Monday, August 1, 2022

Starting August

Auspicious Brunch: Milkrice
with Fish Curry and Seeni Sambol
(Spicy Sauteed Onions)

Today, being the first of the month, I made milkrice for brunch, to ensure an auspicious start to the month!  LOL!  I made a fish curry and seeni sambol to go with it.  

I had a good ending to the month of July, yesterday.  I did a load of laundry, swept my bathroom floor, cleaned the litter box, walked up and down my driveway for 10 minutes (I stopped when I felt a twinge in my leg; it is my hope to gradually build that up to 30 minutes by the end of the month), spoke on the phone with friend A who is doing well and with friend R, who is also doing well.  

I also called K, who is neighbor T's daughter, to check on her mother.  She said that T is now in a convalescent care center and she's recovering and receiving physical therapy.  K said that, due to Covid restrictions, visiting her mother requires making an appointment at least two days in advance and although she was able to manage a visit on Friday, a day after T was taken to the center, her next appointment isn't until Thursday of this week!  I asked her for the name and address of the place so I can send T a get well card and a birthday card, as well.  K informed me that the roofers will be back on the job this week (they had to stop for a few days until the City's building inspector came out and approved the work done so far).  True to her words, the roofers started working around 8:00 a.m., this morning!  They stopped their work for the day at noon.

It's a mostly sunny day, today, although it was partly cloudy in the morning.  According to the forecast, our high today will be 95F; it's 94F right now as I type this at 2:45 p.m.  I have a fan on low.

The doctor's office called to inform me that my bone density test has been authorized (that was quick!) and scheduled for the end of September.  It's an early morning appointment in a downtown location; I've called a different location in the other direction, where I've been to before, to see if I can get an appointment there, just to avoid driving to downtown during the morning commute hours.  I had to leave a message and hopefully, they'll call back; if not, I'll call again. 

On the To Do List for today:

- Give Dancer his flea medication
- Take the trash cans to the curb
- Water the garden
- Pay the utilities and gas bills
- Cook the beetroots that were harvested on Friday
- Send T a get well card

There are other things, too, but, I'll only do them once I get the above items done!

Today, I am grateful for:
- An auspicious beginning to the month!
- The bone density scan was authorized and scheduled
- Relative good health
- Having health insurance
- Working appliances and the energy to run them

Today's joyful activities will include some card making.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday and a good start to the month of August.

16 comments:

  1. Happy August! Fingers crossed you can get your bone test done closer to home & easier to access. I like the sounds of your joyful activity - card making!

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    1. Thank you, Mary-Lou. I will keep trying to get the bone density test done closer to home. I made a card to send to my neighbor T, who is in a convalescent center, recovering after her fall. :)

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  2. Your curry does look tasty, may I ask what type of fish it is? I feel sad that the Covid restrictions are so strict on visitor numbers allowed in the convalescent home and the long wait for K to be able to visit her mother. I do hope you can have your scan done closer to home.

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. I used a frozen fish steak that I had bought at the Sri Lankan store. It is a type of mackerel that we call "seer fish"; it is also known as Spanish mackerel and closely related to king mackerel. It is a firm fish, but, you can use any type of fish, really - cod, pollock, trout, etc.
      Yes, Covid restrictions make it difficult to visit family in convalescent homes, but, at least visits are now being allowed, unlike earlier when they weren't!
      Thank you; I will continue to call to see if I can get a scan appointment at the facility closer to my home. If not, it means an early morning drive, for me! :)

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  3. The fish curry, milk rice and sambol looks so good. I'm getting to like fish curries now so it makes a nice change to chicken or veggie curries

    It's good that the approval for the bone density scan came though so quickly but I do hope you are able to change the appointment to a clinic that is more convenient for you.

    It's a shame that T isn't able to have more visitors but better safe than sorry I suppose. Has her daughter given any indication how long she will be in the convalescent home before she is able to return to her own home? Anyway, I'm sure T will appreciate receiving a card from you.

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. I had the same brunch, today, too! :D That's good that you are enjoying fish curry.

      Yes, I was both surprised and pleased that the approval for the scan came through so quickly. I'll call and see if I can change the appointment location; if not, a drive to downtown won't be that much of a hardship. I just don't like to get up that early!

      T's daughter didn't know how long T would be in the convalescent home; a week or two was her estimate. It all depends on how soon T is able to manage on her own.

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  4. I like your tradition of starting the month with a good luck meal. I can't think of a similar tradition that I'm familiar with, but maybe I'll make one up. Maybe it will be to start each month with ice cream. :)

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    1. Oh, yes! I think I'd like starting the month with ice cream very much! :D

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  5. It's good to know that your friends A and R are doing well and that neighbour T is well cared for. But it is too bad that she can only have limited visiting. I do hope you will be able to arrange a bone density test in a better location to avoid driving downtown in the rush hour.
    I'm taking it a bit easy today after a busy weekend, and we have some leftovers for supper. It was lovely that a neighbour's teenage grandchildren that DGD knows were at the beach and that she had fun swimming with them. The weather was good, too. We all had a great visit.

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. Apparently, T's in a room with two other patients and when one receives a visitor, the other two have to be relocated to another room during the visit, as part of their Covid precautions! Which means there must be space in other rooms for them and staff available to move them, etc.! It sounds more complicated that it should be, playing musical beds! I'm not sure why just the patient receiving a visitor can't be relocated to a room set aside for visits, only. But, that's the reason behind having to make appointments to visit, etc.

      I'm glad you had a good visit with your family and that your granddaughter was able to meet up with some acquaintances at the beach! Glad, too, that you are resting and taking it easy, today. I did a little cooking this morning, before it got too hot, but, it'll be leftovers for dinner, I think.

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  6. Your First-of-the-Month brunch looks very good. I think it's nice how you have this tradition.
    You had a productive start to the month and the week and got a few things accomplished.
    I wanted to tell you I washed the back of my front door because of your mentioning it in the past. The other morning it caught my eye and I thought how you often do that chore and it's something I rarely do.
    But now its done and my nice wooden front door has been cleaned and a nice amount of Murphy's oil soap apple to it and it looks very nice :)
    Next I need to do the outside of the door and also windex the storm door.
    Maybe tomorrow.
    That must be hard on K that the restrictions keep her from seeing her mother more often. Hopefully neighbor T will recover quickly.
    Oh my - you got an early wake up call with the work next door.
    That's good that the roofers quit early. I imagine with that type of job in the heat of summer, it is wise to do so.

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    1. Thank you, Debra. June (Live and Learn) is thinking of starting a new tradition of having ice cream to start the month! :D I think I like that idea even better than milkrice! :D

      Yay! Well done cleaning the inside of your front door! I bet your husband was wondering what had got into you! :D I haven't cleaned the outside of my front door in a very long time. Which reminds me, I need to talk to M about repainting the metal security door - it's something we discussed doing some time ago and just got pushed back.

      Yes, according to K, the center's Covid protocols involve playing musical beds with the two other patients who are sharing the room with T - each time one person receives a visitor, the others have to be moved to another room to avoid contact and accidental exposure to the visitors! I don't know why they don't just move the patient being visited to a room set aside for visiting purposes, but, maybe they don't have the space for that.
      I woke up once at 8:00 a.m. when the work began, but, I went back to sleep and slept through their hammering! I woke up when one of them was talking, though! LOL. Did the same this morning, too! :D

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  7. Mog is due her flea treatment as well. We must be synchronized.
    I'm glad T is being well cared for. It's just a shame her daughter cannot visit as often as she would like. X

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    1. I try to give the flea treatments on the 1st of the month - makes it easier to remember!
      Yes, it is too bad that K and others aren't able to visit their family in a care center as often as they'd like, but, at least the center is trying their best to keep everyone Covid safe!

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  8. Starting the month on a positive note is always good. I cannot even imagine trying to do roofing work in the summer. When we last had ours replaced, they started at 6:30 or so. Luckily it only took a few days so that the neighbors weren't too mad.

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    1. Yes, my mother always said, "Start as you mean to go on!" :D
      Summer is probably the best time for roofing work, here, because there is no threat of rain! But, it does get hot! When I had some roofing work done, many years ago, I notified neighbors on either side, especially since they had dogs and the sound of a nailing gun could bother them. One neighbor brushed aside my concerns and his dogs - all three of them - jumped over their gate and ran away! Then, he blamed me for it! He was able to find 2 of the dogs but not the 3rd one.

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