Week 56 – 58 And Another Interlude

Here we are again, after a two week break.  We spent the time up at the Echo Lake cabin.  Weather was great….temps in the 80’s….and one day we had a big hailstorm in the afternoon–a pleasant and exciting change.  The only negatory was the smoke from the fires up and down the State.  Yosemite and elsewhere brought us a smokey, red full moon after dark.

The water temp was a balmy 74 degrees.  We took daily dips in the lake….our shower has not worked for the past couple of years due to faulty faucets.  But the daily rub-a-dub in the giant Echo Lake ‘tub’ was a pleasant and invigorating alternative to a shower.

Our solar system was on the fritz and we could not recharge our phones or use the solar-powered lights in the cabin.  In the pre-solar days that would not have bothered us.  Now that we’re used to amenities like the smart phones and lights at night, it is sooo difficult to do without those conveniences.  But we managed to get in our domino and cribbage games each night by multiple candlelight.  And we could read in bed with our small, portable solar lights.  We couldn’t, however, get the results of the Giants games without a trip to the Chalet for a newspaper.

Solar reading lights and pieces of hail!

 

Nothing really to report on the health front…in a holding pattern until radiation starts later this month.  My weight was in the 130 range when we returned from Echo.  Stuffing myself the past few days got it back up over 132.

Now my shoulders are killing me…I think I’m hurting myself with certain exercises at the gym, so I’ve stopped all shoulder exercises and am trying to get an appointment with both a physical therapist and then a personal assistant at the gym to get a diagnosis on the shoulders and a recommendation on exercises to do and NOT do for the shoulders.

I have a ‘planning’ session with the radiation oncologist next week, to get a 3-D picture of where my prostate is, so the doctor can set up the parameters for my daily radiation doses.  The radiation starts on August 23rd, the second day after our return from Alaska, and goes for eight weeks, until a couple weeks before our scheduled trip to Sayulita (near Puerto Vallarta).

We leave for Alaska next Thursday, returning on the 21st.  So there will be another two week hiatus from the blog.  I hope everyone survives these quiet times.

 

Here’s a short one…

Trees I Have Known (Part 1)

Two thick sycamores next door

Graced the grass strip in front of the Risetto’s house

When I was a kid.

 

The branches were beyond reach

Jigsaw puzzle pieces of bark

Flaked off the smooth-skinned trunk.

 

Caravans of ants scurried along

The main thoroughfare

That ran as far as I could see up the tree.

 

With a small hammer

I sowed chaos into their commute.