Electrical

Gale, our electrician and neighbor was hard at work this morning, installing a chandelier in the dining room, the security lights outside and getting organized. We are pushing everyone including him to move as fast as possible. After a year and and a half we are tiring of construction and want to get it behind us. Two people are coming to work tomorrow - the tiler and Ken, who is working on the deck and concrete outside.

Another saw broke today during the grove work. Honorato is apparently hard on the equipment. Richard had to rebuild the blower because he (H) mixed oil and gas for the 2 phase motor. Richard went to town to buy a replacement saw. After all, he had a quiet day because everyone cleared out before noon.

For dinner, chicken thighs and rice...it's refrigerator clean out day.

The deadly tax deadline

Struggling today with myself to get my taxes done and sent to the accountant. Procrastination in this department is my hallmark and I never miss putting this off as long as possible. Why? Because I hate to intellectualize the amounts that I've sent to the government all year, much of which is squandered and mismanaged. Today our news is full of scandal - one of the Orange County state assembly reps has been exposed in a sleazy scandal. What's new? They all fall into that trap. I guess they think they are infallible. It's so discouraging and really disgusting in the state assemble. These guys have spent us into poverty/they've all been "bought" by one group or another and the really galling thing is all the legislation they pass every year. We have 1000's of stupid laws on our books which are written and lobbied for by these assemblymen who judge each other on how much legislation they can push through. Their constituents are largely uninterested in this legislation which just adds more to the load of the enforcement people and does little to improve the quality of life for most of us.

Here figgie, figgie

Lamb chops for dinner tonight with a fig and avocado salad. Everything was delicious
and just enough. The cats got to lick our lamby fingers and they enjoyed their treat. Very hot in Temecula where I went to pick up stone veneer facing for the garage front and a 96# bag of grout. The fork lift operator who assembled my items was on the chubby side and sweating profusely - I asked him about the heat and he explained that he'd just had his hose shower - has to do it every hour or so to be able to keep working.

A few appealing furniture stores I pass on my route home, had "clearance" signs on display so I stopped at one of them. The store was full of massive furniture - carved beds with huge headboards. They have little steps that you use to climb up on them like the beds of the royals were in Europe. Most of this stuff would overwhelm our house completely as I explained to the decorator. She assured me that a big piece in a small room can look great if you know the tricks. She was a charming little hing and literally buzzed with ideas. We walked from piece to piece and she gave me ideas for how such things could be ncorporated into smaller rooms. Very informative.

A Bosch washer and dryer were delivered today. The installers left their truck running for almost 2 hours stating that company policy allows them to keep the cab cool. Two hours? These guys were not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier but they did get things in place. We got an upgrade in the connection department because the first one they tried which came with the Bosch, stripped while they were installing it. The spin cycle is unbelievably fast - the washer sounds like it's going to take off any minute.

Good progress outdoors - the posts on the garage are almost finished and Ken has cleaned up a lot of the mess. Things are looking much better.

Dumb Poem

There's been a rumor that my little tumors now toast
Yes, it's true! and it's turning to goo! I can boast
And now may I smile? At least for a while, as I'm "post".

What was I thinking (or not)? I posted a question on the cyberknife
forum about how you can tell if your tumor is dying on the MRI's. Guess I lost control for a moment and decided to insert the above ditty on my question. I got deservedly booed...it's so bad. I thought I might get a laugh, but no - instead I got affirmation that I shouldn't expect to make a living writing poetry. No second career in this department, I guess.

Shanghai'ed

Richard cooked up a semi-surprise post-op trip for us starting out in Shanghai on Oct. 5th. We fly to Shanghai and are staying in a small flat for five days. We board a Costa Cruise which stops in Japan (Kobe and Tokyo), in Taipei and ends up in Hong Kong on Oct. 24th. Three days later on the 27th we fly home.

There goes October, but we can use a change of scene and a rest. Even though our pace has been slow, the house demands are exhausting for me - I get about 12 good hours out of my brain after which it screams for rest. Flat on my back I can watch mind-numbing television until I fall asleep. I'm recently starting to be able to concentrate enough to read again. This week's book club is a good choice - "The Seal Wife". Parts of it are so good that I've completed reading them and turned back immediately to read the passages over again.

When I say I enjoyed a book, the natural question is always, "What's it about?". Lately the books I've been reading are very hard to classify as - mystery, memoir etc. The Seal Wife is a story of loneliness and yearning. The central character is a weatherman of sorts based in Alaska at the turn of the century. The author has an incredible ability to describe sensory experiences - so well that you are completely immersed in her scenes -smelling, touching, seeing and hearing. It's such a pleasure to read.

Farmers ? Market

Our first official farmers market took place yesterday in downtown Fallbrook. Of all the places that you would think a farmers market would thrive, it would be here as there is so much agricultural activity going on. However, the market was a dud. Only a few vendors selling jewelry and knick knacks. Not one produce seller.

The most interesting sellers there was a woman and her husband who raise goats, sheep and llamas here in Fallbrook. They shear the animals and then send the wool off for carding. She then spins the wool into yarn which they sell in hanks for knitting. The yarn was beautiful and expensive but very unique.

They were also selling wonderful greeting cards from a company called the Itty Bitty Witty Knitties in Idaho. The cards have a little tiny piece of knitting on the front and inside, an appropriate greeting/sentiment for the occasion. The knitting is done by deaf women in Kunming China; the women were formerly impoverished and unable to help themselves. The knitting project has brought them sufficient income to live decently and most importantly to learn sign language.

Lighting

 

Lights are starting to go up here and there. The chandelier in the hallway, outdoor lights, bathroom lights. I'm keeping just ahead of the electrician and have made many trips to Lamps plus. For about a week, I had a crick in my neck from looking up. All are selected now and I can put this task to rest.

Lowes

We're putting a stainless steel tool cabinet in the kitchen. I bought it at Lowes and now have to have it modified to go into the island. Remove feet, remove handles on the sides and electrical outlet. I'm hoping it will work and I like it. If not, we can remove it and replace it with a conventional cabinet.

I plan to use it for knife storage, small gadgets - there's never enough room for these and oddball things, like box graters, oil bottles, measuring cups - the tools of the trade.

Post Op

I painted cabinets on Saturday after having just returned from Stanford on Friday night. That is how good I've been feeling. Other than a small amount of pressure in the head, everything is about the same except that I feel more stable. This morning I walked toe to heel down the kitchen floor following the tile line and was able to stay upright. While sitting, I'm feeling no waveriness. Tinnitus is the same as pre-surgery. No pain in the jaw line. My sense of taste is still messed up but no worse than before. Hearing seems to be the same as pre-surgery. I do have a hearing test scheduled for September so I'll find out then exactly how it's doing.

I spent most of yesterday online writing back to people who had sent good wishes - and posting items on the acoustic neuroma association forum. Just info about how I feel. Some people are nauseated and dizzy for days post cyberknife. Others experience horrible tinnitus and jaw pain. I'm either really lucky or my turn will come later?

I've posted this pictures of the guys at the wedding because they are showing the feelings that I'm experiencing. If I'd tried this
now I'd end up in the hospital.

So far, so good.

Radiation day 3

Day three was similar to the other two days, but now it's old hat for me. I actually enjoyed it more and was able to focus on the procedure and worry less about claustrophobia. Today I asked the tech to take a few pictures of me in the mask. Boo!!

Soon it was over and mask in hand I got in the car and we left. Packed up and went straight to the airport for an uneventful ride home. As it was almost 6 pm we stopped at Kings Fish House for a delicious meal. Richard had soft shelled crabs and I had sand dabs. The cats were happy to see us and I fell into bed, exhausted.

At 4:00, my eyes popped open and I recognized the typical steroid effect...for me it's SPEED. So now I'm on the run for a while and will probably collapse this afternoon. I'll try to enjoy the high while I have it.

Celebration dinner at Tamarine

Even though I'm tired, I'm very relieved to have the procedure almost over. Tomorrow is the final day and we can go home. To celebrate we ate at Tamarine, a Vietnamese fusion restaurant we discovered earlier in the week. Richard had a repeat of the cod cooked in a clay pot. I ordered grilled scallops in green curry. Richard had a splendid beer and me a glass (2) of Alsatian
Gewurztraminer. For dessert I had the tapioca cooked in coconut milk and two sorbets - one mango and one coconut. Richard had a wonderful citrus flan. The meal was splendid. We took a wander through the Barnes and Nobles which is housed in a beautiful old Spanish building. By the time we left, Palo Alto was coming alive - almost 8 p.m. The early diners like us were slogging toward our cars, our wallets a little lighter, making room for the on-time diners, mostly 30 somethings, more vivid, more lively and with fatter pocket books. As the world turns.

2nd day of radiation

Today when I arrived at the cyberknife suite, the waiting room was empty so it was much less festive. Yesterday the other two patients had completed their treatments and were happily on their way home. Same protocol today as yesterday; a beautiful blond woman with a huge engagement ring dispensed the pills - steroid for swelling and an anti-nausea pill, unidentified. My tall thin and very young Asian tech came out to get me and we went straight in and started the procedure. I asked him if they had a name for the machine - he said "cyberknife 1" - which surprised me. I would've thought the first thing they would do is name it. I climbed on the gurney, they masked me down, left the room and cranked er up. She chirps, buzzes, hums and squeals. I heard very high pitched sounds continuing for some time and then something like castanets. The sounds come from all over. I opened my eyes for a while and stared in hers. A little light seems to be coming from her head and she moves around quickly from spot to spot. I saw the red lasers for directions today too. Because I was less nervous and more interested today, I saw more and actually enjoyed part of it. It seemed to be over fast.

Dr. Soltys came in just as I was leaving and asked if it had gone OK and if I was feeling OK after yesterdays treatment. Yes, yes, yes on all accounts. I asked my few questions about getting copies of my tests - yes, at the radiological library right behind the cafeteria and I received 18 grays of radiation broken into three doses of 6 grays each day. He was all smiles and said he would see me tomorrow before I left.

Overall this has been a great experience. Stanford hospital is beautiful. The main lobby looks like a 5 star hotel lobby. There is reading material and libraries everywhere. The cafeteria has decent food. People are friendly and cooperative for the most part. If I was forced to think of something to complain about, I'd have to think hard.

Well, tomorrow it will be over with, the tumor will have been dealt the coup de gras and the rest will be history. I have a 97% chance that the tumor will die; a 30% chance of losing the remaining hearing in the AN ear and an almost zero chance that balance, taste will return to normal. However after the vestibular training that could improve.

They are doing research for a cure for these tumors, but are finding that it is very difficult to grow acoustic neuroma cells in a petri dish. Out of sixty samples recently they were able to get two strings to grow. Not enough. They are trying to determine the chromosome which is responsible for the tumor suppression protein and why it is screwed up. If they figure this out it might be possible to develop an oral dose of this protein which one could take when the tumor is discovered. This might prevent further growth and if symptoms aren't bad at time of discovery then people could function quite normally. A lot of "mights".

1st day of radiation

Nervous this morning but took an ativan half hour before my appointment. When I walked into the waiting room, Bubbles Wanda was there and the wife of another man there also for AN treatment. This was very relaxing and as these people were at the end of their treatment they were able to reassure me that it would be simple. A young woman came out and gave me a bit of steroid and one anti-nausea pill. I told her I'd taken an ativan and so she didn't give me that. As we were talking a doctor came out...he's a nuclear medicine pioneer and has multiple degrees in the software aspect of the cyberknife, the engineering and the medicine. he was incredibly smart and funny and most enjoyable to chat with. Turns out he was one of the inventors of the cyberknife..the guy on the left.

Wanda and her husband left and I was called in. The room is white with a gurney on the side and a huge robot that looked like the female in "Alien". She was rumbling away in the background, just sitting there waiting to go. The set-up here in Stanford is the only one in the world where there is only one human and one robot alone in the room and the robot works on you. They set me up with my preformed neck piece and buttoned the mask in place. It was looser than it seemed yesterday. They reassured me that I could swallow if I had to, even sneeze if required. They tucked me in, turned on some music and the treatment started. I could hear some clicks and a couple of whirs; the opera soared through the sound system and I found myself watching for glimpses of my huge, mechanical surgeon as he/she worked her way around me. It was very hard to see it clearly. At times the cot moved as well. 35 minutes went by fairly quickly and I was only moderately uncomfortable. I asked them if I fidgeted too much and they reassured me that I was OK. I called Richard and he was there in 5 minutes and we came home.

Later in the day we went to the Sunset Magazine garden and had a walk around; lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant - gyros, babaganoush, hummus and pita bread with a couple of salads. We bought baklava and some other sweets, spent 5 minutes in a used bookstore then went over to the Cineplex and saw Cold Souls. I slept through some of it as did Richard. Good premise but not a well directed movie. Now we are home and I will be going to bed soon to be ready for a repeat of this morning.

I'm now 3/5th's through the process. Hurray!!!

Stanford - Monday

Today we met with my two doctors, the radiation oncologist and the neurologist. Dr. Soltys, the radiation oncologist looks about 23; Dr. Chang looks just right - young enough to be up on the technology and old enough to be mature. After reviewing my case and doing a few short tests on site...closing my eyes with my hands in front, walking a line toe to toe, he said I was a bit unsteady. He whispered in my good ear and then in my bad ear..a sort of empirical test of his own.

Next was an MRI which I wasn't expecting and wasn't on the schedule. There was a bit of a mix-up with where to go and what to do. It ended up gobbling up the afternoon. I was finished about 4. Richard and I went shopping at Crate and Barrel and Adronico's market, then walked a bit around downtown Palo Alto. Ate at Tamarine which was excellent. Richard had clay pot cod; I had chicken cooked with a kumquat glaze and roasted cauliflower. We shared some anise rice. For dessert I had a coconut tapioca with two sorbets..unbelievably good and Richard had a flan.

This morning I had a cat scan and they made my mask. I was finished at 9:00. They told me to plan for the whole day - a nice surprise that it was so short. Now the actual radiation is all that's left.

Stanford

Yesterday we left from Burbank, flew up to San Jose, rented a National Rental Car and checked in at the Marriott Residence Inn in Palo Alto. Out to dinner at Il Fornaioa downtown and had an excellent meal. My wine, a Grillo was great. Richard had prosciutto and Melon and a mixed seafood grill appetizer plate. I had a pasta, like ravioli but bigger and free form in shape, filled with squash and walnuts with an excellent tomato/red pepper sauce. Bread was excellent and a cup of coffee at the end was also great...tasted like it smelled. Back in the room we watched the finale of Mad Men..we couldn't get the opening segment as we don't get AMC in the room.

This morning everything went smoothly. We met Dr. Sotsly and Drs. Chang one right after the other. They told me my tumor was growing out of the auditory canal in an unusual way which is why it is causing the hearing loss. They didn't seem particularly concerned about the other symptoms. They ordered an MRI which we had a bit of confusion over but finally had it. They sent me over at 12:30 and after straightening out the mix-up I was MRI'd about 4 - a short one with contrast only.

Richard and I went out and shopped at Crate and Barrel looking at tables and chairs, the to downtown Palo Alto and strolled the main street, cruising Restoration Hardware.Our meal at Tamarine was excellent. I had chicken with kumquats and roasted cauliflower; Richard had Cod roasted in a clay pot. We shared rice cooked with anise. For dessert, I had coconut tapioca with two sorbets and two sauces; Richard had a citrus flan with a cream sauce. We both had a Vietnamese coffee sweetened with condensed sweetened milk. It was great. For wine, I had an Alsatian gewurtztraminer and Richard an Alsatian beer. Nice meal to end Day 1 of the proceedings. Only 4 left to go.

Antique Door

For a small cupboard in the kitchen, I found the perfect antique door. It was hanging at Mrytle Creek nursery and when I brought it home, it fit perfectly in the space and looks excellent with the beams. Richard instantly liked it, so I am happy. G & M cabinets will be doing our cabinet job and they are ready to start next week. As we will be gone, we have to delay until the following week, but I hope they will complete the job quickly. William the designer has already given us a few tips. He really knows what he is doing so I feel we will be in excellent hands.

Pictures attached show the door at the nursery and then sitting in it's spot in the kitchen.

Choosing the cabinet manufacturer was the last big choice we have to make so I am pretty well finished with decisions.

As we fired our plumber on Friday, we do have to choose a new one but the job will now consist only of installing things. No big jobs remain. We will never understand what was happening with the plumber or why he chose to work in such a wierd fashion. He never returned phone calls. Never.

Chris and Ashley

Chris and Ashley were married last night with a lovely ceremony outdoors in Riverside. The minister who performed the ceremony is a bike riding/marathon person Chris has trained with for a couple of years. Everyone looked wonderful - of course the bride was gorgeous and looked like she had a twenty inch waist. Despite the fact that he is now 25, Chris looks about 17. He was very calm and seems to have matured by leaps and bounds overnight.

Kim looked incredibly glamorous. She had a beautiful dress, her hair was colored a reddish brown and she had professional make-up done. Mark, her fiance, said he was seeing a Kim he'd never seen before. Once she got used to the idea, I think she liked herself. At first, when she looked in the mirror, she screamed.

We sat with Ron and Bette which was great - also Jimmy shared our table. He is recovering from shoulder surgery. Ross and Marie were also there; poor Marie is grieving the recent loss of her father.

Most fun of all was to be had watching the little kids. Beth was a flower girl and Brandon the ring bearer. They had such a good time dancing and just exploring around all the tables, acting like, well, kids. One not-quite-toddler was underneath the tables, rolling herself along, eating jelly beans that had fallen to the floor. She would roll and flop herself from spot to spot. Richard thought she looked like a schmoo as she had little hair and a pear shaped long dress. A funny little thing, she would look you in the face and hold your gaze for a long time, unblinking. What are they thinking?

Jennifer is pregnant again. This will be number 4. She is still home schooling the bunch of them. I don't know how she does it, but somehow she handles it all. The kids are always clean and well dressed. Overall they are well behaved and a pleasure to be around.

Five Spice French Toast

We were following on the food network the reality show, "Who will be the next Food Network star". A friend of our nieces was a contestant and made it to the final show, where he was aced out. A very creative cook, he posts notes and blogs on his Facebook site and the other day, discussed 5 spice French Toast. We tried it, adding about 1/2 teaspoon of the spice to two eggs with
some cream. He suggested dredging the toast in panko crumbs before frying and this added a wonderful crispness. Overall it was an excellent product. Jeffrey served it with caramelized peaches. We used plain maple syrup and found the combination pleasing. The picture posted is from Jeffrey's very interesting notes on his facebook page.

Today our front door is being refinished at last. It's been in terrible condition for a year or more and I've been putting off the expensive refinishing until the remodel is complete. But, we are going so slowly, we have time to do our maintenance work on 1022 at the same time.

An Old Trunk

Searching for an antique trunk has driven me into many of the used, recycled, antique furniture stores in Temecula and Fallbrook. In most cases, very creative people own these places. At the Red Rooster in Fallbrook, I met a woman who was doing antique painting on old tables. Learned a lot about the process from her. When I told her what I wanted in a trunk, she gave me a bunch of ideas about handles, finishes and sizes. It's not an easy item to find. Trunks are either expensive and custom, with beautiful inlays and hardware or cheap World Imports types or really beat up unusable pieces. I'm leaning towards a cheap World Imports that I finish myself.

I've almost finished antiquing the guest bathroom cabinets. They are still not distressed enough, so I will sand more today and apply another stain variation. I'm thinking of modifying the cabinet pulls as well.

Nothing much will be happening until we get back from Stanford. Today the concrete guys are supposed to be cleaning up the place and we will decide on the main concrete color for stamping. Gail will be hanging the entry way chandelier. After finishing the cabinets, I'm going to start the massive cleaning job, starting with the Avocado door.

Tile redux

Choosing tiles for the outdoor patios has become difficult. Finding 4 tiles in coordinating colors of dark blue is taking computer time viewing and reviewing the options. The decision seems important because tile is so permanent and we will be seeing it underfoot for the rest of our lives. One of the tiles, I love and everyone else loves. The remaining tiles get a lukewarm reaction from others and from me, but I've exhausted my resources and so must choose.

Manny the tile guy has been one our better contractors. He tells us a price, shows up when he says he will, works quietly and cleanly (no blaring radios, no coffee cups and lunch remains) and he does a good job. He's actually been a lot of help making tile decisions - little things but important for effect. Like light grout in the upstairs bathrooms. The contrast is very nice and without
it, the tile would all run together. He loves the tiled arch and told me he could create one of his own as soon as he can find a house.

While looking at the floor tile, I'm starting to think about granite for the kitchen and for the backsplash. I'm thinking of something simple because the kitchen is a rather busy place as the design now stands.

Forty years ago

Yesterday we spent some time reminiscing about 1969. The typhoon in Taiwan triggered the discussion. During that typhoon Richard lost everything he owned at the time (primarily a record collection) and broke a bone in his foot. The photos of the torrential rains and mud slides transported him back 50 years. His typhoon was in 1959.

Meanwhile, the media is featuring Woodstock memories, the walk on the moon and Nixon's election. Seems like yesterday that Linda was visiting and we watched the Neil Armstrong from the house trailer that Van de Kamps was using as a test kitchen. What a thrill. We saw the film "Moon" the other night and remembered those great moments. Even the Vietnam war seems like yesterday. When we visit Vietnam a whole generation of people barely remember it and refer to it as the American war. Spin, spin, spin - everybody sees events through their own prism and spins wittingly or more often innocently. The scribes among us get to preserve events for posterity written and seen through theirs eye. The non-scribes' point of view dissolves over time and space.

Our Concrete Takes Off!

The decorative bands were poured around the house and we had a disaster. The concrete "took off" which means it started to set up before the finishers could get the troweling done. About 1/3 had to be hammered out and we are arguing about the two bands that make up the front walk. There are crumbling spots on the sides...the result of having the concrete half set while troweling. We think the whole band should be removed and Ken is pushing back. Meanwhile the site is full of concrete chunks and Ken wants to move forward and pour before it's cleaned up. We know we would just have more mistakes and another disaster and so are pushing him to get everything cleaned up before we pour again. Looks like it will be put off until we return from Stanford.

Meanwhile I've met with Manny on the exterior tile and he is looking for a source. He is also finding us a travertine counter top and will be doing a back splash. I have to pick out the granite for bathrooms and kitchen.

I've been antiquing the guest bathroom cabinets. So far they look OK. I have to find some way to distress the doors a little more. I'm going to try a rub on wood stain to see what happens.

We have all our reservations ready for Stanford. I've been reading more info on line and have a pretty good grasp of what to expect both during the treatment and afterward. I'll be a happy person on the 22nd when I have this event behind me and when I can stop worrying about more growth. I believe the little sucker advanced a bit recently because I am more tottery and the eyesight is worse (wavy horizon).

Lina Story

As she was grousing about men - how much attention they need, how helpless they seem to be at times, Lina's grandmother concurring, told Lina that at one time, she thought her husband was just stupid. And she thought his typical male behavior was unique and didn't realize that much of the behavior she interpreted as stupid was simply male.

For instance, she told Lina that her husband would often forget to zip up his fly and she would do it for him if she noticed it. One Sunday in church, she was distributing communion and her husband entered her queue to get his wafer. As he approached her she saw that his fly was undone and when he got in front of her, instead of handing him his communion, she reached down and zipped up his fly.

For anyone, this move could have been embarassing. For a hispanic male, it was macho demolishing and he was furious with her humiliation of him in public. She told him that it was an automatic response...she'd done it so often over the course of their marriage, it was a built-in response.

Lina, my Guatemalan born friend, the story-teller, speaks English pretty well now. Ten years ago when I first met her, she was just beginning to acquire a vocabulary. Even so, she told me stories that had me falling down in laughter. She's very good and I wonder how fine a tale she can weave using her native tongue. She has a wonderful sense of humor and heartily enjoys making other laugh. Her friendship has been very enriching to my life.

Roadrunner attack

I heard a racket in the living room and walked over to the window in my office. A roadrunner had gotten into the house and was running repeatedly at full speed at the wall. He crashed into it and turned to see me at the same time. Luckily, he managed to get out the door and took off down the hillside in enormous leaps, disappearing quickly. As he wasn't wearing a helmet, it seemed risky at best. I wondered if he was the same bird who wandered into my office a few years ago. On that occasion, the cat was acting funny, slinking around pressing up against the walls and dropping into that leopard-like crouch cats assume when they are ready to pounce. As I could hear a scratching sound in the office, I walked in and saw an enormous roadrunner...he must be about 18 inches high - the tail extending back about a foot. This bird was in distress and panicky, running back and forth over my printer, banging into the windows. Between the cat and myself, we must have terrified the poor creature. I got the broom and used it to gently prod him toward the door. Once through it he did the acrobatic and astonishing leap thing and vanished in short order.

I'm calling this an attack with tongue in cheek. The poor bird obviously has little in the way of grey matter - but he/she survives and survival is everything. I doubt that once a bird has such a close call - a close brush with humans that he would come close to the house again.

Our concrete takes off

Finally we poured decorative concrete bands yesterday. The forms were all made and approved but the truck came up a little late. Everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly and I really like the color we selected. The group of people, about 5 in total got a rythm going and the bands were oozed into place. They got about 3/4 of it out of the truck when the driver reported that the concrete was "taking off" which means it's hardening up. It was hardening up in the truck!! Unfortunately aobut 1/4 of it set up before we could get it troweled which meant it had to be let dry and then hammered out. They will re-pour this stuff on Monday along with the stamped concrete. Ken didn't have enough finishers..we needed to have at least 5 or 6 and only had three. So we paid for that mistake. It was not a pleasant scene. Everyone was mad and depressed. It did give us time to go around and review where the stamped will be poured and we discovered a few things that were left undone. Drains that should have been fixed. Pool equipment that we don't know about. Arggghh. Also I made a mistake with the fountain space and didn't communicate what I wanted.

Funny that I had an uneasy feeling about the pour in the morning and got up and was out there at 7:00 pacing and anxious.
Guess I had an intuition.

What caused it? Too few finishers who couldn't keep up; Jeff didn't show up; concrete pumped slowly, truck arrived late - 9:45 and the sun was getting too high. Personally I think the color in the crete caused it to set up faster and the concrete company should have allowed for this.

Dinner at Shari's

Dinner for eight at Shari's last night was a great time. Kabobs, sour cream tortilla casserole, grilled zucchini, fresh veggies and
Laurie's lemon ice cream with fresh blueberry sauce. Everyone was lively and in good spirits. Shari's back yard has turned out beautifully...'specially at night with all the lights. She and Joe were excellent hosts.

The group is maturing and it's enjoyable to watch them fully middle-aged and becoming empty nesters. Feeling like I've aged a decade in the past year, the gap between us feels wider than ever.

What a fun evening. We didn't leave until almost midnight.

Getting comfortable.

Oddly, since my hearing change, more noises bother me. Last night we ate at Rosa's - a local Mexican joint and it was all I could do to sit there for 45 minutes. A car alarm kept going off, kids were shouting in the parking lot, a plane roared overhead, the radio was playing and people in conversation surrounded us. A fly kept hovering over the food and with shooting pains in the ear, the incessantly itching foot and a pulled back muscle, I can't get comfortable. The sounds all enter my one hearing ear at about the same level. Sorting them out - screening out one thing for another is almost impossible, so trying to hear a conversation even when sitting right beside someone is difficult and I strain.

Altogether an exhausting hour instead of a time to relax. We're starting to know as soon as we go into a building if it's going to be uncomfortable for me or not.

Pavers

The short wall at the side of the house is complete. Guats have been up to place gate poles. Chevo is setting the concrete forms and today the facia should be placed on the wall and the front of the house. I'm struggling with the pavers, trying to get the right mix of shapes and colors. Yesterday I spend four hours in the rock yards talking to paver guys about laying and figuring out what we need. After this is all done, I will probably miss these excursions because I learn a lot..more than necessary.

Already the outside of the place looks better...as dirt and debris disappeared. Richard removed every single scrap of it and the
concrete guys are looking at a clean slate.

There's a charming woman/clerk working at SouthWest boulder. I thought a woman owned it because she is always around and hosts the seminars they hold from time to time. I learned that she and her husband own the place - the clerk told me the woman owner is very nurturing of everyone. For instance, she said, "If she hears someone cough she'll ask if you need a cough drop." Apparently she carries everything in her purse, like June Pierre who could perform a tracheotomy in a restaurant if necessary with the various tools and gimcracks she toted around.

I love to wake up early on these summer mornings when the house is still cool, the yard is full of birds but not a peep from a human; not a slamming door, or a mowing machine or voices from a pool.
Marco, Polo. I hate that.

Speaking Chinese

Richard told me that when he was living in Taiwan, he'd taken up calligraphy and needed a special brush with a very fine hair. He went to a shop that sold such supplies and asked the young clerk for a "maibee". She turned red and ran to the back of the store. An older woman came out and asked him what he wanted. He repeated his request and she realized what had gone wrong. Due to misuse of tone, he was asking for a pubic hair...not a brush. Apparently it's the same word, different tone. One example of the many problems you can get into with a new language.

I've read of people doing such fracturing of a foreign language in a restaurant: ordering a hemmorhoid instead of an oyster. Usually people are amused by these language butcherings particularly in touristic areas.

Crispy Tacos

Last night we had crispy tacos for dinner. Until Eilleen died I'd never made these at home. While at Lawry's, I had some product development responsibilities at the taco plant and ate enough of those things to last me forever..also enough of the Lawry's taco seasoning mix. Being a food snob I sneered at these Americanized tacos and only ate the genuine Mexican variety, wrapped in a soft tortilla. Eilleen and Jimmy loved the crisp tacos and ate them often - I'd harangue her a bit - she would still say taco with a pronounced as in stack instead of like in paw. For some reason, after she died, I'd feel an urge to eat these things - another haunting by Eilleen.

Her mispronounciations were hard for me to understand because she had a such a good musical ear. Yet, she couldn't seem to hear the difference in words like "taco". There were many of these and the butchering was mostly of foreign words. Even French words, she would Anglicize to the death. I wonder now if she had a hearing anomaly - some small translation thingie either in the ear or brain that didn't work with language.

Sometimes I catch myself babbling to the Hispanic workers, going a mile a minute about a concept they couldn't possibly have in their English experience. That blank look starts to appear and I realize what I've done. I imagine what it would be like to be transported to a foreign country and to try to master the language. Getting by is one thing but to express a concept or describe a feeling would likely be impossible. Fluency is necessary to achieve nuance.

I sat next to a Korean woman once on a plane and she told me she couldn't speak English well enough to express her thoughts, dreams and feelings. Sadly, she said that due to lack of use and lack of keeping up with language changes, she was barely able to do so in her native language. While living in Korea she had been something of a wordsmith and this loss was very painful for her and she felt isolated. Interestingly, she expressed this feeling to me very vividly and I could understand quite well how lonely she was.

At last, outside

After what seems like months of agitation, tension and negotiation, we are finally going forward with the exterior patios and walkways. Stalled, our pool has been sitting with it's beautiful new bonnet - the three rivers coping - and inside, an ugly scraped out shell. Half a deck sits drunkenly at it's edge. Ditches for irrigation scar the ground everywhere make walking hazardous and we track dirt inside every day. The straw I placed around the house under the eaves has ground into the dirt making it even hard to sweep up. It has the look of a war zone which in a way, it was.

Richard finally cleaned up the whole site himself, weary of trying to get Ken to live up to his obligation to leave the property "broom clean". Ken is hopeless at clean up and we have to accept this as part of his very low prices. What a lot of work it took Richard...sawing up all the old crates, carting rocks to the dumpster, sawing retaining logs. He did it over a period of weeks squeezing the job in after putting in a full day in the grove. He's been exhausted.

He drove up to LA yesterday to have a timer repaired - dropped off in the wilderness of Riverside County - dried up groves and dirty unkempt farm properties. Battling terrible traffic including a funeral cortege for a deceased fire fighter which even had the freeway at a stop, he made it to Solheim for his quarterly meeting with the staff. Patty is failing now...on morphine and down to 98 pounds. The steel trap brain is slowing and her memory seems to be deteriorating. That brain has had a marvelous go...lasting in such good condition for so long. Most telling is that her acerbic personality is losing its edge - morphine will do that. From what I hear, morphine is a marvelous drug and makes you feel wonderful. I'm glad she is in that "floating" state (as was my mother at the end) and able to have pleasant feelings as her last on earth instead of the terrible pain she would be feeling otherwise.

Jenio the welder has taken out gates for welding, Chevo is building a decorative wall at the side of the house and if on schedule should have most of the front leveled out today. They are expecting to pour the concrete on Monday or Tuesday. Manny can do the tiling week after next, once the concrete is dried and cured.

Twins times two

Pat called today - a real treat - and told me about a visit she had with Sandra and her twin grandsons. I've been thinking all day about how utterly unique this situation is - two grandmothers each with a set of identical twins. Pat said the meeting was a first for all concerned - the twins had never met identicals before. She said they could all tell each other apart! And they had a good time together, bonding instantly. They met at McDonalds and visited the zoo - how much better could a day be for little boys.

Crappy weather in Winnipeg; not a good summer so far. Winnipegers earn good summer weather by enduring that awful winter. I cannot remember a bad summer - probably because as kids every summer day is good. The sound of lawn mowers and smell of cut grass transports me to 1251 and summer mornings. My memories are of roller skating, playing hide and seek on the never-ending front yard of Dominion Street - we used it all from Yarwood half way to Notre Dame. Swinging on the swings at Sargent park, catching tadpoles in the creek, playing with a yoyo. Slathering ourselves with baby oil and iodine at the pool or later at Bird's Hill. Mom would drop us off in the morning and pick us up baked like hot dogs on a grill. I can remember looking straight into the sun so the sun tan wouldn't be creasy from squinting. No wonder we have age spots and cataracts.

And those humid warm nights when it was light 'til almost 10:00. Sitting on the front steps with my Dad proclaiming as he did every year, "Here we are sitting on the stoop reading the Winnipeg Free Press at 9:00 p.m." Swatting mosquitos, scratching the bites ( ahhhhh). Picking warm tomatoes off the vine and sitting with a salt shaker gobbling them up with Mom and Eilleen. We didn't even wait to walk a few steps into the house. Rhubarb!! Mom would make a compote we'd eat with vanilla ice cream. The mint that grew in the side yard crushed between the fingers for a swoony sniff (we didn't eat it), the crab apples, crisp and sour.

Treats from the garden - fresh green beans, yellow wax beans, baby beets (before they became a gourmet treat), baby potatoes. One year we grew peanuts. Dad ordered the seeds (peanuts) from the Burpee catalog and they grew into scraggly struggling plants; we got to see the little peanuts tangled in the roots. Fresh crisp cucumbers transformed into Auntie Addies pickles - the crispest pickles without too much vinegar or dill. Her pickles were legendary and gobbled up as fast as she could make them.

The splendid long, long summers of our childhood memory - a week passed as slowly as a month does now - giving us a chance to store the sensations away and recall and enjoy them now.

A screen door banging shut...and we'd be back at school again.

Oddball

I have never written poetry but my sister did. Yesterday I came home, sat down and wrote this without prior thought, inspiration or inclination. Clearly Eilleen is at work. It must have been a haunting.

Walking straight.
A challenge? Who would guess?
The brilliance of our gyroscope -
Its praises unsung, is a quiet miracle.

I stagger now and list left-wise.
Loopily, my destinations reached.
But I see eyebrows raised…
My aura broadcasts “Oddball”

Aging brings gifts in its wrinkled basket.
Becoming invisible was an unexpected pleasure.
Different again - I’m sticking out.
Looking crazy, looking drunk.

What did you say? I can’t hear you either.
Whisper something in the good ear.
Something kind.

Sugar in the morning, Sugar in the evening......

Sweetness perception comes and goes from day to day and sometimes from morning until night. Typically I can't sense the sweet in the morning and it returns at night. A glass of wine is a challenge and I'm training myself to concentrate on the aroma and only note the tastes, trying to ignore the lack of balance. A new way of enjoying the wine...maybe I'll see something in it that I was over-looking.

Ants have invaded my computer space and they are emerging every once in a while from the keyboard in the vicinity of "u,i,o". Woe is me, I have to clean off the whole desk and spray in order to get rid of the beasties. Their original target was the wrapper from an energy bar with a tiny piece of chocolate exposed. Thinking the invasion to be minimal, I've just been slapping them down one at a time, but now I see they are on the floor in marching formation - it's a serious attack which I must rebuff using all of my anti-ant resources - primarily the can of RAID.

Chest Xray

An X-ray accompanied me on another significant part of my life. To emigrate from Canada to the US in 1964, the requirements were virtually nothing compared to what they are today. At 21 years old, I hardly had a history to investigate and Jack Rock's brother Alex, sponsored my immigration as I was single and a student when I made application. It took six months of gathering
documents completing paperwork and being interviewed. After we were married, Jack and I left for our honeymoon and our new life in California. First stop was at Pembina, North Dakota where clutching a large manila envelope full of stamped and approved documents and the vital chest X-ray, we stepped across the imaginary line separating Canada from the US.

Twenty five years later I became a citizen and took the oath in Seattle along with 67 other grateful people, many from South Africa and South Asia. That was a great day.

Vanished sweetness

A particularly beautiful day here - dawn was splendiferous, but we may have a hot afternoon. Yesterday was difficult in that I was awakened in the middle of the night with a terrible taste sensation in my mouth and it continued all day. The taste was so bad and so distorted that it made me nauseous - finally I bought various candies to keep sucking to mask it and the nausea subsided. Today, I tested myself and I have no ability to perceive sweetness. Salt, sour, bitter and umami come through loud and clear - only sweetness is gone. However, the taste in my mouth is tolerable and I'm no longer noticing it so much. Overall, the tinnitus is less, the mild depression I was suffering (likely steroid after-effect) has lifted and even my balance seems better. Yes!!!

Richard got somebody to come and remove the dirt pile from the front of the house...the heap of asphalt, concrete and mixed stuff that Ken scraped off the back. What a relief to be rid of that stuff!

We have half finished irrigation, a half finished deck, a half finished pool and half finished exterior hard scape. Sort of stuck in a hole looking over the edge.

Looking inside

A trip to Eaton's department store was high on the joy list when I was a kid. Opportunities for exploration abounded. I would dream of being locked in the store overnight - able to run around unsupervised, jumping on the mattresses, running down the up escalator, trying on the clothes and jewelry, nosing into all the books. A visit to the shoe department on the fifth floor where they had a shoe fitting machine/x-ray machine installed was the height of delight. All the kids found this device utterly fascinating...you could look in the viewfinder and actually see the bones in your feet. The machine was a marketing gimmick installed by many department stores during that time period. The picture of my feet and bones - watching my skeletal toes wiggling, watery white on black, was mesmerizing and we couldn't get enough of it. The shoe guy would admonish us with the usual "This is not a toy". But we would wait until his back was turned or he went into the stock room, then push and shove to have a turn. The machines were poorly built and leaked radiation all over the place, we found out later. In those days we were innocent of environmental hazards - we would run with glee behind the mosquito fogger which was spraying DDT all over the city. Who knows how really damaged our DNA is?

My father had bits of shrapnel in his body, left from WW1. Once in a while he'd get a bump somewhere and inside the bump would be a small piece of metal. I imagined that his foot x-ray would show little bits of metal like pepper all over his feet.
I would have liked the chance to see inside my Dad, clanging along full of metal.

Sandi

Sandi from Village Kitchen Designs came up to the house today to continue with the kitchen layout. She did the plans originally and I want her to redo and redraw the plan with the updated ideas that have accumulated as the house as unfolded and taken shape. She was very helpful and had many ideas. She listened and absorbed my ideas and fed them back with improvements. I enjoyed our short collaboration and hope the meeting will yield the results I'm after which is to capture the kitchen and add some style.

I felt almost normal today and it was quite a relief from the screaming meemies of the past few days. Warp speed is not easy to maintain for days on end. The onlly thing sad to see go is the endless stream of energy, nifty to have at your disposal.

Tonight is one of those perfect summer evenings where the valley is purply-blue in the shadows, a brisk breeze is blowing and everything looks almost shimmery. The sky is bright blue but the light is just starting to fade out. Cats are winding down, snuffling around for something to eat. Richard's cruising his snack shelf in the pantry.

We have to plan a trip because somebody is going to break out with itchy feet soon!!!

SPEED

On steroids for 14 days to see if some hearing can be saved in my AN ear. 10 days of a full dose and the past three days have been ratcheting down. Never having taken a drug like this before, I was surprised at the effect. Hearing almost immediately returned to the ear which is like a miracle. In fact the AN ear is now about like it was when first diagnosed. I can hear sound - still can't distinguish words, but hearing sound means stereo, so much safer than the monoaural world I was descending into. Most of the 10 days were just fine and then like a bucket of cold water in the face, the speed turned on. I was compelled to move fast and for some reason, organizing things appeals (not just too me, but this is typical) and eating everything in sight. Food doesn't "hit bottom" and no satiety value whatsoever..you can just keep tossing it down and it seemingly disappears. Eilleen told me that this was the sensation she had with alcohol...no amount could ever be enough -- never satisfying so there's always the drive to get more.

Because of a huge appliance sale at Lowe's I ventured out and bought a new washer/dryer and dishwasher for the house. In the big box stores my ears are clanging and ringing like a fire alarm and of course, this puts the whole body on alert. As the swelling decreases in the tumor tissue, I imagine that the pressure on the blood vessels constricting flow changes affecting the whole system. While the swelling is changing presumably from minute to minute, so does the alarm in my head. It can't be ignored and the result is tension exhaustion after a while. Interestingly (this never lacks for interest) with perseverance the brain adjusts - at first you want only to retreat and then you notice, OK, it's coping and with a little more time, coping more. Our CPU is a magnificent piece of work...astonishing.

Staggering around

Soon I will be a Post Toastie...the term used for the walking irradiated. This should be a new and most interesting experience. Today I visited the mall to look at some furniture and get exercise in the air conditioned comfort of the concrete palace. I saw myself in a shop window, disheveled, staggering and had to laugh at how bad I can get. I'm surprised anyone approaches me to ask what I'd like in the stores. With some luck, the staggering may be lessened post irradiation.

A memorial service for my ex-boss was held on Thursday. It was a wonderful opportunity to see many old friends and remember how truly special it was to work at Lawry's when I did. Now, the grey heads outnumber the "naturals" and much of the talk is about retirement plans, grandchildren and health issues. Time marches on.

Will the picking of stuff never end? Today, more plumbing picks and selection of bathroom mirrors and storage cabinets. All nextweek will be selecting things and playing "fetch" for the installers on the job.

Richard The Imposter in photo posing as an avocado picker.

Picked up the results of my MRI and discovered that my AN is growing at an incredible rate. The tumor is usually very slow growing but mine has doubled. I'm sure my neurologist will recommend treatment and I'm predicting that she will recommend the cyberknife or gammaknife - basically radiation. Tuesday I'll see her and get a plan together.

I feel extra urgency to get everything finished in both houses in case I'm incapacitated for a while. Although with radiation, it looks like the downtime would be minimal.

Ordering toilets through the mail has an odd feeling, but we were able to save a couple of hundred dollars by doing do. Certainly we saved an $80.00 delivery charge from Home Depot. After they get here, we'll still have to muscle them up to the house from the gate - not an easy job. We also ordered a bidet seat - Richard tried one at a friends house and liked it- so we thought we'd add one.

We should move forward with the irrigation bid we get from Bob Butler. Hopefully he will be able to do the work next week which means we could do our concrete by the next week, thereby finishing the pool by mid July. Cabinets should be arriving by 1st of August. If plumbing is installed shortly after that we can move in and get Stage Coach rented.

Our paint job is now complete and it is excellent. We're very pleased.

MRI

I had my second MRI yesterday and this time took 1 mg of lorazepam in advance. Boy does that stuff help. I think I actually fell asleep in the machine despite the clanging and banging. Time passed quickly and it was not unpleasant at all. I won't be dreading it so much next time.

After the procedure, we went to the Escondido Farmers Market and enjoyed seeing all the wonderful fruit and veggies coming out of small farms around here. One vendor was selling Reed avocados which look like Canadian bowling balls. We bought fresh picked strawberries, apricots and patty pan squash. An olive oil vendor had blood orange flavored, unfiltered olive oil which was very delicious. We couldn't resist a bottle. The seller came from Delphi in Greece and expresses a few interesting opinions about religion leaving us with the Socratic directive, "Know thyself". He was 86 and looked 46.

Although it was rather early for dinner, we stopped at the French Bakery and had a light meal....the picnic plate for me which consisted of brie, copious amounts of fresh bread, salami, pate and slice of ham and one of turkey served with black olives, cornichon and pickled onions. Richard ordered a chicken tart but got some kind of meat tart which they took back and gave him the chicken version. Sadly, it was nothing more than a pizza which was disappointing. The owner invited us to pick out a dessert for free because of the confusion - we declined - they insisted, so we brought home a slice of gooey chocolate cake.

A benefit of the window shopping was a find on Richard's part - a mirrored door which just might work for our huge picture frame. I'll go down and take another look at it to see.

An ordinary Sunday

A beautiful day in Fallbrook today. Bright sunny skies with an all day sea breeze - just cool enough for working hard. I carried a lot of wood to the dumpster and generally cleaned up. As I am having balance problems the challenge of walking and carrying seems to help - if nothing else it tires me out so I can sleep. All day, I felt grateful for the pleasure of being able to work hard and accomplish something. Very satisfying.

A good Chinese dinner preceded the movie, Taking of Pelham 123, which we really enjoyed. The movie did not get great ratings but we found it entertaining. By the end of the movie I was exhausted which happens after a full day. Effort involved with balance seems to be very tiring. Richard says I should try napping and perhaps I will.

A busy week ahead - medical things, more subs to see and perhaps our irrigation to start. I'm ready to see the end of the dirt piles which we have to climb over to get anywhere. At the moment we are buried in trash and need a day's clean-up to get ahead a bit. August is starting to seem too ambitious for completion so I'm hoping now to be in by Thanksgiving.

Tiling

Our new tiler, Manny did a great job finishing up the tile. Our master bathroom shower is called "100 bottles of beer" because the glass tiles are made of recycled beer bottles. Our guest shower, Richard calls the clown shower because of the colored glass.
It all worked out and we are happy with it. Manny will be doing the outdoor tile work on the patios also. Bottom picture is the outdoor tile and Mexican accent tiles which will be mixed in. Tile in the arch is Italian tile and is now surrounded by bright blue paint. Fireplace is now painted an earth brown color and the mosaic looks much better against this color. Painters are going to paint it black inside.

House PROGRESS

The exterior of the house seems to be just sitting still. Inside the new paint job is almost complete and looks so much
better. Now there is a cozy "casa" look to the place, like old Spanish haciendas which is what we wanted. Today the painters wrap up and we make a decision on irrigation redo. If this is underway next week, by next weekend they can start the hardscape. Meanwhile I can get the cabinets started and am starting to shop for plumbing stuff. Yesterday our electrician began installing lights and light switches. We found we need an 18" access panel from the closet upstairs to our tub. Another detail we overlooked.

Richard's Roof

With the new spark arrestors on the roof, it is finally finished. Richard worked hard to get the roof the way he envisioned it. It's
5 tile colors, some of them antiqued. The design on the roof is somewhat like a shopping center in town and something like roofs
we've seen in Italy and Spain. Richard actually piled the roof guys into the car and drove them around looking at roofs in the neighborhood before he finally got them on the same page as he was.

The spark arrestors also took us some time. We make our final choice with some trepidation thinking they might look a bit Moorish. Funny thing about these decisions. Once they are made, you hardly think of them again. Or even notice the item...overall I'd say we are pleased with the way it turned out.

Today we have another irrigation person up to the job. The sprinkler system is about 1/2 complete and has to be tied together and much has to be added to it. Domingo, Mr. Sunday will give his bid.

I will start wrapping the house in plastic to protect it during the concrete work which will be taking place soon. I'm also
picking glass off the hillside where the solar panels used to be located. When they were removed, many of the panels broke and the shards went everywhere. As we'd like to put some bedding plants on that slope, we have to get the dangerous glass out of the way.

Sharon and I picked out the front lights and post lights yesterday so I'll go over to Lamps Are Us later on and pick them up. Meanwhile, I'm ordering the sinks and faucets.

My mosaic fireplace treatment turned out better than I thought. One picture shows me composing the design and the other picture shows it actually installed on the fireplace. Now I want to do the stair risers going to the garden with the same "cracked
up" design.

Pool Face Lift

Although not in our immediate plans, it turned out we had to rush to redo the pool. The pipes run under where the patios are
going and so this all had to be installed. New coping and water line tiles had to be chosen. Once more I was given a big book with
100 options. We looked at a rock yard and liked the look of three rivers stone, very colorful and variegated. I thought it might
be too much but after looking at a neighbors pool created with the same stone, we decided to go ahead. Now that it's complete
I'm glad we chose it as it looks very good from the deck above.

Before photo show plain Jane coping...just white cement. The tile was pretty and we might have kept it, but when you remove
coping, the tile goes too.

The stone masons were excellent - clean and neat. They came in and did the work and left quickly and efficiently. Very pleasant young mormon men.

New Paint

I chose a light gold paint as the main color for the house - Laura Ashley pale gold and had it cut down 25%. The color was terrible and actually made my eyeballs jitter. The whole house felt like the inside of an egg yolk, plus the painter we hired was just awful. He smeared paint all over the place, didn't cover things properly and generally made a terrible mess. I hired an interior decorator who spent two hours with me, going from room to room and a new painter who is doing a wonderful job. Now the house is a light beige with a darker accent color. We have one bright blue wall and the master bedroom is a kind of terra cotta which looks good (see picture). The swatch on the wall kind of scared me because it is bold, but once the whole room was painted it resulted in a kind of glow and made the room feel cozy.

I'm trying to pick out the colors for the stamped concrete outside which is proving somewhat difficult. My neighbor Sharon is helping a lot - she has a good eye and enjoys giving her opinion and helping out. She has good, practical suggestions.

The final big decision is the cabinet color which I am still wrestling with. White or wood or BLUE stained wood which the interior designer recommended. I might be able to do a door or two in blue but not the whole kitchen. She likes the bottom cabinets one color and the top another. A "furniture" look is really the in thing now.

Kim getting married

People have good years and bad years. As a family, we're enjoying a good year. Two weeks ago, Ashley graduated with her B.S. in Nursing. Ashley is Chris' fiancee. Last Saturday, Kim graduated with her AA degree - a real accomplishment for such a busy person. This Saturday Chris gets his BS in Engineering. August 4th Chris and Ashley get married.

Kim called last night to tell me that Mark, her wonderful boyfriend, proposed to her after the graduation on Saturday. He presented her with a beautiful diamond that he had made specially with lowered prongs and a setting that won't "rip her rubber gloves" - so she can wear it while collecting evidence. She is in her own words, floating between Cloud 9 and a state of shock. They had never really discussed marriage, even after four years so it was a complete surprise to her. Mark's daughter gets married August 1st. Mark has one grandchild and his other daughter is expecting twins so Mark and Kim will have six grand-children between them. That should keep them busy.

So, it's a good year - if only Jim's eye would recover, everything would be good!!

Richard's 70th

We spent from April to May 13th in Singapore and Bali to celebrate Richard's birthday. Singapore does not look like it is suffering from the recession although people we talked with said they were. First and foremost, they were terrified that the swine flu would appear there and discourage tourism. They can't survive that - they absolutely live on tourism.

On our way in, we stayed at the Carlton Hotel which is centrally located. First morning, I left Richard lounging around and went to shop in the stalls around the corner. I ran into a long corridor of people doing demonstrations so I enjoyed watching the chopper/slicer/dicer guy, a demo of a device that saves cooking gas, a fabulous mop (i amost bought one), a great pen that
allows one to make fancy writing and designs. Business seemed to be good and people were buying. After Richard got moving we went to the big shopping center and visited Yes! eyewear with the idea of getting more glasses but prices seemed too high. We went to the food court and had one of the Indian pancakes that we like and admired the Vietnamese Food Stall which we hadn't see before. We ate at a pseudo fast food place in the mall where we had a version of Cereal Shrimp and potstickers. Food was good but we were very tired and jet lagged so went back to the hotel to bed. Next day, in a light rain, we visited the Botanical Gardens for the third time and once again really enjoyed the orchids. When it stopped raining later, we walked to Jumbo Seafood for the "real" Cereal Shrimp - delicious. Up early to catch our Garuda flight to Jakarta and on to Denpasar. Garuda had changed the way they operate these flights and we had to collect our luggage in Jakarta and re-check in for the second flight. Turned out to be good because we bought our visas at the airportand Jakarta is much more efficient and easier than Bali. Once in Denpasar, we caught a cab to Prime Villas which turned out to be lovely.

While in Seminyak we spent one day with Toya and visited furniture manufacturers and his uncles carving place. Designed a few items and Toya has sent us prices. Day two we spent with Ayu who ran us around to a few places..she was sort of helpful but mostly just nice company. Married to an Australian, she is very worldly for a Balinese. A fan of Gordon Brown's cooking - she's lived in many places and is quite sophisticated.

Ate well at Gado Gado for Richard's birthday. We had an oceanside seat and perfect weather. Just great food and even a great wine by the glass - a Hugel Gewurztraminer, something I've never seen served by the glass. Had a rather poor meal at Ku De Ta but the setting was glorious and it was interesting to see how many people were there for the sunset, a tradition. We ate two meals in Kuta at the cafe down from Matahari's and both meals were good and perfect for our mood.

On day four, we moved up to Ubud an dour cab driver had quite a time finding the villa. As it turns out, the Villa Sarna was just a bit closer to Ubud than Villa Uma, where we were married. The room was up a couple of flights of stairs, a bit difficult for me with my dizziness, especially in the rain, especially in the dark. I think the staff, who helped me up the stairs, thought I was drunk!! Our bedroom was a little small and the whole thing a bit of a letdown after Prime Villas but it was OK - the outdoor bale for reading was great. Staff was excellent and the overgrown, jungly grounds were fantastic. We saw some new villas built by the owner of one of the big design companies. Next time, we might stay there for a real splurge.

Ate well twice at Ira Burgis (whose cremation we attended), at Lamat (wonderful meal) and at Mosaic. All very fine eating. We shopped at the market as usual for cheap watches and earrings, always fun. Other than that, we did a lot of resting. Enjoyed breakfast at the villa with a view over the jungle. Banana pancakes were great.

Our ride home was easy - all Northwest flights were just fine; customs was empty and our luggage was out in about 15 minutes. Almost like Singapore!!

Back at home and work

Busy interviewing painters this week. The one we hired did not work out - he tried his best, but he was older and recovering from a stroke. He tried to return to work too soon and we paid the price. The whole house has to be re-painted and we will change the color in the living room to something less yellow. A designer is coming up on Friday to help with color picking...I've just run out of the ability to tell one from the other.

The pool was gutted on Monday in record time. A crew came up and jack hammered it in just a couple of hours. Tomorrow, the 21st they will begin the stone work on the coping and then place the tile. A plumber has been installing heaters, pumps etc. We will have a new pool once they are done.

I had a hearing test this week - a six month check. From what I could see it didn't look like it had changed much by the graphs. The tester told me the left ear was pretty bad but that my right ear was very good. We discussed hearing aids and there isn't anything that helps my kind of hearing loss..most promising is a device that picks up signals on the left and then sends them via a radio signal to the right ear. Eventually the brain learns that the squawky sound coming in is from noise on the left side and processes accordingly. Maybe I'll try it. Now I need to get the blood work so that they can schedule a MRI, probably next week.

Spinning head, dizziness, numbness on left side of face and full ear with pain behind the ear in an arc, wonky head. Those are the current symptoms and they are absolutely typical from what I read about An's of my size. The small ones cause the most symptoms. I'm hoping that some ofthese symptoms subside...apparently they often do.