A BLOCK A MONTH in Postcards 4

• I’m getting really slow in my old age. This quilt came into the store yesterday, and only now did I figure out what it was. A block a month quilt for a child. It’s a really charming, grandma made quilt. I was a very good grandma and didn’t buy it.
• George is better. Back to normal. “Hungry all the time,” he tells me. “Wants carbs.” He broke down and saw a doctor yesterday when he thought the skin problem around his knee was Shingles. No Shingles but serious hives. They were such giant ones that they overtook his calf and part of his thigh. Now he has sprays and ointments and announces, “They are improving.” Having him work on the other side of the desk gives me access to his direct comments.
• Sometimes taking action on small things makes the day. I cleaned out my underwear drawer yesterday. As I held up a piece I asked questions, and kept or discarded. Ellen Tracy ‘underwear pants’? (“I never called them that” said Bobbie.) They had elastic that folded and cut into my waist. Did I like this? No? Out they went. Perhaps they were at Ross for a reason. Ditto all the rest I didn’t wear.
• I’ve always driven. At 18 I drove cross country with a couple of Army friends. Once I slid down Franconia Notch on black ice. Now that was dumb. At 21, I helped drive back to California, pregnant, and in a 57 Chevy over stuffed with all my worldly goods. For years I drove the LA freeways to work every morning. For many more years I drove the San Diego freeways to and from work at rush hour. Now I only drive to work, to the stores, and to the pool all close to home. When my mother in law was in her 80’s, she stopped driving the freeways, and I didn’t understand. Now I do. After my second foray onto the freeways yesterday, I was much more comfortable. As long as I can see, I need to keep driving.
• A warm sunny yesterday has morphed into a chill showery day today. I need to run out and return my Passport and DD214 to the safe deposit box. Getting damp doing won’t’ be bad at all. I am now plugged into the VA system again and feel yesterday was very successful. I have an appointment at the Audiology Department for the 10th and feel heroic.