Taking A Break

 First of all, I want to thank you all for your kind remarks and good wishes. 

Blogger friend Sandi wrote in her last comment: Your small town wrapped its arms around you.

And I will add that the same goes for you. I'm grateful for your friendship.

I know a UTI is nothing much to deal with most of the time when you are younger, but when you are no longer young everything gets a bit more difficult and, most of all, more tiring.

I read somewhere that when you're old you need more energy for everything you do, but you have so much less. 

This is so true.

So I will take some time off from blogging and work on getting better and stronger.

The Test Results

 

Thank you for your concern about my health and for caring. The friends I've made while blogging all these years, you are really great. 

Joyce took me to ER this morning. I was seen right away (the reason I went in the morning, and so far, it has worked well for me).

I was diagnosed with yet another UTI. I asked about the other symptoms and he said it's all closely connected and if you have an infection in one part, it may affect areas close by. 

So I got one antibiotic capsule while at the hospital and when Joyce and I arrived at Walmart Pharmacy, not that far away, the prescription had arrived, with an urgent note on it. 

It gave me such a good feeling of small town life. The woman at the pharmacy gave me my medicine and said she hoped I would feel better soon. 

Not Feeling Well

 Just a note to let you know that I'm ill with a pretty bad infection, a UTI, but it seems worse than usual with a fever, nausea, and a complete loss of appetite. 

I didn't go to the hospital right away because I felt too ill to even get out of bed. Of course this was not a good idea, so Joyce is taking me to the ER in our local hospital this morning.

So now I face what seems like an impossible task, get out of bed and get dressed. 

Faith is keeping me company and she knows I'm not well. She stays in bed with me and keeps watch. If a dog could log worried, I'd say she does. 

Hope all is well with you all and have a good day.

Faith is supposed to stay at - her end of the bed - and she always goes there when I tell her to, but somehow, every morning, she has inched closer to me and wants to snuggle. 

Bullocks Wilshire & Small Things Found In The Shed

Mark and I were going through my shed to clean it out last year. We made progress, but there's still much to do and we should continue when it gets warmer. These are the small things we found.

A tiny Long Haul van.

A sled.

A small candle holder.

This candle set from Macy's/Bullocks is a classic. 

Some history below:

Bullocks was a chain of department stores, headquartered in Los Angeles from 1907 through 1995 and operated across California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullocks Wilshire was an upscale version of the store operated across Southern California. 

Bullocks Wilshire

Photo: Antoine Taveneaux

No longer a store, the Art Deco building is on The U.S. National Registry of Historic Places.

There was also a Bullocks in Westwood, home to UCLA, where I worked for over 30 years. My friends and I delighted in going for tea and finger sandwiches at Bullocks on our lunch hour. The dining room was elegant, the service was wonderful, the tea and sandwiches perfect. 

I'm not as familiar with Macy's but we all know of their flagship store in New York City and their Thanksgiving Day parade.

I checked and found that there are currently three Macy's in Los Angles, although I have no memory of them at all, it's likely I visited one of them during my many years living in L.A.

So now I guess that Bullocks was extirpated as well. 

Sorry, I just felt a need to show off this new word I recently learned: extirpate. This will be the end of that, though, as I really don't like that word, particularly as it relates to animals. 

N.B.

For those of you who don't know, English is my second language and I'm always happy to add a new word to my vocabulary.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Canyon Photo

 

    

Patiently Waiting For Breakfast

Feeling energetic one morning a couple of weeks ago, I drove up to Joyce's place in time to watch her and her sister feed the animals and milk a cow that needs milking. 

I was first to arrive and was greeted by her horses and the two donkeys.

Everyone was looking at me, hopefully, but I had to disappoint. 

Next time I go to the store, I will buy carrots. 

Because this is the best way to start my day, I will come here at least once a week from now on.  

And that my well be the only New Year's resolution I will make.

Then food arrived and was distributed. Here the llamas are enjoying their breakfast. 

And I had a lovely morning. 

 

A Mobile Clinic And More

I've had a UTI for a while now. I'm taking antibiotics and drinking lots of water, which I always do, prone as I am to these infections. Last Thursday, I had an appointment at a mobile clinic in town. This was a first for me and I was curious. 

 

My legs are not as steady as they once were, so the staircase leading into the mobile unit was a bit scary, but a nice nurse took my hand and helped me. 

Inside were two small rooms and a station for the nurses. I think there were two nurses and one nurse practitioner. 

The nurse was very nice and explained how things worked in a compact place. This door, for example, can be used as a wheelchair ramp.

After she left and I was alone, waiting for the nurse practitioner to come, I got bored and took some pictures of the place. When she came back and saw me doing that, she asked if I would like her to take my picture. And then she took the above picture, where I look so much younger than I actually look in real life. How she accomplished that, I have no idea. But at least I look cheerful and not as sick as I felt. 

And, as it turned out, I still had the UTI, so more antibiotics were called in to Walmart Pharmacy. 

By the time I got there, the medicine was ready, so I didn't have to wait, and took this picture of the mountains, where there was actually snow, which didn't show in the photo. 

On my way home, I got stopped at the railroad crossing and this time, the train was fun. 

It didn't have that much good graffiti, but almost every car was of a different color. 

There were blue, light yellow, dark yellow, red, brown, black and gray cars. 

A very colorful train and I was sorry I was too close to capture it all in one photo. 

Then back home and today, Saturday, I finally feel much better. I went for a short walk with Faith this morning and I've started to clean up the mess in my house, which resulted from me not doing anything for the better part of a week of feeling unwell.

Snails And Me, Part Two

A couple of months ago, blogger friend Ginny posted about one of her granddaughter's Christmas wish: Advanced Snail Serum! 

Aware that her teenage granddaughter has perfect skin, Ginny felt she wouldn't need the serum. 

Well, my 83-year old skin is far from perfect and I became intrigued after learning that serums could be made from snail slime (mucin). 

So I went to the web site and found an Advanced Snail 92 ~ All In One Cream. Since I was about to run out of my face cream, I ordered one.

I knew of course that it wouldn't make any noticeable difference to the look of my skin, my wrinkles would still be there, but it sounded like fun to try. 

And I really like the way it feels, cool and smooth on my skin. 

It doesn't look like a regular face cream, nor does it evoke a slimy snail moving across your lawn. But, truth be told, it's a bit slimier, but less greasy, than many regular face creams. 

I'm enjoying it and I believe it will last for a very long time because you don't need to apply much, it covers well. 

A fun new thing for me. 

Advanced Snail 92 ~ All In One Cream

Before I bought the snail cream, I looked up how the slime was collected:

According to a 2018 Racked article, a common technique for collecting the snail mucin involves having snails roam around a dark room on top of a surface like glass or mesh, which can then be scraped for the slime afterward. It is then processed into a filtrate before being added into skin care products.

So no snails were harmed during this process, say I, who used to eat them.

Oh, well...

Snails & Me - Part One

This is a story in two parts about snails and me.

There was a French restaurant, Catellin, in Old Town, Stockholm, just down the hill from the Royal Castle and Storkyrkan, the Great Church, it opened in 1922 and closed in 2011.

It was a landmark restaurant, according to Wikipedia.

In my later teenage years, my friends and I would eat dinner there, frequently, as I recall. 

We often began our meals with snails, a wonderful first course when combined with a lot of garlic in a delicious sauce.

The restaurant was popular with artists, writers, theater and film people. 

And I was there with my friends, 17, 18 years old and that's  where I learned that snails are a true delicacy. 

I'm sure we were all trying to act very grown up. 

Even though I really enjoyed the snails, I've never eaten one since. 

Now I wonder if anyone eats snails in America. I have a very difficult time making my American friends try Swedish herring. 

Snails are in a different category of difficulty, way more difficult to get used to than a harmless herring in a wonderful mustard or wine sauce. 

Born in France, living in NYC, yes, such a person would probably enjoy a first course of snail.

Rust at Elkhorn Slough

Thank you Vince and Jane for this marvelous rusty old building and for mentioning where you found it. 

Located on Monterey Bay, Elkhorn Slough is one of California's last great wetlands. I have probably been there myself some time in the 1970's.

The wetlands are so amazing with their many sea birds, including white pelicans, and my favorite, the brown pelican.

Learning and writing about this place, I wanted to know how Elkhorn Slough got its name, were there elk there? 

Checking, I learned that the name derives from the native Tule elk, now extirpated from the region.

Tule elk live in the mountains on the west side of our town, but not in the canyon. 

Note:

The word extirpated is new to me, so I looked it up and decided it's not really a nice word, at least not when applied to Tule Elk.

Extirpate: Root out and destroy completely.

A Did Not Pay Attention Moment

 Which could have had serious consequences, but fortunately did not. 

I'm not sure about 2024, it has barely started and I get sick. I went to our hospital ER, we have no urgent care here, and was diagnosed with an infection and picked up my medicine the following morning. 

My relatives were here to visit and support me, they are so lovely and kind to their aunt. However, one of them helped me close the hood of my car, after I sprayed it for mice. She used to have the same CRV, so I just assumed she knew how to close the hood so that it locked.  She did not. 

 

The following morning, as I drove to town, the unlocked hood opened, flew up and covered my entire windshield. Fortunately, I was still on the road in the canyon.  A nice guy, who was driving behind me stopped and made sure I was OK. I was just glad I wasn't on the freeway or in town in traffic. 

Joyce followed me to the repair shop. Afterwards, I waited in my old Jeep, now hers, while she went in the grocery store to pick up some things. 

 

I'm not good at waiting, so I took out my phone and took the above selfie and a few more. 

Then I noticed that I could see a mountain reflected in the lower left side of the store window and also some trees, so I took a picture of that too. 

I was happy to see Joyce come out of the store and grateful too. 

It will take at least until the end of next week to fix the car. So I will be at home with Faith, who has been alone way too much lately. I have all I need and am looking forward to spending time with her and relaxing at home.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Canyon Photo

 

Happy New Year

Photo: Vince or Jane; ancient pickup truck found in Santa Barbara, CA

Happy New Year!

Inger & Faith