The writing life is such a good life that I’m grateful all over again that I paid no attention in 11th grade Chemistry and didn’t become a pharmacist and got kicked out of Industrial Arts for being careless with power tools and was sent up to Speech and LaVona Person and recited original limericks for Oral Interp and made the class laugh and thus went down the literary highway.
I wish your knee a speedy recovery. Thank you for reminding us of the beauty of poetry. I've just read that Dropbox is laying off 500 employees in part because of the rise of AI, which apparently is even better at generating software code than it is at producing human language. Suddenly computer science may not be such a safe field of study after all. English majors, take heart.
As an 81-year-old writing to another just slightly junior, I also wish you a good recovery. I knew you could write to warm any heart, but when I found you on Substack it was nice to be reminded! And if you want to see something out of the ordinary, see me stand on my head here https://arichardson.substack.com/p/why-does-anyone-stand-on-their-head
Damn falls! “Mr. Jerry Attrick” is one I’ve never heard before. Hilarious. I’m sorry to say I laughed at your story of Utah. I live here and have often dreamed of staying in one of the luxurious homes there, and your story brought me back down to earth. Life is just as good in my humble abode, and the door doesn’t lock automatically when it closes. From one senior to another, I hope your knee heals and you are out preforming soon.
You were a much more considerate tenant than I suspect I might have been. Under similar circumstances, I might have regained entrance by using a chunk of wood (or a splitting axe if it was handy) to punch out a window pane. Glad to hear that you are on the path to recovery, though you are hobbling about for the moment.
Heal fast my friend. My passions are woodworking and writing, power tools and word processors. I'm currently in a wood phase, outfitting a library we added to the house last summer with desks and bookshelves. When everything is perfect I'll sit at my beautiful cherry desk and write a masterpiece. And then hell will freeze over. In the meantime, I count my fingers each day before I head to the shop and hope to return with the same number. So far, so good.
Here is an 83 year old, born in Detroit Lakes, fighting out and out fear about a morning appointment that is likely to end in a hospital visit, when along comes your invariably uplifting view on life. I'm off to preorder your book for medical purposes, though I doubt insurance will see it that way. Maybe Mayo could distribute it?
Take care of yourself!! ♥ you are a national treasure and I agree totally, we are heading into an abyss with no more Shakespeare in school (and thinking AI is the way of the future!! )
Good luck with your knee - I hope it heals quickly. You might not want to read the rest of this message, but your readers might find it informative.
My husband bashed his left knee on some brick steps when he was 62 and the way he walked afterward affected his left hip. He had some injections in it, which helped for a while, but a year later, after the 3rd one, the pain was so bad that he could barely walk, even with a cane, while we were on a Mozart 250th birthday trip to Salzburg and Vienna. He stayed in the hotel for the tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, but we took a taxi to it later in the week and I pushed him around in a wheelchair. It is an amazing art museum, so I was happy to tour it again. His hip pain kept getting so much worse that he had to use wheelchairs to navigate the airports on the trip home. He got an appointment to have an emergency hip replacement a week after we returned, but he had to take prescription painkillers and lie on a bed in a downstairs bedroom until I took him to the hospital for the surgery. It went well, but the doctor came out to the waiting room to tell me that the ball on the end of his femur was completely worn away - the worst he had ever seen. This was on June 28, 2006. Then: left knee on Dec. 28, 2006, right knee on June 28, 2007 and right hip, about 2 years later. He recovered very quickly, probably due to his age and to the fact that his legs were strong from walking a lot. He only needed to use crutches for a day or two after he came home. He is now 80 and all the joints are still fine. (Once he forgot to mention them in an airport security line and they set off the alarms when he went through the scanner.) He still has arthritis in his shoulders and toes, but hasn't felt the need for any more joint replacements, yet. The lesson we can all learn from this is that it is important to keep active and walk as much as possible.
It sounds like we're aware of similar situations, Michele! When I was in high school. our village unified with a neighboring town's district in the 9th grade. The "Bully" from the new school, Stanley, asked the boys in my class, "Who's the one to beat?" As a teenaged girl who had had most of her growing sprint, and one who rough-and tumbled with my younger brother, I was physically active. I had beaten a sort of fighting terrier - a short, feisty fellow who had picked on my younger, asthmatic, "wimpy" brother. "Nobody picks on My Brother!" (except me!) I thought. I interrupted the fight, got David on the ground in a "Half Nelson" hold, and insisted that he yell "Uncle" in front of all the members of his gang. "Don't Mess with My Brother Again!" I warned him - and he didn't. So - mostly to keep peace among the boys, I think, when Stanley asked who his target should be to have himself declared "King of the Hill," the boys in my school fingered me.
While we were waiting for buses one winter morning, Stanley came up to my place in line and pushed me down, directly onto a piece of gravel. The fall broke my left kneecap, and I was rushed to the doctor's for a dozen stitches. I was out of school for a week. I got a "letter of apology" from Stanley that looked as if the school guidance counselor had held a shot gun to his head, in order to make him write "his condolences." Needless to say, most of the boys avoided me for quite a while - "Not the sort of girl you take to dances," and such!
Compared with your husband, our lower limb injuries were on the opposite sides. It was my right hip that went bonkers later on. Like him, I also have a metallic interface in my hip joint. It could be, that like me, he always has to sleep on his other hip. I'm close to 80, and I'm finding that my "slept on" arm frequently goes to sleep on me. I have to do exercises when I wake up, to keep the nerves from permanently quitting. I've had some help from chiropractors in terms of exercises to keep my damaged limbs functioning. I wonder if, besides surgery, it's possible that your husband may benefit from chiropractic assistance, too?
I applaud you for standing up for your younger brother! I have two, but they were very athletic and muscular, so fortunately they never needed my help.
"...the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone..." My husband was a pre-medical advisor for 35 years, so I don't think he believes in chiropractors. His shoulders don't interfere with his sleep - that is the criterion he is using to decide when/if he is going get shoulder replacement surgery.
Friend of Bill, you ended what I will call Blank Verse with a rhymed couplet, just like my teacher Mrs. Bodie said, and witty too. Thank you, and regards to your knee.
Garrison, you are the funniest man on the planet. I'm glad you got out of chemistry class too. You are a spring chicken compared to me ~ I'm almost 90. I love it that your beloved is a musician and that she takes you to the opera. Opera has been in my DNA since I was 8 years old. Even though I have a my father's name (Talmage) I am a girl or old lady. You will love this. When I was in the ordination process for the Episcopal Church I was asked by the COM what my passion was. I blurted out: "OPERA" and then slapped my hand across my mouth thinking, Oh my God I was supposed to say Jesus or God ~ I've cooked my goose. Luck was with me or God was with me for a priest on the commission happened to love opera too so by gum they ordained me. Heal fast. I have 2 new knees and a new hip plus titanium in my back. Many call me Titanium Tally. Take care of yourself.
You make me weep with gratitude for your craft. Finding words that give substance to the silence from which they come makes the time you take to write more valuable to me. An Iowan, displaced from her birth to San Francisco, who finally late in life I am no longer embarrassed to express my love for my friends. What a gift old age has become, what a relief not to be cool. How rich we are in words when the wheat is shaken from the chaff.
Hi GK, I'm sure you could work that Utah rescue by Polly Ethylene into your new screenplay. It could anchor the first act. Of course three funerals don't sound like a comedy to me at 80.
I wish your knee a speedy recovery. Thank you for reminding us of the beauty of poetry. I've just read that Dropbox is laying off 500 employees in part because of the rise of AI, which apparently is even better at generating software code than it is at producing human language. Suddenly computer science may not be such a safe field of study after all. English majors, take heart.
As an 81-year-old writing to another just slightly junior, I also wish you a good recovery. I knew you could write to warm any heart, but when I found you on Substack it was nice to be reminded! And if you want to see something out of the ordinary, see me stand on my head here https://arichardson.substack.com/p/why-does-anyone-stand-on-their-head
I have had tickets to see you in Peekskill since last September. I hope your swift recovery means third time's the charm.
Damn falls! “Mr. Jerry Attrick” is one I’ve never heard before. Hilarious. I’m sorry to say I laughed at your story of Utah. I live here and have often dreamed of staying in one of the luxurious homes there, and your story brought me back down to earth. Life is just as good in my humble abode, and the door doesn’t lock automatically when it closes. From one senior to another, I hope your knee heals and you are out preforming soon.
You were a much more considerate tenant than I suspect I might have been. Under similar circumstances, I might have regained entrance by using a chunk of wood (or a splitting axe if it was handy) to punch out a window pane. Glad to hear that you are on the path to recovery, though you are hobbling about for the moment.
Heal fast my friend. My passions are woodworking and writing, power tools and word processors. I'm currently in a wood phase, outfitting a library we added to the house last summer with desks and bookshelves. When everything is perfect I'll sit at my beautiful cherry desk and write a masterpiece. And then hell will freeze over. In the meantime, I count my fingers each day before I head to the shop and hope to return with the same number. So far, so good.
Here is an 83 year old, born in Detroit Lakes, fighting out and out fear about a morning appointment that is likely to end in a hospital visit, when along comes your invariably uplifting view on life. I'm off to preorder your book for medical purposes, though I doubt insurance will see it that way. Maybe Mayo could distribute it?
And the answer was:
Head back home and up the dosage of one Rx a bit. Saved by positive thinking-I thank you!
Is being naked legal in Utah?
Take care of yourself!! ♥ you are a national treasure and I agree totally, we are heading into an abyss with no more Shakespeare in school (and thinking AI is the way of the future!! )
You make my day with you writing. Hope the knee heals quickly and correctly.
Dear Garrison, praying for a speedy recovery. 🙏 Elizabeth.
Good luck with your knee - I hope it heals quickly. You might not want to read the rest of this message, but your readers might find it informative.
My husband bashed his left knee on some brick steps when he was 62 and the way he walked afterward affected his left hip. He had some injections in it, which helped for a while, but a year later, after the 3rd one, the pain was so bad that he could barely walk, even with a cane, while we were on a Mozart 250th birthday trip to Salzburg and Vienna. He stayed in the hotel for the tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, but we took a taxi to it later in the week and I pushed him around in a wheelchair. It is an amazing art museum, so I was happy to tour it again. His hip pain kept getting so much worse that he had to use wheelchairs to navigate the airports on the trip home. He got an appointment to have an emergency hip replacement a week after we returned, but he had to take prescription painkillers and lie on a bed in a downstairs bedroom until I took him to the hospital for the surgery. It went well, but the doctor came out to the waiting room to tell me that the ball on the end of his femur was completely worn away - the worst he had ever seen. This was on June 28, 2006. Then: left knee on Dec. 28, 2006, right knee on June 28, 2007 and right hip, about 2 years later. He recovered very quickly, probably due to his age and to the fact that his legs were strong from walking a lot. He only needed to use crutches for a day or two after he came home. He is now 80 and all the joints are still fine. (Once he forgot to mention them in an airport security line and they set off the alarms when he went through the scanner.) He still has arthritis in his shoulders and toes, but hasn't felt the need for any more joint replacements, yet. The lesson we can all learn from this is that it is important to keep active and walk as much as possible.
It sounds like we're aware of similar situations, Michele! When I was in high school. our village unified with a neighboring town's district in the 9th grade. The "Bully" from the new school, Stanley, asked the boys in my class, "Who's the one to beat?" As a teenaged girl who had had most of her growing sprint, and one who rough-and tumbled with my younger brother, I was physically active. I had beaten a sort of fighting terrier - a short, feisty fellow who had picked on my younger, asthmatic, "wimpy" brother. "Nobody picks on My Brother!" (except me!) I thought. I interrupted the fight, got David on the ground in a "Half Nelson" hold, and insisted that he yell "Uncle" in front of all the members of his gang. "Don't Mess with My Brother Again!" I warned him - and he didn't. So - mostly to keep peace among the boys, I think, when Stanley asked who his target should be to have himself declared "King of the Hill," the boys in my school fingered me.
While we were waiting for buses one winter morning, Stanley came up to my place in line and pushed me down, directly onto a piece of gravel. The fall broke my left kneecap, and I was rushed to the doctor's for a dozen stitches. I was out of school for a week. I got a "letter of apology" from Stanley that looked as if the school guidance counselor had held a shot gun to his head, in order to make him write "his condolences." Needless to say, most of the boys avoided me for quite a while - "Not the sort of girl you take to dances," and such!
Compared with your husband, our lower limb injuries were on the opposite sides. It was my right hip that went bonkers later on. Like him, I also have a metallic interface in my hip joint. It could be, that like me, he always has to sleep on his other hip. I'm close to 80, and I'm finding that my "slept on" arm frequently goes to sleep on me. I have to do exercises when I wake up, to keep the nerves from permanently quitting. I've had some help from chiropractors in terms of exercises to keep my damaged limbs functioning. I wonder if, besides surgery, it's possible that your husband may benefit from chiropractic assistance, too?
I applaud you for standing up for your younger brother! I have two, but they were very athletic and muscular, so fortunately they never needed my help.
"...the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone..." My husband was a pre-medical advisor for 35 years, so I don't think he believes in chiropractors. His shoulders don't interfere with his sleep - that is the criterion he is using to decide when/if he is going get shoulder replacement surgery.
Friend of Bill, you ended what I will call Blank Verse with a rhymed couplet, just like my teacher Mrs. Bodie said, and witty too. Thank you, and regards to your knee.
Garrison, you are the funniest man on the planet. I'm glad you got out of chemistry class too. You are a spring chicken compared to me ~ I'm almost 90. I love it that your beloved is a musician and that she takes you to the opera. Opera has been in my DNA since I was 8 years old. Even though I have a my father's name (Talmage) I am a girl or old lady. You will love this. When I was in the ordination process for the Episcopal Church I was asked by the COM what my passion was. I blurted out: "OPERA" and then slapped my hand across my mouth thinking, Oh my God I was supposed to say Jesus or God ~ I've cooked my goose. Luck was with me or God was with me for a priest on the commission happened to love opera too so by gum they ordained me. Heal fast. I have 2 new knees and a new hip plus titanium in my back. Many call me Titanium Tally. Take care of yourself.
I love you, Tally!
You make me weep with gratitude for your craft. Finding words that give substance to the silence from which they come makes the time you take to write more valuable to me. An Iowan, displaced from her birth to San Francisco, who finally late in life I am no longer embarrassed to express my love for my friends. What a gift old age has become, what a relief not to be cool. How rich we are in words when the wheat is shaken from the chaff.
Hi GK, I'm sure you could work that Utah rescue by Polly Ethylene into your new screenplay. It could anchor the first act. Of course three funerals don't sound like a comedy to me at 80.
Roger Krenkler - L.A.