16 August 2023
I haven’t felt well since August 12 when I was able to do a morning walk. I managed 1.3 miles this morning and feel, for the first time in a while, pretty good. I emptied the drain bulb this morning and it read 10 ml. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll have this damn thing out tomorrow morning.
I got a good night’s sleep last night and I attribute that to the Tramadol and Allegra. No scratching and only a dull pain around the incision for the drain. You take your victories where you can get them.
My memory does weird things. Two years ago, Wade from San Francisco came for Thanksgiving and we always do a trip out to Sawgrass. There’s a Ralph Lauren outlet he likes to shop and if my memory serves me, he didn’t buy anything but I went wild. Apparently, one of the things I purchased was a pair of shorty pj bottoms and a pair of long pj bottoms. I typically sleep au naturel but I purchased them when I’m on trips and visiting friends and family. I promptly put them in a drawer and forgot about them. I mean totally forgot them.
When I walk, I either wear gym shorts or a swimming trunk that can double for regular shorts. One morning I didn’t have anything clean and noticed this gray pair with Ralph Lauren’s polo logo all over them. I put them on and realized they felt pretty good and didn’t chafe in all the right places. I got in the habit of wearing them until one of the neighbors I stopped to talk with on my walk said they looked like pjs. I said “No, just soft gym shorts.” After thinking about it, I checked online and found out indeed, I had been walking the neighborhood for months in pjs. I had totally forgotten I purchased them.
Since that time, I’ve been extra careful not to walk in pjs. In reality, I don’t think anyone would be able to tell unless they were standing next to me.
Of course, since this was my first walk since the 12th, I walked out the door in pjs. I realized it about a block away and decided what the hell and kept walking. Don’t you just know the neighborhood thinks I’m the weirdest person in the hood? Gotta keep them on their toes or they wouldn’t have anything to talk about!
I got a surprise phone call from Jim this morning. He needed some info on the location of a particular office. I got invited to lunch with him, Holley, and Holley’s Mom, Marilyn. I thought since I felt so good today, I better take advantage of the feeling and agreed to meet them at Greek Isles Taverna. It’s an outstanding restaurant and I’ve eaten there several times over the last 37 years.
Holley was coming from the semester beginning faculty meeting on North Campus, Jim and Marilyn from a doctor’s appointment and me from being bored at home.
Three of us chose the shrimp dish. One chose the ribs. Guess who? It wasn’t me.
Large Baked Shrimp, splashed with Sotiri’s Secret Sauce, Served with Rice
This was my first try of this dish and I’d definitely do it again. If you go, try the octopus, the calamari and be sure to try the lamb chops. You won’t go wrong.
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Today’s plant is the Golden Shower tree (Cassia fistula) and apparently confused with the Golden Rain Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata) made famous by the movie Raintree County starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff. Even Fort Lauderdale gets it confused.
The above segment deals with what they call a Golden Rain Tree which is considered to be over 100 years old that was moved from one location to another to allow a developer to build at its old location. From the video, when they showed the close up of the leaves; it looked to me like the Golden Shower Tree to me.
The leaf type is hard to confuse with the Golden Shower tree.
The Golden Shower tree is native to the Indian subcontinent and adjacent regions of Southeast Asia, according to Wikipedia. It’s a member of the legume family of plants (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) but unlike many members of this family, it’s not known to fix nitrogen with nodules on the roots of the tree.
My first exposure to this tree was on a walk with Rocky by the neighborhood Boys and Girls Club. It was in perfect bloom. I can see why some people confuse the tree with the Golden Rain tree because it looks as though it is raining flowers.
The flowers are arranged on a raceme. They fall from the plant individually and can create a carpet of yellow. The one at the Boys and Girls Club stays in bloom for about 4-5 weeks, it seems. I also can’t resist taking a photo of it every year it blooms. Some years are better than others for the bloom.
Hopefully, the transplanted tree will live in its new location.
Stay tuned!