Monday Missive – Rising from My Sick Bed

My trip to Florida was wonderful but did take a less than desirable turn midway through the trip. My granddaughter became ill. She was swabbed for Covid and the flu, both of which were negative, but she was very sick the last three days of my trip. My daughter and I both started to feel a little under the weather with a scratchy throat but Covid tests were all negative. I flew home and that night I started to feel really ill.

My granddaughter has compromised lungs, so she was being given nebulizer treatments and was given a steroid inhaler to help clear her lungs. She had run a low-grade fever, but nothing alarming. My daughter never ran a fever, but by Thursday night I had a fever and a very nasty cough. I did a Covid antigen test – negative. I tried to call my doctor on Friday but his office was closed. Saturday I retested myself for Covid (again negative) and ended up going to Urgent Care Saturday morning as I was experiencing some wheezing.

Again another Covid swab and swabs for both flu strains – all negative. I was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection (aka cold) and given a plethora of medicines to help the symptoms. I am slightly improved, but the medicines are wreaking havoc on my digestive system.

On my trip down, there was one other person on the plane other than myself who was masked. On the trip back I was the only one masked. Our flight back was delayed an hour while they worked on a computer glitch which means we sat on the tarmac an extra hour with poor ventilation. I will never understand the resistance to masking, especially in such crowded places.

I was glad I made the trip. Seeing my family is important to me. But it does serve as a good reminder that while we are all hyper-aware of Covid, there are still a lot of other bugs out there just waiting for an unwitting host.

Today is my first day with no fever. My cough is better and this really feels like a cold now. These last few days, however, were not fun.

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Throwback Thursday #47 – Hanging Out

Welcome back to Throwback Thursday. This week Lauren is back taking us on another walk down memory lane.  Head over to her blog to get the details, and then join in!

This week’s prompt is: Hanging Out

My post follows.

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When I was very young, in the summer we hung out at ‘swimmin’ holes’ mostly. These were deeper pockets in the creeks that traveled down the mountain. It was where we all learned to swim – or fish – or float on inner tubes – or catch crawdads! It was really the lifeblood of the community for every age group. It was not unusual to hear kids thrashing around near the creek banks anywhere there was a deeper pool of water. I wrote a three-part post on the creeks and swimming holes here on this blog if you are interested in reading. Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

In the winter, we all bundled up and went sledding. I have also written about those memories – they were especially sweet whenthe  school had been canceled due to an abundant snowfall. You can read about those sledding adventures here.

After we moved from Virginia to Florida and eventually on to Ohio, we were old enough to hang out with friends. We lived in the suburbs outside of Akron, so it was still pretty rural. That meant most of us hung out at one another’s houses. There were a lot of sleepovers and Saturdays hanging out with your good friends listening to records or talking about our latest boy adventures!  My brother always had ‘the guys’ over on Saturdays. All my friends were jealous that the guys were constantly at my house. I did not consider myself any too privileged as when they got together it was a lot of burping, farting, and underarm fart noise contests. Funny, I never had any desire to date the guys that hung around at our house.

I belonged to Civil Air Patrol in high school. We met every Wednesday night at an armory in town. It was a different group of people, all interested in the same things. The members were from every school throughout the Akron area, so it became our tribe of people. We often spent our weekends training by going on bivouacs. It was such great fun and the boys seemed so much more mature than the guys I went to school with.

I was also a member of the band. In the winter we had a concert band so no real weekend activity was required. In the summer, however, we had a very active and very popular marching band. We spend many, many weekends practicing, raising money, traveling to parades, or attending as part of opening day ceremonies for theme parks, etc. I remember marching downhill at the Soapbox Derby one year – it was hot and steep! All the band geeks became pretty good friends. I am still in touch with some people from the high school band.

A few summers we camped all summer. We hung out a lot by the lake where they had a pavilion with a jukebox. I have written about that time and my biggest summer crush, as well. You can read about Hickory Hills here.

As I started to date more, I often hung out at my boyfriends’ houses. One had a pool which was quite a rarity at the time. We spend a lot of weekends hanging out with friends around the pool and even had night swims which meant low lights and lots of making out!

Dating also meant going to the movies. Once a boy had a car, then it was the drive-in!  There were a few double dates, but most of the time it was a more single-date scenario. I was the youngest of four siblings and my parents were pretty liberal with me by the time I was old enough to date. I was a pretty trustworthy kid, though, overall.

One Liner Wednesday – My Hope

Image (altered) by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

One day I’d like to turn on the news and hear there is Peace on Earth.

One Liner Wednesday is brought to us each week by Linda Hill. Pop over to her place to get the rules and read the contribution of others.

Gaining Perspective

I am still trying to find balance between enjoying life a little more and staying on top of commitments I have made. This often results in my blog being pushed to the side, which is okay for now.

Hubby’s Aunt and sister came up for a quick visit. We managed to enjoy an art opening by a visiting artist from Charleston, and dinner with the family including our eldest daughter. It was a nice, although quick, visit.

The last week or so the weather has been chaotic with a lot of electrical storms. Our router was partially fried but it took a good bit of troubleshooting to isolate the problem. We could connect sometimes, but connections continued to drop, passwords were not recognized, etc. Hubby bought a new router (this model might be overkill but I let him manage the internet techie stuff). I laugh and tell him it looks like a drone.

Friday was the six year anniversary of my eldest sister’s passing. In my mind I thought I might write about it, but decided to spend the day in thought, honoring her by remembering all the wonderful attributes she possessed. I did call her daughter (my niece) late in the day as I know she was missing her mom so much.

Saturday was my daughter’s birthday. We chatted on the phone and FaceTimed each other. Our celebration will wait until next week as I am flying to Florida to spend a week with them. Fortunately, it is a short flight and I will double mask to stay as safe as possible. I am looking forward to spending a week with them!

Yesterday I went to my son’s and spent the day with him and my grandchildren. We didn’t do much, just enjoyed hanging out with each other.

The dogwood leaves are turning red, an early indicator of seasonal changes. Our Rose of Sharon has a few flowers. Our hydrangeas never really bloomed at all. Our garden is almost a total loss so far. We did finally get a handful of blueberries, but not near what we have had in past years. To say it has been a strange season is a vast understatement.

I am still going to physical therapy twice a week. I still have three visits approved. In addition, I joined the gym so I have been going there to walk on the treadmill and do weight training. It is all helping my knee, but I fear the arthritic part of the equation is something I will just have to deal with now. I am so thankful for the resources I have available to me.

I hope you are all doing well. I am limiting my news consumption and focusing on spending time with family while we can. I am not sure what the fall will bring as far as Covid is concerned. I just looked at the statistics for our state. It’s still out there folks. Over 24,000 cases last week in our state alone. Our county has moved from low risk to medium risk.

Now I will leave you to your Sunday and wish you a day of rest and happiness. We are experiencing a constant steady rain – much needed. Perfect reading weather. We could all use a little peace I think.

Throwback Thursday #46 – Secrets, Hiding Places and Niches

We are back again for Throwback Thursday. I am pinch hitting for Lauren today who had some personal things to attend to. She will be back next week.

If you care to join us, it’s easy.

• Write your own post sharing your memories and leave a pingback to this post in the comments.
• You can use the photo above in your post to make it easier to find.
• Tag it with #TBTMemory or #IRememberWhen.
• If you do not wish to write your own post, feel free to tell your story in the comments below.

This week’s prompt is: Secrets, Hiding Places and Niches

You can either free write using these questions as inspiration or answer the question as they are.

1. Did you keep a diary or a journal? If so, where did you keep it?
2. Did you have treasures or money you hid from siblings or parents?
3. Did you have a need to hide things your parents would not approve of, like cigarettes, etc.?
4. Thinking back, describe your most creative hiding place.
5. Did you have a tin box or safe or a diary with a lock?
6. What about yourself? Did you ever have a favorite get away spot or hiding place?
7. If you did not feel the need to hide away, where did you go for a little alone time?
8. If you had siblings, did they hide things from you? If so, what types of things?
9. Now that you are an adult, do you still have little niches where you hide things away, like mad money, treasured letters, etc?
10. When you feel the need to be alone, to where do you retreat?

My post follows.

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1. Did you keep a diary or a journal? If so, where did you keep it?
   • I had a diary but never felt the need to hide it. I remember one of my siblings reading from it one time and teasing me about what I had written, but it was pretty light hearted stuff.
2. Did you have treasures or money you hid from siblings or parents?
   • I did hide things. I had a small plastic box bobby pins came in that I hid in the grape arbor. My grandmother found it, so I was not good at hiding it, I suppose.
3. Did you have a need to hide things your parents would not approve of, like cigarettes, etc.?
   • Nothing like that, but I do remember my brother hiding my Dad’s Playboy magazine under his mattress. Dad found it, so that was not a great hiding place, but I am sure it was convenient for him!
4. Thinking back, describe your most creative hiding place.
   •  My bedroom closet door was a pocket door that slid into the wall. I would squeeze into my closet and tape an envelope to the back of my closet door as flat as possible so the door would still open into the wall. I think I hid love letters and maybe money there.
5. Did you have a tin box or safe or a diary with a lock?
   • My diary had a lock, but those cheap locks could be opened without any difficulty. That was well proven when my sibling read my diary.
6. What about yourself? Did you ever have a favorite get away spot or hiding place?
   • When I was really small, I hid tucked away in the corner behind my grandmother’s bed. No one could find me and my mother was panicked. They searched for me for hours. I thought it was the best game of hide and seek! My mother was not amused, although relieved I was safe. In my maternal grandparent’s house, they had little alcoves under the eaves for storage. They were covered by small half sized mini doors which were perfect for a place to sneak away.
7. If you did not feel the need to hide away, where did you go for a little alone time?
   • My place of peace was always a walk in nature. I never felt the need to hide, but I did treasure my alone time.
8. If you had siblings, did they hide things from you? If so, what types of things?
   • My sister hid her love letters in a small cedar chest with a lock on it. I never once thought about trying to break into it.
9. Now that you are an adult, do you still have little niches where you hide things away, like mad money, treasured letters, etc?
   • I often have extra cash tucked away for emergencies,  but not hidden really. I often forget about it and stumble on it unexpectedly. I do not feel the need to hide anything as an adult. I do keep treasured photos and letters in storage boxes, in my closet.
10. When you feel the need to be alone, to where do you retreat?
    • Nature is still where I find the best retreat. It is often a walk in nature. I am fortunate to live in a sparsely populated area, so it is easy to find space to be alone.