An Exciting Week

You will not be seeing my name on your blogs for the next week or so. My daughter, Gail,and granddaughters, Rachel and Sarah, will be arriving tonight for a most welcome visit. I am looking forward to seeing them and will really enjoy having them. I may even get out to take some pictures. My computer time will probably be limited to answering e-mail. I will try to make up for it after my girls leave with tales of our activities.

Red Alert: The best laid plans of mice and men so often go astray. The girls did not arrive last night as scheduled. Instead I got a phone call from Gail in a Huntington Beach ER where Rachel was undergoing an X-ray. She hurt herself on a concrete park bench and was in a lot of pain. I believe they had stopped at the park to take the dog for a walk. Fortunately, there were no broken bones and they will continue on to see me when Rachel feels up to it.
They told me to cheer up, things could be worse; so I cheered up and, sure enough, they got worse.



Monday I took a spill on my scooter and the firemen had to come pick me up again. It's getting downright embarrassing. I don't think they will have any trouble finding my house from now on. I consider myself lucky because I fell on my good hip and it didn't break. It is swollen and I am sure I will have a stunning bruise in all colors, but if it didn't break I will not complain. Some additional pain in my neck and shoulder kept me awake, but I will heal -slowly, to be sure. The scooter turned over with me in it and we both survived .

I will leave you with this very old poem that you have probably seen dozens of times:

I Am Fine

There is nothing the matter with me.
I'm as healthy as I can be.
I do have arthritis in both my knees.
And when I speak, I talk with a wheeze.
My pulse is weak and my blood is thin.
But I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in.

Arch supports I use for my feet
Or I wouldn't be able to step on the street.
Sleep is denied me night after night,
And every morning , I find I'm a sight.
My memory's fading, my head's in a spin.
But I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in.

The moral is - as this tale I unfold -
That for me and for you who are growing old,
It's better to say, "I'm fine" with a grin
Than to let the world know the shape we are in.

How do I know that my youth is all spent?
Well, my git up and go has got up and went.
Yet I really don't mind when I think once again,
Of all the grand places my git up has been.

Old age is golden, or so I've heard said.
But sometimes I wonder as I climb into bed -
With my ears in a drawer and my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table until I wake up -
As sleep dims my eyes I say to myself:
Is there anything else I should place on the shelf?

When I was young my slippers were red.
I could kick my heels right over my head.
When I grew older, my slippers were blue.
I found I could dance the whole night through.
But now I am old. My slippers are black.
I walk to the store and puff my way back.

I get up each morning and dust off my wits.
I pick up the paper and read the obits.
If my name is still missing I know I'm not dead.
So, I eat a good breakfast ...
And go back to bed.