Eye-drop Alley

In the last week or so, I have become quite the expert eye-drop installer.  Let me 'splain.

First, Mom returned home from a week-long visit up to Yakima, Washington.  When she came over to collect her mail, I noticed that her eye was very reddened.  She is already scheduled to see her eye doctor in Portland soon, but that date was 2 weeks away.  So Denis prescribed her some basic antibiotic drops to see if it would improve.  So twice a day, Mom comes over and gets her drops for a week.  It seemed to be getting better initially, but after about 5 days, it became more reddened again.  So we bit the bullet and got her in to see a local ophthalmologist.  Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be anything serious.  Now we have antibiotic drops that also have a steroid in and a more aggressive schedule to follow.  So, four times a day, Mom comes over for her drop.

Meanwhile, Denis had cataract surgery on Thursday this week.  Starting Wednesday night, he had three different eye drops that need to be instilled on different schedules.  Denis' eye drop schedule continues for three weeks, so I will be doing this for a while....  :)

I'm excited about Denis' surgery.  He's had a pretty bad cataract in his left eye for several years.  In the last three months, it's gotten so bad that he gets a headache from lights and the stress of working hard to see.  So far, he still can't see too great, but it's only been 18 hours since the surgery.  His eye stings a bit and it's watering.  We got for a follow up appointment today.

Lazy Saturday

I am always wanting to get out and do something.  I am a restless wanderer, always seeking the fun thing to do and not wanting to miss out.  I'm married to a man who is a bit more content to lay low.  He often mentions an event that is coming up, but he doesn't necessarily mean that he wants to go to that event.  *sigh*

Today, we struck a pretty happy medium.  There were two music oriented events that we knew about and I would have loved to go to.  But instead, I went to the Grange Co-op with D to buy lawn fertilizer and then we drove out to the nearby historic town of Jacksonville.  We went to the kitchen store that he had given me a gift certificate to for Christmas.  (It only took 9 months for me to get around to spending it)

I got a potato ricer - a press that makes extra smooth mashed potatoes.  I think there are other uses for it as well, so I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

This picture is of the nice view on our drive.  We do live in a beautiful part of the country.  this picture doesn't really do it justice cause it was taken out of the window.

Musicality

My poor old piano is getting tuned today.  The tuner lady said that it has gone rather flat during the past 7 years or so of neglect.  She is going to bring it up to pitch today, but it will probably need to be retuned in about 6 months, then a year.

The inspiration for getting the piano tuned is the fact that I have started taking violin lessons!  I started about three months ago with a violin that was borrowed from a family in my church.  Their daughter had played in high school, but gave it up when she went on to college and so it was just sitting unused under a bed in their house.

I ended up having difficulty playing the full size violin, so I recently bought a 3/4 size from a local string store with a really good reputation.  My teacher as well as a friend of mine are both well-known to this shop, and so I think I was treated rather exceptionally well.  :)  They let me borrow the two instruments I was most interested in for up to two weeks while I made a decision.  It was a hard one, but I finally chose the more expensive one.  It has a bit more shrill tone, but the notes sound a bit truer and I am able to hear myself playing better.

My new violin

Learning the violin is on the hard side as far as instruments go.  What looks easy - moving the bow across the strings to make a nice sound - is actually hard to learn.  I can tell the difference in sound when I am properly using the weight of my arm on the bow, but it's so hard to do that consistently.

Anyway, that is what is new right now in my neck of the woods.