A Slightly Surreal Post

I often walk past this house in St. John's Wood on my way home from work. They really do it up for the winter holidays, as they also do for Halloween. They must have a whole room dedicated to storing inflatables and lights. It looks like a pretty big house so I guess they can spare the space.

Today is our last day before Winter Break, and I thought it was going to be a half-day -- but it turns out that no, it's a full workday. And we do still have kids around, though many of them have already departed on their holiday travels. It hopefully won't be too busy, and I do have some cleaning up to do in the library so it's just as well.

And now for the surreal part of the post:

This gigantic green, smiling banana just appeared the other day in the senior student gathering spot. Who knows why? For a while it was in the center of the action, but now it has been banished to the top of a shelf, where it looks like it could roll down on someone at any moment. (It wouldn't do any harm.)

And here's another house I sometimes pass on my way home from work -- with the sculptured spider and goldfish outside. Last night they were still ornamented with skeletons (including a fish skeleton), presumably for Halloween. Maybe they'll be wreathed in holly for Easter.

I think the house belongs to this guy, who describes himself online as an Austrian surrealist artist and "keeper of spider house."

Last night our TV entertainment was a movie called "The Invasion" with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Through the whole thing I kept saying, "This is just like 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers'!" Well, it turns out to have been a deliberate remake of that sci-fi classic -- but not so deliberate that it's a mirror image. It came out in 2007 and apparently didn't do all that well, and it is a bit clunky despite a high-profile cast including Veronica Cartwright, Jeremy Northam, Jeffrey Wright and Celia Weston. But it was diverting and it got my mind off work, which seems to occupy all my time at the moment.

I got some good work-related news yesterday, though. We've extended a job offer to a new assistant, to replace my colleague who departed in October, and I believe that offer has been accepted. So my workload should lighten when she joins the team at the end of next month. Maybe I'll even have time to answer blog comments!

No More Tomato

Well, "the tomato" is gone, thank God. Dave had it removed yesterday morning, but not without some confusion. We went to the hospital at 8 a.m. or so, armed with the discharge letter that told us to be there that day. We went to the emergency room, which is where we were told to go. And of course no one there expected us and they looked at the letter like it was written by an ancient race in an incomprehensible cuneiform script.

We sat down in the waiting room. And waited. And waited some more.

Finally the nurses called Dave back and said the doctors wanted a blood test first, and both Dave and I got a bit cranky about not being told what's going on. We did not want to be delayed by a blood test, the results of which might not be available for hours. So they called the doctor to come and speak to us, and meanwhile we were sent back to the waiting room, where we waited some more.

Finally they suggested drawing the blood anyway, just to get things moving until the doctor appeared. Dave consented and that was done and not too much later, we were called back. The drain was removed, Dave spoke to the doctor about his healing, expectations for his movement and diet, and how to get his surgical staples removed in about a week. (It never ends!) We told the doctor we planned a Christmas trip to Whitstable and the doctor didn't seem fazed by that at all, so I took that as a good sign -- I was afraid he'd gasp, "Why, you can't travel NOW!"

Then we were back in an Uber headed for home, and I got myself to work by 11 a.m. or so, managing to salvage most of a very busy workday.

Last night, prompted by a comment on yesterday's post by Ms. Moon, we watched another Christmas movie -- "The Family Stone." I think I've seen it before, many years ago, because I remembered the gay son with hearing loss. But I remembered nothing and no one else, which is odd because it's a very good movie with an illustrious cast. We both enjoyed it a lot and of course we teared up in all the right places. I haven't cried at a movie in a long time but that one made it happen.

(Photo: Christmas decorations at a nursing home in St. John's Wood. It looks like work is being done on the facade which is why there's also a scaffold. Clearly they don't use that main door!)

Goldfinches and 'White Christmas'

As I looked out the back door yesterday morning, watching the squawky parakeets on our bird feeder, I caught sight of this pair of goldfinches feasting on our teasel seeds. I've always read that goldfinches like teasels, and I always leave some up through the winter to give them foraging opportunities. But the goldfinches in our 'hood often seem to go for other plants, like the verbena or the tamarisk. I'm glad this time they were appreciating the food I deliberately left for them!

We pre-ordered an Uber (and yes, we got an Uber Pet!) to take us to Whitstable on Friday. It turned out to be not nearly as expensive as I feared -- about £130. Of course there will be a tip on top of that, but it's still a pleasant surprise and it will be so much easier than the train with incapacitated Dave and ancient, creaky Olga. Not to mention all our luggage, which I would otherwise have to carry on my own since Dave is under strict instructions to lift nothing heavier than a tea kettle.

He's supposed to get "the tomato" removed today, so we're off to the hospital as soon as I finish this post. No one has contacted us about exactly where to go or when to be there, so we're flying in the dark here, but I have faith that when we arrive someone will take care of us. Removing a drain should be an easy task.

When it came time for our evening TV ritual, Dave wanted to watch a Christmas classic, so we opted for "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, from 1954. Somehow I had never seen it, at least not that I remember. Dave thought he'd seen it before but he didn't remember specifics so it was like new to him, too. Vera Ellen, who played one of the lead parts, was an amazing dancer but she looked unusually skinny, and sure enough I read online afterwards that she struggled with anorexia -- back before it was fully recognized as a condition. And every time I see Rosemary Clooney I can't help singing, "Extra value is what you get when you buy Coronet!"

Anyway, it was an enjoyable movie in the slightly tedious way of many '50s musicals.

I woke up in the middle of the night and stepped outside for some air. I saw the moon, almost full, behind scudding clouds. Isn't it cool that everyone on the planet sees the same moon in their skies, in the same phase? It's unifying.

Finally, a Day of Rest

The hellebores in the back garden have opened -- and I was amazed to see that even in mid-December, this one had little aphids on it. It's been a pretty warm winter so far and in any event, I have no idea what aphids do in winter. Maybe they're always around.

Yesterday was a calm, relaxing day -- exactly what Dave and I both needed. We had a professional gardener come over in the morning to give us an estimate on pruning our front garden, and I had him look at the back as well. I want him to give us some idea of the work that needs to be done there. I doubt we'll hire him for both jobs -- he's my neighbor's gardener and she says he's expensive -- but you never know. It would be nice to have a professional give everything a once-over.

I went grocery shopping, stocking up on some soft food for Dave like yogurt, cottage cheese, fruit juice and mashed potatoes. (You can buy them pre-mashed, thank goodness. I'm sure I already knew that but it was nice to discover it again.) And of course they didn't have everything I needed at Waitrose so I wound up going to Tesco too.
 

I repotted our newest rescued houseplant, this little variegated rubber tree I found abandoned on the corner last week. See that black vessel in the foreground? That's what it came in, but it's a terrible pot -- no drainage hole, comically small, and the black chalky coloring rubs off on my hands. I put the tree in a bigger clay pot where it has room to grow, even though the last thing we need is another gigantic plant.

I spent the afternoon reading and trying to get food into Dave. I think he's experiencing some post-surgical depression. He has seemed very subdued, and said last night that he's struggling with feelings of mortality -- particularly after watching his roommate John slowly dying in the next bed. I told him that was perfectly understandable -- it was hard even for me to see John, and I was there only an hour or two each day. I think this will lift as Dave gets stronger and after he gets rid of "the tomato" (see previous post).

Also, we have Whitstable coming up next weekend, and I hope a holiday escape may do him some good -- even if it merely means resting there, with a view of the sea, rather than here.

I also paid a large chunk of our British taxes yesterday, so that's mostly off my shoulders. There's still a balance due but I can pay the rest in January. (For cash flow reasons I can't do it all now, and they're not due until Jan. 31.)

I bought a bottle of gin at Tesco and made an evening martini, which I badly needed after a hellish week. I was going to take this picture with Dave in his chair, but as it turned out he was up doing something at that moment and he wouldn't want to be photographed anyway. He never does.

Olga is saying, "Oh, Lord, the martinis have appeared. It's going to be a long night!"

But it wasn't. I only had one, while watching "Valley of the Dolls." Saturday night in West Hampstead! Sparkle, Neely, sparkle!

Homecoming

While walking the dog yesterday morning, I came across this advertisement on one of our characteristically filthy public phone boxes. Marijuana is not legal in the UK except for certain prescribed medical uses, as I understand it -- so I'm not sure what "legal weed" means. But I thought the doobie-smoking Santa was kind of amusing.

So, YES! Dave is home! I went to the hospital after lunch yesterday and collected him. One of his co-workers very kindly sent him a wedge pillow and a blanket via Amazon, which arrived at his hospital bed in a gigantic box yesterday morning. Of course Dave can't carry anything, so that meant I had to carry Dave's backpack containing his clothing and personal effects, that big box and my own stuff from work. Plus I had the poor foresight to buy a cup of coffee just before we left the hospital. So my hands were more than full.

We said goodbye to John, Dave's terminally ill roommate. I heard John telling someone on the phone that the doctors told him he would be lucky to see January. Given his condition, I'm not sure that would actually be lucky. The medical staff are apparently trying to find him a Hospice bed.

Somehow we got everything into an Uber and home. Dave rested for a few minutes in his chair before taking a shower, which he pronounced a "glorious" experience.

Olga, meanwhile, was happy to see him but not inordinately so. She acts like he left yesterday. I don't think she has any sense of time.

My main concern now is getting him to eat. He's supposed to have soft food, like soups, Jell-O, mashed potatoes and stuff like that. He's just not very hungry, though. I made him some chicken broth and white toast last night, and he ate a little of it but not much. He did eat an ice cream bar for dessert, though, so at least he got some calories. He said he might try an egg this morning.

He has to go back to the hospital outpatient clinic on Monday for a checkup and to get his drain removed. This drain is a sort of vacuum bottle that is meant to collect fluid from his wound, and everywhere Dave goes he has to carry it in his hand. It's about the grossest thing in the world -- I call it "the tomato" -- and I will be glad to see it gone.

I finally got caught up on some blogs last night and answered some comments. I'm hopeful I can keep abreast of things better now that I don't have to make my way to the hospital every night. Meanwhile, if Dave needs medical marijuana, we know who to contact!

Buzzzzzzzing

I took this picture on the way home from the hospital last night. The billboard is advertising the Buzz coffee shop that I depicted here, as well as a co-working space. And then I thought the picture was a little lame by itself, so I ran it through Waterlogue to turn it into a watercolor painting.

Here's the original:

I finally have some good news from this corner of the world -- Dave is being told he can come home from the hospital today. Woo hoo! When I went to see him yesterday he was much more clear-headed than the day before and pretty stir-crazy. He's off his pain meds and he's disconnected from most of the tubes and things that were weighing him down, so he is ready. As he said, "I'm done!"

He thinks it will be late this afternoon before he is released, so I'm going to work as usual and I'll leave early to meet him and bring him home. He will be so much happier here. He'll have his chair and the TV, and good Internet, and Olga (although he's got to keep her off his lap!). Also, in the hospital, the guy in the bed across from Dave is terminally ill, and while he is the nicest guy in the world -- almost 30 years younger than we are -- it must be psychologically hard on Dave. It would be on me.

I am so looking forward to a weekend. This week has been brutal. I'll be catching up in blogland and hopefully doing some more reading -- with both Dave and Olga in the room!

Darkness

We are days away from the darkest depths of the year, and my photography is reflecting that. I'm never outside when it's daylight, except on my walk to work! And even then, the light is rather gray -- the "wan sun" striking "tin glints" that Sylvia Plath mentioned in her wintry poem Parliament Hill Fields.

Yesterday was another work, work, work kind of day -- a steady stream of tasks. I actually ate lunch at my desk because no one was available to cover for me, so in between bites I was up helping students. It is just a relentless pace.

I went to see Dave in the evening. On the one hand, he seems to be making progress. We walked around the seventh floor and talked to have some privacy away from his "roommates." But on the other, he seems a bit foggy.

"I never expected to have surgery twice in the same day," he said last night.

"Dave, your surgeries weren't on the same day," I replied. "Your first surgery was Friday, and your second was Sunday."

He looked at me skeptically. I think he has completely lost that intervening day. I know time has a way of telescoping and collapsing in the hospital, but still -- that freaked me out a little. 

Anyway, he's still not on solid food, and I've been unable to connect with the doctor to find out why. I think he may begin eating today. Dave has promised to ask the doctor to call me, so we shall see.

Two of Olga's Kong toys have disappeared. For years, she's had three of them, and I can only find one. I have looked under every stick of furniture and all over the garden. I think she may have left them outside to be spirited away by foxes. You may think that unlikely, but it has happened in the past. It's annoying because Kongs are expensive, but fortunately she's not as obsessively attached to them as she used to be.

While walking her yesterday morning I found yet another abandoned houseplant, a rubber tree left on the corner next to a utility box. So of course that came home with me. We now have three rubber trees.

I was sorry to read about the death of poet Nikki Giovanni. I always admired her literary voice and her politics. I went with some friends to see her speak in the early 1990s -- I believe it was this event, actually -- and she was quite fiery and irreverent, as I recall, though I can't remember specifics. She's one of those people who seems frozen in my memory as a young woman, so to read that she was 81 was surprising. Where does the time go?

(Photos: Houses on my walk home from the hospital last night.)