to my knee necessitated having a full knee replacement. I'll post further news when I return from the hospital towards the end of the week. 

My husband discovered this park early in the summer. When the black eyed Susans erupted into full bloom mid-summer, he had to share it with me.  So one weekend we visited the park and took these photographs.

This park is located adjacent to the Alicia Sanchez International School and is used by the students for learning about the environment.

That's all for now. I you want to wish me well, leave it in a comment below. 

Success! SolarCan revisited

 Back in 2020 we got our second box of SolarCans. The first set were part of a Kickstarter but many were defective. This can was set up across our street on a neighbor's balcony, facing south. It has been recording for just shy of a year. In the lower part of the image you can make out the recent construction and the open space path. This is what a successful solar gram looks like. 

First Harvest of the Summer

Sorry about the late post. Today we got the first harvest from our garden. Not bad actually. This year has proved difficult. The first plants we put out succumbed to pests and died. So this bounty is from our second attempt. We've got one healthy tomato plant, three peppers, an egg plant, and some kind of pickling cucumber.

More from the Nature Kids Discovery Zone

Near the Alicia Sanchez International School is an open space park that we recently discovered. A month ago the whole area exploded with black-eyed Susans. Here are some images I took of that.

 

Nature Kids Discovery Zone

We recently discovered a new park in our small town. It has the rather unimaginative name of Nature Kids Discovery Zone. It is located adjacent to the Alicia Sanchez International School. Getting there requires navigating a maze of residential streets. 

Some time in early July the wild flowers in the park just exploded and I knew we needed to visit it with our cameras. 

I love thistles, so I gravitated toward this one immediately.  

 Next to it were these tiny flowers that grow in clusters. What immediately grabbed my attention is the lady bug traversing the stem. 

Community Art to Celebrate our Little Town

At the end of our street is a small park. Four of the trees in that park died a number of years ago. They stood as grey sentinels for a number of years. Recently we noticed that they had been reduced to tall stumps. At the time we thought it strange that the stumps were so large. Then one day we saw someone carving one of those stumps with a chain saw. Within a week, the stump had be transformed into a rooster running a race in sneakers.  

Talking to the artist we learned that he would construct four sculptures out of the dead tree trunks, each representing something iconic about our town. We have a fun run every winter. The rooster was created to celebrate that. 

 

The goat was to celebrate the many public concerts held in our little community. 

 

The pig sits on top of a box of peaches. He's to celebrate our annual peach festival and the many restaurants along the town's traditional main street.  You may remember him from a previous post from May.

 The last is the Canada Goose, dressed as a painter. It's to celebrate the strong community arts programs in our little town.

 

Merry Christmas

 Blessings and Best Wishes to All this Holiday Season!

#CameraChallenge : #8 Water

#CameraChallenge @_JasonAvery @ILFORPhoto

 From Lake near my home........

@_JasonAvery

#filmphotography

@ILFORDPhoto

#photography #believeinfilm #analogphotography

Irises From My Garden

Looking at the buds......about to open.

Tulips from Early Spring

I've been posting a lot of Veggie Gardening Updates.  But I've had Flowers blooming since fairly early in the Spring.  So let's catch up on the Flowers.  Four Tulips Open a 'Window' on my Flower Gardening:

Happy 4th of July!

The mascot at out local liquor store:  The Atlas Bear Says Hello and Stay Safe.......for the Holidays!

Shame on You Lafayette!

A commemoration to honor COVID victims began to appear at the Lake near my home.  It included the stone below, which is appropriate because African Americans are disproportionately affected by COVID.

You can see this stone in the full photo below:

A few days ago we paused to photograph this commemoration to those who suffered from COVID.  Here, another view which shows the edge of the 'Brown Lives Matter ' stone:

But Friday I noticed that the 'Black Lives Matter' stone had been removed. The Brown Lives Matter stone remains, but for how long?........SHAME ON YOU LAFAYETTE!

And then, Later Friday Evening I found this Stone of Hope on my Door Step.  I know who Am and Cm are.  Wonderful Neighbors!

Frugal Film Too: Framed

Around the corner the Town workers were trimming and cutting down some old Cottonwood trees.  They left an interesting formation that almost seemed to frame a nearby Evergreen.

I had wanted to come back for a photo in the snow, but by that time they had cut down more of the Cottonwood stumps and the framing effect was lost...........

This was from another roll of HP5 that I shot for the Frugal Film Project...........I'll continue to post some of my 'extras' here as Frugal Film Too.