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| sunrise at 13506 Northshore Drive on Lake Conroe; October 8, 2015; praise God |
31 Oct: Philadelphia suburb Fort Washington, Pennsylvania at the Hilton Garden Inn,, is where Ron Is Now awaiting a Monday appointment with a West Chester cardiologist as the weather cools into the 50s. His heart is stubbornly clinging to atrial fibrillation instead of returning to normal sinus rhythm. Picture above is probably the most spectacular one on the blog this month. No reason not to repeat it. We did see a few Fall leaf scenes in New England that were as spectacular, but we didn't stop to photograph them. On the motorcycle, the kaleidoscope of change gives only fleeting views most of the time. I love you, Smooch!
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| Bro Dean at bottom of Bryce Canyon (in Utah) |
"Happy, Happy, Happy,
Happy birthdaaaaaaaay
aaay,"
echoes down through the canyon to Hiker Dean.
30 Oct: Again, with the same questions? AFib continues. With smooches and dinner, Life is good. Ron spent the day at the Archives; we enjoyed a pleasant dinner at Scoogi's with living saints, Jim, John and Kim. Cynthia's pastoral observation: today is the beginning of the three day celebration of All Hallows Eve (morphed into Halloween). To celebrate, we light candles in memory of saints who have gone before us. A candle will be lit in our hearts for brother Dale, our parents, and Cynthia's son and son-in-law who died far too young. In Sweden All Saints Day is beautifully celebrated with lighted candles in the cemetery. https://sweden.se/culture-traditions/all-saints-day/
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| Ron Beatty (thin) & Cynthia in Hawaii 2009 |
29 Oct: Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Normal sinus rhythm? Continuing A-fib? Smooches? Rain? Dinner? I'll bet on smooches and dinner. SMOOCH! So far it has brought smooches, awakedness and breakfast and continuing A-fib. And Smooches!
I LOVE you, me deer WEEFEE. Smooch. (I get points for first.) (Hahaha! Well, Ronald Stephen you WIN again!!! ) Ron's winning streak has endured for Seven (7) years, winning "First I Love You" points 98% of the time. See our photo (right) taken in 2009 in Hawaii. Ron sees blurry and will have to hunt up a clear replacement next time he gets his hands on Cynthia's computer. A dear friend invited us to her home for a delicious dinner this evening. She is an excellent cook. The evening was not long enough to enjoy more conversation since Cynthia was fading fast. Thanks Jean!
28 Oct: On a rainy Wednesday, Ron Is Now awaiting a Monday appointment with a West Chester cardiologist unless his heart returns to normal sinus rhythm by itself sooner. Wow! fun at breakfast today to see a couple that we remember from breakfasts at the Holiday Inn Express next door, but the biggest surprise was seeing Leroy, our favorite chef from that same hotel. He baked sweet potato fries for our lunch. We are hunkered down cozy on this wet day for computing and "stuff."
27 Oct: Life is joy! And we thank God daily. The ride to the seminary at 10 AM was cooler but larger than life colorful in Fall colors. As Walter says, "Riding a motorcycle is the difference between being in the movie instead of merely watching one." John T. arrived for our meeting which continued to and through an enjoyable lunch at McMenamin's where we were surprised by the unannounced arrival of Bev W. and Terry B. Jim and John P. joined us for another delicious dinner at Scoogi's. Those lucky guys can have dessert; Ron felt lucky to enjoy raspberry sorbet. Scoogi's is always a treat. Smooch! Back "home" again, Ron felt pressured to replace Volume 6 in dropbox, especially after he discovered that he had uploaded the Macintosh search files instead of the Volume 6 manuscript files.
26 Oct: Good morning-Good Night: In the meantime-and-in-between time, we were foodified, rode in chillier weather to meet Kim-Eric at the seminary, ate/drank lunch, and worked on Vol. 7 for Ken P. The bright spot of the day was literal, a flaming red and orange Fall corner (persimmon -no, sassafrass -no?) as we turned onto highway 309 towards Mt. Airy. In E-mail conversation with Dr. Gould (via his nurse Mary as intermediary), the doctor recommended a cardioversion procedure to attempt to correct my AFlutter now rather than waiting until later, so we will remain here a week and see a West Chester cardiologist on November 2nd. Meanwhile we will double my dose of metoprolol to twice a day to see if my heart will shake itself out of this fluttery stuff. Good night. Zzzzzzzzzz
25 Oct: Martha L, asked about our heart healthy diet program of produce and protein. Cynthia replied, "Google our cardiologist, Dr. K. Lance Gould and his book, "How to Heal Your Heart" you will read about the program: fruits, raw and steamed vegetables, fish, chicken and turkey, with no more than ten grams of fat a day; fat free, sugar free bread, cereals, pretzels, potatoes are bulk carb options. Dr. Gould is chair of cardiology at UTMB and the director of the Weatherhead PET Center. He was the pioneer in using the PET scan for cardiology and devotes his practice to scientific research on reversing CAD." Ron is at work on Vol. 7 for Ken; Cynthia planned fitness, but it didn't happen. Herb and Zofia gave us a ride to Scoogi's for a wonderful visit accompanied by good food. We had a lovely time. Once home we sallied forth on our projects until Cynthia declared she was starving to death, whereupon we walked to Friendly's. We puzzled about the remodeling construction on our former favorite Fort Washington accommodation, the Holiday Inn Express.
24 Oct: Fort Washington, PA, a northern Philadelphia suburb: This is Ron's sixth consecutive day without morning coffee. Today he decided to no longer take even little sips of ice cold coke-cola. The morning is indeed beautiful; we continued admiring Autumn's splendor while driving 10 miles from Fort Washington to the seminary in Mt. Airy. The air felt a little warmer this morning at 59 degrees. Ken and Kim joined us to discuss Volume 7, documenting Goransson's tenure as Dean of the American Mission, and Ron was able to give Ken a copy of the entire Craig Collection materials on an SD card. Kim is happy to make progress. Kim, Ken, Jim and Ron emerged from the basement at noon to discover Cynthia hyperventilating through the initial stages of profound panic because the cash bag was missing from her IPad case. Ron had noticed yesterday and today that Cynthia was carrying his Toshiba case instead of her look-alike iPad case, so he knew immediately there was no a cause for alarm. Many chuckles later, Ron and Cynthia are still on good terms. Bev and Jim Z. joined us for a three-hour Hefeweizen lunch. Woo Hoo! Brew Hoo! Bev W. joined Ron & Cynthia for dinner at Scoogi's. Cynthia pontificates as follows: Once again morning coffee is being discontinued to see if that will reset heart arrhythmia. Studies don't implicate coffee, nor is there any evidence pointing to any activity, or stimulant, as causing A-Fib, although happiness and pleasure can trigger A-Fib; we can live with that.
23 Oct: After breakfast, we rode into 49-degree weather to the Lutheran Seminary (https://ltsp.edu) in Mt. Airy, PA. Cynthia decided that she shoulda plugged into the electric heat. We were welcomed "home" by Vince, Jim Z., Kim-Eric and John P. and immediately on the stroke of lunch adjourned to McMenamin's Tavern. Cynthia provided adult supervision (by drinking TWO glasses of wine with lunch). Ron's goal for this visit was to copy all of the files from Peter Craig's computer by connecting the hard drive to a USB cable; the entire operation went smoothly. John P. And Jim Z. Joined us at Scoogi's for dinner and dessert. We ate sorbet, and they had gigantic, decadent creations. John P., story teller, historian and archivist, told the tale of his visit to the Danish church capitol in Elk Horn, Iowa a year ago. He was quite entranced by the Danish Museum and windmill in the small Danish community. He noticed and purchased a large historical book about the community, too. It took a few weeks to read the book after returning to PA, and he was indeed surprised to see Cynthia's picture and family photo in the book. She lived there for 17 years.
22 Oct: Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of New Sweden (Nya Sverige) called by some folks as Philadelphia, is where we are ensconced at a Hilton Garden Inn for close to two weeks. Now that Ron has updated this blog briefly, he is riding the bike over to Bob's Dreshertown IGA to look for bread, etc. More later. Ron is also dissatisfied with the orientation of the pictures below, but again, more later. Thanks to Trillium and her partner Jon for marvelous conversation over dinner at Scoogi's Restaurant last night.
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| Cynthia snapped this photo as we rode through Connecticut |
21 Oct, Wed: The sound of surf, the smell of the sea, what a way to start a new day, my Smooch-Smooch and me. November 2nd, an appointment has been scheduled with a cardiologist in Philadelphia to make arrangements for cardioversion from AFib to normal sinus rhythm. We can hope the heart will reset before the appointment! Today's ride from Nantasket Beach Resort to Upstate NY (close to NJ) took six hours with marvelous views. For Leaf Peeping 2016:Begin in Bangor Maine and follow fall south. Bangor's coastline is lovely; Acadia Natl Park Lodge has yummilicious popovers with strawberry whipped butter. A great place to stay with fabulous food is the Harraseeket Inn. Vermont is our favorite New England state: visit Stowe, VT, drive Hwy 100 South to Route 4, past waterfalls, etc., to Killington, VT, our favorite place to hike and eat: Chef Claude's fine dining and Sugar and Spice in Menden (Pancakes, maple syrup). The Inn at Long Trail is a laid back lodge with exceptional Irish food, an Irish Pub with Irish music every Fri and Sat night. Hanover, NH: dine outdoors at the Hanover Inn across the street from Dartmouth; drive to the summit of Mt Washington. The cemetery with famous authors like Louisa May Alcott is very nice. Drive through the iconic New England villages with church steeples visible for miles above the treetops; the Farmers Markets and antique shops fill the sidewalks. Goffstown has an amazing fall fest with a pumpkin regatta down the river. Manchester VT has marvelous restaurants. The color doesn't stop as you travel into upstate NY along the Hudson River, tour the Roosevelt homes and museum. Especially Fall, it's a great time to visit the settings for Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane. One never runs out of something to see, just the time to do it. Newport,RI was lovely, touring the old homes and the Art district.The ride was ever so colorful with lovely views on Bear Mountain Parkway; thoughts of Brom Bones, Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman appeared near Washingtonville, NY. We found a Holiday Inn Express with a Lobster Pier restaurant just a quick walk away had an all you can eat salad buffet. We are full, tired and ready to sleep. Zzzzzzz
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| View from the balcony of our room at Nantasket Beach Resort, Massachusetts |
20 Oct, Tues: Thanks to Margie and Richard for the use of their honeymoon suite in the Lofts at Waltham, MA. En route to breakfast at "In a Pickle" we stopped at a convenience store to purchase a lottery ticket for Richard. Interesting that two bright folks like us know nothing about lottery tickets. Oh, no: Cynthia accidentally wrote the wrong room number on Richard's envelope before dropping it in the mail. My, oh, my: We had a Marvelous afternoon with Maggie Lettvin in Hingham, MA. She was the exercise guru on Boston public TV for twenty years, author of many books, and now, at 88 she is in a wheelchair with severe spinal stenosis. Yet, she is without pain and in marvelous health because of her diet. She started Ron on Dulce Seaweed for his arrhythmia. Cynthia tried the Elderberry juice and fish oils Maggie takes in mega amounts but it was not a right choice for Cynthia in breast cancer recovery. From Maggie's we rode in much warmer weather six miles to Hull,MA and the Nantasket Beach Resort.
19 Oct: Day one without morning coffee for Ron. Photos below are from the party at the Pasta Loft last night and at our lodging. Thanks to Drew and BD for the ride and to Dave E who stopped at our room for a nice visit afterwards. Thanks to Margie and Richard for the Fitbit to help with exercise. Cynthia is elated with the ambiance of the Bedford Village Inn. And me-wefee is so very funny: I wondered aloud how apple butter is made. She replied, "They milk the apples." We spent the afternoon visiting Richard G. in a retirement home, now his residence following a debilitating stroke. He was better than we expected and fully communicative; he is still the brilliant Richard from MIT. The five mile ride from Watertown, MA to Waltham, MA took 20 minutes while we searched for food en route. Nada sign of food we could eat. Instead, we walked three miles round trip to La Campania Restaurant for a pleasant but pricey meal. The Halibut was excellent.
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| Drew is always serious. |
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| Friends at Pasta Loft in Milford, New Hampshire. A good time was had by all. |
18 Oct, Sunday: Ron has caught Cynthia's cold and felt chilled in the night, but bundled up, sweated, and feels better this morning. We are ever hopeful the heart arrhythmia will reset itself as it did three weeks ago; in the meantime Cynthia sends EKG's to the cardiologist and Ron continues to be asymptomatic. He has slowly come to the opinion that eliminating coffee and caffeine from his diet might also help his heart. It was quite a surprise to find the bike covered with 2" of snow, so Ron rolled it into the sunshine and dusted off most of the snow before breakfast. The roads are clear and the skies are sunny; it is a beautiful, cold autumn day. It was 32 degrees only as we began our 100 mile ride, and we saw that temperature twice again during snow flurries (surprise !) as we rode to Bedford, NH to join 15 MIT alum at the Pasta Loft for another fun reunion. The views of New England elegantly dressed in her favorite fall finery were splendid. Woo hoo! Ron surprised Cynthia with the executive suite at the Bedford Village Inn. Oh my. They served us complementary wine and cheese (which Ron could not eat). Cynthia indulged in her first ever bowl of New England Clam Chowder and has been singing its praises ever since. |
| I guess Cynthia liked the decor at the Bedford Village Inn. |
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Our balcony overlooks this lovely garden; Cynthia in warm jacket after frigid ride from Killington.
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| First indication that we overstayed our welcome in Vermont. SNOW. |
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| Ron thought that Cynthia was taking a picture of the 2" of snow on the motorcycle. |
16 Oct: Imagine our disappointment; Ron's heart appears to have returned to the land of A-Fib and elevated pulse-rate. We will pray it resets itself. We've eaten breakfast, and it appears that the rain has stopped for the day. Next order of business is to eat our morning pills and brush teeth. Then we decide whether to ride to Woodstock (Vermont) first to see how many leaves are still in the trees or whether to pack boxes & bags in preparation for leaving early on a frigid Sunday morning. (Forecast high for Sunday here at Pico is still only 38 degrees. Ron keeps trying to push it higher, but to no avail.)
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| View to the west from the lower Pico ski lift. |
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| View to the east from the lower Pico ski lift. |
14 Oct, Wed: Cynthia enjoys A.A. Milne: "Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart it could hold a great deal of gratitude." We are Beatty grateful for Ron's fully functioning whole heart. Cynthia coughed a lot last night. Ron is gargling with salt water to be cautious. Ron hiked past Jungle Junction to see if the trees he felled have made their way back onto the trail. Cynthia is nursing a cohd and slept instead. Reggie made Maple Sorbet for our dinner. Mmmm. Temperatures will continue to decrease for the weekend with a high of 37 on Sunday, the day of our departure to NH for the Pasta Loft party with friends.
12 Oct: We awakened early, breakfasted, updated the blog, and are ready to hike. Cynthia's feet and hip are still painful, but she is game for another hike today, perhaps a shorter one. Temperature is supposed to get up to 70 degrees today and 60-something tomorrow. Our hike was indeed shorter because sciatica and sore feet said, "Stop!" Taking advantage of options #2, we rode the motorcycle north on Highway 100 almost to Montpelier, enjoying pastoral scenery and quaint New England towns boasting booths bulging with pumpkins and apples for sale. The foliage is resplendit in magnificent yellows. There are sheep in the meadows and cows in the corn, all quite delightful to see. One large herd of goats was quite remarkably well groomed and good looking. It is quite the surprise that we are a bit early for leaves painted in reds and oranges; the official website advises, "go north or go up." It is interesting that the best reds and oranges we've seen this year are right here at the Inn at Long Trail.
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| After hiking 2.25 miles uphill, Cynthia took this photo from the ski run |
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| A hiker guest treated us to some honky tonk (the piano doesn't do classical) |
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| Chris and Jasmine (an enthusiastic 9-year-old) arrived on this Ural motorcycle sidecar rig |
9 Oct: Morning has broken... like the first morning... and so the song goes. Our Texas sunrise is again spectacular. Apparently the massage last night helped; Cynthia's sciatic pain was minimal. After Eddie put Cynthia through another workout at the Cap elete gym, we visited the bank & US Post Office, stored "stuff" at our storage unit (Cynthia's walk-in closet), picked up boarding passes at the UPS Store, and returned hangers to the dry cleaners (although we were very disappointed that they had failed to complete cleaning & boxing of Cynthia's wedding dress). After another two hours of packing and rinsing recycling, we returned the rental car, and son Jon took us to the airport. Although the original plan was to drop recycling off at recycling center on Pruitt Road in Spring, Jon had received a request to show a 1.3 million dollar house that afternoon, so the recycling stayed in the trunk, and Jon promised to deliver it tomorrow when he will again be in that vicinity. The United flight to Boston was memorable in that they had absolutely nothing to feed us on our "no fat, no butter, no oil, no cheese" diet. Ron (being prepared) enjoyed the half loaf of homemade bread he had brought along to stave off starvation. The driver of the Hilton Garden Inn airport shuttle was quite entertaining. Dinner at the Inn was quite satisfactory, and we were abed early since our flight to Rutland is at the first crack of morning. Will the Beemer start?
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| sunrise at 13506 Northshore Drive on Lake Conroe; October 8, 2015; praise God |
7 Oct: BUSY DAY! ... Ron is trying to clean all the remaining recycling so that it can avoid the dump (actually hopeless at this point). We ran errands: first stop was the safety deposit box at the bank. Coordination is not strong today. At the bank, Cynthia popped out of the car with hands full & opened the back door quickly. Ron waited until she closed it and pressed the manual lock, thereby locking the key in the car, plainly visible on the drivers' seat. We called Enterprise, and they sent a wrecker; wanna know how many nanoseconds it took to open that little Nissan compact rental car? Maybe 30, cheap at $50 and so educational that we gave the guy a $10 tip. Second stop was a little more successful; Cynthia waited in the car while Ron mailed two small packages at the PO. Third stop was the UPS Store to mail a small box o' stuff to Vermont; Ron isn't supposed to lift anything heavier than ten pounds for a while, so we can't afford to carry weighty luggage on our flight Friday. Best stop was Smoothie King; we are becoming addicts. Final stop was to pick up clothing at the dry cleaners, but we forgot to return the hangers sitting behind the driver to them for recycling. Cynthia has been doing laundry since returning, Ron is overwhelmed with all notes, letters, & recycling still remaining. How awesome to receive news of Jim and Joni's engagement. Congratulations to the Sweets.
5 Oct, Mon: About midnight Ron noticed a lump in the right groin at the site of incision. The incision on the left side looked fine. He went back to sleep and had a memory lapse until (gently) walking while Cynthia was in the gym, recalling Dr. Arain's admonition to phone if he noticed a lump and upon making that call, Ron discovered the doctor wanted to see him in the medical center after lunch. Almost immediately after packing a bag in case of being admitted we made the 90 minute trip on I-45 to the I-610 West Loop South with parking conveniently outside the side entrance. Upon a quick exam, Dr. Arain thought it could be a pseudo aneurysm so an sonogram was ordered; it wasn't a psuedo or real aneurysm, but the result of stretching the plug that sealed the artery causing blood leakage. The bleeding had stopped. The plug is in place and Ron won't stretch again for awhile no matter how good it feels. Thankfully, we were dismissed and drove home via I-45 North delayed by a mandatory dinner stop at Pappadeaux for Halibut. Ron walked for an hour plus. Cynthia is worn out after driving three hours on Houston freeways. Our SC friends are reporting they are fine.
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| Some sunrises at the lake house are remarkable. |
3 Oct, Sat: Moving slowly, we managed an early morning walk of 4.5 miles without too much groaning. The fall weather is magnificent. Having worked up an appetite we boogied by auto to the Smoothie King for lunch. And Pastor Diane, Barb and Jon joined us for a very pleasant outdoors dinner on the patio at the Cafe on the Green. Ron's smile is getting many kudos on Cynthia's FaceBook page.
2 Oct: Home again, home again, jiggety jig. (We did stop en route at our favorite new food purveyor, Smoothie King - they add protein powder to their smoothies.) Now we need to decide what gets done before we fly back to Vermont on the 9th. Drew says we might even get back in time to see the fall colors. Pasta Loft dinner tentatively scheduled for Sunday evening, October 18. "My favorite color is October, (post on FaceBook)." This October is Beatty Brilliant. We are ever so thankful. We are thankful. We. Are. Thankful. Ron walked. Cynthia slept. Ron is refreshed. The doctor did not arrive until 11:00; we were discharged soon afterwards. Cynthia was thankful to have the car at valet parking eliminating the walk to the parking garage. We had a 90 minute drive home to Lake Conroe. We walked to the Cafe on the Green but the pain in the groin prohibited any further walking tonight. This recovery will be a little slower.
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| When is the last time you saw a hospitalized patient looking so cheerful ?? |
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| Five stents, count 'em |
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