Bits and Bobs

It's been nearly a week since the incomparable Dolly Parton left her tired butterfly wings behind.

Tuesday night, I had been off my computer for a little while.  As Eli was scrolling, he asked if I had seen the news about Dolly.  When he said she had died, I started to cry and I said, "I hate this timeline!"

I cried most of the day on Wednesday, nearly inconsolable as I read tribute after tribute on social media.  I was more a fan of Dolly the person than of Dolly the artist.  Don't get me wrong, I think she was very talented and I enjoyed her songs.  But for me, my grief was caused by the fact that in a world of smothering darkness, we lost yet another bright light.  It angers me when kind people are snatched away while evil-doers continue to lurch around this planet.  It's not fair and it's not right.

We donated $185 to her Imagination Library:  $92.5 (nine-two-five) from each of us.

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For the better part of a year, THIS has been what the view out our front windows has looked like:

The construction company building new housing ripped out the adjacent meadow a couple of weeks after we moved in and eventually put up a dark brown corrugated fence that looked like the one in this photo.  Considering it was only about 10 feet from our front door, you couldn't help but notice it.  I felt like we were living inside a dumpster.

Imagine our delight when they removed this stupid fence last Thursday!  Even better, there's a strip of land between our walkway and the asphalt road/path in front of the new houses, and they've planted a ton of flowers, trees, and bushes in that strip.  Yesterday, a flock of house sparrows flew in, digging around in the new dirt and checking out the greenery.

So even though we lost the meadow, we've thankfully gained a variety of flora that will be nice to look at and will hopefully attracts birds, bunnies, and other creatures once construction is done.

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Over the last couple of months, Ireland had been in an extreme drought.  Shades of brown started taking over the Emerald Isle and sporadic wildfires were popping up every week.  The government enacted a hosepipe ban (a watering ban) in an effort to conserve water.

Within the last few days, the rain gods decided to pay the moisture arrears that had accrued during those two or three months which is good.  But they decided to repay the debt all at once which was not so good.  We had one night where the rain was just bucketing down; fortunately, we'd had a little rain in the days prior so the ground was softer and more receptive to the deluge.  Some areas in Ireland, like Killarney, experienced major flooding.

Hopefully the weather will arrive at some kind of equilibrium soon and our rainstorms will be a bit more measured.

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As you may remember, I've been feeding the birds for a few months.  It didn't happen all at once, but I've since accumulated a flock of pigeons who visit daily.

I know some people hate pigeons, calling them "flying rats" and so forth.  I think those people should feel like they're stepping on LEGOs the rest of their lives because pigeons are delightful and gorgeous creatures.

A couple of days ago, one pigeon was standing near the smaller feeding station I put out, and he was not interested in sharing the seed with anyone else.  Another pigeon tried to sneak in, and the first pigeon wasn't having it.  He grabbed the second pigeon by the feathered nape of his neck and proceeded to drag him around the yard, much like a stern mother pulling her kid around by his ear.  The beleaguered bird flailed his wings but did not squawk.   Even when they're upset or feeling territorial, they simply coo.

Our door to the back garden is full glass with a shade we can lower for privacy.  This morning, I lifted the shade so I could open the door and put some food out for the day.  One pigeon saw the shade go up, so he flew over and hovered in front of the door, staring at me and silently telling me to hurry up.  I wasn't fast enough so he repeated his hover two or three more times, flying to the ground when I finally opened the door.  He waddled along beside me and hopped up to perch on the edge of the feeder while I dumped in the seed and peanuts.

How can you hate on a creature who does that??

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Eli has a birthday coming up in November.  I told him, "I know what I'm getting you for your birthday - a weekend without me!"  🤣

To be fair, Eli is not the type who craves alone time.  For me, it's a necessity.  I HAVE to have stretches of time where it's just me alone in the house.  Eli is rarely home by himself as I either don't go anywhere or if I do leave the house, we're usually doing something together.

I enjoyed my December sabbatical so I felt it was time for another.  I like to plan these for a weekend so the cats won't be alone for long periods of time.

Clayton Hotel-Charlemont didn't have any weekend availability for the room I had last year, so I shifted my search to Clayton Hotel-Leopardstown, which is where my mom and her friend Barb stayed when they visited in April.  It doesn't have the same historical gravitas as the Charlemont location (or the same huge tub in the bathroom), but it should be fine.

I booked a Junior Suite mostly because that was the only style of room that had a mini fridge.  I like to save money by taking food/snacks I can eat for lunch and/or dinner, so it's always nice to be able to include some chilled items.

I sent an email to the hotel, asking which floor(s) the Junior Suites were on.  Their response was that this type of room can be found on floors 2 through 6.

If you know me, you're aware that I'm claustrophobic, and I avoid elevators when possible.  When Mom and Barb visited, their room was on the 5th floor, and I nearly had a stroke walking up all those flights of stairs.

Fearing that I'd be stuck on the damned 6th floor, I wrote back to the hotel, stating that I have a hate relationship with elevators and asking if I could be assigned the suite on the second or third floor.  A lovely representative took care of this for me, letting me know she'd reserved the second-floor suite for me.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this reservation holds so I can easily take the stairs and avoid the elevator.

Eli was amused by my assertion that I was doing this so he could have a weekend to himself.  I told him it was a win-win as we both would receive a gift.  😉

Disney Princesses and Blood

I had the best day today, which is interesting considering it started out with blood.

But before I explain, here's some backstory.

In January, I visited my new doctor so I could get refills of prescriptions I take for ongoing conditions, one of which is hypothyroidism.  This entailed a blood test to check my thyroid levels.

For whatever reason, I much prefer having blood drawn from my hand. This doesn't bother me as much as having it taken from my arm.

The nurse doing the lab work in January adamantly refused to draw from my hand.  I don't know if she were untrained/unskilled regarding that site or had a professional objection to it or what.

She applied the tourniquet, and it was painfully tight.  I usually experience some discomfort from this step, but this was outright pain.  And it seemed to me that the thing was on for an extended period of time.

The needlestick was quite forceful, and it left me with a large bruise.  I usually have a bit of bruising after a blood draw, but this was excessive.

In order to check the efficacy of the medication, I was supposed to have returned in March so another thyroid test could be run to see how things were going.

I did not return.

I kept putting it off and putting it off.  I thought I was procrastinating because I hate having blood drawn.  However, that didn't quite seem like the entire story so I did a little more reflection....and realized I didn't want to go back because I didn't want that nurse to attend me again.

After some hemming and hawing, I wrote a letter to my doctor to explain the situation. I said I didn't want to change clinics so I hoped we could find a resolution.  I also explained that the reason I was writing a letter for his eyes only was because I didn't want to send an email that other staff would see, which might cause some discomfort or embarrassment.

He reached out to me - wrote me an email that he said he'd delete immediately so no one else would see it.  He said that either he or the other doctor at the practice could do the blood draw or that I could have it done at a hospital.  I wanted the procedure to stay in-house so they would get paid for it, so I scheduled an appointment to see him this morning.

Friends, he was so kind and understanding.  He gently scolded me and said I should've told him this a while ago. I said, "You don't understand how my brain works. I didn't know WHY I didn't want to come back until I actually dug down a few layers and determined the root cause."  He said I certainly could've had the procedure done at a hospital, but I said I wanted them to be able to be paid for it.  He said that wasn't that important, and I was like "Oh yes it is!  Money is money!"

He drew from my hand, and the experience was leaps and bounds better than what had happened with the nurse.  No issues, my vagus nerve didn't freak out and try to make me faint, it was completely fine.  (Which is good considering I'll need to go back in another couple months to check my levels again.)

At the beginning of the visit, I had presented him with two containers of mini muffins.  I said that everyone was so kind there, and I wanted to surprise the office with treats.  I said, "I didn't want to give them to the receptionist because he seemed a little shifty, and I didn't know if he could be trusted to share them."  My doctor smiled and said, "Gavin is married to Dr. Niamh (the other doctor at the practice).  And yes, you're probably right."

As he was taking me back to the reception area, he passed the muffins to Gavin and mentioned that I had brought them in.  Gavin expressed his gratitude, which I accepted before grinning and stating I didn't give them to him because I didn't think he could be trusted to tell anyone else about them.  He laughed and said, "You're right."

Eli was off work today as he had an appointment in Dun Laoghaire, so we grabbed the bus at the Ballyogan stop and were off.  I'm telling you, even if I enjoyed driving, you could not pay me enough to drive one of those double-decker buses on some of these routes.  The roads to Dun Laoghaire (and other cities on the coast) are very narrow, there is traffic coming at you in the opposite direction (which is sometimes another huge bus) and there are cars parked on the shoulder.  That's a big nope on my part.

We got there early and walked toward the harbor, planning to kill a little time sitting there and watching the water.

There was a seawall right behind the bench we were parked on, and I glanced back to see some starlings perched there.  I began talking to them, as more arrived to perch on the top of the wall.  I carry bird-safe peanuts with me so as I was taking the bag out of my purse and pouring some in my hand, I said, "Will any of you guys come down and eat from my hand?"

AND THEY DID.

DISNEY PRINCESS TIME.

Starlings don't have large beaks so they were having trouble eating the peanuts.  A couple of them landed on my hand but couldn't make much headway with the treat.  So I scattered the handful of nuts on the ground near my feet, and they were not shy about getting close to us.

Even though they couldn't swallow the peanuts, a couple of them grabbed a nut and hurried away with it, as though to say "I can't eat this, but I don't want you to have it either."

Using my shoe, I crushed up the peanuts and boy, that did the trick.  They were squeaking and chittering and darting in to peck at the smaller shards.  I told them I was going to drop more and crush them again but not to be afraid, and none of them really retreated when I moved my foot.

I told the flock that I needed to go, and the majority of them flew away.  There were still a couple sitting on the seawall, watching very intently.  Eli and I stepped on a couple of wayward intact peanuts and pointed it out to them, and they flew down and started eating.

I really wish I'd had Eli take a video because it was pretty special.

Eli's appointment didn't take long, and then we were off to Nando's for lunch.  I still don't know how they manage to make plain ol' chicken taste so darned good.  It never looks like an overwhelming amount of food - one chicken breast, a handful of fries, and two pieces of garlic bread - but I was stuffed and had to split the last piece of garlic bread with Eli.

As we were leaving, there was a couple right outside the front door, and the woman asked if this were a good place to eat.  I said, "I don't know how they make chicken taste so good but they do!"  She asked what I'd had, and I told her I'd gotten the butterfly chicken with medium peri-peri sauce.  I told Eli later that I hoped they had a good experience and enjoyed it as much as we had.  I also told him Nando's owed me some money for providing free advertising.

Near the bus stop, there's a hole-in-the-wall place called Teddy's which sells ice cream.  I had always wanted to try it, and today we got our chance.  I had a plain cone, and Eli had the 99 - which is a plain cone with two pieces of Flake stuck in it (Flake is a candy bar).  I could've cried - it tasted just like Dairy Queen.  Same texture and everything.  Sooooo good.  I'm only sorry we had to slam it down because the bus was coming in a minute or two, and they don't want people eating on the bus.  Next time, we'll get cones when we can take time to actually enjoy them fully.

The S8 bus dropped us off at the Sandyford LUAS stop and happily, our tram to return home showed up one or two minutes later.  We had pretty good transport luck today.

As we were walking up the path to our house, there was a woman coming in the opposite direction.  She had one leash but it split into three short leads at the end, each one attached to a fuzzy white dog.  I said, "It's Cerberus!"  (Cerberus is a three-headed dog in Greek mythology.)  All three doggos were very excited about the prospect of getting pets from complete strangers so we spent a few moments loving on them before heading for the house.

All in all, it was a good day.