Hi there - haven't written much because we hadn't done much. Now I can.
Naturally (for me, anyway) I didn't get this finished, so I'm adding things.
We're upstate New York now because of my injured knee. We called an orthopedist and made an appointment for April 22 to see him. So we stayed in Florida for a couple of weeks because - why come back to the cold, snow, when we don't have to - and then left April 14-16th.
We had the choice of going with an orthopedist down in Venice, whom we liked a lot, or coming up here to have the surgery and lengthy recuperation done up here. If we'd had it done in Venice, we would have had to stay there for two more months.
So by his estimate it would have been July when we could leave. Kinda late for starting mowing-of-the-lawn up here. (Yes, I know, we could have made arrangements. But I have a happy husband.) One of our neighbors said that if we'd come two weeks earlier, we wouldn't have been able to get in the driveway due to snow and ice.
We spoke to several people who've had knee replacement surgery up here and two were really recommended. One is retiring in July, so he was out of consideration. That left us with the other. . .but no difference in qualifications, so that was fine! My good friend from Bath, Ruth, had her knee replacement done by him. several years ago. And - it's a small world - our other friend, Ruth, from Watkins Glen is having her hip replaced from him on the same day as I, in the same hospital. She's had a knee replacement from him also just like the other Ruth.
My surgery is scheduled for June 1st at the new Corning Hospital. Paul and I went to their Open House last year and were very impressed by the facility. My doctor, Dr. Austin, seems very knowledgeable and pleasant to talk to. My questions were answered fully. He spent a lot of time with me. That impressed me.
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Something was new at Circlewoods - It's called . . . It's Five O'clock Somewhere.
It's a great way to make new friends. People meet outside the Clubhouse and set up tables, bring something to drink and a snack. It starts at 4:00 and ends at 7:00 but you can come and leave at any time. I like it because we're meeting a lot of new people. You don't have to drink alcohol unless you feel like it. We were there only three times before we had to start north, but I'm sure we'll make it a favorite weekly thing to do. When it gets too hot or rains, they move inside.
We got together with cousins - Carol and Alice - before we left. We went to Carabbas Grill and had a really nice dinner together. Carol looks well. She's doing the old dialysis system and it's working better for her than the one she was trying. Alice continues to maintain her healthy, happy outlook to life. She's a blessing to have in my life and everyone who knows her would agree.
Not much was happening for us at Circlewoods, since I was unable to get around much. Noi, Greg and NeeNee surprised us by a call the week before Easter and said they were coming up "for Easter Sunday afternoon." Wasn't that nice? We went to church before they got there. Then we went to Marker 4 restaurant which is on the water. (We'd been there a while back with Bob after a Venice Theater performance.) This time, like last time, we sat on the deck at a round table and could enjoy watching the boats. It was so nice to see Greg and family and be with them.
So our trip north came early this year (by two weeks or more) and we were lucky to come up to good weather for a while.
We did stop to see Edna and Mike, the last traveling day, in PA, and have lunch with them. They even had gluten free pretzels which we took home with us. Delicious. They both looked well, except for Edna's broken arm. Yes. Seems she fell two weeks ago in the garage. (I had wondered if she'd slipped on the ice, but no. She fell in the garage.) She still prepared a lovely lunch and we had a chance to sit and talk for a while. Their daughter, Judy, was coming for a visit from New Jersey that day, but she was arriving after we had left so we didn't have a chance to see her.
We came home to warmish weather and some of the daffodils are out. Now it's getting colder and we had some snow flurries yesterday. None are scheduled for today. I'm busy doing wash. I don't know how two people can manage to get so many clothes dirty!
So - I guess you could call me handicapped or disabled, so Paul went to the county office building to get me a handicapped sign to put on my rear view mirror.
Unfortunately, all they had there were the disabled stickers to put on license plates and Paul was sent (wouldn't you know) to the bottom of our hill, where the town of Veteran office buildings are located. It was late, so I was assigned the job of getting it on Thursday morning on my way to Bible Study. They weren't opened then so I went back afterwards.
One of the advantages of living in a small town. . .The lady behind the counter looked at my name and said --- I saw your name in the paper today! What? It seems my name was on a list of people who were to get money from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. . . .
When I got home, I looked, and there was my name on a full-page list of names in alphabetical order. I looked up BC/BS phone number and called and yes. After I verified that it was me, he said that in August there would be a check sent to me. Naturally he didn't know how much. But it has to be $50 or over. So --- how about that???
My next door neighbor also saw it, and told Paul about it.
It looks like Paul will have to mow the lawn sometime soon. But there's no hurry. It's now Tuesday the 28th, and the grass in the backyard looks like it's time. This feels so strange to me that we're home BEFORE all this must start. Our neighbors, located across the street and one house down, are putting in an in-ground pool. The workers are working even though there are snow flurries.
Bill got the light bulb I sent, but the TV still doesn't work. He's going to take it to the repair shop.
Samantha, Flor's 4 1/2 year old daughter took tests for the Chinese Language School last week. The school is one of the best in the area, according to Bill. It isn't far from where they live. So, it seems like a great opportunity.
One of Flor's sisters, Ellenette, is living with them. She's 12 years old so she may be going there either or another school - depending on if there's room.
We went for lunch with Lue and Sharon P yesterday. Sharon and Dave walked in for lunch, but we had just finished. This was the first we'd seen them since we arrived a week ago. They'd just finished closing on some office space in Montour Falls. They're excited. We're excited for them.
Talked with Carol O this week. She had an exciting couple of days. . . .
She left Fla the weekend before us. BUT she missed her train! She had to stay in a motel and leave the next day. It seems she left Circlewoods an hour later than expected because she had some little cleaning chores left to do. It's a three hour trip to Sanford, and she ran into unexpected delays of traffic. She called them, but it didn't do any good. They couldn't wait. Luckily there was ONE seat left on the Saturday train. Poor Carol. Guess that was a lesson learned. It would be for anybody. As she said, she was really outside of her comfort zone.
Sharon, Charles and Ida came Sunday afternoon and helped move some furniture in our living room. For those of you who know what it looked like, here's what happened. They moved the china cabinet that was on the stairway wall downstairs. They moved an oak cabinet from upstairs, to that spot. They moved the TV from the corner in the living room to on top of the cabinet.. Then they moved Paul's recliner to the empty spot where the TV stand was . The loveseat was placed where the piano was, and the piano was put between the dining room and the hall to the two other bedrooms. Make sense?
