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Old Friends

Holly Doyne Posted on by 3

How do I define old friends? Is it those, like Carmen, who I have known since 1968? That is, by number of years, length of time we have known each other? How many years does it have to be before we can consider this use of “old” as valid?

Or do I qualify the phrase by meaning anyone who is older than I? Perhaps that might be a way to consider, but saying “older” friend would probably convey the same information.

Why all of this ruminating?

I am sitting in a rental car, Rose Hill Memorial Cemetery/Mortuary/etc, in Whittier California. Rather than send you to Maps, let me just tell you it is about 20 miles or so from the Long Beach Airport. At 1400 I will be attending a graveside service for an “old” friend.

Pat qualifies on either or both of the above criteria. We first started working together in Germany a significant number of years before. She had an uncanny ability to quietly explain to those who didn’t want to hear why they were going to do things the correct and proper way. Integrity, the ability to bend without compromise and a quiet sense of humor won her the respect of just about all her colleagues and commanders. Those who couldn’t deal? They learned that Pat taking a stand meant she was firm on unassailable grounds. They also learned to appreciate that the words “I told you so” never, ever crossed her lips.

After I was transferred to the UK in 2009 we kept in touch mostly by email. As like many of us, as we both transitioned into a retirement from US Army employment, those plans to get together were delayed by this, that and the other thing. She moved to Switzerland; I was spending a lot of time on ships.

There is always next week, next month, next year. Right?

We ran out of that opportunity the end of last year. She became ill while visiting family in Michigan; I had classes, exams and meetings. By the time I could get free, she was in hospice.

Pat died yesterday morning. As in normal Jewish tradition, we don’t delay burials. LA because her beloved husband, a Holocaust survivor, was buried here in 1997. Her family will sit Shiva, her sons will say Kaddish.

She will reside in my memory.

Snoopy

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There is a lovely woman who lives north of the Twin Cities. She happens to adore Snoopy. She collects Peanuts related “stuff” as well as travels to a lot of the shows.

Inside?

Just shelves of Snoopy

and ready to take on the Red Baron

Heartbreaking

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

The final score today was Washington Nationals (your might just remember them as the Montreal Expos)

Nationals 11, Athletics 10

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9      R H E (24-32)

WSH   0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 5      11 11 0

OAK    0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 6      10 10 0

It was painful for all of the As fans. To lead for a number of innings, then have your pitcher get tired. Then to tie it up. Then to have the relief pitcher lose it. Then to come back a run. Then to have your next relief pitcher really lose it. Sad when 6 runs in an inning just isn’t good enough.

Oh well. Tomorrow it is the Blue Jays. They aren’t doing much better than the As. Might actually be a chance to win a game!

George spent the day at the Berkeley Book Festival. I skipped it in favor of going to the game. Like I need to buy more books? He was with friends who we wound up joining for supper (after I zipped home and changed. Fan gear just doesn’t look great in a decent restaurant! )

 

 

 

Take me out to the

ball game, which is exactly what we did. Wandered around a bit during the day including a drive up to Grizzly Peak for a look over the city. Between the marine layer and the fog, everything wasn’t quite as clear as one would like. From there we went toward Richmond and the Rosie Museum followed by lunch at Assemble.

Since it was free parking Tuesday (thank you very much Chevy) it seemed more sensible to drive than to have four people taking BART only two of whom had discount cards. I had wanted to get there early, plenty of time for the Food Truck Mafia selections, lots of time to explain the game (George is good at explanations) and time to watch batting practice. As it turns out, the park now opens at 1630 on Tues for home games. Plenty of time to watch batting practice. And, of course, for the ball hogs to hang out in the bleachers and field anything that comes up that high. I can understand wanting a ball or two. But taking home 3, 4, 5 without sharing with the little kids is just beyond me.  But now I know who to avoid. It is not like I have the ability to catch anything, but still it would be nice….

Anyway, it was fun. Four drums, a horn, a whistle, three cowbells plus lots of fan noise. Oakland still managed to lose to the Marlins (11:9) but considering it was 18 hits to 9 hits, I was surprised the score wasn’t worse.

Pretty tired by the time I got home which should not be surprising at all…

 

And then it comes home to roost

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The As had swept the series so far: 8:3, 3:2, and another 8:3 win.

But then it came home to roost. Errors from the field, stranding runners on base and a series of amazingly bad pitching from the mound led to a Sunday afternoon of watching the As go down 12:3.

It wasn’t that I was in a bad mood before this and my perspective had changed. This round of chemo has left me feeling slightly irritated and completely unfit to be around people.

Baseball fans don’t fall into the same category. The yelling and shouting along with noise making relieved a bit of the worst crabbiness.  It helped that George was willing to drive this evening to SFO where I picked up friends with whom I had stayed in Australia last year and spent time with on the Legend this year. Jill and Graeme did the short northern run TransPacific on the Millennium  which started in Japan and ended early this morning in Vancouver. I get to keep them till Wednesday when they head home via Aukland.

Did I mention that their plane doesn’t land till 2200?

Fractal 54

Holly Doyne Posted on by 1

It has been a lovely day; visiting, stitching and otherwise going nowhere in a big hurry. The only two things I needed to do today – mail a package and a bit of laundry – were easily accomplished.

Then of course, there is spargel –

steamed, buttered

and served on stone oven (wood fired) dinkel pancake (aka spelt in English).

Other than that – I made a bit of progress on Fractal 54 which turns out to be the second easiest one I have attempted. There aren’t a lot of isolated single color stitches.

Fr-54

Is what it will look like when completed.

So far –

12 May 2017

I think I am making good progress.

I’ve a late afternoon train back to Munich tomorrow and an extremely early flight to Barcelona on Sunday.

Forgot one!

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Since I am whining, I realized that I forgot a med or two yesterday. The Acyclovir is twice a day, but two capsules in the evening isn’t all that bad. What I forgot to mention is the not so friendly

Zarxio

which was my challenge with TSA when I flew to LA. Three more doses remaining. In the fridge and the directions are correct – it is much less uncomfortable if I remember to give it 30 minutes to room temperature before sticking myself. I suppose I should just be grateful that it is subcutaneous. It is not like any of us at this age have a lack of a fat layer just hanging out below the skin and waiting…

with a retractable needle

The engineering has improved so much, the needle automatically retracts at the end which I think is really cool. Not to mention decreasing the chances of needle sticks on everyone’s part. Still an occupational hazard for medicine/nursing – but short of emergencies, you have to really try or be clumsy unlike the 70s when I trained.

The injectable is a neutrophil booster (they get whacked off along with the rest the fast growing cells from the chemo) in an attempt to decrease my infection susceptibility. Since I really would like to continue avoiding docs, nurses, clinics, hospitals or ERs between sessions, I decided it would be worth the six days of needles.

Other than that – it is a fine day to clean and organize – or so I keep telling myself. Of course, it is all interlocking. The garage, the studio, the bedroom. This lifetime? Perhaps not but I am making an effort. By the end of the evening, my side of the closet, dresser etc are all under control.

Now there is just the small matter of the detritus on the bed and floor. There is actually some time criticalness to this all since I think the washing and machine and dryer are getting pulled on Monday prior to more [de]construction.

Oh – and if you want a bit of fun – go here to Short Fiction Breaks. Brad has had his first “break.”

Blech

Holly Doyne Posted on by 14

a morning dose

Now, for some people, that handful might seem like nothing.

But for me? Blech exponential. I have gone from taking one small thyroid replacement in the morning (20+ years) to this handful of horse choking pills and tablets. Admittedly, some are temporary – those four nasty round tabs are 20mg each of Prednisone and that is only for a few days. The pretty blue and white are Acyclovir and help protect me from the idiots out there who don’t stay home when they are ill. Same for the huge Levoquin which is gag worthy. This only leaves a tiny pink tab – anti-nausea. I am just safe siding it with that one. The chemo isn’t really bothering me, but I can’t think of anything worse than having to repeat this dose!

The rest of the day was much better. Had lunch with a friend, Started on my closet and actually discovered the floor along with some electronics which I thought had been lost for good!  The evening saw me out in Richmond at the Eldest’s to celebrate one of her friends birthday’s.

Now – back to cleaning…..

Two meals and some cross stitch

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Brunch today was at Sauls. A pleasant meal spent with a colleague of George’s. I happily ate my way through a plate of mid-eastern goodies while they mostly talked of business. Landing at our hour afterwards, I mostly listened to the ongoing conversation and only put my oar in on occasion.

To refresh your memory – this was where I was on the 30th. Oh, perhaps I didn’t let you know that. Oh, well….

 

30 March 2017

 

After a mostly aborted attempt to use the hot tub (some people in my house keep promising that they will check the power box regularly and don’t. I’d do it myself but I can’t get the thing open) since it wasn’t up to temperature I really decided I needed Thai food for dinner.  Took the Eldest, brought take-away to College Guy since he was on closing shift. The dog-lovers headed down the hill to find sushi.

Evening end – I was here on the Cross-stich

2 April 2017

which is showing some substantial progress.

 

 

 

Another year

Holly Doyne Posted on by

is now in the past. This birthday is different only in that it marks a turning point in those basic interactions with the government which most of us want to avoid. Part A & B of Medicare come to mind.  In the same way, I’m hoping to avoid a fuss and absolutely detest public recognition or embarrassment. Specifically singing waiters and other assorted displays.  Obviously, I am speaking to dinner possibilities this evening.

I don’t have any particularly brilliant thoughts to share. It has been a good year, an interesting year in which I have been fortunate enough to travel to areas of the world new to me as well as revisit places I enjoy. I have made new friends as well as maintained contact with those I have known for years.

There have been other milestones – probably the most significant (besides that pesky Medicare Part A & B) is renewing my medical license for the 40th time.  I guess that balances managing to lose both a jacket and a phone on the same trip.  Photo courtesy of one of my fellow traveler’s and probably the location of the escaped phone.

Godafoss - Iceland

Godafoss – Iceland

Thank you all for the well wishes on this, my 65th birthday. This coming year should be interesting complete with family, travel and a number of professional meetings. We will be closing out the house in Heidelberg, seeing the Eldest move into her own home later this fall, the College Guy transfer, Ms Chicago return to school and Ms Maus take on NYC.  I’ll be on land a bit more, on ships a bit less and following the example of my good friend Carmen – start to make serious decisions on all that “stuff” I have been hauling around for years.

OTOH – I can finally set up my Playmobile trains, the weather in Berkeley is pretty decent…..  Garden Gauge thank you very much……

 

 

Muir Woods

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Drive up 580. Cross the Richmond Bridge (past the refineries that were voted closed by the city council last night due to safety reasons). South on 101, out California #1 and through switchbacks, double backs and really hairy hair pins just in time to get one of the few remaining parking slots at Muir Woods National Monument.

After a stop at Muir Beach, Bluebird Yarns (Sausalito) and the North Face Outlet we returned back to the house.

You have the photos of the best part.

Of course their plane was early

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I meant to check the arrival for DL14 from Atlanta last evening. Oh, wait! I did check it, and it said it was on time. Due to arrive 0740. So when my alarm went off at 0600 you would think I had a lot of time. Pick up friends at the airport? Easy-Peasy.

Then I reloaded the webpage. Flight now due in at 0650. Doesn’t compute. Even given that it normally takes 40-60 minutes to hike from the far end of nowhere, get one’s passport stamped, tramp to the baggage carousel, wait for luggage. Wait for luggage some more prior to man-handling it off the belt and escaping to arrivals Hall D.

So, let’s say that if I leave right now (which I did) I should just about make the drive, park the car and be there about 0745 (right when that plane should have landed).

I didn’t know about the construction involving the access ramps onto A6 from B656. By the time I was hung in traffic 2 km short of the Autobahn it was a bit late to change my mind. We also will ignore all the insane sludging and slow downs that occurred for no apparent reason. (Dominos falling anyone?). And the back up involving all four northbound lanes of A5 (don’t ask – A6 seems to vanish and become A67 which goes to Wiesbaden at the juncture of A5 & A6) which lead to still more delays.

Terminal 2 – I can find Terminal 2, where it would have been nice to be able to easily find parking rather than having to jam my car into the only remaining place on the entire deck. Right next to the guy who didn’t manage to stay within the lines. I might not color within the lines – but parking in someone else’s space is just rude.

Dashing into the Terminal and beating feet upstairs, Clint & Zandra weren’t in Arrivals D. They weren’t in Arrivals E either. On my third pass from one side to the other I spotted them. Easy? (grin) Two very American looking people with backpacks and a couple of large suitcases complete with yellow Cruise Critic Straps.

Trip home was a picnic after that.

I only get to keep them till Friday. Tomorrow we will tour a bit of Heidelberg, Thurs a look around Speyer.

Would you believe that I even cooked dinner?

Knitting

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After a week of wandering around on ship without any obligations to anyone I thought to behave myself. After all, I had dinner last night at Chops with Klaus & Ilona who I first met last fall on that little jaunt across the Pacific and around Australia. In the lounge earlier in the evening were a whole table of those with fancy name tags with whom I have met on previous crossings.

So it was that I took myself up to the Solarium before 0900 to stake out an area and have a munch since I was already there. Neither are actually all that much of a hardship. I am an early riser, a couple of lattes were already history. Besides, the kiwi yogurt parfaits are lovely.

Rather than 9-11, this gathering turned into an all day happy chat. Two of those wanting to learn brought yarn, needles and husbands. The other serious crafter in the group brought not only here knitting but also hand piecing, lots of pictures and her husband. The guys were fine even though they denied any interest in participating in our end of the table. I had forgotten to post on the Community Bulletin Board but crafters seem to be able to find each other anyway.

Since I had such a good start to the day, I managed a trip to the gym and a limited supper in the CL. The Aussie with whom I chatted reminds me of my British exercise companion from the Grandeur & Liberty. Nothing like being 87, still reasonably mobile and off for a bit of travel. Then just before heading back to my lovely cabin (balcony, spacious and as far aft as was possible) I turned a short hello to Art & Julie into an hour + conversation. We connected on the Infinity this winter, so they had missed most of my whines concerning George’s house in Berkeley.

Sitting on my balcony watching the moon hanging not quite full in the sky I really appreciate the changes in my life, especially the last year. I love the travel, the time to learn about new subjects, and mostly all the fascinating people. Obviously I don’t miss cranking patients through an exam room, but that wasn’t my role (except sometimes on deployments) for the last two decades in the Army anyway.

Taking a break

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Well, sort of. Maybe. Mostly managing three websites, sorting email, downloading files and spending the late afternoon at red*.  There were 8 of us, mostly regulars with a brand new person added. It was the usual conversation: Wollmiese vs Madelyn Tosh and what do you do with 60 kg of sugar.

No, I am not kidding about the sugar. One of our members words at Sudzucker. Apparently there is “distribute free sugar & recipes to employees” on a regular basis and she brought a few kilos to share with the rest of us. A couple members of the group are in the middle of putting up preserves and were more than happy to take bags and boxes of sugar. Me? I just like to add it to my coffee and would rather have brown crystals than white regular sugar.
So mostly I started on a new project and just listened to the conversations.
five fiddly points around the center point

five fiddly points around the center point

 

the yarn is crazy zauberball and the dps are 2.25

Azores

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I have been here a few times before. Since it is raining, I am glad I decided not to head to Fire Lake or any of the other high elevation locations. All are beautiful but not exactly highly visible with rain and fog.

So instead – no surprise – I am catching up on courses, the internet and a few friends journals.

Two friends aka Purple and Carnivore are out hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Their journal is here. They started last year but hit a snag (broken foot) about 500 or so miles in. As a result, they are once again attempting a through hike. 2012 – they did the Appalachian Trail from start to finish.

And then there is Cat of Australian fame who writes clearly on various Australian topics. I don’t know anyone who can more swiftly and accurately skewer a stupid opinion without drawing blood.

Murr provides a lovely combination of essay interspersed with photos. Her ability to both circle back to the beginning at the point at which you knew she was headed over the edge is only exceeded by her ability to hit with a twist.

And then there is Alison who can find joy and hope in the smallest things.

Take a short detour, you won’t be sorry.  (and, even more impressive – not a word of ships or cruising in any of it!)

Palo Alto

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Is home to a lot of high tech and intellectual people. There are start ups galore (which is why we made the trip south) and it was on the reason for heading to SF in the first place.

Unfortunately for me – Purlescense is moving this week. Makes the fourth time in the Bay area since 2007 and I still haven’t managed to get there.

After attending two meetings in the morning I had a planned detour while the DH attended a luncheon meeting.

Palo Alto is home to Alison. We were able to get together the last time I was here – but that was a long time ago meaning it was before I deployed putting it somewhere in the 2010 early time frame. She was kind enough to let me drop into her home which meant we had a lovely few hours just sitting and knitting (except for a detour into a wonderful goat cheese with blueberries that melted in the mouth).

With regret I had to leave to make a 1600 meeting. It was one in which I have a lot of interest and I can’t wait till this fall when the App gets released so that I can play a lot and recommend it to everyone (this is in the Medical education and communication arena – not knitting but still).

Ending the evening with a great dinner at PJ Changs (they have vegetarian and vegan solutions, they have a gluten free menus and most importantly great, educated service), we rolled back to Berkeley well after dark. And well too late to knit in the car.

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