Waiting for the next sign

First, I don't know if these are signs, the way people who believe in signs talk about.



To me they seem just like heightened sensory awareness. Not hallucinations. But certainly something is effecting my sensory data.

First I noticed sights becoming extremely well defined with detail and brighter colors.  I could take a deep breath and it was like the spotlight had been turned on - no matter what I was looking at. OK, I said to myself, this is just my brain receiving a bit more oxygen. (I talk about my brain and it's oxygen levels a lot.)

Then I went out for pizza the other day, and people walking by me had scents. They were not right next to me, but maybe 5 feet away. And I could smell that one of them was a smoker. Actually that happened with 3-4 of the people there.  The waitress wore deodorant which I could smell as she rushed around. Then there was someone who had stepped in dog poo, or maybe they themselves weren't all that clean. That was the bathroom person, I decided. I never turned to look (the door was at my back) but I could tell when they left.  (And of course I discretely checked my own shoes.)  I don't know that the food tasted better, or even how it smelled. A pizza and salad seemed normal fare. I have had delicious food sometimes that I exclaimed was the best tasting something I'd ever had. But that hasn't happened lately.

I've also noticed when my brain functions at less than normal. I play solitaire. I don't ever try to win the game...just see how long it takes me to get to the point where a win is inevitable. Then I start another game.  But I often have to do a "do over" when I miss putting a card in the correct place. The game I play on my phone has a "re-do" button.  If I notice I've missed and had to re-do several times in a game, I figure my mind and eyes aren't up to par.



If I miss a lot, I don't let myself drive. I'm serious. If I can't see the Jack on Queen combination, how can I expect to see the car coming across my lane of traffic.  I have had that happen to me while driving, and blamed myself for not having good vision. But I think I just didn't have good attention. I don't want to be the old lady driver who causes an accident, and someone else might get hurt. This is my excuse for playing solitaire about 3 hours a day for the last 4 years or more.

Haven't noticed any hearing changes yet.  When I start hearing voices I'll get hold of my doctor fast.

Or maybe I'll have to chisel some new laws into clay tablets. If I see a burning bush, I'm most likely to toss a pan of water on it. (Check out Moses in the Bible if you didn't get my references.)

I've shared these episodes with my physical therapist as well as my doc. They couldn't say a thing that had any physical cause. One said I'm getting close to a spiritual connection to the universe.  Obviously not his area of expertise...or maybe it is, and I"m not giving him credit.  I've become pretty skeptical.



Oh, there are also hot flashes! At 77? I look to the second cup of coffee for that experience. And I'm cutting back.  But I still think breathing and mental acuity have a connection...and maybe that's part of my feeling light-headed at times.

And then yesterday as I drove through Wendy's, I had an awful painful experience.  I reached with my right hand to pull my coat up on my left shoulder, when under my left arm and all across my back and ribs shot one of those breath taking pains. Oh no, I thought, a heart attack at the drive through. Do I call 911 now? Well, I was holding my arms and thinking this as the pain gradually receded, so I thought maybe I overdid it with my PT exercises earlier in the day. So I gingerly reached my left arm across to my right shoulder...and bam! The same awful pain radiating across my back and ribs. Yep, it was the exercise. So I paid for my baked potato, with a sweaty brow and breathing hard, as I drove up to the window...and went home to make a cup of tea to go with it.

Another occasion which reminds me how grateful I am just to be alive and able to do any of the things I do.

Posters, descriptions, and prescriptions!

As a docent at the Swannanoa Valley History Museum (it's really called an even longer name, S.V. Museum and History Center,) last Wednesday afternoon, I looked far and wide for posters.  After all, a history museum has lots of antiques.  I found some signs...close I thought.  And displays.  So I'm checking them for the theme prompt of Sepia Saturday this week.

Our theme image for this week asks you to seek out any adverts in your collection - either up front or in the background - and feature them in your post on or around Saturday 27th October 2018.

When I moved to Black Mountain NC in 2007, there was still a small airport/airfield, with a radio station on the same property.  I don't remember any planes coming or going (the small ones of course). Sanavo was the aviation gasoline and oil before Exxon or Standard oil companies.  Most old metal signs in the area have the pock marks of someone's target practice with their rifles.

Then that area was bulldozed and became the Ingles Grocery Chain main warehouse...a huge building.  And some other industries took over the radio station buildings and the antenna was gone also.

The next two displays talk about area buildings.

Our nearby town of Swannanoa used to have a big mill, Beacon Blankets.  There's a good display of how that industry was very successful until it's close in 2002.  The empty building then burned just before I moved here.

One of the Beacon products of the 40s and 50s.

 There were beautiful designs woven into the blankets, many with a Native American chevron design, and bright colors.

These might be considered posters (the last 2 photos)

Asheville's newspaper covered the building of the railroad into Black Mountain.  There are also books about the area, including the railroad engineering.  The museum also has a little diorama with an electric train that you can play with.  

And what about the prescriptions? There's a display which shows some of the earliest prescriptions filled by a local pharmacy.

That "drug store" is no longer in business.

An old calendar shows what many ads looked like (1967?) I remember many calendars hanging on the wall advertising a lot of different things.

And some advertising used to hang on a screen door to a "general store."

 Starting Friday evening, Ghost Tours of Black Mountain will be conducted by the Swannanoa museum, and here's their own poster on the door.  There is rain forecast, so the tours will be conducted with umbrellas.

 A poster for an event here in Black Mountain, an art show this Saturday. I think the rain will have passed on through by then.

A Black Mountain College poster from Asheville Art Museum in 1978.  The college closed in 1956, but there's a lot of abiding interest in it and it's innovative methods in the 40s and 50s.  There's an excellent exhibit at the Swannanoa History Museum here in Black Mountain about the College -up until Dec. 8, 2018.



Have a happy weekend!