Saturday, July 28, 2007

Milestone Reached

Took the bus to work on Friday. Was a day in which I did a lot of clearing out of a file drawer and filing a lot of Board things that have been sitting in a thick folder. Naturally it was the third drawer of a 4 drawer file cabinet so lots of bending and getting up and down.

Took the bus home past my usual transfer point so I ended up at Angelos. Those readers who know my house definitely know where Angelos is. Bought some goodies for supper and walked the 6 or 8 blocks home.

All this WITHOUT my cane.

I have used a cane for what seems forever. It must be about 8 or 9 years as I started when I lived in K-W. I had a slight fall and twisted my ankle - on the opposite side of the hip that needed replacement at the time - so it was a difficult few weeks for me. Was working, of course, and had a long bus ride and walk up a slight incline to the office. Found that the support of my cane, especially when tired, minimized the stress on my back. Know there are places and times when I will definitely require the cane in future but certainly can hope that they will even get to be less frequent. Times I will need it will be if there is rough terrain, extremely long walking and/or when I am very tired.

But I prefer not to consider such matters just now but take pride in Friday's accomplishment.

And yes, I am getting some knitting done. Not as much as I would like but I keep working on things. It will be nice when I can show them off but for now I just keep on knitting. The Tour de France being on has helped. I enjoy watching it every evening and have knit all but one night it has been on. Only one more day of it then it will be back to the baseball games.

Enjoy life.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Still Here

but not blogging a lot. Hard to believe it has been almost a month. Must get more diligent.

Still working. Should be for at least another month which is very nice to know. Gives me a timeline to plan things and to tell people..
Still enjoying the work and feel much more confident about it, of course. Get a routine going when you are able to do it more than one or two weeks.

Still swimming. Started back for the twice a week and it works out well with the bus. Get 30 to 45 minutes to swim before the classes start which helps. Do really need a Chiro appointment as getting very tight through the back. Son suppose to be in London next week working so hopefully will be able to arrange something.

Still knitting. Have a finished item but no pictures and need to get a related item also done but at least have that started. Also started the Mystery Lace 3 KAL but haven't finished Clue 1 as yet. Friday was the release of Clue 3. Just as long as I get all the clues saved to my computer before it ends, I will be happy. There are over 5000 people doing it and some lovely shawls so I know what the finished item will be patterned as. Using Jaeger Zephyr, light purple, that I bought in Lake Orion Michigan last year. Also using very, very small crystal beads which occasionally catch the light and add just a bit of weight. Should have used larger beads but I like the subtleties of the small ones.

Still reading. Mandy's Mom gave me "A Thousand Summer Suns" and I loved it!!!!!! Very sad but so very well written! Bought his earl er book "Kite Runner" yesterday and looking forward to reading it now. Had also bought Sidney Poitier's book on sale last week. I so admired him as an actor and person so I think I'll enjoy the book.

Still doing puzzles. Got a book of Hanjie puzzles for Christmas and so very much like doing them. Must be honest and say I look at the solutions to get started but try to do the rest myself. Was in Barnes and Noble yesterday and they had a big book called "Picture Puzzles" which are the each same thing. I am now the proud owner of one copy.
If you are not familiar with these puzzles, you are given a square of graph paper from 25 to 35 squares each direction. Across the top and down one side are numbers - a number in each grayed square that are the directions. The sequence 1 1 1 1 would mean that there will be four single squares filled in for that line and that none the the squares touch each other. A sequence of 13 4 1 would mean there are 13 squares, than a further 4 squares and a single square that do not touch each other grouping. By working the squares across and the squares across you can develop a picture. Some of them are very diabolical where it works out to be a single line outline of a smiling sun face, for example. That kind I skip or look at the solution for. Other times it might be quite easy, line a line of 33 across and nothing in the two edge squares. I can figure that out all by myself. Don't want the really challenging ones after a day of work and figuring out some knitting. I'll just leave them for now -- or cheat doing them.

Just realized I haven't really looked at the book since I saw the title. Bev and I had gone to pick up some mail for me in Port Huron and have a nice lunch out. Ended up at Chili's and really enjoyed it as we had a nice salad and assortment of appetizers. Off to look it over - and maybe do just one puzzle before doing some housework.

Well maybe two puzzles.

Enjoy life.