The Years To Remember

4/20/22 A foreshadowing moment as I drove headlong into a snowstorm in April on my way to help my aunt.   Luckily, as I reached the end of my journey to western NY, the skies cleared and temperatures rose. 4/26/22 So that was quite a week! And I was correct about the foreshadowing weather.  I arrived to find my aunt, who lives alone, in a dire situation. Unable to get out of her chair, unable to care for her hygiene or take her meds or feed herself. She had a 3 hr caregiver for only 3 days per week. The company was struggling to find more help for her. Therefore, full-on care fell to me that day. She had so much going on physically and mentally, I called for a Dr. appt for the next day. That was a long 20 hrs caring for her with the help of my oldest sister and mom. We took her to her appt and she was immediately sent to the ER and admitted to hospital. Long story short (and family drama filled) - she is being admitted to rehab at a nursing facility as I write this.  There were some lo

 4/15/22 First kayak of the year! I just spent an hour down at the lake to see if my thumb situation was able to handle the paddle - it was, but I'm glad it was only an hour.  A muskrat was disturbed by my presence and quickly swam away, but these turtles didn't mind me too much. I'm usually one to just listen to the sounds of nature, but today I decided on Spotify's Best of the Decade playlist as I paddled. There was something energizing about belting out the hits of Adele, Maroon 5, and Katy Perry as I paddled. The only reason I disturbed the peace was I was alone on the lake and shore. I would never play music that intruded on someones enjoyment of nature. Every so often we encounter someone on the trails playing music, and it's very annoying. The repairman came to see about the clothes washer and it needs a new pump. So its on order and I'll have to revert to pioneer ways of cleaning my clothes for another week. I've decided to replace the pump and hopef

 4/11/22 I'm still at Mom's doing what I can to help out. I took her to a surgical procedure Friday, then just chores and shopping the next few days.     Just some clouds that made me smile.     More domino games; we also played Scrabble.     Mom and I went shopping and did a countryside adventure on the way:  I'm also cat sitting for my sister's family - they're in Florida. Playful and friendly Ash insisted on some water play. Agnes is far more elusive and distant. Oh yes, I've been trying to help out my aunt who is losing touch with reality and just having a hard time of life. She has started with the Caring Angels home health aides so that she can stay home. It's not going well. She seems to have forgotten how to use phones so goes silent and I have to go check on her and the phones aren't charged. 😐 I'll head home tomorrow and get ready to hike Wednesday. 4/12/22 I took another mid-state detour to see rural upstate NY and clear my mind. It was v

 4/5/22 I'm typing one handed today because I did myself an injury. I was chopping cabbage with the mandoline and rather than use the hand guard, I determined the cabbage too large and myself too nimble to need it. I was very wrong. I neatly sliced off the end of my thumb, nearly fainted, and couldn't stop the bleeding. So after layng down with my hand raised, pondering my predicament, I decided to go to Urgent Care and let the professionals handle it. They did, and my thumb is now healing in a metal and gauze thumb cosy and a tetanus booster is coursing through my veins. I gave up all hope of getting things done and took to the couch for the rest of the day. It looks like my left hand is going to get to do daily chores solo  for a few days and let my more proficient right hand rest. Sounds fun. 4/6/22 Well, I managed to get the kitchen cleaned - thanks to the dish washer. I did get out on a neighborhood walk which caused my thumb to throb, so I cut it short at just 2 miles.  T

 4/4/22 So little sleep, yet still I function. I think I managed about 4 hrs last night, but still, I persevered and made it to exit 9 for the Moxham Mountain hike. The website says its a 5.5 mile hike w/ 1,338 ft of elevation, but my tracker said 5.8  miles. I did run around a bit this morning, getting ready and stopping at the store, so that's where the extra .3 miles came from. The weather started in the 30's and when we were done it was near 50. Puffy clouds in a calm blue sky made us all quite happy. We hiked for just about 4 hours. It should have been closer to 3 hrs, but ... Gore Mountain ski area in the distance. This is a lovely hike through the woods, along a stream, but best of all are the three or four overlooks you can enjoy before you reach the peak. Possibly the 1st or 2nd overlook. Ernie, AJ, and Shirley. The destination is in view. It looks far away, but just 10 minutes hiking will get us there. It was Pam's birthday (and also Brian's) so Ernie made a

 3/29/22 This week started off with a Monday night event - The Sebastian Maniscalco show that was our New Years Eve plan but was postponed due to Omicron. I whipped up a lasagna and salad for dinner before the show and we carpooled to downtown Albany from my house (because I live closest.) We found a parking  spot (free) in a garage about 6 blocks away from the arena - perfect for us, except it was about 15 frigid degrees out! We walked fast and got seats at the very top of the arena. About 15 minutes before the show, it was clear that many seats were unsold, so we relocated ourselves to a much better vantage point - yeah!                           Great show! Lots of choices for better seats in the top tier. We laughed for the better part of 2 hrs as both Sebastian and the opening comic were hilarious. I'd recommend his Netflix specials if comedy is your thing. 3/30/22 Today I took a small adventure over to Bennington, Vermont. There were some antique stores I wanted to poke abou