MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Time
to update my family and absent newsworthy events, vent. We really lead a
very subdued life but maybe that is because we are old and have lost our “get
up and go”? Oh – sorry if I offended anyone with my political “rant” last
week but you gotta know – ranting goes with the territory . The good, the bad
and the diatribe if you please.
Ken
continues with his rehab schedule. He has five more visits to go until
done. He will finish rehab the day of a scheduled removal of a skin
cancer on his back so the timing is good. He has had numerous skin
cancers for which we blame his long term exposure to the California sun.
Gary is also having problems with skin cancers and has had two removed
recently. It is a plague to the area.
Our
week was quiet (of course it was, we are old!) but our weekly outing created a
Bickerson moment. ( Bickerson is Ken’s sister’s nickname for our verbal
dueling exchanges). On Thursday (our day out) it was supposed to be 100+
in the Glendale vicinity but only in the 70’s in Ventura. Ken decided
that we should go to Ventura after stopping in Van Nuys at Costco to get
gas. On our way to Van Nuys I announced that I needed to have a bathroom
stop. Ken immediately asked the GPS to direct us to a McDonald’s. (We
have found their bathrooms the most welcome to travelers and generally reliable
for cleanliness.) The GPS (gypsy) obliged with one just off the
freeway. I always insist that we buy something when we stop unless it is
one of several stops during an outing and in that event I take the position
that “we already gave”. I know – different charity but we are on a fixed
income.
Both
of us have just enough breakfast to take our medication with on Thursdays
because that is the morning out for a brunch like breakfast (breakfast, lunch
and sometimes dinner). However, on this day we would be having a late lunch
in Ventura and thus, we agreed we would treat ourselves to a “deplorable”
sausage and egg biscuit. (FYI -We thoroughly enjoyed this escape from
good dieting practices). We returned to the car and Ken asked gypsy to navigate
us to Ventura. (The traffic was bad and he thought gypsy might route us
differently. It did. It told us to go back onto the freeway East
(the way from which we came). I questioned why East and Ken thought it might be
taking us to a cut off from the 5 that we have used on occasion when we wanted
to do a scenic trip.
As we proceeded pursuit to direction from our lord and lady "gypsy", we were fast approaching Glendale when I could contain myself no longer
and said ”this can’t be right and I thought you had to get gas at
Costco”. Oops, It seems he was so engrossed in this new direction
for Ventura that he had completely forgotten about Costco. Now I was really
disgruntled and I said “Forget Ventura. Let’s just go to Costco in Azusa,
get gas and from there decide where we want to have lunch.”
He
responded that the “Holy” fire (the fire at Lake Elsinore) would
contaminate the air in Azusa and the surrounding area but if I insisted,
we could do that. I responded, “I insist”. Reluctantly he agreed to
go to Costco in Azusa for gas and then, we (he) would decide about lunch (I am a quick study to his moods). On route
there were several petty comments about the smoke which I knew were actually
“petty” reminders that we should have gone to Ventura. I reminded him
that we could take a freeway South after we got gas which would take us away
from the smoke and toward the Southern beaches and, of course that was what he intended all along. (Our outings
tend to be water oriented wherever feasible in his sight.)
I could
go on with our Bickerson commentary but to shorten my Bickerson
story, our final destination was Duke’s at the pier in Huntington
Beach. After Ken's “sushi” lunch (I had a bbq sandwich) Ken treated
himself to a “hula pie” and that greatly improved his attitude. (He did
share his hula pie with me.) Now – all we had to do was waddle to the car, find
a place to rest and ready ourselves for a travel laden freeway home. Life can
be a beach!
On
Saturday we visited friends in a senior living complex for lunch and what they
called a “block party” with games and entertainment oriented to the
grandchildren of the residents. Our friends didn’t have any grandchildren
close by to invite and they chose us as the closest people they know with
childlike behavior. Seriously, we had a great visit and enjoyed a good
lunch in the dining room at the facility and watched as the children
entertained the “shut ins” with their vim vigor and vitality.
Oh
– my vent for the week. We have a local web gossip sheet that shares all
of the things that nosy people like me thrive on. The latest “issue”
that I have my drawers up in a bunch about is a recently enacted regulation
that requires a permit to install a dishwasher. Now, mind you. This
permit ain’t cheap! $190 and the stores cannot install without. We
installed a new dishwasher last year without issue but I believe this to be
another example of bureaucratic overreach. I am considering organizing a
“protest” and marching on the city demanding that this asinine requirement be
repealed post haste.
As I write, I am gathering my cane, packing up my
wheel chair and counting my medications in preparation for my “day of
protest”. On second thought I think I will take a nap and see if I wake
up in a better mood before rushing to action. Being nosy is
really stressful.
There
you have it a whole lot of nothing. Oh I almost forgot. Gypsy
had programmed us to go to Ventura Iowa. I keep “suggesting” to Ken that
he use the State when he is asking for directions but sometimes she reads his
mind and he likes to test her.
Your
crazy old Aunt
