12 Oakdale

The Grand Egyptian Museum and the pyramids. I am overwhelmed. First the museum. As ever, at a fast pace, but with Ehab at the helm, we bypassed the main area and went straight to the boat of King Khufu, the oldest boat in the world. Found in 1954 next to his pyramid, it was reassembled and given the place of honor in its own building. Eventually it will be joined by another.  Next, the treasure of Tutankhamen. Gold, gold, gold including the 11+ kilogram mask that never leaves Egypt. But also all the things the king would need in the afterlife: food, clothing, chariots, weaponry, furniture, etc.  My favorite: the 365 small figurines of the king that would handle all the work he was going to be required to do, one for each day. Exactly what I need at home for my gardening. Given an hour of free range, I headed to the gift shop for post cards (meh selection), a cat magnet for our cat sitter Vera (all I could find), a pillow cover with a sacred ibis (will go with ...

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Day 3 of our trip, and still no luggage. Fortunately, this time to Northern Africa, we packed so we have a change of clothes (for some reason, I didn’t put in an extra blouse, ah well) and all Grant’s meds with us in our carryon bags. Lost luggage does make it easy to decide what to wear each morning. Same old, same old. We are at the Fairmont Nile Hotel, with a wonderful room overlooking the Nile. Between us and the riverside People of Egypt Walkway is a 6-lane road with constant traffic night and day. I use the term “6-lane” loosely, as lanes seem to be suggestions, not rigid rules. But there are lane markers. Buses, trucks, cars, mopeds, even 1 horse-drawn wagon stream pass. What there isn’t are crosswalks. I have seen none. Pedestrians just walk slowly across, one lane at a time, while traffic goes by. I am determined to try it.  My plan is to be next to a local and follow their lead. This morning we saw men standing in the road waiting for a seat on a microbus. Eventually they...

Bloom & Grow Membership Committee’s Welcome Back Open House was a success. All of my anxiety a waste. I knew that, but I still worried. We had 36 people attend, which does include 6 committee chairs and 5 of us on MC, but still, a good turn out, plus 3 people said they were joining, Ashley created a huge charcuterie, Rosemary brought desserts and a collection of raffle prizes (she evidently loves haunting upscale thrift stores), Linda P. came in the morning to help Grant and me set up, then stayed to bitter end cleaning up, Tina volunteered as extra hands. A good group. I provided the PowerPoint, which I updated with current pictures, plus I organized my committee with myriad emails and texts. My coup was figuring out, with coaching by AI, how to create an iPhone shortcut to send individual text to everyone in B&G, asking them to reply “Yes” if they were coming. The good: I got a few more positive responses. The bad: a heck of a lot of “I’m so sorry I didn’t answer your email.”...

Out to visit Mary, who says she is doing well. Ryan is still in a hotel somewhere in the Mideast. I’ve brought my sketching and paint supplies, a scarf I’m remaking, and our computer so I can update the Bloom and Grow PowerPoint.  The week’s project, in my mind, is to get all of the school supplies currently in piles on the living room floor stored so they are accessible. I always forget to take a ”before” photo. Mary had made great progress by sorting things into piles. So many markers, so many crayons. Just way too much for what shelves are available. Long term: items not used will be moved on. Short term: get things into the upstairs storage room with distribution TBD.  Well, finding the mouse and her nest certainly helped our decisions to throw stuff away. After 6 days of plodding away, going through the garage moved to the top of list. A full van of items donated, and a full garbage can thrown away. Thank goodness I looked in the cubby with the stuff from Ryan’s old car. ...

I guess we are officially old: we went to Grant’s new doctor, and he walked out with 3 more appointments. Are doctors’ visits our new social time? (Yes, I know we are old; this was just an awaking.) The original reason for the visit was to get refills for the 6 medicines he takes. In the course of the interview, Dr. Mehta decided Grant’s shortness of breath was likely cardio not pulmonary, so he wants that looked into. Grant is to return to him in a month with all the information needed. First up was to make an appointment with his cardiologist who, it turns out is on medical leave, return unknown. Yes, her APRN was an acceptable sub. 7:00 AM appointment next Wednesday, on the other side of Orlando. The bone density test easily scheduled and fairly nearby. Blood work at Quest, check. Then the cardio person added an X-ray which might be done at the same time as the bone scan.  On the other hand, we have been healthy enough to keep busy. Two weeks ago, a family and friend filled trip...