Tuesday, June 09, 2009

That'll Teach Me

I shouldn't have complained about the hot weather. I should have been grateful. Saturday morning I was awoken by a deafening crash of thunder. Right overhead. Didn't half make me jump. And then it rained. And rained. And rained. And it wasn't just rain - it was a monsoon. Incredibly heavy rain. The sort you get in a short, sharp thunderstorm. Except that this went on all day. According to the local news we had an entire month's worth of rain in four hours. But it still kept raining. I decided I really didn't want to go into town after all. I think we had around 10cm (about four inches) of rain on Saturday.

It rained again on Sunday. The field nearby flooded and poured a small stream of flood water carrying a few dozen kilos of sticks, stones, mud, plants & gravel onto the main road. I decided to stay home again. Yesterday & today were grey, overcast and cold. But no more rain. I've decided not to tempt fate that way again. Especially since all those nice little lettuce seedlings I planted last week are now a bunch of mud-splattered, squashed-flat, bits of leaf lying in the mushy ground of my allotment. Oh well at least the slugs will enjoy them.

Ze

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Monday, June 08, 2009

Tired

The game last night (opening home game for the Seattle Storm) has left me a bit tired this evening, but we won and it was worth it! I made it through the day though with not a lot accomplished and yet something that still felt successful.

Tomorrow will bring another fun one all around. Take each day with the hope of more to follow. Seek the opportunities which lay ahead.

Now back to your updates, enjoy 'em.

Elisa

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Sunday, June 07, 2009

Lazy Sunday

Another lovely mild day here in Seattle. The last carpeted room in the house has been cleaned. I finished up my ironing. E has the litter box left to clean and then we're off to an evening of fun at the Key Arena for a Storm game. Cal isn't too pumped about it but I'm hoping once he gets there he'll have a good time.

Okay, off to round up binocs and my book. Enjoy 'em.

Tamara

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Saturday, June 06, 2009

Comfort Zone

It's been day of chores. But the overcast skies with some sun break days are back and I'm happy!

Tonight seems like a mix of updates, so enjoy them!

Elisa

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Friday, June 05, 2009

Heat Wave

Our heat wave broke today, which was a nice change. Truthfully I didn't think it was all that hot. It's been warm. Some of the rooms at school got a little stuffy. I did enjoy the sun...it felt like Oklahoma. The main difference being there was no humidity. Well, there was some humidity but nothing like Oklahoma. *That's* what kills you with Oklahoma heat. Seattle heat so far is quite bearable.

Now the only downside is we live in a house right next to the freeway. The very busy, non-stop, night and day traffic, freeway. And this week the house was painted. This meant the windows were taped and covered with plastic. In a house with no central air conditioning the air was mighty stuffy for a few days. Thankfully E has a portable air conditioner that kept us cool at night. Tonight I'm hoping we won't have to run it. The house has had the windows open all day and it's nice and cool inside.

Looks like the weekend will be back to typical June temps here. After this week I think I'll survive August just fine.

Tamara

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Thursday, June 04, 2009

Damn Weather

It's to hot. And gee...I'm on the other side of the planet from Ze...how can this be? Well our typical Seattle June Drizzle with 67F seems to have gone into some shock with sunny and 89F for the last three days. Me tired and down. I love my standard average weather. Where be my drizzle?

Okay done whining, but remember I'm a born and raised Seattlelite and all this sun is just plain wrong. Now, what's up? Nothing.

Enjoy the update!

Elisa

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Still too hot.

Another 26c day. It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow. And - naturally - the forecast for the weekend is heavy rain. Ah well, save me watering the allotment. It's not easy. You can't use a hose. You have to carry a watering can (5litres) to & fro between your plot and the stand-pipe. Do you have any idea how many trips you have to make to water an allotment measuring ten rods?? No, me neither. I lost count after unlucky thirteen. Why unlucky?? Well... you see those footprints. The soggy, squelchy ones leading to our front door. The ones whose tread pattern exactly matches those of my gardening boots. Let's just say I found a way of cooling down quickly. And five litres of water doesn't seem like much when you're pouring it onto the dry-as-a-bone earth around your tomato plants but bloody Ada it's a hell of a lot when you've taken a step backwards, tripped over the fork handle, landed flat on your back on the path and are wearing the can on your stomach and its contents from your boots to your belt!!.

Elections for the European Parliament take place over the next few days, starting with ours tomorrow & carrying on until Sunday. (Different countries in the EU have different, traditional, polling days. Ours in the UK is always a Thursday). If you're an EU citizen get out there & vote. I know most people reckon the European Parliament is useless, and sure, they have very little power, but vote anyway. I don't care who you vote for - well, actually I do care but it isn't my place to tell you who I think you should or shouldn't choose - but whoever you vote for make sure you vote. It's important. Not because it's the EU. Not because of whoever you vote for. But because you're voting. You're exercising your right to vote. Something that a lot of people fought very hard to gain. Some even gave their lives for it. As a working-class woman I'm always very aware of the history surrounding this right, this privilege, and how much it cost. I owe it to those people, the workers and the women who struggled for so long, to get out there and do it.

Enjoy your updates. See you next week. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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Tuesday, June 02, 2009

I'm Hot

And I don't mean I'm sexy. It's way too hot. (Ok - not by most of the world's standards but it's bloody hot for England in early June). It was 26c (around 78f) today. It's been between 22 & 26 for the past week. It should be 18c (45f) or thereabouts at this time of the year.

I don't tan. Not even with having worked outdoors for most of my life. I go from stark white to fried-to-a-crisp-and-red-as-a-strawberry in about 30 seconds. So I drench myself in factor 35 sunscreen. It's nice and sticky. And attracts every single bit of dust, dirt, earth, mortar or plaster-mix for about three counties. I think I was half-way through my second shower this evening before I could see skin.

I'm smarter than the plasterer's mate though. I was drinking water as if it was going out of style. And I was even pouring some over the back of my neck because the interior of the flat we were working on was reading closer to 40c. He reckoned that was being a wimp and he was too macho. Didn't look quite so macho when he went face down in his mix because he passed out from heat-stroke did he?? Plonker. Wish I'd thought to take photos.

Ze

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Monday, June 01, 2009

In a hurry...

... so few words from me tonight. I've got a date with a big couch full of clean clothes. Folding and putting away clothes is the bane of my existence. *sigh*

Tamara

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Ramble from phair

I woke up Thursday morning and thought I was getting a visual migraine. They're rare but not unheard of events for me. However, I haven't experienced one in over a year. I've taken a much greater interest in my general health in the last sixteen months; losing sixty five pounds, getting my blood pressure down, getting my chronic anemia under control, eating better, sleeping right, easing stress, growing well being, and establishing peace in my home and heart.

If you've never had the pleasure of a visual migraine, I'll give you the short version of the phenomena. An obstruction appears in the visual field like a flickering line on an old celluloid movie and proceeds to move horizontally across the line of sight until it disappears. After it passes, a massive headache explodes just above your nose and mushrooms out. Many folks get violently ill from the pain and vomit which only makes a bad thing worse.

Knowing this I did the only thing a sane person would do; I raced off to work to get as much done as I could before my vision was completely compromised. Okay, not a good plan but I love my job and there is so much to do and…I'm dumb. Sometimes I act like the jerk who thinks the world can't run without them and drags into the office making everybody else wish they'd just go home.

I got done what I needed to do in record time. The visual migraine had barely moved and the headache hadn't hit. Excellent! I raced home and hopped into bed thinking I'd sleep through the worst of the rest of it. Three hours later I woke up and the object hadn't moved at all. Ooops. No headache either. Ooops again. Self diagnosis sudden seemed like a very bad idea.

My Mom went blind in her sixties. She was a musician who also loved to read, watch television, and drive. My Dad never learned to drive. Didn't like the idea of steering an enormous gas powered metal vehicle through the narrow streets of Boston at high speeds. He was very happy with permanent passenger status. Mom was the driver in the car and in her life. She loved driving almost as much as her music. Losing her eyesight ruined the last two decades of her life.

Living through her nightmare with her, I've always taken my eyesight very seriously. My eyes get checked at the same clinic which followed Mom's descent into darkness. Up to now, my only blip has been reading glasses. So, I called the nice folks at Eye Health. “GET DOWN HERE! NOW!” Yes, they sounded kind of nervous for me. They told me to call them back if I got stuck in traffic. Rush hour around Boston is no joke. We locals usually expect people to take longer to get places after 5pm. The fact they wanted to hear from me while I was on the way made me a little more worried than I already was. But, my Mom was the best driver I ever met. She knew every side road between Boston and Wellfleet. And, she taught me. I got it to the clinic in just under thirty minutes.

If you've ever had your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist then you know they blind you so they can see better during the exam. The doc told me she could see the circle in my field of vision just like I described it. Wait, she could see it? That meant it wasn't a migraine, right? Right. It looked to her like fluid had formed around a previously identified small, old, healed tear in my retina. I would have to come back Friday morning for the Retina specialist to confirm the swelling. They sent me home telling me to try to rest and try not to worry.

Worry? What's to worry about? I only need to read and write for both my jobs. Jobs I love, bye the way. I mean, I really love my work. When you look up ‘find the job you love' in the dictionary, there's a picture of me smiling! There's a second happy picture of me when you look up ‘embracing your art.' I literally leap out of bed in the morning to run off to the day job and then I hurry home to write. I mean, how could my life be better than a wonderful home, meaningful work which keeps me fed, sheltered, and dressed and an art which brings me closer to God with every stroke of my pen (keyboard). Worry, worry, worry.

Today I met the Retina specialist. Nice guy. Warm hands. Still, they blinded me so he could see better. Yep, there's fluid and swelling around that small, old, healed rip in my retina. This specialist said my eye condition is called central serous retinopathy. It might be caused by job related stress or an intestinal infection or maybe for no reason at all. I need to go back next week so they can map behind my eyes to find the drip. If it is too bad then they'll need to use lasers to seal the leak. Fun! Burning blasts of light shot into my eyes. Just like they did to my Mom. Didn't work for her, though. The specialist said my condition usually doesn't result in blindness…I'm gonna hold him to that if I can.

But, this ramble isn't about all that. This is about the fabulous people from my list. I sent out a notice earlier today to let them know my two stories would be slowed down from their twice weekly posting schedule because…I can't see to write. By afternoon, I received dozens of emails offering good thoughts, prayers, and help. Most of the messages were written in extra large soft colored print. Not only am I humbled by the show of support but I hadn't thought of giving my sore eyes a break with a lighter color print. Purple seems to be particularly soothing. I did figure out the big part on my own. 22 Tahoma is just the ticket for composing. I'm hoping to get to work on my stories this weekend. With just a little luck, I may have enough to post on Monday or Tuesday.

Thank you to all you great folks who keep reading the works of writers like me. Your thoughts and support mean more than you know!

best
phair
ps get your eyes checked regularly


Phair, my good wishes are sent! Hoping for the best.

Okay all, preparing for back to work after a long and productive weekend. May you all enjoy your update!

Elisa

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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Carpet Cleaning Day!

The carpet cleaner did a great job. Every carpeted room has been scrubbed except for the room containing the spare bed and E's many CDs. I'll tackle that one next week. Since we need to sort through some things in there it'll be a more involved process. Today's merely entailed moving, vacuuming and running the carpet cleaner.

The rest of the day holds a visit to the skateboard park for me and Cal. E will stay home and do bills. Not fun. Sadly something I need to do this weekend as well since I just got paid. After last weekend's sleeping in the tent fun I'm happy to be tackling carpets and money.

Tamara

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Friday, May 29, 2009

Arrival

The weekend is here and just in time. The sun continues to shine. Our house was power-washed yesterday getting ready for a nifty new coat of paint on Monday. Hence cleaning is ongoing in and out.

I am home a bit early to get this update posted so we can move furniture out of this room to begin the carpet cleaning fun. Tamara seems okay with it and that is probably best since it is so not my favorite thing to accomplish. I will do the yard work and leave her to the carpets.

So here is your update as I am now off to move furniture about. Enjoy your weekend!

Elisa

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Four Day Work Week

Why do four day weeks seem so long? Mine has been full of clothes changing. My charge at school has a bug that has left him a little loose. It's hard to explain to him that when he feels the need to pass gas, he should make sure he's on the pot. He is instead surprised by a pressing need for a trip to the shower. Today is the first day his appetite has been back so I'm hopeful he's on the mend.

Tomorrow is finally Friday and I can't believe I'm even looking forward to a weekend with carpet cleaning on the agenda. Of course, I'm the one who was excited about using the new vacuum cleaner (an Oreck!). I reckon it's not odd that the prospect of figuring out the new carpet cleaner seems fun.

Tamara

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Thanks to all YOU folks - but not to CA.

Quick message from last night's guest Rambler - Joan - Could you please let your readers know that I will respond to their mails individually, but that it will take me some time. I hope to catch up over the coming weekend.

Thanks to all of you for responding so positively to her. I knew you were all good folk and you wouldn't let us down.

Unlike the CA Supreme Court. I was preparing a good long rant about separate not being equal, the stupidity of saying it's illegal now but those who already made it can stay married, the ridiculous idea that a constitution should be or could be amended to take away a right, and the dangers of saying "it's the will of the people" and allowing the majority to decide the rights (or lack of them) of the minority. After all - the will of the people put Hitler in power. The will of the people said that African-Americans should drink at separate water fountains, ride at the back of the bus and OMG never be allowed to marry white folks. Johnson forced the equal rights legislation through in spite of the will of the people, knowing what it would cost him.

Then I stopped an thought again. Maybe the CA SC knows exactly what it's doing. The situation now is so stupid that pretty much the only thing that makes sense is for federal government to step in, repeal DOMA and sort the whole thing out on a national level. Maybe they're not so daft after all. I wonder if Obama has as much determination & courage as Johnson. Or will he just keep backing away. Until he needs the Gay vote again in 2011. I'll keep watching.

Enjoy your updates. Good night and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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