A "Pick Me Upper" Day!

Today was definitely what I would have to term as a day full of "pick-me-ups!"

In many ways, this week -from Tuesday on thru today -has been one with many "pick-me-uppers" for me.

First there was the chemo treatment on Tuesday which, this time, went with nary a hitch, not a glitch in sight. The nurse accessed the port easily, virtually painlessly and the infusion was so smooth I slept through most of it! Can't beat that with a stick, now can ya?

Wednesday, I had to go back to the cancer clinic to get a shot of neuplasta (I think that's the name of it) to make sure my white cells continue to make more of the same. I think that's the closest explanation I can give for the need for this injection. Anyway, the nurse had told me that this shot would most likely make me achy, make me feel kind of like I was coming down with the flu, ya know, but guess what? Even with all the rain we had this week -which generally really sets my joints afire and aching -I had no problems along those lines whatsoever from that injection.

Pretty smooth sailing there, don't 'cha think?

I've been plugging away all week, working on my latest tabletopper project and making pretty good progress on that too. Even though I was a little ticked off initially because the directions for the stitching of this big old star didn't match the stamping on the fabric 100% so some of my stitching there was well, shall we say, sort of "ad lib?" It doesn't look horrible, but I'm not happy with it cause I know it has errors and I just don't like to see that in my work. (Not that I don't make errors cause yes, I do but normally they are ones only I really know where they are and this piece, I feel, the errors on it will be visible to others looking at it too and that annoys me.

Oh well. It will still be okay for us to use as a Christmas Tabletopper here in our house -just won't be one for sale or for a gift.

Today -Saturday -was the kind of fall day I could really enjoy. Okay -a bit more sunshine would have really made it perfect, but the temps were just great -not hot, not cold -just nice in-between!

This afternoon I decided to do something I have been really lax about since the surgery though. I decided to take Sammy for a walk and to make it the kind like we'd been taking back in June and July -a nice longer walk down to Peale!

It was cool enough today that my clam diggers and a turtleneck under a nice v-neck sweater provided just enough warmth for me. (I do tend to chill a bit easier than before but nothing really drastic.)

So, about 3 p.m., Sammy and I headed down the street for Peale.

It was so nice and comfortable walking -no bright sun to bake me, no rain to soak me -just nice even temps -and the trees turning colors were so pretty, it made for a beautiful stroll for us.

I decided that I wanted to walk to this one particular curve in the road where the woods on the right-hand side clear out a bit and there is a beautiful view then overlooking the valley where Peale once was and you can see clear across to the hillside that is the area referred to around here as "Tunnelside." (Named because there is a railroad tunnel in the mountain side there.)

Anyway, as I got to that clearing, and saw the view unfold before me of the opposite mountain, I was really in awe of the beauty -how lovely the trees were, so many different shades of reds, oranges, browns, greens and yellows. Like a giant kaleidoscope of every fall color in the spectrum, ya know!

And I was planning to take a picture of this scene when I happened to notice just down the road from this spot, was a silver vehicle looking like it was in a spot where it sort of didn't belong. And in front of this vehicle was a little green Tracker that I recognized as belonging to a local guy here in town too. Then I spied the owner of the Tracker standing by his buggy and another guy walking around there too so I decided to postpone my picture taking and walk down to see what was going on where they were.

When I got to where the guys were milling around, this is what I saw!

Yep! Seems someone had driven this nice little suv off the side of the road, striking that tree you see there and pretty well wedging the vehicle in there too! Darned good thing it was pretty wedged in because to the right of the vehicle, the embankment is a bit on the sheer drop-off side for that section of the road!

So I chatted for a while with the guys and learned that the owner of the Tracker was just there waiting around with the other guy (who was the owner of the SUV) so he wouldn't have to wait out there all alone until a wrecker of roll-back came back to pull him out of his predicament.

While I was there the roll-back showed up and I tried something I thought would be really bright -like taking video of the roll-back driver hooking up to the SUV and pulling it out -but the movement of the SUV was so slow, so slight, so miniscule, that it really didn't even show up on the videos! Go figure, huh?

The poor guy with the rollback though couldn't get the SUV loose and had to contact another wrecker driver from the company where he works to come and help him and between the wrecker and the rollback, it took about 90 minutes for them to wench this SUV loose from the moorings it had taken up along side the road there!

For a ghost town such as Peale is, this was something exciting for me to see on my walk down there! Usually, all I see is the dirt road, trees and occasionally -in the summer time -some pretty flowers blooming here and there!

Needless to say, all that time spent watching them pull this SUV free ate up 2 1/2 hours of my time! So it was just past 5:30 when I got back home.

Then, I decided I didn't want to cook a meal tonight just for me, so I was going to run up to the deli at the grocery store in Kylertown and pick up some good sliced meat to make myself a yummy sub sandwich. Sounded like a good plan to me until I got in the jeep, turned the key and... nothing happened!

Darned jeep wouldn't start for me!

I knew my neighbor across the road (who is a mechanic) was out front of his house, sitting on his front steps so I walked towards his place and called out to him, "Hey Bob! Know a good mechanic around these hills?"

Bob laughed and said it sounded to him like the jeep needed a jump start so he got some kind of apparatus he has and brought it over to my place, hooked it up on the jeep and presto-magic, the darned thing fired up right away!

However, Bob told me if I was just making a short trip, he advised I not shut the engine off but rather, to let it idle and try to charge up a bit till I ran my errands and got back home.

Which then is what I did.

Meanwhile, on my way out of town, as I went past my son's house, I saw he was home so stopped there for a few minutes to talk to him, let him look over the engine on the jeep and make his assessment. He thinks it may be something as simple needed as a new battery but could also mean the alternator is going bad too. He thinks it more likely is the battery though so Mandy said she's going to get me a new battery at Walmart cause we can't go without having my jeep for me to use to get back and forth to my myriad of tests, doctor appointments and of course, more chemo looming too in the future. Cover my bases there, please!

On the way home from running my little errands, I stopped and picked up the mail and was surprised to see three things in the mail for me that were -judging by the envelope and the handwriting -some kind of cards for me.

The first one I opened was a card from one of my high school girl friends -one who usually joins us for our "monthly lunch bunch" but didn't come to our meeting this past week. And it was a birthday card -only about a week early but she said she wanted to mail it now because she and her husband are going to Virginia this week and she was afraid she'd forget about it then.

And the card was one that was really sweet -very sentimental -and yes, being the sentimental slob that I am, I confess that it brought tears to my eyes too. And it was signed "Love, Carol and Eddie too!" Carol's husband grew up two doors up the street from me, is two years my senior and is also one of the nicest men anyone would ever hope to meet. (So he and Carol make a darned good paid because Carol was always one of the sweetest girls in our class and just a great lady as a result today, don't 'cha know?)

That left these two other cards with penmanship I didn't recognize and a postmark of Phoenix, AZ -which really puzzled me at first. Until I flipped the envelope over to open it and saw the return address with the name above it that said simply "Debo Blue!"

And for those of you who have never picked up Debo Blue's blog to follow, never read any of her pieces, well if you have, then you will understand when I say that seeing her name there, there was no longer a mystery because Debo is the kind of person who would send a person a card -just to say hello, just to try to find a way if it was needed to give another person a little bit of an uplift in life. Which is exactly what those two cards she sent did for me! (She sent me both these cards because she said she couldn't make up her mind which one she liked better! Now I ask you, how sweet is that anyway?)

And now, there you have it -how my day started out today to be pretty mundane. Just a nice pleasant walk with my little dog, Sammy but ended up having a tad of excitement if you will -seeing the car get pulled out -enjoying the lovely temperatures on this early Fall day, appreciating the beauty of the woods and the fresh air from a walk of well over 2 miles plus, having a neighbor handy to get my car started for me, a visit later from my son too as he came down and made himself a big old sub sandwich too for his supper and then, the greetings from a long-time girlfriend and her husband plus the pick-me-upper cards from one of the best friends and old gal like me could have acquired via cyberspace -Debo Blue!

Definitely this day was not one cut out for any one who might be a pessimist but one for optimism only!

Gotta love "pick me uppers" don't 'cha?