31 Dec: New Year's eve, and we are packing to be ready to ride up to Houston tomorrow morning before the forecast rain arrives, God willing. The day was successful, and we got to bed before midnight with nearly everything packed or ready to complete quickly in the morning. Ron's evening walk on the beach was forestalled by the literally hundreds of cars parked and dozens of campfires roaring and many random fireworks flying across the beach towards the gulf waves. Ron was content to bury his compost near the dunes (still nothing but sand there, how do those plants survive?) and walk through the streets of the subdivision, avoiding the several fireworks fountains actually in the middle of the streets. Happy New Year.
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| Cynthia's sister anf family present a pretty Christmas picture |
29 Dec: Crystal Beach, Texas is experiencing a partially rainy day. We upped, exercised, et and walked the beach early (before noon) today and were rewarded with just enough rain to get a bit wet. Ron is quite excited that the cornbread late last night apparently helped him to sleep for five uninterrupted hours. Our second walk today started at 4:50 as the sun was low on the horizon and occasionally blindingly bright through the receding clouds. WOW did the colors ever come alive as sunset progressed. Cynthia remarked, "Technicolor by God." Ron went for his third walk after 9 PM pills and is eating cornbread while updating this blog and readying himself to work on the index again for another brief time. Oops again at 3:30 AM. No chance for five hours uninterrupted sleep tonight.
28 Dec: We wonder what tomorrow will bring on Crystal Beach. HA !! Another great day of foggy skies and lovely late arising. At least the fog isn't as wet as yesterday's mist, so about an hour after noon Ron rode ten miles to wait a hour for the ferry to Galveston, purchased frozen pineapple, mango and blueberries at Kroger along with several other items. (It is never a good idea to go grocery shopping when hungry.) Even though he attempted to return posthaste, the ferry lines were already an hour long - and they were running four ferries. Ron worked on the index for Volume 7 again until 9 o'clock pill alarm, then we walked the beach in the dark together. We were delighted to NOT stumble into a puddle in the dark - and here it is 10:30 already. Time for a bit more on the index while I eat dry cornbread before bed. Oops, overdid it again, and it is 1 AM - goodnight.
27 Dec: Thank God we've enjoyed so many tomorrows. We retired after midnight last night, so our morning was not early, and Ron's plan to ride to Galveston is delayed by a heavy mist that promises to soak any motorcyclist foolish enough to ride. Good grief, here it is already 3:15 PM and the fog is still heavy and wet. We did ride to the Big Store to resupply, but they don't carry fat free pretels or big enough bags of frozen pineapple to keep Ron provisioned. We gave up on a walk today until Ron's evening constitutional. The late dinner of sweet potato and oatmeal with frozen veggies sans pretzels caused Ron to awaken four times during the night - still not bad, but more than desirable. The dry cornbread that Ed suggested was appealing but didn't soak up as many fluids as promised. Ron was a little shocked to see 12:15 on the clock before he headed to bed.
26 Dec: Merry Christmas again from Crystal Beach, near Galveston, TX. We are awakened, exercised, fed, and digesting. After a bit of puzzling over the index and perhaps another bowl of oatmeal with berries, we will go for our morning constitutional, 3 plus-mile walk on the beach. After the walk, Ron attempted to ride to Galveston to restock pineapple supplies, but the line at the ferry looked to be more than an hour long and did NOT move much in 45 minutes, so that trip is postponed until tomorrow, weather permitting. The BIG surprise was running into heavy fog on the return to the house at 4:30. And suddenly at 6 PM, it is both foggy and dark. No walk for Cynthia tonight. Ron's walk was surprisingly pleasant and warm; not the least bit foggy, and Orion was up adorning a clearing in the night sky.
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| SmoochSmooch and Smooch, happy together |
24 Dec: Cynthia accidentally deleted the post Ron wrote after midnight this morning. Smooch! He was up late finishing the current effort on James Lea - more to follow in another couple of weeks. We enjoyed a lovely walk on the beach early this afternoon and celebrated Christmas early by going to Steve's Landing for dinner of salmon, potatoes, and veggies ... with champagne and beer!
23 Dec: Crystal Beach. We get to stay here another seven days until January 1, 2020. Good grief !! How did it get to 2020 so quickly? - that date seemed impossibly far off just a month ago. Our walk on the beach was sunny, warm, and less windy - very enjoyable. The second walk at sunset was highlighted by several crimson streaks of clouds. Cynthia's Apple watch calculated 7.9 miles today! Ron is back at work on James Lea while Cynthia is watching the hilarious movie 'Elf.' Ron's final walk began at 10:30 and finished at 11:30; Cynthia was still awake and caught Ron eating a quick bowl of oatmeal.
22 Dec: Crystal Beach! Good Morning to Us! Ron's project today was to figure out the Required Minimum Distribution from his IRA. That was easy, but asset allocation is proving harder. The phone call to Fidelity was astounding in that there was no wait to talk to a representative, and he took care of all my issues at once. After entering those numbers into my spreadsheet, it is obvious that I need to do nothing much to adjust my asset allocation. Pictures below were taken during our second beach walk of the day during the bright afternoon sunshine.
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| Smooch behaving himself |
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| SmoochSmooch enjoying her beach walk |
SmoochSmooch is both a wonderful weefee and a word long enough to drop this paragraph below the pictures. Maybe the techie should learn the HTML to fix the situation invisibly.
21 Dec: And, although cloudy, any day is another beautiful day on the beach. We are awake, exercised, fed, and considering our morning walk soon. Walking along the Gulf coast beach is lovely and relaxing. Immediately after the walk, we donned our motorcycling gear and rode to the ferry to Galveston seeking provisions, popcorn, pretzels, oatmeal, frozen fruits & berries, blueberries & raspberries, beans, and a hairdryer. Good thing that it all fit. After returning on the ferry across the ship channel and unpacking provisions, we walked the beach again. Cynthia clocked 7.8 miles today! She is very, very proud. It was less windy and felt warmer, so we are happy today. And after a dinner of yams and pretzels, Ron opted for a third walk on the beach after dark. Cynthia has remarked upon the absence of Christmas decorations this year, and it was VERY obvious during Ron's 10 PM walk.
20 Dec: Crystal Beach, Texas. Cynthia's Elk Horn, Iowa friend, Ardis, passed away this morning. Multi-talented, Ardis was also an outstanding musician and singer who loved the Lord. Amen. Ron and Cynthia walked 3 miles this morning under a canopy of gloomy gray clouds without a single shaft of sunlight shining through. The wind had our back and we were warm enough until we turned around. Then the wind seemed a lot colder than the 60-degree temperature. Still, for December, who's complaining? Since rain was forecast to probably come between 1 and 3 PM, we opted to stay indoors with our computer projects until later. But then the fickle forecast proved wrong, and the rain came from 4 until after 6. By the time Ron went for his constitutional evening walk & talk, the rain was long gone, but the wind was quite strong and cold.
19 Dec: Today we will end up in Crystal Beach, God willing. Ron hopes that Cynthia will be up for a walk in the morning after oatmeal. Walk we did, pack we did (but not by 11 AM check-out), lunch we did, and ride we did, mostly on lesser traveled highways and "farm to market" roads. It was a beautiful day and a lovely winter ride 152 miles door to door. It did get a bit chilly for the last hour as the sunset. (Fifty degrees on a motorcycle is certainly chilly these days - it was of no concern when I was younger riding shorter distances.) We arrived at 5:45, toted luggage up the stairs, and rode back to Steve's Landing for dinner of salmon and baked potatoes. Then we rode over to the Big Store and brought home a full load of groceries. Life is good, Thank God.
18 Dec: What are the odds that we will be ready to leave when we return from Cynthia's MRI ?? They seemed good to Ron in the morning, especially when Cynthia was all a-tither and uncertain of which location was to do her MRI. Eventually, it was the one she had considered least likely, but they had her appointment and the doctor's order, so we went, arrived on time, and were done by 11 PM, in time to drop off recycling and eat a nice lunch salad and baked sweet potato at Jason's Deli. So we arrived back at the condo by 12:45, and Ron hoped to be wrapped up and ready to depart by 2 PM - then 3 PM - finally 4 PM seemed certain until he was loading the motorcycle and discovered a strap missing, so he called Cynthia to return with the key to open the door. By this time the sun was far too close to the horizon, so we decided to stay put until morning.
17 Dec: Oofta, Ron forgot to weigh himself until after eating a bowl of oatmeal and then weighed 176.4 lbs; cannot open pretzels tonight. Cynthia is running errands. Ron spent the day organizing and readying recycling and things to go into the storage locker. Cynthia returned about 2 PM, and we went for a nice walk in the brisk air. At 4:30 most everything went into the locker easily, but in January, Ron needs to reduce his footprint by three large boxes. By 6:30 Ron was pooped, so he fixed a bowl of oatmeal, although there is still more to do. Cynthia is baking potatoes.
16 Dec: Cynthia was disappointed that her hearing specialist was unable to see her despite the appointment. The audiologist did take a quick minute to tune her hearing aids so that noises are not as sharp. We then ate omelets at the Toasted Yolk, and Cynthia's physical therapy appointment included dry needling that is proving very effective. Ron weighed in at 176 lbs this morning after exercises and before oatmeal, so the rules are that he is not allowed to open another bag of pretzels until he weighs less.
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| Cynthia and Judy, best friends 35 years ago |
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| Jon, Judy, Cynthia, and Judy's family |
15 Dec, Sunday: Cynthia has decided to skip church this morning in order to visit a shut-in friend from Elkhorn, Iowa. That meant that immediately after exercises, oatmeal and pills, we left on our daily walk to the lake (since the construction crews are not on site Sunday). Cynthia was then showered and dressed to leave by 11:15. Ron packed his luggage in preparation to leave the condo on Wednesday & relocate to Crystal Beach. Then TimeMachine backups of the computer were made "just in case". Now comes the hard part, cleaning all the recycling, etc. from the kitchen counters. Well, that was only so successful; the recycling is rinsed and drying, the compost is boxed, but the counters are still not clear, so this project will carry over to tomorrow. Ron's evening walk and talk take precedence.
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| Jon, Tyler, Lauren Cynthia, and Ron at Perry's |
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| Sunset over Lake Conroe |
12 Dec: We plan to eat a lot before going to the Clergy Luncheon in the Woodlands. They won't have anything we can eat ! Unfortunately, Ron ran out of time, so he took a couple of leftover potatoes. They actually provided a good mix of fruits & raw veggies, so we did enjoy eating. We chatted for half an hour after the luncheon and actually arrived nearly an hour early to Cynthia's physical therapy appointment at 3 PM. She got right in but was very disappointed that they worked her hard on her assigned exercises; no needles, no spinal decompression yet.
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| Sam and Adam snorkeling on their Caribbean honeymoon |
10 Dec: NO appointments, so this is a day to sleep late and exercise!!!! We are awake, exercised, fed and would be walking if it weren't raining ever so lightly. Eureka !! The computer booted successfully after its rest, and Ron finally delivered the Jonas Likens package. Now he can take a breather to do the other forty projects that he has been postponing. The rain stopped before dark, so Ron was able to walk to the lakeside view - HA on a cloudy, rainy day. Cynthia opted not to risk walking in rain or chill. Neither Ron nor the deer was deterred at all by the occasional slight mist.
9 Dec: Cynthia's inconclusive mammogram results three weeks ago has been causing her unimaginable (to Ron) stress. It was obvious (even to Ron) that the results of today's diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound test were a HUGE relief. Cynthia says that the only way to get through stressful ordeals is to pray. We had time to eat at Jason's Deli before the 3 PM physical therapy appointment. After we arrived "home" at 5 PM, Ron walked to the lake to see the sunset, which was worthwhile and talked the whole way there and back. The 8-point buck & retinue was again evident. Cynthia was too worn out to walk. Ron walked a second time after dark and clipped stickery bushes once. Unfortunately on the day-long trip to doctors and physical therapy, Ron had not taken the charging cord for the computer and ran it until only a 5% charge left. Even though he put it to "sleep" immediately upon noticing 5%, the computer still shut down and needed to be rebooted, resulting in a striped screen for the rest of the evening and morning until Ron finally gave up and held the power on button down until the computer shut down entirely at 5 AM in the morning.
8 Dec, Sunday: We awoke late this morning and had to rush to exercise, eat and shower (Cynthia) before church. Egg white omelets for lunch at the Yacht Club buffet was followed by an afternoon on electronics. At 4:40 in the afternoon it was time for the afternoon walk - but without Cynthia, since she has been enjoying feet that don't hurt today. Ron enjoyed walking and talking to his friends en route to a gorgeous rose sunset over Lake Conroe. There were lots of deer to witness his passage including his favorite 8-point buck escorting 9 little does.
Sunday Offering – Advent Two
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde
Peace. How do I get peace? Like right now during worship! My hearing aids render the organ music piercingly shrill; it hurts my ears. Macular degeneration requires extra light to read the bulletin. I hurt over the news of a friend’s cancer diagnosis. My heart is burdened over angry news. I try to worship, but I do not have peace in my soul this morning. And I pray.
Peace comes in prayer.
Peace is a Person.
Peace that cannot be explained.
Peace that comes in the middle of the storm and passes all understanding.
Peace that hugs our hearts when we need it most.
Peace when we need Him most.
Ephesians 2:14, “For He Himself is our peace.” (RSV)
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| Santa holding great grandchild |
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| On weekends, we can walk to this view. |
6 Dec: Already ?? Where does the time go? Again awake, exercised, fed, and physical therapy done. We re-provisioned grapes, bananas, coffee and mango and are now set to sit all afternoon working on electronics devices. Afternoon over, and we've walked and dined, so we are back at those electronics devices until 9 PM pill time. No pretzels tonight because Ron's weight goes up when he eats them. The before bedtime walk was not as effective at helping his sleep without the pretzels.
5 Dec: Lake Conroe: Awake, exercised, fed, and physical therapy already done. Next on the agenda is a pleasant walk in nice weather, 70 degrees plus. We walked later in the afternoon today, and Cynthia appreciated the less light at sunset. Ron walked again before bed - it does seem to be helping him sleep better. So do the pretzels, although they cause temporary weight gain (water weight?).
4 Dec: After awakening at Lake Conroe, exercising, and gulping down a bowl of oatmeal, we hurried out the door for Cynthia's 10 AM medical appointment with her oncologist. Somehow MD Anderson hadn't seen fit to inform the schedule that Dr. Nelson's office moved from St. Luke's to MD Anderson nearby, so we got to St. Luke's on time and were extremely frustrated to be given a run-around until we finally determined that the schedule was wrong and the appointment was elsewhere. Cynthia was finally seen and her mammogram results discussed, but that led to another run-around to get a DVD from St. Luke's over to MD Anderson in preparation for a follow-up diagnostic mammogram to better visualize some "unclear" areas in her mammogram from two weeks ago. We had only time for a hurried salad at the hospital cafeteria before her retinal exam at 2 PM. That appointment went smoothly and was far less stressful, although the retinal specialist agreed that Cynthia has dry macular degeneration. The only treatment is eye vitamins and dark green veggies such as spinach and kale. Hey, we still Thank God for whatever works, no matter how imperfectly (look at my brain). As a reward for all that travel and stress, we ate at Jason's Deli (their baked sweet potatoes are caramelized.) After another evening of working on the Likens package, Ron has only 15 new files to scan through looking for anything of greater interest. Since Ron weighed less than 176 lbs this morning, he allowed himself to snack on pretzels this evening. Hurray !! Ron walked before bed again.
3 Dec: Today we drove from Lake Conroe to Brenham, but not for Blue Bell. We lunched with Cynthia's friends, Carol and Sandy, then visited Dr. Beim's office for eye vitamins, then picked up my inheritance from Uncle Lawrence, one share of Van Buren Telephone Company stock which he inherited from his parents. No time to walk this morning because we needed to leave at 10 AM, so we walked at 5 PM after our busy day of driving miles. One thing was very different about our drive: as we approached Montgomery, traffic was backed up by a HUGE box on a semi escorted by Sheriff's officers on motorcycles. As we left Montgomery west, we found ourselves in a long line of backed up traffic following another one of these HUGE boxes, escorted by police and preceded by line crews to raise the telephone and power lines so that the box could pass underneath. This was slow going for 10 miles until we could exit left and look for an alternate route, FM 1488. Ron walked before bed again tonight.
2 Dec: We are up, exercised, et, and ready to digitize again. Ron has his walking shoes on already. For now, we are walking separately for a bit and more gently when together to help Cynthia's leg recover. Then we went to the physical therapist for an evaluation, to the Dr. Margolis for orthotics and to Jason's Deli for a baked potato, baked sweet potato, and lots of salad at dinner time. Ron walked his additional 45 minutes before bed again tonight since it has been helping him sleep.
1 Dec, Sunday: Still in Montgomery, Texas at Lake Conroe. Cynthia did this on the evening of the 30th, yesterday. HA !! Cynthia didn't look. Let's go back to the larger font. We successful woke up, exercised, ate oatmeal, and are preparing to go to church. Church service was very good, and the cute twin babies of last year are even cuter now with long wavy hair. Cynthia's bunion acted up to prevent her from walking this afternoon but Ron walked all the way to the lake and discovered on his return that the Fitness Center bathrooms were unlocked but unlit. Fortunately he has a tiny,wind-up flashlight on his keychain. Ron walked a second time before bed.
