I was strolling in the park one day

A couple of brief stops along the way, first to watch a bluebird whose box I'd walked by, and then to admire a patch of Dame's rocket along the creek.  Interested today in the distance, not the time on task.

Automotive Geography

 Palisades drive.

Palisades park.

I ask you...

... if you get wings at a wing bar, then what do you get at an Asian bar?

Spring flowers

Seen along area roads today.

Philadelphia Fleabane.

Dame's Rocket.

I didn't bother

Things I saw but didn't photograph:  At the traffic light exiting a shopping center, across from the former world headquarters of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.   In the grass between the sidewalk and a chain link fence, two Canada geese were walking.  As I turned onto the road, I saw several goslings walking with them.  

I took a shopping list into a store, and in one aisle I found someone else's shopping list.  Both lists had been written on paper that bore the name of the same children's charity.  

At the end of the day

   

The worm/caterpillar on the left was dangling at eye level over the sidewalk from an oak tree on the next door neighbor's property.  Between its size and its constant motion, I knew it would take a miracle to get a good focused image, and after four blurry tries, I settled for the one you see above.  What it is doesn't feel as useful to remember as just recording that it was there, and that I almost walked into it.

And now, what you've no doubt been waiting for:  Google Lens guessed that the thing in the photo above right is possibly an x-ray of a tibia, or else an image of paint peeling from a Ford F-150.  Guess I'll have to try something else.

Later:  Blue-tailed damselfly?  OK, I can accept that.

Ancora Imparo:  (1) learned that the WIN/Shift/S combination that does screen grabs also records videos, the way Dropbox used to do.  Used it to save a clip from a post on Xitter that showed a dog jumping ropes being twirled by a human and two other dogs.  (2) learned that FastStone accesses the latitude and longitude recorded on pictures taken with my Samsung Galaxy, and it can place them on a screen in Google Maps (Windows 11).  The grab below shows where I saw the insect on the right above.

Lots of unnecessary eating today, so I needed a walk late this afternoon.  The timeline on Google Maps (Android) isn't as detailed as it used to be, so when it told me just now that I'd only walked half a mile, I had my doubts.  (There should be an app for that.  A free one would be best for my budget.)

EDIT:  Did some searching and eventually settled on MapMyWalk.  Yesterday's walks totaled a bit over a mile and a half.  

Extra pep

Pretty good at staying focused today.  Besides the longer walk, I took an hour for practice at home and filled it with meaningful action.  No naps, and just one Pepsi in the category of junk food.  Good cereal for breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch, and... and... no memory of what I ate at 5:00.  I think it may have involved whole milk yogurt from Whole Foods.

I wish this photo had been better, but at least I got a picture. There were a couple dozen rabbits in the yards I passed during my walk, including this one, who was stripping a young plant of the highest leaves it could reach.  

Google Maps and my timeline say I walked a mile and a half this evening.  Must have had some extra energy and motivation.  

  

This was in the field that last year grew soybeans.  Nothing planted this year, from the looks of it.  Nature is taking its course, with unpredictable results, like this large, brightly colored volunteer.  (Yes, yes, it's out standing in its field.)  Google Lens made a guess, but an unlikely one; I doubt that it's a plant that their AI says is native to Australia.  

Otherwise, I did some reading for pleasure, spent a minimum of time on Xitter, and burned a CD for PG with music I believe she'll enjoy.

Forget it

The internet is forever.  Even irrelevant little online journals like this.

Which is why I'm giving no details of a meeting PG and I had this afternoon.  That's the when, but nothing else.  Not the who, the what, the where, the why, and not even the how.  

Maybe 20 years ago I would have put it all down in black and white, and never mind the consequences.  At 68, I'm less adventurous. 

It was a totally mundane, yet stressful scene.  Anyway, it's over.  This, I can forget.

At least, I hope so.

Calls

Calls all day... along with the usual spam callers who wouldn't leave a message, there were calls from PG's dentist office, her sister-in-law, three calls from the pharmacy with status updates on a prescription, along with a call we made to one of her specialists to postpone a scheduled appointment due to a time conflict.  

In between, PG rested, which with prescription meds helped keep her pain level manageable.  We're waiting for test results from last week and when they are posted, we will see what options are available next.

My day

Pat's back has been bothering her a lot lately, and early this week our family doctor recommended some tests.  First, he gave her a prescription for an x-ray, and told her she could get that without an appointment at a nearby satellite office of the area's largest hospital system.  In addition, he told her that she should have a bone density scan, which could be done at the same office, but would require an appointment because there was more to it than just an x-ray.  

Back home, I set up the appointment for the scan and made a note of it.  But this morning, when I wanted to make sure of the date and time, I couldn't find it.  It wasn't in her email, not in my email, not in my Keep file, and not on the wall calendar in the kitchen.  

I found it soon after, but until then I was upset that I hadn't handled that important information properly.  Pat did her best to talk me down.  

When I remembered the information could be in Dropbox, I knew where to look for it, and calmed down.  I had printed the appointment from the hospital system's website to a PDF and filed the PDF in Dropbox.  At the time, I couldn't get the .ICS file to make an entry in the calendar program.  When I relocated it, right away I wrote the appointment info on the wall calendar and input it on the calendar program so it wouldn't happen again.    

This afternoon, I drove her to the satellite office for the walk-in x-ray.  The technician who called her name to come back to the x-ray room was friendly and outgoing, and I told her that we'd likely be back next Tuesday morning for the scan.  Then another woman approached and interrupted the technician, and momentarily I started getting hot at the interruption.  Fortunately, I kept my mouth shut, because the other woman was the manager, she had overheard me and had contacted the main office to change the 2nd appointment.  After the x-ray, Pat could go down the hall immediately to the room for her bone scan so we wouldn't have to make a second visit next week. 

Just nitpicking:  if she had first said "Excuse me, but I couldn't help overhearing... I'm the manager and..."  Otherwise, 10/10, no notes.  If the hospital doesn't do a follow-up, I'll have to email someone in charge.  I know that when I was working, it was always good to hear from a satisfied customer.  (And then I would  forward a copy of the message to the boss.)

Brown on brown

Handsome Kit is keeping Pat company on the sofa this morning.