I thought the shower head had become really clogged with deposits from our hard water. Thank heavens I hadn’t gotten my hair wet! I shouted to John, and he found there was no running water anywhere in the house. Neighbor Bob came over immediately, and the two men checked under the house. Bob suspected the pump had failed. He was able to suggest a company to call, warning us that it could be expensive. A new pump would be bad enough, but if we needed to drill for a new source of water, we should brace ourselves.
There was no telling how long it would take for the repairmen to respond. Shawn and Bob offered us their facilities and water. What would we do without our fantastic neighbors? David and John filled four gallon milk jugs at their house, as well as two five-gallon containers. The jugs went to the kitchen counter, and the big containers to bathrooms. In the photo, you can see the big water holder. Can you also see the small plastic container on the floor? That was for dipping water to pour into the toilet or for washing hands in the sink.
Two men came within six hours! The pump was at fault, and they installed a new one before dark. We had water again!! We could use it, even though we needed a new bladder for the pressure tank. They had already used the one they keep on the truck, so they returned the next morning to finish the job.
The photo shows the well cover near our driveway, with the tire marks from the large truck. We are very thankful we got off as lightly as we did.
The well cover is supposed to look like a large rock. After I added this photo, I’ve decided it looks like a friendly little alien. Does anyone have a name to suggest?
Sadie knew something was happening, but she had no idea what was coming. I took two photos to show her waiting mood.
I was waiting, too, but I tried to keep a smile on my face. Son John $pencer packed his car carefully, preparing to follow his heart to Washington state, a continent away. Sadie obeyed the command to get in.
The trip was going well until there was car trouble in Sundance, Wyoming. A mechanic said he needed a new transmission, but there was none to be had there. That man talked with the mechanic who had worked on the car in North Carolina. Together, they decided draining the transmission fluid and replacing it might get the car to the coast. The first suggestion would have cost thousands of dollars, but the second cost hundreds. The happy ending is $’s arriving at his destination one week after leaving.
$ drove through light snow and treacherous ice without further incident. He commended on the cold – -30F (-34.4C). Sadie walked oddly, he said, really feeling the brutal chill to her paws. I imagined a cartoon dog walking on her toes, trying to skim over the surface without touching it. She is much happier now, resting in a warm house. $ is taking a break for a day and will begin job and house hunting in earnest.
I can smile freely again, knowing our son is where he wants to be. When family or friends leave our house, my heart is heavy. It’s almost like being physically sick for days or hours before, proportional to the time they’ve spent with us. When they leave and wishing won’t bring them back, I can resume normal living once more.
Our plans to visit grandson Nathaniel were canceled, because he tested positive for COVID. A week later, after he quarantined with a very light case, we went to a restaurant he chose. We always leave that decision to him, since he is a culinary student at the university and has heard about all the nearby eateries. We had a lovely visit with him and friend Sarah, as shown in the photo.
What doesn’t show is the explosive sound that greeted us when we opened the door of the restaurant. We were shown to a table right under a speaker. I immediately lowered the volume on my hearing aids while the others refrained from covering their ears. If we had stayed in those seats, everyone would have come out as deaf as I am. Nathaniel politely requested another table, so we picked up our menus and napkins to follow. I didn’t hear what he said, but we were led upstairs and shown to these two tables pulled together. We did not know that a Super Bowl playoff was on the air, and EVERYONE downstairs was an avid fan. The restaurant person asked if we were sure we wanted the sound off and mercifully left us in peace.
The photo of our party, taken from a different angle, shows the game projected on a large screen behind Sarah’s seat and mine.
The building had been a residential house, and we had half the upstairs. I’m still amazed that we got the quiet we wanted AND a private dining room at no extra cost. I wondered why no other diners were brought upstairs. As we walked out, we saw that every parking space was taken in that tiny lot.
David told me today that every time he heard patrons downstairs shouting or groaning, he glanced at the screen to see what was happening. I’m glad he had a good view and I did not.
Until this year, the best part of snow was watching it fall and hoping it would stick. During the last snowstorm, I paused occasionally to watch it and was rewarded with about eight inches of it piled on the deck. Days of melt ensued. I had no use for this destructive process until I looked at the design where snow had melted. There seemed to be dark fanciful animals leaping there.
About half an hour later I looked at the white bits and saw a white Yorkie on the left, followed by others with their muzzles behind the dog ahead. On the right are several dachshunds.
Three days later there was a special design under a plant stand. I’m not sure if snow clung to the stand, keeping it from accumulating below, or if it melted and dripped on snow under it. Obviously, I missed the action as this was forming.
John and I were walking in a light flurry when we noticed Sadie licking the snow off the road as she walked. I failed to record that design, but I did catch her in the act of scooping up snow with her tongue.
I am so happy that snow now has two dimensions for me – one coming, the other going.
Before the snow began on Saturday night, we knew the church building would be closed on Sunday. We could sleep late, those of us not overly eager to see snow falling. I checked once in the wee hours, and our world was already white. That was a sweet sleep for me, knowing the storm had started and everyone was snug in bed.
I took the first video at 8:52.
Sadie seemed to love the snow as much as I did. John $pencer would take her out to play later.
I have often seen birds fly between the bars of the deck, but now I have proof. A song sparrow was feeding on the deck. When I startled him, he flew low enough to knock out a square of snow. I presume his landing gear was still down.
Square lined in green
I wanted a good shot of the snow on the deck.
Upon looking closer, I saw we had a new kind of bird on top of the stand. I labeled the picture Skunk Bird.
Skunk Bird
Striped skunk
While listening to our church service on line, I watched the snow and the birds flying to the feeder. That was double worship for me. John, son $, grandson David, and I spent time together chatting and eating, while I continued to watch the snow. What a satisfying day it was!
On a day that was not so cold, I took a video of tapping ice. I find it almost irresistible to walk by a frozen puddle if there is white ice on top. Seeing white means there is air between the water and the ice. Tapping the brittle ice makes a crackling sound that is most satisfying. John was standing by, ready to assist. He gallantly offers his arm when the ice is thin, because I would get my foot wet if I lost my balance.
If any of you do this, please let me know. Finding a kindred spirit would be exciting.
I’m thankful I can see and hear, having experienced a bit of blindness and deafness in the last few months. Skip this if you don’t want to read about some joys and drawbacks of aging.
We went to a Twelfth Night concert on Sunday afternoon at Lake Junaluska, the Methodist conference center near us. Our new church music director invited us, and we enjoyed hearing her sing with the Asheville Symphonic Chorus accompanied by a harp. This was the first time I heard live music while wearing hearing aids. It seems every new situation is an eye-opener, or in this case, ear opener. The sound was very loud to me, though I saw no one else cringe. I’ve always thought a harp was soft, struggling to be heard over the sound of an orchestra, but this harp never sank below the singers. David could empathize. He has extremely sensitive ears, so the music assaulted his ears, too. John asked me the practical question – couldn’t you have turned down the volume of the hearing aids? I never thought of it, wanting to experience the music as it really was.
I never realized people need time to adjust to hearing aids. My deafness was not profound, yet I had to get used to hearing things differently. The “s” sounds in people’s speech sizzled. Running water seemed loud, out of proportion to everything else. I discovered my camera whirred when turned on. Those were things to be thankful for.
I am still learning when to change the wax guards. On the way to meet friends for dinner, I realized I couldn’t hear out of one ear. Back home, I removed the aids and felt oddly unbalanced the rest of the evening. For me, having input from both sides of my head is important. I remember my dad standing before the big wall clock, setting the volume on his aids. He knew if he could hear the clock, he would be able to hear people. My test is touching the hair over each ear. If it doesn’t sound like two pieces of paper rubbing together, I need to check it. I’m grateful for having found this routine.
I continued to struggle with eyesight after fluid leaked into the retina of one eye. The retina specialist immediately began a series of injections, and I’ve just had the evaluation. (Many thanks to neighbor Shawn for driving me to that appointment. John was having a heart scan in Asheville at the same time.) Dr. K seemed a bit disappointed that I hadn’t noticed much improvement. He looked at the computer screen again and found the answer. There was dramatic improvement after the first injection and not much change over the next few months. Good to know! I needed to be told I had something to be thankful for. We will continue injections at six week intervals. After three, he will evaluate the eye again. If all is well, the next set will be two months apart. He said it is safe for me to drive again.
As I walked toward the living room, I could see ornaments on the floor. Either Sadie’s tail knocked them down, or they fell off the wilting branches. I’m thankful I see well enough to avoid objects at unexpected places before stepping on them.
Reading is still difficult. One eye sees things at normal size, and the dominant eye shrinks the image about 25%. They are fighting each other. Evidently, my brain has adjusted to this when viewing things at a distance. John pointed out that prescription reading glasses could correct that. I’m happy there is a question I can ask next time.
I invited grand-dog Sadie to walk, and she just stared at me from the bed. It was her way of telling me I was crazy. Maybe she realized the cold might hurt her paws, since the thermometer showed 19 F (-7.22 C) outside. If she had been with me, I would not have gone to the creek, but would have turned around at the stop sign. Being alone freed me to frolic on the frozen puddles. I adore the sound of cracking ice when you tap a puddle that has frozen over. Most of them were frozen solid, but there were a few excellent ones where the water had evaporated, leaving an ice top hanging in place. If my fingers had stayed warm, I would have tried a selfie video to showcase the sound.
A man I didn’t know rolled his window down at the stop sign and commented on my being outside. What an interesting story he had! He grew up in Maine, moved to Florida, and then relocated here in North Carolina. He repairs heating and air conditioning systems. He said it was 84 F (28.9 C) on a winter’s day in Florida, and that was just too hot. If he had been in Maine, he would have shoveled snow to get to the heating units. NC is perfect for him.
The longer I walked, the warmer I got. With half a mile to go, I took off a headband, put the knit hat back on, removed gloves, and unzipped the coat. It was wonderful to shed the layers when I stepped in the front door. I checked the clips from the cam on the porch and extracted one frame of my going out and one when I came home. I waved at the camera in the first and fanned my face with the hat in the second.
While cooling off, I chatted with grandson Nathaniel via text. He is spending his winter break with his dad upstate New York. I was pleased he sent me photos of peanut butter pinwheels and rum-raisin cinnamon bread he had made.
I asked if he was enjoying the snow in NY, and he sent me a photo of the snow angel he made the day before. That tickled me, because I love angels. This one had to be the tallest one I’ve ever seen, because Nathaniel is 6 feet 5 inches (1.95 m) tall.
Whether you are in the northern hemisphere or down under, I hope you are enjoying appropriate weather.
I looked back at the photos I took this Christmas, wanting to savor the memories. The time flew by with no time for reflection. It all began with a gathering of all the neighbors at Joyce’s house on the 20th.
Anyone with a birthday in a week before or after Christmas knows they are celebrated in nanoseconds. That’s all I’ve ever known, so I was pleased. A very special find was a birthday balloon in the shape of a Christmas tree. That summed it up perfectly.
Christmas dinner was relaxed for everyone. I was glad son John $pencer took a video of the flaming Christmas pudding. In England 40 years ago, neighbor Gillian gave us one she had made and included the recipe. I still have that recipe in her handwriting and use it every year.
After dinner, all but the two Johns went for a walk. Neighbor Logan shared his scooter with grandson David, which delighted David.
Four of us waited for the new year to begin. Six were side-lined by having been with someone who tested positive for COVID.
North Carolina snows are often beautiful and disappear without freezing on the roads. Ours came on January 3. I liked the margarita-looking birdbath on the deck and Sadie’s exploring a snowman on our morning walk. She growled, backed away, ventured forward, and finally sniffed the white alien.
The rock that had been in the birdbath wore an ice halo. This morning I noticed miniature lights on the Christmas tree. The tiny ornament reflected all the lights around it. To mark Epiphany, we’ll turn off the tree tonight at midnight.
Every year we have gone to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We’ve also had a special dinner at home on the 25th except for the year we were in Germany. This year plans were made early for niece Kathie and son Max to join us. COVID intervened, as both tested positive. She wrote us that they went to church on line, looked at the gifts in their stockings and celebrated the song, “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. They packed up their lunch, camp chairs, presents, and their porch snowman without arms, and drove to the mountains. There they sat beside a pretend fire ring and celebrated in the warm air (65F/ 18.8C). You know they will remember this Christmas the rest of their lives. I love their indomitable spirit of faith and hope.
A week ago we overheard neighbor Shawn say they would not be with family, so we pressed them to celebrate with us. Our phones had been silenced for church, so we missed the text that they were invited at the last minute to be with their son. She wrote, “I’m so sorry.”
My reply came easily from the heart, “Don’t be sorry since this must be an answer to prayer! We’ll be joyful instead.”
Bob and Shawn
As our pastor taught me, you don’t promise to pray for people, you do it that instant. I wrote a quick prayer and sent it to her. I tell you, this kind of thing makes life much more exciting! You get God in the middle of a situation, and you never know what joy will come your way. We didn’t think Shawn, Bob, and Logan would be eating with us. John, John $pencer, David, and I were hungry, so we decided to go ahead and eat the main part of the meal. If they came later, we would sit with them and chat while they ate. Perfect! They texted they were on their way before the food was cold. We would eat Shawn’s sweet potato casserole and our salad after they joined us.
God doesn’t do things in a stingy manner. Neighbor Joyce called. We knew her dinner guest was having trouble getting here, and Joyce let us know the woman cancelled. Would she join us? Yes! She would! We all sat down together and ate leisurely. We had a full table of the best neighbors in the world.
John and Joyce with Christmas pudding
Son John $ took a video of the flaming Christmas pudding. Most of us tasted it, but everyone had a piece of the delicious pumpkin pie Shawn had made.
Shawn wondered if anyone would be willing to go for a walk. We all knew it was the best thing to do after a heavy meal. John was excused, because he was loading the dishwasher and cleaning the pots and pans. Only Logan had wheels, his scooter, which I think was new to him last year. David expressed interest in trying it, and Logan graciously shared it. I told Logan that was the greatest gift he could have given David. Later David said he was sorry he hadn’t thanked Logan properly before they went home. He was thrilled with his time on the scooter.
David, Joyce, Shawn, Bob, and Logan
Joyce had expected her daughter to spend half a week here, but she tested positive for COVID and couldn’t come. Her new plan was to share Christmas with a friend who would also be alone. As you read, that bombed, too. They did have their festive dinner the following day. Our Christmas was not what any of us thought it would be, but I think it worked out beautifully for everyone. Put God in the director’s seat, and you could be in for a wild and wonderful ride!
Christmas blessings to all of you. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for loving all people, especially those who read this post. You sent us Jesus — Emmanuel, God with us. Help us respond to your eternal love and your longing to be in a relationship with us. God, bless us all. Amen.
My name is Suki, my human is a writer, and this is about my world. The world according to Suki The Cat. My humans smell funny, look weird, and I can't understand a thing they say, but they feed me, so hey, what are you gonna do?
Mehrling Muse 