April 19, 2023 - Wednesday
Art projects with Leanna and Lily while listening to Hamilton🎶
Leanna learning ukulele with Mimi - she’s got potential!
Spilling the Tea with Miss Lily - Since I have a mic and amp setup now, she couldn’t control her desire to have a radio talk station. Her subjects were Taylor Swift and the Kardashians with all of the drama.
April 28, 2023 - Friday
Young Nora, Rich’s granddaughter, is thriving at Wells College sophomore year. She will be studying in Italy for 4 months this fall.
April 29, 2023 - Saturday
Both Leanna (14) and Jacob (13) are in the 8th grade and will be inducted into the Junior National Honor Society. So proud!
Leanna is playing for AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball which takes them all over New England on weekends.
Got sad news today that Miss Ellie (93), guitar playing crooner, passed away. So honored to have played with her in the jam sessions. She and I harmonized some songs together. 😢
May 3, 2023 - Wednesday
Met up with a few of my former Big Y colleagues which we usually do quarterly, but have kept up as allowed. We have been known to have a virtual gathering while I am traveling, and since they all live (unbelievably) within a mile of each other, means me being remote. This time they came to Lee and we had great visit catching up on each others’ lives. Sorry - forgot to take picture 😬.
May 10, 2023 - Wednesday
Birthday cake for Perry at his house.
Siblings gazing at the pool.
Lynn and Ellie with tulips in bloom.
May 13, 2023 - Saturday
BEWARE! I feel compelled to share this story even though I lose face with it. I consider myself tech savvy for my age and thought I had learned the things to do and not to do with suspicious emails. BUT I had a very close call with a PayPal email stating that I had a new transaction of $1,299 on my account. “If this was not you, please call this number immediately” - it wasn’t me and I called to straighten it out. I had hovered over the return address and it was PayPal Customer Support so I was sure it was legit. They informed me that there were 95 purchase invoices for iPhone 14’s @ $1,299 each from Miami - the fear factor. But they would help me fix this situation. I became suspicious enough to ask Rich to Google PayPal and call them to confirm this was a legitimate number of theirs. It was NOT. I put Rich’s phone next to mine to let her listen to the conversation on speaker phone. After a few exchanges, I whispered, “Should I hang up?” She said, “Yes” and we continued the conversation with the steps to take now - basically changing passwords on any and all accounts. The moral of the story is - check the return address AND THE PHONE NUMBER IN THE EMAIL. Do not call it unless you confirm it is actually PayPal. I came to find out that PayPal is the most used and abused channel that scammers use. PayPal itself is a great barrier between you and the bad guys when you make online purchases, but emails from them should be treated with the utmost caution.
May 16, 2023 - Tuesday
Met Nora at Steve’s Restaurant for brunch before 1st doctor appointment in Glens Falls. While there, a gentleman approached and stuck out his hand to shake with Rich. He introduced himself as Paige Levack and Rich and Nora were so excited to see him. He is a long lost relative who used to wash dishes for them at Rich’s restaurant, J R Egans. His mother had done a lot of research on Ancestry.com and would be very interested to see all that Nora has done. They exchanged numbers and will catch up soon.
Rich has a pea-sized lesion on the top of his left ear. His doctor took pictures of his ear and sent to a dermatologist in hopes they can get him in sooner than later. We then went to his cardiologist and got a clean bill of health. Yay!
As it turns out, the only appointment he could get with a dermatologist in Glens Falls wasn’t until November! So he tried in Malta which is same medical organization but a little closer location - not until August. So Nora called Malta to push it up and they gave her an appointment back in Glens Falls in July. Still too far out for me, but what can you do?
May 27, 2023 - Sunday
Went to a party on this gorgeous day at Marie’s and met new friends of friends.
The ladies…
David Showalter
As we chatted with them, it turns out that David Showalter grew up in Glens Falls and asked where Rich’s kids lived. He mentioned Queensbury which is where Rich’s sister Eileen lives. He is a pharmacist for Price Chopper, so I mentioned that Rich’s brother-in-law was a pharmacist - he asked his name, Steve Lareet. I know Steven Leeret from school - he sat near me in band and played the trombone. His father was the superintendent of schools at the time. WOW! It doesn’t end there - it turns out that the Showalters, Leerets, and Dolberts all hung out together when the kids were growing up. Who are the Dolberts? Early in our relationship, Judy and Gary Dolbert bought a new 5th wheel and asked if Rich and I could go with them on their maiden voyage to Dorset near Manchester, NH. Rich has been RVing for so long that they felt he could get them started. We hit if off and met up in Rhinebeck, NY later in the season. Sadly, Gary passed away that winter, but she set up her rig at Alpine Lake in Corinth, NY. We still meet up with her any time we can. She has a very large family and is on the fly all the time. Well, you might think that is enough coincidence, but I asked this wife if they were familiar with Whitehall, NY - they were. Did you ever go to the Silver Diner? Oh yes, anytime we went to Ticonderoga for our family vacation, we stopped at the diner. Well Rich’s family - 3 generations - ran that diner…. If you talk long enough and ask the right questions, there is oftentimes a connection. If Dave hadn’t asked the name of the the pharmacist, we would never have known the connection.
May 29, 2023 - Monday HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!
My family came for a cookout and swim in the pool. Unfortunately, my hip issues distracted me from remembering to take pictures. I got one of Rich (after he did a yeoman's job of making a delicious macaroni salad and grilling) and my Mom:
And this is one of a previous swim with Lily and friend, Hannah.
May 30, 2023 - Tuesday
Today was the day of my “drive-through" hip replacement - at last HIP HIP Hurray! A beautiful deer ran right in front of us on the way to hospital - close call! I swear we hit his beautiful white tail… Dr. did an anterior (front) incision which is what I wanted to match my other hip which was done 5 years ago. Entered the OR at 9:47am; into Recovery Room at 12:50; passed Therapy release test (with flying colors) at 3:30pm; after lots of paperwork and review, left hospital at 5:00pm! 😳
I asked how the new outpatient for joint replacement came about. It was during Covid that patients and their families were frustrated with not being allowed in the hospital. So the authorities started troubleshooting and decided to experiment: they selected stronger, low risk patients for the trial with having early surgery and released in the same afternoon. What they found was that when getting up in the night to use the bathroom, some patients fell. This is due to the new strong medicines in their system, rugs, darkness and movement. So the new protocol is that your coach has to accompany you to the bathroom or other times walking. Walking is the only therapy until I see the doctor in a month. Yay! I will be dancing this Fall in Congress, AZ.
I have such a deep respect for the medical profession. Big SHOUT OUT to Berkshire Medical Center, Berkshire Orthopedic Associates (Dr. DeFalice 💗), as well as my sister, nurse Cindy, Rich’s sister, nurse Eileen, brother-in-law Steve, and daughter nurse Nora, friend nurse Joanne, and Kathy’s daughter, nurse Amy.
May 31, 2023 - Wednesday
It was a little rough falling asleep last night until I took the Valium. Then I slept blissfully for 5.5 hours. Moving slow but sure today, but standing tall for the first time in a long time. My grandson, Zachary, reminded me of how hunched over the walker I was when I told him his neck would be all messed up from peering into the phone screen so much. He said, “Well I will never look like you, Mimi!” I said, “What? I know it looks awful bent over with my butt sticking out (he cringed), but I didn’t know you noticed.” Can’t wait to see him now after the surgery.
I felt dizzy and faint when coming out of bathroom this morning - Rich and son Randy were there to walk me to a recliner. It passed right away, but was a very painful day for walking…
Tata for now, nurse Colomb says I have to do some walking. I really struck it Rich with this guy❣️
