Cocoon mode* - day 15: leaf melts frost, commode goes down Church, reaction to Sarah Palin's big China speech, a tooth is pulled; I blow it
Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 4:12AM ;)
This morning, there was a leaf on my windshield. It had melted a patch of frost.
;)
As I drove down Church Road, I saw a commode coming the other way.
;)
On Lucille, I saw this group of children waiting for their school bus.
;)
The big talk all day in Wasilla, all over Alaska and it seems the whole USA and the world has been Sarah Palin and her big speech in China. I've visited the other blogs and online news outlets and everybody is going on about it.
Me, I'd rather show you this car driving by Wasilla Lake, as I drive the other way.
;)
Margie lost a filling and came down with a terrible toothache. Jacob and Lavina took her to Anchorage with them and dropped her off at the emergency room of the Alaska Native Medical Center. When she was done, she called me and I headed in to pick her up. I came upon this gentlemen right here in Wasilla, at the stoplight at the intersection of the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways.
I have immortalized him for posterity beyond his mortal days and he does not even know it.
If you know him, perhaps you could tell him.
;)
After she called me, Margie had to wait for an hour for her pain-killer prescrption, so the timing was just about perfect. Her tooth had to be pulled and she was in tremendous pain. She took one of two pills, but it did no good. The other pill had to be taken with food, but her mouth hurt her so bad she could not stick anything in it.
Poor woman! She has spent so much of this year suffering pain. So much! Damnit!
After I got her home, she managed to swallow some Saltine crackers. Then she took the other pill. The pain eased off a bit after that.
As for me, despite the increased number of pictures in this entry, I am still in cocoon mode. It's just that I burned out tonight. Completely. I could not do another lick. So I decided to watch a movie with Margie, something that we have not done much of together in quite awhile - although she has been watching movie upon movie upon movie, because of her injury. But tonight all she wanted to do was take her Vicodin and go to bed.
When I was recovering from my injury, I hardly watched any TV at all. I read books, and I learned to use the pocket camera, took pictures with just one hand and with that same hand pecked away at my laptop computer. I also slept a lot. It was amazing how much I slept. I miss sleeping like that.
And then one night I went to bed and I could not sleep at all. I threw away my pain killers, but still this condition persisted for a couple of months. It was awful. And now I sleep but I still don't sleep much and I am tired 100 percent of the time.
Oh, how I ramble! This is because I am burned out and don't know what else to do.
I did not want to watch a movie by myself, so I came out here, made this blog entry and since I could not work, put in a couple of more pictures than I should have, being in cocoon mode. I still left some out, though. Some good ones - even better than the ones I put in.
I am tired of working everyday. Every day! The whole damn summer passed and I did not get to take one break and do one damn fun thing (although I do have fun with my work, sometimes, especially when I was on the Arctic Slope) but I have got to get this job done.
It doesn't feel like I ever will, but I have got to.
And then I need to blow out and go to Mexico or Hawaii or Argentina or someplace for a few days. I've just got to! Brazil would be okay. I could dance upon the equator. If some of those women that you always see pictures of, undulating their way through the Mardi Gras, were to dance upon the equator at the same time as me, that would be okay.
Even when you are married and love your wife, who may or may not be with you, depending on whether she wants to go or not, it is good to watch women dance upon the equator.
Oh, hell, who am I kidding? I am not going to Brazil when this project is done. I will be lucky if I can make it to Glennallen. And any woman who tries to dance outside there had better be well-bundled, or she will turn into a popsicle.
I'm not going to proof read this damn thing, either, so if there's any mistakes, that's just too bad. I probably wouldn't catch most of them, anyway.
Holy cow! My email just pinged. It was an Anchorage Daily News update: Former Anchorage Mayor George Sullivan has died. Oddly enough, the sharpest memory I have of him is of him sitting in a big car in the parking lot of the Sullivan Arena, named for him even before he died.
I must have photographed that moment, but who knows where the image is?
My condolences to the family and all those who loved him.
Well, he just kept rambling.
Not Mayor Sullivan - he's done rambling. Me, I'm the one who kept rambling. But I will stop one day, too.
But not today.
*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.
Reader Comments (8)
There are times in everyone's life when one wishes they'd win the lottery...or be the "lucky recipient" of the Publishers Clearing House giveaway, just to be able to afford that trip of a lifetime.
As a pleasant alternative, hubby and I also used to take long car trips, just to sightsee whatever we could get to within a couple or three days. After my husband'd brain-disabling stroke 10 years ago, these trips shortened significantly because I have to do all the driving now.
Even in the lower 48, if one (or two) live on SS and a pension, today's gas prices shorten those trips even more, so I'm left only with memories of those lovely getaway trips -- and my hubby has no memory at all.
I hope you have some memorable trips to reflect on, Bill.
(maybe they could be the subject of one of your blog posts, either now during cocoon time or later after your project is done)
I too am at that time of my life where my get-away trips are mostly trips of fancy -- down Memory Lane. Good trips too!!! Especially with somebody who experienced the event with me.
Besides -- most trips are enjoyed more in anticipation than in the actual trip itself. My cousin dreamed of her trip to Alaska for 6 months, looked at all the wonderful photos and thought of all the wonderful things they were going to do. She was there for 7 days and it rained all 7 days..... Said all they saw was rain and clouds and the insides of buildings. Sometimes trips aren't as wonderful as the anticipation and mind trips before the real thing. Enjoy the women dancing on the equator -- probably more beautiful in imagination than in reality!
Snow on the mountains and kids bundled at the bus stop. It's wonderful to see your photographs and to be instantly transported home.
I too, at times, dream of the day when I can sleep more than a few hours and feel rested. I also dream of that dream vacation.
You know my trick? Music.
Put on some salsa, close your eyes and swing your hips. Imagine yourself in Brazil surrounded by dancing pretty young things. Margie can be there too, swinging her hips, pain free. Maybe for a moment you'll feel a sense of relief, an exhale of exhaustion.
Funny start to my web day....I clicked a link from Ann Curry on twitter. Took me to an interesting photo collection. One of the pics was Alaska, 1909 or so. I wondered where the photo was taken. First comment was from you, wondering the same. Small, small world.
Lord, you were born a rambling man....
Karen, I'm very sorry to learn about what happened to your husband. Yes, the price of gas is making everything harder, and then out in Rural Alaska the airfare is getting so expensive it is ridiculous, in large part, I believe, because little airline companies are getting monopolies over various regions where there used to be competition.
I have been fortunate to travel a great deal and if I can ever figure out how to find the time to do it, I have come up with a formula in my head that would allow me to share these trips daily, even as I keep Wasilla up daily, no matter where I am.
But it will take time and I don't know where that time is going to come from.
Grandma Nancy - yes, that is a common fate for visitors who come to Alaska for a short time to suffer. The best time to come is June. The weather is usually pretty good then. This year, the summer was exceptionally nice and she could have come anytime.
Angel, glad I can bring you back home.
Debby, now the song will be in my head all day. What am I to do?
Sing...sing a song...make it simple to last the whoooooooole day long.......
Hi Bill and Margie:
I enjoyed the pictures. I have been wondering where you two disappeared to. How is Margie doing? I hope all is well.
After living in many states, I have settled back down in Manderson. I see my family every day and enjoy living in the country. All my children are grown up and my baby is all grown up and on her own.
Seems like time has passed so fast. I'm at the age I never wanted to experience....but I'm there.
It would be so great to see you and Margie again. Martyna
Martyna! Wow! How amazing to find you here! It looks like you came from the NYT Lens blog. I am working on proposal for a grant that, if successful, will bring me back to your country sometime within the next couple of years. Even if I don't get the grant, I think I will come, anyway.
Margie may or may not come with me. Travel has become rather difficult for her.
We think of you, often, and always with love, as it is you who brought us together.
Our lives have changed a great deal and we are not very good church people anymore, but I think our hearts are still good.
This from Margie: "Oh, my gosh! I'm speechless! Good to hear from you. How is all your family? Tell everybody hi!"