Arizona Ocotillo April 2019
This week I produced drafts of these poems:
- Poetry is a Big Noise
- Behold the Needle
- Notre Dame
- That Not Nothing That Is
- Golden Ode
- Elegy
- What I’d Like to Breathe In
I thought last week was difficult but this one was more so. To cap off the week, I took Mom to the ER because she didn’t feel well. Other than minor stuff, she was actually fine, but I think she’s getting a little stressed being away from home. Mainly, she had two problems both related to being dehydrated.
Arizona is very dry at this time of year, and she is from Michigan. I warned her and warned her to drink a lot of water. But she didn’t.
That learning experience cost us all a day (and the next for me because the fluorescents are a trigger for my complicated migraines) and Medicare et al a lot of money. But if I hadn’t taken her, we all would have worried.
Because I had to rush through my poem drafts, who knows if there is anything there or not. I’ll take a look at them later on.
Hope you all had a Happy Easter, Passover, or whatever spring celebration you choose.
Perry is dreaming about you ;)!
Sounds like a challenging week for you. Hope you and mom are on the mend and have it easier!
It’s been a challenging week in a challenging month in a challenging year. Looking forward to May :). Thank you so much, Maggie!
Sorry about your mom. I would be in the same situation. Not a big water drinker although I occasionally make myself drink it. I can tell when I get dehydrated as I get very fatigued and my blood pressure drops. I also get headaches. I visited Arizona. It was during March. It wasn’t all that hot but I had to go out and buy a different face cream. My skin was getting very dry. I refer to it as my axle grease face cream.
Thanks, Kate! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dry. I did some damage to my face with an electronic face brush because of the dryness. No moisturizer works on it. My legs are a mess. And even (TMI warning) toilet paper is too dry. And you have to carry a water bottle everywhere.
I’ll take Preparation H next time I visit!
Hahahahah!
Dehydration is a definite thing for seniors. You were wise to take her in. Hope your Easter was good.
Yes, it’s scary how fast it caused symptoms in my mom. We celebrated Easter and Passover. It was wonderful. The kids were here, plus my mom and she was feeling pretty good. I hope you had an amazing Easter. The furkids, too haha.
Thak you, Luanne. We did.
I could send you some rainwater!
LOL!!! Even when it rains here it’s dry for some reason!
So so sorry about your mom…very stressful for all…thank goodness Perry had us all in his dreams…
Perry is a very thoughtful little boy :). He watches over everyone. Thank you, Sheila. She is feeling much better!
Congratulations on Week 3, and I’m glad your mom is OK!
Thank you and thank you, Merril! Happy Passover!
Thank you! 🙂
Good for you that you took Mom in. Dehydration can be very serious, especially for an older person. I couldn’t believe how dry it was in the Reno area when we were there last August. I’ve been in dry climates before but it was scary-dry. No matter how much water I drank, I never felt hydrated enough. I’m glad to hear your mom is better, and I hope you are doing well. Sweet photo of Perry 🙂
Yes, it’s good I took her in, but when we were in the waiting room I gave her water and made her drink it. She started to feel fine haha. We ALMOST left after 1 1/2 hours.
That is the way it can be here, although Reno seems more of that high desert cold dryness–is it? I find that more intolerable.
Yes, Reno is more high desert. A friend of a friend moved to Reno a couple of years ago. She said maybe two months out of the year (like July and August) it’s best to avoid being outside during the day because of the dry heat. She seemed acclimated but I was struggling while we were there. And then I got nosebleeds from the dry air. I think being in an urban environment makes a hot dry climate less tolerable because of all the concrete and impermeable surfaces.
I agree, but in general I do not like high desert. It just doesn’t agree with me.
I want to tickle Perry’s tummy! My Mom is also not well and I’ve been walking up the hill to her apartment more frequently as she recovers from a stubborn lung infection…I’m glad your Mom is on the mend and drinking more fluids. Your poem titles sound intriguing…good luck!
Oh, I am sorry to hear that about your mom. A lung infection sounds serious!
Thank you re my poem titles, the luck, and wanting to tickle Perry’s tummy haha. He LOVES having his tummy tickled. I think he thinks he’s a dog!
He sure looks like he’d love a tummy tickle, what a sweetie!
He’s the most adorable special sweetest boy in the world!
I love that you have written something about Notre Dame – I hope it makes it through the process. You are having quite a stressful time of it – take care of yourself too while you are taking care of everyone else. I love to see Perry and his cute little paws.
Notre Dame is the only one without even a working title. Thank you for saying that about taking care of myself. I really need to start to do that. One more week (more company coming), and I intend to do so!!!! Perry is such a cheerer-upper, isn’t he?!
He is <3 and I recommend 5 minutes with Perry in a quiet spot, petting and purring and there is your first step taken in self care!
You are so right! I actually do try to do that! It’s the only thing! I tell myself I’m helping him hahaha.
I am glad your Mom is feeling better; I hope you are too. The trouble with mothers is they always think they know best and what do daughters know, anyway! Congratulations on producing all those draft poems and managing to keep on going for three weeks and counting. You’re nearly there, Luanne!
Thank you, Clare. I did need to hear that I am nearly there as I am running out of steam, especially after so much company the last few months. I have more coming tomorrow!
My mother calls me “Mama” when I advise her. Yes, she’s mocking me!
Company’s great but so draining! I am so surprised and amazed you have been able to write anything at all!
I am definitely working myself too hard, but I have had company for so long I will feel worse if I don’t do it!
<3
I like those poem titles! Titles are a big part of the fun for me. Can’t wait to read some of them. Hope you and your mom are back in the pink!
Thank you, Carla. Thank you for much for that wonderful and surprise gift, too! You are such a sweet friend! We are doing good! xo
Sorry about your troubles and your mom not feeling well. But it seems you still got a lot done with your drafts. Fluorescent lighting is also a migraine trigger for me. I actually had something occur last week that had never happened to me. I had two migraines in one day. I hope that’s not a new pattern. Has that ever happened to you?
Oh wow! That is awful. Well, my complicated migraines (I used to get regulars) don’t usually include headaches, but instead are swift and debilitating pseudo-strokes. If I wasn’t on medication for them (not migraine meds as you can’t take those with CMs) I would have one almost all the time. And it takes a couple days to recover from one. But I can’t remember ever having a short-term migraine and then getting better and then it coming back in the same day. That is strange! Fluorescents are the devil. But then LED isn’t much better. Stay well, Cheryl!
Must have been National Take-A-Relative-To-The-ER Week: I took my niece to the ER Saturday and we all spent the weekend taking turns sitting at the hospital. Thankfully they were able to release her Monday. I don’t get migraines, but there is definitely something deeply tiring about waiting around in a hospital: I was in bed most of Tuesday, sleeping. :-/
But kudos to you for keeping up with your daily writing! Mine pretty much went out the window Saturday morning, but I’m hopeful I can catch up this week. I love your titles! And thank you for the photo of Perry. <3
Good grief. Well, you can catch up. That is the thing. It’s all about fooling yourself. Give yourself as long as you need to finish the month. Just make sure you end up with 30 poems haha. I am always pulling the wool over my own eyes ;).
So glad to hear your niece has been released. I hope she’s ok now . . . .
The hospital is an exhausting place even without the light/migraine issue, I agree. The noises, for starters.
I love the way you think! I *will* get my 30 poems written in 30 days…just maybe not 30 consecutive days. 😉 Here’s to flexible creativity!
Luanne, kudos for getting something down on your poems for NaPoWriMo despite all the distractions. It’s sorely trying! You are to be commended for continuing even in the face of the stress, fatigue, and pain from migraine! I’m still super-excited about your poems, and also excited that you inspired me to try it myself. I never would have had the exposure to a whole bunch of different prompts without your guidance. I’ll be interested to hear how you end the month. 🙂 Hang in there, you are beloved!
Thank you, Theresa! I can’t wait to hear how your months wraps up too!!!! I am hanging in here at this point, DAY 26 haha! XOXO
Excellent, my friend! And me as well, even through some bumpy non-writing time’s. Kudos!
Sorry about your mom’s and your own health problems. I am too familiar with dehydration as I suffer from it frequently. Once I get absorbed by whatever I’m doing I forget to drink (and often forget to eat, too). I nag myself about it every day…. usually too late in the day when I realise I’ve forgotten to drink enough. Oh and migraines… urgh! Horrid things.
Sorry about any late replies, I’m just trying to catch up with some blog reading, have been offline a lot lately.
Val, just getting back to this older comment. So sorry! Dehydration is a real problem for a lot of people, and out here in the desert it is quite the danger. I even think they are one of the possible causes of my migraine condition (which is not headaches, although I used to get migraine headaches). Got your email this morning and sent “it” over ;)!
I’m so behind with everything at the moment. I’ve been trying to drink more regularly the last few days, and I feel SO much better than I usually do. I hope I can keep it up. Do you get the visual effects only, with your migraines, or something else? I used to only get only get the headache then some years ago developed the full works… it’s no fun.
Am just about to do a post to give a link to your current one (of Margarethe). Thanks for that, will be over to comment in a while. x
I love the colorization you did. Just beautiful! Makes her more “real” to me.
I get symptoms like a TIA or mini stroke. A variety of symptoms, but the only ones I ALWAYS get are extreme sudden vertigo, a feeling of weighing 1,000 pounds, extremes of hot and then cold, vomiting, necessary avoidance of moving or being in sound or light, pain and a feeling of being seared or burned or dried out in my sinuses, way in deep, etc. Oh, and always weird neurological stuff in my limbs.
I also get vertigo from it. Will talk to you about it some time in email. Hugs, so sorry you suffer so badly from it all.
That dehydration thing is such a bear, particularly for older folks. And I think we should outlaw fluorescent lights—they are vampiric, sucking the energy out of everyone, triggering migraine, who needs them? I hope things calm down (as much as possible) for you and yours.
And particularly here in the desert where dehydration is a real danger.
Vampiric. EXACTLY. Thank you. Just awful things. Before I got the complicated migraines, I used to get migraine headaches. They started when I was about 40 and the first one was triggered by a flickering fluorescent in my noon classroom. Oh man! Thanks, Ellen. Hope things are going great with the new book!