The View's Not Bad

I had a rheumatoid arthritis appointment on Thursday which necessitated a trip to the outpatient area of the hospital. Carole was born at this place, back when it was a "T"-shaped building with the maternity wing on the top floor of one the arms of the "T". When the hospital was built, it was a small-ish building on this huge acreage. In the intervening decades since her birthday, it has morphed into this large complex, taking up almost all of the acreage the original planners had the prescience to purchase many, many years ago.

I go to the 5th floor of Outpatient. The lab, the CT scan and the ultrasound areas, places I have gone since this diagnosis, are on the first floor. All overlook this courtyard. On Thursday, a day that was pleasant but rainy, the courtyard looked like this.

I don't remember what's directly across from my position. I've never seen how to get to the courtyard because even the first floor overlooks it. This view is pretty in all seasons and, now approaching my 2nd year of life with RA, I have seen the courtyard in all seasons. There was thought given to what people saw when they looked out the windows.

Hospitals have certainly evolved. I remember my sister being sick in the 1960's and having to go to the University of Iowa hospitals for treatment, one of the most innovative hospitals in the country. We were allowed up to see her and she had a bed in a ward. Curtains were drawn around the bed for privacy. That was considered 'state of the art' in the 1960's. We wouldn't dream of that now. We recognize that light and color and a view and peace all contribute to healing.

I know the design of this courtyard is incorporated into the fees the hospital charges for services. Our health care is, as much as we might not wish to acknowledge it, a for-profit business and that business has to recoup costs, even for a maple that turns bright red in the fall.

I don't like the fact that I have reached a point where I get to see the seasons change in the courtyard of a hospital. I took care of myself. Why do I have to be at this point in my life? We'll all be there, eventually. I guess having a good, calming, peaceful view makes having to get yet another test less onerous.

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold tea

Deb

I Think I Need A New One

I was going to make some frozen french fries for supper. As I've never had adequate pots and pans storage, I keep baking sheets in the oven. I pulled them out and took one for fries.

I don't know the age of this pan. We're talking a long time. It gradually darkened over the years and I read somewhere that this natural patina is good for baking. Of course, you need to scour the pan clean after use, but pans were made for an accumulation of "dark" around the edges.

But, what we have here is not an accumulation of dark, we have rust. After I wash a cookie sheet, I let it air dry for a bit and then stick it in a warm oven, about 150 degrees. This makes sure that there is no moisture on the pan when it's stacked and stuck back into the oven for storage. So, where the rust came from, I don't know.

What I do know is that marks the end of the line for this cookie sheet. Rust is not something you can cover with shortening and then drop a chocolate chip cookie on. Rust is the deterioration of the cookie sheet itself. It's time to let it go. I tossed this sheet and pulled out a different one and made my fries.

Well, it's good it's happening now. My birthday is this month.

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold tea

Deb

A Final Thought on Vacation

Yes, here it is, November already and I'm finally posting the last observation on the August vacation. I got a lot of mileage out of it, in terms of blog posts, in addition to adding around 1500 miles to the odometer. This is the last vacation post, unless, of course, it's not, but I'm thinking it is.

The Jeep doesn't have air conditioning. I don't care. It's a Jeep. If I take off the windows and drive 60, I have air conditioning. I grew up in a time where cars didn't have AC. I remember when this was a selling point for luxury models. I have memories of being piled into the back of the car and driven to and from Gram's, a two hour drive, in the summer, with my siblings, without air conditioning. We survived. Now, of course, we wouldn't dream of doing that.

Yet, I drove to Virginia and back without air. On the way out, it wasn't warm enough, at least from my point of view, to have the windows open. Particularly as you get up into the mountains in the evening, the air temperature can be downright chilly.

On the way back, it was muggy and warm. I had the driver's side window down and then, when I stopped for gas mid-morning, put down the driver's side window because I needed the air circulation. The windows weren't put back up until I realized I'd be driving through rain for some time. You need to remember, I have a soft top with soft side windows. I don't "roll the windows down". I have to unzip them so "putting up the passenger side window" involves stopping somewhere to do that. There is nothing electronic about windows in my car.

By the time I got to Ohio, I had noticed a curious phenomenon. My glasses seemed to be awfully dirty. It bugs me to look through dirty lenses. I must have four or five glass cleaning clothes scattered about the house, purse and office. I don't know how you can see properly when there is a film of dirt on the lenses. So, it was most annoying to me to have what seemed to be constantly dirty glasses. Every time I stopped, be it for food or gas, I was cleaning my glasses. I even took them off and cleaned them with my tee shirt as I was driving because it just got to be like looking through waxed paper. I couldn't figure this out. It was incredibly annoying.

Then it occurred to me that because my driver's side window was open, I could be exposed to road grime. This would be the natural dust and dirt and who knows what else kicked up by traffic traveling at high speeds over a roadway. Once I had to put up the windows because of the rain, the film on my glasses ceased to accumulate. I thought about this and washed my face when I got home. The soap suds were not a milky white.

I love the smells of road travel. Driving through rain yields the smells of wet earth and wet pavement. Spring has fresh air and the smells of the earth awakening. Summer brings the smell of earth after a rain, the smell of steam, the smell of hay and growth. Fall brings a crisp air smell with leaves and the harvest and winter has the smell of frozen air. Every season brings a reason to have the window down. Yet this was kind of disturbing to think about. What else is going on my face and in my lungs, kicked up by travel on a highway? I won't change my driving habits to avoid this, however. I will just need to make sure I have glass cleaner at the ready.

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold tea

Deb

Christmas Crochet

I've been busy with the hook. Thanks to Iowa being on television for a couple of Saturdays, I've managed to work through almost half of the scarves left to create. I just started stacking them one on top of the other but this thing called "gravity" took over and toppled the stack. So, I made two stacks.

These above are all marked who gets what. Of course, that is subject to change once I finish the last 10 and actually start wrapping and shipping, but, right now, I know who gets which color.

This is the other stack. I haven't marked who gets what, yet. I'm just working on each scarf. I'm very much in love with the yarns I selected for this project. From the stripes through the heathers to the variegated, I love how each one turned out. 

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold tea

Deb