My Valentine

This entry is a bit late - I certainly meant to post it earlier. How was your Valentines Day?

Walter and I always enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day. This time we donned our red sweaters and walked down to The Cheesecake Factory in downtown Seattle for an early dinner. We were surprised to get a table in only 10 minutes.

Once seated we first decided on what to order (pasta carbonara for Walter, spicy Cajun jambalaya for me) then we gave each other our carefully chosen sappy Valentine’s cards.

The food was wonderful (as expected from Cheesecake Factory) and we indulged in some carrot cheesecake for dessert. Yum!

Several people told me they do not celebrate Valentine’s Day because it’s “just a Hallmark holiday.” I say those people missed out on an opportunity to play footsie under the table. We didn’t – miss out. :)

Headlong Into a Lamp Post

Walter had jury duty on the 13th and 14th of this month. The courthouse is downtown as is my office so we decided to take the bus together on the first morning. When we got to the park and ride it was no longer dark, but it wasn’t yet bright daylight either. It was that part of the morning just after sun-up when everything looks gray – including gray light posts!

We were walking from the car to the street where people were waiting to catch a bus. I saw a bus arriving and thought perhaps we could hurry and catch it. Walter was a few yards behind me. If it were dark I would slow down and keep him closer to me to make sure he didn’t need assistance and was following me okay - his sight is very limited in the dark. But because it appeared to be daytime I didn’t slow down enough.

Walter was focused on me, trying to make sure he didn’t lose sight of me. Suddenly I heard a big SMACK sound. I turned around just in time to see that Walter had run straight into a tall metal light pole. He hit with his right orbital bone so he got a bruise above his right brow and quite a shiner just below the eye. He even bled a little – not from a cut but from the force of the impact. And he banged up his left knee a bit.

Fortunately he did not fall or pass out from the force of impact. His face hurt for a while and he was a bit bruised, but otherwise he is okay.

Needless to say I felt terrible. I wish I had realized he could not see well enough to keep up with me and still see things like lamp posts.

Fortunately Walter has a sense of humor. The next day when we passed the same light pole on our way to catch a bus I pointed out to Walter that was the one he ran into the day before. He stopped and said to the pole: "You wanna piece of me, pole??" I laughed and told him "I think it got a piece of you yesterday, Dear!"

By the way, I'm very proud of Walter for serving jury duty. This is his fourth time in the last few years. We went down to the courthouse ahead of time to check it out and they told him he could be excused if he felt like his limited vision would make serving too difficult. But he decided to stick it out and he served his two days. Go Walter!

Lunar Eclipse

Did you know there was a total lunar eclipse last night? It was the last one until 2010. We were not certain if clouds in the Seattle area would prevent our getting a view, but I think most people who tried were able to see it fine.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon lines up with the sun and Earth such that the moon is in the Earth's shadow. I understand the moon does not go completely dark, but rather glows orange because indirect sunlight still reaches it.

I missed the full eclipse which happened between 7 and 7:30. I caught this pictured glimpse later, about 9pm while there was still a little chunk which appeared to be missing from the moon.

KOMO has some much nicer photos up on their Eclipse Photo Gallery page if you would like to see what the moon looked like during full eclipse. Pretty cool stuff!

The "Inside Track"

Most of my friends know that my chosen form of exercise is walking. Sometimes I walk on lunch or a break from work downtown, sometimes I walk in my home neighborhood. Or sometimes I walk to get somewhere.

When days are very busy it can be as difficult to find time to fit in my walk as it is to write on this blog! If I get home late and tired and haven't had my walk for the day, it's hard to motivate myself to go out in the cold and dark to take a walk.

I recently discovered an alternative that works pretty well and helps me get in my walks regularly. Walter and I live in a good sized apartment building. There are about 90 units on 3-1/2 floors. The first 3 floors have long hallways (see photo). At both ends of the hallways are stairs and elevators.

Our apartment building managers like to advertise our building's "amenities." They talk about the pool, the sauna and the weight room especially. We have lived in this building for 21 years and have not used any of these amenities. What they don't talk about is the indoor track!

You guessed it, I have found that I can turn the apartment hallways into my own personal walking track. I walk the full length of the first floor, then go up the stairs to the second floor and walk the full length of that hallway. Up the stairs to the third floor and down that hall. I use the elevator to return to the first floor and start all over again, but now I'm walking in the opposite direction from where I started. Rinse and repeat until I've logged the number of minutes I wanted to spend on my walk, and I'm done.

I personally prefer to go outdoors whenever it's possible. But the "inside track" is nice. The stairs make it a decent workout and I don't have to worry about my personal safety late at night or especially bad weather if I don't want to.

Please don't tell my landlords. I don't want them to think their apartments are worth more money because of this newly discovered amenity!

Sunset Viewed Through Blinds

Panera Breakfast With Christina

Whew, this week has been a busy one! Unfortunately that leaves little time for blogging so I apologize for the lack of new posts here.

This morning we had a great break from all the hectic though. We met friends Christina and Tobin and their son Charles at Panera Bread for some breakfast and a nice visit. Walter and I had been to Panera for dinner before but this was the first time for breakfast.

Of course Panera is known for their wonderful breads, and breakfast made for a great showcase for their baking skills. In the photo you see an egg souffle, a cranberry orange muffin, and a bagel. I believe bagel was banana pecan flavor and it was delicious with a little cream cheese. In fact, I was surprised how tender and flavorful it was considering some past experiences I've had with flavored bagels. The souffle was surprisingly tasty too and Walter reported the muffin was yummy.

Of course the best part was the company. Thanks for getting together, Christina and Tobin. We enjoyed the visiting. We will have to do that again.

The Big "E" Is Back!

I am happy to report Walter got a good result from his eye doctor appointments on Friday. His last visit in December was pretty discouraging because his sight had lost quite a bit of ground. It seems that medication prednisolone makes quite a bit of difference. Twice now Walter's sight has diminished when his doctors have reduced the dose too quickly.

Walter's corneal specialist had been trying to wean him down on the prednisolone because it can elevate one's eye pressure and Walter has significant problems with glaucoma. Finally his eye pressure became dangerously high and he was referred to the glaucoma specialist and had surgery in October.

Now that the valve implant for Walter's glaucoma is working well to control his eye pressure his doctor was able to return his dose of prednisolone to three times a day. What difference. At the end of December we were quite discouraged about the prospects for Walter's sight. Today is a different matter. On Friday Walter was able to see the big E at the top of the eye chart!

The last time his sight was quite this good was last summer. Of course the eyesight is still not at the best we've seen since his corneal transplant, but it's good enough to make a huge difference in how Walter can function and move around independently.

Speaking for myself I am quite relieved and grateful that the medication made this much difference. To be honest I was not sure if we would see the Big E back again.

Winter Wonderland

Last Monday when I went to Olympia we woke up to some snow. Fortunately it was not enough to stop me from heading south. I understand those who live just north of us in Snohomish County got quite a bit and had lots of icy/snowy roads. But between my house and Olympia the freeway was clear and wet. I got snowed on a bit in Pierce County but not enough to affect driving.

Side roads are always more challenging than freeways though. Fortunately I had only three blocks to drive from my place before getting on the freeway. I didn't have too much trouble navigating and so was able to appreciate what a beautiful day it was. I couldn't resist stopping to take a couple pictures to share with you here. These were taken in my neighborhood just before I got on the freeway. You can click on either photo to see it a bit larger.