A wood working craft from Japan

The amazing things we can learn about through videos...

Today I share a YouTube of Tsugite, the Japanese method of joining with wood with no adhesives or screws. I wish it wasn't in a speeded up voice and motion, but one can pause to try to figure it out. There is now a program to teach one how to build these wonderful joints.

I admit to just having appreciation of this craft, and no urge to actually build with it.

Today's quote:

We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released.

JEAN HOUSTON

Being well, or just being

 

Lots of gear hanging around my poor ears! But I did go out a bit the other day! Whee!

You can see the maple to the left already has leaves and little seed pods...while the one right outside my window is slower to bloom.

These bright Kalancho flowers began to drop bits on the sill and floor, time to go outside...where the weather has been warm enough so far.

If you look closely at the center of this photo above the roof, there's a Eastern Towhee, or perhaps a Rufous Sided Towhee. I am not sure, because he doesn't show his white belly...nor does he have spots. But his rust colored breast does show.

An Eastern Towhee from the net.

Yes I'm feeling a bit better, after the long treatment for whatever illness I may have had. I'm very grateful! Yesterday was the last of the antibiotics. I actually did a load of laundry to celebrate! It's about time! But I was exhausted walking back and forth to the laundry room across the driveway 3 times. OK, time to just sit and breathe deep.

Today's quote:

Our actions shape our lives, but what we don't take action on can be just as powerful.

Shorn again, like a sheep?

 

The "Before" photo...brush and go style! I don't remember the exact date of my last cut. I know I had one in Aug. last year, and perhaps another one ...the memory escapes me. And I didn't keep it in my calendar either (I checked!)

And now "After"...with Joe having done his magic scissor work! Easy to continue a brush and go style, which these days usually means just going from one room to another. 

Today's quote;

This world with all its beauty and all its vibrancy is just so because it is not fixed, because everything is contingent.

LAMA WILLA B. MILLER

Tree colors

A sunny view of a dogwood.

A bright bunch of fluttering white flowers denotes a dogwood off in the brambles by Blue Ridge Rd.

Maples that are just starting have those reddish things first, then they show the little green pinwheel seed helicopters...then real leaves. The red things and of course the helicopters fall first! What fun to park under them!

 

Same view on a cloudy evening.

The hot days have meant dogwood blooms have been fast and fallen as leaves take over.

The pale green tree near the far building is a dogwood.

Today's quote:

Like birds flying in a "V," when we feel the presence of others moving along side of us, there is little we cannot accomplish.

Azaleas are among us

 

Looking down from my apartment windows, I see a bit of color.

These however, are Rhododendrons! Much bigger leaves! And from another year.

A past spring gave these azaleas a beauty. My bushes have been super trimmed back in the last year by our landscape crew, so I haven't enjoyed any blooms yet this year.

Though my antibiotics still are making food and drink just go right through me, this morning I had an egg sandwich with sprouts on flat bread, and it tasted so good!

The postman brought my new shoes...ordered via the net, and I like having something different to wear! Every little joy in life is such a wonder!

Today's quote:

Bedtime can be a perfect time for a nighttime ritual of sending love to the world and finding gratitude for your day.

Just saying...

Just something to wonder about.

English adjectives order:

opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose, Noun.

We all know what sounds right when giving modifiers, but this is why!

 I often find many adjectives which seem similar, and don't exactly follow these rules. For example, my minister said the other day, "We have a free independent liberal church." 

So what exact meaning category do these words come in?

Free: maybe opinion?

independent: again, perhaps opinion?

liberal: maybe purpose?

I'm so grateful that I was born and learned English as a child, hearing my family speak it. I have tried learning a couple of other languages, and English still seems the hardest grammar, and spelling!

Today's quote:

Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

MELODY BEATTIE

A finch-y good morning

Sunday, first cuppa, watching out the window to see what the world has to offer. Hear the cheep cheep cheep of a bird, and when I look that direction, I see a beautiful house finch.

He's similar to the purple finches I used to see at my feeder. And he's happy right outside my window. I just forget the coffee and let it go cold. 

Then I notice Mrs. Finch is part of his interest, and I can just see her looking at him, seeing whether he is the right fellow I'm sure.

She flies toward his branch and she must have decided yes, for they take off over my roof to who know where. (Photos thanks to internet).

I keep an eye on the several pairs of squirrels doing their dances up and down the trunks of the trees. And continue to listen to birds talking up a storm. Speaking of which, we had steady rain all day yesterday, so I'm surprised the robins aren't out harvesting worms. They will be soon I imagine.

The sun is back, and within the time all the young pods of pollen dry  out, we will have to close windows just to be able to breathe without sneezing.  Until them, cool crisp clean air is much appreciated. Sigh.
 

Today's quote:

On the next rainy day, imagine the rain washing away and cleansing your emotional body.

By Daily Om

Time off

 

I've got new meds to take, and they will be over in 5 days. I think I'll just spend my  time reading and not writing for that long. It will be a good break for me, since I've been plugging away on at least this one blog for years...and several others as I have interest. Thanks for stopping by. 

Comments are turned off.

New photos finally

These were all taken through car windows...sorry. After my Dr. visit in Asheville, I drove through Black Mountain town to pick up something for dinner.

 

Peaceful spring

 

Last spring

 

See, I can post pretty photos without complaining about medical treatment!

I do have another gripe, but I think I'll sit on it and see if it hatches.

Some minor thoughts about medical care

 Oh why oh why do I put my faith in this medical profession? And my life?

I remembered Saturday, that during my stay at the Emergency Department, another test had been performed. I looked it up on line, where "lab results" are listed in the patient portal. This is an attempt to perhaps inform folks of the results of their treatment.

So my conclusion is that the symptoms I reported, in the order that they came and went, became just a check list. For example, when I said I had two days of the runs, but then became normal again, it somehow gave diarrhea as a symptom of my condition. And my nausea, or car sickness, on the ride (backwards) to the hospital, became something they wanted to treat.

And so I got 2 prescriptions for symptoms I didn't have upon discharge.

And the missing test? To see if I had the flu... I had clearly informed everyone that my COVID test on Thurs. at Range Urgent Care had negative results. But I never heard that the flu test results were positive or negative. However, right there on this up-to-date chart it says I was tested and had a negative Covid test.

Mmmm, something smells fishy in Denmark.

My good fortune was that I called my pharmacist today and said I didn't need those prescriptions that had been sent in, and she was happy to delete them, I could ask for them any time in the future.

I am feeling quite a bit better...have about 3 good hours of very minimal activity, then need to lie down a while. Glad I have a Louise Penny novel on audio from the library, and though I've read it before, I spend some time daily listening to it.

And my Easter Dinner was that wonderful Thai dinner that I'd bought back on Friday. I admit broccoli and peanut sauce and tofu was just totally mouth watering, though I only had a very small serving.

There's one more activity I took today, which you won't really appreciate through the internet. I took a shower. I stood in that hot water as long as I could, then peeled off the dozen stickers for leads to a heart monitor machine. And now I no longer offend my own sense of smell, which incidentally I never lost!

Let's spend the afternoon in the Emergency Dept.

 Yep, in my ongoing health saga...isn't it sooo very interesting??

So my pains in my left side kept recurring, and I called 911 to get a ride with professionals to the hospital. By the time I got there I'd achieved 2 new things, beyond the reasons I wanted to go. New was the nausea as I looked out the back window of the ambulance, which they gave me some med for in my i.v. And new was another fever. I hadn't had one when I woke up.

I gave my stats to the EMT, and arrived at the hospital...was given a nice room, and met the nurse and doc who would call for lots of tests...which showed I didn't have pneumonia (more on that later). I wasn't given anything to eat or drink, and had only had coffee in the morning. By 3 pm I was not a very nice person. No, that's not true...I made friends with just about everyone who treated me. The last procedure was a CT scan based on a blood test which indicated a clot. Nope...but first we had to find a vein to put the dye in, and I needed an ultra-sound machine to find the vein. Bill did that, not me.

The CT scan showed pneumonia, according to the doc. So I was told my current antibiotic I was already on would be the best to continue (though I'd not brought it with me). I'd had 3 doses already out of 7 days. Now here's the limits of being 78 years old. They asked what it was, and I said starts with Leve--- and they assumed it was Levequin. But when I just took my 4th pill, I looked at the bottle. Oops.

I hope Levofloxacin will do the trick. If not, I'll be calling another doc within a couple of days. Pneumonia mainly wants rest, if I remember the last case. And that time I didn't get help until I needed hospitalization. So I may be doing things ok.

The other thing, nobody listened to my chest. Strange. The EMT on the way had, and he said he heard something in my lungs, right where I felt the pain.

Oh, and though my pulmonology office and my cardiologist office are now connected to the same hospital, apparently they didn't share any of my stats...like having Bronchiectasis. The discharge doc just put down that I had COPD. Most definitely...chronic lung problems. And I had to tell them I'd been in rehab for both cardio and pulmonary conditions last fall. Where went those records, I wonder...

But the other interesting and missing item was the clot. My test showed that I had one. But then I got the confirmation on pneumonia which only showed on a C T scan...and no more talk about clots!

The good news was  the box lunch that was brought after all the tests and my discharge papers were done. A simple turkey sandwich and chips, 2% milk and a pudding. I ate like a starving woman and never mentioned I was vegetarian. Starving women aren't picky! So my friend picked me up around 6:30 and took me home.

It was  nice to have a private room, and I snoozed a little between tests. Never turned on the TV.

Skip if you don't want my healthreport

 

while stopped at red light coming into town.

Another beautiful burst of blossoms.

Healing slowly...the older I get the more a simple illness seems to take it out of me, and it's longer and harder coming back to where my body was a week ago. Not meaning to whine, just  to acknowledge that it is what it is.

Thurs. I had solid foods again, and my first cuppa coffee, after a sudden loss of appetite and fevers on Mon. By Thurs. I had a video conf. with with pulmonary Physician's Assistant. She wanted me checked for COVID (5th time)...so my friend drove me to Range Urgent Care to get one...I was so shaky and coughing that I couldn't drive.

Friday I woke up with left side pains and took a nitro. As it subsided I was able to get up and take temp, which was normal again. So I took a Tylenol and tried eating a lovely egg sandwich with sprouts on thin round bread. It tasted good. But later in the day I was tired and tried lying down, only to have terrible pains on whole left side of ribs. Called a couple of available physicians...and my pulmonary PA said take nitro and if it goes away then it's heart related, and go to ER. If it doesn't try ibuprofen. So I did, It didn't subside for a while, but when it did it was so nice. Do you know what I mean?

And then I had already taken the antibiotics and probiotics...for whatever it might be, but in afternoon I found out the COVID test was negative. Whew! I'd had some muscle related pain in my rib cage before, but not on just one side...a result of coughing hard. When I lie down the coughing often gets worse. I tried ibuprofen the next time it happened, and it went down within a half hour.

I celebrated by asking a friend to pick up some Thai food for me, and she did. I only ate a little. I am still dealing with stomach problems. It tasted so good.

I've had lots of time for meditation while my fingers were too shaky to type, though I texted a few friends which was the limit of my abilities.

Now it's Sat. morning, having had frost over everything last night. We've also had days with hard gusty winds, so most of the first blossoms are over. This is called dogwood winter, though they haven't bloomed yet. We still have blackberry winter coming. But tomorrow does promise to be warmer, and sunny for several days.

Hope you have a happy Easter!

More color in the hood

 Rabbit rabbit! Happy first of April! I've been sick this week, so will only have this post of photos going forward, until I feel better.

Happy April fools day!

no kidding,  I really am sick.