Day 1449: Can I get an “Amen”?

Can I get an “Amen” for winter greetings?

 

Can I get an “Amen” for another fabulous Christmas greeting masterpiece from my friend Janet?

Can I get an “Amen” for how laundry can become overwhelming?

 

Can I get an “Amen” for the healing power of cookies?

 

Can I get an “Amen” for my amenable family members?

 

Can I get an “Amen” for the wisdom on teabags?

 

Can I get an “Amen” for the Amazing Amen chorus from Handel’s Messiah, a piece of music that gave me peace of mind as I sang it, piece by piece, last night?

Can I get an “Amen” for that performance of the Amen Chorus  by singers from Oman?

Or for this one conducted by Otto  Klemperer (starting at 3:47)?

 

Can I get an “Amen” for staying alert, aware, and active,  but also at peace for the next four years?

Can I get an “Amen” for completing this blog post

well within the time I need to get to cardiac rehab this morning?

Can I get an “Amen” for everyone who helped me create today’s blog post and — Amen! — for you, my amenable, amazing, and admirable readers?

Day 1415: Outrageous Fortune

Yesterday, I had the outrageous fortune to

• wake up in the morning,
• see signs of thanks giving,

• meet my sister Ellen, who is one of the leading women in my life,

• live another day without allergies,

• encounter a t-shirt which reminded me of my late father, who had the brilliant idea of renaming a local business “The No Fakery Bakery,”

• reminisce with my sister about how my father’s submitting that winning name in the local bakery’s contest many years ago resulted in our family winning free bagels and cream cheese for a week,
• breathe free,

• realize that people are still singing and acting in the name of love,

• meet my wonderful friend Barbara, who is one of my favorite people in the world,

• see familiar faces in a local no-fakery bakery that ships all over the world,

• spend time breathing and taking pictures on a bench near the Charles River,

• see a bumper sticker with my boyfriend, Michael, which reminded us of an experience we had the day after my open heart surgery in September (which I had the outrageous fortune to share with you in this post),

• realize that no matter what else is happening to me right now, my scars from all my recent cardiac-related surgeries are healing and no longer need dressing with gauze and tape,

• and have another piece of Michael’s outrageous chocolate cake.

 

During times of outrageous fortune, it helps to realize how outrageously fortunate I am.

Tonight, I have the outrageous fortune of seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in a production of Hamlet at a local movie theater with  my friend Kathy, where we’ll have the outrageous fortune of hearing him recite these outrageous lines:

To be or not to be, that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them

 

As I’ve recently said to several people I have the outrageous fortune to know, during times of outrageous fortune I can reduce my outrage with Dickens and  with Shakespeare.

I just had the outrageous fortune of finding this music on YouTube in the name of love:

 

Will I have the outrageous fortune of seeing a comment from you, below?

I have the outrageous fortune of being able to thank all who helped me create this post and you — of course! — whom I am outrageously fortunate to know.

Day 1402: Yikes!

I knew that “Yikes!” would be today’s post title when I looked at my favorite watch yesterday.

Here are just some of my reasons for saying “Yikes!” right now:

• I have to go in to Boston for more surgery today, exactly six weeks after my open heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
• The reason I need today’s surgery is that my Implantable Cardiac Device, which I received in May 2015, caused two deaths because of early battery depletion.
• I had to stop eating and drinking last night at midnight, and I am  not reporting for surgery until 11:30 AM.
• The weather is going to be unseasonably warm and beautiful today, but I will be otherwise occupied.
• The United States presidential election, less than a week away.
• The Chicago Cubs might win the World Series tonight.
• If I feel up to it, I hope to sing at an Open Mic Friday night.
• Because of its latest update, my iPhone no longer recognizes my thumbprint but has lots of new features which I haven’t had time to learn.

Speaking of my “improved” iPhone, here are all the other photos I took yesterday.  Do any of them make you go “Yikes!”?

Yikes!  The words “warming” and “naturally” in that last photo, above,  are reminding me of my first therapy session since my open heart surgery.  Yesterday, my therapist George and I came up with a soothing ritual to help me prepare for today’s surgery —  to place both my hands over my heart, to warm and naturally soothe my still painful chest cavity.

What is making you say “Yikes!” today, in your world?

Yikes!  If I actually am able to sing at an Open Mic night in two days, will I remember all these lyrics?

Yikes!  Joni Mitchell sounds great there.

Yikes!  Look at the time!  I have to get ready for my surgery.

Yikes!  I get so cranky when I can’t eat or drink when I want to!

Yikes!  I hope you leave a comment.

Yikes! I almost forgot to thank all those who helped me create this post and you — of course! — for visiting, here and now.

Day 1381: Sweet

Many things are sweet this morning, my sweet readers, including the following:

1. I am recovering  sweetly from my open heart surgery of September 21,
2. I  don’t have to worry about how many sweets I eat right now (although I am watching my salt and my vitamin K intake),
3. sweet people including my friend Jeanette in Philadelphia are sending me chocolates and other sweets,
4. there are still sweet cookies left over from the bunch we bought yesterday at the sweet Lakota Bakery in Arlington,
5. my boyfriend, Michael, talked to my sweet 18-year-old son, Aaron, on the phone yesterday, helping Aaron to cook more sweet food in his dorm kitchen in Edinburgh, Scotland,
6. I am not fasting for Yom Kippur this year but rather eating all the sweet and non-sweet food I want today,
7. I am sweetly unworried about the U.S. presidential election next month,
8. my sweet college roommate Maria and I bought some sweet jewelry and socks at two sweet boutiques in Arlington, Massachusetts yesterday,
9. I also showed Maria some other sweet sites in Arlington, and
10. the first sweet photo I took yesterday — at the Arlington coffee house where I have twice sung sweetly at  Open Mic nights — features many products that are sweet:

Would you like to see all my other sweet photos from yesterday?

Which of those many sweet photos seem particularly sweet to you, my sweet reader?

As I am creating this sweet post,  I am listening to this sweet fairy tale ballet:

 

Finally, here’s a sweet way to thank all those who helped me create this sweet post and those who have been sweet enough to read it here and now: