Wordless Wednesday
Sunday Stills: #Light the Night
A Photo a Week Challenge: Funny Signs
Wordless Wednesday
Friendship
I work as an assistant teacher in 3rd grade. Last week, the teacher I work with was out sick, she had bronchitis, and I was expected to substitute. Before Covid, a substitute teacher was usually brought in, but over the past two years our sub list has run dry forcing the assistants to step up. Monday I subbed, with no assistant to help me. Tuesday I was not notified until 9:00am that I was the sub for the day. Wednesday they did get me an assistant to help out. By Thursday I was in the groove, and Friday was just a breeze. But the week was fraught with emotions running high, and I was more than ready for the weekend. As luck would have it, I had a Doctors appointment scheduled for the coming Monday and decided to take the whole day off. My best friend happened to mention she had scheduled a day off and so I jumped at the chance to drive out to her home an hour away and spend the day. She lives in an area where this is a lot of open land and farms, unlike where I live. It felt like a real vacation day.
She and I have been friends since we were 12, virtually our entire lives. At this stage of our lives we realize more than ever what a blessing that is. We spent the day talking, then taking a walk on the small Main Street in her town. We visited a cemetery along the Main Street filled with very old graves, some from the Revolutionary War.
Stopping for a coffee mid afternoon on a Monday, I couldn’t think of a more perfect place to be.
Macro Monday
Tiny flower like pinecones on a Cedar Tree. I only wish you could smell how fragrant they are!
One Word Sunday: Rush
Kids always seem to be in a hurry to get wherever they’re going. Maybe it is just the thrill of the run, who can get their first, or their ever present boundless energy.
Weekend Sky
Sky at daybreak, 7:00am. Boardwalk lights still on, sun has not yet made an appearance.
Later the same day…sky at sunset, 4:30PM as the sun makes it descent.
Last On The Card: November 2021
Well, there went November! Let’s take a look at the last photos I took on that last day.
The rules are simple:
1. Post the last photo on your SD card or last photo on your phone for the 30th November.
2. No editing – who cares if it is out of focus, not framed as you would like or the subject matter didn’t cooperate.
All taken with my cell phone, my husband and I escaped for an overnight to the beach as the month came to a close and I had a day off.
Daybreak as I headed out for a run along the boardwalk.
One of the many beautiful Victorian houses we encountered on a walk.
Wordless Wednesday
Thursday’s Special: Pick A Word
RDP-SUNDAY-LOSS
Things are always changing. That is the way the world works. Sometimes there is gain. And sometimes there is loss.
The Ragtag Daily Prompt for Sunday is: LOSS
Take the word, think about it, let it hold you for awhile. Then take those thoughts and feelings and create a post.Â
Last week as I stood in my classroom looking out to the parking lot when a car pulled up. The Executive Director of school, a man in his 60’s, came out to the help a mother unload her child from the car. Once unloaded he took the child’s hand to bring her into school, and the mother and Executive Director kissed each other goodbye and she headed off in her car. I then realized the woman was his daughter, the child his granddaughter. That simple gesture of him kissing his daughter good bye filled me with a palpable longing for my own father, and made me feel that loss deeply. It awoke in me the feeling of knowing as a child that my father always had my back, that he always made me feel special. That the connection between a father and daughter is a special one. My father is gone sixteen years now, and I was surprised at the feelings that were stirred by witnessing this moment between a father and daughter. Loss, no matter the length of time, remains somewhere below the surface, and can be awakened by something as simple as a kiss good bye on the cheek.
Wordless Wednesday
Weekend Sky
A wonderful weekend sky! Early morning…
the moon was slow to say good bye…
and the afternoon brought beautiful cloud cover as the sun headed west.
CBWC: In or On Water
A Photo a Week Challenge: Food
Salad with a view…
Lunch in school..not much of a view
When I’m not eating salad, it’s coffee and gluten free treats.
Coffee counts as a food, right? The Barista at Starbucks wrote a personal message on my latte.. she’s the best!
Wordless Wednesday
CFFC: Books and Paper
A lovely bookstore to browse through in New Paltz, New York. So inviting.
Old favorites.
Very old paper. A check written by my great grandfather in 1923, made out to Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
This document was found along with old papers after my mother in law died. We believe it is an immunization record for my husband’s father as the date matches his birthdate, 5/17/10. If you can read the German, let me know if it is indeed something else.
Weekend Sky
Wordless Wednesday
Pull Up A Seat
When I made my overnight escape to the beach last week, one of the things I enjoy doing when there is getting up at sunrise. I run along the boardwalk from Ocean Grove into Asbury Park. This time instead of running back on the boardwalk I ran through the streets and crossed a small bridge over one of the many lakes in the area. There were benches overlooking the lake, facing the sun that had just risen, so I stopped for a moment to take in the beauty and quiet.
This was my view from the bench I was sitting on
CBWC: Feet or Paws
Thursday Trios
A Photo a Week Challenge: Injuries
In September of 2012, due to my inattention, I tripped over a person’s foot in a store, went airborne and landed directly on my elbow. My olecranon, the bony point of the elbow was shattered to bits.
Even these many years later it is hard for me to think about. One moment I was fine, the next, not fine at all. I needed surgery, where they put a plate and screws in to hold everything together. Bones are miraculous in that they grow back, bone forming and building and they assured me in 12 weeks I would once again have an Olecranon. They did not put me in a cast for a few days as “things needed to settle.” When a bone breaks, I learned, major bruising occurs, as you can see in the photo.
Here are the plate and screws.
The elbow is very finnicky, and Doctors do not like it to be immobile for too long as it may have difficulty bending afterwards. In my case, they had no choice but to keep me casted for almost three weeks, because during the surgery it was discovered my bones were osteoporotic.
Here’s my cast. Yes, I chose pink because it is my favorite color.
When the cast came off it was time for PT. My arm would not bend. It was stuck. I couldn’t lift a phone to my ear, a coffee cup to my mouth, put my contact lens in. I went to PT three times a week with no progress for months. It was a very dark period in my life I will admit. I couldn’t drive, we had to put our 17 year old dog down a month after my accident, I was making no progress physically. Finally after three months there was some movement. It took six months until my arm was almost back to normal in terms of range. I still had discomfort, and to this day am still aware of the difference between my left and right arms. I needed another surgery to remove the plate and screws as the Doctor felt they were impinging on my movement, and they were close to the surface of my skin.
So out they came exactly six months to the date later, and I continued with my PT on my own at the gym.
It was a lesson in not taking for granted the small things we can do without thinking about them. It also gave me insight into how isolating it is when a person is not well and cannot participate fully in the life they knew. I am still thankful everyday that I was able to recover, and am reminded at every drive up window when I can extend my arm out to reach for a coffee.
A Day In The Life 
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