Goal Accomplished

I injured my Achilles tendon on my right foot back in December of 2017 on a hike up (or maybe it was coming down) Kasha Katuwe/Tent Rocks National Monument where my hubby is a Park Ranger. I had hiked it several times before, including that November when we had a guest visiting.

I, of course, didn't seek medical attention until well after exacerbating the injury by hiking the same trail again the following February. Long story short version: Primary care; insurance company approved  only x-rays; no bone injury; physical therapy; no real improvement; summer vacation 2018 in much pain after walking the beach; primary care; new insurance company now approves MRI; shows partially torn Achilles tendon and deteriorated ligaments; physical therapy; more physical therapy; about 90% improvement; more home exercises. 95% improvement with residual soreness almost daily in afternoon/evening after a day of walking, shopping, chores and gardening.

Which brings me one year and nine months after the injury to September 2019. My brother is visiting from Connecticut and my goal was to hike the Kasha Katuwe/Tent Rocks Trail with him and hubby Leon.

So yesterday was the appointed day.

I am thrilled to say that I did the entire trail which is rated moderate difficulty with a a few challenging areas. I am even more thrilled to say that I did not experience any real discomfort during, or especially after, the hike. Didn't even have the "residual soreness" that I've experienced daily.

I've posted pics before, but here are some from yesterday (September 20th 2019):

I went off to the trail's end while brother and hubby and a friend stayed on the mesa peak. Had a few minutes to contemplate and take in the scenery. I thought first about how fortunate and grateful I am to have such a loving, generous, forgiving, devoted man in my life. Leon is all those things to me and more. Sure, he has his faults as we all do. But it has been my fortune to know, love and share my life with him.

I considered the fact that I was on the top of a mesa, enjoying a beautiful sunny day and some pretty spectacular scenery and at the age of 71 am still able to do this. I guess a sense of gratitude was a recurring theme for me as I took in the view and knew that my hubby and I were there in some deeply connected way.

As much as I sometimes complain about the monotony of New Mexico's junipers and scrub brush and the putrid color of the rocks and dirt and the lack of ocean views and splashing waves...I must admit that being here has been good.

I am frequently reminded of, or jolted by, the thought that I am somewhere in the final act and will be around only so long as the playwright continues to find a story to tell before the final curtain. So....

Leon & Frank - 4th Anniversary October 25th, 2018

This is for my hubby, Leon, in celebration of our 4th Anniversary and 30 years of sharing our lives with one another. So I am posting this little slide show of some of our moments together. It maybe a bit pretentious, but hey, it's my blog.

I, we, Leon and I, have been truly fortunate.

During my many years of self-doubt and anguish I never believed I would have a boyfriend, a lover, a partner, a spouse, let alone 30 years of friendship and love. Such things were not even in my realm of imagined possibilities.

But here we are. After 30 years, still going strong for one another.

Thank you Leon, with all my love:



Music: Jeff Krassner, I Will Be Strong For You from the album of the same name.

All That Glittered Was Gold and Rainbows

When I was in college, long, long, ago, I was standing in line at the cafeteria when a rainbow appeared in the field across the street. 

I mean the rainbow was right there, in the field. You could see it's end touching the ground and it was so near you could almost touch it yourself.

Some of us ran like fools, out of the cafeteria, across the road and into the field. The rainbow retreated a little further away with each stride we took. But it was still so close you could almost touch it. Almost.

Of course we never did catch the rainbow nor did we find a pot of gold in the field where it had touched down.

Twenty years or so ago Leon and I saw some gold rings in a shop - I think it was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire or possibly in Provincetown, Massachusetts - I don't remember where we first saw the rings by this particular artist, George Sawyer, because they were available in both locations. 

We both coveted those rings which are very beautiful being made of layered gold which looks like wood grain. 

The gold-smithing technique, after the art of Japanese sword-making, is called Mokume Gane. Here are a few examples of George Sawyer's work:

Back then the rings went for around $800 each. Which was more than we could afford. We started saving up though, and when we had saved about $1000, we decided to buy an RV instead. Much more fun and practical.

The next time we had saved some money for our rings the price-tag had gone up to around $1,200. But we put all of our savings toward the house we now live in. Much more sensible and practical.

We pretty much gave up the idea of getting gold mokume gane rings after that, but we still used to "visit" our rings whenever we went to Ptown or Portsmouth. 

Each visit, however, saw the price increase to $1,500, then $1,800 to the current $2,500 - $4,000!

Needless to say, these rings are further out of reach now than when we first saw them. 

Kind of like trying to chase a rainbow. And we still have more pressing and practical needs.

(c) FrankDeFrancesco/End of Trail Productions

A Fork In The Road or Deja Vu

Every so often one comes to a fork in the road of life. I was reminded of this in a couple of ways last Friday as I waited for Leon to find a steering wheel in a junkyard in Hyde Park, New York.

But let me begin in the middle. Anyone who knows Leon, knows that he is a car enthusiast. He (we) belongs to Lambda Car Club, Nutmeg Chapter. We are not wealthy enough for him to own one of those beautifully restored vintage autos from the 1940's or 1950's like some of the guys do. He doesn't have an original Mustang convertible in the garage (I wish). 

What he does have is an old Chrysler LeBaron, I'm not even sure what year - so that tells you how enthusiastic I am about his hobby. 

Well, he took the LeBaron to a car show two weeks ago and on the way home he ceased a brake caliper. He was able to drive it to a friend's house and have it towed to our neighborhood mechanic the next day ($). In the process, the tow truck guy didn't start the engine when unloading the car from the flatbed, merely forced it into neutral, thereby ruining ignition switch mechanism and the steering column. ($). 

Giovanni, our friendly mechanic, said Leon should have kept driving the car when the brakes ceased, that it would have eventually caught fire and that the insurance company would have given him more than it was worth - which isn't much.

But by now Leon was into it for the price of the towing and the pride of owning a "classic" car. So he decided it was worth fixing. 

In early May he had found parts for the LeBaron at a junkyard in Hyde Park, New York while there for the Rhinebeck Car Show. So he knew there was a LeBaron there waiting to be stripped of its steering wheel.

So last Friday he took a half day off and we drove to Hyde Park.

While I was waiting for him to extract the steering wheel I took Benni for a walk, made phone calls, answered emails and went for a ride. This was a good hour or more wait.

It was then I realized I had done this before. 

Now I will begin at the beginning. Nearly twenty-seven years ago. When I was 40 and Leon was 26. When Leon’s old Chrysler K car got stolen and was recovered with a broken steering column. When the car was not drivable. When I assumed that the normal thing to do was to junk the car, call the insurance company and be happy if they paid anything after the deductible.

But Leon doesn’t do what normal people do when it comes to his vehicles. He dragged me off to some junkyard and found a compatible steering column and wheel, detached it from the junked car it belonged to, paid the man and then we drove back to the impound yard where he attached it to his K Car, signed the necessary paperwork and drove it home. No insurance company needed.

It was more than a entire sunny Saturday afternoon that I had wasted driving to and from a junkyard, watching him do auto repairs and wondering why I was there.

Wondering if I really wanted to get involved with this guy who couldn’t understand that junking the car was the most expeditious thing to do.

Wondering why he didn’t realize that the insurance company would likely pay something for a car that had been stolen.

Wondering why I was with this guy who had greasy hands and dirty clothes.

Wondering why I had agreed to drive him around while I got sweaty and bored just waiting.

But last Friday I realized that that day nearly 27 years ago was a kind of fork in my road. And even though I didn’t understand or appreciate Leon’s automobile addiction, we both chose the same road.

So there we were, nearly 27 years later, at a junkyard to fetch a steering wheel for another Chrysler K car that both I, and our friendly mechanic down the street, thought should be in the junkyard next to its organ donor.

The difference this time was that after the junkyard Leon took me to dinner in Rhinebeck at nice restaurant with outdoor seating.

On the way back from Hyde Park last Friday we passed a landmark that I think sums it up quite nicely.

As we drove home I felt a profound contentment. Despite the forks in the road, we are still choosing the same way together. 

I Need Subtitles for Life

I am not a stupid person. I went to college and even managed to get a Master's Degree.

Leon has dyslexia but is probably smarter than me in many ways.

He watches a lot of BBC TV and has no trouble understanding English. I have trouble with Downton Abbey on occasion and once even turned on the closed caption so I wouldn't miss anything.

Leon pointed out this Budweiser commercial and said "It's cute, watch it."

So I did. I said, "Yeah, it is cute. But I didn't get the story. The lady wants to adopt a puppy. The puppy went to say goodbye to the horse. Then the cute guy who had the puppies gives the puppy to the lady. The lady and the puppy drive off with the husband. Then the horses come and attack the car as they're driving off. And the puppy gets out and runs with the horses. I don't get it. The story doesn't make sense. And what are they advertising anyway?"

Leon: "You need subtitles for everything in your life."

Exchanging Valentines in the Age of Frugality

Leon mentioned that he was at the pharmacy and had planned to buy me a Valentine but by the time he picked up some other items it slipped his mind.  So much for romance!

I told him I'd been at the pharmacy the other day and had actually picked out a card but there were ten people at the checkout and, well, I am not a patient person.  Given that the card was priced at $4.99, the decision to put it back on the rack was easy.  So much for romance!

The interesting thing, as I told Leon, was that I had found a card suitable for two men and whether that was the intent or not, it worked for me.

We decided to go back to the pharmacy and do our usual temporary shopping routine, only with photos: we would pick out and exchange Valentines right there, take some photos of the event, return the cards to the rack, walk out and put the $10 we just saved toward a dinner out.

Now, as I said, this is not a new tactic for us.

I started this kind of "shopping" years ago when we would go to KMart or other big box store.  I would put things into the shopping cart - a nice jersey with a breast pocket, two new folding beach chairs, a waffle maker, some new bath towels, whatever.

We would continue walking around the store shopping.

Then I'd say something like, "I really don't care for the color of that jersey and for that price I can do better.  I'll wait till it goes on sale." Then we'd walk back to the Mens Dept. and put the jersey back on the rack.

And then I would get to thinking and comment, "Gee, we already have some perfectly good beach chairs, do we really need to spend $45 on two more?  We'd walk over and put them back.  Then I'd make some excuse for the waffle iron and the bath towels and they'd go back on the shelf too.

We'd walk out of KMart without buying anything and go out for pizza.  It was a perfectly good shopping trip and very satisfying.  And I think I enjoyed the pizza so much more as a result.

Now we've never done this with greeting cards, but it makes perfect sense.  After all, what do you do with a card once you open it and read it?  Put it on the credenza for a few days?  Toss it in a drawer?  Throw it away? This way, we have a nice photo and a lasting sentiment.

OK, here's the card I chose for Leon:

And here's the card he chose for me:

This one was also a contender in the M4M category, a bit more sentimental and meaningful; probably the one I like best:

And we're looking forward to dinner out tomorrow evening.  Nothing fancy mind you, we only saved ten bucks.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY HONEY!

Some Holiday Photos

We had a little get together the Sunday before Christmas - just coffee, tea, eggnog, wine and lots of cookies and snack food.  I was determined to take pictures during the party.  But, as usual, I got so busy eating, talking, flitting around like a butterfly, that I totally forgot to use my camera.  These pics were taken before guests arrived.

We spent a very quiet Christmas Eve.  After a long hike with the dog we drove to Litchfield and stopped for lunch @the Corner.  We had a very pleasant and leisurely lunch and Dottie joined us for coffee and dessert.  She took our picture.  We went home and watched Netflix for the rest of the evening.

It makes me happy to know that after nearly 25 years, Leon and and still enjoy each other's company and can share these simple times together. 

 

We went to my brother and sister-in-law's for Christmas dinner and Leon snapped a photo of me and my sister and brother.  I realized that we have no photos of the three of us together so this was a rare occasion - the three of us happened to be sitting on the same sofa.

Me and My Sibs - MaryAnn and Mike

We had a wicked snowfall the other day - six inches of water-logged snow which we ended up shoveling mostly by hand because the snowblower we have is crap.  Has been ever since we purchased it 5 years ago.  Snow melts and gets into the belt drive which then slips and sometimes overheats to the point that it smokes.  The machine also never cleaned the snow well, usually spitting it out haphazardly and not even getting down to the asphalt.

Leon, after having it "repaired" several times at outrageous  expense, decided to matters into his own hands.  He went out and bought new belts and we went on YouTube to find a repair video - which of course we found.  Leon is handy like that anyway, and in a pinch, I can tackle a mechanical repair if needed.

Leon Being Butch

This Is The Worst Machine We've Ever Owned

So we took the snowblower apart and replaced the belts.  Leon put weatherstripping tape around the belt housing to help keep snow-melt from getting the belts wet.

Me, Trying To Be Butch

Got it all back together and tested it out on yesterday's six-inch snowfall.  Leon was happy.  Said it has never worked better - even when new or after the many trips to the dealer for repairs and adjustments.

Sorry, no photos of snow-blowing...been there, done that.

Last night we were invited for dinner at Dottie's.  Dottie is a friend we met about a year and a half ago at the doggie park.  Her dog, Katja and our Benni are in love.  Dottie is vegetarian and she wanted to cook us a meal to demonstrate how good it can be.

Dottie has a very nice open concept home which she designed and furnished with her very unique style.  She loves stone and granite and contemporary furnishings. She even made her own acrylic dining room table.

Dottie, Cooking in Her Unique Kitchen 

Here is dinner - or part of it.  We also had a nice salad, and tofu and baked apples for desert.  Everything was delicious.   Note the beautiful stone/granite/marble counter top on the right.

Tempeh and Vegetables over Angel Hair Pasta

We had a real nice evening, eating, chatting and being molested by Katja who couldn't understand why Benni didn't come with us.

Happy Birthday Leon

Made a Birthday dinner this evening for my honey who turned 51.  Did any of us over fifty crowd ever picture ourselves as over fifty when we were twenty or thirty or even forty and still dancing at the disco?  And here he is still a young whipper-snapper at fifty-one!

 

 We rarely have beef except for a burger or meatballs with spaghetti.  Got some T-bones on special and made potatoes and onions in the microwave with a side of broccoli, glass of Lambrusco and to complete the table decor, a remote control.

Made Leon's favorite - Carrot Cake - recipe at Dinner's Ready.  The three candles are symbolic - symbolic of the fact that I could only scrounge up three candles from the junk drawer.  Leon didn't even wait for me to light the candles and do things properly - as soon as the coffee was done, he cut the cake and dished us both a piece.  Not bad.

Leon, I wish you a Happy Birthday with all my love, Frank.  And as you always quote the great ones, "Who loves ya babe?"