Marching Forth

Starting with the health news, I am still feeling okay.  Phyllis is having pretty severe back pain.  She has seen a doctor who gave her some medication.

We had a warm sunny day here last Wednesday.  Phyllis and I went to Cranbrook just to walk around the grounds.  There is something about that place that is just good for the sole.  A lot of the statues and fountains are still covered up to protect them from the winter.  There was nothing in bloom except for some small wild flowers.  Still we both had a very nice time, and are glad we went.

 

Thursday we met Morris and Rychee for dinner.  We went to a new place called Crispelli’s, which is basically a pizza place.  They have reportedly been doing a very good business since they opened.  There was a wait for a table when we were there.  There are no waitresses at Crispelli’s.  You get up and go order your pizza.  They roll out the dough while you are watching.  They put on the sauce and cheese.  Then like Subway, they ask you about your toppings and they put those on.  Then they put the thing in the oven.  About five minutes later they call your name and give you your pizza.  This was an amazingly smooth operations.  The pizza was good.  The place was a little hectic for my tastes though.  We had a good time visiting with Morris and Rychee.  They bought that house in Huntington Woods, and should be moving in around the beginning of the Month.  Right now they are busy packing up.

I had an odd day on Friday.  There was an ad in the paper saying that if you participated in a study for face recognition sortware, they would give you fifty bucks.  I responded to the ad, and Friday was my day to participate.  I was part of a group of four for folks.  There are five different stations whose only difference was lighting.  For most folks they took about eight picture of them at each station with differences such as eyes open, eyes closed, smiling, not smiling, glasses on and off, etc.  I had a few extra pictures taken at each station because I don’t have facial hair.  So I got pictures taken with a phony beard and mustache on.  One woman said I looked like a character out of a kung fu movie with the stuff on.  It took about an hour and a half.  I think of this as my short, but none the less successful modeling career.

Friday was also the day Phyllis went to the doctor’s.  She wanted to go out to eat while we waited for her script to be filled.  We went to a place we hadn’t been to in a long time, the Old Port Inn.  It is a family restaurant kind of place.  The thing that surprised me was that everyone there seemed to look like us.  They were about are age.  They were, like us, not dressed in any kind of recent style.  And there wasn’t a lot of conversation going on.  It was a little creepy, but the food met minimum standards.

I am still mall walking.  Last week I saw a couple I used to work for there, the Bahnkes.  I stopped and said hello.  They are both retired now.  They didn’t appear to be having a good time.  What can I say?

In the music news, Tuesday was the coffee house at Gilda’s.  We went, and we had a good time.   I got up and sang a song.  See below.

 

Thursday, after we went out for dinner with Morris and Rychee,  we went to the open mike at the Coffee Beanery.  I was just a spectator this time.  The performances there are much better these days.  We had a good time at the Beanery.

Pain in the Neck

Seems like a week or so ago Phyllis and were talking about how we were both feeling pretty good.  We visited the pacemaker clinic, and it looks like my pacemaker is good for at least a couple of months.  Phyllis visited her eye doctor, and the doctor said she was doing pretty well.  The topic of spending a little time in Florida actually came up. 

Then Phyllis developed a problem with her back.  Moving for her is pretty painful.  Then I developed a pain in my neck on Thursday.  It started when I got in my car, and by the time I drove around the block, it became clear I was in no shaped to drive.  It hurt every time I turned my head, and you just can’t drive like that.  I was in pretty bad shape for a couple of days but I am doing better now.  Phyllis is still having a lot of pain.

Still,  there are some other things to report on.  Morris and Rychee bought a house.  We went to see it on Saturday.  It is a nice large house in Huntington Woods.  It is in a very nice location.  If all goes well they should move in by the end of the month.  Here’s hoping that they will be happy in the new place.

Sunday was an interesting day given how little we’ve been doing.  We went to the mall.  I walked and Phyllis had some lunch.  It felt good to be moving around for a change.

After the mall we went to a folk music concert held in a church.  Phyllis liked it well enough.  I didn’t care for it.

Then we went to Staples where I bought a new laptop.  The old one still works well enough, but the hard drive is full, it 8 years old, and I wanted something that was more up to date.  The good news is that the new machine is much faster than the old one.  I’ve spent all day putting software on it.  The good news is that everything seems to work okay.  The bad news is that I no longer know what I am doing with the new operating system, but I will learn.

In music news, we went to the Ukulele group, and the string jam.  Due to health problems we missed the coffee house and the folk music club.

Winding Down on February

This has been incredibly mild month for a February in Michigan.  They forecast a lot of snow for today, but the weather has been above freezing so there is just a layer of slush on the ground.  It is still crumby weather, but it is still better than the four inches of snow they were predicting.

Still, I’ll be glad when February is over.  It may be the shortest month but it feels like the longest.  March at least sounds like spring may be on the way, even though it normally has lousy weather as well.

The television has been hard to watch lately due to the onslaught of adds for the Republican presidential primary coming next week.  It is mostly Romney and Santorum with attack adds about what lying, flip-flopping hypocrites their opponent is.  Of course they are both right.  I am not a Republican so I will not be voting in this primary.  I will be glad when the primary is over just to get a brief relief from the ads.  I don’t care which of these jerks win.

Shannon and Morris have both been on vacation.  Shannon is in San Francisco, and should be on her way home now.  Morris was in Vegas after a business trip to Italy.  He came home Wednesday.

Phyllis and I are both feeling well.  This is a pleasant change.

We went to see the movie “The Artist” last week.  It is the favorite to win the best picture Oscar this year.  Phyllis and I both disliked the movie though.

It is time for the music news.

We went to the monthly folk music concert at Mama’s Coffee House.  The main group was a male trio called Brother Sun.  They put on a pretty good show.

Tuesday we went to our ukulele group.  They go around in a circle and ask everyone what song they would like the group to play.  Phyllis suggested a song, and then asked me to play it.  It turned out to be an unexpected solo.  I made it through it all right.

Wednesday was an odd night.  Madison Heights had two events going on.  There was a folk music concert going on that Phyllis wanted to see.  There was also a meeting hosted by our state representative about the new taxes Michigan is putting on pensions.

Phyllis went to the concert.  I went to the meeting.

Our new governor decided that he could improve the business climate by lowering business taxes.  He would pay for this by taxing retiree pensions.  Up until this time pensions were exempt from income tax.  I look at this as stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.  I won’t be voting this guy again.

There was a lot information in the meeting, and I learned about other changes in the new tax code that I was not aware of.  After being thoroughly annoyed by the meeting, I joined Phyllis in the concert that was going still going on.  I suppose it was okay.

There is an open mike coffee house on Thursdays in Berkley that we go to  some of the time.  They have been getting new performers there recently, and it is a better show these days.  I have been encouraged (pressured) by a number of folks, including the guy who runs the thing, to participate.  Last night I hauled my trusty four string banjo there and did a couple of songs.  It went better than expected, even though I still get a case of the nerves when I perform in front of people.  I do not plan on doing this on a regular basis.

Feeling Better

On the health front,  I am feeling better days and I am pretty much back to normal.  Phyllis is doing some better, but still has a ways to go.  She is able to get out and do a few things, but she tires very easily.

I’ve been doing a lot of mall walking lately.  It gets me some exercise and helps burn off some energy.  I prefer it to going to the health center.  Seems like I’m going more days than not.

I’ve been working on our taxes.  We normally end up taking a standard deduction, but we had a lot of medical expenses what with my surgery and all, and I thought we might get a break this year.  After compiling all the data and entering it in, we are still better off with the standard deduction.  I was annoyed mostly with going through all that work for nothing.

Monday was a better than average day weather-wise.  Actually, the weather here in Michigan has been incredibly mild all winter.  But Monday the sun was shining and the temperatures were in the low 50’s.  I went on a walk to the local strip shopping mall.  I found this to be oddly very enjoyable.  On the way back home I was aware that I was smiling continually, feeling good, and just feeling extremely happy.  This is not the norm for me, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Tuesday was not such a good day.  On Facebook I read that an old friend of mine from high school and college passed away.  We were not particularly close.  We would comment on each others posts, and exchange occasional emails.  Still, it hit me hard to hear the news of his passing.

I had an odd reaction in response to the loss of an old friend.  I am not into overeating.  But I made a batch of vegetarian chili, and for some reason I kept eating it until it was gone.  Needless to say, there are unpleasant consequences to this behavior.  I won’t go into details, but I was feeling uncomfortable for a day or so afterwards.

We are still doing a lot of music related activities.  There is a coffee house near us that has an open mike on Thursdays.  I went there last Thursday.  Lately the quality of the entertainment has been much better there.  I enjoyed the coffee house.

We went to the folk music club on Saturday.  I stood up and sang a little song.  It went well enough.

Tuesday was the coffee house at Gilda’s.  I was originally thinking of getting up and doing a song.  But with the loss of a friend, I wasn’t in the mood.  Fortunately there were a lot of folks with much more talent than I have who got up and performed.  We enjoyed the evening.

We were looking for something to do last night.  We read about an event in downtown Royal Oak.  There are outfits that cook and sell food out of trucks.  About eight of them showed up at the farmers market in Royal Oak.  We went.

The place became very crowded quickly.  There were long lines at most of the trucks.   There was a band playing that was pretty good.  Seating was at a premium.  I got a hummus, tabouli and falafel sandwich that I thought was very good.  Still, I don’t do well with crowds, and I was glad to get out of there.

We’ve Been Sick

Phyllis and I have been pretty sick for the last week or so.  We both have some kind of reparatory bug that has been hanging on for a while.  We both saw our doctors.  I started feeling noticeably better yesterday, though I am not really well yet.  Phyllis is still ailing.

So needless to say other that that, there isn’t a whole lot to report.

We did decide to get out of the house today.  We went out for lunch and saw a movie, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”.  It is about a kid dealing with his father’s death in the 911 attacks.  I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.  Phyllis liked it also.

I’m taking medication that makes a bit jumpy, and I’ve been basically homebound.   So I’ve been doing little projects, which is not my normal mode.

I got a printer with wireless capability around 6 months ago.  I had it connected via a USB cable.  I decided to hook it up wirelessly.  I made this much harder than need be.  The instructions weren’t clear, and I worried about stuff that I didn’t need to worry about.  It ended up being very simple.

I started our taxes.  I haven’t got very far with it.  I’m still gathering information.  There were a lot of medical expenses last year.

I restrung a couple of ukuleles.  We got one ukulele called a banjo-tam about eight years ago.  We were never able get it to stay in tune.  I put new strings on it, and it is actually playable.  It is a combination banjo and tambourine that you play like a ukulele.  I think it was designed as a kids toy because it is very small.  It sounds like crap and is really a piece of junk, but at least it works now.

I’m hoping to have snappier stuff to report on my next post.

More January Stuff

The main news around here is that Phyllis developed a nasty case of bronchitis.  She has been ill for about a week.  Nasty cough, fever, and just feeling bad all over.  She saw a doctor, and has been on medication.  She showed a little sign of improvement today.  She wanted to go out to eat for the first time since she got ill.

Phyllis’s eye symptoms seem to improving a little.  This is good news.

This has been an extremely mild winter for Michigan.  Its over half way through January, and no real snow.  That is supposed to change tomorrow.

I’ve started mall walking again.  I like it better than going to the health center.

Phyllis’s birthday is Friday.  It’s not too late to send a greeting.

Then there is the music stuff.

I’ve gone to the ukulele club a couple of times.  I’m not a big fan of the ukulele, but I like getting together with the folks.

There is a banjo group in the area.  I’ve seen them in the past on flatbed trucks in local parades.  They play mainly old songs on tenor banjos.  I just happen to have a tenor banjo.  The club put on a presentation at the folk music meeting, and I went to one of their meetings.

They had about a dozen folks there of varying ages.  They all had large books of songs.  They would take turns asking people what they wanted to play.  The songs were numbered, and people would turn to the page in the books, and they would all start playing together.  I was able to share a book with someone, and tried to keep up as well as I could.  Everyone there was nice and welcoming.  I might go back.

Thursday was the coffee house at Gilda’s.  I got up and performed a couple of old country songs on my banjo.  You know,  I’m not very good at this music stuff, but I keep doing, mainly because it amuses me.  Tomorrow I’m going back to Gilda’s for a jam session they have there a couple of time a month.  I typically have a pretty good time there.

We Are Still Here

New Years Eve day Morris and Rychee were back in town. As our gift they took Phyllis, Shannon, and I to see Wicked at the Opera House in Detroit. Everyone enjoyed the play.

Afterwards we went to Morris’s house for a fish taco dinner that just couldn’t be beat. It was nice having the whole family together. Shannon went back to Brooklyn on New Years Day. We enjoyed having her in town for the holidays.

On New Year’s Day some friends had a group of us over for pizza and to play music. This was a lot of fun. It is surprising to me how much of our activities are focused around either making or listening to music. It has helped me get through cold months when I would rather be someplace warm. I just wish I had some talent for it. In particular, I would like it if I could sing.

Normally, by this time we either be in Florida or have pretty specific plans on leaving for there. This year, because of the situation with Phyllis’s eyes, everything along those lines is on hold. While her last doctor’s appointment indicated things were going well, she is still having a lot of pain, and has developed some new problems with her eyes. We see her doctor next week.

Fortunately, this has been an incredibly mild winter. We have had no snow of more than an inch or so, which is unheard of for this time of year in Michigan. Most days the high temperature has been above freezing. We have even had some sunshine.

Saturday was particularly warm and sunny so we went up to Cranbrook. First we went to the recently reopened art museum. It had been shut down for a couple of years for renovations. We heard that they expanded the museum. I was a bit disappointed that the place looked about the same. Apparently the expanded part wasn’t open while we were there. I should mention that the place looks nice enough; it just hasn’t changed much.

After the museum we walked around the grounds. Nothing was in bloom of course, but even so it we enjoyed taking in the sights.

I’ve done a lot the usual things. I went to the computer club on Wednesday.

I went to the music thing at Gilda’s on Thursday. I was amused when someone expressed disappointment that I didn’t bring my banjo. I like the banjo a lot, but I didn’t feel like taking it that night.

I did take it to the folk music club last night though. The program was on tenor banjos, and I was looking forward to it. The presenters were three older folks from a group called Ban-Joes of Michigan. They all had what would call pretty fancy looking banjos. They talked, about their instruments, their music, and their club. They played several songs. I liked the presentation.

One of the presenters listened to me play my banjo. She just shook her head the whole time.

During the song swap part of the meeting I got up and played a song with my banjo. On the whole I didn’t think it went that well. But a lot of folks seemed to be very interested in my plain Jane old banjo. Several folks seemed interested in picking it up and playing it. I enjoyed the meeting.

The Detroit Lion's played their first playoff game in a dozen years. They lost.