Latest Entries »

Ophthalmology Thursday


Duh! I hoped above hope that the reason I couldn’t read anything online or otherwise was a cataract. The symptoms started like my husband’s with halos around lights. In fact, when I would take Kali out at night, the small amount of light out here looked like a bunch of Ferris wheels. That was with the left eye. The right eye needed correction, I felt. I have my medical background, Grey’s Anatomy, ER, The Good Doctor, New Amsterdam, ER Untold Stories… Yes, I’m an addict. Hello, my name is Darlene…

Oh, back to the main story. So for the second time this week, I went to the big city (snerk). This time my husband drove me. I knew I would need him to drive me home; dilated eyes shouldn’t drive.

Coffman Visual Clinic was marvelous. Clean and safe in every way. Doctor Guyle was my doctor. He’s a writer, too. 

So we hit it off. Oh, the eyes? Yeah. You know that biggest E on the chart? My left eye can see the color white and the black blob. My right eye is doing better than with glasses. Just not arm’s length away. I was worried. I do have a mild case of diabetes. I take Metformin. I plan to reverse that with my fasting diet. Dr. Guiley looked into my eyes, and both have cataracts. He couldn’t even see into my left eye. It is so bad. Best diagnosis I could hope for. This is fixable with surgery. I know several people that have better eyes than ever because of the surgery. So the system is setting me up with the surgeon and dates.

Pixabay.com

The trip home was fun. Oh, I forgot, the trip there, no music. We were having such fun conversations that we just didn’t need it. Coming home, the windows were down, and so conversing was out. So Savage Garden sang us home. My friend and my younger adult children got to see them in concert when they were still Savage Garden. My only rock concert everโ€”that from a Baby Boomer. Loud music was never my thing, even classical, if loud does me in. But these guys were great!

We had to nap since being home. My dilated eyes were tired. My body was tired. That trip takes it out of me. But the promise that I will soon have eyes that can read other peoples’ blogs and real tree books instead of listening to text-to-speech or Audible gives me the energy to do a dance. Don’t watch!

Bitmoji Image

One-liner Wednesday


Oops! I left clothes in the dryer. Be right back. Oh, yeah. This is One-liner Wednesday!

One-liner Wednesday is a Linda G. Hill prompt.

Ta-Da Tuesday


Went to my PCP today. Guess what? I’ve lost 6 pounds! Yay! It’s working. And becoming less work as I learn. I’ve picked up the paper copies of The Diabetes Code, The Obesity Code, and The Complete Guide to Fasting, all by Dr. Jason Fung. I read The Diabetes Code and The Cancer Code. You can click on the underlined titles to see my reviews. I’m getting ready to read The Obesity Code. Dr. Jason Fung can write a thought-provoking book while displaying a sense of humor.

Intermittent Fasting using low-carbs high fat or keto is proving to be easier and easier. I seem to be doing quite well on one very healthy meal a day. That means a 20 or like today 22 hours of fast and a two to four-hour window to make sure I’ve eaten well.

I was delighted that my team at the doctor’s office knew about and encouraged this method of achieving better health.

Medical Monday


I’m tired. I had an appointment at 11:30 in La Pine. That’s an hour and a half away. So I set my alarm for 8:30. Kali had a different thought. She was waking me every few minutes from 6 o’clock on. I went to bed early, 12:30, just to make sure I’d get my 8 hours. Yeah. That happened.

I chose to do the trip alone. It had been a long time since I got the chance to sing with Barbra Streisand. Alone. Babs and I had a great time. Hardly noticed the pain of roads that needed work and the jarring of my back. What I noticed is that she can hold a note far longer than she used to. Okay, I realize it is quite the reverse. I can use more work on my breath. I need to sing more. Period.

ย 

When I got to the clinic, I called as requested to let them know I was in
the parking lot. I felt pretty good as I was there a good 15 minutes early.
They said they were horribly embarrassed as they didn’t know when they set up the
appointment that this Monday, and it NEVER happens, but the doctor is actually
in Bend. Well, Barbra didn’t mind my caterwauling, we could go another half
hour. That worked for them, and they were overly apologetic and planned to
rearrange appointments and lunches to fit me in if I’d do the drive. Google
driving instructions got me to the office.

I watched the procedure. I find medical things like stitches, shots, and the
like fascinating. One of my spots on my arm, I could watch the whole thing. It
was cancer blah, blah, blah in situ. That calls for a cryo– oh, here is the
definition:

Cryotherapy. Cryotherapy, or cryosurgery, is a freezing technique used to
remove sunspots and some superficial BCCs. The doctor, usually a dermatologist,
sprays liquid nitrogen onto the sunspot or skinย cancerย and
a small area of skin around it. This causes aย burningย or
stinging sensation, which lasts a few minutes.

But honestly, this is how I saw it: The doctor deadened the spot with a
couple pokes. Then he took a woodburning tool and burned the bad skin off. A
swipe and cleaning then once more burning the cancer skin. Then clean and a
tiny Band-Aid. I had another in the middle of my back, but, of course, I
couldn’t watch it. It was all done far before I finished the paperwork. The
deadening needle vaguely hurt, and it did its job fast.

Now, at home, having had a nap, I’m feeling great. What a fun day for me,
lf, and I, with Ms. Streisand. When I go to these two towns with my
husband, brother, or son, I usually chose the music we can agree on. Babs
doesn’t get the respect she needs from the males in my house!

A thought struck me as I skipped this song, what happened to Yentl when she went to America. Wouldn’t you love to see part 2?

ย 

Oh how I hate how block wants to come in and mess up everything I worked on. If you see the mismatched paragraphs and words cut off, blame block! UGH! Trying to post this the third time and whatever it is stays!

Meet One of My Teachers


I often show my loom knit projects. I just thought it would be fun to share with you an interview with one of the ladies that got me started. Denise Canale. Actually, my first teacher was a nice lady, Carol, here in Christmas Valley who is the head of the Hat Huggers Charity. But soon I graduated to the LoomaHat.com videos on YouTube.

This is presented by the ladies at CinDWood Looms. Yes, they hand make each and every loom. I love those looms I have about 6 of them. Find the interview HERE.


May I introduce you to our Spring? It doesn’t last long. I usually refer to it as Pre-Summer. But this year our Winter happened a few days ago with this surprise:

Two days later, we had a high of 82 degrees, but our nights have been below freezing, usually around 22, until last night and tonight. At 39, we don’t have to drip our faucets all night. BUT the minute the freezing stops, we have bugs. Mostly flies. It’s hard to say which is worse. Yesterday I was able to walk around barefoot. Heaven! But today, rain outside, socks inside. Soon I will be complaining about 100 degrees. But I can wear shorts!

This year March never left the lion phase. April came in growling and ended hissing. So those April showers started today, the first of May.

May we please stop having winds so I can go out and play? Mother May I?


These pictures were taken a few days ago. Buds are ready to leaf out. A picture containing tree, outdoor, plant, branchlet

Description automatically generated

This is kind of new out here. In the last two Springs, the chorus gets louder. We keep the windows open to hear the song. Sorry, not much of a picture as it is night, and there are very few lights out here. Anybody know how to just capture and save a sound on your cell?

Per Linda G. Hill:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is โ€œmay.โ€ Use it any way youโ€™d like. Have fun!

A to Z Challenge, Z!


Zero! Same as ‘The End!’ That is what I reached in my editing last night. The End. What that meant is that on November 30, just before midnight, I claimed the word count. Looking at that count, I have 78,390 in the story. I think that is quite respectable. And ALL of it is story and not journals of me complaining of having another case of writer’s block or other such excuses when zip and zilch play in my head. That usually happens mid-month. I see the end of the tale and know I have a lot to plot out yet. But I just finished a month editing the whole book and still love it. I just have much more to do to wrap up all the ends. So more writing and editing this next month.

One of the cool things in this book is three different zoos! Who expects that in an adult fantasy/sci-fi? Two are on Earth. One of those many will know. L. A. Zoo. But on a different timeline. One on Haven. And one hidden that most people don’t know about. Sh!

My favorite character is finding herself in a Twilight Zone of sorts. I’m still trying to find her way out for her. Maybe I can bring back Zihna or Zella from previous books. Or just Lizzy or Azz from the current book will find the answer. Actually, that would be good! Lizzy is the main character of this book, and Azzy is her mother. Hmmm.

Is anyone playing with the Anchor program? I am liking the idea of making my website easier for folks like me or worse off than me. Most websites are hard to read. My eyes burn. I love my friends that I’ve made here on WordPress, but I can only surf my friend-blogs for a few minutes a day. Maybe if I could rest my eyes and listen to the site, I could catch more of them? Anyway, my idea is to take book one and start reading it aloud. It sounds scary. But I think if I pretended to read to my kids (in their 40s and wouldn’t put up with it now) or my pets (who don’t seem to care one way or another, just make sure to stroke the fur with the grain!) I’m going to start tomorrow night after midnight. Let’s hope I can keep my brain from going fuzzy.

Zombies are coming up on almost everyone’s blogs today. So I guess I need to address The Walking Dead. I have to admit that I love the original show. I like some of the characters on Fear of the Walking Dead. Yet World Beyond is so dull to me! My favorite show is The Talking Dead. I love the memorial they present for all lost in the previous episode.

Chat it up, Dar! You know you are only putting off writing your book! Zapping me with a zany zapper won’t get the job done. And, no, you already had fun on Zoom today. And there are hours until the zzzz.

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-3294742

This has been a fun romp through the a to z challenge! Thank you for the prompts!

A to Z Challenge, Y


Yippee! I’m reaching the end of the alphabet! And I’m nearing the end of round one of editing Pandamapocalypse. Only less than 200 errors to fix before the next step. You might think 200 is a lot, but when I started this round there were thousands. Yikes!

Summer is here, even though the trees haven’t leafed out yet. It was 82 degrees today. And for once in what seems forever, we won’t have to drip the faucets.

What says “Yurky, yurky”? The frogs or toads outside. They are croaking their little hearts out! Wish I could see them!

Midnight is near. Back to editing. Yippee!


Too dingy [dinghy] to deal!

I was talking to a friend and found my thoughts going dull. Not a good night’s sleep is the excuse I’ll claim.


X is really the hardest letter to come up with anything. Especially the starts of words. Isn’t that obnoxious? Sex. Nah, that ends with x not beginning like Xylophone. Wish I had one to play on. The pianist in me loves making music like the drummers!

The name of one of the planets in my Havenverse is Xeno. You can guess the kinds of people that live there. Sex is one of the things they don’t believe in. They also hate anyone or anything different than themselves. I don’t like visiting that planet in my writing. But I did have fun with some spies that landed there.

X marks the spot. I never see it on the land, only on maps. How do we really know we’re there?ย 

Nowadays when we take surveys, we put check marks โ˜‘ on the agreed-upon answer. And on the wrong answer, we put an X. Either symbol feels like I got something wrong as I have had teachers that used both to point out the mistakes.

‘My ex‘ is something that is entirely a misnomer isn’t it?

I’m thinking of a medicine with an owl, Xylitol? I don’t even know what it is for.

Well, I guess the head is still dingy so I will exit.

tic tac toe

ย 

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-3294742

A to Z Challenge, W


What day is it anyway? Two days have had me mixed up. Sometimes I knew the day; other times, I was so caught up in what I was doing I lost all sense of time or place.

Where was I? Editing! Word and I were working together. Sometimes well, sometimes worse. And guess what? I surpassed my goal of another 25K. I wound up with 30,214 words edited! Woo-hoo! I still have a bit to go but not enough to start a new project at CampNaNo.

Pandamapocalypse is shaping up! Want to see the cover again? I do!

Yeah, it’s kind of creepy but I now know how this scene becomes a reality in this sci-fi book. I can’t wait! I have over 75K in the book right now. But how many will disappear in editing? Wonder if any more will populate the page? The story is still fun for me.

Well, I have been on the computer all day for two days. See you in a while!

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-3294742
Godinterest

Godinterest for Churches, Ministries, Businesses, Creators, and Believers Worldwide

moon.child โ™ก

๐˜š๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด

venture

"Collect moments, not just destinations. Travel well."

Sebastian Stead - My Photography Blog

Hi! my name is Sebastian (You can call me Seb!) ...welcome to my Blog. I'm a photographer from Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy my work.

My Awesome Blog

โ€œLog your journey to success.โ€ โ€œWhere goals turn into progress.โ€

THE AVOERIA ARCHIVE

The Depth Behind The Ordinary

Life of Chaz

Books, games, music, and life โ€” filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.

Pieces Of My Heart

"Words & Wonders - Where thoughts meet art

๐Ÿ’ซThe Afterlove Voice๐Ÿ’ซ

Poetry, Justice,Spiritual,Astrology,Tarot,Healing

Amin Academy

Education, Information, Motivation

Luso Loonie โ€” Devin Meireles

Exploring Portuguese Culture, Azorean Heritage, and Luso-Canadian Identity Through Writing

UNDER THE WILL... OVER THE DRAMA...

Inheritance. Narcissism. Turf. Welcome to the family.