Snow in Redlands!

 

People who live in cold places may find snow an annoyance. But in Redlands, this is magical. We had a  rare day of snow that actually stayed on the ground for several hours.  Everyone was out taking photos, making snow balls, building mini snow men. It was about an inch of white, but for us, it felt like plenty of fun.  

As I am writing, the sun is out, temperature is up about 6 degrees, snow is melting and rain has stopped. Our magical moment is over. It was a great break in our cold, rainy week. 

I have had my pre-op phone call with my surgeon and we talked about my "mobile mass". She laughed and said, "let's get this stuff out of you, and find out what it is". I entertained the idea of just pushing my surgery off until the summer, when everyone around me isn't so sick. But she laughed again, and told me to hold tight until Thursday.  I loved hearing her laugh about the prospect of "getting this stuff out", she doesn't seem to have too much concern about what she will find.  I hope she is right. 

Gene and I stay home, eating food from the freezer, and doing health checks on anyone who needs to stop by. We have "cabin fever", Gene isn't golfing or working out, for fear of exposure. We don't see the grandkids or Nat and Craig because they have had a houseful of guests over the past weeks, and even my good friend Renae and I do virtual happy hours. If COVID hadn't happened, this lifestyle would feel foreign and unnecessary, but post-COVID, varying levels of isolation, testing and masking, just seems normal.  

My activity level is way down after the "mobile mass" event. I am occupying myself with cooking, sewing, baking, reading and playing games. The less fun jobs like; doing the taxes, renewing my passport, and sorting through my books, just sit in a pile in the corner and I pretend I am too busy to get to that pile. 

I am working on deleting photos from my computer. It is amazing to be born in an era where one or two photos were taken a month and albums had pages and hand written notes. And today, I have over 20,000 photos, hardly any physical photos, and never a hand written note on anything.  

I'm not sure we have progressed forward in this regard. I used to easily remember events, I carefully curated the 5 best photos, cut them to fit on the page, wrote the names of people and the event and maybe added a few decorative tickets or mementoes from the event. It took time, attention, memory to get things into chronological order and without "auto correct", I had to concentrate on writing.  

Today, I have 100 times more photos, rarely do I do an album, and most of the photos mean nothing to me. They have become a way to avoid writing notes. Photos of; the kind of coffee creamer someone likes, the ingredient list for a recipe, the price of an item I want to share with someone. The uses of our "photographic mind" is endless. 

And then, one day, when the highlight of your morning is coffee, you must face the task of cleaning out the wasteland that we call "photos".  I began that journey yesterday. 

What about the puppy?  I think I suggested I was on a puppy hunt in a prior post. Well, I found a Red Fox Lab, pure bred, darling, and Gene reminded me that I have to wait for results of surgery. 

My matrix is this:

If I am dealing with cancer and have to have chemo, I get a young dog to keep me active and we raise it gently during the 6 months that I will be getting treatments and will need distraction. 

If I am free of cancer and returning to my "normal" life. I delay the dog until we have taken Kylie to Europe, hopefully this year. 

If I get really bad news, and won't be hanging around long, we get a dog to be company for Gene. 

We have always loved dogs, but haven't had one for a long time.  Many family dogs have been flooding into shelters, because people can't afford them or they are no longer working from home. I would love a mature, but not old, smart, mixed breed, with kind eyes and a love for children. I like bigger dogs, rather than smaller. Let me know if you know of one. 

Got to go sort photos:)