Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

Cindy, I was on a streak of 110 Wordles solved and hoping to beat my 138 record when I missed one. It was typical of my misses. Two letters missing with multiple obvious choices. Then the next day, I solved on the second try. I was doing most of the NYT puzzles daily but lately have been doing Wordle and Spelling Bee. Occasionally some of the others.

When you were posting about multiple guests visiting, I was thinking, "Better you than me." LOL. Having visitors around can get old quickly. At least for me it can. Hope you enjoy your Key West trip.

We skipped the State of the Union speech last night. This morning I read about it. I was glad that the Supreme Court justices weren't openly scorned. I'm of the generation that likes some decorum.

Chris, glad you're resting and recuperating.

Canary Cat, hope all works out well for you with health issues and with your theatre work.

Well the drape delivery saga continues. They were to deliver on Tuesday, but we had a big storm from Sunday into Monday, yet again. So I called, left a message asking to reschedule for next week, because I was unsure if DH would be able to get the driveway and walkway cleared in time. Joann calls on Tuesday to ask if the delivery could be rescheduled for Wednesday, because John was still trying to dig out from the storm. DH had cleared everything, but if it melts, it freezes and the driveway can become a navigation nightmare.

Yesterday, I get a call from John asking if we can delay the delivery scheduled for between 10-12 until next Tuesday. He explains his truck has "tires like baloney" and he is replacing them on Friday, plus there isn't enough weight in the back of his truck to provide traction. Claimed he had been fishtailing all over the road on flat surfaces, and he said my driveway "scared him to death". So hopefully I will get my drapes back and installed before the spring thaw. I really don't mind because the room is about 90% done because I am leaving room for them to be able to maneuver when they lay the rug.

I have been reading Les Miserables and have finally reached the midway point in this 1,100 page tome. It is quite well-written and I am enjoying how he has interwoven the character's lives with the historical and cultural events occurring at this time. I love history so I am learning a lot about France's political happenings. His prose is wonderful as well, he weaves a story within a story so well. If you have read War and Peace, this is an easier read, but I loved War and Peace as well. Not a book I would recommend for a book club read though.

We still have vast amounts of snow in the yard with threats of more next week. I think I have more snow than they have seen in Alaska. We are to reach 50 degrees over the weekend so maybe we can get a significant melt. However, next week we are back in to the low 30's. I am so over this winter.

canarycat, loved the sets for your next production.

taco, our snow would melt real fast with your soaring temps, are you sure you don't want some?

Sandy, where have you been?

cindyny, hope you enjoy your time in Key West. I was there many moons ago and loved it. We met a store owner originally from South Philly who told us about this on the beach restaurant in Marathon and provided the mile marker for it. We stopped on our way back to Miami and had the best meal while gazing at the water and a lovely beach. Wow, it was 10 years ago that we stopped there. That's where I had the wonderful watermelon salad with feta cheese and balsamic glaze drizzle. It was also to include raw onions, but I am not a fan so asked they be left off. I make it now, but substitute gorgonzola cheese for the feta which I find to be too salty and I still don't add the onions.

harley07, how goes the food pantry volunteering?

carole, seems like you are getting some winter as well.

Chris, hope the hand is healing well.

Headed to the grocery store for some salad makings once my laundry is done. DH is at Temple University today as a guest presenter during their STEM program. He is an EE professor emeriti and goes back several times a year to help them with programs like this. I enjoy his absence as any retired wife may also experience.

Hope everyone has a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.

Thank you, Teka.

Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head.

Michel de Montaigne

Cindy - it looks like a good time in Key West even if a bit hot. It’s been 30 years since we were there and I recall my then 4 yo son asking to climb the 88 steps of the Key West Lighthouse in July! I was soaked but he enjoyed it and asked to visit the museum next door. That was one of the first indications that while he didn’t particularly enjoy school beyond the social aspects he would happily spend lots of time in museums.

Chris - I hope the hand pain is getting better so you can sleep and resume normal activities.

Canarycat - great pictures of your theatre set. You are certainly very talented.

Saw DS last Sunday and had a wonderful visit and good food. He had planned to fly to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico this past week for vacation however he cancelled due to the cartel issues last weekend. I feel really bad for him as he works two jobs and could really use a warm, sunny vacation. Hopefully he will be able to plan something else in the near future.

The food pantry has been busy. We have plenty of food to start with each Friday but are wiped out of supplies well before we close. There continues to be a great need.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

keywest, I was thinking about you while here. It’s good to hear from you and I’m happy you were down here to your happy place in January. Although I am sorry to hear about mets. ❤️ I’d book your stay now for next year, it will give you something to look forward to (could cancel if you change your mind).

Today was the Hemmingway home tour. I know many of you are cat lovers (Jackie took care of feral cats for years), but I’m highly allergic and avoid them. But I knew I wouldn’t have to touch any so in we went. The first thing I noticed was the strong odor of cat urine as soon as you enter the property behind the walls. But I’m happy to report either I got used to it (HA!), or it dissipated. The home itself held no odor and is highly air conditioned. The home is lovely, his life story is unique - to say the least.

This is a cat drinking fountain. Ernest brought the base home from Sloppy Joe’s when it moved - it’s actually from a urinal. His wife undaunted, had it surrounded in tiles and added the large urn.

We left there and headed to the Lighthouse and keepers home. Harley, we climbed those 88 steps too. It was hot and I stopped at the port hole windows to catch any breeze I could. I can’t imagine it in July! The views from the top were great - you really get a feel for the size of Key West, and get a great breeze too. I bought some gifts while there.

It’s SO birthday trip so it’s all things he loves to do, explore history. Tomorrow is a trip to Fort East Martello museum, which we are not walking to - taking a bus on demand ride. I’d take a lounge chair on the beach with a book, but it’s not my 70th!

I'm up early because I could not sleep. I was tossing and turning with a million things floating through my head, none of vast importance. So I decided to get up and checked my calendar to find that DGS's basketball game is not at 11, but at 1:15. We are taking my DDIL and family out afterwards to celebrate her belated birthday. She is not a decision maker so it took her awhile to finally decide where she would like to eat and she picked a Mexican restaurant which we know and love. DD and DSIL will join us.

My back has been problematic for the past week and it has not been very responsive to either Tizanidine nor Lidocaine patches. So I guess I did not get much value from the thoracic epidural which is sad. It is incapacitating when it happens and I am never sure what will trigger it. I did manage to get some ironing done and was able to vacuum the first floor.

Yesterday was beautiful so I was able to wash the dining room and guest room windows. I did wash the screens from the guest room, but still need to do the dining room ones. They tilt in, so maybe it was the pulling to get them to tilt that set this round of back pain off. I took a Tizanidine and will apply a Lidocaine patch after my shower. Hopefully I can get it to settle down a bit.

Bored with weather news and distressed by current news, I have been watching series on Netflix and found a few good ones. I watched a new one last night and it will have a second series, but I'll look for something else. I thought this one was a little light for my taste. So time to look for a new one that preferably I can binge watch.

cindyny and keywestfan, I envy you your trips to Key West. it is such a magical place and I really enjoyed my trip there 10 years ago this March. I love hearing about what you are doing and being a history buff, I'd love your planned activities cindy. Happy birthday to your SO.

Not only did Jackie, feed and care for feral cats, she also adopted/rescued them. I wonder how her family is faring with her cats and Lil' Red. I miss her.

Keywestfan, sorry to hear of your progression and hope you can enjoy other trips there. You are a remarkable woman with all you can and have accomplished at your young age. Loved the photo of Sarabeth's strawberry shortcake. I grew up having mine on specially made biscuits rather than those cake type ones, and I prefer the biscuits anyday. It looks delicious and makes me crave one.

Today is to be the start of another cold front with dismal rain, gray skies, and low temps. We still have a lot of snow in our yard and there are still huge piles of quite dirty snow in some parking lots. Not sure we will get any melt today and we have to be wary of an icy driveway. I plan on leaving right after dinner today to get home before it freezes.

harley07, I hear you about the need at food banks. We have a local blog called NextDoor where people are desperately posting for locations of food banks. Seems theft of SNAP benefits is on the rise with people unlawfully accessing their benefits cards and stealing their funds. It is a sad world where people steal from the poor.

carole, hoping you've been able to golf or go to exercise classes lately. Seems you have had some cold weather while Taco is getting all the heat early in the season.

Chris, hope the hand pain is more manageable each day and that you are able to sleep at night.

Hope everyone has a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.

Keywestern - good to have you check in but certainly sorry to hear about the mets. Wondering about the other Chicago member too.

Okay - I'll put Les Miserables on my list. Currently reading the 5th of the Kingsbridge series. Have a sense I may have read it before but I'm enjoying it.

Chris - hope you can get the pain under control soon. I agree. I don't even want to think about the state of the world right now. Some days I'm glad I'm old and don't have grandchildren.

Uneventful weekend for me. Was sneezing when I played golf on Thursday but by Friday it was a full blown head cold. Cancelled all plans for the weekend and am feeling better. Have a busy week coming up so hope I continue to feel stronger. Thank goodness for DayQuil/NightQuil and Vicks. So far DH hasn't gotten it which is always a concern.

Have a good week everyone.

Good morning. My laser surgery on the left eye went well. I have the right eye surgery next Monday. The thyroid problem is a little better and I feel more like myself. I still have about 6 pounds to drop. All my labs came in normal. Yay!

Welcome Janie.

My niece and some friends went to Key West in 2024. Not as many cats as there was the last time I went. Speaking of my niece, we will head back to NC on the 12th. I am looking forward to it.

Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Good work!

The drape guys were able to come today to return and rehang my dining room drapes. I had purchased them in 2102 according to the tag from the store. They look good. Initially they installed the valance wrong and I had to tell them to flip it over, they did and we all had a laugh about it. The valance has pleats which were not evident when they first hung it and I had to think about what the issue was before I could tell them there was an issue.

I like how the wall color pulls out the blue in the drapes and in the upholstered chair seats. Now once we lay the cleaned rug, I can start to bring in the last of the furniture and decorations to clear one "room of doom". I am sure the blue in the rug will also pop.

Then we can lay the cleaned living room rugs and I can do a thorough cleaning there. So the first floor will have some sense of order again. I will be able to rearrange the room a bit, too. I like changing things around for a different look and also a chance to declutter.

I am still waiting for DB to return to finish the guest room so I can attack the other "room of doom" and then the second floor will be returned to order. Slow going to get this project done, but it will be worth it.

It's cold again and the snow is still here. We are supposed to go from the 39 degrees presently to the 70's on the weekend which is too extreme for me. I want spring, not a hasty leap into summer. The hyacinths are peeking through the ground so spring is coming. The hill where the daffodils are, is still covered with packed snow, so it is hard to see if they are erupting.

Ran to the feed store yesterday to purchase canary seed since I cannot find it in PetSmart and ordering it online is very expensive. It is about 35 minutes from here so I got to notice all the recent housing and apartment development in an area that once was vastly farmland. I hate to see all the greenspace disappear. This store is also a nursery in the spring and summer, so I will go back then. They sell hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, gerbils, rabbits as well as canaries and parakeets. This is where I bought Bumblebee originally. They will soon bring in baby chickens for breeders and probably some misinformed parents who think they'd be fun for their children. I found some new suet I'll try in the holder for the birds and squirrels.

It's a gray day, foggy, with a steady drizzle. The rain drops are caught on the branches of the Japanese maple and they look like diamonds. It still freezes overnight so the driveway can be a real issue when it is slippery.

Debating about whether to get back into my family genealogy today or just chill.

canarycat, loved the photos from the new play.

petite1, glad to hear the eye surgery went well. Hope you can get to your escape get away soon.

carole, seems your weather is improving so you can resume golf.

Chris, seems your thumb is doing well and hope it continues.

Hope everyone has a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.

Every speaker has a mouth; An arrangement rather neat. Sometimes it's filled with wisdom. Sometimes it's filled with feet.

Robert Orben