Today we go back to NY.  It was a fun day yesterday and went for Dim Sum with Claire, Alex and Theo and some quiet time in the hotel bar before we said our sad good-byes.  We’ll be back soon!  Watched a little Law & Order: SVU and then early to bed.  All packed up, and ready to leave for the airport in another couple of hours.  They have us seated apart, but will deal with that once we get to the airport.

What a great three weeks it has been and I think we both know a little more about what makes travel easier and it will alleviate lots of the apprehensions that I had in preparation for this trip.

David and Theo Meet

All I can say is, it wasn’t me

After the crying ends

Admiring Theo

Watching TV – probably Law & Order

David enjoying the sun poolside

From out hotel in San Francisco

Not all time in Palm Springs was spent playing with Theo.

Alex, Theo, David and lots of empty champagne glasses!

2013

We started out with a latte from the Starbucks across the street from the hotel.  I made some calls – appointments made for our return to NY – Neurologist, outpatient Physical Therapy, left messages for Vocational Therapy, then off to pick up Claire, Alex and Theo.  We headed up to Calistoga to look again at the house that got away, and then to Yountville to look to look at a pair of houses that are across the street from the French Laundry.  A lot of money for not much house, even if there are two of them and they are located near the French Laundry.

Then, off to Mumm’s Napa for some wine tasting!  Another great day.  We dropped them off just after the sun went down, and back to the hotel.  Dinner with them tomorrow night, and then on a plane back to NYC on Sunday.  Lots of adventures were had over the three weeks, and I look forward to many more in the years to come.

Only a few more days in San Francisco and we have quite a view!

Great Heart Tonic: For patients suffering from heart disorders, buy viagra in canada the antioxidant properties in red panax ginseng is highly beneficial. Behavior modification therapy no rx levitra is one way therapists teach you how to treat panic disorders . Spending more family time and giving more attention to the cheap viagra samples http://www.glacialridgebyway.com/windows/Holly%20Skogen.html child will help reduce the anxiety. Here, no medicine works then only a person or cialis canada generic a child. In the morning it took a while to get somethings out of David that he wanted me to post about.  First, while we were in Palm Springs, we went into the pool, which was great for David.  He was pretty nervous at first, but I think enjoyed the freedom of knowing he wasn’t going to fall.  We did exercises and just splashed around. Getting in and out was a breeze too, aside from the coolness of the air!  That was quite a shock!  The Westin here in San Francisco has a bathroom that is designed really well for us, and David is doing all of the work getting to the toilet and the bath.  Even beyond the bathroom, his getting up and out of bed and into the wheelchair or started walking, he needs very little help from me.  “Look Ma, no hands” is my line now!  When he starts back with Occupational Therapy, I will talk to them about more work with dressing and see if we can gain some more independence there and in bathing.

This morning we strolled to LabCorp to get blood drawn, and had breakfast along the way near Union Square.  It is great to be in this area where we can walk to almost anything we would want.  Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and I made some calls for Drs appointments, etc.  Then, off to Les Mis and I can’t say I hated it.  First, I was prepared to cringe at Russell Crowe singing, but while it was all transposed, his performance was fine, and most of the rest were good to great, but I thought the film was very static.  If there was one more long closeup shot of someone singing, I thought I might die.  What is amazing is how cinematic the stage show was, and the movie was so stagey.  I kept waiting for the sweep and visual drama, and it was not until the end that we got any.  All in all, at the end of the movie, I was in tears, so it did work on some level, but I think that the score did most of the heavy lifting.  Tonight we went out to a local Italian restaurant called Pazzia, which was very good.  Again, Theo was a quiet and entertaining table mate.  Then back to the room, and we were out before Project Runway was getting heated up.  Tomorrow we head up to Napa.  The house that I liked so much has been sold, but we are looking it anyway, just in case it falls through, and at one other house, and going to Mumms for a tasting!

We got a relatively early start – 9am – and made pretty good time.  Theo is a good traveller, and only had two moments of crying – once was a diaper moment and the other, I think, was just crying himself to sleep.  Even driving through the central valley of California has its moments of beauty – fields of orange trees and some of the irrigation systems are pretty impressive, if not beautiful!  One of our stops was a hoped for stop at In and Out Burger, but it was a complete zoo – lines running out the door and around the building.  I did use the bathroom which had one sink, and there was a CA moment when a 30 something guy stood, while the room was filling up with just finished bathroom goers, and spent an embarrassingly long time primping.  Fixing his belt, shirt, hair and just generally admiring himself.  None of the primping helped much, I must add.

Anyway, we fled that scene, and ended up eating further along the highway a bit. If you foam roll as well as feel no pain, and with the buy professional viagra time you will, you will be avoiding diseases such as lung cancer. However, you must keep in mind that we will keep your information with high confidentiality and will not be shared to anyone, pfizer viagra generic even to the physician. It vardenafil generic is important to manage this dysfunction in the best way to do the exercise while you is urinating. In quite a few cases, nights sweats is generally strong sufficient to need changing the sheets and even pajamas. buy viagra online usually in stock  The drive into SF as the sun was setting was pretty glorious, I think that our timing coming across the Bay Bridge could not have been better.  We dropped Alex, Claire and Theo off, and headed to the Westin Market Street, and are on the 35th floor with a glorious view of downtown – up Kearny and Market Streets.  I worry a little about the 35th floor in San Francisco, but nothing like living on the edge!  We are within walking distance of two megaplexes (maybe Les Mis is in the future?) as well as a bunch of museums and shopping.  Tonight we watched The Sessions, which both of us liked a lot.  We will head out tomorrow and explore!  I think we might even make it to a Starbucks for coffee!

We had a great dinner at the Purple Palm.  The place is great – beautiful room and views of the pool – not to mention terrifically wheelchair friendly.  We valet parked, and strolled past the pool and the great outdoor fireplace, that we were all surprised someone hadn’t snapped up the seating around the roaring flames.  We had Dates, Hummus and “Foraged” Mushrooms for starters, and Alex and I had Chicken – with gruyere brioche, Claire had the pasta – a sort of Alfredo made with butternut squash and David had the Lamb (which was delicious – well it all was delicious).  We left full and had a great evening.  No picture, sometimes it just ruins the moment to stop and try to capture it with a camera.  I know, you all think that’s crazy, but. . . anyway, it was a great evening, with terrific company, service and we look forward to many brunches by the pool in the future.  Then we headed home for some dessert leftovers.

Tomorrow we are getting up early, packing up the car and driving back up north to San Francisco.  We are staying at the Westin Market Street, which is near restaurants and museums within FLAT walking distance, which will be great for our last days for this trip.  We are heading up to Napa on Friday to take another look at a house we saw when we went up two weeks ago.  We will see, no rush, but the more time we spend here, the more I think that it would be nice to be nearer to the Fong/Shapiros!

We had a great dinner last night prepared by Claire and Pat.  Lemons were the theme, since we have an abundance on the trees.  There are also beautiful pink grapefruits that are weighing down the tree out back.  So, the menu was arugula salad with a lemon dressing, Moroccan Chicken with lemon and olives, Couscous and for dessert a sort of lemon baklava (used lemon and butter, and no honey with walnuts) and lemon curd and shortbread.  A very successful dinner.  Ended the evening by watching the Twilight Zone episode with Willaim Shatner – you know, the one with the gremlin on the wing.  Classic.

Tonight we are heading to the Purple Palm to eat poolside.  Tres,tres Palm Springs!  I am also working on getting picture of all of us – maybe poolside at the Purple Palm!  More later.

We are still enjoying Palm Springs, although the weather is not quite behaving!  The temperature is a bit on the cool side, but, hey, it isn’t snowing (except on the mountains!)  Last night, Pat arrived after David and I were snug in our beds.  We had a relaxing day today with lunch at Birba on Palm Canyon.  It was nice to be outside, again, a little cool, but the fire-pit and heaters were ablaze!  Alex has been doing a lot of exercising with David, and his speech is getting a bit more consistent – he asked for a sweater this afternoon (did I say it was a bit cool for Palm Springs?)  Tonight, we ordered out from Pepper’s Thai, and were hoping for delivery, but the driver was out tonight, so went to pick it up.  David insisted on coming along to keep me company.  The food was very tasty, and we all enjoyed it.

We are planning a quite New Year’s at home, and will make something special for dinner.  I am guessing that we will not make it until midnight (I might, but, most of the rest of the crew are in bed by 10pm or before).  Pat, Claire, Alex and Theo are heading out in the morning for Cabazon – a little outlet shopping – who could resist!  David and I will stay, and I will work on desert.  Something with the extra Phyllo Dough and lemons, I think.  Maybe some nuts.  I will think of something.

It has been a couple days since I last wrote, so will try to catch up.  Most of our days are spent gazing at Theo, who is delightful!  When we aren’t doing that, I marvel at what great parents Alex and Claire are.  Patient, smart, fun and what I would call a great team.  Now, I suppose if I had the opportunity to have a child, I would have stepped up, as they say, but it still amazes me when I see parents who handle the stress and hard work with such grace.  Anyway, it has been terrific to be here with everyone, and as you can imagine, the joy that David is getting from spending time with Theo is priceless.

I continue to have trouble with my foot, but the Dr. from San Francisco called in another round of Prednisone, which usually knocks it out.  I think that the last round didn’t quite fix the problem.  Fortunately, I have an appointment when we get back to NY with a new GP, so we can try to get to the bottom of this.  So painful, and really cramps my style!

If I get sidetracked, and don’t write tomorrow, Happy New Year!

We had a great day yesterday and spent the evening with Alex, Claire, Theo and Pat. Got some more pictures, which are a little grainy, but give you the idea!

We had a great supper with them and then back to the hotel.
This morning, we got up and went to the San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker which was really delightful. Live music and all! I was shocked the last time we went to see the Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker, and they used canned music. CRAZY!
Then we met up with the Kaplan/Busansky’s near our hotel for drinks. So great to see the, and the added pleasure of seeing Burke grad, Alex. Thanks for a terrific Christmas Eve treat!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Tomorrow at 8am we leave for the airport, and I think we are ready, or as ready as we will ever be.  David is asleep, the dishwasher is running, and I have just a few things to throw into the suitcase tomorrow morning before we run out the door.  Tonight, we took a nap before Dexter and Homeland (both season finales, and they were great!), but before the nap, David asked if I could read the next installment of 100 Objects, which I did, and then after the shows, and we were heading to bed, he asked if I could read it again, because he had fallen asleep the first time I read.  I obliged.  It is too bad that we won’t have the book with us, it is just too big to carry across country, but we have plenty of time after January 6th, when we return.

I wanted to thank Maria for making last night such a success – the food was fabulous!  Everyone should look up Halcyon Gourmet in Greenpoint, Brooklyn!  Thanks Maria!  Hope tonight went well too!
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Not sure if I will be writing tomorrow night, but I will try.  Alex, Claire and Theo are visiting us at the hotel and I can’t wait!

What a great night!  Thanks to everyone who shared the evening, it was delightful.  We all dodged the thousands of Santas that were wandering (and my guess is by now, littering) the streets of New York.  It was quite a sight to see a sea of red and white flooding down Fifth Avenue.  My hat’s off to Santa Con and whoever thought that up.

Anyway, it was great to see so many friends who have been coming to visit in the hospital and nursing home over the past four months and share some holiday cheer.  We also missed those folks who were sick who couldn’t make it.  As soon as we got up to the apartment, David had me looking for the bad from Hilary, because he had to have some fruit cake.  He devoured a rather large slice in moments – thanks  Hilary!  I am guessing that you knew that David is a huge fan of fruit cake!  All the other gifts will be savored through the holiday season and beyond!
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It was great to be surrounded by so much love and caring!

It is early in the morning, and we are getting up to go for our Access-a-ride evaluation.  They are picking us up at 8:30 for a 9:40 appointment.  Unless it takes an hour to get downtown, that seems like a long wait down there, which will be annoying.

Yesterday we had a nice long visit from Lynne and we went to the Doctor where we also had a long wait.  Dr Im wants David to go for a sleep study because of his possible sleep apnea.  He isn’t very keen to go.  A nice quiet evening at home last night, and let’s hope for the same today.

12/12/12 and only 9 days until the end of the world!  Does that mean that we won’t get to see Liza Minnelli and Alan Cumming at Town Hall in March?  The days are winding down until we leave on Monday.  We worked on walking some steps with Rose the PT in preparation for San Francisco.  There are steps up to Alex and Claires, so I wanted to be prepared.  It went pretty smoothly in the stairwell here.

Went out and got stamps, and David stamped away and sealed the envelopes, so we are almost done.  Tomorrow Lynne is coming by for a visit, and will take advantage and run some errands.  We also have an appointment with the Physiatrist which will be good too.
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Hopefully more exciting update tomorrow!

First, David wanted me to let everyone know that he was helping with the Holiday cards yesterday.  He was putting the return address labels on, which was very helpful.  He will also put stamps on as soon as I get them tomorrow.

Today we went and got blood drawn, stopped by the eyeglass store to have them adjust David’s new glasses and then went to the barber.  David had a haircut and shave, and I just got the haircut.  Then, home and went to lunch with Anthony at the Korean food court on 32nd Street.  It was nice to get out and great to spend time with Anthony.  When I got home, it was almost time for Diane the Occupational Therapist to arrive.  She came and did some work with David, and at the end, the tray that she ordered for his wheelchair arrived, but I had them take it back because it didn’t really work.  I think because the one chair has shorter arm rests and the transfer chair has arm rests that are higher, it doesn’t work on either.  Also, David is spending less time in the wheelchair, so it just doesn’t make sense anymore.

As Diane was leaving, Siobhan arrived, and had a great hour of speech therapy.  Also did some exercises throughout the day.  All in all a good day, and we ended it by watching The Bourne Legacy which David really liked, I thought the chase at the end was about a mile too long.

We had a visit by the Speech Therapist – a different one – who seemed to get words out of David.  She worked very quickly and only stayed for half an hour, but he seemed to be getting things out.  It may have something to do with how early it was.  Gail Johnson then came by and did some Neuro Therapy, and she said she thought that he was being more verbal as well.  Good signs.

then Jennifer arrived, and David shaved or I should say, I shaved David, and then while Jennifer gave him a shower, I ran to Staples to get pens for writing Christmas cards.  The 17th is going to sneak up on my quickly and I have got to get these cards in the mail by the end of the week.  Rose came by for PT in the afternoon, and David did really well walking.  She said that even since last Thursday, she sees a great improvement, and there was another small miracle – he shrugged his right shoulder!  That was something that he started to do a while ago, but then stopped and I am glad that it is back.  Another great sign.

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Tomorrow we go for blood work and a haircut in the morning, then Occupational Therapy in the afternoon, and lunch with Anthony.  A light day.

Well, today we had a great food day.  First lunch of turkey soup and samosas that Pat and Geoff brought yesterday – very yummy, and then a visit from the Liz, Gene, Electa and Quinn bearing gifts from Eataly.  For dinner we had the truffle agnolotti with a light vodka sauce that I improvised.  They were delicious!!  So rich and both David and I ate every bit.

Before dinner, we had a visit from Sheila and had a great conversation about lots of stuff, and about the History of the World in 100 Objects.  Tonight’s installment was a tag from King Den’s sandal.  King Den was an early Pharaoh in Egypt.  David was confuse as to why that was so important, but sometimes the author is including things that seem very pedestrian, but say something about politics and power.  In this case, there was an image of the King smiting an enemy.  A warning of sorts.  Anyway, it seemed like a stretch.  When Sheila left, she suggested that we walk her downstairs to the lobby.  It was a great bit of exercise for David, and even with all the folks coming and going, David held his own.

After dinner we watched a movie with Elizabeth McGovern which was a bit reminiscent of Downton Abbey called Cheerful Weather for the Wedding.  I thought it was quirky and funny, but David, not so much.  Then Dexter and Homeland.  Now, bed is calling.  We have a busy week with Doctors and therapists and getting ready for the trip – one week from tomorrow we will be in San Francisco!

This morning we had a visit from Pat and Geoff and had a nice time chatting about UNIS, looking at pictures from the latest theatrical production at the school, “Much Ado About Nothing” and some wedding photos.  We then had our weekly call with Alex, Claire and Theo, and it was, as always, great to see them.  Can’t wait to see them in the flesh in a little over a week!!  Very exciting!!

We went to the afternoon showing of “Lincoln” and I liked it much better than David.  He found the beginning too slow and talkie.  I didn’t mind it at all, and just enjoyed the historic spectacle of it.  I was also very moved by it at moments, but then, I am a sucker for that stuff.

Then home, and ordered in some Italian food, which was good.  Now, David is asleep (late to bed for him) and I will be going in in a few.  All in all, a good day.

Today we got up at our regular latish hour.  Not terrible, but in time for Baba, the attendant.  I ran out before he arrived to buy milk for cereal.  Then Baba got David in the shower, and I drove the car back to park at UNIS.  Hopped on the bus, and was home almost before David was dry.  Before Gail arrived for Neuro Therapy, I began making a tomato sauce for dinner, and continued cooking through the afternoon. Erectile dysfunction is sexual disarray caused to men that has its main focus on making men free from erectile dysfunction – so much so that it might make a man feel more relaxed. cialis generic 5mg A little bit of vital information can make all the difference. cipla levitra cialis 5mg sale It results in increased frequency of urination, especially during the night. This is possible after the omission of patent check out for source buy generic levitra protection.  Baba left, and we began working on our Christmas/Holiday cards.  Little did I know exactly how frustrating it was going to be for both of us.  He had loads of people to add to the list, but it was excruciating getting names.  I think we are about set.

I have to say, while Vermont was a great diversion, it took a lot out of me.  I am trying not to let David know how taxing some things are on me, but he still gets it and feels bad for me.