Monday, April 21, 2025

Monday, April 21, 2025

Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2005. Mattie was three years old! An April tradition was visiting the US Arboretum in Washington, DC. My joke with Mattie was that the azaleas bloomed in honor of his birthday! Mattie LOVED hearing this! The Arboretum is a must see and given that Mattie loved open and natural spaces, it was the perfect spring adventure for him. Mattie opened up a whole new world for me, as he introduced me to the beauty of nature and appreciating the amazing colors, fragrances and wild life around us. 

Quote of the day: A kind word is like a spring day. ~ Russian Proverb

Last night while I was cleaning up Easter dinner and doing laundry, I happened to go upstairs. As soon as I climbed up the steps, I felt like I was hit by a wave of humidity! Literally upstairs was over 80 degrees. You want to see me panic, then give me a household problem! Not just any problem, but a mechanical one! Mind you this is the same furnace/hvac system I have been struggling with all winter long. Yet when the expert came over last week, and was with us for four hours, he seemed to have rewired the system and we were getting heat. Naturally as we are getting warmer days, I had to switch the system over to air conditioning. That was the kiss of death! Something occurred during that switch over. 

I checked that the system was programmed correctly, it was, so the next thing I did was shut the whole system down. I waited a few minutes and then tried turning it back on to the cool setting. That triggered an alert message.... system wait. You can imagine how much I liked that! So I Googled, system wait, and learned that this is a normal issue, indicating a protection measure designed to prevent damage to the HVAC system's compressor. I love when the system actually does what it is supposed to do! Like Google suggested.... I waited a few minutes and then tried turning on the system again! It worked, it went on! Yet I did not feel any cool air coming out of the vents. My mom was complaining and I was freaking out because I literally have one appointment after the other with them this week, making staying home for hours waiting for a hvac person close to impossible. 

Any case, by 2 or 3am, guess what I felt.... AIR! I do not know if the house just got so overheated during the day that it took a long time for it to cool it down or what. But for now it is working and naturally I will have to keep my eye on it for the next few days. When I awoke this morning, I literally felt this was an Easter miracle. I am not sure why the system decided to work and behave itself, but I take all blessings when they come.  

This is my garden fountain that I sometimes talk about. It is right next to our porch. I pulled weeds (why it looks brown) and it is in transition until the ivy grows back, but my friend Ilona brought me all sorts of wonderful seashells yesterday! I have added the shells to this area. When the ivy grows in, it will look lovely to have the shells there. 

Can you see the bigger shells on the stone wall? Now that the stones have been cleaned, and no longer black, these shells will stand out and be a wonderful new addition to the garden. 

Tomorrow, I am taking my dad for a post-hospitalization cardiology check. They were worried about my dad's cholesterol levels when he was in the hospital. Given that my dad is allergic to statins, I have no idea what tomorrow's discussion will be about! Naturally I am opposed to altering my dad's diet. At 90 if he wants cheese, ice cream, and other goodies, he will have them! Where this cardiology office is located is a nightmare for people with disabilities. So that means I have to get out Mattie's wheelchair and take it with me because parking is a total challenge. 

My dad's memory is basically non-existent. He has no memory of being in the hospital a week ago, he has no memory that people came over for Easter, and tonight he asked me the same question 15 times. I can't tell you how exhausting this is and how I carry the weight of everything on my shoulders. 

Meanwhile, in my office I have a family portrait on a canvas of me, my husband, and Mattie. I have had this canvas up for years. Tonight it literally fell on the floor. I have tried to rehang it twice, but it keeps falling. I am not sure if that is a sign, and I am sure for many of you reading this you are probably saying..... what? Why doesn't she toss that canvas out? This canvas is important to me. It symbolizes my life, my marriage, and the fact that I am Mattie's mom. So tonight it will be Vicki vs The Canvas! We shall see who wins round 3!