NOTHING LIKE A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET - 11/13/2010

Walked out of the last store on our grocery list today
and
this was the view
beyond the field as we turned to drive away.
Pulled over and stopped the car.
Got out
and took several photos.
How I love a beautiful sunset
after a sunny day and beautiful Fall day.

TODAY IS SAXOPHONE DAY - 11/6/2010

IT IS SAXOPHONE DAY
SUCH GREAT MEMORIES OF HIGH SCHOOL
AND MY SON PLAYING TENOR SAXOPHONE
IN MARCHING AND JAZZ BAND
HE CONTINUES TO PLAY IN A JAZZ BAND TODAY

When : Always November 6th

Saxophone Day is today. The Saxophone is a classical woodwind instrument. It is an essential instrument in jazz bands, symphonic bands, marching bands and more. It's only fitting that this great instrument has a day of recognition all to its own.

The Saxophone was invented around 1840. It was created by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian musical instrument maker. The sax is made of brass.

Adophe Sax invented 8 types of saxophones: Sopranino, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass, Contrabass, and Subcontrabass. The first Saxophone ever created was the Bass Saxophone. A 9th type of Saxophone, the Soprillo Saxophone, was invented in 2004. It is the smallest Saxophone.

Some famous Saxophone Players (Alphabetical order):

• John Coltrane
• Stan Getz
• Coleman Randolph Hawkins "Hawk"
• James Moody
• Charlie "The Bird" Parker
• Lester Prez Young

Happy Saxophone Day!!!

INFO FROM:

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/November/saxophoneday.htm

SUNRISE - 11/4/2010

I HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO CATCH
A
BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE THIS SEASON
TODAY I MISSED THE BEST PART
BY ABOUT 10 MINUTES
BUT HERE IS WHAT I WAS ABLE TO GET
BEFORE THE TIME CHANGES
AND I HAVE TO WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR

HALLOWEEN - OCTOBER 31, 2010

IN ALL OF THE EXCITEMENT
OF THE SF GIANTS GAMES
I FORGOT TO POST
OUR HALLOWEEN PHOTOS
HOPE YOU ALL HAD A FUN HALLOWEEN

OUR SF GIANTS ARE THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS - MONDAY NOVEMBER 1, 2010

GAME 5
SF GIANTS WIN THE WORLD SERIES
NOVEMBER 1, 2010
GIANTS 3 - RANGERS 1
PLAYED IN TEXAS

GAME 4
2010 WORLD SERIES
GIANTS 4 - RANGERS 0
OCTOBER 31, 2010
ONE MORE GAME TO WIN
AND OUR GIANTS
TAKE THE WORLD SERIES

WAYNE AND JOE AT GAME 3 OF THE 2010 WORLD SERIES IN ARLINGTON TEXAS

Wayne Bascom (left) and Joe Bascom of San Angelo, Texas, show their support for the San Francisco Giants before Game 3 of the World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday.

Note: photo from SF Gate home of The San Francisco Chronicle

GAME 3
2010 WORLD SERIES
RANGERS 4 - GIANTS 2
OCTOBER 30, 2010
YOU CANNOT WIN THEM ALL
NOW TO WIN GAME 4
TOMORROW
IN TEXAS

MY PINEAPPLE SAGE

My Pineapple Sage is in bloom already.
We have had hummingbirds coming by
to get some nectar from the flowers.
It was early to see this as
I bought this plant last year and
decided to cut it back late in the season.
Getting the hang of this particular plant
and enjoying it so much as Pineapple
is a favorite of mine.
Rub the leaves between your fingers
and you smell fresh Pineapple.

OSCAR ENJOYING OUR EARLY AFTERNOON SUN

Oscar was meowing to go out back.
I could not resist and enjoyed watching him roll in the sun
this afternoon,
and took in a few rays myself.
Surprising how the birds come out when he does.
Tonight it is raining and Fall weather is setting in more and more.

GAME 2
2010 WORLD SERIES
GIANTS 9 - RANGERS 0
OCTOBER 28, 2010
NOW TO WIN GAME 3
SATURDAY
IN TEXAS

GAME 1
2010 WORLD SERIES
IN SAN FRANCISCO
GIANTS 11 - RANGERS 7
OCTOBER 27, 2010
NOW TO WIN GAME 2
TOMORROW NIGHT

THEY DID IT,
THE SF GIANTS ARE PLAYING IN
THE WORLD SERIES
FIRST GAME IN SF
WEDNESDAY
10/27/2010
SF GIANTS VS THE TEXAS RANGERS
GO GIANTS!!

It did not happen for the Giants tonight
off to Philadelphia to play Saturday.
GO GIANTS!!

THREE GAMES DOWN, ONE TO GO
THEN
OFF TO THE WORLD SERIES!!
GO GIANTS!!

Nice sunny day today,
perfect for those at the ballpark
and
THE SF GIANTS WON GAME TWO, YES!!
Two more games to win to go to the World Series.
GO GIANTS!!

RAINY DAY

Strange how it went from the high 90's on Friday
to rain today
then up to the 80's on Wednesday.

FROM CINDERELLA

"A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES WHEN YOU'RE FAST ASLEEP. IN DREAMS YOU WILL LOSE YOUR HEARTACHES. WHATEVER YOU WISH FOR, YOU KEEP. HAVE FAITH IN YOUR DREAMS, AND SOMEDAY, YOUR RAINBOW WILL COME SMILING THROUGH. NO MATTER HOW YOUR HEART IS GRIEVING, IF YOU KEEP ON BELIEVING, THE DREAM THAT YOU WISH WILL COME TRUE." - CINDERELLA

A SURPRISE VISIT

A family friend happened to be in town tonight,
so he called and stopped by for a short visit with us,
before heading home.
It was so good to see him.

JAZZ BAND PERFORMANCE

I wish I could have gotten a better photo of the Jazz Band
our son is back in.
I do not like to take flash photography
before they are done performing.
The new Band Director had all stand and take a bow.
My timing was off a bit, so I got the after
the bow shot.
It had been a 2 year gap in playing his sax with the band.
It was a terrific performance
with a terrific Band Director
with a great sense of humor and got the audience involved clapping at the times he said.
I am looking forward to seeing the next performances and their Christmas performance.
It feels like home to me. I hope our son pursues his music once again.

OUR ANT INVASION

I think I spoke too soon. No ants in three years, now three years worth of ants.
I went to cut up my potatoes on a plate on our counter last night
and there was one ant on my plate, YUK!!
My husband went to the garage later to our recycle area outside our laundry door
and WOW, the invasion of the ants.
TERRO to the rescue.
The little thing you see to the left on my photo is a thin square of cardboard
that comes with the TERRO liquid.
To attach it, my husband bent it and tacked it in place.
Then drops of TERRO on it and more of the stuff this morning.
What a mess.
They are crawling up the wall and across where the wall meets the ceiling,
hanging a left and continue to the garage door then down the wall and disappear
With TERRO, they should be gone in a few days.
I am so glad for the cooler weather, as they will be gone a lot faster.

OSCAR WHEN HE GETS HUNGRY

Oscar is quite a character. I was busy with a few things, and
he decided he was hungry at 10:30am. He gets on the kitchen counter,
hits things onto the floor to get my attention,
then tries to eat his food that is almost ready
to be put down on his mat to eat.
Maybe it is the fact that I always add a few crunchy treats
and spoil him.

A POSTCARD FROM THE SACRAMENTO ZOO

Last year my husband, son and I visited the Sacramento Zoo
This is a postcard I picked up then and wanted to share it
The animals there live a wonderful life.
Full of trees and visitors
and many other animals and birds
along with lots of squirrels that run from place to place
and monkeys that go from branch to branch in huge cages
It is a happy and fun place to visit
and we try to visit once a year

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.

IT SHOULD NOT HAVE COME TO THIS, BUT IT DID!!

I cannot believe that eating food has come to this.
First visit to my GI Dr last Thurs (Sept. 23)
after he did an emergency Endoscopy (tube down my throat with a camera)
(requested by my ER Dr)
My GI DR said I needed to do certain things or
I will have a feeding tube.
I have lost 15 pounds so far, in the last few weeks
Working hard to keep up my strength,
and avoid a feeding tube
and following my GI Drs instructions
Thank God for my husband, son and friends.
I have been eating this soup, so pureed it for lunch for a few days now
and it is working ok along with Ensure and water with Electrolytes
and the meds my GI Dr changed and added.
This is a little chicken broth, water,
cooked boneless skinless chicken breast,
carrots and rice
We already owned a mini puree machine, so one serving at a time
Dinner last night was steamed and skinned red potatoes
and boneless skinless chicken breast
with some of the water from steaming the potatoes then pureed (delicious)
Breakfast has been a small portion of Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal
Need to add some crushed Bran flakes, so will do that tomorrow.
I am so grateful for my family and friends
and it seems finally a Dr that is there to get me through this
On our own for this to come together until the Insurance approves a Nutritionist
One day at a time

THANKS TO MY GUYS

The wonderful things in life that mean so much
like how beautifully the roses from my husband opened

and this DVD from my son for my Birthday
Thank you to my guys
with much love from me

FAMILY PHOTO

Once again, it was set up the tripod and tell
my guys
it is photo time
(photo taken Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010)
It is hard to get us together as a family for photos,
but, I did it.
I only got 2 photos as that is all these guys would tolerate,
and have not colored my hair in too long
and since this was not planned
we wore what we had on
after getting back from having our haircuts.
Love and hugs to my guys for doing this
on my birthday weekend

MY BIRTHDAY

TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY
AND MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND
BROUGHT ME HOME TONIGHT
A DOZEN BEAUTIFUL ROSES
ONE WHICH I ACCIDENTALLY BROKE
ALONG WITH A MUSICAL TINKER BELL CARD

OSCAR - A PART OF OUR FAMILY SINCE ONE YEAR AGO TODAY

On this date one year ago, the grief of losing
our George was too much for me.
My husband suggested going to Petsmart to look.
There in his cage, the oldest cat there looked so sad.
Called his name and he lifted his head a little.
Pet his head through the cage.
My heart knew he had to come home with us.
Not making my decision right away,
we came home and I called the place
doing the adopting.
I called my friend and she said "Go for It"
Out the door we went
I gave up a new computer desk chair to get him
for my Birthday gift from my husband.
So glad I did.
Still have my old computer chair but got pillows for it to make it more comfortable.
In love with our wonderful cat Oscar who has given all of us much joy and love.

MY SON PRACTICING GOLF IN OUR BACKYARD

My son and a couple of friends have decided to start golfing
Beyond the challenge of learning, my son is left handed
It is impossible to find left handed clubs at the golf courses,
so here he is with one that he purchased and the thing he got to practice.
It is so nice to see him getting out and doing new things.

TESTING TO SEE WHY

I did not know one could suddenly suffer so much. Since my testing for seizures, I have had so many problems with burning from my mouth to my stomach. Last Friday I woke at noon from my nap with pain that I could barely handle in the pit of my stomach and up the center of my chest and severely nauseated. The only thing that I had done differently was take a teaspoon of prescribed by my Dr to coat my tummy in the morning, called Gaviscon. I called the advice nurse and she said to see a Dr. My Dr is on vacation, so I saw the one filling in for him with my husband. He had me lay down and barely touched the pit of my stomach and I screamed in pain. He and my husband helped me sit up and the pain radiated upwards. He said he had only known me for 10 minutes so wanted to give me Vicodin and I told him it makes me throw up so he prescribed what I could take, Darvocet a low dosage. Said if I was not planning to take it for the pain, to go to the ER. His MA got a wheel chair and got me to our car and we left for the ER. I started to black out at the ER, so they got me into a room right away. Tried to find a vein to hydrate me as I was severely dehydrated. I got a great ER Dr and he had the male nurse give me anti nausea medication and swallow some lidocane for the pain. He prior to this did an EKG because of the chest pain and that was fine. By this time, I was doing better but weak. He spoke with us and told us he had called a GI Dr and gave us his name and phone number to call on Monday morning. He said what he gave to me should hold me till Monday and I was already taking the same anti nausea medication at home and added the Maalox before and after my Cream of Wheat and water, so I was able to eat a bit of food. He said my bloodwork and urinalysis came back fine. He gave me literature on Gastroesophageal Reflux and said I needed to be scoped down my throat (Endoscopy) and to start working on getting it done Monday as they do not do it at the ER. Hoping when I have it that it will show what is going on and I have an easy road to recovery.

FINALLY REALLY MOVING FORWARD

I ran out of my tummy medication, and tried the OTC stuff per my Dr. without success. Dr office hurried and got it approved through my new insurance today and I took my first one tonight. Lost a bit of weight, but that was the plus in this. Feel ok, but will have to be careful with foods for a while. I can now get some strength back being able to eat simple foods and build myself back up to more foods.

Best news of all is that we are having the most mild Summer we have had in a very long time. Breezy morning and night. 50's in the morning, and 80's in the afternoon. Loving it so much.

WHAT A DAY

Last night there was a slight smell of burning coming from our refrigerator. Dan finally heard the terrible noise it had been making on and off that I had mentioned to him. The temperature of the digital drawers was going up and all of our food was getting warm. The freezer was fine. This morning we woke to the temp of the drawers going up more. Then the freezer started defrosting. I located a company that sells refurbished Refrigerators, so we got lucky and got a great deal on a refurbished and like new, Refrigerator and a badly needed washer and dryer. We have a small refrigerator in our garage, and somehow, Dan managed to put everything in it. All appliances to be delivered tomorrow.

NICE TO GET OUT

Last day of my husbands vacation and I decided that I felt well enough to take a drive. Our cat Oscar climbed in my drawer and watched as we got ready. He knew we were leaving and did not want us to. Felt bad having to leave his sad face.
We did not go far, but to get out was really nice. What a beautiful day. Picked a road we had not ventured before. Lots of beautiful homes on the river, some with yachts docked. We stopped at a beautiful boat launch area shown in this photo. We also passed a beach area and went back to it to sit, enjoy and to eat lunch we had brought from home. We stayed for a little bit and headed home where we were greeted by our very happy cat, Oscar. It was so good to get out. We both needed today.

CONTINUING TO MOVE FORWARD

I have learned a lot about medication and reducing it and adding a before dinner one. I made a chart to keep tract of it last night as I was forgetting to take one and setting my alarm to take the other, and I am in the midst of changing my time to take it when my hubby goes back to work next week with earlier hours than our vacation week hours.

Chatted and laughed on the phone last night with a good friend. Today seems a bit better for me. Introduced one turkey burger last night for dinner, and Oatmeal for breakfast this morning. I am getting better.

Great news, our wonderful pool guy just arrived and will put in our new pool motor today. I am so happy.

OUR GEORGE - GONE FOR A YEAR

How could I forget, yesterday our George was gone 1 year.
We all miss him so much.
I wrote a note to my husband to pick up something for him
at the store. I re-read my note and
I realized that I meant to write Oscar and not George who remains in my heart and soul.
5 weeks after George passed away we rescued 6 year old Oscar, whom in some ways
I think was sent to us by George and gives us so much joy each day.

OUR POOL

We could not swim in our pool during vacation as the water was too cold.
Turns out that the motor had stopped, so no warm water
was coming from our solar to warm it up.
Still more summer left, so will be able to get into it soon.

MOVING FORWARD

I saw my regular Dr. today and he reduced the dosage of my Valium for my Vertigo, and has me taking Zegerid instead of Pepcid for my tummy as I have only been able to eat Cream of Wheat and Tea for several days. I lost 4 pounds. He gave me my preliminary hospital report which is difficult to understand but shows no seizures and shows a little something on it that my Neurologist will explain to me next week. He hopes to figure out why I get such severe Vertigo attacks. I am so glad I have my hubby home this week to help me through this.

FIGURING IT OUT

Went in for testing on Monday and I was released on Thursday morning after being told that what happened previous to my stay and a very scary episode in the hospital were not seizures. So very glad, but still no answers. So, back to my regular doctor to see what we check for next.