Freshly Sharpened Pencils in Fall

"Colourful" - By Ole Houen from Denmark

Each year when fall arrives or school starts I remember the line from the movie, "You've Got Mail". Tom Hanks writes to the anonymous Meg Ryan, "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." It's one of the best lines ever! 

I love any place where the crisp, fall air overtakes the summer heat. Buying school supplies is another love of mine.  There is something about new spiral notebooks and file folders that makes me want to organize all of my papers! It helps if they are pretty.

"You've Got Mail" will turn 25 in December, so a whole generation of people must not have seen it. I recommend renting this one and enjoying a feel-good movie. It's not a spoiler to say that two people fall in love...so there, I've said it. But the movie is also a love story about New York. And of books and bookstores. The internet mail communication was cutting edge when the movie came out, which is funny. The movie offers me a love story to nostalgia as well. 

This is my and my daughter's favorite movie. When we lived in the same town we watched it together at least once a year. 

Nora Ephron is the film's director and the writer most credited with writing the script. What needs to get more acknowledgment (in my opinion) is the fact that the movie is co-written with Delia Ephron (Nora's sister).

Delia Ephron is a talented writer in her own right. Last year, Delia released her memoir, which I highly recommend. Since it has been a while since I read it, I looked back at what I wrote on Goodreads, which I'm sharing with you below.

I absolutely loved this book; it is Memoir at its best. I'm afraid my review will not do it justice. Ms. Ephron tells her stories with the intimacy of a close friend. One of the best stories is "Love and Hate on Hold with Verizon". Ms. Ephron captures the insanity of trying to get something simple corrected when you are dealing with a company that is so big it really doesn't care if you are satisfied. Her story is about Verizon, but could just as easily be about AT&T or Cable TV. The frustration, laced with humor, is universal.

Delia's Webpage

Enjoy the beautiful weather! 

Knee Updates

Enjoying Saturday @ New Belgium Brewery

It's my goal to increase my yoga teaching gigs to a bonafide gig. I was working towards that but slowed down after the knee surgery. I am teaching two times a week to a community center group. The classes are nice because they are small. The participants are fairly new to yoga, so the classes give the opportunities to emphasize teaching the poses and focusing on alignment. I also offer lots of variations for each pose. I've gotten into the groove of those classes since my surgery. I've been able to show the modifications I take for my body; this seems to make everyone more comfortable in making poses work for themselves, rather than trying to achieve what we imagine a pose is "supposed" to look like. 

I've been surprised by how achy my knee and hip continue to be. I have trouble falling asleep at least 3 times a week. I just can't get comfortable. My knee feels pain on both sides of the artificial patella. And my hip joint feels pain because the hip has been compensating for my knee for years. Now I'm asking the hip joint to move into the socket the "correct" way so that my foot points straight instead of out to the side. I can feel the hip click in and out of its socket. Both things will settle down. I know. It's only been 8 weeks. But that doesn't keep me from being disappointed with the pain. 

I'm also disappointed that I have not regained my full range of motion. The doctor is happy with my progress as is the physical therapist. I have achieved between 120 and 125 degrees for flexion. I have -3 degrees for extension. Both of these results are "acceptable" based on the literature. But I really want to achieve 130 degrees or better for flexion. The fact that I haven't achieved full extension adds to the misalignment of the two legs because it effectively shortens the right leg. My right leg also tends to be shortened because my right pelvis continues to have an anterior tilt, bringing the hip joint higher up into the body.

I've been going to one or two yoga classes since about 5 weeks after surgery. I'm worried that I've lost some of the stamina and strength I had gotten earlier this year. But this week I've hurt too much to even consider going. I've had PT two times a week and I've been substitute teaching (a lot of standing and walking) as well as teaching two yoga classes. I hope that between all of this, I'm doing what I need to steadily improve. 

On the plus side, Bill and I have been able to take pretty long walks on the weekend. Two weeks ago we walked up to the local brewery and enjoyed the outside venue. So, I am walking better than before the surgery. And I'm able to walk further too. The results have been successful. I just have to wait out the pain. 

Tardy

This fall I began working as a substitute teacher. When I arrived at my school assignment, I saw this sign and had to take a quick pic. I texted the pic to my daughter so that we could both reminisce about the "Tardy Days". You see, my daughter's elementary school years (the first two anyway) were plagued with the need for tardy slips. It is not a memory I'm proud of. In fact, I still get a little sick to my stomach when I think about it. 

Funny enough, I wrote this many years ago. I think I may have written it as I was journaling about motherhood failures. 

I'll share it here...only, please don't judge.

When my daughter was in elementary school I often had to sign her in "late". It was so lovely going into the school office and feeling the judgment of the school secretary. When I (we) arrive in the office, she clicks her tongue. It's as though I am the one in trouble. Which, I am. After all my child couldn't very well drive herself to school could she?

Each time my daughter was tardy (ahem, I was late), I had to sign a log. It was an acknowledgment, if you will, of my being a negligent if not just simply a bad parent. I had to write an explanation for my child's tardiness. Every. Single. Time.

"Really?!" I wanted to say, "If my kid is late then you know I'm REALLY late. I still have to get to work, you know." I mean, how else can we afford to live in the house that affords my daughter the right to go to such a good school?

Driving into the school drop-off zone, I would try to come to a rolling stop as I said to my sweet child, "I'm sure you're not late. It's probably just the first bell," I would say as I encouraged her to go ahead into the school.

"But Mom," she would say, "you know we're late. The teachers aren't out here anymore and there are no other cars in drop off." She was right, of course. All of the good mothers had already been and gone.

Parking illegally in the drop-off zone, I would take my sweet girl to the office so I could be judged. It was bitter medicine. My girl was here! Here, bathed, clothed and homework done. I'm not a complete failure. (Am I ?) Am I traumatizing my kid?

So each day I would smile as I wrote down our excuse in the log. "Car wouldn't start; Alarm didn't go off," that sort of thing.  Once I wrote, "You don't even want to know".

Did I tell you the secretary reads what I've written in the log before she issues the admission slip? Often she reads while pursing her lips to look at me. She thinks carefully before deciding if my reason is acceptable. Finally, she writes the admission slip for my cherub. The "Get Into Class Free" card. "Yes," she decides, "this little girl will get her free public education today". I'm thankful and I'm sheepish and I'm grateful.

"Yes," I say to myself, "even children with flaky working mothers deserve their education". 

Hello October

At B&B - Sept 2023

Happy October! It finally feels like autumn is upon us. I probably say this every year, but autumn is my favorite season. Especially if the summer has been squelchingly hot. Moving to Asheville was a way to celebrate the fall season for as long as possible. The mountains are simply the best place to experience all that fall offers. Crisp fall afternoons with bright sunny skies, dramatic fall foliage, and mountainous skylines. 

What I'm Watching

And, of course, there is football. There you have a pic of my current view in my living room. There is nothing like a good game. Early on in my dating relationship with Bill, I asked him if he liked football. Before he answered I followed up with "Please say yes". I love to watch football. Mostly I love NFL ball, but lately, I've been enjoying college ball as well. You can guess that Bill said "yes", with a somewhat quizzical expression, as if to say, "Who doesn't like football?" 

It's nice that it's cool enough outside to have our windows open. I enjoy our little corner lot. We get dog walkers and parents walking their kids in strollers and lots of people that park so they can walk the block to a local favorite taco place, Taco Billy. It is such a fun neighborhood. 

Bill's summer project has been to create a proper driveway for our two cars.

You can see he has done a marvelous job. New gravel comes on Wednesday. I can't find any pics of our driveway from "before". It was basically a one-and-a-half driveway, big enough to park two as long as you toggle them. Before Bill's project, the side yard and make-shift driveway were not level at all. I am shocked that Bill has done all of this on his own. 

I need to get an updated photo of our sweet little cottage. Bill took these bushes down the first summer.