Equipment Failure, Medicare, Visitors

As of this afternoon, we now know that our earliest departure from here will be Monday, October 16 because today’s appointment had to be cancelled due to equipment failure. That is not the end of the world, we can manage an extra day or two. I think it seems more severe simply because his last treatment was to have been on a Friday to leave us clear to leave, but now we will have to wait through another weekend.

I finally finished assembling the Christmas wall hanging that I have been working on since last spring. Mind you, there is still plenty of tweaking, clipping, straightening, and fixing to do before it is done. I have now decided I will spend the money to have it quilted. I wasn’t going to simply because the workmanship leaves a lot to be desired, but I have a feeling the professional quilting can’t do anything but enhance the overall appearance, and since I used some fabrics that have some history and sentimentality, it will be nice to have it properly finished.

I see according to the newspaper this morning, that for those who are on Medicare (as I will be in a little over a year, and Ken already is); the monthly premium is going to be approaching $100 per month in 2007. That sounds exorbitant, but I’m probably still locked into what Ken’s mother was paying 12 years ago; and it is just the tip of the iceberg with whatever the costs are for those who must purchase supplemental insurance as well.

I believe the last communications I shared with regard to Colleen and Bassim Blazey was that they had resigned themselves to being friends…….and he told her recently that he was emailing with a woman in the Canada whom he met on an online match service. Soooo, she found out last Sunday evening that he wanted to come and see her on Monday, the next day!! He had flown to Vancouver to meet the woman, and it didn’t work out. So when he called Colleen, she said, “So now you’ve decided you’re madly in love with me.” And he said, “Yes.” She said they have had a very nice visit, but neither one is planning to move from their respective countries, and she will let me know if that is to happen. He returns to Australia tomorrow.

The weather turned blessedly cool this week, and we didn’t even turn on the air conditioners yesterday. Right now at 8:30 a.m. it is 69 degrees outside and cloudy; in fact it looks as if we could even get some rain. What a relief, even if it is short lived. I think we approach 90 next week, but even 90 I can handle for a few hours a day.

I think all is well with our boys; we haven’t had much communication recently. They are all busy, busy, busy. Craig started his new job with Finnigan Construction last week as they gear up to build a new high school in Lacey, about four blocks from where we used to live. He will be on the jobsite, not in the office, and it is a great commute for him – about ten minutes.

The Bakers were not able to keep us on their itinerary. The entire trip to Florida went well up until New Mexico where they sustained a flat tire and two dead batteries in as many days, so they had to truck on back to Lakewood. So we will look forward to our next visitor the first part of October which will be Karen. And then a few days after she goes home, I’ll go to San Jose for the quilt show. And when I come back, we will be within just one or two days of going home!

Time to refill my coffee cup and contemplate what to do with the rest of the day.

Ciao