REFLECTIONS

  Here are my two grand-daughters Evelyn and Adalyn. My grandson Miles is out playing with his friends. He's also affectionate. Sometimes he feeds Adalyn with a baby bottle.

 

Grandchildren Evey and Miles take a nap with their dog Ranger. My daughter Laurissa took this photo at just the right moment.

My mother-in law just turned 96! I hope I can reach her age someday. I don't think she does anything special to stay healthy. She must have some pretty good genes. The women of four generations Evey used her balloon to hide her great-grandmother's face! Evey's brother Miles is near the center with her uncle, his father on the left and I'm on the right. His great-grandfather passed away several years ago.

Lately, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed by my health problems and Lynette's health problems.  It would be good if one of us was healthy so he can take care of the other one. Now it depends on how each one of us feels on a particular day. Looking for some encouragement, I skimmed through the web. Here's something that helped: (I couldn't get the size right so click on it to make it legible)

This is the original old Christmas dinner photo. My brother is on the left. I'm on the right and our parents are behind us.  I don't have Photoshop because it's a bit too expensive for what I'd use it for. I never learned too much about how to use the free GIMP.  So what I did was to use the photo editing tool that came with Windows 10,  and a few on line free editing programs like Paint.net, Fotojet and BeFunky. I used them one after the other and it works. First I cropped the photo to eliminate some of the image  that I didn't want and make it sort of a portrait. Next I tried removing the old white specks that developed over the years.   I removed a great many of them, not perfect but very good. I also filtered in a sort of sepia color.  It helped hide the white spots and give the photo a warmer look. Finally I used a function to make it into a portrait shape.  I wanted to frame it as a 5x7 but the photo printing si...

I thought about my brother Anthony the other day.  He doesn't live nearby so we only see  each other about once a year.  We don't call each other as often as we should but we still  are brothers. Sometimes this old sea chantey reminds me of the two of us, not as sailors  but as having so many similar life experiences, especially as kids.  I'm not sure how "safe  and sound" life is now  but we made it!  Here are links to YouTube: This one has nice views of sailing ships and sailors.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IxDhItxiSY This link has the lyrics to the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY1fUAPYH3M

Russian Video Even More Dangerous I pray it's all a show, that it never becomes anything more. Imagine what the world could do with all  the money spent on weapons. Sorry I posted this.  For some reason I just had to.  I want to avoid all politics. Hope no one is offended or too frightened.

Remember walking on fallen leaves as a child? It was magical! The smaller girl is my granddaughter

Our daughter Laurissa is coming down from Brooklyn to visit us tomorrow or Friday.  We'll get to see our grandchildren again, Miles and Evey.  Son-in-law Ryan will take turns with Laurissa driving the six hour trip. I was hoping to give myself the weekly three hour injection of Hizentra today before they got here; don't want to scare the grandchildren with the four injection site tubing coming from my abdomen.  They're only subcutaneous but it might be frightening for them.  It would seem strange to hide in another room. The delivery of the medication and injection tubing never arrived today. There was a mix up by FedEx. The package should be here tomorrow. I have a dentist appointment at 1:30 but there should be enough time to finish the injection before they get here. Just in case you want to see details I have these two videos. The first is a video with instructions. I use more; four sites and three syringe-fulls. There is no pain involved except for t...

It is not clear how this day got started, but who can resist the idea of celebrating National Meatball Day?  There are many different ways to celebrate meatballs: Spaghetti and meatballs Swedish Meatballs Meatball Sub Meatball Pizza Turkey Meatballs Lamb Meatballs Porcupine Meatballs (made with rice) and the list goes on and on. There is a restaurant in New York that has 54 different kinds of meatballs.  Not only do meatballs allow for variety, but they move from appetizer to side dish to the main dish quite easily.  Meatballs can be made the night before and put in the crockpot, or days before and kept in the freezer.    HOW TO OBSERVE To celebrate, some restaurants give a free side order of meatballs, while others are donating money to homeless shelters. Cook yourself up your favorite meatballs or go out and order some from a restaurant near you! Use #NationalMeatballDay to share on social media.   HISTORY W...

Grandchildren's Christmas

My Daughter and Granddaughter My Son-in-Law and Grandson I'm looking forward to their visit for Christmas.

We decided to use our small artificial tree this year.  It's sort of cute. Two of my favorites: Silver Bells - Burl Ives Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives

Son in law Ryan holding Evelyn, eight months old. She fell asleep in her father's arms. The day after Thanksgiving we had spaghetti and meatballs. Evey sitting next to her mom Laurissa. Just Starting To Sit Up

I seem to fall every six months or so.  I'm hesitant to use a cane because it makes me feel so old.  But it's much better than losing my balance.  Maybe I can find a cane that looks good and not make me feel frail. Luckily it happened just as I got to the treatment center in the hospital.  A man and his daughter stopped and left their car to help me.  My glasses and cell phone were in the street. The nurses at the IVIG infusion area took me to the emergency room where a CT scan showed no broken skull where I landed on the back of my head.  My blood work was good. My IVIG treatment was rescheduled for tomorrow.  No luck having it cancelled for this month!

I saw this video that I thought you might find interesting. It's from YouTube. Click on the picture above for a better view. Tomorrow I go for another four hour IVIG treatment.  I'll surf the web, take a nap and whatever.  It's not very interesting except that I get some time to be by myself.  I'm lucky the treatment is covered by my insurance otherwise it would just be too expensive.