Paggettown Road

 Warm days and cool nights, perfect spring weather, whether cloudy with some showers or nice and sunny. 

I have one eye with cataract removed, so it no longer can focus well with the glasses I have. At least I don't have to wear the shield over it except when going to sleep...so I don't inadevertently scratch it.  It was a long time after the procedure before it stopped being dialeted...so lights were a problem. I closed the blinds, and couldn't even look at screens for very long. Thankfully I got a library audio book to listen to.

Yesterday I met some friends for lunch and enjoyed forgetting about myself for a while! Our regular Saturday group of four. 

About my cataract surgery, it was the same as all hospital procedures, getting a vein when I was dehydrated from not being able to eat or drink since midnight the night prior. And even my blood pressure was pretty low, probably due to the same thing. Anyway, they decided to give me minimum sedation, saying if they needed to they could add to it, but it they started with heavier dose they couldn't take it out. 

I was fully awake, though all I heard was the machine making various noises, and I could see with the eye being operated upon...but it was not anything but lights and shapes, not a knife! I decided it was psychedelic. No diziness or nausea afterward, though I was ravenous and ate peanut butter crackers and a diet coke while being given discharge instructions...which were all written down. The nurse kept showing me the page she was reading from, but it was out of focus because I still didn't have my glasses on. Came home with the clear plastic shield taped to the right eye, wearing my big pair of sunglasses that go over my usual glasses. But I kept my right eye closed most of the time.

So now I'm doing lots of drops on a  schedule...and wearing my old glasses which work for typing here...though I think that's because my distance/mid-range correction is pretty minimal. One eye sees a bit of yellow tinted world (still through a cataract) and the new lens gives me bright bluish whites everywhere. And definitely brighter colors too! Can't wait to have the other one done in 2 weeks.

These are just two of the lovely homes on this old winding road on the east side of Black Mountain.

Today's quote;

Let love start this day. Let love end this day. Let love transform the minutes in between.

RACHEL MACY STAFFORD

Easter sharing

 Yes, it was last Sunday, but this is when I had a chance to post a blog about it. 

While you read this, maybe not quite as early in the morning as some of you, I'll be getting ready for my cataract in my right eye to be removed. Sure, everyone says it's a piece of cake, and over fast, and I'll be so glad. But it's my EYE. I love it. I cherish it. I don't want it to hurt. OK, that's my inner child expressing her anxiety. Now my adult self will take me, and my eye to get the doctor to fix it. I'll be back here tomorrow (because I've already pre-dated a post).

A late invitation to share Easter dinner with a good friend...I said yes! 

Her feast started with wine and crackers and brie in the living room, then in dining room this platter and a different wine greeted us! I admitted to trying to be on a plant based diet, but did try the leg of lamb. It was tasty, and her elderberry jam did just the right combination. Of course roasted veggies were my favorite!

A wonderful glass of  Chambord Black Raspberry liqueur at tea time. She brought out this nice set which she purchased in Miami, but it doesn't say the pottery on the bottoms. I especially liked the cream/sugar stack.

Our friend used to be a caterer in her professional days. We met her when we all were at the Black Mountain community clay studio in the past (ahem) 15 years.

My contribution to the holiday. I also took home a baby aloe since I have been looking for one and she had some waiting to be potted. Fortuitous I'd say.

Today's quote:

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. -Alan Kay, computer scientist (b 1940)

 So I went to the eye doc, and said I was having trouble seeing out of one eye when watching TV. She did all her tests, dilated my eyes for the last one, and then told me "You have cataracts, the slow growing kind and now the fast growing kind. You need to have them removed."

Yay, an answer I didn't expect. Except it means I still have blurry vision until I get an appointment...depending on surgeon's time. So I mosey along, trying to keep my feet under me, trying to not judge colors and brightness of things based on what I perceive, which has gradually become foggy!

Many of my friends have already had their cataracts removed. Some no longer need glasses. I'll look into that. It doesn't really cause any added anxiety in my life, which is a nice thing.

Today's quote:

Kindness enriches our life; with kindness mysterious things become clear, difficult things become easy, and dull things become cheerful.

Tolstoy