2013/08/30

TJH: Inspire – Cool Relief From a Hot Day

Da Goddess @ 04:40

As I type this (last night since this isn’t posting til morning), it’s almost 9pm and still over 90 degrees. The air is dead. No breeze. King Arthur is recovering from oral surgery, in pain, not eating, and I feel horrible because there’s nothing I can do to ease his pain.

My new doctor is wonderful. The insurance company: not so much. They still insist on making it difficult for me to fill my meds. As well, I’ll be needing to see a pain management doctor and I’m pretty certain insurance will raise a fuss about that. So I spend days hoping and praying my meds come through soon and I can get back on the pain management path that has become a rather good “habit”. Yes, I said habit. It sounds horrible, as if I have a drug habit, but what I really mean is that it’s taken me years to develop a routine and a regimen that requires me to change certain patterns in life so that I can function. By making these changes, I integrate all the new things I need to do into my life…I make them new habits. Thinking of pain management as less a chore and more “healthy habit”, it’s easier for me to live with the accommodations necessary to do what I need to do. Pain habits. Pain relief habits. It’s just how life is anymore.

King Arthur is having to make all sorts of adjustments to life because of this. And then we throw in his surgery and post-op pain. Fun times.

Between his pain and mine, we’re just a couple bumps on our respective logs.

While it’s true that SoCal isn’t as hot as Vegas in August, it’s still uncomfortable and keeping us indoors for the bulk of the day. At some point today, we’ll need to go out and pick up his prescriptions, and — hopefully — mine as well. With any luck, it’ll have cooled down some.

Regardless, these little flowers made me feel cooler just looking at them.

Cool and a nice break

2013/08/29

TJH: Inspire – It’s a Rosey Kind of Day

Da Goddess @ 04:53

Rosey

2013/08/28

Latest Adventure

Da Goddess @ 12:23

I’m off to see a brand new doctor today. Neurosurgeon. Hopefully better than the last.

Wish me luck!

TJH: Inspire – It’s Purplish Blue

Da Goddess @ 04:47

It might be clematis, but I’m not positive. So…there.

definitely more purple than blue

veering away from purple and edging toward blue

totally bluer than the others

As you can see, they’re not entirely purple or blue. And depending on where I was in relation to the sun, one is bluer than the others, yet it still has a purple cast to it. I tried to color correct in post but didn’t like the shift in tone. This is where I ended up.

Rhino Parade

Da Goddess @ 01:33

Lots of cities around the country have done the Cow Parade thing. But has rhinos! England’s totally rockin’ the rhino.

Cow Parade? Love it! San Diego even took at crack at it in 2009. I’ve photographed a couple of them during my OpLove: ReUnited sessions when we were down at Liberty Station. (I’ll have to go back to look through photos again to find them.)

I love that art can benefit the community, be fun, and also be a part of a larger movement. Art for the people, by the people. That totally works for me.

Also, RHINOS…around the world!!!

2013/08/27

TJH: Inspire – Hibiscus

Da Goddess @ 04:43

Hibiscus

2013/08/26

It’s Hooot in Toooo-peeeee-kaaaahhh

Da Goddess @ 21:43

It’s been hot and muggy the last few days.

Yesterday, at 1700 it was still 96 degrees.

Today, at 1700 it was still 98. The humidity is up there. Don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s been hovering in the 50% range lately. Now, for those of you in the midwest and on the east coast, you’ll laugh at that. For those of us on the west coast, though, when we get above 20% humidity, well, we wilt. Yes, we do.

I’ve used the Hot in Topeka quote before. I’m using it again because that’s what I always think when it gets this hot. Thanks to LD, that’s just how it goes.

Is it hot where you are? Are you as miserable as I am?

Excuse me while I go pick my toe. Cuz it’s hot.

Sigh.

2013/08/24

Saturday Something

Da Goddess @ 02:57

Just some music that I felt like listening to repeatedly. Figured I’d share.

2013/08/21

Neighborhood Watch

Da Goddess @ 03:02

It looks like it’s fallen to me to be the official opossum spotter in the neighborhood. Seems like anytime I go outside at night, I see one. That and finding every freakin’ mosquito in SoCal. I could live without one of these duties.

Also, next to the Muslim center up the street is a store called Vapor Bombz. Does anyone else find that kind of ironic?

“Also also wik” – LD is now a junior in high school. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? Where’s the wonderfully touching mother & son montage?

TJH: Inspire – Plumeria

Da Goddess @ 02:18

Mine aren’t near as lovely as plumeria, but I gave it the old college try nonetheless.

plumeria 260

plumeria 570

plumeria 558

plumeria 266

I’ll be back at them soon enough, I’m sure. I rather love them.

2013/08/20

TJH: Inspire – When I Look to the Sky

Da Goddess @ 01:44

Clouds over San Juan Capistrano

2013/08/19

TJH: Inspire – Even More Plants

Da Goddess @ 02:14

I love plants

Couldn’t resist all these smooshed together! Their green was nice, but black and white seemed to bring out the details even better.

2013/08/17

TJH: Inspire – As the Orchid Fades

Da Goddess @ 02:07

When you’re a flower, there is an art to dying. One must first droop, then discolor, then dry out. If you manage to get through all those stages, you get “d.e.d.” dead. If you’re lucky enough, someone begins to photograph the process and post to them to her blog. That would be me.

Dried out orchid

Drying the orchid

Orchid in blue light

I love how dried out and translucent they become. The veins. The color. The way they look in different light. Everything! Orchids, and most flowers, can become even more beautiful as they begin to die.

Sounds a little morbid, doesn’t it?

2013/08/16

TJH: Inspire – What a Pansy!

Da Goddess @ 00:59

What a pansy

Our little pansies have been blooming since well before my arrival. Every single time I think they’re done, they bounce back. King Arthur has a way with plants that would make most weep in envy.

This one? Reminds me of a dalmatian.

2013/08/15

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Da Goddess @ 21:12

Tonight was the second time that a C-17 flew low over the house and scared the crap out of me. Apparently the entire neighborhood was freaked out because they all ended up in the street watching the plane, praying it wasn’t going to crash down on us.

I love planes. I love military planes. I love flying! I’ve been flying since I was very young. But…

But I don’t like planes flying low over houses. It reminds me of a time when a plane crashed near my aunt’s house when I was a little girl. Driving past, seeing the plane sticking out of the roof, knowing it could have killed my aunt, uncle, and cousins…it’s just one of those things that has stayed with me over the years that makes my heart pound ridiculously fast and clench my teeth until I don’t hear it any longer (and I don’t hear a crash).

Back in the 70s, in San Diego, we had a plane crash into a jet. That seemed to cement my fear about crashes, despite the fact that we lived nowhere near the crash. It happened. And that was enough for me.

So, why is it possible for me to get ON a plane and have no fear, but a low flying plane will make me want to cry?