October chitchat

[agate]

OK, where is everybody? Maybe the word has got out that I taught English once upon a time. Maybe people are afraid that I'll always be correcting their English.

I won't ever correct anyone's English. I promise.

On another topic, I chose a face wearing sunglasses as an icon for this thread. I'm still enjoying my photochromic lenses as we're still having sunshine around here. Those lenses darken when I'm out in the bright sunlight--a great help for someone with cataracts. I believe they're now being called "comfort lenses," maybe because it's easier to spell and pronounce.

What's going on in your life? Is there anything you particularly like about autumn and October? Or maybe you dislike autumn?

[Prot]

My mood dips in the autumn and winter. A mood lamp helps a bit. Last night I made 3 portions of Quorn bolognese.It wasn't easy.I have to bend down to get pots and pans. I also stood much longer than I usually do.

[agate]

Light makes a huge difference! The ceiling light fixture that is my main light source when at my desk in the living room burned out on Thursday. The fixture belongs to the building,, and the maintenance person is supposed to supply and change all light bulbs in such fixtures. Because I could reach it in the past, I've always done this one myself after getting the appropriate light bulb from maintenance. Doing this has never been easy because I've always needed a stepstool, and now I don't feel it's safe any more. So I left a note for the maintenance person on Thursday, the last day he would be here until Monday. I had no response but that is par for the course. My neighbor waited two weeks for a light bulb change recently. This maintenance man just doesn't see much point in light bulbs, I guess.

So I had to redo the lighting in the living room. At first I was really miserable with the arrangement I rigged up--until I realized I could switch around more lamps and get better lighting by moving a lamp from the bedroom to the living room. I've been ever so much happier since doing that.

I like a certain amount of light or I get really down in the dumps. This place faces north and is very dark in general.

[Prot]

I have a glass back door and a window next to it, in the open plan kitchen,living room,diner. My daughter changes light bulbs for me, as I can even be wobbly standing on scales to be weighed. My balance has never been good, and has got worse with age.

[agate]

Balance is the problem here too. I have two stepstools--one is just one step and has a very substantial handrail but it wouldn't take me quite high enough any more to reach that light bulb. I need two hands for the light bulb anyway, one to unscrew or screw the bulb and the other to stabilize the fixture, a swinging one that is suspended from the ceiling. The other stepstool has two steps but they are very narrow, and the handrail isn't as good. I could chance it but just don't want to any more.

When I'm on a stepstool and need to reach up at all while on it, I go all wobbly. It's as if my spine starts to melt.

I've had a couple of backward falls from stepstools already and am pretty sure I should avoid them in the future.

[Prot]

There is no way I would get on a stepstool. I'm acutely aware of the risk of falls, and the damage they might do.

[agate]

One way to make sure I don't attempt any more stepstools might be to get rid of them but somehow I haven't done that.

I tend to make adjustments in whatever it is I can't reach without a stepstool instead, when possible.

I rigged up a curtain over the patio door shortly after moving here, for better insulation and privacy. It attached to the door via a magnetic rod but every few years that rod fell down, and I couldn't put the curtain back up without a stepstool--and I did that until about a month ago, when it fell down again.

I had already asked my son to replace it once, and asking him a second time seemed like a bit much. So I'm discarding the curtain and its rod and magnetic rod holders and making do with the venetian blinds for that door.