Mid-August Ruminations & Cogitations

vintage light fixture, Camas Creek Yarn shop, Kalispell, Montana

Well, I’m on the other side of some of life’s difficulties, and I’m now seeing the light once again. How do you like the beautiful stained glass shown above? When we explored the downtown area of Kalispell last year, we found a delightful knit shop in a restored building. The colors and textures surrounding us were a feast for the eyes. Though the yarns and creative displays begged for my constant attention, I remembered to look up. And I was glad that I did! Once again, I was reminded that an observant photographer could find stunning subject matter in the most unexpected places.

August is now halfway complete and it has been one big blur. But I will try to reconstruct it and provide you with a a recap and status report.

Mr. Jim finished up his second cycle of chemo. A CAT scan is scheduled for this coming Monday to determine how well the chemo affected his lymph nodes and cancers. After test completion, he’ll head over to his surgeon’s office to go over the scan results and determine the next treatment step. At this point, we are hoping that he can proceed with surgery for removal and reconstruction. Meanwhile, Mr. Jim is dealing with an uncooperative pancreas that is spiking up his blood sugar levels. He’s working diligently with an internist to get the levels back down with the assistance of insulin shots. There hasn’t been much positive progress in the past couple of weeks. Please continue to keep Mr. Jim in your prayers.

I went through a second round of antibiotics for a sinus infection. It worked slowly, but it finally worked. I have residual pain around my ear on that side, and application of some eardrops is the prescribed treatment.

My second cataract surgery was completed this week and I am on the mend from it. I can now see without the assistance of contact lenses or eyeglasses that resemble the bottom of coke bottles! It is quite a miracle to be able to wake up and actually see clearly! I wore contacts for about 45 years and wore glasses about five years before that. I’m also adjusting to seeing things much brighter and without a heavy brown film. My non-dominant eye was purposely under-corrected so that I could see nearby objects clearly. I may still need some assistance with reading glasses. It just depends on whether I can successfully tune out my dominant eye enough. The daily regimen of eye drops continues, and I get another checkup by the eye doctor next week.

My Mac computer finally got back from its second trip the Apple Store for repairs. I must have flat worn it out in the past two years because they pretty much had to reconstruct it. But at least I didn’t have to pay for the repairs! My precious files on the hard drive were all successfully recovered via the Time Machine function set up to an external hard drive. All the Apple applications were also recovered. Unfortunately, the non-Apple applications had to completely reinstalled. Ugh. I spent over eight hours reconstructing the software, with some of that time on marathon phone calls with software providers to resolve uploading and installation errors. There is still some more cleanup work to do, and hopefully I will get it all behind me this weekend. I am more convinced than ever now to secure a cloud storage service that can give me access to files during computer failures and also provide a mirror copy of my entire hard drive, including all applications.

I’m slowly digging out of the blogging hole. I’m madly catching up with blogging friends. I should also be able to post more often now that I have been reunited with my Mac and I have restored it to its former glory.

Though I was plagued with computer woes, I was relieved that the August photo challenge event was managed without a hitch. The participants did a superb job, once again! Yesterday, I issued an announcement for the September theme: windows and doors. If you’ve never participated in the photo challenge, then please consider that the next one is a great opportunity! If you want to know if the participants are having fun AND learning about how to take better photos for their blogs and personal use, don’t take my word for it – ask them! And if the September theme doesn’t rouse your interest level, then the October subject matter may hit home: food photography. If you plan to feature holiday recipes on your blog this year, you’ll want to find out some easy and inexpensive tricks to showcasing your culinary talents. What are you waiting for? Go check out my other blog, A Personal Photo Challenge!

Onward, my friends! I’m moving onward. Thank you for all of your behind-the-scenes e-mails, mailed and electronic get-well cards, and continued comments on my little blog here. We appreciate the good cheer! You guys are the best!