Palm Tree Tales!

This afternoon, a nice chap knocked on the door and asked if I needed my palm trees trimming. His crew where working in the neighborhood and he said he could give me a good deal. He offered to do one tree for $100 or both trees for $80 cash! I liked this chaps math and took the both for $80 cash deal....... but then I got to thinking.....I wonder what the one for $100 entailed in the way of payment......was it an arm - a leg - or both - maybe gold bullion - my first born child? I guess I will never know......but the $80 cash for two deal sounded good...particularly as Mr. Indi is in no condition to trim palm trees (he's afraid of heights!) and at my age, I am NOT shimmying up any 60 foot trees.

The whole job took about an hour and, while I was happy with the work, I started to worry that I had inadvertently hired some illegal aliens and therefore contributed to the delinquency of an alien.....an offense punishable by gawd knows what these days! I shall keep my eyes open for any federal agents that might be lurking! Maybe the $80 for two wasn't such a good deal.

The picture above is one that I took this afternoon. It is the pink blossom tree out by the main road.

It's Mandatory!

Mr. Indi got up and went to work at 6a.m. this morning!!! I swear, there is summat wrong with that boy! He ain't wired up right!

He said that he had to go because he needed to attend a mandatory training session that covers the new accounting system. I told him that there will be no mandatory training when he's dead.....and he replied that I was correct - which is why he is going in today!

Above is a picture of a pretty flower bike that I took in Temecula.

A Quart Low

We left the house at 7:30a.m. and checked into the hospital at ten till eight. It was then that we discovered that Mr. Indi was a quart low and therefore would need 2 units of blood to top him up. The doctor's orders stated a slow infusion that would take 3 hours per unit - add to that the prep time and blood tests afterwards and we were looking at a 7 hour haul. I stayed until Mr. Indi was firmly ensconced in the comfy chair with a bag of the good red stuff dripping away into his port and then I left him in the kind and capable hands of Nurse Raffy.

Nurse Raffy has just won an outstanding employee award at the hospital and I can see why. She is efficient - knowledgeable - caring and kind. And, if you read this blog, Raffy - We love you!

I decided to do a little shopping that I have been putting off for a while. ( Procrastination is my strong suit.) So, I stopped at Mervyn's and got his lordship some new pjs and 3 new tee shirts with pockets. The pockets are a must-have for himself to stash his glasses, pens, pencils, etc. and they are becoming harder and harder to find so I was happy to get them. I also swung by the grocery market and picked up a few snacks to take down to the hospital - cookies - grapes - orange pop.

I returned to the hospital at 11:30 with a packed lunch of tuna salad on french bread with lettuce and pickles. Mr. Indi was starving and had himself a good munch. He also enjoyed his snacks.

After lunch, I was visited by Raffy's supervisor who had heard that I am from England. She is a sweet lady from the Philippines but who lived in Middlesborough, England for 25 years and considers it to be her home. We had a good old chin-wag about where to get the best fish and chips and how to make good Yorkshire pud!

Mr. Indi was finally finished at 3:30p.m. and was more than happy to come back home looking all nice and pink and healthy! After such a long day, it was an early dinner and bed by 9.

I took the picture above yesterday in between trips to the hospital. It is a beautiful tree out by the main road. It has these amazing spidery pink blossoms but I don't know what it is called. If anyone knows please leave a note.

The Good - The Bad and.........

I got my trache out and it was a breeze - No pain - No blood - it was all over in 5 minutes. However, Dr. K was very firm that I must remember to keep my fingers pushed tightly on the dressing that is covering my hole every time I cough or talk so that no air escapes. I have been following this direction faithfully as I don't want to cough and end up flying around the room, bashing into the walls and ceiling and ending up in a crumpled heap behind the television!

He also warned me that the hole may not heal because of the effects of radiation but if that is the case it will simply be a matter of a couple of stitches to close it up. I go back next week to have him check it.

Mr. Indi had stayed home to go to the docs with me because I was being a big baby and after we got finished and I had had my hugs from Sharon (she's so lovely to me!) we went off to Henry's Market to get some fresh fruit. I picked up some Pink Lady apples, (that reminds me of a 2 Ronnies sketch- I'll have a pink lady on the rocks!) a couple of Bosc pears and two beautiful nectarines. I also got a package of 3 chocolate dipping sauces - Rich Chocolate - Orange Chocolate - Amaretto Chocolate - into which you can dip slices of apple or peach or whole strawberries or your fingers! Yum!

We had a nice lunch at BJ's Chicago Pizzeria. I had a Gorgonzola and pesto pizza on a very thin crust and Mr. Indi had 4 sliders (little burgers with all the fixings.) So, the day was progressing nicely but when we got home the phone rang and it was Regina from the chemo center to say that Mr. Indi's red cell count is so low that he can't have chemo this week and in fact will have to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion! Argggggg!

We drove down to the hospital so that he could have blood drawn for typing - even though we know that he's an O pos from his days as a donor - and we got all the paperwork filled out for an 8a.m appointment this morning. So, as it is now 6a.m. I will be off to do a few chores before we leave and will continue with this when I get the chance.

The picture above is one I took last week at the Mission Inn.

Trache Out Day - Yikes!

Today I get my trache out. I'm a bit nervous because the last time I had a trache pulled out (last October) it hurt like a son of a gun and I had quite a bit of bleeding....which was unfortunate as I was wearing a white shirt that got ruined! Duh.......today I shall wear red!

I have been doing really well since we capped off the trache and my talking has improved 1000% percent. I'm not sure that Mr. Indi is pleased with that! But my sister called me yesterday and she is thrilled that we can actually yak for an hour - just like the old days.

If all goes well, I shall only need a dressing on my neck for about 4-5 days as the trache hole heals up very fast. So.....a week from now I should be as good as new.

I'm still not ready to be over the moon with my prognosis but if I can go for 6 months without the tumor reappearing I shall be forever grateful to Dr. K and his staff....and of course Dr. Janet and all the kind people at the radiation clinic.

Yesterday, Mr. Indi had blood tests in prep for more chemo on tomorrow (Thursday.) We have discovered that you can make an appointment on line for the blood lab and that is proving to be a boon. No more waiting in a queue for an hour.....of course, if everyone makes an appointment then it will mean waiting in a queue for an hour!

The picture above is one I took yesterday when I was dead-heading my geraniums.

Temecula

On Saturday, me and him went to Temecula for the day. It's only about an hours easy drive from the house and makes for a fun trip. We arrived at about 11a.m. and the first place we visited was the Farmer's Market which is held every Saturday/Sunday morning until about 1p.m. The photos above are of some of the fruit and flowers on sale. The flowers were beautiful but caused me to go into another of my choking fits! I managed to recover and catch up with Mr. Indi who had wandered down to the far reaches of the market where vendors were selling all different types of ethnic foods - Mexican - Colombian - Peruvian. The smells were amazing and made the tummy start to rumble! Mr. Indi wanted to grab some of the delights but I was more in the mood for a proper sit down meal so I drug him away.

We walked a little way down the street to a restaurant called Penfold's Cattle Company. I was interested in taking a picture of the restaurant sign that was above the bar. Penfold is a Romany name and there are many people in England with Penfold roots. I will post the picture on some genealogy sites.

Lunch was scrumptious - I had salmon with an orange glaze over garlic mashed potatoes and he had a Triple Decker Club Sandwich that was so big he could hardly get his mouth around it. He tried one of the beers from Stone's (a local brewery) but I just stuck to my old Bud Lite!

After lunch we wandered around the antique shops and I purchased 3 old photos - all of which have names on the back and so I hope to be able to find them in a census or two and maybe return them to their families. We also went to the magic shop where I got a couple of silly magic tricks for my lovely granddaughters. Our final stop was at Rosa's Cantina where we sat on the patio and had a beer and I took a few more pictures - mostly of the birds nesting in the roof tiles!

Twas a lovely day out.

A Casserole on a Rainy Day

A week ago we were all melting in 105F heat but in the past 48 hours it has reverted back to winter in this corner of the world. At 10 a. m. on Friday, it was only 56F and the skies were as grey as a battleship so I decided that it would be a good day for a beef pot roast - and besides - casseroles always last two days so that means no cooking on Saturday! I'm not as daft as I look!

I got a nice piece of boneless chuck roast - about 3 inches thick - about 2 1/2 lbs and seared both sides in olive oil in a large fry pan. I placed the meat in a large casserole dish and then I took a large, coarsely chopped, onion and cooked it in the olive oil until it was translucent. I placed the onion around the meat. I heated 3 cans ( 10 3/4oz each) of consomme- beef broth will do, too - and poured it over the beef and onions. I then added about 6oz of boiling water and the same amount of red wine. (Burgundy would be best but I only had Merlot which is fine.) I placed the casserole dish in a 325 degree oven and cooked the meat for about 2 hours. This is what I like about cooking winter foods - you can leave them alone for long periods!

Next, I chopped 2 large stalks of celery, 4 good sized carrots, 1 large parsnip and another onion (medium) all into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks and placed them into the casserole - you could add a handful of frozen peas too. As the veg were cooking (takes about 30-40 minutes) I peeled some potatoes to serve on the side and put them on to boil in lightly salted water. When the vegetables were tender I thickened the gravy with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch stirred into about 6oz cold water. I pulled the casserole out of the oven a little way and, using a large spoon gradually stirred in the cornstarch mix until the gravy started to thicken. I then replaced the lid on the casserole and pushed it back into the oven. I turned the oven off and then put the dinner plates in the oven to warm. I HATE cold plates!

We had our beef pot roast with potatoes and crusty sour dough bread......and it was delish.
I hope somebody will find this recipe useful.

Oh and by the way, the cost of this meal was approx $10 and will allow 4 servings. $2:50 each - cheap at half the price!

The photo above was taken as I drove down the freeway - Mr. Indi was behind the camera and the strange circle that appears in the center of the picture is the reflection of the camera lens through the windshield of the car!......(I thought it was aliens!)