Day 2608: My readers

Yesterday, one of my readers (my bass-playing dentist Dr. Del Castillo) sent me this “for your blog”:

 

Speaking of mugging, another one of my readers (my long-time friend Deb) sent me this wedding gift, which arrived yesterday:

 

What do my readers understand about my other photos for today?

 

 

 

 

 

Those last two photos are for my readers who like dogs.

I believe it would help my readers to change this very unhelpful thought …

… to these thoughts instead:

Another one of my readers sent me this, hoping it would help people:

 

I hope my readers will enjoy what I’m listening to, right now.

 

I don’t know what I would do without my readers, including YOU.

Day 2423: It’s YOU day!

Yesterday, when I was looking for a birthday card for my long-time friend and ex-co-worker Debbie T., I saw this:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if YOU could believe that every day was YOU day?

YOU might be interested to know that yesterday was  Debbie T.’s  birthday celebration day, as well as a day filled with other excitement.  Actually, I was so excited to see Debbie in person after many years and also her beeeooootifull home, that I took very few pictures at the birthday party.

YOU, Debbie (because I know YOU read this blog), were the perfect host yesterday.  Thank YOU for introducing me to everybody at YOUr party (who all obviously love YOU) and for being so excited about my upcoming show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival!

I’m not sure if YOU heard all the puns being thrown around yesterday, including this one:

Have YOU heard about the new corduroy pillows?  They’re making headlines.

What do YOU see in all the pictures that I did take yesterday? Let’s see if YOU can spot any unusual creatures (YOU might have to look closely).

 

Hugs to all of YOU and can YOU guess which card I gave Debbie? Which picture did YOU like best?  Also, did YOU spot that dog-like creature  being dive-bombed by snowy egrets on the marsh near my home?    I thought it was a fox, but somebody told me it was too big to be a fox. What do YOU think it was?

YOUtube wants me to share  “It’s YOU” by Ali Gatie with YOU.

Since it’s YOU day, would YOU like to comment, below?

Happy YOU day and, as always, thanks to YOU for spending a little part of YOU day with me.

 

 

Day 2369: Celebrating

On the two thousandth, three hundredth, and sixty-ninth consecutive day of this blog, I am celebrating the first use of the word “Celebrating” in a post title.

I am also celebrating

• the rich availability of relevant imagery all around me,
• seeing my guitar hero, Pat Metheny, with one of my friendship heroes later today,
• my son’s imminent arrival from Scotland on a newly-instituted direct flight from Edinburgh to Boston,
• the popularity of my Coping and Healing therapy groups at work,
• the resilience of the people I meet every day,
• my own resilience,
• the relative absence of carpenter ants in our home-by-the sea, Squanticello,
• visitors to my blog,
• Boston accents (deemed the second sexiest in the United States),
• different ideas,
• puns (and more “elevated” forms of humor),
• brains,
• hearts,
• guts,
• gifts,
• smiles,
• keepers,
• art,
• wishes,
• self-expression,
• baseball season,
• flowering trees and flowers,
• sunshine,
• freedom,
• deliberately and consciously leaving behind guilt, shame, and fear with every step, and
• whatever else I can find to celebrate, every precious moment.

I am celebrating all those things, and more, by sharing my images from yesterday.

I am also celebrating a new sidewalk, above,  which will prevent the kind of trips that landed me on the ground with a torn rotator cuff fifteen months ago.

I’m celebrating trees and Pat Metheny with this tune that was playing yesterday while I was walking that new, safer sidewalk to work.

What might you be celebrating, here and now?

As always, this blog celebrates the power of gratitude, every day.

 

Day 2141: Who needs a smile today?

Who needs a smile today, besides me?

Let me know if any of these photos — which I needed to take yesterday — give you a smile.

 

Who needs a perky turkey hat today?

I also needed a smile nine days ago, so I took that photo of somebody at my hospital who needed that hat that day (and I shared it in this blog post).

My search on YouTube for “who needs a smile today” found this today:

In order to smile, I need to hear words like “Hospitality and cordiality are very sincere here” (at :36 in that video).

Who needs to share a comment today?

As always, I need to express my thanks today to all who helped me create this post today and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 1916: Time Matzahs On

“Time matzahs on” is something my late father used to say during Passover, which started last night.

Here are some timely and matzah-related images from last night’s seder at my sister Ellen’s.

 

It’s time for two versions of that song — the original and one with matzah.

As time matzahs on, I’ve had a ball at many seders and many baseball games at Fenway park in Boston.

I look forward to your comments, with or without matzahs or puns.

So matzah thanks to Ellen, her spouse Linda, my cousin Lani, Michael, my late father,  my late mother, dramaramasam,  everybody else who helped me write this “Time Matzahs On” post and — of course! — everybody who matzahs over to this blog to read it, including YOU.

Day 1909: Reasons Not to Read This Blog

While I appreciate every reader who visits this blog, here are some reasons not to read it.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques make you angry.

• You dislike cats and/or dogs.

• Water views make you squeamish.

• You avoid puns.

• You are in therapy with me. If that is the case, there might be Too Much Information in this blog, which could interfere with the important work we are doing together.  If you are in individual and/or group therapy with me, I strongly recommend we have a conversation about this.

 

• You don’t like music videos.

 

• You find gratitude annoying.

Warmest thanks to all who help me create this daily blog and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 1612: Aficionado

Any aficionado of this blog knows that I often start by defining my terms.

a·fi·ci·o·na·do
əˌfiSHəˈnädō,əˌfisyəˈnädō
noun
a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime.
“aficionados of the finest wines”
synonyms: connoisseur, expert, authority, specialist, pundit, cognoscente

Yesterday, when we were eating salmon for dinner (prepared by cooking aficionado Michael) …

I announced that Oscar …

… was a fish-ionado.  My son, Aaron, who is a comedy aficionado, thought that was a good one.  Michael, who is irritated by puns, gave me the fish eye.

I don’t see myself as a photography aficionado, but that doesn’t stop me from taking pictures of other aficionados.

 

Later today, I am seeing a tooth aficionado (who reads this blog) for some dental work. Tonight, I’m meeting a building aficionado at our new home by the water to discuss some possible remodeling.

My sister Ellen, who is an aficionado of fun videos, showed me this last week:

I assume the talent aficionados appreciated that.

I am an aficionado of blog comments and expect to be seeing some great ones soon.

I hope you’re an aficionado of gratitude and know I am sincerely grateful for all the aficionados who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — for you.

Day 1368: Good, better, best

Today’s post title is inspired by this equipment from the Mayo Clinic, designed to prevent pneumonia after major surgery:

It would be good, according to my health team, if I breathe into that plastic instrument once every hour I’m awake. I’m doing a much better job than I expected following their instructions. It’s best if I don’t tell you how often I’m REALLY using it.

Here are some photos I’ve recently taken, now that I’m home recovering from open heart surgery  a week ago:

 

 

Are there any images you thought were good, better or best?

People seem to think this blog is good enough no  matter what I post. They seem to like it better if I show photos and best if I include music. So here‘s music from one of the best movies I’ve ever seen — The Crying Game. (Please click on “here” in the previous sentence to hear that music.)

 

It’s good that I feel well enough to create another blog post so easily and so soon after my very recent valve replacement surgery.  It would be better if you left a comment with your thoughts about good, better, and best.  It’s best if I publish this post now and take a rest.

Thanks to all those who helped me create this good, better, best post and thanks to all my readers, who are the BEST!

Day 1184: You’re in

You’re in for a treat today, if urine the mood for stinky puns.

Are you in, pee-ple?

Yesterday morning, as I was minding my pees and q’s, I was  feeling  a little pissed, about my heart.

Then, I became much more pissed when I realized that our cat (whose name begins with O, not P), had urinated, peed, and pissed all over the bottom of our bedroom closet.

Of course, I had to de-urinate, de-pee, and de-piss the closet, pronto, even though I had an early appointment about my heart.

Does this  pissy post on my Facebook page sound pissed off?

Apparently, one of our cats tried to distract me from worrying about my heart by peeing everywhere in our closet. It worked.

After this pissy and pee-ved start to my morning, I met with Melanie at the New England Cardiac Arrhythmia Center.

Urine for some surprises, perhaps, when I tell you that:

1. Melanie and I have worked together, through many pacemakers, for thirty years.
2. I always feel less pissed after I talk with wonderful pee-ple like Melanie.
3. Melanie showed me empeethy and understanding, as usual, which helped my heart feel much better.

Throughout the day, I felt pissy about these things:

1. I could still imagine smelling that cat pee.
2. Several pairs of my shoes are probably ruined because of urine, which is very pee-ving.
3. I phoned  pee-ple at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and Dr. Warnes (who is the expert in pee-ple with my heart condition) is taking vacation the same week as my vacation in May, which is pee-ving, because now I’ll have to miss work to visit her.
4. Dr. Warnes wants me to meet with a surgeon when I visit her in Minnesota, and surgeons are pee-ple who can piss me off.

Ready for some pissed photos from yesterday, pee-ple?

That last pissy picture shows our own personal Urinetown — the back porch containing everything Oscar has recently peed on.

Because personally, puns do NOT peeve me, here’s the subject heading of an email I sent to my doctors about my mixed feelings re: traveling all the way to the Mayo Clinic about my pissy heart:

Hold the Mayo?

Here’s a punny clip from the very punny movie Airplane! about the Mayo Clinic:

Pissed off, peeple?

If urine the mood to mark this territory with a comment, I will not be pissed or peeved.

Many thanks to all people who pee, including those who helped me create this pissy and punny post and to those who are reading it, here and now.

Day 748: A Salt and Battery

I love puns.  My boyfriend Michael says he strongly dislikes puns, but here’s the truth about Michael:

When Michael makes a pun,  he insists it’s not a pun.

When the rest of the world makes a pun, Michael acts like that’s assault and battery.

Yesterday, Michael and I probably made some puns, but I can’t remember any of them right now, no matter how much I assault and batter my brain trying to remember.

BTBW, here are some random thoughts battering around in my mind about what I’ve written so far:

• When I was a little kid having surgeries in the hospital, those felt like assault and battery.
• I am anticipating having heart surgery in the future, but everybody assures me that will NOT feel like assault and battery.
• Since I’ve been 10 years old, I’ve relied on the batteries in pacemakers to stay alive.
• I can get nervous/anxious/jumpy/whatever-we-want-to-call-it when regular batteries run down (as they always do), because of the way my mind makes associations.
• The way my mind makes associations probably helps me make puns AND helps me write the kind of posts I’ve been writing here, every day for the last 747 days.
• 747 is also a kind of airplane.

(Image of 747 found here)

• I plan to fly out on an airplane to California, with my 16-year-old son, next month.
• The plane reservations aren’t made yet, which can make me nervous/anxious/jumpy/whatever-we-want-to-call-it, but I have faith that my travel agent/niece Laura will take care of this beautifully, because she always does (including the trips I wrote about here, here, here, and here).
• When I had to replace some batteries yesterday, my mind/brain/whatever-we-want-to-call-it came up with the title for today’s post.

• I hope it won’t be photographic assault and battery, now, if I share all the other shots I took yesterday:

I don’t want to batter you into leaving me a comment about this post, but it would feel like the opposite of assault-and-battery to me, if you commented in any way.

Now, I have to salt-and-batter my brain to come up with a good-enough song to end this post.

I don’t mean to procrastinate, but what would YOU choose as a song for this Salt-and-Battery post?

Okay, here are my associations, leading to the Song Du Jour:

• “Batter, batter, batter” is something Cameron and Ferris say in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, skipping school for a Cubs baseball game.

That YouTube video of that scene doesn’t have great sound (even though it has over 272,000 views).

• Here’s another scene from Ferris Bueller, with the Song Du Jour.

Gotta go Twist and Shout on my brand new, pink elliptical!

Thanks to Michael the Boyfriend (who, like Ferris, could be a Fry Cook on Venus), Laura the Niece/Travel Agent, Harley the Cat, Penny the Pen, Ferris and Cameron,  John Hughes the Late Screenwriter and Director,  The Beatles the Group, and You the Reader — of course! — for visiting me, today.