I saw my primary care physician today for my 6 month check up….love her! She gave me very good advice which echoed some I’ve been getting from others…..friends and family members. Also on my part there was this nagging kind of apprehension about this needed surgery that was keeping me awake at night. 

She told me the mortality rate and the seriousness of the AAA (abdominal aortic aneurysim) surgery was too great for me to NOT see a specialist in it. She said the local surgeons I’d seen are good, but they don’t do that particular surgery as often, and I should see one who does it regularly and specializes in it. She told me to go home and make an appointment to see one of the specialists at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. So that is what I did and then called my cardiologist and surgeon and the hospital here to get my records faxed over to the Indy specialist. Tomorrow I will sign the authorization papers and go to the radiology department for the disc of the CT scan done in February. And I have an angel, named Betty, who will go with me to see the specialist the end of the month. I AM blessed!  And I’ll sleep better tonight.

Wow! I found the information about my Silent Auction purchase thanks to the Calgary Coin company website which answers email questions. The kind man who replied, said I could go to the website Primaltrek and perhaps find some information. The detective work paid off and here is the information about the large coin which turns out to be a large good luck charm instead! And which I am turning into a rather interesting pendant necklace. The information below was copied from http://primaltrek.com/auspicious.html  These photos of the coin/charm are from the Primal Trek site and are pretty much identical to the characters on mine….although they appear to be more worn. It is always fun to solve a mystery! And even if this goodluck charm is not particularly valuable in $$, I’ll enjoy wearing it as a necklace. It was well worth what I paid for it!

This is a very large charm expressing the wish to obtain promotion to an official office.

Reportedly, the saying originally came from a historical text of the Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234 AD) where it was stated “When the phoenix flies outside, envoys will arrive, when inside, office and salary will be bestowed“.


The reverse side of this charm, unfortunately, is very black.

Also, the character for deer (鹿) is pronounced lu which is exactly the same pronunciation as the character (禄) on the obverse side referring to the salary of a government official.

Even more interesting, the deer is often used to refer to the God of Prosperity. This is because Lu (禄), the God of Prosperity, is also pronounced the same as the character for deer.

Therefore, the pictures say “good luck” (cloud) in obtaining an “official’s salary” (deer) “as you wish” (ruyi shape of cloud) which mimics the inscription in Chinese characters on the obverse side.

The diameter of this charm is 61 mm. [The one I have is slightly larger so possibly is a copy..or else I didn't measure it correctly. I'm not so good converting inches to milimeters.]

My late husband collected coins from all over the world so I was interested in a very large old Chinese coin that was on our Silent Auction table at last Saturday’s weekly condo coffee hour….we sometimes have interesting programs too. Last Saturday’s program was given by the director of the Model Airplane Museum which is located in my hometown. Their national association has members from all 50 states…quite a big organization….but to get back to the coin. I was the only one  to bid on the large Chinese coin in the fabric covered box so it became mine. It’s two and a half inches (63.5 mm) across and weighs 1.75 ounces (49.6 grams).  I put it on a chain today and wore it as a pendant necklace even had some earrings that matched it pretty well.

Anyway, if anyone out there knows what is written on this big coin, I’d like to know what the characters mean. Here are pictures of the front and back. It did make a nice necklace altho’ a bit heavy! It looks like the coin’s back has an animal figure on it…a deer  or something? The proprietor of our “First Wok” Chinese carry-out restaurant said the characters were of the old style of writing not used anymore so it was a pretty old coin. But that is all I know so far. I’ll keep searching for information.

   More photos of my home….I bet a realtor could use these for a “virtual tour” as they call it. It looks so nice I may not want to leave it, ha.

This is the dining area of my combination living room and dining room. My old Willet hard rock maple drop leaf gate leg table has extra leaves and will seat over a dozen people when opened up. I think I’ll keep it if or when I move to a smaller place.

The next photo is the view of both areas. I like the crewel work pictures my mother did in the 1960′s before she went legally blind.

The next one is my fireplace with some leftover Christmas stuff but the green pine boughs gone. I also am sharing the results of my repaired bathroom, the one I accidentlally flooded. The insurance people finally came through with a settlement to repair it. I don’t think I’ll have trouble selling it if I don’t mind being patient and taking a long time to do it. Before selling it, I’ll no doubt have to get a new spring for the garage door opener….keeps making a loud popping noise every time I put it down…..but the rest of the place is in good shape!  Do you know anyone who wants to buy a condo in a university town? Send them my way.

Oh, by the way I have an upstairs balcony off the dining area and a downstairs deck off the family room which I didn’t photograph. But it is like living in a tree house when sitting outside on the balcony. Nice.

I’ve just about made up my mind to eventually move closer to family after I recuperate from the AAA surgery. I should know the surgery date after I see my cardiologist and surgeon in September. Probably won’t be scheduled before the end of that month. I like my condo but think it’s probably time to sell it and get a one story ground floor apartment….I am, after all, eighty years old!

Some states are more “senior friendly” than others I’ve found. My three girls live in three different states. Middle daughter lives in PA, a senior friendly state….with no state income taxes on retirement income: Social Security, company pensions, retirement IRA’s, etc. also offers free public and discounted rail transportation. But the selling point is that there are apartments and condominiums within walking distance of middle daughter’s home. We looked at them when I was there in June…..expensive but quite nice.  And I loved shopping in Philadelphia…..at the old Wanamaker’s … Philadelphia’s first department store. They had VERY big hats! I tried them on but didn’t buy one.

In the meantime, I’ve been in a clean out the closets frenzy coupled with the desire to “unclutter” the rest of my place. My master bath was redone and lots of painting was completed too (except for 2 rooms). It’s looking nice…..so nice I may not want to sell it!

Here are some photos…..may use them if I decide to sell….who knows?

My “uncluttered” kitchen is so much nicer plus finally got the work done in the master bathroom…new flooring, new double vanity and lavatories and hardware and finally new towels, etc.

I think every woman should be given a shower with new towels and throw rugs, etc. for kitchens and bathrooms about every ten years or so.

  Getting ready to fly to see grandchild #3 graduate from college. She majored in geology and like me, she loves rocks; but unlike me, she knows all about how they were formed and what is in them. I once gave her a huge piece of rose quartz.

When she was little….about two and a half years old….we’d take nature walks and gather stuff we found ….seed pods, leaves, rocks, etc…..put them in our paper bag to examine on the kitchen table when we got back to the house. She was so very curious about everything! Anyway, I’m going to enjoy seeing her graduate. She’s one smart cookie! And someday she’ll get my huge basketball size slice of a geode and my big jar of interesting rocks too.

And I learned a few hours ago that I can get the image of my boarding pass on my I-phone…so did so!!! However, I printed out a paper copy also …. just in case!

Here is the photo taken at my birthday party and a few others of my peony tree….that is what it’s called….. and other photos of this year’s flowers. It’s so cold tonight I’m afraid they might freeze…..but hope not! It was so very warm early in March that my daffodils only lasted about two weeks from the time they started blooming. Daughter Valerie took pictures of them on St. Patrick’s Day when I came home from the hospital. The miniature ones don’t seem as hardy as the larger varieties. I have several types of large daffodils that were lovely this year….and the nice thing about them is the rabbits leave them alone! The tulips are ones from the church altar last year. I always order some in memory of loved ones. I’ll add to those soon from this year’s altar flowers.

I added a photo of my 80th birthday tatoo….yes, I said “tatoo”…..it’s a long story I won’t bore you with just now. I’ve always wanted one.  

  I had a wonderful 80th birthday. Daughter Val and Sparky may have found their 700th geocache, but I reached the age 80 years….or 960 months…..or 29,200 days! That’s a helluva lot of living done so far!

My friends had a surprise luncheon party for me at Johnny Carino’s….14 or so there with the helium balloons and cards and gifts and also received a nice kiss from a handsome dentist who just happened to be at the same restaurant. Okay, he sits back of me in our church choir and was there with his beautiful wife….but the kiss and hug were a nice surprise anyway. I’m blessed to have such wonderful loving friends. I also received a pound box of my favorite Lowery’s dark chocolate maple creams and peanut clusters from “cousin inlaw” Julia. (We’re not related but share cousins…..it’s complicated.)

I got to visit via phone with my three beautiful daughters and also my U of GA granddaughter who is in North Carolina to present a paper before the National Society of Geologists or something like that. She is one smart cookie who loves rocks just like her grandma….except she knows so much more about them. We give rocks to one another as gifts. She’ll get the giant halved geode gracing my fireplace hearth someday……heavy stuff…..to go with the big chunk of rose quartz I gave her years ago.

Earlier, before my friend Betty picked me up for dinner (I thought it was going to be  just the 2 of us), the florist delivered two gorgeous baskets of plants. Later, my neighbor boys, Oliver and Rob, brought me over some cheesecake, greetings and hugs; and we shared some Irish Mist whisky….but before that, cousin inlaw and I were given tickets to attend the Muncie Symphony’s Saturday Nights program which was Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in a minor (heavy demanding difficult Russian music)  and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, which was originally named Eroica and written for Napoleon, the hero who liberated France from its monarchy, but Ludwig got pissed off at Napoleon Bonaparte when he named himself Emperor and so Ludwig renamed his symphony. Anyway, it was a glorious way to spend the first day of being 80 years old….can’t believe I’m that old!

Tomorrow I’ll have dinner out after church and then attend our local university’s matinee performance of the musical comedy, “Lend Me A Tenor” with my friends Jane and John. And this will be just the start of a very busy week! Life is good. God is good and I am blessed.

  Today was one for baking and cooking stuff….in a domestic mood, I suppose. I fixed a wonderful corned beef brisket which I sliced thin…will have to freeze most of it but will use that great 49 cent head of cabbage from Aldi….couldn’t believe the whole   lovely head for that price….will fix that in the broth later next week. Then decided to use up some of the dried cranberries, raisins, walnuts, etc. and did a double recipe for fat free, dairy free Amish baked oatmeal muffins. Used Almond milk … low cal and better tasting than skim….and extra apple sauce instead of butter or margerine. It made 30…added some blueberries to some. Will bag and freeze them. I am so good! Mama would be so proud of me.