GeorgeLesley

Stroke Survivor - male
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Everything posted by GeorgeLesley

  1. Well a new year is here again. So, anybody have any new year resolutions? None to report here sorry to say. But a quick catch up on what Lesley and I have been doing. Last April a week with the family, our son Stefan an his two daughters and us all met in London for a week. Then in August and September Lesley and I did two weeks in Norway, Sweden and a bit of Finland. We then met up with some friends in Paris and did a week river cruise from Paris to the Normandy beaches then back to Paris. We then rented a car and did two weeks in the south of France in the wine country and the Pyrenees mountains, then on to the Black Forest of Germany and then back to Paris and home. after we got back home our son Stefan decided to quit his job in NZ and travel around Asia for a few months. He really liked Thailand and will probably go back there. He is now with us and will be until the end of March. He has made the finished room above the garage into a music studio which has alway been a dream of his to have. After he leavers us he will go to the UK and spend some time there working (he has Uk citizenship), and spend time with his daughters who both live there. Now a bit of medical news. The digestive issues I have had the past several years are back and seem to be pancreas related. This diagnosis comes from the results of several tests. The good news is that it is very controlled by just taking some enzyme pills with each meal to aid the digestive process. Other than that, all is good here medically. I walk our road about 2.5 miles most days. I have been looking at the same roadside trash for months thinking “somebody should clean this up”. A several weeks ago I decided that I should be that somebody. It took a week or so to get it done, but now I just use a small shopping size bag every few weeks to keep it clean. Just makes me feel better and the road looks better. Anyway that is our quick update, time for tea.
  2. Asha, you have found a deep truth in life. When Lesley travels I get my alone and guy time. You are different people with different emotional needs. Enjoy!
  3. This will be the conclusion of my thoughts on how to achieve the best health we can. The previous entry was to give you the context of how and why I got into the subject in the first place, thus all the personal stuff. This entry will hopefully provide some ideas and at least questions you may wish to ask your doctors in the future. As I see it there are some roadblocks we all face on the road to good health. First is that doctors are not trained much and do not practice much preventative medicine. The insurance system we have pays them to fix things that have broken, but does not pay much for preventing things not to break. Some examples: we all know about getting our blood glucose level checked. That will likely tell you if you are a diabetic or not or are at least borderline A12 helps do that as well. There is another test however that can often give you a much earlier warning and give you time to possibly avoid becoming a diabetic in the first place. That test is checking your fasting blood insulin level. That tells you how hard the pancreas is working to maintain the correct glucose level. If it is going up over time you can take measures to prevent type 2 diabetes in the first place. I asked our local doc to test Lesley and I both. He told me that before medicare would pay for the test he had to find a medical reason to do the test. I told him my grandmother was a type 1 diabetic. He then tested both of us, as Lesley’s mum was also diabetic. A good healthy range is between 2-5. I was 2.7, Lesley was 2.6. The point is that if this were a usual part of annual physicals, much sickness could be avoided in advance. I asked the doc why this was not routinely done and he said “George if I have 100 patients there would only be 2 or 3 like you that actually want to know these things”. I could give you many other stories like this but I hope you get the idea. The next roadblock we face are the drug companies. We must remember their primary focus is making a profit. Remember that we as patients want pills that instantly and easily fix our problem. Thus, that is what they try to provide. They make little money telling us to eat better and exercise more. That is one reason we are running out of antibiotics. We only use them for short durations occasionally. The companies would prefer to develop drugs that we will take for the rest of our lives for chronic conditions. The third roadblock is the food industry. To be fair, the food industry is happy to make whatever food we demand, be it healthy or not. The problem is that we want the lowest price possible and so that is what we get. Mass produced food where quantity is more important than quality. We also want it to taste great and last a long time. No wonder modern food is full of sugar, preservatives, chemical flavorings, cheap substitutes for real food. The last roadblock is the person we see in the mirror. You may have picked up some of the things from what I have already written, that are self imposed, because that is what we want or are willing to pay for. So what should we do? If having the best health we can is important to us, there are some things we can do. If you are happy as you are about your health, skip this section. If you would like some ideas on how to improve your health, I suggest you have a serious talk with your doctor. There are many books, videos, and courses you can do. Ask the doc for more tests that are forward looking and preventative in nature no just looking for things that are broken or about to break. I suggest a complete lipid test that measures the particle size among other things, blood insulin test, and others as the doc sees fit and ask questions, like what is the optimal range for this test. In our medical system normal only means your level of something is within the range of 95% of the population at large for a given area or state. It even varies by state. So “normal” and healthy are different words with different implications for your health. If you live in an area with high diabetes, having a “normal” glucose level may not mean much. Interestingly more research is coming out all the time proving that more and more health conditions can be mitigated, helped, or sometimes even reversed by just eating healthier food. I could give you many examples including my own battle with colitis, but do your own research as this entry has gone on long enough. Well that is what I have learned in the past two years, the road took me to places I never knew existed. I hope this has given some the motivation to seek out better food and health care in general. Please note that none of this is intended to apply to anyone in particular or be considered medical advice. As always, get advice and counsel from a doctor before implementing any changes. Tea time
  4. I don’t blog often anymore, but the topic I plan for this and the next blog is so important I plan another entry in a short time. I have been talking mostly about our travels, and as I write this Lesley is in Rome and will be home in a few days. But now to start what I think is a very important topic we do not deal with well. That topic is our nutritional health. For the past two years I have been studying whatever I could find on eating healthy and what benefits, if any, could be gained from eating well. First some background. Every cell in our body changes in seven years. I have learned that most individual cells die out and are replaced in just a few months, some in a day or so. Thus, what we eat and the lifestyle choices we make can gradually change the makeup of our body. This put me on the path to see if I could find solutions to some nagging questions I have had for many years about various health issues Lesley and I have. To that end I have recently completed a comprehensive course on nutrition and read several detailed scientific books on the subject so that I would be more informed on the subject and able to then draw my own science based conclusions. Four issues came to mind. 1st, Lesley’s beautiful hair began to fall out shortly after she received the third covid shot. I do not want this to become political, I just wanted to see if it could be stopped or if the shot had anything to do with it or not. After her hairdresser asked he if she was undergoing chemotherapy, and also reported that several of her other clients had the same problem, she went to our local doctor who confirmed that hair loss was a possible side effect of the shot. So, the issue then became can anything be done about it. I wish to make it clear that I am not giving medical advice, and what I found out about hair loss is not scientific proof the shot caused it. I will only say that we found some protocols that seem to have at least stopped it. Check one off the list. The 2nd issue is that Lesley’s gallbladder was removed along with her appendix at age 26. At the time, the medical thinking was that the gallbladder served no useful purpose so it was removed as a matter of routine. I wondered what if any long term medical issues might be caused by this. It turns out the gallbladder actually stores bile, which is created by the liver, so that it can be released as needed to digest fat in the food we eat. So the best diet for her is a low fat diet which explains why she has had a history of digestion problems in her life. It also explains some of the reasons the 3rd issue weight loss has been so difficult for her. Now that we know that, her weight loss program is seeing success. So issues 2 and 3 can be ticked off the list. The 4th issue is that eight years ago I was diagnosed with Lymphocytic Colitis. Which is something you really do not want to know a lot about. In some ways, it was more life altering in a bad way than my stroke was. Fortunately I found a diet that while unconventional and some would say strange, worked for me and completely controlled the disease and gave me my life back. The plan does however, have so inconsistencies in it that do not make scientific or common sense, but it does work. Being the curious type, I wanted answers to those inconsistencies, and maybe a way to resume eating a normal healthy diet again with lots of variety in it, not as narrow and strict as what I have been doing. I also had a concern that eating such a restricted list of foods might not give me all the nutrients I should have. Based on my research and my doctors advice, I am presently carefully transitioning back to a normal healthy diet with lots of variety. Weight loss is not a concern for me as my weight is normal. So far, so good. So I think I can tick number 4 off the list as a work still in progress, but nearly there. I should also say that soon we both will have very comprehensive blood tests so see if we have any nutrient shortages because of our diets and medical issues. So what else have learned that might be of interest to all of you readers? A lot, and I do mean a lot, but that will be for the next blog in a few days, this entry has gone on long enough. I promise the next blog will contain information of use to everyone. I only used our personal examples to explain why I have gotten so interested in the subject. Now time for tea
  5. We both feel the clock is ticking so we are cleaning out the bucket list as fast as we can.
  6. Thanks for the post Sue. I never would have believed golf 17 years ago. We do play a slow, easy game but still lots of fun.
  7. Sue, ding, ding, it worked. I just posted a new long entry. Great to be back.
  8. Glad to see the board back online. So much has happened, where to start. Well lets see, Lesley went to Costa Rica Last July for two weeks and loved it. She also met her granddaughter Paris, in Paris France for a week. In Feb last year. We also did another river cruise on the Rhône river in France, then a week in Barcelona Spain with a overnight trip to Andorra, and then a flight to Munich Germany where we rented a car and toured the alps of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. Then back to Munich for the flight home. while in Italy we saw my old base Aviano, where I spent four years. We toured the Tuscany wine and olive region as well. In Switzerland we had some amazing experiences meeting people by accident that connected with my past travels there in the ‘70’s. We also saw the Alfa Romeo factory museum in Milan, something I have always wanted to see. in Germany Lesley and I dressed up in our German outfits and won first place in a costume contest at an Octoberfest celebration. Now onto this year. I just finished a week tour of car/airplane museums in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan with a friend of mine I talked into coming with me. Lesley and I are off to Scandinavia in August and will drive around Norway, Finland and Sweden for two weeks, then a flight to Paris where we will meet up with some friends for a week river cruise to the beaches of Normandy. I will see the US beaches and Lesley is going to the AnZac British beaches. Then we are going to drive around the south of France and back to the Black Forest of Germany, then back to Paris by way of Luxembourg. Then Paris to home. now the rest of the news. Lesley finally got to take her mum’s ashes back to New Zealand over the holidays. She stayed with our son there, but things are changing for him. Sadly he and his lady partner have decided to call it quits and the house is on the market. He has also decided to quit his job at the end of May. He, Les and I and the two granddaughters are all meeting in London for a week in April. Them I come home and Lesley goes on to Italy to see all the big cities we missed last fall. Our son will return to New Zealand for a few months and has been hired by a company he worked for at the Commonwealth games in Brisbane, Aus a few years ago. This time he will be doing the women’s world soccer championship in New Zealand. After a month of that he is going to Australia to visit old friends, then no plans. He finally has no responsibilities but to himself and is looking to continue to work jobs for this new company as needed around the world. We may well see him here in Tennessee sometimes. For those that wonder what he does, he sets up and manages the team that run the backup generators for large outdoor events. now some medical news. I will be having hernia surgery after returning from London. I also battled a return of my colitis during our week in Barcelona and two weeks of travel afterwards. My fault, I got lazy and did not follow my diet, but worked thru it, all good now. Lesley will also be having some surgery on her jaw, something is amiss there. She is also having a device implanted so she will no longer need a CPAP every night. i also have a few new hobbies. Many years ago I played pool on a table we had at the house I grew up in and also a few tables I have had over the years. We just bought one and Lesley and I both love it and play often. I still play the Dulcimer and have also started playing golf again, the first time since my stroke 17 years ago. I only play with two good friends and we play once every few weeks and play a very relaxed game with our own liberal rules. With all of these hobbies and travel I have not had much time to build models with my Erector and Meccanno sets but when all else fails, they will be there. well enough for now, tea time (I think Lesley may have fresh scones to go with it) P.S. while Lesley was in New Zealand I finally finished song in memory to a dear friend I lost two years ago. The video is on youtube. If you wish to see it and the one I did for Lesley’s mum just search for George Gradek on you tube. My four videos will pop up.
  9. Great to hear from you again Sue. I’m glad the blogs are working again and will try to find time to blog again soon.
  10. It took Lesley quite awhile to convince me to do a cruise. I found the river cruise ship just the right size for me. Just over 100 passengers so not too crowded at all. Often I was alone on the upper deck, just watching the scenery go by. The ventilation systems have been upgraded to purify the air just like airplanes have, so with some personal responsibility, we felt and were safe. A larger ship with thousands of people onboard is not for me no matter how much Lesley tries to convince me. As always we all must balance our own risk/reward and make our own decisions.
  11. Our son in New Zealand several years ago cut a CD with his band he was part of then and they called it “Fragile Times”. I think that makes a great title for this blog entry yes the times are uncertain to say the least. I try as longtime readers will recall to be upbeat and positive, but am finding it harder all the time. So much is out of our control that we used to never even think about because it just happened like it was supposed to. I fear those days are over and we all must get used to and expect uncertainty in virtually everything. Yes the virus caused some of it, but I think much of the uncertainty we have in this world has much deeper roots than we can blame on the virus and was merely accelerated by the virus. So, enough gloom and doom. What to do about it? That is the question we all want an answer to and must personally each solve in our own way for our personal situation. For Lesley and I, sitting back and worrying and expecting the government to solve our problems is not the answer. So, we are getting on with our life and making some decisions we feel prudent for the times we live in. We have sold our motorhome, although I certainly did not want to. The prices for used motorhomes are high now, and I do not expect that to last because fuel prices are also going up and will someday collapse motorhome values. So we sadly sold it while we could. The times have also had an effect on our travel plans. We did not go to the wedding in Minnesota in Sept or the festival in October in Iowa that we planned because of selling the motorhome, but did make the wedding in Indiana in Oct. most importantly we did do the trip to Iceland together in July. What a fantastic place! I have been in 33 countries now and rate Iceland as the most unique. Beautiful in it’s own different way, spectacular in ways I have never seen, and the people most friendly. We were able to go places and see things Lesley did not see on her trip in May. I would suggest any that can go there should make it a priority to do so while you can. we also squeezed in an unexpected two week river cruise on the Danube, Main, and Rhine rivers in Europe. Lesley cancelled her planned trip to Hawaii in Oct, and she finally talked me into going with her on a river cruise in November over thanksgiving. We boarded the boat in Budapest Hungary and ended in Amsterdam, Holland two weeks later. Amazing experience for both of us, first time either of us have been on any cruise ship. It will likely not be our last. I have been telling Lesley this past year that during and after this pandemic time, there will be short windows of opportunity for travel and you must keep your bag packed and your powder dry as the saying goes. This trip was no exception. The cruise line completely paid for our air fares from our local airport to and from Europe. The price we paid for the cruise included daily covid testing for all of us (all were negative the entire cruise), shore excursions at all stops, and every other expense. They are desperate for business and the window of opportunity is briefly open. I do not expect it to last, some companies will not survive this uncertain time so be careful and always take out full money back insurance. The highlight of the cruise was meeting two couples that were traveling together. We met them accidentally and discovered we had much in common, both men were USAF retired as I am, had some common assignments and had probably seen each other many years ago. We had a lot to talk about, and shared many great times together in Europe. In fact, the couples live near St. Louis and invited us to come for New Years, so we did and just got back. We all have already booked another joint cruise with both couples and a third couple, friends of the other two, in the South of France with a separate add on week in Barcelona, Spain Lesley and I suggested with an add on trip to the tiny country of Andorra for a day another place I have always wanted to go to. All three other couples agreed these were good ideas and have signed on. This trip is scheduled for Sept 2022. This experience makes my point: opportunities await, but will be fleeting. (In fact, Austria closed completely the day after our boat left Austria). Two months ago we did not know any of these people, now are best friends. Be ready and brave. Some scheduled things will not come to pass, but the time of living in fear is over, go forth, expect change, prepare for it, do what you can, do not let “Fragile Times” defeat you. If international travel is not possible or what you want to do, hold those important to you close and see them often. Create memories with those you like and love. That is far more important than all the “noise” in the world today we cannot control. as for what actions we all should take now I suggest taking some vitamin supplements, other meds if you wish to, if doing something or going to a place makes you uncomfortable rethink it. (if anyone wants specifics about what we are taking, just message me privately), a bit late to do much about weight, but try if you can exercise and just get as fit as you can. Expect to get this new variant, I think nearly everyone will, the good news is that nearly all should survive it after a week or so of feeling poorly. Be positive, look to the future, control what you can. wow, I guess that is enough for now, maybe I should post more often and keep it shorter. Time for tea.
  12. I guess we are just tired of living in fear of a virus that is getting milder and we are doing all we can to avoid a bad outcome from. I believe the truth is we are all going to get this new variant and the best thing we can do is make sure we are as healthy as we can be and live our lives as normally as we can. When we travel overseas now we do take out the travel insurance which we never did before but now that is necessary because countries sometimes close without warning. Will try to post another blog soon, some new stuff to share. Thanks for the comments.
  13. Well life has been busy here for sure. Lesley had a great time for two weeks in Iceland. She saw the volcano erupting there and many other things of interest. She has convinced me to go there in July. She wants to go back and see some areas she missed and I want to see it as well, so off we go. She went to Dollywood earlier this week with a lady friend of hers and that lady’s two twin grandchildren. After a swim upon arrival, the lady got a call and her father had passed away unexpectedly. So they all came back and Lesley hopped a plane yesterday to go see some family in Florida. She will be back next week. We will then start our final planning for our Iceland trip. We did go to a place called Maggie Vally, North Carolina last week with our motorhome and met some really nice folks that also travel with an RV. There were about twenty of us all together in the group. We will hopefully see them again someday. All seems to be going well here and we are making the most of our health and travel opportunities that present themselves while we can. As we all know, life changes unexpectedly so we are making the most of it while we can. While Lesley was in Iceland I did get my entire “honeydo” list completed and did even keep up my music practice and exercise regimen. The exercise is not particularly enjoyable, but I do enjoy the results and what it allows me to do that I do enjoy so I force myself to keep it up. I have gone thru an uncertain period in my music. When I started last year I did not even know if I would keep it up or had the basic skills to even play anything at all, so I set the bar low. Well I basically met the bar and now have been not sure where to go from here. No, I am not bragging, I am no great musician and never will be, but I have met the easy goals I set for myself at the time. I set the bar low because I did not know if I would want or could stay with it or not. So now I have been trying to decide what next? I have discovered that music is like most everything else, the first 80/90% is fairly easy, but the last part that makes you better and all you can be is not so easy. Rather like my stroke rehab. Initial improvements came relatively fast and fairly easy, the last parts not so much. Much work, less improvement. The devil is in the details as the saying goes. Some examples that will make the accomplished musicians on this board smile are small to them things, but large to me. When I first started playing, just being able to play every note in the correct order was all I was trying to accomplish. No thought was given to tempo, pauses, holding notes, etc. now I am trying to learn all of those items since that is what actually makes the song recognizable. I am also working on lead in and ending songs and not starting and stopping abruptly and also filling in pauses with something. All small things, but what make the music easy and fun to listen to, but as I am finding out, also take a lot of practice and effort. So our travels for the rest of the year after Iceland next month are back to Minnesota for a wedding in Aug/Sept, Lesley going to Hawaii in October, both of us going in the RV to October fest in Iowa in late September, and maybe another get together later in the fall with the group we stayed with last week in Maggie Valley, NC. Other than all that, not much else happening here. Time for a tea.
  14. As I write this Lesley is traveling around Iceland in a rental car. She is on a two week adventure there alone and having a ball. She has fallen in love with the people and the unique countryside. I did not go because somebody had to take care of our 14 yr old dog Tippy. Just before Lesley left we unexpectedly had to put Tippy down. So I am actually alone now and we may go back to Iceland together at some point, she really wants me to see it. Being alone has given me a chance to catch up on many “honeydo’s”. Lesley is still hoping she can return to New Zealand sometime later this year, but that remains to be seen. Now that they have an open “bubble” with parts of Australia there is hope. We are also beginning to travel in our motorhome again. We spent a week in Amana. Iowa at a May festival and met several really great people. The festival was fun and the trip up and back was good. We did come back to Tennessee a somewhat longer way through Missouri and avoided driving on Interstates most of the way. next month we are making a short trip to Maggie Valley in North Carolina and in August we are going to Minnesota for a wedding. Then Lesley is off to Hawaii in October maybe alone, maybe not. as far as I am doing, all good at the moment. Health is good other than a few aches and pains. Working on the annual stuff that needs to be done on the motorhome, washing and waxing, lubricating lots of things, oil change, etc. just stuff to keep me busy. I did hire out the cleaning of the roof, as Lesley does not allow me on it anymore. Lesley just called rom a fjord on the East coast of Iceland. She is overlooking the ocean and now going for a walk around the small town. She had another hot spring bath today enroute to tonites stop. she could not be enjoying it more. anyway, time to go now.
  15. Well spring is on the way, buildings going up near us. A neighbor has just finished a large out building to store his farm implements in. Also the vacant lot next to us is having a house built on it this year, construction to start soon. I hope they are prepared for the cost of building materials these days. Wow, have they gone up. Anyway life seems to be reawakening and so are Lesley and I. We both have been vaccinated now and are ready to start doing something, but hard to find a good place to go these days. Lesley has a severe case of cabin fever and really wants to go somewhere overseas, but most countries are still not accepting tourist type of travel even if you are vaccinated. She really wants to take mum’s remains back to her home of New Zealand, but that does not look likely this year. She is discouraged over that as she would like to be there in September for her son’s 50th birthday, but that will likely not happen. She has been looking at a do over trip to Hawaii which we did last year just before the pandemic started. She gets daily updates on what is possible now, but I expect her to wind up in Hawaii again soon. I will not be traveling with her wherever she goes since somebody has to take care of our 14 year old frail dog Tippy. Long time readers might remember just after my stroke I asked readers of this blog to help me out by naming the then puppy. A member of this board suggested Tippy and so the dog was named. That lady has the only picture of Tippy autographed by us when Tippy was a puppy. She has been a truly great pet for us and deserves special care now in her sunset years. i am trying to get out of a lazy funk I have slipped into with the self isolation we have been doing since this pandemic started. Now that we are vaccinated I feel I can start doing more, but now I just have to get the energy back. Outside honey do chores await and the usual springtime maintenance on the motorhome awaits me, washing, waxing, lubricate all sorts of things, oil change, etc, etc. fortunately I have spent the past year doing a lot of routine exercise so I feel good and have my strength back. No excuses I guess. my music hobby has been going well recently. Those readers that have played music for many years would likely laugh at my meager efforts, but I am seeing some progress. I am now learning how to chord which since my 75 year old left hand fingers do not move all that well is a real challenge. When I started playing a year ago I never expected to chord. I am now starting to play with a friend who has played for many years and that is really helping. Another trick I have learned is that before playing I put my left hand in warm to hot water for a few minutes. That seems to limber up the fingers and playing goes better. Another really neat opportunity unexpectedly came my way a few weeks ago. I was able to have a personal two hour lesson by a former national champion dulcimer player that lives a few hours away from us. We had a great time (I did anyway) and I learned sooooo much from him and the door is open for more if I wish to pursue it. I expect I will go see him a few times a year. It will take me several months to digest all he gave me to do. Medically we are both doing pretty well considering we are both in our 70’s and I am a stroke survivor. More aches and pains than we would like, but both still active and looking forward to whatever the new year holds. time for tea.
  16. At this time of year I like t evaluate the past year and see what worked and what didn’t. I then try t look ahead and see what we should prepare for and what I want to accomplish in the next year. So here goes. Obviously most of us would declare 2020 was a bad year not to be repeated. Since we all look at things through our own perspectives and our personal situation, we all probably have different thoughts about the past year. To start with I try to evaluate things that were within my control and things that were not. I don’t like to dwell on things not within my control since there is usually little I can do about them anyway, so why waste time and energy worrying about them? that being said, I do believe it is prudent to do whatever preparation we can for any concerns we have about the future, even that outside our control. Save money, do what we can to reduce any risks you perceive ahead, prepare for a “new normal”, change any personal behaviors that are not useful, start doing things within our control that are beneficial to us, etc. Surprisingly, when I look at the year just passed, I find not everything was bad. Yes, we lost mum, had to cancel some travel, had some things break around the house that needed repair, could not be as socially active as we wanted to be, but not all was lost. I find my “honey do” list is amazingly all done! My Amazon wish list is empty. Our bank accounts have never been higher. Because of extra time, we have both read far more than usual. I finally went to Hawaii and now have been to all 50 states. I also took the down time to get the cataracts removed from both eyes and can now see well again. most importantly to me personally is that my efforts at playing music have shown some results that a year ago I would have never believed possible. I recently read an article about a study done on babies and toddlers and how they learn fastest. The bottom line was that they learn through being persistent and always trying things just at the limit of what is possible for them. They get out of their comfort zone and are not afraid of failure. I can say now from personal experience that this strategy works for old guys as well. My musical progress was greatest when I left my comfort zone and tried new things. After a few weeks or months of trying some new things, I noticed they started becoming natural and easier, more automatic. Two weeks ago I picked out 4 new songs to learn, all requiring me to try new to me techniques. After only two days I could pretty much do them to my satisfaction. I had set the bar too low and made it too easy. This coming week I will pick out more challenging songs and force myself out of my comfort zone. i am reminded of the time after my stroke when I kept falling when trying to lift and carry my canoe. It took six months of hard sometimes painful effort. But in the end a few of you long time readers may remember my posting a picture here of me carrying my canoe. In the years since I had become complacent and did not try enough new challenges. Now that I have music as a hobby, finding new challenges is easy again. the point is not that I will ever become a great musician, I won’t, but I will spend the rest of my life enjoying trying to get better at it. So for this year I now have several new goals I am aiming for, because that is within my control. Remember, we can tell other people whatever we would like them to hear, but we cannot lie to the person we see in the mirror because that person knows the truth about us. i remember when I came home from the stroke rehab hospital in a wheel chair. Despair and bad thoughts were my companion. A month later I drove a few miles out in the open country. Then after that I drove 20 miles or so. Then a few weeks later, 50 miles, then 100 miles from our home to Duluth, MN, then finally a few months later both ways. Then six months later I met my main goal of carrying my canoe so I could go fishing again. my bottom line is for us to work on those things we CAN control, prepare as best we can for those things we cannot control, and always push ourselves to be at the very edge of what we can do, whatever that is. happy new year to all.
  17. GeorgeLesley

    Mince Pies

    Wow, brings back childhood memories of when my mom used to make exactly the same thing. Cleaning out our freezer a week ago, Lesley came across some of these she had made a few years ago. They are now gone. Thanks for the memories.
  18. Thanks Sue. All my life I have admired musicians and enjoyed music, but never had time or money to pursue it myself. Somehow the passing of my best man friend last year triggered me to get on with what was still on my bucket list and I woke up one day and decided I was going to try it. So I went down town that day and bought a used instrument at a small price to see if I could even do the basics. Now I can’t wait for my daily practice sessions! So far I am self taught with the help of the guy, now good friend, who sold me my first instrument and books I have picked up and some hints from Lesley. because of age and my stroke the left hand has difficulty doing some of the things I would like to do musically, but I am finding work arounds. you may remember a blog I wrote several years ago about jamming the night away once playing music. At the time I had zero expectation of ever even picking up an instrument let alone actually playing it. Since we have many new members on this board now, I might repost that blog from the past one of these days, is that allowed? thanks Sue for the encouragement.
  19. Just a short entry today. As I mentioned some time back I am trying to learn to play the mountain dulcimer. I started practicing a year ago and have made a bit of progress. I am self taught so not perfect by any means, but thoroughly enjoying myself. I just finished two Christmas videos and I wanted to share them here. They can be easily seen by going to youtube.com and just typing in my name, George Gradek. There will be three videos show up. “Christmas medley 1”, “Christmas medley 2”, and “ode to mum” which I came up with as I was practicing Michael Rowed The Boat Ashore the day after mum passed away. The words just came to me so you can view it if you wish. so now that is done, I am deciding what I will attempt next. Hope somebody enjoys the videos.
  20. Thx for all the great comments and stories. I hope we can all use this bad time in the world to reflect on ourselves a bit. Asha, no I do not have natural kids. The first wife was an insulin dependent diabetic and back in the early 1970’s childbirth was not recommended for type 1 diabetics. In fact, she lost a sister giving birth to a child, so we made the no kids decision. We did attempt adoption but being overseas for the first 7 years of our marriage, that did not work out either. Lesley has a son and he and I get along very well and I am proud to consider him my son as well. When I leave this earth, everything goes to him after Lesley.
  21. Recently this blog has become mostly historical reporting on what we have been doing and what we hope to do in the future. This entry will be a bit different, musings and thoughts that just come along, so lets get on with it. Most of us have had lots of extra time as of late to just think about things, read books, catch up with old friends which is easy because you are sure they will be home, eat into the “honey do” list, etc, etc. well, I am no different so while I have been stroking my beard covered chin musing about the state of the world, I have also thought much about my life (now75) and how things worked out for me. Well lets see, some worked out well for me. Two good lucky picks for wives. The first lasted 28 years before she passed, and now 19 years and counting with the second one. During my time with these ladies I have traveled to 30 countries and all 50 states. I have been nursed back from a stroke. I have lived my life dream of living in Northern Minnesota in the wilderness and fishing my summers away in a solo canoe. Both ladies have spoiled me rotten. Not sure what they got out of it, but since they stuck around I guess they got enough to keep them satisfied. A comment from the first wife summed it up nicely. As the end was nearing and we both knew it, I asked her one day that since we can still travel at the moment, is there anyplace you would like to go or is there anything you still want to do? After a long pause, she looked at me and said “no, I think we have done it all”. I was dumbfounded but happy. She passed a few months later, finally at peace. I made a lousy bachelor and Lesley and I married 4 months later. So far there has been no need to ask anything like that of Lesley. But her mum lived with us for the last three years of her life. One evening as she drifted off to sleep we heard her talking to God. We heard her say among other things, “God, I am ready to go, no regrets”. That was the second lady in my life I heard have such peace facing the future. As she spent the last five days with us in a coma, we confidently whispered in her ear, “it’s OK mum, you can go now, God is waiting for you”. So where does this leave me? Well, still pondering. Yes life has had it’s great moments for me, a few wins where I was blessed enough to hopefully make a difference. Sadly, I can also recall times where I missed the opportunity or was, even worse, the actual problem or part of it. Hopefully I have learned from those failures and will attempt do better in the future. Where to go from here, well I have decided to be more giving by nature. Sounds easy, but in practice the old spirit can rear it’s ugly head. A longtime friend of mine told be he carries 3-4 $100 bills in his wallet and his goal is to give them out every year as the spirit gives him the urge. I have not started that program, but am now always on the lookout for opportunities to do good things. Recently three children that lived next to us were abandoned by their parents. The great grand parents stepped in and took them. We were able to help and still do so from time to time as we can. i tell you folks this not to garner praise but to alert us all that opportunities like this exist all around us if we but open our eyes and hearts. I find the more I do, the more happiness I find. The more I realize it is not about me but someone else, the happier I get. My tipping has gone up. No longer do I worry about the exact percentage, but just do what seems right. Not trying to brag here, just share a source of joy I have found that we can all share in. I think with the state of affairs the world is in today, it would be a better place if more of us did these sort of things. Yes, we all have dark times and things we would like to be better, but if we look around we will not have to look far to find someone worse off than ourselves. now it is time to practice my music I started a year ago. I am trying to put together a Christmas medley. That is one thing I would start sooner in life if I could live it over. I really enjoy it. Well, the musings are over for today, let us all try this next year to try and find someone or something that needs our help. Bye for now.....
  22. Sad to report that Lesley’s mum has passed away. We had felt she was at that point several years ago but she was a strong resilient lady. This time however she had a massive stroke and slumped over and never spoke or moved effectively again. After 5 days with no food or water since she could not swallow, she died peacefully and in no apparent pain. She did open her eyes one last time with her last breath. we are of course sad. We are relieved she went without apparent physical suffering. It was, of course difficult for us but we got through it. We kept the family well apprised of what was happening and because of the mess the world is in at the moment they were not able to be here with us. now Lesley and I are slowly doing what must be done. Probably next year when the border restrictions are hopefully lifted, Lesley will take her remains back to New Zealand and she and our son will scatter her ashes where her late husband was scattered. And there will be a memorial service there as well. She was bright and coherent until the last 5 days of unconsciousness. She even wrote a letter and read a book the day the stroke ended things. As for Lesley and I, we are just planning what we will do now with the bittersweet freedom we have in our lives. Obviously we knew the day was coming but find little consolation in that knowledge. She will be missed terribly by many.. she was 97, 98 in September.
  23. GeorgeLesley

    Never give up

    I don’t know what your deficits are, they are likely different than what mine are/were. But two things that greatly turned my life around were Saeboflex for my left hand/arm and Active release to get my muscles moving again. The Saeboflex really woke my left am/hand up and was covered by insurance. The active release got me walking again and able to carry my canoe again but was not covered by insurance. It took me 10 treatments which I paid for myself and it was worth every penny. i also tried several other things, just like you including acupuncture(limited short term benefit), neuromove, did not work for me, and several massage therapies with short term effect. The bottom line is that it is really up to you to do your own research and experimenting. When I asked PT/OT/Stroke DR’s why they did not tell me about these things to try all I got was shoulder shrugs. They only know what they specialize in. Search and try. It is not easy, but progress is possible. you might give both Saeboflex and active release a look, they are on the net as well as neuromove, even though it did not help me, it might help you.. Good luck.
  24. I would suggest you consider a mountain dulcimer like I play. One of the main reasons I chose it is because it only has three strings and the melody string which is played with the left hand only uses one finger to slide up and down the fret board. No chording needed! Many players now do chord with it but the original dulcimers were not built with a fret under all the strings, only the melody string. I play mine that way and do not attempt any chording, dulcimers usually come with two melody strings to increase volume, but many (like me) take one melody string off, much easier to tune. it also is played by putting it in your lap. Strumming or picking with the right hand is easy and is done the normal way. another option would be a lap harp which I also have now, it is played with a pick in one hand only.
  25. We are waiting things out like the rest of the world these days. Lots of small news nothing dramatic to report. We got our grand daughter back home to New Zealand finally. She was trapped for a few weeks in Northern Ireland. She was visiting family and stayed a bit too long and then for awhile could not get back to NZ. We finally got her a ticket on Qatar Airlines and she is back home now, but still in a mandatory 2 week isolation. The entire country of NZ is in a lockdown until the end of April anyway so no matter. On a different subject mum is showing signs of change and appears to be losing ground. To be expected, she is 97! Has had several mini strokes, probably TIA’s. Still mostly ok but not mobile anymore. Wheelchair only now. Still of good spirit but does not read books much anymore or write letters like she did. We do not take her out of the house anymore. Conversations with her are much simpler and shorter than before, but her personality is still as sweet as ever. Lesley and I just keep chugging on day by day, all of our planned travel is either cancelled or on hold at the moment. I go out for supplies once a week, Lesley stays with mum. Nobody gets into our house for any reason at the moment and we only go out when vitally needed, then with gloves and mask, etc. we just cannot risk bringing anything home and getting mum infected. We are also at risk since we are both over 70 ourselves, Lesley having had her 70th birthday earlier this month. I have been busy doing some long delayed chores on the motorhome and will be doing more when it warms up a bit such as oil change, grease job, installing a few new brighter lights, and wash and wax. That is a big job since it is 34 ft long it takes me two days to do it, but not much else to do now anyway. It has also been a very good time to exercise regularly. I now Do about an hour and a bit every two days and am feeling as fit as an old guy can feel! It has also been a good time to practice my music. I hav been practicing nearly everyday for an hour or so and it is paying off a bit. I have been really trying to play a few songs without using sheet music but play from memory. Not easy for me to do, but with practice and repetition it is working. I have also been reading a book on “self talk” which describes how to program our brain for success and not failure. I was skeptical at first, thinking it was just another motivational self help book, but it is actually much simpler, the theory makes sense to me, and so far seems to be helping some. Anyway, I am really enjoying trying to play music, something I never thought I would or could do and now am doing a bit of, having fun and enjoying having taken on a new challenge at age 74 and actually having a bit of success and enjoying it. Go figure! Like everyone else I wonder what has happened to our world and if or when it will get back to what it was. My opinion is that it will be forever changed, better in some ways and worse in others. I suspect that travel will be different, as will higher education and probably all education will be affected more at home , less on campus which will prove to be far cheaper, more work at home, less business travel, more awareness of personal hygiene in public which will lower the death rate of seasonal diseases. Most of this will be good. the bad is that some businesses will not survive. Cruise ships will have to change or die. Air, rail, bus, mass transit, and boat travel will all struggle to become accepted again. Social gathering in public places, retail stores, even large private gatherings will be awhile returning to the new normal. Sports will be forever changed in ways I cannot predict, but the human need to compete will bring sports back in some form. My biggest concern is for the economy. There will be changes, spot shortages, supply line changes and disruptions lots of unemployment, and even some political uncertainty. I hope I am wrong on all of this, nothing would make me happier than to be proven wrong. Some of the experts I read are saying deflation is coming, some say inflation is coming. Both are bad, pick your poison. My best advice is get out of debt if possible and stay that way. Anyway, life will go on, some of the changes that are happening wil be for the better, some not. For now, it is time for mum and I to have a cup of tea. bye for now