England 40 Years Ago — August 30, 1981

When Derek B, the rector, heard from Kate that we had been to Norway, he said he loves brown cheese. His deadpan humor is hilarious: “All English cheese tastes like soap. There is one good one, but I forget its name.” Turning to his wife, “Pat, what is the name of that good cheese that has maggots in the middle? Ah, yes, Stilton.”

Lisa was complimenting Kate on her thoughtfulness to a guest and said, “You’re getting quite hospitalic.”

This is a photo not related to anything I wrote. Caption says $ loves hats. It is Kate’s uniform hat. Aim was no good.

I have searched England for a dolls’ baby bottle that will hold water. Doesn’t seem to exist. Phillipa has loaned me her Tiny Tears for working with John $ and potty training, but no bottle. [The idea is to let the toddler feed the doll and see it wet its pants afterwards.] We’ve tried $ on the pot for two days, but he simply doesn’t get the idea. Even when we stuff him with salty snacks and lots of drinks, he only wets about four times a day. Bet that would make some women jealous!

We’ve spent several afternoons working jigsaw puzzles. Princess Diana in all her white finery billowing about her is something else again. [I wish I had that puzzle now. I don’t know what happened to it.]

We spent a delightful afternoon with the neighbors who lived across from the last house we had. Friends of the family were there – Kirsten who is Lisa’s age, Bryony who is 11 and goes to Micklefield, and their mum, Lorna. First everyone but $ and I went swimming at Dunotter, the school on our former street. $ loved watching on the sidelines, but the extreme heat got to us, and we went out in the sunshine to cool off. Caroline has a French girl as a guest; her family wanted to improve her English so sent her over for two weeks. The poor girl was really thrown in the deep end, if you ask me. She looks tired – and with reason. It’s a real struggle to try to follow a strange language. Both Muriel and Caroline want to see our recording of the Royal Wedding this week.

The girls have been good about running errands in the village. My voice has been out of commission for almost a week; I’ve diagnosed my trouble as either emphysema or pneumonia. I’ve been tickled at the various reactions of the people who call on the phone. I scared the telex room man who called to report to John; he must have thought with such a wild voice, I must be totally out of control. It was obvious he thought he’d gotten hold of a nut and couldn’t wait to hang up. Others are sure they’ve gotten the wrong number or that I’m at death’s door. The neighbor girls like to make me talk to see what will happen next; our girls are used to it by now.

Another stray shot of Kate, Phillipa, and $

Friday night Sarah M, the assistant of John’s boss, came home with John for dinner and spending the night. All were up early Saturday to set off for Dunkerque (Dunkirk), leaving John $ and me to play together in near solitude. We had a good time. I fed him lunch and then went next door for a sandwich with the neighbors. That was a nice interlude.

The others came home much later than they had intended. They boarded the dirty coal ship and were fed a five-course lunch that lasted over two hours – everything superbly cooked. The tour of the ship took longer than they expected, so they were late leaving. A slow ferry and unhurried dock workers delayed them further. They got home at midnight.

The girls enjoyed their day in France, though they didn’t see anything they hadn’t seen before. Most enjoyable was being with Sten’s children whom they’ve seen on several work-related occasions before. Sarah was taken back to her home by the other family.

Today John went to morning service with the girls, and we’ve enjoyed the summer weather in the afternoon. We cooked, ate dinner outside, and even had tea outside. Pleasant.

Below are two photos of the lovely little town we lived in, Walton-on-the-Hill:

The travelers had to clean the car inside and out. It was filthy with fine coal dust.

Son of the Congregation

At the end of the Sunday morning service, there was a blessing for Adam and his wife Emily. They moved to Indiana the next day for Adam to begin seminary. That, in itself, was special, but there was more to it. Adam grew up in our church, and his dad was the pastor back then. Pastor N moved away to serve other churches, but Adam stayed. After college he worked in the area and was very active in the church. He did many things, but I saw him running the sound board for our service and playing his marimba with all the hymns. His dad was invited to do the blessing. What a moving address it was! As the young couple stood before the congregation, Pastor N. recounted high points of Adam’s life and how God led him toward seminary. He said it was good Adam waited until he was sure that was what God was calling him for. Pastor N. was also 33 years old when he went to seminary.

People were invited to greet them at the front of the church. I took a bathroom break, and when I came back, only a few were there. Shirley, a grandmother who had been especially close to Adam, walked up. She was like a magnet. In a few seconds, everyone moved into a circle, drawn by an invisible force. They prayed softly, so low that I couldn’t hear them. It seemed like an impromptu laying on of hands in the Biblical sense. Since it was moving for me, I can only imagine what it was like for Adam, Emily, and Pastor N.

The amusing part was going on concurrently. Shirley’s grandchildren took full advantage of no supervision and were testing the acoustics loudly. My lovely friend Susan, a former teacher, rescued the situation. She didn’t shush the children, but sat down and quietly chatted with them. I thought that summed up Christian living. Some are called away from the world to pray, and others deal with practical problems in the world. Both are necessary. Both are blessings to others.

God bless you, Emily and Adam.

Document, Then Write

I took a photo of the crime (?) scene. You’ll notice no yellow tape and no inert body.

A few minutes before, I reached for the alarm and found myself falling out of bed. On the way down, I said to myself, “Falling! Nothing to grab! Don’t break a bone!” THUD!

No “out of order” reports came from bones. I wanted to crawl back in bed, but bed was five levels above where I was. Crawling wouldn’t work. Sadie came to the edge of the bed and questioned with her eyes, “What did you do that for? Are you trying to make me go for a walk?”

“You can fall all over yourself, but I am NOT walking with you!”

Because I get up off the floor once a day, that was not a problem. I followed my daily routine – doing stretching exercises, a short resistance band workout, and walking a mile. My reasoning? I wanted to keep the blood cells rushing around so they couldn’t take a collective nap on my shins. Rehashing the event, I blamed it on the bed topper. I think it shifted, and there were three inches hanging over a column of very thin air. No support there!

Did I learn anything from this? Yes, I don’t scream; I whimper in the middle of an accident. Although David has excellent hearing, he will know nothing of what beFELL me. My first reaction was to look for dents from the acciDENT. I had to move to keep this moving experience from being lethal. The fun part was writing this in my head. Now I’m going to DEADhead the roses so I don’t STIFFen up.

What Sadie Missed

I slept through the Johns’ leaving at 4:30 in the morning, though Sadie must have said goodbye to John $pencer. He was flying to Washington state to celebrate Rose’s birthday. Sad-sack Sadie was moping at 7:00.

I said brightly, “Want to go Sadie? Come on. Let’s go for a walk!”

“We’ll just go to the stop sign and come right home.”

**“I am staying right on this bed to mope.”**

“Let’s go walking! It will be great!”

**“Look at my face. I’m giving you the Stink Eye. Please go away.”**

Eat your heart out, Sadie. Look what you missed on the road – two pieces of pepperoni pizza!

Sadie did not see through Holly’s roof like I did. I sat on the porch to savor the cool morning and saw tree branches on the other side of the house through the dormer window. My one eye told me something my brain refused to believe. There is no second floor, and all you’d see through the dormer window are roof tiles.

The camera insisted on showing you where the branches really were – attached to a tree in the front.

Sadie knew I was looking at something near the window on the porch. She wandered over when I pointed the camera down at it.

I took the spider’s view at its eye level. The spider was looking at the window, with the reflection of the porch in front of it. Those were the last few seconds of its life.

Sadie finally saw the spider and wanted to eat it. My garden shoes went into action, clapping the critter senseless. Sadie still wanted it, so I scraped its remains into a crack between the boards. There! We didn’t have to find a vet for emergency treatment! By 9:00 I’d had enough excitement for four mornings.

DIY Eyeglasses

I didn’t know where to start when the eye surgeon mentioned readers. Many people buy them when their eyes can no longer focus to read. I was going to be in limbo for a while, with eyes that were set for distance vision. The old glasses were no longer usable, and I couldn’t see to read. John helped me pick out two pair. He could read the magnification, and I tried on several before choosing plain readers and sunglasses with bifocals for reading. At Dollar General, they were VERY affordable. Several days later I checked the internet for information. Readers.com had a chart to print (found here). Great! I had picked out the right ones. It would have been much easier if I had known what I was looking for.

Readers are probably not a long-term solution for me, because I think my eyes are different. Right now I see only a blur with one eye, anyway. Until the doctor says it’s time to get glasses, these will be a valuable crutch for daily living. Now, if I only had an automatic toothbrush loader, I could breeze through that cleaning routine!

Aye, I had the Eye Shot

Thank you all for your prayers and concern. Everything went well, and the next injection is a month from today.

The preparation (eleven letters) took longer than the treatment (nine), just like those two nouns. There were yellow drops, followed by two sets of numbing drops, and a 10-minute wait for them to take effect. That’s when the amusement started. I thought the assistant said, “We’ll give you something to hold your eyelid open.”

I responded, “I HAVE TO HOLD MY EYELID OPEN????”

Hearing my disbelief, she laughed and said, “No, no! The doctor will do that FOR you.”

We both had a good laugh while my eyes were still closed. Soon she said she was ready for him. A man’s voice said, “I heard my name.”

Knowing it was Dr. Komanski, I asked, “Your name is HIM?”

He laughed and said it was better than Injection. He saw the notice sent to me that Dr. Injection Komanski would take care of me.

“Look up,” I heard. In two seconds the eye was held open by some small gizmo, which I hardly felt and couldn’t see. The assistant had a comforting hand on my shoulder as Dr. K. gave me the shot. It was over in the time it took you to read that sentence. There was a bit of pressure, but no pain. She squirted cold liquid into the eye before telling me what was on the instruction sheet she was handing me. I walked out, made the appointment, and John drove me home. Easy as could be!

Six hours later the eye feels the same as it did in the office, a little scratchy. No immediate change was expected in my vision, so I’m still wandering around in a fog. So, what else is new??

I’m Leaking

It’s official. My eye is leaking. Because of macular degeneration, fluid is leaking, which is causing the big blur in my right eye. Treatment starts in two days – injections that should keep me from going blind. Please rejoice with me. I can read no better than I did a week ago, but there is hope on the horizon. I’ve heard from several people that they are currently taking the injections that keep this condition from going wild.

An added bonus is that the retina specialist uses space in my eye doctor’s office once a week. Instead of driving 45 minutes to Asheville, we’ll go to the next town. Please rejoice with John on that.

Now for the fun. Besides reading, can you guess what routine thing is hardest for me? It’s loading my toothbrush! Depth perception is missing for close things right now. I may be walking around with bright, shiny fingers that smell minty.

My half-deaf friend called to check on me, and we had a few laughs. She said the two of us would make a good pair, one being able to see and one to hear. She is totally deaf in one ear, making conversation difficult. Perception is askew for both of us. She can’t tell where sounds are coming from, and I can’t judge distance easily.

We chatted about coping with the loss of senses. I have an app on my phone that is supposed to translate speech into words on the screen. I hear better than my phone does. She wants to learn to lip-read. You need sight for both of those things. My advice? Don’t lose more than one sense at a time.

I tried to read the title of an icon on my phone to her and had to say, “I can’t read it!”

She laughed and said mock-loudly, “I can’t hear you.”

Hopefully neither of us will get COVID and lose our sense of smell. I presume taste goes out the window with smell. We could feel food without tasting it. My advice? Hang onto your senses, since it’s hard to be without more than one.

A Blur

A week went by in a blur, a stressful blur. I didn’t mention cataract surgery in July, because it’s very common if you live long enough. Eight days after that surgery, I read a number of lines on the standard eye chart and could read a card in my hand if I held it far away. The date was July 20 when I knew the right eye was working well. Last week the second eye was done. It, too, seemed very good. I gradually came to the conclusion that the eyes didn’t seem to be working well together. Because both were set for distance vision, John helped me buy readers to help focus closeup. Reading was still very difficult. I became aware that the right eye had a spot in the middle where there was only a blur. That screamed macular degeneration to me. My dad developed that when he was about 82 years old, and he was blind for the last three or four years of his life.

On August 17 the eye surgeon could tell that my left eye was 20/25. Great! I hadn’t seen that well since I was seven years old. When my right eye looked at the chart, the only letter I could read was the very top E. The doctor said several things could cause that, so we did a scan of the retina. He put a scan done several weeks ago on the screen, along with the new scan. One was flat; the other had a big bubble in the middle. My supposition was correct. I have macular degeneration. He quickly said, “Ten years ago we could do nothing. Now there is treatment for that.”

The office made an appointment for me with a retina specialist in Asheville for Friday. John canceled his trip to the train club so he could drive me there tomorrow. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future.

My smile isn’t broken.

We are not Flooded

John and I were out in the heavy rains yesterday, going from one doctor’s appointment to another. By late afternoon, the emergency messages began to pour into our electronic devices. There was flooding in two nearby towns, Clyde and Canton. Grandson David’s coworker couldn’t get home, so the manager took him to her own house for the night. Today neighbor Logan had no school, because all schools in the county were closed due to the flooding. We thought Jonathan Creek would be swollen this morning, but we walked there and found it was not unusually high.

We don’t think the creek overflowed anywhere in our valley. We live on a lower slope of a mountain. If water ever rose this high, it would be catastrophic, and you probably wouldn’t hear from me again. Today the weather is gorgeous – sunny with blue skies and white clouds.

England 40 Years Ago — August 11, 1981

Legoland was three-dimensional fantasy. I loved all the details – guard boxes for the Lego soldiers marching in front of the palace, delicate stairs and banisters, figures in native costume, a stave church, water locks that really worked, trains, and windmills – all made of Lego plastic building blocks. Photos only give you an idea of what the scenes look like.

[Getting a Lego driver’s license was a high point for Lisa. Kate, three years younger, did not grasp the knack of turning corners. One of these girls has spent the last 40 years laughing about it.]

The ferry from Esbjerg to Harwich is the nearest to a cruise ship I’ve ever sailed on. There was a tiny playground for children, several restaurants and spacious cabins.

Our impressions of Norway were mountains, hills water, colourful wooden houses with bright tile roofs and lovely costumes for special occaions.

Sweden has larger shopping centers and easier parking than Norway and England. We loved the word “parkering”.

Denmark is full of brick houses and old brick churches with hardly any wooden buildings. Many small houses have red tiled roofs, are almost square, and have receding foreheads for roofs. Ends that normally peak have sloping triangular ends. Transformers for electricity seemed to be housed in obelisk towers – lots of wires running to and from them. They were often metal, though sometimes of brick with a tile roof. I particularly liked a double-lane bike path.

Flowers were everywhere in Scandinavia. It gradually dawned on us that we are used to gardens in England, and that is why we didn’t at first think they had an exceptional amount. Scandinavians are more likely to have flowers in boxes and on windowsills than around the yard.

As you may have guessed by now, we had a wonderful trip. So many of the things we did, we couldn’t have done at all had John $ been with us. At the end of the trip we could look forward to seeing our little fellow with John’s sister and her family.

These photos show our two families eating breakfast, playing with trains, and getting ready to leave.

You deserve an endurance medal if you are still with me!