Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Documentary Premiere


We had a very successful event, Friday, July 27, 2007, on the lawn, at our home, commemorating the premiere of a documentary, chronicling the life of a TBI patient (me, in this case). According to the forecast, there was the threat of a thunderstorm, but good luck prevailed and the weather remained perfect all night, highlighted by the moonrise of a nearly-full moon. With approximately 80 people in attendance, the film lasted about 20 minutes. Preceding the documentary, we showed Joe’s Progress, which Lynn had compiled of photos that she had taken, or, that she found in her collection, and following the documentary we viewed another documentary, also filmed by Silas Hagerty, chronicling the struggles of a paraplegic named Zack.

Adventure with Al 7-29-07



I gave Lynn the day-off from being my care-giver and spent the day, rekindling large segments of my former life, with the help of my dear friend, Al, who was (unknown to me) celebrating his Birthday. Lynn exchanged me, into Al’s care, in Durham, CT, and we proceeded to his home in Madison, picked up some gear, and went to the town marina, where he docks his NEW boat. We loaded our gear into his canoe, then, began the first mini-adventure, an on-the-water transfer to his new boat, then, we topped-off the fuel tanks and ate some fabulous lobster-rolls at…… Then we headed out to some of my old, favorite, fishing grounds. We fished, somewhat successfully. We geared-up with plugs (poppers and swimmers) and I was able to place my casts where I intended. I hooked and landed 2 striped bass. Then I was trusted to navigate his boat back to the marina, where we unloaded the gear, cleaned the boat, cleaned ourselves up, and loaded the gear into his car. He, then, proceeded to Hammonassett State Park, where I was allowed to drive his car through the parking lots and on the Park roads. I did quite well, but I was surprised at how much more difficult it was than I had imagined, mostly due to the reduced, fine-motor, skills of my left side (especially my left arm).

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Construction/Renovations on our House and Property



I want to congratulate my son, Paul, who completed the design and build of our patio. He was patient and methodical. Lynn, actively photographed the evolution.
The design is comprised of 2 sections, a rectangle outside the existing sun-room, attached, via a small rectangular section, to a larger square section that contains the fire-bowl and a set of Adirondack chairs He prepared the entire base layer (removed the (previous) grass and soil, leveled the foundation, installed a paver retainer) and finished a large rectangle just outside the kitchen window and the sun-porch, laid the connecting segment to the outer (fire-pit) square and he finished that rectangle, too. We bought a NEW gas grill, some new cushions, a chase lounge, and a fire bowl with a removable, copper base and a ceramic-tiled lip. We cleaned the sun porch up a bit and assembled some Adirondack chairs and placed them on our new terrace and we installed a new water fountain in the sun porch. It's quite ZEN!!!




Further, my brother’s friend, Ryan, finished faux-painting the sun-porch and we completed the installation of a “lava-stone”, Sicilian style, table-top, which we brought back from Italy and mounted it to a (locally) custom-built wrought-iron base.

On Sunday night, 7/8, we christened our new patio and fire-bowl. It went real well! Our friends, Tim and Deb; and Susy and John were very impressed!
We thoroughly enjoy sitting on our terrace, having a cup of Java, and a bowl of frosted mini wheats.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Adventure III .... Riding my Bike on my Trainer

Today was the first time, since my knee (meniscus clean-up) surgery (on 6-11), that included a ride on my bike (a carbon-fiber Scott, 30-speed (a hub of 10 gears on the rear derailleur and 3 larger, drive-gears) on a trainer, instead of riding on my recumbent bike. I pedaled so vigorously (22 minutes) that I worked up quite a sweat. This (sweating) was a bit novel, not having worked up a sweat in more than a year.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Adventure II .... Camping in VT

We went “cushy-camping” in Groton, VT, with a group of photography comrades of my wife, Lynn’s, who have made this event an annual “happening” 2 weeks before July 4th. The terrain was a bit difficult with many tree-roots and loose stones. I survived the “challenge” and I appropriately nicknamed myself with the acronym ODMF (One Determined M@@**&F$$).