Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
A Day After
In the United States, today is one of the days that can be described in reference to the day that came before. Yesterday was the national holiday of Thanksgiving. Today is a day when the choices for spectacular meals from leftovers may be superior to any other time of the year. Now that is something to be thankful for.
Eat up the day after! Just don’t forget to burn more calories than you consume if you want to maintain that balance of health. How long does it take to work off second servings of pie? Whatever it is, I may need to double it.
Oh, but was it ever worth it. Thanks to everyone who labored long in the kitchen for the benefit of others yesterday!
Thank You
In the United States, it is again the day of giving thanks. We are a big country. I am amazed to think about how many people are taking pause from their usual routine today for events related to the holiday. It is a worthy gesture, to pause and consider our blessings.
Among the many blessings I enjoy, I want to thank you for stopping by here to check on Relative Something. Having an audience is an important part of my exercise of writing and posting images. I am grateful for your effort to look in on me from time to time.
Here’s hoping you all are able to enjoy the holiday and share blessings for which you are able to give thanks.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
It’s True
I’m beginning to think maybe life itself may actually be based on a true story. I woke up yesterday and found the weather was just like what the forecast had predicted. Everything that happens is just like what really happens. It’s impressive. It would make a great marketing campaign. “Life …Based on a True Story!”
It seems odd though, since we are all just made-up characters.
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I am experiencing the weirdness of time perceptions again. The ‘long-ness’ and shortness of passing time. Both happen, simultaneously, and I am smack dab in the middle. I waited while Cyndie was having knee surgery and it was a classic moment of ‘killing time.’ Minutes, and then hours, pass by and I am static. When that phase ends, I move to being a companion in her recovery process. My normal activity is placed on hold. It was a long day.
Yet the day passed by very quickly. It seems like we just got up, and then we were home. A brief rest on the couch in the afternoon and suddenly we’re off to bed for the night.
It reminds me of my perception of having children. At first, they were around the house a lot and required frequent attention, and then not so much of either being around the house or needing attention. In the time it took me to bend down to put my socks on one morning, they were done with college and entering the work force.
The same things that seem to take a long time to pass, are also passing by very quickly. It’s true, even if it seems like I just made it up.
All In How You Look At It
With my descriptions of our trip to Portugal completed, the opportunity for something relative to other subjects is wide open. Is there anything else? Well, there are two ways I am seeing the world these days. One perspective relates to the number of days since we arrived home from our trip to Portugal, and the other way I look at things is in terms of the number of days until I can return to the people and places I discovered there.
This morning, our attention is directed to a more immediate concern close to home. I am driving Cyndie to the medical center to have arthroscopic surgery to clean up some floating bone fragments and repair a torn meniscus in her left knee. Of course, I’m looking at it as a step toward getting her healthy for our next trip to Portugal.
See how easy that is?
Ready or Not
Winter storm season is upon us. If we weren’t ready to deal with snow, we have run out of time to prepare. I’m mostly ready. To be honest, this year my heart has been someplace else. I dreamed of being among horses again last night. It’s not a surprise, since I have continued to post my writings about our adventure, but I’m still thinking of Portugal. This morning is a pretty bold jolt back to the place where we live. Unfortunately, even though this is one of the most beautiful things I get to witness, the snow is giving my trees a follow-up wallop to the recent hurricane-force wind storm that knocked down our huge aspen. We have already lost one limb from one of our biggest long-needle pines, due to the weight of the early season wet snow.
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Finding Reminders
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We walked into our home the other day and found the hibiscus plant that Cyndie has nursed back to health from the edge of existence (twice), was blooming with multiple flowers. It immediately brings to mind Portugal for us, and the flowering plants Ian nurtures there.
Now, if we just had some horses….
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Current Mini-Drama
Among the many global weather and natural disturbance events that have been making news, the near-hurricane, with record low atmospheric pressure readings in my home state, has made quite an impression on Cyndie and me in the last two days. First of all, Cyndie’s return flight from a work trip to Kansas City was canceled due to the storm. They offered to book her a flight on the following day, but unfortunately, she couldn’t wait another day because she had a doctor’s appointment in the morning. Arrangements were made with a different airline that would involve a transfer in Milwaukee and included a 3-hour layover. That layover was extended a few more hours due to the weather, but at least she was finally in the air again, on the way to Minneapolis. Too bad it was now past midnight. That flight also got extended by about 12 laps around the airport before landing, as the pilot waited for a break in the wind and his turn in line to get a shot at the single remaining open runway.
She didn’t have to worry about waking me as she tried to sneak in at the wee hour of 2:30 a.m., because I was already awake, checking on the tree outside our bedroom window that had tipped from the wind and was caught on the small tree next to it, and banging against the side of our house. It rattled like that in the gusting winds for the rest of the dark hours of morning.
It is a good thing she made it home for her doctor’s appointment, because her knee has really flared up and is causing her not only discomfort, but limited mobility. They sent her to see an orthopedic specialist who diagnosed bone fragments, spurs and a meniscus tear in the joint. But she told Cyndie that her knee caps look really, really nice. That’s good to know, huh?
I called our arborist and sought help with our leaning tree. With winds like we have been experiencing, you can imagine that they have a lot of customers seeking attention. I was told it will be Friday or probably Monday or Tuesday before they can get to me. Last night, the concern over that leaning tree was eliminated when the small tree (turns out it was two small trees) that was (were) holding it, gave out and snapped and all three of them came crashing down. I wasn’t home, so it was Cyndie who needed to hobble over to check on damages. We lucked out. It could have smacked a window, or wrecked our deck, but it dropped in the perfect spot, cutting through our compost pile, to cause a minimum of disruption.
I sure hope that means we get a break on the amount that was initially quoted to fix my variety of recent tree issues!
Post-Trip Processing
With one day gone by since our return from Portugal, I am finding myself in a familiar place, with respect to writing about my adventure immediately after getting home. I need a little time for the experience to stabilize in my mind. I need to gain the added perspective of returning to my usual routine to better frame my thoughts and interpretations about the experience we had while away. I suppose there is a bit of jetlag that relates to this situation, but there are also the obvious constraints on time created by the need to deal with multiple weeks worth of chores that have piled up in our absence. I did get the lawn mowed yesterday afternoon. I didn’t get most of the photos from the trip processed for posting yet. Yesterday being Sunday, I did find myself distracted by a few NFL games being broadcast, after having been completely out of touch for two weeks in a row. Not knowing what has been going on in the league didn’t stop me from submitting my picks for the pool I’m in this year, but my selections were the result of a lot less informed choices. Meanwhile, how about a random flower image from the farm…
Time Zones
Yes, we are home today. Home in the physical sense, but not entirely in state of mind. Sounds and images of our unbelievably spectacular experience in Portugal swirled in my thoughts as I awoke, several times, this morning. Yesterday’s travel had us going for 24 hours straight, except for a few bouts of napping on planes, and we collapsed into our bed at a decent time, hoping to quickly regain synchronization with our Minnesota time-zone. My body tried to wake up more than once at an early hour, thinking it was 10 or 11 a.m. Portugal time, but with little effort, I returned to slumber amid the dreamy thoughts I was still on Ian’s farm.
It feels strange not being able to open the shutter and look out to see if the sun is about to crest the ridge or to wander over and check on the horses this morning. We miss them already.
Sebastian
Lucy
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Doll
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Frida
Live Update
We are here, safe and sound and working on chores that are more fun than I imagined. Portugal is beautiful, the people have been wonderful to us and the experience, a world-class thrill of a life time. I look forward to getting home where I will have time to write all about it!
After cutting through bramble with a motorized brush cutter
Walking the horses down to graze in the bottom field
