2009/05/23

Don and I stay busy every moment but the weeks seem sort of alike. Monday through Wednesday, we are busy every moment from morning to evening. On Thursday, Don goes to a men's group at church and I go to the Y while he is there. Around 1:30 or so, we are usually done and can rest a little or take care of our houses. We try to pack in as much as possible Monday through Thursday so we can look forward to a little respite on Friday. We are getting into a spate of medical appointments lately, although these are mostly the annual normal stuff that life has no matter what. The trouble is sometimes one appointment leads to some sort of follow-up appointment so they multiply.

On Monday or Tuesday, Don sometimes lets me out at a shopping center so I can browse around independently and then he picks me up 2 or 3 hours later. I love doing this as it is real freedom for me. I have been visiting a garden center near Blackhawk Hardware and I get plants or pots for plants I already have. There is a lady there named Mary who has learned to recognize me and Don and she is so impressed that Don took her picture the first day I shopped there. Mary was so helpful that when I picked out a plant the other day, she told me there was a healthier one in the shop and she went and switched it out for me. I really do like her tremendously. She lets me leave what I get with her and then Don goes by and picks up what I bought later in the day. I usually leave this shop and go to Hallmark or Michaels to browse a bit and then go on to the grocery store to do that shopping for the week. I haven't bought much other than plants to date. I did buy a couple of cards at Hallmark the other day but I haven't found anything all that appealing at Michaels.

I just pray every day that my sight continues to improve so I can drive someday but I am so very grateful that I can read and I am enjoying that and the crosswords daily. Until I can drive, the independent shopping excursions are among the highlights of my week.

I am also back into doing some plants and spent time yesterday re-potting a bunch of them that looked a little root bound. I really love my 3 African Violets and hope I can get them to live and bloom. I want one that is mostly white with a tinge of color around the edges but don't know if I will have luck in finding that or not. I will look this weekend at Just Fresh, the only place I have had any luck finding African Violets this year.

We are also taking introductory classes in Judaism at Temple Beth-El and are enjoying finding out about Judaism from people who really know the subject (various rabbis are sharing the teaching responsibilities). These go on for another 8 weeks on Wednesday nights. We are also continuing with our Year Through the Bible with our own church and are reading the Bible every chance we get. These usually have Monday night sessions but will be less frequent during the summer. In addition, I signed up for a Tuesday five-week session at church on "God in the Crucible," a series of sermons on apartheid in South Africa and other similar subjects around prejudice and the harm it does. This one will be taught by our summer intern and I am looking forward to reading and hearing the content. The author is a professor at Duke Divinity and this is a book taught there. Archbishop Tutu wrote the Epilogue to the book and I certainly did enjoy his speech at UNC's graduation ceremonies. I wish the book had been available on Kindle but it wasn't. If it had been, I could already be reading it.

Grayson, my cat who does not know he is a cat, is coming out of his shell finally. He lets me know that he wants a little love and petting and he just possesses my favorite blanket whenever he sees it not in use. Milo is a little disconcerted by all this and seems to retreat to a little pink "tub" that I got upon leaving the hospital. He is a tight fit for the tub but he seems to love it so I keep it in the bedroom so he can sleep in it if he wants. He is in it right now, sound asleep. Gray, on the other hand, woke me up for his mid-night snack. There is dry food available all the time but this is not what he wants. All I know is this 3 and 4 a.m. feeding stuff is a habit he needs to stop. No wonder I need to go to bed at 8 or 9 in the evening. I survive on a series of naps more than on any real sleep.

PBS did a 3 hour show on "The Kennedys" this week and I really enjoyed it . It reran all night one night this week and I recorded it on DVD. I am having fun with the DVD selecting certain things to record. I did a recording of "Gone with the Wind", "Rudy", "Big", "Apollo 13", and am looking for other things I might want to have on DVD for viewing when I want to . I think I saw that "Dr. Zhivago" is on soon so I put a reminder on my calendar to record it when it is on.

Going back to bed now to continue my napping.