Here's the link.
And as if one "new normal" (the post-pandemic situation) were not enough, over there in the sidebar in the section entitled "About Me" you may henceforth ignore and/or disregard the part where I wrote that I enjoy driving in the country. I would enjoy driving in the country if I could drive in the country, but I have now been told by not just one but two eye specialists that I should no longer be driving at all. My eyesight is getting worse and worse, it seems. It will be a sea-change in our lifestyle, that's for sure, as I have been the only driver in the household for several years now, ever since Mrs. RWP stopped driving several years ago.
We will have to rely on friends, neighbors, kith, kin, adult children (who live quite a distance away), adult grandchildren (ditto), unsuspecting passersby, and perhaps a few four-legged creatures to help us get to grocery stores, pharmacies, doctor's appointments, veterinarians, tonsorial establishments (barber shops, for readers in Alabama), beauty salons (for the Mrs.), and I don't know what all (which you surely know by now is an expression made famous by Andy Griffith in his comedy album of long ago, "What It Was Was Football").
That's just going to be life for us from now on. I certainly hope to continue blogging as long as I can.
To repeat something else I said recently, Brethren and cistern, pray for us.
P.S. - Just so you know, it rains on the just and the unjust, but it rains more on the just because the unjust stole the just's umbrella.
I am so sorry about the change in your eyesight. I had hoped the injections were helping or at least slowing the loss of sight. Where there's a will, there's a way, and I know you will overcome this obstacle.
ReplyDeletePraying for you and your Mrs.
Kathy, thank you for your prayers. The injections actually are helping to not slow, exactly, but stabilize the macular degeneration from getting worse. A few years ago, blindness was inevitable, so we're thankful for the mdical advances. I'm still hoping not to lose my sight altogether. My glasses are already thick, and I suppose they will get even thicker. It should help a great deal to have the cataracts removed. The loss of driving is the current shocker, but you wouldn't want me on the road seeing 20/70 or 20/80 even with glasses. (Without glasses I think I'm about 20/400.) But we will take one day at a time since that is all we can do anyway.
DeleteMy dad was so equanamitous when he had to give up: "It's just the ageing process" he said. And you seem so too. Are there no taxi services where you are? Mind you, they are not really for drives in the country.
ReplyDeleteTasker, there are taxi services and Uber and Lift, I suppose, but we live 10 miles from town to start with. I will have to do some investigating into the cost, but I can't imagine it would be cheap. We just have to adjust our expectations. We cancelled a hair appointment today that would have involved a 40-mile round trip. Note to self: Must find something closer to home.
DeleteYou have written an upbeat post about your problem with your eyesight and having to stop driving. You mention four legged friends, will you be using horses? Smile. I am able to drive but don't want to go in stores now so have been having Instacart deliver food about once a week, it works very well. Brethren and cistern, I like that, and yes, I am praying for you.
ReplyDeleteTerra, I was kidding about the four-legged creatures, although we see horses every time we leave the house. None of them belong to us, however. As Rosanne Rosannadanna used to say on Saturday Night Live, it's always something.
DeleteWe have one son whose family lives about 20 minutes away and another son whose family lies about 45 minutes away, and they have said they will help us with getting groceries and so forth. There are also a couple of neighbors we can call on, but I don't want us to wear out our welcome.
Thank you for your prayers.
I am so sorry to learn that the deterioration in your eyesight has come to this. You seem sanguine about it but even so it must be a blow. Cars matter more in America than in any other country I can think of. Is there a good taxi or Uber service you can call upon in Canton? I trust that you already know how to enlarge text using the little magnifying glass to the right of the top bar.
ReplyDeleteNeil, thank you for your concern. as I said to Tasker, we do have taxis and Uber and Lyft, but we already live 10 miles from town. The cost may prove prohibitive. Thankfully family is not too distant (20 minutes to one son and 45 to another -- that's if they're doing the driving; it takes me 30 minutes and an hour, respectively, when I'm the driver) and there are also one or two neighbors who have offered to help when they can.
DeleteAs for being sanguine, I am not exactly a "Que sera, sera" short of person but I do realize that ranting and raving and weeping and wailing do nothing to change things, so it's better not to go it that direction. We are looking at it as having to extend the "sheltering in place" of the pandemic somewhat longer, and the lockdown helped prepare us for our new future.
I hesitantly admit that there is only one word in the list that I do not use on occasion. Now I really feel old.
ReplyDeleteI fear losing my eyesight. I even have nightmares about it. I am sorry your eyesight limits you.
Emma, I have used all of them at one time or another, undoubtedly in their idiomatic phrase form. Probably not recently, however. The only limit caused by my eyesight at the moment is not being able to drive. It's major, but not life-threatening.
DeleteI'm very sorry to hear that it has come to this. My Dad, as I think I've said before, had macular degeneration so I understand. They had my brother to help with transport though. I think motoring is much cheaper in the US. Mind you I only live 7 miles from Stornoway and a return trip by taxi is about £40 so I would not want to be doing that too often.
ReplyDeleteGraham, perhaps I should take up cross-country skiing. I would save a fortune on taxi fares.
DeleteAll of those words are familiar and a part of my lexicon.
ReplyDeleteI join everyone else in grieving with and for you about your diminished sight.
Sue, they're in my lexicon as well, but you must keep in mind that I have a very old lexicon. Thank you for your kind thoughts regarding my eyesight. I think the gravity of it has sunk in, but I'm not quite certain yet.
DeleteI am sorry to hear about your eyesight. This is something that concerns me as I have some eye problems that seem to worsen each year. These days it seems like being able to drive is such a part of our independence and no one wants to lose that. There are more opportunities for delivery of groceries and other items these days so you might check into that. Amazon even has some type of a grocery service online although that may not include perishables. You also might check through your church or an area senior center about the availability of a ride service or even a group that organizes local trips to places of interest for those that don't drive. I'm sorry you are having to deal with this.
ReplyDeleteBonnie, thank you for your kind remarks. I agree that losing independence the ability to move about whenever I want to, is what bothers me most. I'm sure I will adjust to it eventually, but the prospect is daunting here at the outset. You have some good suggestions there.
DeleteI'm surely your youngest reader (?) But I know all of those words.
ReplyDeleteI think that when people stop driving the routine things have routine answers such as the son who helps with shopping or the friend who picks you up for church. It's the joyous little unplanned things that will become impossible, or the difficulty of an unwell pup late on the evening.
I like you looking on isolation as practice. God is good.
kylie, I hadn't thought about the ages of my readers, but you may well be right. For several years a young woman writer, 30ish, who lives in Patchogue, New York, was a regular reader and occasional commenter here, but she has left for greener pastures blogwise. I'm sure you are right about the routine things having routine answers and everything will eventually be, er, routine. And you are also right about "the joyous little unplanned things"....I agree most of all that God is good and I'm doing my best to remember that it's all the time. Thank you for your contribution; it's always welcome here even though you are a mere child in comparison to us old fossils (Lol).
DeleteI'm familiar with all those words on that list, short shrift is a tricky one. It's easy to drop the 'r' from shrift and this changes the meaning entirely.
ReplyDeleteLife without driving will be your new way of life unfortunately, the result of years passing. The words 'new normal' has been done to death over the past few months. Many, many people have faced a new normal in their lives in the past few months and little of it may relate to C-19.
Things will sort themselves out, you will adjust to this new way of life even though the idea rankles now
Alphie
Alphie Soup Somewhere In Australia, rankles is the right word. Don't let my calm exterior fool you, It is somewhat of a false front. I am in semi-turmoil inside -- not constantly but now and then -- over this sudden change in my existence. I didn't really want my normal to be altered, but I have no say in the matter. Might as well embrace it and get used to it.
ReplyDeleteA short shift is what my nurse wife wanted when the hospital where she worked changed their normal from an 8-hour shift to a 12-hour shift. Unfortunately, her supervisor was not open to the idea (even though there were P.R.N. nurses who would happily have taken up the slack), so it hastened Mrs. RWP's decision to take early retirement. This happened 22 years ago, when kylie was just taking her first steps.
I'm not sure what mad me think of it but I woke this morning remembering that I had not followed the link on your blog to the old words. So I've just done so. There are only two that I don't actually use (I love old words) 8 and 9 (Hue and Kith). although I'm familiar with both.
ReplyDeleteGraham, better late than never! I have been known to say "hue and cry" as well as "kith and kin" but not in the same sentence.
Delete