Lilacs are in bloom

In our driveway

It's that time of the year again, when lilacs everywhere in town are in bloom. It only happens once a year, for a very short time, but I watch for the blooms with lots of enjoyment. I've learned that the white ones bloom first and are sometimes gone before the deep purple lilacs have shown their color. Yesterday I saw a very different looking lilac bush than I've seen before: purple blooms edged with white. They had only begun to come out, so I didn't get a picture. It's located on a walk I take only once in awhile, so I might or might not capture the blooms. My attention span is limited these days.

At the moment I'm dealing with a blockage of ear wax in my right ear. I went looking for the earwax removal kit in my bathroom and tried it, with no success. Then I noticed that it might be because the expiration date was way back in 2017. Off to the pharmacy for a new bottle, some of which is now in my tilted ear, with hopes that I'll be able to hear normally again in the near future. If it's not one thing, it's another. A minor annoyance but one I cannot ignore.

How about you? How is the weather in your part of the world? I keep seeing these awful tornadoes in the south and am reminded that spring tends to exacerbate these terrible storms. We are having cloudy but mild weather, nothing serious to report. We do keep having rainstorms, but that is perfectly normal for the Pacific Northwest during the majority of the year.

:-)

Heading home tomorrow

This morning's sunrise

I took this picture this morning as we headed out for our morning jog, after having watched the dark skies turn to blue and gold with beautiful puffy clouds. We were returning from our swim at the YMCA. Norma Jean's habit is to be there when it opens at 6:30am and swim for 45 minutes. I swam laps for 30 minutes and watched the first light appear in the skies on my last day in Florida.

Lifeguards Josh and Ellie

After my shower, I chatted with the two lifeguards while Norma Jean finished her swim. Ellie had a piece of play doh which she had fashioned into a pretty blue moustache. I'll miss the morning routine, but frankly, I'm ready for a break. After we returned home, we changed into our jogging clothes and Icarus joined us. I actually must jog alongside Norma Jean to keep up, as she walks at a 4.6-mile-an-hour pace. She also goes for 50 minutes, while I cut it off after 30. Since we are in her community the whole time, it's easy for me to find my way back home.

I took this picture with my iPhone on an earlier excursion, and I tried the "zoom" feature, which worked pretty well. I just enlarged the picture using the patented two-fingered zoom, the opposite of a pinch. I need to brush up on my iPhone terminology, I fear.

After that was over, off we went to the Y again, this time for a Pilates class. Oh, I will be sore tomorrow, but I'll be recovering on the plane, so it won't be too bad. I'm sitting here with my laptop and two doggies (Icarus and Doris' dog Jingles) both waiting for my lap to become vacant again. They fight with each other for any available petting opportunities.

Icky and Jingles

I've got a doctor's appointment on Monday as soon as I return, since my left ear seems to have plugged up with earwax. This happens to me periodically, and I think it was exacerbated by swimming and trying to keep water out of my ears. I bought some earwax removal stuff, some kind of peroxide, but all it did was make it worse. I last saw a doctor about this in May 2010, and I wrote about it here. After poking around in my ear carefully with an ear-cleaning instrument, I gave up and called for an appointment. It's a strange feeling not knowing where a sound is coming from and feeling pretty darn deaf, to tell you the truth. "What did you say?" "Huh?"

I'll be packed up and ready for an early departure tomorrow, with a full day of travel ahead. My second flight in Denver originates in New York, so I'm hoping it won't be delayed by the Nor'easter headed to the East Coast. It's 47 degrees F at home, but it's in the low 80s here. I think I'll go for a bike ride after I finish this. Talk to you soon!
:-)

I can hear again

Today I had an appointment with an ear doctor. In Boulder, I had been a patient of the the same doctor for years, so I had never before seen an ear specialist for a buildup of ear wax. Apparently it's pretty common that, as we age, ear wax doesn't come out like it used to and can impair your hearing. That has been happening to me for a few decades now, and every few years or so my doctor would simply sit me down in a chair and hand me the ear irrigator, remind me how to do it, and close the door. She said to come get her when I thought I was done. She cleaned up anything I missed, but it took a while.

It worked pretty well, I got good at it, but a few weeks ago I noticed the telltale crinkly sound in my left ear and when I would wake up in the morning, I couldn't hear anything out of that ear. I'd wiggle the ear, pull on it, and eventually get the wax away from the eardrum, but it wasn't working all that well. Now that I am a Medicare patient and have moved away from Boulder, I called the Center for Senior Health and figured they would just do the same thing I was used to. No, they sent me to a specialist, an ear doctor. I was a little disgusted that they couldn't just let me do the work, but apparently liability issues wouldn't allow it. (Probably had some old geezer whose eardrum got punctured and didn't want a repeat.)

Of course, I googled the doctor I was scheduled to see and learned he has an "excellent" rating. So I waited for the appointment and went to see him. I walked into his office at 2:10 pm, we chatted about my ear history, he got out a cute dainty little vacuum cleaner, and whoosh! my ears were clean as a whistle, and I walked out at 2:20 pm. And I could hear just fine! It was the best doctor visit I've had in a while, and I wasn't drenched from the top of my head to my elbow, either. (I didn't always have the best aim back there in Boulder.)

Although I have heard about ear candling, I don't know anything about it, and I certainly don't want to mess with something that might actually harm my dainty little ears or my hearing. When I was in Bangkok, I recall that there were interminable little shops in the alley behind my hotel that advertised "Ear Wax Removal" along with their foot massage. I wonder what they used? I got a foot massage twice a day, I was hooked on them. But since I wasn't having any problem with my ears, I puzzled over the signs but didn't pursue it. I was sure that if I inquired about it, before long I would be fending off the practitioner.

Since I have a very international bunch of blogging buddies, it got me to wondering what other people do when (if) they can't hear because of ear wax buildup. Is it just me? I don't think I've read about this question having ever been addressed before. Anybody?
:-)