The Last, and A New Beginning

I've had my share of procedures, and I've never had any foreboding, even when I had emergency brain surgery. I cracked a joke while they wheeled me away, knowing full well I would emerge whole on the other side. I always wake up to the hustle and bustle of the recovery room, and then someone notices my eyes are open. They reassure me and make sure I'm comfy. Once I woke up panicky with a breathing tube because I hadn't been warned ahead of time, but it was ok.

This week, I look forward to being pain-free at last and not depend on anyone (or the fire dept) to pick me up when my leg refuses to work. Before, I fell often ("I've fallen and can't get up" literally) because of a brain tumor. Now I fall from just plain ole arthritis. With Spinal Stenosis, my spinal cord is crushed by vertebrae so spinal laminectomy and fusion surgery will solve all and I'll be out and about long before Christmas. Snow hiking? You betcha! I've tried PT and epidurals, no dice, so am I excited? Yes!!

Instead of making numerous entries, I'll update my progress in this post if I can. Tomorrow is my last day of freedom for a few weeks. I'll be hospitalized for a few days, then I'll go to rehab, since they won't release me until I can care for myself. I'll be alone most of the time when I return home.

Happy happy days ahead!

Update 9/8: check in 5:30 am. Night night. zzzzzz

Mvanslette@gmail.com 

Update 9/9: I survived! Had a painful afternoon without any meds til my blood pressure was stabilized. Tonight my daughter Carla, drove down from NY to have a girl's SLUMBER party in ICU! I also stood up and my leg is working and pain free. I was fitted with the back brace to keep everything in place while I heal. Yay me, what a day.

Update 9/11:

I'm  still in the ICU until my blood pressure has stabilized. It has been consistently low and last night it dropped to 60 over 30. I was sound asleep and woke up to a roomful of people, including a trauma doctor, and  they hooked me up to a drip to raise my blood pressure, and probably other stuff.

I wasn't worried because I was in the right place at the right time but after everyone left, I began hallucinating. One of the machines was reading a story to me.  The room turned into a research lab and looked nothing like a hospital room. I thought I was in an w abandoned building and almost called out if anyone was out there. 

After an hour, some came back and I gradually came back. I told the staff everything. I knew the experience wasn't real, but had no control over it.  

I finally went back to sleep soundly... until beakfast came, ate a little bit and drifted off into again into a deep sleep.

A therapist came in later and I did some walking, sitting and standing. She showed me how to put on shorts with some help.

I have paperwork to go to Landis Homes where Nina works for PT if there is a bed available whenever I get out of this ICU.

Despite a few setbacks I've already discovered the pressure is off my spine and my left leg is pain free and works perfectly. 

The staff here is incredibly attentive and I'm looking for great days ahead 

See you real soon.

Post-Summer Fun

 I was talked into spending the week after Labor Day at the shore, New Jersey to be exact. They told me it was perfect. First floor, beachside, Ok, I'm all in. 

I was supposed to leave before noon but fate had other plans. Clean the cat box, check mail, feed cats, reply to email, pack electronics stuff, make car presentable, empty trash, pack more stuff, toothbrush, drop off urine sample ('splain later).

I made it in time for dinner.

The next 2 days were spent.... 

in a trance on the beach; breezy, sandy, sunny, perfect. Reading, gazing, smiling...

Last hurrah. Tuesday will be the last time I venture out for a few weeks...

More, soon.

Alabama Shakes is Back???

I've never done this before, but I've been following Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes for years. They've been on hiatus since 2018, but they're back and performing in Philly on Sept 18. Can I go? not this time, but damn! I'll follow her across the country like a Deadhead next year! This is my anthem. Enjoy.

New music in nearly 10 years. Yes, I think they're back.

 I wont make you cry again

Trip Down Memory Lane Chambersburg PA

This past weekend, I attended my 1970 CASHS (Chambersburg Area Senior High School) reunion. I mistakenly thought the last reunion I attended was in 1980 but NO!! An astute classmate reminded me that I was at the 30th in 2000. She was right. I was no longer married, so my partner and I, along with the girls, had moved to Chambersburg to live closer to my dad in 1999. We had spent a week in NYC for The Millennium, staying at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square, partly comped by one of his friends who still worked as a suit for his former employer, Marriott. Friends in high places! I'll take it.

Anyways, I digress. Friday evening was an informal gathering of about 100 former classmates, with the main event held on Saturday. I didn't take any pictures Friday. I was too busy chatting it up with old friends and new acquaintances.

I booked a room at, where else? Marriott Spring Hill Suites for 2 nights, but no comp. 

Saturday was an amazing evening, although after an afternoon driving around and taking pictures, I was an hour late, but I got there in time for food! My friends knew I was coming eventually, so they saved me a seat. After some reunion entertainment, we were free to mingle, dance or drink. I chose to mingle and have a glass or 2 of wine. I didn't have time to chat with everyone I wanted, but managed to fit in quite a few. I was a band nerd so my circle of friends was either the band, orchestra or home room. I was surprised that I was recognized since I think I look like homemade soap.

An interesting story: I am friends with Margie, a classmate and noticed she was friends with one of Carla's best friend's (Tim's) mother. No connection there I thought, so I wrote her and found out they've been best friends forever. Carla sang at Tim's wedding, but Margie didn't know at the time I was her mother until later so we had a lot of shits and giggles when we finally met!

I didn't take many reunion pictures because they all look alike and are meaningless to non-participants. On Saturday I roamed around and visited previous homes where I'd lived in my younger and not-so-young days.

We moved to this townhouse when I was in 8th grade when my dad was transferred to Letterkenny Army Depot. He moved into an apartment years later. I don't know why there's an air conditioner in the window in the whole house was air conditioned.

In 1999 we bought this unfinished raised ranch to live closer to my dad who passed on Christmas day 2000. With no longer a reason to stay, I forked over the money and we (well, he) finished the downstairs, adding 2 bedrooms, a family room and we hired out for a full bathroom. We put it up for sale on Valentine's day and it sold in 4 days. 

This house has 4 apartments! We didn't expect to sell the house so quickly, so four of us crammed into this 2 room (bed and living room) for 4 months until Nina graduated and we could finally move to NY. Our landlord was awesome when he heard our plight and let us sign a short term lease.

 On Sunday before I left, I visited a place that has special memories for me.  

It almost broke me, so let's move on, shall we?

How to Make and Can Navy Bean Soup

 I make and pressure can bean soup for winter.

 It's pretty free-form.

Ingredients:

Dried navy beans (or white beans or pinto beans or..whatever) 1 lb 

Garlic 2-3 cloves or more, minced

Carrots, diced

Celery stalks, diced

Onion,diced

Ham (hock or leftover ham from Christmas)

Bay leaf

Peppercorns

Salt, not much

Optional: thyme, rosemary, mushrooms, bell peppers, kale, mashed potatoes

Rinse and clean beans, cover with water and bring to full boil for a few minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let them sit for 1 hour. (eliminates the need to soak overnight).

Rinse beans and cover beans with fresh water, vegetable or chicken broth. Don't skimp.

Add parsley, shredded ham (or hock) and minced garlic.

Add peppercorns and bay leaf.

Simmer about 45 minutes.

Add mirepoix, diced celery, carrot and onion. They can be sauted in butter first or add plain. Cook another 15 minutes.

If using a ham hock, remove and shred ham and return to pot. To make a thicker soup, mash the beans with a potato masher.

Soup is done!

BUT if you're canning it, don't add salt.

Prepare canning jars and lids per best practices.

Add about 2-3 inches water to canner and begin simmering.

Fill jars with solids 2/3 full, fill with hot liquid leaving 1/2" headspace, and remove air bubbles (I use a chopstick). I read somewhere not to use metal. Add a touch of salt to each jar if desired.

Make sure rim is clean, place lid and screwband, fingertip tight. 

Place jars in pressure canner, cover, lock and increase heat. Let steam vent for 10 minutes, then process at 10 lbs. Pints for 1 hour 15 minutes, quarts 1 hour 30 minutes.

Turn off heat and let pressure drop completely. Remove jars with tongs and let sit until completely cool. Lids are sealed if they do not move when pressed. Remove bands, label and store. If not sealed, it can be stored in refrigerator for up to a month

You can modify this recipe to your liking, adding more or less vegetables, ham or turkey, or leave out the protein. If adding tofu, add it later when reheating. Play with it. Toppings can be sour cream, shredded cheese, scallions, chives, croutons, whatever your little heart desires.

Bon Appetit

Glimpses of hometown, Port Clinton OH 2024

Childhood Home

 Just blocks from Lake Erie

Marblehead Lighthouse

Marblehead OH 

The oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the American side of the Great Lakes. It has guided sailors safely along the Marblehead Peninsula since 1822. 

 

Ferry to Kelly's Island

No ferries today!

Bataan Elementary School

I walked the 1/2 block to school every day

Forgotten Boat

Port Clinton Fish Company

No fish cleaning allowed at our house. 

Drop off catch and pick up in time for dinner.

Island House Hotel & Restaurant

Uppity restaurant where I learned manners. 

Special place, great food.

Port Clinton Fishing Pier

 

Marblehead Lighthouse

Arthur & Carla

                         Fish

The Shores Condo

Port Clinton OH

Where we stayed for the 2024 Eclipse  

                      Driving lakeside

good memories

It's good to go home!

Grief

It's 2 years since I moved to Lancaster PA and 3 years since I was left alone. While I'm thankful for the years we had, my grief is forever. For the first time, I have no one to share my days with and miss the closeness at the end of the day when we shut out the world, even for just a little while.

"you never realize how lonely you are until it's the end of the day and you got a bunch of things to talk about and no  one to talk to" unk.

Solar Eclipse Port Clinton OH April 8 2024

We were in Idaho, in the Path of Totality for the 2017 eclipse. I never dreamed I'd be fortunate enough to see another eclipse in my lifetime. What a honor!

When I learned that my hometown, Port Clinton OH, would be in the Path on April 8, 2024, I promised myself I'd be there. I'd committed to being there for at least a week so I could see childhood friends, tour, see old sights, maybe take the ferry over to Put-In-Bay. It was even more special when Carla and Arthur decided to join me and flew over from NYC to spend time with me.

The eclipse in Ohio was spectacularly different from 2017 and totally unexpected. The skies were clear, the sun was shining, and the total eclipse looked like a glittering circle of diamonds in the sky...Lucy didn't show. The 2017, the eclipse in Idaho was blurred by the smoke from the forest fires in the area, even though it was a sunny day.

I rented a condo on the shores of Lake Erie, with access to the private grounds and beach to avoid crowds and enjoy the eclipse. 

We packed food, drinks, jackets, and chairs and moved on down to the water's edge well before the eclipse began. There were only about a dozen folks, mostly guests, as the summer residents had not yet arrived. Arthur brought along eclipse music.                                                                                                            

None of my pictures captured the glow of the diamond ring. I was too busy admiring the spectacle to fuss with camera settings. I just set it up, did my best, and reach up to press the shutter button occasionally. 

Believe it or not, most everyone left right after the diamond ring, but we stayed to the entire time. We couldn't bear it to be over.

So let me leave you with this. Arthur filmed the view we never see from the other side...and it's incredible!

Lancaster PA recap 2023

Bye 2023!

Two anniversaries have gone by since I was left alone. I have settled into life in Lancaster PA for the most part. Even though I am free to do as I wish, I can't shake the feeling that I should rush home or call if I'm running late. I'm trying to stay busy, but sometimes I just waste an entire day, staring or sleeping. There is so much to do here, and I have few friends, so I'm fearful of going out alone. My love of hiking and photography will eventually break that habit when I'm fully functional.

I've already been involved at The Creative Factory renting studio space to work on my favorite hobby, lampwork beads. https://lancastercreativefactory.org/

In other news, I had my right hip replaced in April 2023; I went to rehab for 3 months then continued in the MAG (Medically Adaptive Gym) with a personal trainer.

I spent a few days at Ocean City NJ, enjoying the sandy beach and swimming in the ocean.

Despite being active, I was hospitalized with DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and pulmonary embolism, blood clots traveled to my lungs. My doctors were certain this didn't happen due to my hip replacement 4 month ago, so I'm forever on blood thinners.

Christmas guests included brother Ken, daughter Carla and fiancé Arthur, and we had a Christmas Eve fire at their AirBnB. The warmth of family, good food and libations kept us cozy in the chill night air.

Games!

Strasburg Railroad

Stockings, even for the kitties

Sunny

Trekking poles!

Goodbye 2023, Happy New Year!

Leaving Texas, back to Snow Country

If you've been following along, you know we traded in our small-town country lifestyle for life on the road in 2015. We sold the house, shipped essentials to my brother in FL, loaded up the car and drove to Florida with 2 Beagles and cat to purchase our new home on wheels. 

We were rewarded with nearly 5 glorious years traveling the US, basking in each new experience, making lasting friendships and relishing our time together. We left the road due to health issues, and settled in San Antonio.

After I lost my partner in November 2021, I stayed in TX for awhile. I love my in-laws, but I wanted to be near my only family, my kids, so I decided to keep only what I could ship or pack in my car. For months I packed boxes, sold furniture and donated everything else. What a cleansing. Back in 2015 before we traveled, we did the same thing, selling all but some keepsakes.

It was a daunting undertaking but I'm thankful for the help from relatives, my daughters and many neighbors

Before I left, I managed to take a few pictures of the "ribbon roads" of TX. I never saw sky roads like this anywhere else and believe it or not, my vertigo is so severe I couldn't wait to get off them! Yet I still think they are graceful and unique. 

My daughter Carla flew down to TX to take Cole the cat back up north so he wouldn't be cramped in the car on the drive to Pennsylvania. It was a great help. She let him out on his leash going through airport security and he was such a champ!! He's a travelin' cat and loved the attention.

Nina then flew down to San Antonio to co-drive with me back to PA. We closed up the apartment, spent the night with my SIL and left early the next morning on our journey north. 

We spent the first night in New Orleans. I was physically unable to explore the area, but Nina walked around and came back with coffee and beneighs from Cafe Du Monde. Oh the best!

   

The next 3 days we continued our journey to Pennsylvania, sharing the driving.

  

 

As we got closer, we stopped at Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium near Caledonia State Park. Oh we loved it! It was so trippy and interesting! We bought some candy and went on our way for the final leg of our trip.

  

As we got closer to Lancaster, the landscape changed. It's so peaceful and quiet. 

  

On the fourth day, we pulled into our new home and life. I had only seen pictures of the apartment so it was amazing to see how open and roomy the space was. The living room is huge, the bedrooms are at the end of the hallway and there are massive closets and a storage locker in the basement. The kitchen is small but has an incredible gas stove!

  

  

This is what greeted me. You can see only a small portion of boxes to unpack. There were about 40, and each box was numbered and a list was made of each box's contents. Unfortunately, I lost half the list (it never turned up), and as I unpacked the boxes, I didn't keep track of the numbers as I opened them. I naively thought everything was there, but some boxes went missing. Everything of value was packed in the car, so it's not worth trying to track down the missing boxes. 

They weren't insured anyway.

Within days of arriving in Lancaster, my car died. It's all electric with push buttons, and couldn't be towed because we couldn't put it in Neutral so it had to be skid loaded onto a flatbed.  I thank the stars above we made it to Pennsylvania before it died! 

So I made it to Amish Land. 

See you real soon!