Good, Better, Best

Lest my readers think that my life is just full of complaints, I will hasten to mention some of the BEST things which have happened recently - from least to most!!

This winter is finally almost over. All but the big snowbank left at the end of the driveway has melted. That meant the tree service could come today to clean up all the downed limbs from my willow tree. Hooray!

Saturday, the "Check Engine" light came on as I was driving home from Sarah's. Today, after filling the gas tank and really tightening the cap on the tank, the light went out. Yay! I don't have to try to get the car in to the garage.

Today, I was helping to facilitate an all-day workshop in Concord. I told Langdon Place i couldn't take my mom to the hospital for an ultrasound on a potential blood clot. (We had spent 3 hours in the ER yesterday, only to find out that the ultrasound dept. is closed on weekends . . .) Further, I requested that she go by Langdon Place bus, which is set up to take people to medical appts. on Mondays. Much to my great joy, they actually took her on the bus today - she was the only person, and the driver, who doubles as the activities person, went in with her and they did the ultrasound. No results yet, but the system actually worked......for the first time in 5 years!!

Last week, through the generous invitation of my brother, I joined him and his wife on Sanibel Island for what was, in many respects, the first true vacation of my entire life. As I put nothing but shorts, capris and bathing suits in my suitcase, and left here in 30 degree weather, I sure hoped that it really was warm down there. It was. The beach was glorious, I walked each day and read 2 books. We swam i the ocean and in the pool. We saw about 35 different bird species on the beach and at the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge, and I collected some beautiful shells for my collection. I slept well and enjoyed the company of my brother and his wife.

The past few weeks have been full of various bits of good news and much happiness from Sarah. I scarcely know where to begin!! Probably to say that she is engaged and we are looking forward to a wedding on June 20. I couldn't be happier for her and for Ben, her fiance. They seem perfect for each other, and I like him a lot. Possibly I will make him feel welcome in our family!!!

As part of the continuing joy of this event, I joined Sarah, Kat and Sarah's friend Lisa to shop for her wedding dress last Saturday. We had lots of hilarity as we 3 "advisors" wore fancy tiaras and felt free to give our opinion on some of the other brides and prom-goers who were trying on dresses. Sarah found a gorgeous dress which we all loved, and in which she will looks beautiful.

So here's a shout out to all things big and small that add up to a happy life!!

Life's little annoyances

So many things to write about and so little time! Tonight I'm going to first blast off about the USPS, or US Postal Service. A couple of background notes:
1. Sometime in early December all of my mail was delivered to a family at 16 Thompson Lane.
2. Sometime in early February, I went online to have my mail held for 2 days while I was away. When I returned, mail had been delivered, and the mailbox door was hanging wide open. Surprise, surprise, I went to the PO with a print-out of my online request in hand to complain. The clerk passed me right on to the Postmaster, who apologized profusely and said they were training new mail carriers on my route.......so????
Following that, two of my bills (which always come at the same time) never showed up for the month. One was for my equity line of credit, and fearing having the line cut off, I called and made an electronic payment.
3. I went to Atlanta in late February, and after the above two experiences, I asked a neighbor to bring my mail in each day. All went well. In the mail delivered during that time (well after the due dates) the two missing bills appeared. Possibly they had been on a slow barge around Cape Horn??
4. Last week, when I went to Sanibel for 6 days, I went to the P.O. to fill out the yellow "hold mail" form. I said I would pick up my mail when I returned and re-start delivery. Upon arriving home last Thursday, I found probably one day's worth of mail in the mailbox. I can't say that I was too surprised. The next day I went to the PO to pick up the rest of my mail. Mission accomplished. Oh no, not exactly.
5. No mail has been delivered either on Saturday or today, Monday. It is literally impossible for me to believe that I received not even a piece of junk mail on either of those days. So. . . . I will make my way to the P.O. tomorrow to see if they have any mail for me, and complain, once again to the Postmaster regarding the delivery of mail on my route. No wonder the Postal Service is losing money hand over fist. If I had another option, I would certainly exercise it.

Wasting Time

I know, I know. I've never been a big time-waster. But look at me now! Another Dancing With the Stars season has just started, and I'm here, glued to it, as usual. Every season the women's costumes become more outrageous, as in they're wardrobe malfunctions waiting to happen. And each season there are a couple of completely unlikely dancers, like Steven Wozniak and whoever the cowboy guy was. He looked like he had a broomstick up his rear end. . . totally hilarious.

Last week there was the two-hour Bachelor finale . . . . which proved that trying to find your soulmate in front of millions of Americans, while surrounded by other potential soulmates is probably not the route to go. . . and why would anyone want to go on that show after what happened last week. Didn't see it? Oh well - you were probably doing something productive, while I. . . . I WAS WASTING TIME!!! And what could be better - the woman shunned on last week's show is now dancing on Dancing with the Stars -- quelle consolation prize!

Even my reading over the last two weeks has been just plain trash. Ha! What fun. I think this is my answer to endless snowstorms and WINTER. Time will tell whether I abandon all the trashy pursuits when the weather gets better. Or maybe this is somehow tied to the economy - a welcome relief from the ever-dropping Dow-Jones? Live it up, i say. Life is short, have fun! Waste some time along with me!!

What is wrong with our country?

Case #1: On Friday, my friend Andrea went to Logan to meet two men, an Israeli and a Palestinian. Each had been a combatant on the side of his country, and both have put aside their militant approach, in order to work for peace. It was the first time the Israeli man had been to the U.S., and he came through immigration in under two hours. The Palestinian man had been in the country last year and had met with members of Congress. He is a founder of the organization Combatants for Peace, a grassroots group of former soldiers, who are now opposed to violence. In the fall, some peace groups applied for a visa for him to come to this country. Visa was denied. Then our government invited him to come to participate in a conference. A subsequent visa application for this month was approved.

Friday, he was detained for 7 hours at Logan. Then admitted to our country. He and the Israeli man are on a speaking tour for the next month, and have been invited to the U.N. Next week they will be given the Courage of Conscience award at the Peace Abbey, in Massachusetts. But it seems that a Palestinian, by definition must be a terrorist.

Case #2: Locally, Seacoast Peace Response has sponsored a series of programs at the Portsmouth Public Library, to try to get at the Palestinian's point of view on the problems in the Middle East. My understanding of the situation is that at each program, a well-organized group of Jews have attended and aggressively disputed not just the content of the programs, but the groups right to present the programs at the public library. One man has now threatened to ruin the careers of the two facilitators/discussionn leaders, a UNH professor and a local pscychologist.

The library has cancelled the most recent program, a dramatic presentation which presents the story of Rachel Corrie, a peace activist who tried to prevent the bulldozing of Palestinian homes by the Israeli military, and was killed by a bulldozer.

Are there not at least two sides to this conflict? Do we not live in a free country? Isn't education the means to understanding? Shouldn't a publicly-funded facility be the ideal place to host challenging programs? Why is there so much fear and anger on the part of the protesters?

We have met the enemy, and it is us.

Why am I surprised?

By now, you will agree that I should not be surprised by anything the local medical establishment can throw at me. But I am. I believe I wrote earlier about the wisdom of the doctor at the Hematology Clinic, who said, and I quote "It's silly for you andd your mom to sit here for two hours only to find out that she doesn't need a shot of Procrit." I couldn't have agreed with him more, because two hours in the clinic translates to 3 plus hours of my time, counting driving to and from, etc., and a very long afternoon for a 93 year old.

So, today, following the protocol suggested by him, I got the results of the labs done on Friday, and since her hemoglobin was below 11, I called the Hematology Clinic to schedule the Procrit shot. Why did I think it would actually be that easy? Because I'm naive and trusting, and it seemed like such a common sense approach.

First, the woman I was told to call wasn't at her desk. OK, no big deal. She'll call me back. Instead, another woman calls and tells me that Dr.Sonnenborn isn't in the clinic today, and they'll have to talk to him tomorrow. O.k., that's not a problem. Then she tells me that if Dr. Sonnenborn wants her to have a shot, that she'll have to have the labs done again in the clinic, because Medicare has strict rules covering what her number has to be in order for her to have the Procrit shot (and for them to pay the $150.00 for it). So, guess what that means? A two-hour visit to the clinic. And lab work that costs a cool $784 dollars. Repeated. For nothing. She's heading into anemia and needs the shot. It's that simple, based on what the doctors have said. Oh, and should I mention that according to the women at the clinic, Langdon Place hadn't faxed the lab results to them? Maybe they sent them to the doctor's office. . . . what are the chances?

So, we're back to square one. Do not pass Go! Do not collect $200.00.