Month: April 2023

Winding down my last day in Door County. What a wonderful few days I have had here, first with my sisters and now alone. I am so grateful for the opportunity to share this beautiful space.

I feel like I got a solid amount of writing done in the past three days. I have a base established for Documents and Stuff, Gear, and Itinerary. Dan’s still reviewing the Introduction. He said ideas are coming to him in his dreams.

Writing always takes me much longer than I think it will, but I’ve been enjoying the process. About every hour or so, I thank God for technology. It is SO much easier to write something now than when I was in school in the 60s-80s’. Everything is so readily available. I remember having to wait weeks for a reference article that my library at Alverno needed to order from another library somewhere in the universe. Shocking how things have changed, and continue to change every day.

Yesterday I had a second meeting with Patty and Terrie about our India trip. I have not yet received any answers from the travel agent, Chaitanya, in Mumbai. I texted him, and he said he was at an exhibition so couldn’t connect. We plan to meet via Zoom on Monday.

I chatted with my friend, Beth Abrams, in Boquete. We earlier discussed her favorite carry-on travel suitcase, and yesterday she texted me the info. She then called via WhatsApp, and we chatted about her experiences in India. She recommended visiting the Sikh community. I’m also going to get in touch with a couple of other Indian friends for their input.

Tonight’s Zentangle. I replicated the design I’ve been working on, but this time to a larger scale. It’s a better size to put on a card. It’s a fun design to make. Really a challenge at first, but once I really paid attention to the video (and actually turned on the audio), it all came together. I think the one on the right needs a little more shading.

I spent the weekend here in Door County at the house of my friends, Mike Jury and Patty Walker, with my two lovely sisters. And we were delighted that Robin (a childhood neighbor) chose to spend a couple of days with us. Robin lives on Washington Island where she has been the owner/operator of Nelson’s, a historic tavern on Washington Island.

Robin recently lost her son, Sam, so we felt grateful that she chose to spend a couple of days with us. I cannot imagine another human suffering that goes so deep. Truth be told, it was one of reasons I chose not to have children. Being in the midst of that grieving with family members was just too much. I realized that I had a choice, and I decided against it.

We had a delightful visit with Robin. She’s a collector, like our Marie, as well as my friend, Barb, in Panama. They just go outside and collect things that they later incorporate into their home. I wish I would have captured a photo of Robin’s collection of stones, wood and other outside oddities, but she scooped it all up before I got to it. Perhaps she will share with me a photo of one of her creations.

This is another Robin creation. We couldn’t use it because the fire warning was high, so we just admired it.

Walking to Cave Point Park:

We had a number of lovely dinners, soaks in the hot tub, and played Catch Phrase. Never a dull moment. And I have some very nice leftovers to see me through Saturday.

How many kitchens do you know of that has one of these? It’s on my list.

It’s called a molcajete. They say the head is usually the image of a pig. Not sure if this is a pig or a dog.

Yesterday we took a hike through Peninsula State Park. This was the first I’ve seen the new tower/bridge/walkway.

And this was the Zentangle of the weekend:

Kathy and Michele left about 1 pm this afternoon. I stayed in order to accept delivery of a bed for Mike. Turns out the bed is being delivered tomorrow morning, but I am going to stay until Saturday morning. I am almost finished making the beds and cleaning up a bit.

I wanted to get all that done and get my blog caught up so I have the next three days to focus on writing the book. Now that Dan is involved there is a bit more accountability, which is not a bad thing. I think it’s time right now to visit the hot tub.

My friend, Mary Stanke, called me this morning. She said she was missing the blog, so I thought I’d catch up. Can’t believe I’ve been home for nearly three weeks already. I seem to have a never-ending to-do list: doctors’ appointments, hair, massage, walks with friends, Trivia, preparing Myra’s to-do list – which makes mine shorter!

One of those things was to learn how to properly use iNotes. For some reason, I was having a hard time with that. But I’ve got it now and love it. I’ve also done some fine-tuning on learning my Mac. I’ll never go back to a laptop. Now I feel that my iPhone (which I just replaced because of the broken camera) are now synchronized. No more having to remember passwords. Fingers crossed that I’m doing it right.

Our yard is waking up:

Lovely walks with Kathy and Mary on the Glacial Drumlin Trail and in Lapham Peak.

Kathy asked me if I had garlic for breakfast after this photo was taken.

I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to understand “the heart attack gene.” Information in general regarding cholesterol levels has changed dramatically – and quickly – so much so that my primary physician didn’t know what I was talking about when I mentioned ApoB. ProHealth hasn’t added it yet to its basic cholesterol labs.

I have the coronary angiogram on 4/27. So that will be it work workup. We’ll see what Dr. Dall, the lipidologist (cholesterol specialist) recommends. I was pleasantly surprised to see Dr. Dall credited at the end of one of the podcasts by Dr. Peter Attia. He said Dr. Dall was one of his main sources of information. So, looks like I’m in good hands.

Dan has been helping me with the book. He suggested a preface. I was a little nervous when he suggested writing this. I put off reading it for a while because I was worried I would be “losing me” in his writing. His perspective on the Camino is a bit different than mine. However, after I read it today, I was very pleasantly surprised. It did, in fact, sound like me, just more succinct and organized, summarizing the book. So, we’ll see where we go from here. I’m hoping to have it finished and ready for the editor before the end of summer.

And now I’m back in my own lovely little bed looking out at the pink-tinted sky.

And yesterday a fun wedding shower for Mia Guido. One of the best showers I’ve ever attended.

And today is Greek Easter, so we will be celebrating at Tim and Ana’s.