Swimming Makes You Fat
How do I know?
This is the swimming suit I was wearing the last time I went swimming before everything closed down because of the Covid-19 Pandemic. I didn't get in the pool for 15 months and this is how my swimming suit fit when I tried it on, proving that swimming makes one fat.
Convinced?
During the more-than-a-year shutdown
because of the Covid-19 Pandemic,
Brent planned acceptable and safe excursions
to the bird refuges:
Farmington Bay, Layton, and Bear River.
During February when the eagles were migrating,
we went out almost everyday,
never feeling disappointed.
It wasn't just the pandemic that kept us homebound.
DeRay had falls that landed him in Emergency twice,
once for three weeks
including rehab.
Then Amy had a series of emergency room visits,
including major surgery, infections, stints--
anything that could go wrong went wrong--
culminating in a blood clot on her lungs.
Yes, Pulmonary Thrombosis.
She missed the last 4-5 months of the school year.
Brent moved downstairs to be available
for middle-of-the night Emergency visits.
(His wife, Jan, back in Missouri, had her
share of Emergency room visits too.
She and their three adult kids are all troopers.)
When PARC started Zoom classes,
Ed enjoyed them so much
he didn't want to miss a single one:
Cooking, sign language,
many others including the usual
talent shows, show and tell,
book club.
Then we could only have excursions on weekends.
We fed ducks at the Farmington pond,
walked around the Bountiful ponds,
walked the Lagoon Trail and the Buffalo trails,
went to Antelope Island, Saltair;
and walked the hollow close to home
where we enjoyed Forrest Bathing.
Brent would scout out trails we didn't know existed
on his midnight bike rides.
My favorite, as it turned out,
is part of the Buffalo Trail.
Our walkers rolled smoothly on
the well-groomed trail/
The gentle breeze was refreshing;
the waves on the picturesque lake mesmerizing;
the everlasting view expanding,
and the red sunset brilliant.
Thank you, Brent,
for an enchanting evening.
Brent's photos
Amy generally goes with us,
but this particular day she had hiked
and used up all her energy.
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As the original neighborhood is growing older
several have had hip or knee replacements.
I had a complicated full hip replacement
the day before Thanksgiving 2020,
ending up in ICU
receiving three blood transfusions
and a rod in my left femur also.
The doctor truly performed a miracle.
He didn't do at all what he planned to do,
which was repair the fractured pelvic bone.
I was slow to wake up
but when I did, he said I responded to everything.
"I don't remember."
"No, and you never will."
The pain was gone.
I was so grateful.
A different orthopedic surgeon
did a full left-knee replacement
on April 8, 2021.
The recovery was much more difficult
but I was forewarned
and had excellent care and support.
Through both surgeries plus the
cement and radiation in my back
to relieve the pressure from the fractured vertebrae.
I have not missed a cancer treatment.
Yes, some neighbors have had hip and knee replacement,
even back surgery.
Some people have all that plus infusions
for metastatic breast cancer.
I'm one of the some.
There's a church in the valley by the wildwood,
No lovelier spot in the dale;
No
place is so dear to my childhood
As the little white church in the vale.
Refrain:
Come to the church in the wildwood,
Oh,
come to the church in the vale;
No
spot is so dear to my childhood
As
the little white church in the vale
Oh, come to the church in the wildwood,
I was blessed in this little white church in the
Valley, as well as all of my brothers and sisters. We were all baptized in the
baptismal fount in the basement of the building. My father’s funeral was held
there when I was 10 years old--my oldest sister was barely 18 years old and my
youngest sister barely one. Eight children in all left in the care of our assiduous
mother.
A new brick standardized church replaced this distinctive
church house. Cherished childhood memories flow back to this marvelous Little White
Church in the Valley. During the week, while at Primary or Mutual, we would unlock a window in the classroom nearest the fire escape. Then on the July 4th and 24th eves, we would enter the building, go to the bellfry and ring the bell loud and long at midnight. The girls would all sleep together on someone's lawn and the boys somewhere else. Sometimes they beat us to the bellfry but not often. LaVon, who owned a motel across the street, claimed her tourists did not like to be awakened by the noise. She caught us once or twice and scolded us good. Just a little childhood tradition in the Little White Church in the Valley. By the way, it was a bit of a jump from the last rung on the fire escape to the ground. That's where bravery came in.
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don't know why she swallowed a fly
-
Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider;
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her!
She
swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't
know why she swallowed a fly
- Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird!
She
swallowed the bird to catch the spider;
That
wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her!
She
swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't
know why she swallowed a fly
-
Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Imagine that! She swallowed a cat!
She
swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed
the bird to catch the spider;
That
wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her!
She
swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly
- Perhaps she'll die!
Then she
swallowed a dog, a goat, a cow;
and
finally the old lady swallowed a horse.
...She's
dead, of course!
I didn’t swallow
a fly.
I sucked one up
through the straw in my thermos,
that I keep full
of water upstairs to take my pills.
“Ugh. That’s
something big!”
I spit it out.
It was a very big
black fly.
“Am I going to be
sick?”
Think of all the
times you splashed the water skeeters
and other bugs
from the pond out to the herd
before getting a
drink.
I’m still alive.
Nevertheless,
flies are filthy.
-Perhaps I’ll die.
