Was the past week shorter than usual?

Well, there were 7 days last week as always, but since Monday was the official Memorial Day holiday and many places were closed the week seemed to get off to a slow start. We did head to Freedom Park early because of the threat of rain, but didn't get a drop. It's been quite dry this month and we could use some rain.

At home we watched the last few episodes of Season 3 of The Vikings. It's not my favorite show but somehow we feel obligated to watch. We also watched two other movies that were, in my estimation, much better: Wild is the story of Cheryl Strayed who hiked the Pacific Coast Trail (portrayed by Reese Witherspoon). About a year or two ago I read the book and feel that the movie was quite true to the written narrative though I don't think that the book was rated "R" as was the movie adaptation. We also watched Lee Daniels' The Butler. This movie is a great reminder of some of the events that we lived through and the challenges the black community has had in gaining equal rights.

We've had a few challenges this week. For one, Ray was trying to pay our phone bill and wanted to set up auto pay. He spent what seemed like forever on the phone only to learn that it's not possible because we don't have the phone company's TV service. Go figure!

After selling his metal detector before we moved, Ray decided to get back into the hobby and ordered one that he put together last Friday. When he turned it one, nothing happened except the ordinary sound. He couldn't get any readings on the screen. What to do? Of course, call the 800 number and surprisingly he was connected directly to a technician. The end result is that the company is sending another detector which should arrive by the middle of this week. They'll also send a prepaid shipping label so we can return the defective one. We really don't know what's wrong--it just doesn't work.

The final challenge was today when I started having issues with my iPad which I dearly love. After checking the support page I learned how to restore the iPad. That action, of course, removed all the apps that I had previously downloaded and all my photos. Fortunately, I save all my photos to Dropbox. That's enough challenges for at least two months, don't you think?

Yesterday, we enjoyed the Tour of Homes in Historic Meridian Park just north of downtown Indy. These are older homes built in the early 20th Century. When we began the walk, a light rain started falling but we had umbrellas! All these homes had lovely porches where we could stow our umbrellas while we walked through the house. Then the rain stopped and when we finished the tour the sun was out.

Notice the planters in the front yard.
Taking advantage of available land to have a small garden. 

Beautiful sentiment on the wall of the above home!

Fairy Tale Setting!

By the time we returned home and had our evening meal, a huge storm system came through and we must have had at least an inch or two of much-needed rain. 

Race Day in Indianapolis

My only wish for this day is that the 500 race would be broadcast live instead of delayed to 8 PM here in Indianapolis. This is one of the first years that I can remember where I didn't listen to at least some of the race. Of course, it would have been on radio.

Good news -- I'm no longer wearing a bandage as the drainage from my parotid gland suddenly stopped last Monday! Hooray! I have swelling in my right cheek and it may take weeks or months before that recedes but it definitely is less than when this all began. However, my lip can be classified as dysfunctional and only the passage of time will indicate if it will get better.

Ray and I enjoyed a road race in nearby Franklin yesterday morning. The course through the park was lovely and I finished #1 in Female Masters (and also oldest in the group), not that I'm bragging. To be transparent, only a small number participated in the race so the competition was minimal.
I have a brand new iMac computer!! Most everything migrated from the laptop so it didn't take long to get set up. We're noticing that our Internet connectivity seems really slow in the evening hours. Just guessing that many of our neighbors are also on their computers at the same hour.

We enjoyed a short visit with my sister Gloria. She arrived Thursday afternoon and we drove her to West Lafayette Friday afternoon so she could meet some sorority sisters and celebrate 100 years of Thetas at Purdue. We inaugurated our new guest bed and inflating it was a hoot! Before heading to West Lafayette we introduced Gloria to Greenwood's Freedom Park and walked the half mile trail. While on the trail we met up with a group walking what at first looked like a really huge dog, but was actually a miniature horse by the name of Genevieve. Very friendly and gentle and she can also be a therapy horse. Her handler said she likes walking in the park. We may see them again as we'll probably visit the park often this summer to take advantage of its walking/running trail.

Ray got out the corn hole boards and we played a couple times. He still beats me easily but I'm working on my game!

Uneventful week

Looking back over the past week, I would have to say it was quiet and ordinary. That's fine with me. We played bridge one afternoon in the apartment Clubhouse with our former neighbors. I ran several times indoors and we also went geocaching twice and watched two movies: August: Osage County and Philomena. Most of the regular shows we watch have had their series finales. There's not much left on our DVR, but I know there are several good movies I'd like to see that we can borrow from the library.

Yesterday was the regular quilt knotting morning at church. Last month I was running the Half Marathon in Carmel and the month before we didn't have a session planned. I enjoyed getting together with the other two ladies to knot and get several quilts ready for stitching the edges by the fourth member of our team who couldn't make it yesterday.

We counted 13 -- yes, it was 13 -- Mallard ducklings on the pond as we sat on our patio Friday afternoon. I have also seen several Canada Geese goslings. I can remember about 20 years ago when we first moved to Morgan County and saw our first goslings and thought it rather exciting to see nature so close at hand. We soon learned that every year the geese came back and after a few years there were more geese than we desired. Ray began chasing them and trying to scare them off with an air rifle. He was pretty successful and we didn't have a goose problem after a few years but we had to be vigilant. We still enjoyed occasional ducks as they stopped overnight and sometimes we saw a few Wood Ducks but they are not invasive at all.

Recuperating and Geocaching

A week ago I called myself a shut-in as I didn't venture out for about a week. This past week has been a little different. I'm still sporting a dressing on my cheek and the swelling has receded and most of the bruise marks have disappeared. The doctor who removed the cyst is checking my progress very closely--I was in the office on Monday and Friday and have an appointment for tomorrow.

The weather was exceptionally warm this past week. Ray went to the gym in the mornings and I stayed home, but several afternoons we went out geocaching. We found six caches close by but there are two that have eluded us and we'll need to go back sometime and check again. Sometimes, the second or third visit to a site proves to be the successful one.

We also watched plenty of TV. We have completed the second season of Vikings. It's still not my favorite type of show. But I suspect that when season three becomes available on DVD we'll watch it.

I've been reading "Boys in the Boat" about the University of Washington rowing team that went to the 1936 Olympics held in Germany. Well written book that gives a lot of detail about life in the '30s as the country was dealing with the Great Depression and not comprehending what was happening in Europe.

For the first time in about two weeks I was able to run. Need to get serious about this for the Senior Games in Minnesota in July. After two weeks of non activity, it felt good to be on my feet but my time was really slow. I have work cut out for me no doubt.

We spent the afternoon with Joe and Nancy and enjoyed a lazy afternoon and some food. Later, we Skyped with Bart and his family in New Orleans. And so Mother's Day 2015 has come to an end.

A strange and unusual week

Last Monday we signed up for a library card at a branch only a mile or so from our house. After getting our new cards we were able to check out the first season of the Vikings DVD that Ray's sister Karen has recommended. We were able to view all segments as we had extra time to watch (I'll explain that later). The series is more violent than what I like to view but the characterization of the people, the storyline and the videography is quite nice. We've reserved the second season DVD and I assume we'll watch the third season when it becomes available. To be honest, I'd rather watch "Call the Midwife" shown on PBS because the stories are compelling and based on the memoirs of one of the midwives from the '50s.

On Tuesday morning as we were eating breakfast, the smoke detector suddenly began blaring. Our toaster malfunctioned because of a burnt piece of toast. We didn't know what to do and sat there for a few minutes and finally the alarm stopped.

Later that day, one of the maintenance dudes here at Copper Chase stopped in to investigate why our dryer wouldn't finish the drying cycle. Several times I started the dryer only to have it stop after a few minutes. I couldn't restart the dryer until several minutes later. He checked the dryer and then went outside to the vent and discovered it plugged with twigs, straw, etc. When the vent was cleared the dryer worked as it should. Some little bird is probably wondering what happened to her nest.

On Tuesday I had an appointment to remove a cyst from my right cheek. I had been considering whether to do this for some time. The doctor who had seen it in March indicated it was a simple procedure compared to a previous doctor who would have performed a more complicated and invasive procedure. The surgery was performed in his office and I headed for home in less than an hour after arriving for my appointment.

During the afternoon my cheek began swelling which wasn't totally unexpected but Ray called the doctor and soon we were headed back to his office. The doctor explained that I had developed an hematoma below the surface and he opened the wound to clean out the blood. It seems that the tiny blood vessels that had been attached to the cyst appeared to have stopped bleeding due to the anesthetic used during the procedure. A few hours later, the anesthetic had worn off and one or two of the vessels began bleeding again. He fixed that and sent me off with an order for an antibiotic. We were home before 9 p.m.

We returned to the doctor's office on Wednesday noon and he thought everything was OK. His nurse suggested that I ice the area for 15 minutes every hour. I've been faithfully using a bag of frozen peas many times every day since then. The next day my right eye looked bruised and my lip was swollen and black and blue too. The use of the ice bag has helped these symptoms. My eye is clear again but the cheek area looks like a chipmunk or a big goose egg.

I have hardly been out of the house since last Wednesday. I didn't feel up to doing much for several days so Ray and I watched lots of TV including all the segments of the Vikings. We also had several other shows on our DVR and watched them too. When you appear bruised and banged up you just don't want to meet anyone on the street. Tomorrow I return to the doctor for a followup visit. I'm hoping this week isn't strange or unusual--I'd just like to have normal and routine!