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Poison Ivy

Today I saw the beauty in poison ivy.  On the bikepath.  Autumn is upon us.  The leaves are beginning to change and drop.  The wind has picked up and shifted directions.  The tourists have vacated the Shining Sea Bikeway leaving me to bike among the squirrles, chipmunks, frogs, and my thoughts.

Today I saw the beauty in poison ivy.  In the marsh.  Nestled back behind the green to golden grass.  Red and vibrant.  Reaching up to the golden rays of the sun.  An awesome splash in the palette of the day.

Charlie always asks questions, like, "Why did God make mosquitoes?  Was it a mistake?"

Today I say, there may have been a reason.

Yay! Science School

We have been so busy this summer with Science School and biking and swim lessons and sailing lessons, and so on...

But the best by far?  Science School: http://childrensschoolofscience.org/ This is the website. Also, if you are on Facebook, they have a page there as well. It is referred to as CSS or Science School.

Kids are accepted once they turn 7 and are allowed to enter only one course, either 3 or 6 weeks, due to the popularity of the school. I recommend the 6-week version as the kids become quite a summer bunch by the end. Charlie and his bunch enjoyed Science School so much that we convinced his teacher to do an extra two weeks and called it Simon School.

They go on walking field trips nearly every day and it is a real hands-on experience. The first time he has liked school!

Applications are due in February or March. The 6-week course costs around $450 and each parent, grandparent, or guardian, is required to volunteer for either a day (1 1/2 hours) of front office duties, or to drive students to two field trips that are out of walking distance. For example, I drove to Nobska Beach and Quissett Harbor.

The school also interviews for teacher assistants and runners for each class.

I can say sooooo much about this wonderful school but I think you get the point and we will only know if your child will love it as much as Charlie does by experiencing it. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if we were staying in Woods Hole as the community has so many activities.

Too Much Freedom

Dropped the boy off with a friend.  Now what?

Too Many Headaches

PT made me feel great.  But the headaches are coming back.  Back for more PT, I guess.

The Girls Who Went Away

I am reading this book by Ann Fessler.  The Girls Who Went Away.  I got to it because of a show I downloaded on iTunes, Dan Rather Reports: Adopted or Abducted.  It drew me in, kind of mesmerized me.

So now, that is my latest topic of research.

So much more to be said...

Big day tomorrow.  Charlie's first day of rehearsal with a choreographer for Grown Ups 2.  HIP HOP BOY.  Too cute.

I will obsess and pack for a week in Boston.

Oooooh. New Word: peripatetic

Oh, if I would only put it upon myself to learn a new word a day...  Here is one that perked me right up.
I love words so.

per·i·pa·tet·ic/ˌperipəˈtetik/ AdjectiveTraveling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods.


Noun A person who travels from place to place.

Synonyms adjective itinerant noun traveller - wayfarer - travelerDictionary.com - Answers.com - Merriam-Webster - The Free Dictionary
 

Migraine Miracle?

It may be too soon to tell but... I have not had a migraine since the 7th.  Today is the 17th.  And for me this is huge.  I average 3-4 sometimes 5 migraine days a week.

I don't even know what to do with myself!  It is great.

What changed?  I started physical therapy at Spaulding Rehab Clinic and I am doing my exercises religiously.  Things are moving, releasing, and my posture is changing.  All the damage done to my neck in the past is melting away.

And soon.

I will have my life back.

:)

My advice - if you get migraines - see a physical therapist who specializes in headaches.  They work your neck and something happens - something wonderful.  Isn't it worth a try?

Cuteness

Taking my Charlie Bean to the Grown Ups 2 casting call in Boston this Sunday.  Couldn't resist posting some of my fav snapshots...  Which is better #1 or #2?

Physical Therapy

Tampa did a world of good.  We saw friends, went to the beach, met new baby Lucy...  It was just what we needed.

Then I started physical therapy at Spaulding Rehab Hospital.  And?  I am hopeful.  My therapist Karen is great.  She thinks that my headaches are coming from the tightness in my neck from the numerous blows to the head I have had in the past 15 years.  Between car accidents, horse mishaps, and biking woes, there have been many.

But like I said, I am encouraged.  And feeling good. 

I am still having 3-4 headache days a week but I feel my neck and spine changing.  And I feel empowered.  Because I am working the change.  Every day - every two hours in some cases.

To top it all off - spring has sprung.  Finally!

Good, good news.

Hey You, Pin It!

Due to my new Pinterest obsession, I want EVERYONE to have a Pin It! button on their site.  I mean it is mutually beneficial.  I can Pin with one click (okay maybe 3), and you get your rightful attribution, and NOBODY has to read many many comments saying, Cool, where can I get this?

Win, win, win. Done.

Don't you agree?

I'll just assume that you do.

I'm Not Sure You Understand Me

When I say fog, you think of gray.  Correct?  To you fog is a color, a concept.  On the Cape, fog is a way of life.  It is infused into every day.  It is blaired in and out with the regular sounding of the lighthouse.  It rolls in off the harbor and physically invades Main Street.  It sticks to the branches and drips from the trees in oversized droplets onto your car.  It makes cold, wet.  It is the embodiment of misery.  It is a cold, wet, white, dampness.  It is like walking into the night, into the black of night, in the day - only it's white.

In a sense it is magic, mystery and illusion.  Thick, dense, whiteness.

It is a beautiful misery.

It is NOT mist.  Mist is confetti compared to this.  It is a cloud in which you live.

Until - it is gone.

Replaced by wind, which is worse, unsettling, disturbing, unrelenting.  Angry.

Today the foghorn sounds, though fog is not imminent, at least not here.  And - there is no wind.  The water so blue, with a tinge of green.  The sand so tan.  A palette to paint your world, your room, your home.

And to then whitewash.

Step Aboard the Titanic, Gilligan

Through livingsocial, groupon, and the others - I am bombarded with gazillions of amazing online deals.  Most of which I immediately delete.  A girl has to be in a certain mood to receive a discount.  (Purchase necessary.)  One stopped me on my way to delete, intrigued me to click "Read," the title did anyway.

Three-hour Titanic Tribute Cruise.  After that tout, honestly, I was surprised not to find "The Perfect Storm" as any part of the advertising.  Perhaps "Tribute" should assauge fears of a doomed sea voyage.  Perhaps.  But I am not clicking "Buy" for that deal and my reason has nothing to do with the state of my bank account.

Three-hour Titanic Tribute Cruise?  Isn't that Gilligan's Island meets Titanic?  Sigh.  I suppose it could be just me.

Happy Facebook Day

I have a friend on Facebook who decided that today should be Positive Facebook Day. I went ahead and changed it to Happy Facebook Day.


La la, La la la la, La la la la la.
La la, La la la la, Sing a happy song.

Happy Facebook Day, Y'all!

A Bird in the Bush

No time to talk but I thought I would leave you with this...

Happy Spring!

Chirp

Greening Up

With morning comes another bleak walk on the Cod.  Less fog, but no less gray. 

Although now, the skies look promising - the day is brightening up. 


Yesterday's head pain did not grow into a migraine.  I am hoping the same goes for today.  Once again woke with an aching in my head that I have chosen to ignore because taking the triptans render me useless and retire me to bed - for the day.  So far so good...

Nature versus the Weather

Nature says spring is on its way.  The weather says, gloomy, dreary, and gray.

Signs of Spring

This morning while waiting for the bus, Charlie and I were looking for signs of spring.  The thought was sparked by a homework assignment which we will complete later today.

The past two or three days have been gray and dismal with fog so thick that you wake up in a cloud; the driveway and surrounding areas are as wet as if rain has fallen, only it hasn't.  So perceiving spring doesn't seem likely - only, spring is on its way. 

It's all around us, in the little things.  And the more you look, the more you see.  Fresh tender leaves poking out of yesterday's dormant brown branches.  The greens of crocuses already three or four inches high. 

Daylight savings beckoned spring to come and it has.  Hurray.  Today, the Rude and I make our way down the beach.  And my head only hurts a little.  Here's hoping it burns off with the fog..

Dagnabit!

And again my head.

Penciled on tomorrow - gym

And that is my glass half full. 

Feign Fun

So the migraine went on and on this time.  What is usually three days, spanned five.  And swallowed a weekend.  We managed to have some fun - I feigned fun.  But Charlie and I got out and did stuff - that's what counts.

Today the haze has lifted.  I took the dog for a walk, a fast one.  My goal is to exercise at least five times a week.  Pre-migraines this would not have been a goal posted on a blog.  It would have been part of my lifestyle.  Because I used to be that girl.  I used to love to workout.  I was strong, and healthy, and dependable.  And then my body, well, and then things changed.

But things are looking up.  I am looking up.  I still get migraines 50% of the time - which SUCKS - but I am good.  I am changing my mindset.  Because I can. (...and suddenly Leann Rimes is singing in the back of my head in a yellowy sunlit, sparsly furnished, breezy room.)  Am I mixing music videos?

The moral of the story?  Nothing's perfect.  It's never gonna be.  All you gotta do is fake it till you make it.

Everybody will be much happier.  Who knows?  Before long maybe you'll drop the feign. 

(I must admit my brain is not quite up to par, but I would really like to get a post in today so ...
P-U-B-L-I-S-H ... )

Head Pain Day Three

Really... do just please go away - oh, pain in my head.  On the count of three: 1,2...

Rubber Gloves and Lidocaine Shampoo

If I put on rubber gloves and shampooed my head with lidocaine would I find relief?  Yesteday I had a migraine.  Another mind numbing migraine.  This morning I woke up iffy.  Iffy as to whether my migraine would stay away.  I am afraid to say, it's creeping back.

With my morning joe I gently rubbed my forehead, concentric circles between my eyebrow and my hair line - nearer my hair line - speaking my wish for the day, that it doesn't return today.  I already had to cancel meeting new friends yesterday, last night.  And just now cancelled today's hair appointment.  Color, fumes, hot air - on my head - uh UH.  Not today.  I fired a hairdresser for handling my head like a football.  And hired the one today for the exact opposite - when she dries your hair with the round brush it is like a folicle massage - but not today.  Today my head desires 100% Egyptain cotton sheets.  White.  Washed and dried without scent.

But then there is what I cannot cancel - tonight - my midterm exam.  My nauseous stomach is telling me to eat.  My head, to take that little triptan.  My neck and jaw, to get in bed.  But still - here I sit.  At my computer. My will to write deferring the necessary.  Unwilling to admit defeat, yet again.  But I suppose, here I must go... to the pill.  To the defeat.  To the bed.

The Word I HATE to Say (or Read)

Now, hate is a strong word.  And I realize that HATE makes it even stronger.  But this IS the word that properly describes my feelings toward this one particular word.

crochet

It doesn't look French, as it is said - crow shay.

It looks, well, vulgar.  And in my mind, when I read it, it sounds vulgar.  Then it continues to resonate. Crotch it. Crotch it, crotch it, crotch it... Until I wish the word never exsisted.

Now, luckily, coming across this word in print is a rare occurance.  Until recently.  Until Pinterest.  Now there are crotch it pins, and crotch it you-name-it, and - well the list goes on.

Can't we all just - PLEASE - agree to keep our crotch it to ourselves?  My quiet mind thanks you.  In advance. 

Little Blue Box of Happiness

It is a glorious day outside - from inside.  It is an open shade day.  But once you step over the threshold it's still freezing.  It is tough being a Florida girl living on the moon - uh, the Cape.  And the toughest part is November till April.  I forget what my feet look like, they are always smothered in socks.

Yesterday I ordered a light box - here, let me see if I can find it...

Philips goLITE BLU Therapy Device (on Amazon.com)

On Sale for $139.95

And you said, "You can't buy happiness..."

Living on the Moon

I often joke that living on the Cape is kind of like living on the moon.  It's desolate, at least in the winter. 

Every activity, every group I sign up for is inundated with people over seventy. And it's not like I can complain - I am the minority. The what is wrong with this picture? I am the thing to be circled because it doesn't (I don't) fit.

I don't consider myself an agist, my Gram, who just died at the age of 97, was one of my best friends.  I have always had an affinity for the wise.  I get angry when someone doesn't treat the young-at-heart with love and kindness and respect.  But I also need interaction with people my age: the not-quite-wise-enough set.

I was well aware of the state of affairs but I didn't know it had gotten to this: you know things have gone awry when the yoga class you want to do is at the Senior Center (and you consider going anyway).

Have I acclimated myself to seventy?

I suppose it could be worse - it's not like I have fallen in with a bad crowd.

Would they even let me in?

Snow Play

Nothing like being a kid in the snow.

 

 

 

More (or less) Snow

The long awaited snow has arrived.  Here is the deck at 3pm, the snow falling from the snow-colored sky (good luck with that one), and me and where is the snow?

Too much flash, too little snow.  (Waiting for the bus.)

Tiny Bits of Snow

Guess there is nothing worth while in the news because for the past few days - if not a week - the weather man has been prediciting snow.  And boy were they hyping it.  Not that we would get tons and tons - just that we would get it.  After this winter (I am not complaining) any snow is reportable.  Short of breaking news, it snowed.  Guess it is a good thing we are going skiing Sunday.

Utterly unimpressive, right?  It didn't even cancel school, or cause an early release.  Not sure it counts as snow until something is cancelled..

The Migraine Discovery

My mother must talk to nearly everybody about the debilitating migraines I suffer because she is always feeding me migraine tips, most of which I have already heard - until recently. 

This someone shared something from her neurologist - of which I had not yet heard.  And I do a LOT of migraine research. I know about the trigeminal nerve and can feel it pulsing above my ear as a migraine spills into my face.  It's been explained to me, I've read about it, and had pictures drawn illustrating it.  The Botox migraine treatment is targeting just this.  I have not yet qualified for the Botox treatment, so in the meantime I seek other solutions.

Below is an illustration of the trigeminal nerve. 
Courtesy of Mayo Clinic

The discovery?  Capzasin No-Mess Applicator directly (and liberally) applied to carotid artery on the left side of neck. 

Below is an illustration of the internal and external carotid arteries.
Courtesy of Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator: Licenses.

The claim - by applying Capzasin to the carotid artery you are essentially stopping the migraine.

My findings - inconclusive.  I have attempted this three times.  The first time it was too late.  I already had the beginning signs - and more - of a migraine when she told me about the treatment.  She ran to the nearest CVS, got the stuff, and I soon applied it to my neck - LIBERALLY.  Maybe too liberally because from my ear lobe to my chest my skin glowed red.  Ultimately, attempt one failed and ended in a dose of Relpax.

On my second attempt, with the first attempt in mind, I sparingly applied the liquid, which did not work either.

And my third attempt - once again liberally - and perhaps applied too late also ended in a dose of Relpax.

Does this work?  I am not sure.  And I am not sure I am going to give it a fourth attempt.  But I thought I would share...in the interest of, well, sharing.

Copy Edit and the Glamour of Grammar

For my class I have been reading a book called, "The Glamour of Grammar," which seems to make people laugh (or at least snicker).  It is by Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute in good old St. Pete, FL.  His references to places I know dearly makes me miss my town.

We head back in April - just for a week - but both of us are SOOO looking forward to HOME.  Hmmm.

The copy editing course I am taking is great.  I absolutely love the professor.  Over the past few days I have been transferring my hand written notes into word documents on my desktop.  It is my way of remembering what she has taught us so far.  Next week is midterm.  The following week - break.  Unfortunately I will have to miss a week to go to Tampa, but I will see if I can get the lecture notes.

Not much interesting to say today... Heading to the allergist for my initial consultation.  Just another avenue I am attempting in my desire to kill the migraine.  Had to fight my PCP to get the referral.  Why is it so hard to understand that a healthy person costs less than a sick one.  I am certain that ONCE we hit on the CAUSE, my migraines will decrease...and my life will get better.  Until then, I am going to fight for referrals because I matter and the way that I feel counts.

Living in a Snow Globe

Today is Charlie's show - the Musical Theater Dance Workshop at Cotuit Center for the Arts.  All week they have been practicing and today is the performance - Living in a Snow Globe. 

Yesterday the weather was almost 60 and today - SNOW!  Helped to get him in the mood...

Here are some pictures from around Falmouth - in the snow.

Not a bunch of it - but still, it's snow.