Recent Posts

Allergic, to Ragweed? And I dare to pursue Allopathic Metrics

September 17, 2026

Ragweed, growing just outside our fence. I wonder if this is the culprit.

Ever since I returned from trip to North Carolina for the Crone gathering, I’ve noticed that I must be allergic to something. This is rare for me; in fact, I hardly remember being allergic to anything ever. But runny nose, sinus involvement, and weird coughing to clear my throat tell me it’s true.

Which means, I have a feeling, that for some reason my immune system is not working as well as it should.

Which is not surprising, given that the week with daughter-in-law Sue feels like a whirlwind that finally blew over. While we had a great time, I’m not used to such intensity for days on end.

At nearly 84 years old, I’d much rather be “at peace,” thank you!

Which means, I have a feeling, that my days as a long-distance traveler are over, or nearly over. I remember an aunt of mine, how she used to travel with groups long distance. I wonder how old she was when she stopped. Was she my age now? Older?

Today, after the third bad night’s sleep in a row (too much sneezing, coughing), I walked as usual this morning with Scampi. Before the sun came up. In fact, we got home after 3.5 miles just as the sun was peeking above the horizon. I noticed while walking, that my usual fast morning stride has slowed. Indeed, I have to remind myself to speed it up when I notice how slowly I’m walking. This unnerves me.

Growing older, yes, is not for sissies.

I hope to get a nap later this morning, so that I can go over to the nearby mall at 11:30, and the Endright Center for Aging, to sign up for a “health screen.” (Offered free, every six months.) On the other hand, should I do it now? Or should I wait until I feel more myself, more alive. Hmmm . . .

If I DO get a health screen, it will be the first time in many months of trying to figure out how I would go about it, the first time that I was able to actually check my health through the usual allopathic metrics. And, it would be the first time in at least ten years that I was inside, even briefly, the American medical system.

 

LATER:

I did go over to the Endright Center, and I did get a nap beforehand. That nap, in fact, seemed to have “cured” my  lingering malaise.

Meanwhile, my health indicators are A+! (I asked the nurse to add the A+).

I wonder if the nap itself shifted the metrics.

 

 

Art Museum Tour with Sue; Squash Soup with Bone Broth

September 16, 2026

I thought I’d be up to snuff with near-daily posts here, but yesterday did me in. Not because I couldn’t have done a post, but because the intense, hurried schedule I’d been on with daughter-in-law Sue and the four-day North Carolina Crone event, and then two more days here with her, one of them with Colin for lunch as well, did me in.

On the final day, yesterday, Sue and I decided to tour the Eskenazi Museum of Art, before going to lunch at FARM Bloomington.

IM Pei design. Lots of galleries. We figured our tour might take about an hour. Oh? Are you kidding? This must be one of the world’s major collections, with gigantic winding rooms featuring contemporary, medieval, african, oriental, etc. etc. art. Part way through we decided that we’d better just glance at most of the stuff, and stop before what really grabbed us. Here’s two that grabbed me:

I used to be able to go for weeks with an intense schedule; I remember especially the years when I would drive to Salt Lake, or San Francisco (from where I lived in a yurt in Jackson Hole), and stay with a friend a week or more, doing three or four “charts” (i.e., astrological readings) a day. And that included figuring them out, setting them up, and then making good copy on parchment paper for the client! This was prior to internet programming.

The reason I would travel when I did was because my taxes were due, or I wanted to go overseas.

 

Two nights ago, I barely slept; I mean slept maybe 45 minutes three times at three hour intervals. My body was stuck on our week-long adrenalized rush. Couldn’t turn it off.

Today IS better. Scampi and I walked, fast, at 6:30 AM for an hour, arriving back home just as the sun rose. Then I  made soup, starting with bone broth that I made last night from frozen chicken bones (from several twice-monthly Green Acres Community Dinners). This morning I chopped up, with great difficulty, a “porcelain doll pink pumpkin” that the squirrels had begun to to chew on and dropped it into the broth.

Not that I wanted to make the soup.

But I didn’t want to lose the squash.

There’s one more out there. Hope somebody else gets it before the squirrels do.