posts tagged with 'old age'
age and beauty
When I was a freshman in high school I don't know that I ever imagined being 45 years old, but I do know that if I had I would not have expected that I would, on my 45th birthday (which came this past weekend), be dealing with a big pimple on my face. Ah, the indignities of age: the ways that you'd like to remain youthful you generally do not, but then you still have to worry about your skin. Not that I worry too much, because nobody actually cares very much what I look like. And I really shouldn't complain at all, since it's not only pimples that are keeping me feeling young. My plan of subjecting my body to a constant stream of falls and indignities continues apace, and I think it's working great! Most of the other parents I hang out with are nervous about falling on the ice; there aren't many other 45-year-olds who are out there trying full-speed running penguin slides (well, I suppose technically since I last did that on Friday I was still 44, but close enough). And with all the snow that melted over the weekend I'm starting to think about taking my bike up to the skatepark again soon. That's a young person thing to do, right?!
By the way, as I wrote about being a freshman it occurred to me that I began this blog a mere 13 years after my freshman year in high school, and I've been writing in it now for 18 years. Imagine that! Only nine more years and I'll have been blogging for half my life! What role does blogging play in keeping one feeling young?
what a pain!
I've been getting to think some about pain lately. Just before Thanksgiving I had a dental procedure that left me hurting for a little bit (I may write more about it in a year or two when I recover) and then on Tuesday this week I did something to my back that really laid me low for the next day and a half. Leah is suffering her own difficulties, and is looking ahead to surgery in a week, plus—from an unrelated problem—eating is really painful for her lately. So we're kind of a wreck!
My recent back problems started when I was playing hide-and-seek with the boys and my mom on the rocks above Fawn Lake. I found a great spot, a cleft in the rock where I could crouch down out of sight, and naturally it won me the game. But when I got up I felt a twinge in my lower back, right above my right hip. Then just moments later I slipped on some leaves and fell some way down the rock, but that's normal: I fall all the time! Mysterious twinges are much more alarming.
The pain got worse rather than better over the evening, and by the time I went to bed I was really in a bad way. The fact that it took me three minutes to figure out how I was going to get myself down onto the bed, and that whenever I moved the wrong way the intensity of pain took my breath away, made me wonder if I had done something to my spine. Would I need to go to the hospital?! I also really wished I had filled that prescription for 800mg Motrin tablets that the dentist gave me. As it was, I had to make do with regular generic ibuprofen at 200mg every couple hours all night (I was awake every couple hours to take one because of course every time I moved I would wake up!). Not a pleasant night.
But then by the morning I was already a little bit better: good enough to sit in my chair to do a meeting for work. And while I couldn't ride the bike park the kids built in the street that afternoon I felt good enough to wish that I could. And by Thursday I was back to full capacity, albeit with some lingering twinges (good thing: I would have hated to miss that party!). As I said to Leah, there's nothing like intense debilitating pain to make you appreciate regular aches and pains!
Leah was very kind and caring. Because she's a wonderful loving person of course, but also because she's anticipating a couple weeks of needing care herself coming up! And I'm happy to do it... as long as my own health holds up. If not, it's up to the kids! How do you think they'd do as caretakers?
slight variations in the pancake recipe
Our shopping schedule has been a little disarranged lately—not unlike our blogging schedule, clearly—so we're out of whole wheat flour. But Friday is pancake day without fail, so the whole wheat flour in this morning's batch had to be replaced with white. It's not the first time I've needed to make a substitution; a couple weeks ago we only had maybe half a cup of milk, so I filled out the rest with a mix of yogurt and water. You might be surprised to hear that it worked just fine! I wasn't. I knew it would.
I actually found the all-white flour pancakes to be more different than the yogurty ones. I had originally thought that I put in the whole wheat flour just to show my hippy credentials—crunchy granola and all that. But after seven-plus years of making the same recipe, I've gotten used to the whole wheat taste. This morning's version was fine, but somehow lacking in depth. I guess that means my hippiness is now deeply ingrained.
It actually makes me feel pretty old to see how long ago I came up with this recipe. It feels like just yesterday—and also like an eternity ago. That's what having kids does to you. It's just like how when they found the old iPod (pictured here) I noticed that the version of my music collection frozen within is very little different from what I have on my computer now. I thought my taste in alternative hip hop was pretty sophisticated; is it still avant-garde if it's from 12 years ago? Oh well, the boys really appreciated hearing that Antipop Consortium album.
The pancake recipe has changed ever-so-slightly from seven years ago. For the record, here's what it is now:
In a large bowl whisk together:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
In small bowl beat:
2 large eggs
Add to the dry ingredients, along with
1 1/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp melted butter
Mix gently with a whisk until well-combined and not too lumpy.
Put your skillet over medium-low heat and butter as required. Pour the batter (I use a quarter cup measure, not quite filled for each pancake) and cook until most of the bubbles on top have popped, then flip and cook the other side for a few seconds.
Enjoy with or without 20-year-old music!