Recovering

 Continuing to recover from my dental procedure. I am eating soft foods along with some crunchy foods - a cookie, for example. I haven't tried a sandwich yet - that will be a few days from now - but did eat some Spam meat and a slice of cheddar cheese, both cut into small bites. I cut them up to make it easier to put into the right side of my mouth. I don't want to try to pull the food apart with my teeth yet.

I'm getting into the May book club selection, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart. This will be a change for me since I have not particularly enjoyed the selections this year. 

I put another book on hold at the library today. It's about a man who stole maps from distinguished libraries in the early 2000's. It's different from the one I may choose for my third book this year - The Island of the Lost Maps.

I did another 24 Vietnam photos today. Hopefully I can finish the album by the end of the weekend. I am throwing some away.

I'm still not sure of what I want to write - a novel/mystery or a memoir. I certainly have enough information to write the latter, several times over if I decide to. I did start a Graphic Trees notebook to help with ideas.

Gooing to close now and look over some of my writing notes.

My Dentist Visit

 Well, it was a success. I had four front-bottom teeth that were bad and had to come out. Actually, one had fallen out about a month ago on its own. It took all of 20 minutes to numb the area, pull the teeth, and get me out of the chair. Now I have to wait until at least May 30 - my next appointment - to be molded for a partial. The partial will be anchored on each side by the canine tooth still present. 

The first challenge of course will be to relearn to eat without any front teeth to pull apart the bread of a sandwich, or just help move the food around inside my mouth.

Update and Upcoming

 Whatever it was that Laid me low last week left and we were able to out to a 34th wedding anniversary dinner on Saturday, a day late of the actual date, the 26th. We went to Staunton to a restaurant we last ate at in 2010 when we first moved to Virginia. It is called Aioli and was very good. I had a blackened tuna steak. Lisa had a filet. We'll definitely go back before another 14 years - I would be 94 if for no other reason!

Today is a major crisis for me. I have a dentist visit to have three front-bottom teeth pulled. They have become bad and loose. It was originally four teeth, but one fell out about six weeks ago. To say I am nervous is to say the least. I hate going to the dentist - which is probably a major reason these teeth must come out now. I will be getting a partial in about 4-6 weeks.

I have just begun reading Moby-Dick. Let's see if I stay with it. I'm also reading two other fiction books - The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson, and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The first one is for the mystery book club at the end of May.

I began again to place my Vietnam photos into a small album. A few each day. Maybe I can finish it in a month or so.

Now I have to get ready for the trip to the dentist. Results here maybe tomorrow.

From the Sick Bed

 I've been ill since Monday. Began with an upset stomach and quickly turned into diarrhea and throw-up. Still have got an upset stomach and am not hungry. I'm having to watch my blood sugar. 

I'm not going to write any more now. I feel very tired.

Road Trip

 We went to PA (actually Hagerstown, MD) to visit Summer for her 10th birthday. We met them at Ready, Set, Play. It's an arcade where children can play on slides and climbs, as well as arcade games that can earn tokens for prizes at the end of the visit. We did this last year and Summer enjoyed it a lot. This is an alternative to visiting at Sabrina's home that has 19 outside steps which I can't navigate anymore.

Summer is on her left. On the right is Aria, one of her very best friends from almost at birth. She doesn't get to see her very much anymore. Aria was very sickly as a child and was very much smaller than Summer. As you can see she grew!

Lisa also saw Serenity and played with her for a little while. Serenity turned 2 years old last November. 

All in all, it was a good visit though both of us are very tired; Lisa because she did all the driving, and me because I slept very little last night.

We ate some snacks and a slice of pizza while we were there. For dinner, we're having a small pizza!

Tomorrow I need to catch up on my English Premier League football (soccer) and golf. And try to sort through my writing folder.

Cleaning Up

 I have spent the past two afternoons going through my desktop file folders attempting to clean them up. The ultimate goal is to find all of the notes I have written about writing my so-called novel and other writings. I have only one more folder left - "My Book".

I'll try to work on it Sunday - we're going to PA for the day to celebrate Summer's 10th birthday - and finish things to the point where I am ready to begin treating my writing as a hobby and not trying to write the Great American Novel. I know that the preceding sentence is a terrible one. It is much too long. This is going to be one of the goals of my writing. To improve it. 

I'm also going to work on a notebook  I've titled "Memory Trees". I will attempt to show a picture of what I mean.

I'll talk more about this device in another post.

WhatAll

 Not really an original word I know, but it should convey the message I want and need for today. I have several things in the fire so-to-speak and wish I could say I've been busy, but in reality, I have been spending too much time napping during the day. 

I am not getting much sleep in bed at night. This is primarily due to not being able to lay on my right hip for any more than about two hours before I have to get up and go lie in my recliner chair. Before you ask, no I cannot lay on my left side for a variety of reasons.

I am still planning on trying to make an origami crane today. We'll see if it happens.

I also want to begin sorting the physical papers and files I have with my writing. I mentioned before that I decided to make my attempts at writing a hobby instead of attempting to write for money.