4th of July Hugs

This is Maggie giving me a hug on the 4th of July at Crissy Field. Note her patriotic scarf. Maggie's hugs are great. It takes her a minute but she just throws her arm around my neck.

It was breezy there and Maggie was most unhappy unless we had the wind at her back. Makes sense, she can't protect herself and it's kind of freaky to have the wind blowing in your face. But keeping the win at our backs meant walking in a straight line to the east. Getting back to where we started still had to happen but Steve used the crowds to shelter Maggie from the wind.

Monkey Monday

Monday.

Time to get back into the swing of things. The best way to to that is to have a strong cup of joe from my new Monkey cup. It's amazing -- I drink coffee and immediatlely start swinging from the scaffolding.

This weekend was great. Any weekend that starts out with a gift of a monkey mug can only be great. My sister Mary gave it to me because 1) we've had a rough go the past few weeks/months/years and 2) I love monkeys and chimps. You have to love the handle.

On Saturday we took Maggie to Golden Gate Park with Aunt Mary and made another visit to the Academy of Sciences. Sunday we went for a walk at Crissy Field. The weather was INCREDIBLE. There were a million people there and everyone had a smile on their face. Maggie pointed out the bridge for confused tourists (uhhh - it's RIGHT THERE!)  and posed in front of Alcatraz with Dad.

Saturday was #1 son's 22nd birthday. That is unbelievable to me. I know he had fun and I'm glad, but I miss the days of birthday parties with a bunch of little boys running an obstacle course or heading to the "Big Park" (the playgournd in Golden Gate park). Now the parties are different and I'm no longer invited. Ahh well. I'll just drink out of my Monkey cup and all will be well.

This week will see the completion of the house painting. It's 95% complete now and it looks fantastic! It has given us a renewed interest in things. I will post pics when the scaffolding is down.

Hot Town Summer in the City

In these last few days of Summer I am trying to fill our days with outings. There is so much to do that the hours just tick by. It's very easy to let the day slip by and wait for the nurse to get here; but if that happens, Maggie doesn't get out at all. That's just not fair. She needs just as much fresh air and stimulation as the next person. So we got all the medical stuff done, and took off. About 20 minutes after I put her in the wheelchair we actually got downstairs. It was one of those times that leaving the house was impossible, I forgot the food and tubes, couldn't find my purse, Maggie's shoes came off, etc etc. Undaunted, we marshaled on.

Getting out of the house is always an adventure with Maggie. We live in San Francisco, a city of tall buildings with lots of stairs. Not exactly the easiest place to live with a wheelchair. Many years ago we had a lift (elevator) installed outside. It's a platform lift that is open to the elements. Not elaborate by any means, but a godsend. We go out Maggie's room, (which used to be the breakfast room) onto a deck and get into the lift. The new wheelchair just fits; but Maggie has to have someone with her. So the attendant, me, another family member or her nurse, has to stand on tip toes wedged in sideways to fit. The lift goes slowly - 9 ft per minute - so getting from the main floor to the garage level takes a couple of minutes. It's not a comfortable ride.

Once downstairs we have to get into the van to go. Happily we have a new van. Well, it's actually used, but new to us. I press a button and the door opens and the ramp comes down. That's slick. The chair locks in and we're ready to go. I have discovered, however, that I have to stand there and hold Maggie's hand while the door is closing because she could get her hand caught in the ramp as it folds up. You can see why it takes so long to get anywhere.

This morning we went with the dog to Crissy Field for a walk. The sweeping views and the walking path are perfect for all of us. The dog has fun, and Maggie ALWAYS has fun. It's easy to push her chair and enjoy the looming Golden Gate Bridge that feels so close you can touch it. On a nice day it looks like this.

But not today. Summer in San Francisco does not mean barbecues and beaches. We have to wait for the end of September for our nice weather. Summer means sweaters and foghorns. It was incredibly foggy today. Beautiful Crissy Field and its sweeping views looked like this:That's pretty much the same view as above. The Golden Gate Bridge is right there, I swear. Ironically along the walking path there was a lovely display of globes decorated in various ways to illustrate how we can stop global warming. I pulled Maggie's hat over her ears, zipped up my fleece jacket and read those with great interest. We were hoping for a little warming, but it was not to be today. It's August 21 and we had to cut our walk short because we were freezing. We loaded back into the car and went to the grocery store. When we needed to recreate our outing to Crissy Field we went to the frozen foods section. Maggie still had fun - she lives for adventure. The dog, not so much.