News From The Heights

Nuria, my lady friend from Costa Rica, has been at my home for five days. It is now the morning of day six. With a woman in the house, my spare time seems to have evaporated. It's almost 3AM as I am writing this. Nuria is sleeping.

I drove to the Richmond airport to meet her on Monday morning. I kept my speed at or under 75mph, and still there were cars passing me like I was parked. I estimate some of them were going 100mph, easily. 

She had two suitcases. One of them was new, having been used one time, and she paid over one hundred dollars for it. It had (past tense) four wheels on the bottom, like most luggage you see at airports. But after her flight from Costa Rica to Richmond, one of the wheels was missing. So was the corner of the suitcase to which the wheel had been attached. There was now a big hole in her suitcase. She didn't have insurance on it.

← Note the missing wheel and the hole in the upper left of the photo. This is what happens when baggage handlers get their paws on your nice, new luggage. It appears someone threw it from the cargo hold down onto the tarmac. Good work, guys. Very professional. 

The luggage was the only bump in the flight, however. Everything else was as expected. The flights departed on time and arrived at their destinations on time. 

[Time is now: 1PM. And no, I have not been writing for ten hours.]

It is early April, but the temperature is still chilly.  It is a sunny day but the temperature is 54°F with a little bit of wind. I had a sudden impulse to mow the yard yesterday, so I gassed up the lawn tractor and went to work. As I was mowing, Nuria joined me with the leaf blower and started her own yard improvement. (Elsewhere in the world, a yard is usually called a garden.)

On Thursday, I had a routine visit with Dr. Laura, my dermatologist. She found a skin cancer on my back and she cut it out. The bandage has to be changed daily for the next ten days, and the wound must be cleaned and a little Vaseline applied to it before the new bandage goes on. Nuria is handling that. She arrived just in time. A similar event happened on her last visit. It wasn't cancer on my skin, but it was something that required treatment and it was on my back where I couldn't see or reach it. She handled that, too—three times a day for a month. It's like God is saying, "I told you that you need this woman in your life!" All I can say is, "I get it, God. Don't send me any more misery, please."

Nuria's next project appears to be a decoration of flowers in my front yard. There is an old well in my yard. (My yard was once part of a plantation in Civil War days. It was called Lyons Plantation. That's why the well is there.)  The well has been filled in with sand, but over the years the sand has compacted and now there is a depression in the yard. It seems to be a perfect place to add topsoil and make a flower garden (maybe marigolds) around the perimeter and some taller plants in the center. I've told Nuria that I hate having to mow around things, but it's going to be her home now, as well as mine, and I think she's entitled to dress it up the way she likes. She already has a bouquet hanging on the outside of the front door. I have a feeling she's just getting started.

So that's how my week has been going. Trips to Walmart, Food Lion, the doctor, etc. Nuria walks every morning for about an hour. She wants to rope me into walking with her, but I know won't keep up with her. I'd like to—I used to go for a walk every day, and I've blogged about that. But with the passage of time, my joints have become a little creaky. I've begun drinking Joint Juice every morning to see if that helps. I have a friend who swears by it. So Nuria and I each bought a case of 30 bottles to try it for a month.

At the end of each of his radio shows, A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor used to say, "That's the news from Lake Wobegon." Maybe I should do the same, and use my town's nickname. And that's the news from the Heights. Nope, it doesn't have the same ring to it—more like a dull thud. Hopefully, I'll be able to work in some interesting blogs amongst the news from the Heights.