Chickie Is Going to Mayo and It's COLD

The cold that stayed away last year has returned this year with intentions of staying for a while. We're sub-zero for days on end now. Thank goodness for good heaters in our cars and homes. Still, I guarantee we're losing homeless people to the cold on a daily basis right now. Tragic! 

The Mayo Clinic operates at least five separate campuses, 
each with a hospital of its' own. It's the primary business 
for Rochester, Minnesota. Chickie has been there before, 
so she and Claire know where they are going. I suspect 
I'd be totally overwhelmed. 

Chickie and Chickie Mama are on their way down to Rochester and the Mayo Clinic. It'll be a day of examinations, interviews, introductions, more interviews, and maybe a plan of action by the end of it. Chickie has a genetic disease - very rare - and it's been escalating, causing her extreme spinal pain. That's not so good when she's on her feet all day at the shop. So how rare is her disease? There are less than 1000 people in the WORLD with her disease. Sometimes it's not lucky to be the "special" person. 

The Mayo Clinic now has branches in two other states 
(Florida and Arizona) and has expanded to multiple 
buildings in Rochester - still the main complex hub. 
Are you interested in the history of Mayo? Here's 
an article that goes through the history quickly. 

So it'll be DH and me at the shop today, and since we don't work super well together any more, there will probably be an exchange or two of heated words and some hurt feelings by the end of the day. If everything goes according to plan, I'll still have my Friday off and can use that day for decompression. 

DH and I don't work smoothly any more. We have the 
same goals, but we are focused on achieving them in 
very different directions. 

I looked at my poor, neglected treadmill this morning and said "I'm on it", got changed, and did my 45 minutes running through the canyons of southern Utah. I hadn't been exercising since just before my surgery, so a bit more than a week. I felt like a slug! I feel much better now that I've been back on the tread, fast-walking to awesome rock 'n roll/heavy metal. That's what I was missing in my days last week. 

I do love my treadmill. Without it, I'd be a total 
slug! Thank goodness I can turn on the heavy 
metal music, set my speed, watch scenic videos and 
just lose myself in activity for 45 minutes. 

I did get a chance to cook my fruit yesterday, so I'm back in stock with that for another 1-1/2 weeks. I didn't get a chance to cook anything else (except the Wednesday chicken dinner), but I desperately needed my fruit. I was going to bake a loaf of bread too, but realized my time would be very tight, so I bought my standard loaf instead, and will make bread late this week or early next instead. I do want to, but time wasn't on my side for this one. 

Have an excellent day today. I dropped by the YMCA quickly yesterday to see Sabrina and Beth. It was wonderful to catch up with both of them, and I got a new Swimmers Contact List. I had one from a month or two ago, but managed to misplace it, and found I needed that information. I now have it posted above my desk so that I don't lose it a second time - LOL. Enjoy your Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Blessed Solstice to All and a Blizzard Awaits

Good Solstice to all of my readers this day. If you're one of my friends in the Southern Hemisphere, you're celebrating your Summer Solstice. If you're like I am, stuck tightly in the grip of Winter, it's the Winter Solstice. Either way, the sun will begin it's return journey today and the seasons will progress in their dance of days. The nights will begin to shorten/lengthen, and we will move onward in our cosmic dance. 

Good Solstice to all on this winter's day in the 
Northern Hemisphere. Enjoy your summer, those 
of you in the Southern climes. 

Additional cards have arrived to brighten my day. A lovely hand-painted card from SeaIvy, a beautifully handcrafted card from my long-time friend "Poo" (aka Pam), and yes, cmcmck, I also got your absolutely stunning owl card yesterday. My mantle is looking quite festive and lovely and I'm looking forward to my three days off at the end of the week. 

I did a lovely meditation this morning for the solstice, 
with one of my favorite teachers - Keziah Gibbons. She 
lives in the southern hemisphere, so it was a summer 
solstice meditation, but more than that, it was a Solstice 
meditation, and equally balanced between Summer 
and Winter. 

Of course, that means I have to work today because Chickie and Chickie Mama have to return to the Mayo Clinic for another test today. Yesterday's drive was fraught with danger and lots of glare ice making for a gnarly drive there and back. Today's - with the snows and possible blizzard conditions that will be hitting us beginning at 9:00 am and continuing throughout the day (with sub-zero F temperatures and higher winds creating blizzard conditions) might be even worse. I asked why they just didn't stay in a hotel overnight and the response was that Claire was afraid her cat might get into mischief. ARGH!!! Sometimes this highly intelligent woman just doesn't use her brain. Today's drive will be horrific for them. 

Mayo Clinic in Rochester is a HUGE complex of 
15 hospitals and countless other health-related 
clinics and outbuildings. It's a great thing to have 
something like that so close, but I'm really hoping 
I'll never need to take advantage of that proximity. 

So, send positive thoughts out to Chickie who will be driving her Mama to her MRI today through the blizzard and back. It shouldn't have been necessary to take that trip twice in two days over the solstice and through the snows of winter. 

We're full on in Capricorn right now - DH's 
astrological sign. If you ever need to wonder why 
we butt heads all the time, he's a goat, I'm a bull. 
Horns do get into play. 

Blessed Solstice to all, I'll be back tomorrow. I have to get going - I'll need to do my grocery shop first thing in the morning today, and take everything to the shop with me for the day. I can leave the frozen goods in the car - it will barely get above zero for our temps today. I can take the few refrigerator items into the shop and keep them in that refrigerator for the day (there's no room in that old refrigerator's freezer - it needs defrosting and I hate doing that). I'm thinking positive thoughts for all of you who might be affected to day's huge storm system. Slava Ukraini and again, Good Solstice. 

ChickieMama Surgery and Thoughts on the Middle Ages

Today is a topsy-turvy day. I work for Chickie today while she takes ChickieMama to Mayo Clinic for cancer surgery. It's a minor procedure, they leave early this morning and should be back home by early afternoon. But it's surgery and Claire is older than I am, so there's always something to worry about, even in out-patient surgery. If you can spare a positive thought or six for Claire today, it would be kind of you. 

Claire's surgery is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, 
approximately an hour or so south of the Twin Cities. 
We're quite fortunate to have a world-class medical 
center so close to where we live. 

But, that means that I work today and I'm off tomorrow. My schedule is totally turned on end. I'll continue with my current task at the shop which will take me through today and many more todays, and I'll have to work with customers also, because DH is fairly useless at working with them. All I can say is he'd better be busy with something that has to do with our closing next year while he's secreted at his desk in the back. That's all I'm saying - GRRRR. 

I really dislike it when schedules are switched or 
changed up, but this is for a really good reason, and 
Claire is a good friend. So I'll just be hoping things 
go well for her and I'll get tomorrow as my "day off" 
instead of today. 

But with this small exception and bump in the road, nothing too much is happening today and that's not a bad thing. Sometimes routines and focus on tasks is what's important. For a change, though, why not think about what it would have been like for you at this time of the year a century or two or four or more ago. 

I guarantee that life would have been harder and probably 
shorter in the Middle Ages. There was no Industrial 
Revolution, no machines to help us in the fields. We lived 
a much more hand-to-mouth existence then, although 
some people are still living that way today. 

Where would you have been living? Would you have been a maker or a farmer? A lord or a serf? Would you have been a craftsperson? Who would you be interacting with daily? Weekly? Once a year? Would you have a strong roof over your head or be living in a one-room home? Where would your meals come from? Do you have a spouse? Children? Pets or domestic animals? How about a garden? Is it ready for harvesting or was it a poor year for crops and you're looking ahead at a winter of want and deprivation? 

There weren't a lot of career choices in the Middle 
Ages. They mostly fell into agriculture, maker (blacksmith, 
weaver, cook, etc), ruling class or military service. Of 
course, the peasants were also forced to go to war if their 
ruler decided it was necessary. *sigh* Not a very 
bucolic life, to be sure. 

Sometimes I like to take these little journeys into my head. It's these journeys that can populate your writing, that can inspire you to greater achievements in your present life, or that can color your art. On that note, I'm plugging in photos and getting out to the pool. It's trash day, so one more thing to do before I can leave the house this morning. Have an excellent day and Slava Ukraini.