As I sit down to post this, it’s just over a month since my last posting. As I said in my last post, this longer-than-usual time is due to my having my Right knee replaced in mid-April. This is not to be confused, of course, with having my Left knee replaced in early April two years ago. Now, I can’t say that joint replacement surgery is exactly fun, nor am I anything approaching back to what one might consider “normal” (which would probably not surprise many of my former students, although perhaps for different reasons). My “knee guy” did warn me that, while there is (usually) a fair amount of recovery in a relatively short period of time, it would be foolish to believe that the healing process does not continue for quite some time (perhaps two years) after the surgery. So, I guess that I can’t really expect that the Right knee process wouldn’t continue for quite some time.
I should point out that, while I can still tell the difference between the “replacement parts” in my left knee, which don’t feel quite the same as the “original equipment,” that knee has, finally, settled down to as close to “normal” as it’s likely to get and is only noticeable to me by an occasional, quiet “popping” sound when I catch it strangely. Anyway, I’ve been going to sessions with my Physical Therapist (happily, mostly with the young lady who supervised most of my therapy for my Left knee, of whom I became rather fond). While I won’t exactly say that I have enjoyed the PT sessions, she does a very nice job of making sure that I do the work involved, but actually manage to enjoy myself a bit in the process. I’m sure her colleagues are equally skilled, but a familiar face does make the process pleasanter.
So, things have been pretty quiet for me for the last month. I haven’t really gone anywhere, nor done much of anything. Other than the PT, I’ve read a lot (mostly rereading mysteries I’m fond of and haven’t read in a while). I’ve reread the entire Charlie Moon series by James D. Doss and I’m about halfway through the original Leaphorn/Chee series by Tony Hillerman, and am looking forward to working my way through the entire series including the expansion novels which also include the addition of Bernie Manuelito as a major character. This expansion is by Anne Hillerman, who took over the series after her father’s death. I have found both of these series, set primarily among the Ute people (Doss) and the Navajos (Hillerman), but drawing on the rich culture of the several Native Peoples who live (and lived) near the junction on Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah to be quite enjoyable. I confess that I enjoy the mysteries, but have also become quite fond of the insight I have gained into the traditions and religions of these peoples.
I have also been thinking that it’s almost exactly three years since Maggi and Brian got married on our back porch because they couldn’t have the wedding they really wanted at the Joslyn Castle here in town due to that thing called COVID. That means that it’s been three years since I was ordained as a minister of the Universal Life Church. I can’t say that my “ordination experience” had a terrifically profound effect on me, although I didn’t take it lightly, either. But Maggi is my daughter, and guy’s do weird things for their kids, and if there were ever two people who I was convinced should be married, it was those two. In fact, when we were writing the brief ceremony which was used, I made a point of commenting that I did not consider it to be creating a relationship between these two people, but simply a public acknowledgment of the existence of that relationship. The best “weddings” of which I have been aware seem to have been such acknowledgements, and I was confident that it applied in this case, or I would not have participated.
But, enough about such things, The rest of this may not be as well though out as my usual silliness, but I do have a cache of odds and ends which I can use to make this worth the trouble of posting. These are just a few “odds and ends” I found amusing.
Obviously, doctors have been on my mind a good deal in the last few weeks. Doctors handwriting is notoriously bad, so when I encountered this a while back, I was quite amused.
I should point out that, while I can still tell the difference between the “replacement parts” in my left knee, which don’t feel quite the same as the “original equipment,” that knee has, finally, settled down to as close to “normal” as it’s likely to get and is only noticeable to me by an occasional, quiet “popping” sound when I catch it strangely. Anyway, I’ve been going to sessions with my Physical Therapist (happily, mostly with the young lady who supervised most of my therapy for my Left knee, of whom I became rather fond). While I won’t exactly say that I have enjoyed the PT sessions, she does a very nice job of making sure that I do the work involved, but actually manage to enjoy myself a bit in the process. I’m sure her colleagues are equally skilled, but a familiar face does make the process pleasanter.
So, things have been pretty quiet for me for the last month. I haven’t really gone anywhere, nor done much of anything. Other than the PT, I’ve read a lot (mostly rereading mysteries I’m fond of and haven’t read in a while). I’ve reread the entire Charlie Moon series by James D. Doss and I’m about halfway through the original Leaphorn/Chee series by Tony Hillerman, and am looking forward to working my way through the entire series including the expansion novels which also include the addition of Bernie Manuelito as a major character. This expansion is by Anne Hillerman, who took over the series after her father’s death. I have found both of these series, set primarily among the Ute people (Doss) and the Navajos (Hillerman), but drawing on the rich culture of the several Native Peoples who live (and lived) near the junction on Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah to be quite enjoyable. I confess that I enjoy the mysteries, but have also become quite fond of the insight I have gained into the traditions and religions of these peoples.
I have also been thinking that it’s almost exactly three years since Maggi and Brian got married on our back porch because they couldn’t have the wedding they really wanted at the Joslyn Castle here in town due to that thing called COVID. That means that it’s been three years since I was ordained as a minister of the Universal Life Church. I can’t say that my “ordination experience” had a terrifically profound effect on me, although I didn’t take it lightly, either. But Maggi is my daughter, and guy’s do weird things for their kids, and if there were ever two people who I was convinced should be married, it was those two. In fact, when we were writing the brief ceremony which was used, I made a point of commenting that I did not consider it to be creating a relationship between these two people, but simply a public acknowledgment of the existence of that relationship. The best “weddings” of which I have been aware seem to have been such acknowledgements, and I was confident that it applied in this case, or I would not have participated.
But, enough about such things, The rest of this may not be as well though out as my usual silliness, but I do have a cache of odds and ends which I can use to make this worth the trouble of posting. These are just a few “odds and ends” I found amusing.
Obviously, doctors have been on my mind a good deal in the last few weeks. Doctors handwriting is notoriously bad, so when I encountered this a while back, I was quite amused.
On the other had, given how dependent we, as a society, have become on “high tech” devices, I did get a certain satisfaction when I saw this notice somewhere.
I don’t remember where I found this picture of a sign near an airport, but I will confess that I found it both amusing AND just a little disturbing. If you don’t find it to be such, think about it for a couple of minutes, especially in the light of the surroundings …
Given my fondness for language-related humor, I admit that I found this sign just too funny to resist. Okay, I’ll admit to have a weird sense of humor.
Perhaps it’s time for me to wrap this up and take a pill, or something. One thing that can be said about surgery and the “recovery” process is that it takes a good deal out of one. It IS true that I have not been sleeping on anything like what I would call a “normal” schedule (even for me) and it is also true that I am still in the stage where there is a constant background of what the doctors like to call “discomfort” associated with my now “fixed” knee. It certainly isn’t serious pain, but it’s always there, sort of like an itch you can’t quite scratch, which makes it hard to really relax and turns one (at least me) into a semi-relaxed puddle with no real desire to do much of anything but just be a blob.
Oh, well, this will pass. I plan to be back in a couple of weeks at which point perhaps I will have my head screwed on a bit more securely and I’ll be making somewhat more sense. Of course, one can’t count on that, considering the author ….
🖖🏼 LLAP,
Dr. B
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
— Nelson Mandela
“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic; capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” ― Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
🖖🏼 LLAP,
Dr. B
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
— Nelson Mandela
“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic; capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” ― Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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