Celebrating a Birthday!

where I'm sitting to blog

We sit out here on the lanai many afternoons to read, enjoy the view of the back yard, and I compose these blog posts. During the depths of summer's heat or in our short winter months, time spent here is brief, if at all. Twelve large windows help to regulate the amount of heat or cold.

Today is perfect. The overcast sky emits fleeting rain showers that are gone before they really get started, and a brisk breeze is fluttering softly through my hair. We're wearing shorts and short-sleeved T-shirts. One of us is wearing sandals and the other is barefoot.

Gary is in a nearby chair, talking on the phone with his son while I type on my laptop and inject an occasional comment into their conversation. 

It's birthday weekend here, for Gary. If you're asking if it is a Big One, my response is that at our age, every birthday is the big one. 

To celebrate another trip around the sun we prefer to go low-key. On Thursday we had lunch at one of our local favorites that sits absolutely on the very edge of the Rainbow River. I took the snapshot you see here (below) to give you an idea of how casual this place is: corrugated metal decor, lots of beer advertisements, and most of the dining area is open-air with huge picnic tables and metal patio furniture. The serving staff all wear blue jean cut-off shorts.

The hostess always asks us where we prefer to sit. Our usual response is on the outer deck within a few feet of the river. 

our first table

We had driven through a blustery rain storm to get there, so we brought our jackets and the umbrella with us to the table. It's good that we did!

That same storm caught up with us, so we grabbed the menus and found a drier place to sit. This time we stationed ourselves on bar stools that had us sitting side-by-side, which I usually avoid, preferring face-to-face conversation with my dining companion.

However, our view of the river from the countertop and stools was excellent. When it's just the two of us, we may ask to sit there all the time in future visits!

We have kayaked and canoed this river together in the past. It's a "lazy river" kinda thing with slow-boat traffic, inner tubes, paddle boards. Be sure to note the gray Spanish Moss draped from the huge oak trees above the canvas awnings. "Swampy's" is aptly named!

As for what we ate, the Birthday Boy had sausage and shrimp over grits with a spicy cheesy cream sauce. He said it was sooo good!

I had the grilled chicken sandwich with all the available vegetables and a side of cole slaw. Sweet tea, too. (Always sweet tea when we eat out.) Very good; we enjoyed it all.

So that was on Thursday. Since the actual birthday was on Saturday, and we generally try to avoid weekend traffic, we did the eat-out-lunch celebration on a weekday. (Friday was my Bible study and a pedicure appointment.)

On Saturday morning I gave Gary this card when he brought my first-of-the-morning coffee. By mutual agreement early in our relationship, we decided to not usually exchange gifts, preferring shared experiences instead. At our age, we have: 

had it all

have it all

have either worn it out, sold it, or donated it

just don't need it

My son from Out West texted this snapshot of his family (minus the 2 cats) with his greeting for Gary's birthday:

This is their mule, the one who jumped the ranch fence twice a couple of weeks ago. They tell me she's not done that any more, so hopefully that escapade won't be repeated.

Gary also received emails and text messages from his family, some of his former co-workers and even a couple of high school classmates!

Although we stayed home (Gary rode his bike after breakfast; I'm still grounded from that for a few more days), we maintained a festive feel throughout the day. I wore my ice cream shirt that was purchased at Jekyll Island last year. Gary wore his souvenir shirt from Billy Bob's in Fort Worth (acquired before we met).

Gary cooked hamburgers on his indoor grill and put together a French Fry - Tater Tot combo in the air fryer. Yes, I caught him in this picture with his mouth-full! 

We watched the Air Force vs. Navy football game. Our favor leans toward Air Force, since Gary and members of my family are veterans. But Gary has also spent a fair amount of time at the Naval Academy with his investigative career after USAF retirement. 

Late in the day we had German chocolate birthday cupcakes with a candle and Klondike ice cream bars. As you can see we are big party animals and we like it this way.

Returning to the topic of giving each other shared experiences instead of gift-wrapped presents, I spent some time reminiscing about the fun places/trips we've taken since his last birthday. Here are just some of the snapshots taken:

Gary's Birthday lunch at Flagler Beach 2024

Christmas 2024 model train
and miniatures show

Valentine's Day 2025 @ Tarpon Springs
(sponge diving excursion)

Barbara's birthday lunch 2025
Crackers on Crystal River

Everglades, Florida 2025

Key West, southern-most tip 
of Continental USA
April 2025

spring 2025 
Dudley Historic Farm, Newberry, FL

Mermaids @ Weeki Watchee
April 2025

49th Avenue biking trail
Summer 2025

National Corvette Museum, Bowling Green, Kentucky
September 2025

It's been a good birthday celebration. Every year, every day, every breath -- all are gifts of mercy from our Lord who has blessed us more than we can possibly know this side of Heaven.

Teach us to number our days, 

that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 

Psalm 90:12 

Until next time, grace and peace.

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P.S. Anonymous comments need to include your name and/or website or the comment will be deleted.

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Wisdom Gained the Hard Way

internet photo

For two seniors living the retired life we seem to never have a dull moment. Gary's desire every morning is to "do nuthin'!" but he rarely achieves that goal. 🤭🙄 With this post I'm expanding on that as I respond to Joyce's Hodgepodge questions for this week. 

1. What's your favorite fall scent? Would we find this in or around your home right now? 

I prefer Vanilla at any time of the year. A lot of other scents give me a headache. 

2. October is Country Music Month...are you a fan of country music? Do you have a favorite country artist? Ever been to Nashville? In terms of lifestyle are you more country mouse or city mouse? 

Country music doesn't appeal to me much (it's too much "cryin' in my beer"); but I can take it in small doses if people are country line dancing. THAT is fun to watch.

I have been through Nashville's freeway traffic many times and stayed overnight at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, which was an absolute delight (thanks to the generosity of my eldest son a few months after his dad died). To reach our family members up north, driving through Nashville is our usual route. 

Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center

Never a 'country mouse,' I've lived in cities and suburbs all of my life. My father was an airline pilot for a few years and then transitioned to corporate aviation. Much of that time my family had only one car, so we usually lived pretty close to the airport.

internet stock photo

Sister and I were in grade school (and younger) when Daddy was flying with American Airlines, so of course we gave thought to becoming stewardesses (now called 'flight attendants) when we grew up. One time when the girls' uniforms changed, Daddy gave us a couple of their older caps for playing dress-up! We used to play "airplane," lining up all our dolls and stuffed animals in rows with a single aisle in the middle. If I remember correctly, I served the passengers while Sister sat in the cockpit.

Interestingly enough, while I have always been a 'city mouse,' Sister married a farmer! They lived on their family farm for many years before moving to a small town nearby.

3. How about 'country cooking'? (loosely defined as rich flavors, familiar foods, large portions, often fried, and often associated with the southern region of the US of A)? 

Of these foods, listed, which is your favorite? Are there any on the list you haven't tried or would say a firm no thank you to if offered? 

chicken and dumplings - soggy dough not my favorite

fried chicken - as long as it's not too greasy

shrimp and grits - shrimp yes, grits seem kinda tasteless to me

biscuits and gravy - yes; but I prefer butter and jam

mac and cheese - yes

fried green tomatoes - yes

cornbread - I love to bake cornbread in cast iron

collard or turnip greens - yes, and here in the South, especially

deviled eggs - oh yes!

'barbecue'- yes, but that's very high in sodium (more on that to come)

gumbo - haven't had it much, too spicy for me

banana pudding - absolutely!!!

4. What's something that always had a positive impact on your mood? Well.... eating BBQ used to have a positive impact on my mood, as well as on my taste buds. However, referencing my experiences over the past month with the diagnoses of high blood pressure (hypertension) and nose bleeds that took me to the ER, I'm having to distance myself from this flavor-laden pleasure. 

After the first serious nose bleed was packed, unpacked, and seemed to be all healed up, I did research on the connection between nose bleeds and hypertension and diet. It was all very interesting. I took my newly-acquired blood pressure prescription faithfully and resumed my near-daily bike rides with Gary but didn't take seriously the advice to eat a low salt diet.

Then several weeks later, we went to a well-known restaurant chain to enjoy BBQ ribs. Yes, they were literally lip-smakin' good. But about 5 hours later a nose bleed started up again from the same place as the serious one before. By then I had become a pro at responding quickly and was able to get it stopped in about 20 minutes, so a trip to the ER was not necessary. We were disheartened this had happened again. I did some research and this is what AI had to say:

A very high-sodium meal can cause a temporary increase in blood pressure, which may contribute to a nosebleed by increasing pressure on fragile blood vessels in the nose. While high blood pressure is more commonly linked to nosebleeds, a rapid, high sodium intake can induce this effect by causing the blood vessels' ability to dilate to be impaired.

I strongly suspected the BBQ lunch had a lot to do with the nose bleed. Over the course of the next couple of days, I had 3 more nosebleeds. As reported in my last blog post, I saw my ENT doctor, got the affected area cauterized, and have been doing well ever since. 

While I'm not saying I'll never touch BBQ again, I do realize some dietary changes seem prudent (eating smaller amounts of the very high-sodium BBQ).

snapshot taken at Chicago's O'Hare airport
October 2013

The other day I shopped at Barnes and Noble for books on the subject. Yesterday I bought this book and made a wonderful meatloaf from page 136. 

purchase

5. As we say so long to September share a noun, a verb, and an adjective that tells us something about how that month looked for you.

Glad September's gone

6. Insert your own random thought here. Other things going on around here: it was time to pass Edith's Yamaha keyboard on to those who know how to play it. When the men came to get it, I asked if they could play "Amazing Grace," and of course they did, following that with the newer lyrics, "My sins are gone; I've been set free..." That has been a highlight of my week.

In it's place, we have put a hall table, which created more space in another part of the house that was a little crowded. We've been married well over 3 years but are still making the necessary adjustments when two households are combined into one.

Speaking of the length of time we've been married, the romance is more alive with every passing day. When the ENT cauterized my nose last week, she told me to refrain from heavy lifting and a lot of exertion for a couple of weeks to not upset the healing process. That meant I'd not be riding bikes with Gary every day, so he's been going out on his own. I sit on the porch reading while awaiting his return. 

Gary coming home

People probably don't know what a flirt he is with me. One morning as he approached our driveway, he called out (and I'm quoting exactly what he said): "Hey! Is your old man gone? I wanna talk to you! You're the cutest thing I've seen all morning!"

Yeah, this is not unusual for him. I love it!

purchase information

In closing, I want to share this piece of jewelry I bought for myself earlier this year. It's not costly but the value of how it's helped me through some tough times is great. Do you recognize what it is?

Here's a hint:

[Jesus] replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20-21

It is a tiny mustard seed encased in a clear acrylic pendant. What this seed says to me is that we either have faith or we don't. It's not so much how much (or how large) our faith is but simply that we have faith at all! 

My trust in the Lord has been tested of late with these physical things. We all are challenged about something just about every single day. Although it's not been especially fun, the Lord has come through for me and I'm here today, able to write about His faithfulness to me and to thank Him for bringing me through. 

Until next time, grace and peace. 

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With thanks to Joyce for giving us good questions on the Hodgepodge, if you want to connect (link up) with other bloggers responding to these questions, click here.

More Ups Than Downs

 

an illustration of my week

When we finish our morning bike ride, we both get some water (sometimes with added electrolytes) and sit on the front porch to cool off. From my perspective I see two palms in our yard, and more down the street that extends out perpendicular in front of us. 

As I sat there this morning, I gazed upward and thought those spiky palm branches illustrate my past week: beauty and purpose all its own but not without sharp points.

Don't worry, this won't be a cryin' in my beer tea post (I don't drink alcohol), but I will share the ups and downs of recent days. As our Lord said:

"Tribulation" may be too strong of a word 🙄, but you get the idea: adversity finds all of us. I will begin with the most troubling problem:

Augghast!!!

You may remember my post in August regarding a serious nose bleed that took me to the ER in the middle of the night. I came home a few hours later with very uncomfortable but entirely necessary packing in the left nostril. In an effort to inject a little humor into the problem, I sketched out the above self-portrait (the drawing is not entirely accurate). 

In the process of all that last month, I had to go to the ER again because my blood pressure had shot above 200, which (I learned) is a potential for a stroke, heart attack, and other very undesirable conditions. 

Some 36 hours after the packing party, my ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor) removed the stuffing, said all looked good and I was released without having the nasal passage cauterized. The next several weeks went well in spite of learning to adapt to blood pressure medication and learning to eat less sodium.

 

Then early this week I sprung a strong leak again, seemingly in the same part of my nose from the previous episode. Wiser from the previous experience and with desperate prayer, I was able to stop this bleed within 20 minutes, so no medical intervention was required. 

But a day or two later I had two more bleeds, both arrested in 15 minutes, necessitating stain removal from clothing and towels (i.e. a load of laundry). By this time I realized a call to the ENT was necessary. They got me in the next day, but not before yet a 4th bleed all in one week. 

Let me just clear my name here, for those of you who are silently thinking it: no, I have not been picking my nose! 

The skin on older adults thins and does not recover as easily, so when things like this happen, it's not as easy to recuperate. I could elaborate on that with a really tough experience my mother had a few years ago when her hand was lacerated when she fell out of an aluminum lawn chair. The doctors at that time explained to Sister and me some of the facts of aged skin and so forth. It's scary!!

Anyway, this time the ENT cauterized my nose and now, a little over 48 hours later, I am very hopeful that problem is behind me. I am happy to report the procedure did not hurt at all as my doctor did an excellent job of numbing my nose beforehand. An antibiotic prescription ointment was given to me to apply (CAREFULLY!!) at the very entrance to the nostrils (no deeper) and I was told to not lift or strain for 2 weeks while this problem heals.

lunch at Bob Evans

Because the ENT secretary had to work me into their busy schedule that day, we ended up waiting for a very long time in both the waiting room and then in the treatment room, both of which were freezing cold. On our way home, we stopped for lunch and then didn't do much of anything with the remains of the day except lay around and nap in front of the TV.

Steve Martin and Rick Moranis
dance the merengue

For many years (since about 1990), there's been a movie I like to watch when I need to just "get off the bus" so to speak, forget my troubles and laugh. "My Blue Heaven" with Steve Martin does it for me. I had not watched it in over 3 years, so it was just what I needed.

Here's the link to the movie trailer on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flx9YKnnl6Y

one of our many neighborhood fountains

Happily, that's the worst of my news and it does appear the ending is good (no repeats of the problem). 

Chimmi the Mule

You may remember reading in another post this past summer about the birthday celebration of my daughter-in-law's mule. That was a happy day, as you can see, with the party hat and loving strokes from her people. 

my son, the mule and cat in edifying conversation

However, the mule has learned a very bad habit this past week: she can jump the fence at the ranch where she is currently stabled. The last I heard, she had done this twice. None of my three children ever climbed out of their cribs but having a mule (a large one, at that) repeatedly jump to freedom is quite a problem. I have not heard what they plan to do about that!

2 cords of fire wood

There's been a lot of sharing on blogs lately about the change from summer to fall with descriptions of pumpkin-spiced beverages, candles, warm sweaters, and pies along with cozy fires inside the home, quilts, and so forth. Here in Florida where we usher in the new season with our sleeveless tops, shorts, and flipflop sandals, I can't contribute much to the traditions of Autumn. But the same son who has the mule did text me this photo he took of the fire wood recently delivered to his mountain home out west. So there's that.

from my kitchen this week

I baked some brownies using Ovaltine powder that was tucked at the very back of our pantry. The way they rise so nicely in the cast iron wedge pan pleases me greatly. 

Sister's Basset Hounds

Before I get too far from talk about animals, you need to see Daisy and Maggie. This week they've been very happy and busy entertaining Sister's visiting family, a very tiring but no doubt very enjoyable job for both of them. 

family waits for the parade

One of the Rites of Fall in Sister's town is the annual Pumpkin Festival, complete with carnival rides, food, and a parade. (I'm pretty sure the dogs stayed home for this activity.)

from Shawna on FB

We have been very blessed this year (thus far) with unusually good weather with respect to hurricanes. But the season is not over until November 30th, so we keep up with the forecasts and staying prepared.

Edith's keyboard

This past week a new home has been found for the Yamaha keyboard. Neither of us know how to play it, so it was time to release it (in excellent condition) to a church school of music here in town. I wish I knew how to play it, but at this season of my life, I'm doing good to keep up with the requirements of daily life without learning this. 

current books

When I gave up my needleworks a few years ago for simpler things (i.e. no longer have a sewing room, etc), I decided reading would be one of my primary occupations. With age and life experiences, I've amassed questions demanding answers. Also, as a hobby, reading does not require equipment and is easily carried along wherever I want to go. 

In the Presence of Jesus
(click on title to order)

The two books pictured above are my current reads. In the Presence of Jesus is what I've been using for my morning quiet times with the Lord. It's got 40 chapters to read, one a day. I completed Day 30 this morning. It's really good for private, quality alone-with-God time.

How Can I Know?
(click on title to order)

The other book is also very good as it discusses questions I've confronted as life events have unfolded before me. More than once these pages have led me to scriptural conclusions about issues that I, before now, have not necessarily handled in the best way. The chapter headings are:

 

How can I know there is a God?

How can I know the Bible is true?

How can I know Christianity is the right religion?

How can I know God is good with all the suffering in the world?

How can I know I'm going to Heaven when I die?

How can I know how to forgive someone who has hurt me?

How can I know how to start over when I've blown it?

Ending up this week was a new ladies' Bible study that started up in my retirement community. The leader was expecting around 20 to show up, but the final count was 50 or 60! It was good to see so many women wanting to be in fellowship with others in a study of the Psalms. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

from my camera

Illustrating life with random snapshots is another hobby I've picked up with blogging. As I draw this post to a close, perhaps you can understand why I chose the snapshot of the spiked-leaved palm tree to illustrate my experiences over the past week. 

I hope your week has gone well; but however it was, this is a closing thought that we all would do well to ponder:

Until next time, grace and peace.