Meanwhile......
I see that lately I have gotten far away from the original intentions of contributing to a blog. I have logged several movie reviews, music appreciations, restaurant recs, and audiology labs. No details on the goings on of my day-to-day.
Tricky business, that. So much to tell, but so little I can actually write. This is due to several reasons already discussed (scroll back, ya slacker). I could also attribute it to nothing more than unadulterated laziness, but I have been somewhat prolific this year. Just not with the dailies. So let's remedy that. It's been awhile.
This weekend:
-Sonia's father and his girlfriend returned from their summer in the Basque country in France, (near the Pyrenees) this past week. They run a chateau there for the region's high season. I got to chat with them a bit Friday evening. Later, Sonia and I watched I AM LEGEND (review forthcoming of course).
-Saturday I did something amazingly stupid; I sliced open my left palm with a kitchen knife. Pretty deep cut. It was so dramatic. Blood spurted all over my counter. Gushed, I tell you. I was convinced I hit a major artery of some sort. How did this happen? I had forgotten to defrost some salmon patties for lunch and decided to try to pry two of the frozen buggers apart with a large knife. I was all too successful. To top it off, I had no bandages or any first aid supplies around. I wrapped my hand in paper towels and sped to CVS for gauze, triple antibiotic ointment, Betadine, and paper tape. The wound was deep, perhaps 1/4 inch or so. I debated a visit to the ER for stitches. I cleaned the wound, wrapped it and waited to see what would happen.
-Visited my mother at the rehab. I unwrapped the gash for one of the nurses who offered to re-wrap and irrigated with normal saline. She felt that stitches would not be necessary.
-Went to Calvary Boca Raton with Sonia and her longtime pal, Jennifer. The original plan was to meet up at Calvary Lauderdale with Jen and her new "friend", but it turned out that he had to go out of town. A simulcast of Pastor Bob Coy played on two large screens in the front of the Boca sanctuary. At some point I looked down to find my hand covered in blood. It had also soaked my bulletin, the tail of my shirt, and my jeans. As gingerly as I could, I worked my way to a restroom. Hoping no one would walk in on this gory scene, I unwrappred the sterile gauze and applied a clean piece. My left pant leg was stained scarlet. I tried in vain to wash it. Again, I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as I rejoined the congregation, convinced that all eyes were on my wet spot.
-Aside from that debacle, the message was challenging and there was time at the end for introductions of leaders of various outreaches, including a special group which reaches out to HIV patients.
-Dinner at Stir Crazy at the Town Center Mall. Economical and very tasty. Far less greasy or salty than nearby P.F. Chang's. My wound behaved itself the rest of the evening. We went to Jen's house and again I marved at the front room, adorned with more religious artifacts than I have ever seen in one place. Every inch of wall and floor is covered with Virgin Marys and crucifixes. A new addition: two paintings, one of Jesus and another of Mary with floating crowns of thorns above their heads. Jen's parents are very devout Catholics. Their house is a shrine, a museum that really needs to be seen to be believed. A documentary should be made.
-Sunday morning: church at CF CP. Pastor John Poitevent preached from Colassians, closing out a brief series entitled "Grow to Go." The a/c was not working in the Himmel and it provided a good example of being forced out of one's comfort zone. One of the small group leaders came up and descibed what a blessing leading his group has been.
-We met Sonia's dad and headed to Saffron, an Indian restaurant with which he was never too impressed. He grew up in Delhi and consequently has a fiercely discriminating palatte. Having heard from a friend that the place recently had a favorable review, he felt a fresh assessement wasdue. His gf met us at the restaurant after waiting three hours to cast her ballot during early voting.
-Sonia's dad could easily warrant multiple blog remembrances from the eight years I've known him. Lately, he's been a lot easier to deal with, but a bit of the older persona came out. While our efficient waiter, Hassan, was serving our water, Sonia's father proceeded to grill him on his origins. Hassan stated he was from Bombay.
"It's Mumbai, you mean."
"Yes, OK. Mumbai, yes."
"It was Bombay when you were born probably."
Hassan nodded politely, if nervously.
"You don't look like someone from Mubai!" And so on. I was reminded of the gas station scene from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Anton Chigurh would've engaged in a similiar exercise. Well, that's overstating but it was still a bit awkward. The buffet was quite good, with the Shahi baingan, smoky eggplant cubes cooked in gravy defined by a strong taste of cashew a standout. Sonia's father discussed how the country continues its slide toward socialism. He and his gf are polar opposites politically, so it always makes for lively discourse. Today was no exception, save that the alcohol wasn't flowing as liberally as during previous times. He and I each had Kingfisher beers, but no other tongue-loosening libations.
-My upstairs neighbor, Kerry returned from a 6-month sojurn at sea. He's a charter captain and former merchant marine. He had been all over the Caribbean, Atalntic, and many points East. He had amusing stories of his passengers, including "some Russian blokes", and at least one tale that I cannot print here, this being (somewhat) of a respectacle blog. Kerry's an Aussie and sports a very strong brogue. He had grown a scruffy beard during his time away and his gf Jennifer stated without hesitation that she was not fond of it. Our landlord, Gary, also came by with his new pup, Tina, while we were chatting in the driveway.
-Visited my mother and then my grandmother at her apartment. She is still suffering with gall bladder discomfort and had an episode of dry heaves. I ran the monthly test on her ADT "life-call" device, the one she would uses in case of an emergency. As I pulled into the lot, I had noticed that someone had moved into my mother's old place. I didn't feel sad about it, as I expected I would have.
-And here I type, and it's late.
-The wound, by the way, is healing properly. Closing up nicely. Just don't let me back in the kitchen.
I need to do the basic entries more often. Good to get it journaled.
Tricky business, that. So much to tell, but so little I can actually write. This is due to several reasons already discussed (scroll back, ya slacker). I could also attribute it to nothing more than unadulterated laziness, but I have been somewhat prolific this year. Just not with the dailies. So let's remedy that. It's been awhile.
This weekend:
-Sonia's father and his girlfriend returned from their summer in the Basque country in France, (near the Pyrenees) this past week. They run a chateau there for the region's high season. I got to chat with them a bit Friday evening. Later, Sonia and I watched I AM LEGEND (review forthcoming of course).
-Saturday I did something amazingly stupid; I sliced open my left palm with a kitchen knife. Pretty deep cut. It was so dramatic. Blood spurted all over my counter. Gushed, I tell you. I was convinced I hit a major artery of some sort. How did this happen? I had forgotten to defrost some salmon patties for lunch and decided to try to pry two of the frozen buggers apart with a large knife. I was all too successful. To top it off, I had no bandages or any first aid supplies around. I wrapped my hand in paper towels and sped to CVS for gauze, triple antibiotic ointment, Betadine, and paper tape. The wound was deep, perhaps 1/4 inch or so. I debated a visit to the ER for stitches. I cleaned the wound, wrapped it and waited to see what would happen.
-Visited my mother at the rehab. I unwrapped the gash for one of the nurses who offered to re-wrap and irrigated with normal saline. She felt that stitches would not be necessary.
-Went to Calvary Boca Raton with Sonia and her longtime pal, Jennifer. The original plan was to meet up at Calvary Lauderdale with Jen and her new "friend", but it turned out that he had to go out of town. A simulcast of Pastor Bob Coy played on two large screens in the front of the Boca sanctuary. At some point I looked down to find my hand covered in blood. It had also soaked my bulletin, the tail of my shirt, and my jeans. As gingerly as I could, I worked my way to a restroom. Hoping no one would walk in on this gory scene, I unwrappred the sterile gauze and applied a clean piece. My left pant leg was stained scarlet. I tried in vain to wash it. Again, I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as I rejoined the congregation, convinced that all eyes were on my wet spot.
-Aside from that debacle, the message was challenging and there was time at the end for introductions of leaders of various outreaches, including a special group which reaches out to HIV patients.
-Dinner at Stir Crazy at the Town Center Mall. Economical and very tasty. Far less greasy or salty than nearby P.F. Chang's. My wound behaved itself the rest of the evening. We went to Jen's house and again I marved at the front room, adorned with more religious artifacts than I have ever seen in one place. Every inch of wall and floor is covered with Virgin Marys and crucifixes. A new addition: two paintings, one of Jesus and another of Mary with floating crowns of thorns above their heads. Jen's parents are very devout Catholics. Their house is a shrine, a museum that really needs to be seen to be believed. A documentary should be made.
-Sunday morning: church at CF CP. Pastor John Poitevent preached from Colassians, closing out a brief series entitled "Grow to Go." The a/c was not working in the Himmel and it provided a good example of being forced out of one's comfort zone. One of the small group leaders came up and descibed what a blessing leading his group has been.
-We met Sonia's dad and headed to Saffron, an Indian restaurant with which he was never too impressed. He grew up in Delhi and consequently has a fiercely discriminating palatte. Having heard from a friend that the place recently had a favorable review, he felt a fresh assessement wasdue. His gf met us at the restaurant after waiting three hours to cast her ballot during early voting.
-Sonia's dad could easily warrant multiple blog remembrances from the eight years I've known him. Lately, he's been a lot easier to deal with, but a bit of the older persona came out. While our efficient waiter, Hassan, was serving our water, Sonia's father proceeded to grill him on his origins. Hassan stated he was from Bombay.
"It's Mumbai, you mean."
"Yes, OK. Mumbai, yes."
"It was Bombay when you were born probably."
Hassan nodded politely, if nervously.
"You don't look like someone from Mubai!" And so on. I was reminded of the gas station scene from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Anton Chigurh would've engaged in a similiar exercise. Well, that's overstating but it was still a bit awkward. The buffet was quite good, with the Shahi baingan, smoky eggplant cubes cooked in gravy defined by a strong taste of cashew a standout. Sonia's father discussed how the country continues its slide toward socialism. He and his gf are polar opposites politically, so it always makes for lively discourse. Today was no exception, save that the alcohol wasn't flowing as liberally as during previous times. He and I each had Kingfisher beers, but no other tongue-loosening libations.
-My upstairs neighbor, Kerry returned from a 6-month sojurn at sea. He's a charter captain and former merchant marine. He had been all over the Caribbean, Atalntic, and many points East. He had amusing stories of his passengers, including "some Russian blokes", and at least one tale that I cannot print here, this being (somewhat) of a respectacle blog. Kerry's an Aussie and sports a very strong brogue. He had grown a scruffy beard during his time away and his gf Jennifer stated without hesitation that she was not fond of it. Our landlord, Gary, also came by with his new pup, Tina, while we were chatting in the driveway.
-Visited my mother and then my grandmother at her apartment. She is still suffering with gall bladder discomfort and had an episode of dry heaves. I ran the monthly test on her ADT "life-call" device, the one she would uses in case of an emergency. As I pulled into the lot, I had noticed that someone had moved into my mother's old place. I didn't feel sad about it, as I expected I would have.
-And here I type, and it's late.
-The wound, by the way, is healing properly. Closing up nicely. Just don't let me back in the kitchen.
I need to do the basic entries more often. Good to get it journaled.
Comments
- Shannon is a whiz at wound care (case you need it)
- Coincidentally, I heard the same "we're going socialist" prediction from one of our parents this weekend. I have some worries about this election, but that's not one of them!
Be safe out there.