San Diego Vacation part 2

Friday was "Mom & Me" day. We headed to La Jolla village for manicure/pedicure time, then to a crepe shop for a lunch. A shopping jaunt was next; Ross rocked for purses, shoes and summer knit tops.

Above: fresh pedicure, and crazy Gladiator shoes that I had to try on for fun.

The shoes actually had a zipper on the back of the heel cup!

Great "sittin' shoes"; I certainly wouldn't have been likely to have been able to do much more than teeter a few steps before sitting down or falling down anyway. Those heels were like six inches high!

This is the second or third time in my life that the Gladiator look has ruled in the shoe ware department. I'm thinking if they make another comeback once I am wheel chair bound I am definitely going to get a pair or two to wear.

Just to let people know that I am still feisty in my old age....

HAD to get the mermaid purse for Laura.

Seriously, how many times have you EVER seen a MERMAID purse???

(I was so glad to get it for her at Ross; the manufacturer's price would have been a deal breaker otherwise).

Mom and I finished up shopping and raced home, Laura raced in from work, I switched outfits and then Laura and I raced off to Olive Garden for her Advanced Directives Party.

Yes, you read that right.

An Advance Directive Party.

You know...the paper work where you declare the people you would want to make medical decisions for you if you couldn't.

She has come up with what I consider to be a brilliant idea: Invite a bunch of friends and acquaintances to go out for dinner together. Pull out advanced directive forms and help everyone read through them, answer questions, and then everyone can witness each others forms.

Why is this such a brilliant idea?

Because when you are feeling just fine, and everyone else around you is feeling just fine and there is good food on the table it is much easier to banter about who you would or wouldn't want to make decisions for you if you were unable to make decisions about your medical care.

Knowing you can change your mind the next day if you want to and just fill out another form makes making those decisions so much easier to do.

Now days paper work for any medical treatment in a hospital seems to include an advanced directive form.

What isn't included is Laura's special touch: Specific Advanced Directives.

It was quite interesting to hear nurses and their friends discuss why they would or would not want various means of life support.

Blood products were particularly interesting: Currently one kind of blood product costs $15,000 a bag.

Patients have been known to receive a bag of blood every four hours for a irreversible medical condition that was the result of a medical treatment.

Quality of life was pretty much zip.

Laura decided to specify that she was willing to receive blood products like that one, but for no more than two weeks.

There were some treatments that she personally felt she would never want to have started.

Other treatments she specified only for a particular time frame.

We talked about the whys and why nots.

There were several pages of "specifics" and I personally didn't get around to deciding about every item.

But now I want to do my research and my thinking so my family will never have to ponder those things in a time of crisis.

Laura and her co-worker have had lots of experience sitting with families who are trying to decide such things as where a very seriously ill family member will live out their final days.

They have watched family members square off into different camps, some wanting "everything" done to sustain any flicker of life, while others are able to compassionately and regretfully decide that it is time to let go.

Not a happy situation in an already difficult time.

I totally admire these young women for what they do, and Laura for stepping up to make having such discussions become an activity that could feel more like a party.

Believe it or not, there was some laughter.

There were some furrowed brows.

Some eyebrows were raised, some heads shook and then papers were signed and resigned by witnesses.

It took a bit of thought to decide and let it be known what was and was not acceptable in advance.

G tube?

SNF?

Organ transplants?

What are you willing to donate?

OK to have organs shipped out of the country?

Just a few options that were examined.

Better now than later.

PS: A quote from one of my favorite websites oncRN

nurse - 'wait, why are we offering this super difficult treatment to this super old person with super crappy disease?'
doctor - 'because she wants treatment'

i so desperately need a game show buzzer for my pocket....because we're sorry - that is incorrect

i have yet to meet a patient who wants treatment.

patients want an outcome.

big difference.

(Me: A-MEN!!!)

San Diego Vacation part I

It looked like this in SLC the day I flew out to San Diego.

A 90 minute flight and I was home to the land of palm trees and blue skies.

My folks picked me up at the airport and I oogled all the colorful hillsides bordering the freeways. I could hardly wait to tour my dad's garden to see what was blooming out there.

Larkspur....

Ripening strawberries glistened in the sunshine.

The larkspur seeds were from my MIL, my dad now has them blooming everywhere and he sends me seeds for my garden too.

It will be awhile before they are blooming in SLC!

Ranunculus bobbed on long slender stems.

Fuchsias mimicing ballerinas on pointe.

Azaleas petals preened and showed off their silvery bead tipped stamin.

Dancers in a line, awaiting hummingbirds to join in the performance.

(Fuchsias even have pretty leaves and richly colored stems to add to their beauty.)

The neighbor's orange tree was heavy with blossoms that hung over the fence and scented the garden with every passing breeze.

The ground below was nearly covered with dropped orange petals.

Camillas down the side yard still had a few showy blossoms.

The camillas come in so many varieties and each one becomes my new favorite as I spy them.

Easter was a bit early this year; the amaryllis was not yet fully opened, yet still sculpturally quite interesting anyway.

Sunny nasteriums made me think of summer salads and one particular hillside cleft along the road to La Jolla Village.

Out in front of the house a few roses were unfurling.

Is this not a PERFECT rose?

And this one with a bead of water accent...another "A+" blossom in the rose garden.

The neighbors on the north side grow hibiscus.

The tropical look works well with their house.

The neighbors to the south have bougainvillea that looks so stunning against their off-white wall and with the red mail box flag the whole scene looks like a magazine cover.

The bougainvillea flower is actually quiet tiny!

So that was Thursday day.

It was Maundy Thursday so we attended evening service at the church where I grew up.

I had to laugh at the seagull sitting on the cross.

A beach town version of a descending dove of the Holy Spirit?

(Not.)

Part 2 tomorrow!

Eastertide: The White and Gold Season

I'm back from our time in San Diego, where I basked in warm sunshine, admired a blooming desert, worshipped on Easter Sunday, got to experience a 7.2 earthquake and multiple aftershocks, had rain showers and soaked up time with family to tide me over for a few more months.

I was just about to get busy and "redecorate" my blog before I downloaded trip pictures when I had a thought:

"Is Easter over yet, or does Easter Sunday just mark the beginning of a special time for Christians?"

I personally am a tad chagrined at how modern Christians leap into Christmas mode on December first, and typically being celebrating Christmas with the first whiff of evergreen, carol, or seeing colorful lights strung on a rooftop.

Then on December 26th, they bundle all the Christmas decorations up and with a sigh of relief, declare that celebrating Christmas is OVER at last.

I find that quite odd: Christmas has actually just begun and has another eleven days to go! Christmastide isn't over until Epiphany for goodness sake!

Those days before Christmas were Advent, a time of preparation.

The days after Christmas Day are the days of celebration!

So back to my question...should I be replacing my Easter greetings with some other sort of thing?***
(***Of course I could if I wanted to. Freedom in Christ and all that.)

But still...would I be bulldozing over a seasonal tide designed for a specific purpose?

Being a good and faithful librarian, I decided to do a little research to see what I could find.

Here's what I found:

"In the Christian church year, the two major cycles of seasons, Christmas and Easter, are far more than a single day of observance.

Like Christmas, Easter itself is a period of time rather than just a day. "


It is actually a seven-week season of the church year called Eastertide, the Great Fifty Days that begins at sundown the evening before Easter Sunday (the Easter Vigil) and lasts for six more Sundays until Pentecost Sunday (some traditions use the term Pentecost to include these Fifty Days between Easter and Pentecost Sunday).

These seven Sundays are called the Sundays of Easter, climaxing on the seventh Sunday, the Sunday before Pentecost Sunday. This is often celebrated as Ascension Day (actually the 40th day after Easter Sunday, which always falls on Thursday, but in churches that do not have daily services it is usually observed the following Sunday).

Ascension Day marks not only the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but his exaltation from servanthood to Ruler and Lord as the fitting climax of Resurrection Day (Eph 1:20-22).


These special days and seasons are a means to shape sacred time, a structure in which to define what it means to be Christian and to call God’s people to reverent and faithful response to God.
Easter encompasses a time of preparation (Lent; Advent for Christmas) as well as a following period of reflection on its significance for the life of God’s people (Pentecost; Epiphany for Christmas).



However, while Epiphany following Christmas focuses on the mission of God’s people to the world, the Pentecost season following Easter focuses on the church as the witness to the resurrection. In anticipation of this emphasis at Pentecost, the Scripture readings during the Sundays of Easter are different, with readings from the Acts of the Apostles replacing readings from the Old Testament. This emphasizes that the church, as empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, is the best witness to the resurrection and the work of God in the world in Jesus the Christ.



The Sanctuary colors for Easter Sunday and Ascension Day are white and gold, the colors of sacred days throughout the church year. For the Easter season, white symbolizes the hope of the resurrection, as well as the purity and newness that comes from victory over sin and death. The gold (or yellow) symbolizes the light of the world brought by the risen Christ that enlightens the world, as well as the exaltation of Jesus as Lord and King.

(Above taken from HERE)

I didn't know that Eastertide's colors were white and gold/yellow when I put the currently page look together awhile ago. Now that I do know this, I think I will leave the look alone for a bit, and let it remind me of The Season that so few really know anything about.

And let it remind me that there is need to let my light shine out in this present age that so deeply is in need of enlightenment.

Earthquake!

6.9 earthquake here in San Diego...we rode it out on the second floor of Laura's condo building.
Whoo whee....aftershocks galore.
The Easter Service of course mentioned the earthquake at Christ's death and the rolling away of the stone. Interesting.

And...I have been watching the world earthquake map for the last few weeks at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/

Only the west coast of North America hadn't yet had a major earthquake this year, while the rest of the circle of the Pacific has been tagged with lots of earthquakes. I was wondering when "our" turn would come.

All is well here so far. Pictures were re-arranged on the wall though. We haven't heard how Baja is doing. Mexico: will they need help???

Hopefully nothing else will happen, but if it does and I have access to the web, I'll post!

Another Try...

Quick borrowing time on Laura's computer showed that pictures were missing yesterday.

Above: the Patio cushy chair has become an overstuff chair.

The bunny is buried!

The paska is perfect.

And Rudy the Reindeer is knee deep in snow again.

San Diego is gorgous!

Blue skies overhead and flowers blooming everywhere.

Is it not just amazing how differently the season is expressed in different places?

All is well here.

The grandkittens are hilarious.

I got in some great shopping, and a seminar/party.

More later!

Iceland....Snowland...Sunland

My Iceland poppy plant is hanging out on our kitchen counter right now, close by for frequent admiration and examination.

I'd love to re-create it in ribbonry. I've got the perfect stamen, and I could make that center pod pretty easily.

A fine silk could be finger crinkled...and the center white ring bleached out....

Yup...it is totally do-able.

Pop it on a light straw when it is finished, or perhaps even use it as a single fascinator blossom: Yes, it is getting my creative impulses going.

Of course an "Iceland" poppy probably should be hanging out in the snow that we had all day yesterday.

After a full day of wind and dust blowing in on Tuesday, we were warned a big storm was on its way on Wednesday.

As soon as we looked out the window in the morning, Bernie broke out his ski gear.

Tiggie struck a pose next to the ski camel back. He (Tiggie) is quite content to let skiers do what they do while he naps and stays warm.

(Seriously...NOT FUNNY! said the bunny when I came home from work at 4.)

The patio furniture padding had increased greatly since I left hours ago.

I got an odd call at work: the ski lift operator at Solitude was calling from Bernie phone.

"Is this Bernie's wife?" a voice asked.

Er...yes.....(now what???? I fretted)

Turns out that his cell phone had escaped from his pocket, and a kindly fellow skier had turned it in. That hint about putting a word describing a relationship after a name paid off. The ski life operator had opened Bernie's phone, and saw "Jill-wife" listed right away in the address book.

I headed home early, and B. had just come back from the slopes.

"You find your phone?" I asked as I swung in the door.

He was SO relieved to learn that his business phone had been turned in!

We jumped back into the car that had AWD (it was STILL snowing...) and headed up the mountain.

The picture above is Solitude ski center.

The picture below is of the ski lift where Bernie's cell phone was turned it.

Skiing was "epic" according to Bernie.

Spring time powder is the best.

We've listened to people who have skied the top European slopes; they assure us that the best day of Swiss skiing is like the worst day of SLC skiing.

Today....well, it snowed all day yesterday and then all night too.

The "cushy" patio chair now is an "overstuffed" chair.

("mmmpmppmhummmmph" says the bunny now. I suspect he is plotting an Easter egg delivery boycott this year.)

'

I made Paska before I went to bed. The fragrance of paska cooling is a wonderful way to head to dreamland.

Outside...Rudy was knee deep again...

Inside...I spread icing thickly on a paska slice....

Outside...Mr. B. shovelled snow....

"Paska's ready"

"I'll be right in!"

(Tiggie was snoopervising the shoveling. Apparently B. had not completely cleared all of one step; Tigs sat above it and stared at it until B. went over and finished the job.)

Iceland...Snowland...and now (hopefully) for Sunland.

I fly to San Diego in a few minutes.

It is raining there I hear.

We'll see if we can find a touch of Sunland while we are there.

Have a Blessed Easter if I don't get a chance to post before then.