Wednesday, July 5, 2017

FULL CALENDAR

SPRINGING ON DOCTORS

 

Over the last year your editor had been hit with a spate of health issues, some minor and some of concern.  Many of you know about the March hospitalization for a bleeding ulcer; I did not even know I had an ulcer.  And let me tell you that the health care in Mexico is excellent.  I lost about 20 pounds and have reduced my medications considerably, particularly no NSAIDs which probably caused the ulcer problem.  Since our return I have had lots of followups with physicians here in the US.  Quite a bit of our time has been consumed going from one appointment or test to the next.  And there are still more on the schedule.  But we have done fun things as well.  The Muse has not been up to writing, preferring to work on her many outside garden projects.  But finally I cajoled her into providing a bit of an update.

 

 

 

This summer has been a summer of doctors. (Actually the spring -dt) Dan had seven doctors last count.  It may be six because his pain doctor gave up on him.  ('Gave up' is not quite correct; he said I was doing fine and could just call if I became worse.  -dt) He refuses to take opioids, for which I have to admire him, but the groaning is getting on my nerves. (R exaggerates -dt)  Perhaps he is improving but slowly.  I used to take a nice pain medicine called Vioxx for my arthritis but they stopped making it.  I think you can still get something like it in Mexico.  We both fear his next arthritis attack.  Dan has therapy which seems to make him more mobile.  Of course his heart doctor is waiting on his tummy doctor.  You can't get an appointment with his eye doctor (No problem with the optometrist -dt) for months. And for his myasthenia gravis it took months even to locate a doctor and then you wait more months to see a nurse.  We have been  watching on the news about the healthcare bill.  I don't pretend to know the answer but I will swear there is a problem.  I'm thinking maybe we should use the pocketbook solution:

 

Doctor:  How much money is in your pocketbook?

Patient:  This much.

Doctor:  Hand it over.

 

That way we might not eat for a day or two but it would be a national weight loss program too.  This would be a good thing as most of us are a little tubby.  Just kidding -- I think.

 

Dan and I went to visit Nick - our son - in Wisconsin.  We enjoyed seeing where he lives and works.  Nick took us to an outdoor production of Midsummer Night's Dream.  It was really magical to watch the play on a warm June evening under the open sky.  We also visited the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.  I was pleased to find how many of the trees and flowers I remembered after so many years; it was like meeting old friends.  We toured part of the UW Chazen Museum of Art.  There was a traveling exhibit about the Samurai I especially enjoyed.  Of course I was at my usual slow pace because I stopped to read most of the signs.  Dan was limping along much faster but we each enjoyed it in our own way.  Since we were visiting Wisconsin we stopped to buy some cheese.  As a certified cheese addict I bought three large hunks to bring home with me.  Two of them are gone already.  Dan bought some for himself.  He is safe because he bought stinky old cheese which I don't like. (Mrs.T does not appreciate the fine taste of a good blue cheese. -dt)  I did catch him sneaking a bite of my cheddar. We visited the ceramic studio Nick works at in his spare time.  We had a good time.

 

After visiting Nick Dan and I went to an art workshop at Touchstone Center for Crafts. ( http://www.touchstonecrafts.org/ -dt) This workshop was about printmaking.  Dan and I were taking the same class.  This is usually a very bad idea because Dan spends too much time and effort telling me what I am doing wrong.  This not only annoys me a great deal but also slows him down on his own paltry (Hmmphf!  - not sure about that assessment.  -dt) efforts.  This class was different.  Roger started us off doing monoprints. (Using Gelli printing plates - dt)  I knew how to do this.  And Dan was immediately successful so spent most of his time on his own work. (Our instructor was Roger Hyndman - www.solarprintmaking.com  -dt)



 

The second day we made metal plates for printing off a press.  The process was a little complicated.  Select and edit a print;.45 seconds exposure for this gel; 25 seconds for the metal plate.  Scrub with cool water for one minute.  Rinse scrub for 30 seconds.  Rinse and dry.  Set in the sun for 20 minutes. Then hopefully you have your plate, and are ready to ink and print. (There were actually a few more steps, but that is the general idea. -dt)  Here's the thing: Dan was too busy doing all this that he did not have time to annoy me.  If and when I needed help Roger was glad to help.  I did have to kind of shout at him because Roger is a little deaf.  So picture this: the other two students are busy, one editing a print the other timing a light, and I am bawling pathetically "ROGER! ROGER!" When that doesn't work Dan shouts in stentorian tones "Roger, Please help Rebecca"  Roger immediately trots over to help me.  Perhaps I should mention that Roger is 80 years old but very fit and competent. (Think of the Walter Huston character, Howard, in Treasure of the Sierra Madre  -dt)  He might occasionally be forgetful but...what was I saying.  Anyway, in spite of all this we all made gorgeous prints.  Of course mine were the best.  I was so excited I felt like hugging Roger.  So I did.  Over the next few days we all made several more prints and metal plates.  We printed in three different colors of ink: black, brown, and green.  Dan even made prints with two colors on the same print.  We had a great time but after five days we were tired and ready to go home.  (We hope to get to Phoenix Rising - phoenixrisingprintmaking.org - to do some followup.  -dt)

 

I did have a complaint about accommodations.  Our house is not palatial but it suits us and when I wake up in the middle of the night I know where the bathroom is.  I had a problem with this in our hotel. (Mrs.T confused it with our house at first and then with the condo.  She does not adjust to travel quickly.  -dt)  Our hotel in Pennsylvania, selected on the basis of economy (And location -dt) was basic.  Next time we are moving up a star or two.  (It was not that bad -dt)

 

A few weeks ago I was going on a road ride with my dear Jewel, the Belgian horse I usually ride, and a couple of other riders.  Jewel was behaving nicely but she was letting me know that she would like to go a bit faster.  These horses are trained to respond to three different kinds of commands.  They respond to your legs and seat knowing by the way you sit whether to go faster or slower or stop.  They respond to little clucking noises. And they respond to verbal commands.  For instance 'TROT' means trot.  Considering Jewels impatience I turned to the rider next to me and said,  "Jewel would like to go faster. Do you think it would be okay if we trot?"  And we were off!  

 

Jewel heard the trot command and hastened to obey.  I understood what had happened and did not have the heart to slow her down.So we trotted a little way and then slowed to wait for the others to catch up.  They were of course wondering why we suddenly took off.  I alas am a slow learner.  " Well," I explained, "Jewel heard the word trot…"   And we were off!  Again. When the others caught up a second time I explained more carefully, "When I say the word T   R   O   T",  I spelled carefully, "Jewel is going to do it."  My friends examined me thoughtfully.  In fact Jewel gazed at me back over her shoulder, probably wishing she could spell.  "So that's your story," one said.  "Well the other replied this is a nice straight place, why don't you let her do it?"

 

"Jewel!  TROT", I said.  And we were off.

 

 

Here are some photos - no doctors:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/9151458@N07/X578JA

 

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com


 

 

 




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