AT SALT LAKE CITY AIRPORT...

ON MY WAY BACK from visiting my daughter, Bronwyn, and my granddaughter, Stephanie, in Basalt, Colorado  They are still busy enjoying the snow.  Nowadays, it takes more than three or so days to get used to the elevation; at over 7,000 feet, it is about ten times higher than Corning.  So my lot has been to walk the dog and when not doing that, to walk myself (usually down to the coffee shop, 300 feet lower and almost two miles distant), with a careful eye on my wrist heart monitor.

My layover here, waiting for 'the midnight' to Detroit, is about six hours.  Time for a pleasant meal and maybe writing a blog posting.  I like the late flight as it means a good sleep before the morning flight to my home airport.

This is a 'big' time for Stephanie, about to turn 18 years.  College hunting time.  I have been most fortunate to have serious discussions with her about what she wants in life and what studies will assist her to attain her life goals. She is sharper than a tack, wise beyond her years, and lots of fun to be with.  How lucky am I!  Here is Stephanie, off to coach student skiers.

And here she is once more, at the coffee shop.

It will be great to be back home.  Spring approaches and lots of projects, particularly in the garden, to get underway.  If you have not experienced the transition from the coldest of Winters to the warmth of Spring, with its lengthening days, I regret to say that it is impossible to explain or describe the sheer joy of it.  Life bursts forth within and without, and on all sides!

I have just acquired another car.  My faithful Nissan is perilously close to rusting out (due to the salt they loving add to our roads in Winter).  It is a Subaru Impreza, with 150,000 miles.  Apart from the engine, in fairly good condition.  While I have been in Basalt, it has received a reconditioned motor.  I am looking forward to taking it over this week, including registration.  I expect to sell the older car; apart from the rust, it is in great mechanical condition.  I have had it ten years, not bad for a 1998 model with 230,000 miles on it!  Why and I doing this, well might you ask?

It is part of my 'makeover' for the next decade.  More of this another time, maybe the next post. I am a bit too tired to attempt an interesting account of that.

The car in the foreground is the new possession; the yonder one is the Nissan.  They are in the grounds of 'my kind' of mechanic's garage.  They have a bunch of cars held for sale, so I am hoping they will sell mine!


Until next time, when I have more energy and more to say.

ROBERTO IS BACK!!!

BUT THEN... I never left you.

Looking somewhat battered here. You do not have to worry about the other chap; unwittingly I did it to my self (no 'bumped into a door' story either).  Fittingly, it happened on the last day of 2017, which had not been exactly a great year in some respects.  Here is the real story: seems like, that morning, on waking I rubbed my left eye a tad too vigorously.  The rest was due to blood thinners I have to take following my unremarkable cardiac event back in November 2016.  These make it very easy to get bruised and usually, if I know I have knocked myself about, a quick rub and some application of ice will forestall temporary disfigurement.

Imagine my surprise when, brushing my teeth before going to bed, not having ventured forth during the day nor looked into a mirror,  I caught sight of this!  There have been moments during the year when I did feel a bit beaten; no wanting overly to burden you with complaints, here follows a brief listing. 

Already mentioned, the heart attack and resultant emplacement of a stent. I was very fortunate in that I recognized the slight symptoms and took myself to the ER, managing to have the event there.  In January, worn down by advanced cancer, my dearest Uma, the centre of my life, died.  A little later on, there was the small matter of a couple of stones in my bladder, that betrayed their existence by weird lower back pain, and removed mid-year.  Did I mention turning 80 in May?  Those stones had me feeling 100! Comforting myself with the saying, trouble comes in threes, I began to think it was now all in the past. The problem was one of logic, I had confused apples with oranges; grief is one thing and medical ailments another! 

In the last week of the year, my doctor called me in to tell me that recent blood tests indicate possible Type 2 Diabetes (T2TM).  'Not fair!' I appealed.  She comforted me with a comment to the effect that I was 'lucky' to have all these things happen within one year!

In fact, I do sense that the worst is behind me now and feel freed to focus on the way ahead.  There were times when I did feel discombobulated and set back. Just over a decade back I had left Portland in Oregon to come all the way across America to be with Uma and now she was gone from me.  Truthfully, the physical ailments were slight compared with my sense of loss; grief can be quite a grind.  On the other hand, there are treasures hidden within, such as the love and support of family and friends, also considerable and deep learnings about oneself and the nature of life.  It is also a process that refuses to be hurried; how foolish to attempt to whiz by, perhaps not to notice, the silver and gold amid the dross.  There may be more to say of this in another blog posting.

Being 80 has one deep in puzzlement.  How did I get to be so old?  I have so few mentors beyond this marker, the way ahead looks to be Terra Incognita (remember those old maps with areas so named, with annotations like 'There Be Dragons'?).  Dragons?  Dementia, Cancer...?

No matter, push on McDuck, and lay on him who calls 'lay off'!  In the immediate, the next three months, the task is to drive off the spectre of T2DM...watch diet (I turned vegetarian some months back), lose some avoir de pois,  exercise more, and reorder my life, which has been somewhat a mess this last year.

New adventures await...so, watch this space!