What I did last Sunday

Not much, actually. I drove to Richmond. Sat and read for a few hours. Then drove home a different way so we could redeem a World Market coupon for Ginger Beer.*

It was all very exciting!

It was!

Kid had a fencing tourney and did very well. On her way to a third place finish (out of 25), she finally beat a couple of guys she'd never beaten before - STAB! Coach will be very pleased.

To make a good day even better, there was an older (as in my age or a little older) French woman there, fencing. That's one of the coolest things about this sport - no age limits. Kid and she spent much of their down time conversing happily - in French. Win!

Now I am brain dead and have to get Herself to C'ville by 8:30 AM. Bonne nuit!
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*Not our usual WM, but a Richmond one. They had Fentimans. We will take this path again.

Yes, we have no bananas.

Speaking of things-I-wish-I-could-discuss-more-frankly-with-the-Ancient-and-Venerables: health. Theirs. They've been amazingly well for 81 and 85 years, but* at 85, Pater was diagnosed with a slowly evolving heart issue, aortic valve stenosis, that has progressed from 'mild' to 'moderate' over the last year. He'll be 86 in March, so I have no right to expect him to be invincible. I don't. But he's my Pater, and even his Doc says he's more like a 75 year old - once again, I've been spoiled by good fortune. And, to her credit, we've all been spoiled by the Mater's careful stewardship. High fiber, low fat, low sugar, low salt - she's had them both on a strict regimen for decades. (H and I enjoy "corrupting" Pater with the occasional feast of forbidden fruit - bacon cheeseburger! It's safe - his *arteries* are clean as a whistle.)

Anyhow, their Doc sent him to a cardiologist who has seen him a couple of times now. The last time - last week - he said Pater could safely wait another year before undergoing treatment. Good news, right? And yet, that's what's bugging me.

The first time he saw Pater, Cardio Doc was pretty dismissive of anything less than valve replacement, but not at the mild stage where Pater was then.

Wait and watch. Watch and wait.

Now, however, he's sounding more interested in a balloon expansion. But from what I can gather, that's not considered a satisfactory *long term* treatment. So what is he aiming at? What are his expectations for this man, my Pater? How does a Doc decide how much treatment is ... "adequate?"

Green bananas, Doc - to buy, or not to buy?

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*assuming they weren't hiding it from me before - they're great for that, not wanting *me* to worry!

Beerbohm! Beerbohm! Beerbohm!

Just bought meself a copy of The Incomparable Max.

Dunno why.

Just ... "needed" it.

Happy National Day of Mourning!

And happy my birthday - can I pick 'em or what? I'm 3x17. Yay me.

Sunshine on my rooftop...

Makes the ice slide off in great, THUNDERING roars. Or at least, that's how the doggehs interpret it. Just shared the "powder room" with three trembling Border Collies all trying to stuff themselves under the tank. Fuzzy.

I seem to be allergic to . . .

Food.

Yippee.

Menopause

Itches.

.

.

.

TMI?

Nothing to report

Which is why I'm here instead of somewhere, y'know, "public," where I might go if I thought anyone "cared" about my "news," or about my "take" on their "news." We are all trapped, each in his own head. Efforts to "reach out" are inevitably, ultimately - albeit sometimes comically - futile.

Too tired to play anymore.

But the fact remains, one does have a desire to "talk" once in a while. Difficulty is, I have no one to "talk" to. Somewhere along the way, I neglected to befriend anyone who gives a shit. Correction: I have one friend who genuinely cares about all her friends. Whenever we "talk," she is very generous with every detail of her own life and the lives of all our mutual friends. Because I adore her, I listen. I don't repeat. I don't say much at all. Mutual friends have shared some very curious "facts" they've learned from her about me and my family over the years - mostly benign, often amusing, and almost entirely inaccurate. But she does love us, and for that I am truly grateful.

Still, the fact remains.

Yes, there is Himself, but he's a dude. There are daughters, but they have lives. There are parents, but much of what I would love to share/vent/unburden about is either about them or about things that would only add unnecessarily to their worry burden - they are way too good at worrying. Prime example: Kid and I are off to Dallas in a few weeks. Parents are already agonizing about every detail of the trip. I mentioned that one (minor) reason we decided to make the trip is that participation in the event will look pretty on Kid's college applications. Now Mater is agonizing about when and where Kid will apply to colleges. Love them. Gotta be careful what I tell them.

And still, the fact remains.

Noms!

And fleurs. We grew the fleurs. MeMum, Boy's Mum and Sister, and I all cooked. And cooked. And cooked.

Wedding, o' course! You get the picture. Er, I hope.

**hits "publish"**

The Point

Posting a pic. If I seem to have missed it in my last post, it was because I had to get past the most basic functions first. Told you - 'tard!

I won't be doing it in this post either. Haven't got time to fool with it until I get to C'ville. Once there, I'll be trapped for several hours with nothing better to do.*

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*Could this explain why I have grown so bitter and dull? Ya think?
Yes, yes, "this too shall pass," "she'll be grown and gone in no time, like her sister, and you'll miss her, too, like you miss her sister now," blah, blah, blah. Duh. I'm going, aren't I?

Test Drive

I can't keep beaming hateful thoughts at Mr. Jobs - too much guilt/ bad juju - but the "no flash" bugaboo just reared up and bared its pointy little teeth in yet another aspect of online "life": This. Blogger. I know. I'm a noob, a 'tard, a retrograde, whatever. Don't care. Blogger has mostly "worked" for as infrequently as I've cared to "blog," and I'm too damned "lazy" to try anything more "elegant."

Anyhow, trying to add a pic last night from the 'Pad - FAIL. Uploading images directly from the iPad in Blogger is impossible,* o' course, but the url method seemed to be working. Until.

"The "done" button is flash?"

"The button-which-must-be-clicked-before-upload-is-complete button?"

"You're shitting me???"

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fucksticks.

But retrograde or no, I figured I couldn't possibly be the only iPad junkie still using Blogger, could I? Could I?? In other words, "surely there's an app for that?"

There are probably several, but this one - Blogger+ - was cheap and, from what I've read on the developer's forum, has been tussling with Blogger.com ithyoos for a while, so here we are.

So far: in portrait orientation, the text doesn't scroll, it disappears under the "keypad." Flipped to landscape - "problem" "solved."

I think I'll keep "documenting" my "experiences" here. Then maybe I'll "post" my "fixes" in the "feedback" at the developer site. I'm sure they would find my "insights" "helpful."

Now to try some basic "tasks" - saving, uploading, etc. - I have caffeine. I can do this.

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*No file structure. There is, however, a photobucket app. Which I added. Can we say "Stone Soup?" I must not curse Steve Jobs. I must not curse Steve Jobs. I must not curse Steve Jobs. I must not curse Steve Jobs. I must not curse Steve Jobs. I must not curse Steve Jobs. I must not curse Steve Jobs. I must not curse Steve Jobs....

"Time it was, and what a time it was ..."

Why did I come back here?

To explain myself to myself? Hardly necessary. To explain myself to ... someone else?

Apparently, from time to time, I'm possessed of an inexplicable urge to piss in the wind.

Done.

Full Circle

Quietly, blissfully "anonymous" once again. Or invisible, anyhow, which is much of a muchness.