TRUCKING WITH KWHEELER AKA KEITH

 iris's by the side of our front porch and the geranium is a gift from Alicia and Keith.
The rest of the pictures are of Keith's  tractor trailer truck.

WALKING THE GREENWAY PATH IN CHARLOTTE, NC WITH ALICIA

 what a wonderful day. we spent several hours walking on this terrific path which was a combo of boardwalks and pavement. This greenway spans about 30 miles and is really a linear park. There's also lots of wildlife and birds. We saw a hawk and cardinals and frogs.

 Took a lunch and ate on a bench before getting back to the car and heading home. This was my first walk of any significance since my fall on April Fools Day and it went really well; i was encouraged and filled with hope that my trail days were not over YET.

TRANSCENDENCE

This was an excellent B movie; a great one to be watched and talked back to (with witty added dialogue and commentary) with Ron and Julie. As a major studio and theater release, it wasn't very good. I rated it a 5.

Johnny Depp is not a good actor in these non-costumed roles. He mumbles; its like he's too lazy or cool to move his lips in a purposeful manner so his words just dribble out. Lots of good actors were wasted in this film including Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall and Morgan Freeman, the ubiquitous voice of reason.

Depp is Dr. Will who is a leading A.I. proponent and researcher and when a terrorist group shoots him with a time release radiation bullet, his lover (Hall) decides to upload his brain to a machine with the help of Max (Bettany). However, Max could see early on that Computer operating system Will was not going to be content just to communicate with his friends in the "real" world. He wanted to take over and be the Big Boss of the land.

So you can guess the rest.

But even though it was not a good film, it was better than i thought. It moved at a fairly good pace and because we were the ONLY people in the theater (and oh, it was cold; luckily Bill had an extra sweatshirt that i put on under neath a sweatshirt; had my hood up the entire viewing time.) he could  frequently explain to me in a normal voice all the computer lingo and terms.

The theater we saw it at was the one on Monroe and it had a creepy over-the-hill sad and seedy air about it compounded by the quaalude'd cashier guy at the concession stand.

After the show we went to one of the best Chinese buffets we have ever eaten at. The variety was immense and everything i tasted (oh, exc. the fried plaintains) was very good. Bill said the salmon was delicious and they had 6 different kinds of ice cream for dessert AND the place was clean.

So it was a lovely date night; our first in Charlotte.

EASTER WITH ALICIA AND KEITH

Absolutely wonderful dinner and evening in their totally comfy, cozy, beautifully decorated with scented potpourri (Calm was what a. and i picked) apartment which is also inhabited by Jazzmyne Hope, tabby  cat.

 We had coconut shrimp with a dipping sauce, rice with fresh basil, sauteed zucchini and squash, a salad with apple cider vinaigrette and chocolate cake with neopolitan ice cream. yum. yum.

After dinner we watched a Dave Attell comedy concert which was hilarious and side splitting. A 10+ evening with our favorite young couple.

CAPTAIN AMERICA FOILED!

So we were planning to see Captain America at a downtown theater that is located in a big multi-story building with many restaurants, bars, pubs, grills, entertainment venues and outside seating areas.

So Bill spent endless time in the morning plotting our route (even though we only live a couple of miles from downtown, the streets here in Charlotte are twisty and curvy and change names often. Bill is the ultimate direction master but even he is having a hard time in this town.) and then we went over the route again later on when Alicia came over.

We felt fairly confident as i consulted my notes and we were making all the correct turns UNTIL we saw a construction sign and a road closed sign (right before the street that we needed to turn on) and we were forced to turn back onto the freeway going back the way we came plus some extra distance thrown in for good cosmic humor measure.

We got off at the first exit we could and it was an exit into an alternate universe; all directions led nowhere except to abandoned buildings and pit bull looking shacks. So once again back on the freeway to get off at the next exit! Of course time is counting down towards the movie's start.

When we got off this time Bill was able to find our way back to a familiar street and we started all over as if we had just left our house except for the addition of a couple of miles! As we approached the construction area, i noticed a detour sign and we turned there and that got us to the parking structure. What a wonderland of ramps; sort of like a metal wheel of confusion. Alicia said we should stay left because that would keep us close to the escalators which we needed to get to the 3rd floor theater. But it was hard to know WHICH left so we blundered into a dead end except for the sign which said exit only so we had to carefully back up and start over.

Finally found a place to park; didn't see escalators so took the elevator up to 3 where we promptly wandered like the 2 doddering seniors we are becoming. We were the oldest people there PERIOD. it was filled with youth and hipness and rad cool clothes and vegas pitched loud loud music and signs flashing and busy busy busy. So we discovered after asking for help that we had shuffled past the theater entrance only about 2 times.

Went in past a dark purple dim lighting bar area with screaming music and saw bathrooms which we gratefully took refuge in. The stalls were so dark i couldn't see where to flush. this is no exaggeration. Get up to the booth (by now we figured we missed all the coming attractions and maybe the first few minutes of the movie) and the skinny legged halter topped girl said we needed to buy our tickets on the FIRST floor.

By this time, my groin/hip area was back to throbbing and i was doing my festus cripple crab limp. We looked at each other and agreed that Captain America won out; he vanquished the enemy- us elders!

We couldn't get our parking ticket validated of course so had to pay for that. And as a final humorous life nudge, we couldn't immediately find Toto and Bill left his glasses all tangled up in cords on the floor of the truck so he wouldn't have been able to see the screen anyway.

Ah life on the road ain't all pretty, folks!!

RANDOM HAPPENINGS IN CHARLOTTE

Spring is in full bloom here and i'm still overcome with all these flowers and scents and colors. The latest to show off are the azaleas; white and several shades of pink and purple and lilac and red/orange. Oh, and then there are the sky high wisteria trees; really almost as tall as pine trees; heavily laden with drooping purple flowers. Amazing.

Weather has been delightful. We did have a rain storm yesterday (shortlived; not like Portland which heralds the rain in and it stays and stays and stays) but Toto's insides stayed dry.

We've seen Alicia most days - either she stops off on her way to work or we have lunch together and this past weekend, we had "the kids" over for brunch and Alicia made grits and I made waffle sandwiches (frozen waffles with a filling of jam and a small amt. of powdered sugar, cottage cheese and cream cheese and then grilled in butter in a frying pan) and Bill made bacon. we also had strawberries and grapes and orange juice. After visiting post meal, we all retreated to our special nap areas.

I saw the ortho yesterday and all x-rays of my hip area (groin pain is usually always from something going on with the hip joint) were normal. So his conclusion was that it was a result of the fall (i do still have an enormous bruise over my hip) and some tiny torn muscle fibers/capillaries with accompanied swelling. Treatment: time!!!

I am already out of time; a real struggle with impatience to restart my morning walks, to get out on the trail, to walk without limping in a grotesque crab-like shuffle.

There are so many restaurants close to where we are staying. No exaggeration; there must be 20 to 25 within a mile and 14 of those are within walking distance; well if one was walking that is!!!!!!

THE RELUCTANT WALNUT CRACKER IN CHARLOTTE

 The weekend before we moved into our rental house we stayed with Alicia for 4 nights. One day we stopped at a permanent farmer's market called Hillbilly's and stocked up on honey and tomatoes and a sweet onion and Bill got a whole bag of walnuts. I think he was overcome with cozy home togetherness vibes; sitting around a fireplace with loved ones eating freshly cracked nuts with love and camaraderie in the air.

 The walnuts stayed at Alicia's for the entire time; no one even took them out of the bag. and when Alicia and Keith visited us at the Magnolia house (place we are renting in Charlotte), she brought those damn nuts. The house did not have a nut cracker or a pick so bill sat for hours using his pliers and fingers extracting the nuts. I teased him endlessly. But by the time he was through, i knew we had enough to add to our scones that we are going to make soon.

Us by the Charlotte downtown skyline (post lunch in mid-town) and also by a walkway recently built along a re-landscaped and re-hab'd creek area.

ARRIVAL IN CHARLOTTE

On our hike in Kennesaw Battleground Park in Atlanta, Georgia, the troop battalion Maggie Commando Unit 2 went down hard. I tripped on a rock while rubbernecking all the trees in bloom and wildflowers. I didn't even have a chance to catch myself.

Went to the ER (very impressed with the efficient and fast service at Emory Hospital) and my list of injuries included: skinned and abraded knees, bruised and swollen left hip area, broken right elbow and fractured left rib. Broken ribs are no longer taped and bound because people weren't taking deep breaths and aerating their lungs so a lot of them especially in the senior doddering age range were getting pneumonia. I had  a shoulder to wrist rigid splint and sling put on my arm.

So instead of running across the parking lot to greet our daughter, Alicia, and flinging my arms around her neck and giggling with joy, i was shuffling, hunched over, limping and unable to laugh or talk excitedly.

I can't believe how much having just ONE broken rib can hurt. any movement really just takes my breath away with sharp stabs of pain or sort of a rolling deep pulling apart all my muscles pain or my personal favorite the lightning flash of my entire chest wall which momentarily paralyzes all movement.

I find myself reliving my trail steps and correcting where my foot went and avoiding the rock and being able to complete the loop and get "on with my life" which included unrestricted activity and my stretches in the morning and long am walks and hikes and laughing and being able to roll over in bed without planning each maneuver and being able to wipe my ass.

But even though right this moment i do not feel grateful inside myself, my outer self will type words of optimism and adult coping and focusing on what i CAN do because there have been improvement changes.
I had the sling and splint removed by the ortho doc i saw in Charlotte.
I'm off narcotics and just popping ibuprofen like mad. The benefit of the pain relief (which was still not total but 75%) eventually paled compared to the degree of constipation i had with the oxycodone.
I can most obviously write and type.
I can walk short distances (like to a car; around Walmart)
I can now brush my teeth fairly well with my right arm.
and i am in Aliciaheaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have already gained weight and am imagining the roly poly gal that i'll resemble with weeks and weeks of no exercise.

but living in the moment and staying NOW, everything including me is a-ok. This event is one of those described over and over by Pema Chodron; the rug has been pulled from under me and i am awash in groundlessness. So i either become bitter and angry and live in the past and start blaming others (like the park service for not maintaining their trails to the requisite smoothness) or i go with the flow of life and smile and grin at the cosmic absurdity of thinking i can have everything go my way all the time.

hey, that sounded grownup, huh?

ATLANTA, GEORGIA FOR 6 NIGHTS

It has been so nice to just stay put for awhile. for most of March, we have had one night travel stops or 3 nights visiting relatives (oh, boo hoo; this is for sure a white man's "problem") and now we can just semi-settle in.

We are renting the bottom floor of this house. Lots of room and a big kitchen. The bathroom which is also big and has the washer and dryer in it is on the opposite side of the apartment so it makes a cold journey on tile during 

the night. We were able to get our Roku hooked up to the flat screen and so have been catching up on American Horror Story and House of Cards.

Everything here in Atlanta and the suburb we are in (Smyrna) is on a hill so my morning walks have been a good aerobic workout. Just to get from the house to the street where the Silver Comet trail starts is a huffer and puffer.

The Silver Comet trail was built on old railroad lines just like the Springwater Corridor in Portland. This one goes over 90 miles all the way to Alabama. I overdose each morning on all the wildflowers and green oxygen smells and fields of daffodils and tulips.

The noteworthy things that happened was having to take Toto in for a fix for more leaks in the canopy. Excellent job. they removed the entire shell and re-did the whole seal job. and Bill backed into a parked car while we were talking money issues. No one was hurt including our Toto but you would have thought we were going 30 mph to look at the damage on the back of this car. Luckily our insurance will cover it (before our rates go up, I imagine.)