Una bella signora a Roma (A beautiful lady in Rome)

I just wanted to share some photos of my beautiful niece Sophia, who just returned home after a week in Italy.

My sister Shawn was worried she wouldn't want to come home to Greene County, Pa;  I was worried she'd be snatched up by one of those Italian modeling agencies looking for their next tall and skinny model!

(Sophia is 21 years old, 2 inches taller than me and probably doesn't weigh half what I do.  Plus she's beautiful.)

Anyway, here's some pics of her in Rome at the Coliseum, Venice and Tuscany.  I was only planning on showing "selfies" here as I don't know Sophia's friends, but we'll see.  

I just wanted to focus on Sophia anyway. 😊💛

Ok, this one of Sophia and her friends is so pretty I couldn't resist

20 million people can't be wrong...

Things could be worse, but things could be so much better.  A couple days ago I tried going to the store (for some items I didn't really need, was just looking for an excuse to go somewhere) and couldn't do it.  Too much pressure in the temples and inflammation in the face.

It hurts to put on my eyeglasses and I cannot go outside without 'em.  

Tried again yesterday... nope.  So I went today (and here's my sore mug, trying to look normal) after coming home, and now my head and eyes are super hot and I am wiped out.  Just for a walk to the store and back.  

It's hard to believe, but this time a year ago I was finally showing signs of real improvement.  I was experiencing good days every 2-3 days.  By mid June things were mostly good.  I was 90% my old self and started visiting the senior center again.

I still waited 3 months before seeing a dentist in mid September for a couple cavities.  If I had known those shots of Novocaine would reactivate the long covid virus, I would've waited a year to get those fillings.  

(I only found out afterward that people recovering from long covid and undergoing dental work or injections to the head or face were experiencing full relapses.)

Anyway, since it's return this past September... it's like back to square one.  I get good moments here and there, but have yet to get any good days.  I worry this isn't going to get fully better anytime soon.  Just continuing to take things one day at a time.

Two nights ago, I was in my kitchen washing dishes and heard the term "long covid" on the news and came dashing into the living room to see who said what.  A health expert said the latest covid variants were showing less risk of developing into long covid, but it's estimated 20 million Americans are currently living with this condition.  They're known as silent sufferers, as they've stopped seeking medical treatment.  

It made me think of my first trip to the doctor in January 2024 and being misdiagnosed with a severe sinus infection.  I went back in February 2024, then to the ER in March then to a neurologist that summer.  After that, I knew no one had any answers.  

In all honesty, everything after 2023 seems like a dream.  Like none of this was meant to happen.  I guess a lot of people in car accidents or slip & falls say the same thing.  It just feels like this could've been so easily avoided.  I'll never know for sure.

And finally, a friend of mine noticed my post with Eve Plumb's book had gotten a lot of comments, and jokingly asked if I was becoming an 'influencer'.  I'm not even sure what that is.  She said if I was trying to sell the book on my blog by talking about it and getting a kickback, I had to disclose that.

No, I was just writing about it, that's all.  Meanwhile, have you tried these Ricola Lemon-Mint Drops?  Not only are they sugar free, they're made with natural ingredients, soothing Swiss herbs and the perfect oral anesthetic for someone like myself with inner cheek and oral inflammation.  I just love them. 😉

Meanwhile, on ApacheDug's Island.. there is meatloaf (finally) and Eve Plumb is paying a visit

Do you remember a few years ago (March 2023 to be exact) I blogged about getting a coffee table, as in should I or shouldn't?  Last night I was sitting here on the floor in front of my couch--my "island" in my apartment--wondering about it again.  I just like being down here, sitting cross-legged or legs stretched out.  It really helps prevent swollen feet and ankles.  

But I can't help wondering if it's time I got more civilized and got a table so guests will have somewhere to set their teacup down after I recover from this damn long covid and become social again.   

On the other hand... I've never been comfortable having more than one guest in my home at a time.  That will never change.  And I don't have any teacups. 

If need be, I have this sturdy hemp ottoman to set cups on, and a cool guest chair 

So what else... I finally decided to sully my sparkling oven with one of my big juicy meatloaves.  My cooking will never make it into Bon Appétit, but it was still pretty tasty.  I tossed in some baby carrots at the last minute.  I usually have corn or green beans with meatloaf, but these worked just fine.

Some chopped parsley for the potatoes and carrots would've been nice, but my meal was still good.  I put nearly half of this meatloaf in the freezer and still had plenty for meatloaf sandwiches this week. 

I was surprised at how little splatter there was in the oven, but in my ongoing effort to keep that shiny and clean, I wiped the insides down after it cooled.  I think I can keep it this way as long as I don't cook chicken or bacon in there.

And finally, look what I got today. I am such a hypocrite.  After I finished reading Jennifer Grey's book (her saucy autobiography) last week, I said "No more. My days on this planet are numbered, and there are better ways to spend my time than reading some tell-all from an actress who starred in one popular movie in the 1980s."

Then the very next morning while watching tv, I see Eve Plumb (who played middle child Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch) being interviewed on the Today show about her new book that just came out.  Another tell-all, another actress who starred in one popular tv show in the 1970s.

I said to heck with it, went online to Barnes & Noble to buy the ebook for my Nook, then changed my mind and paid the extra $5.00 and got the hard copy instead.

Why Doug, why?  I admit to having a thing for her, but that was 50 years ago.  Also, if I'd waited a couple years like I did with Grey's book, I probably could've saved a few bucks.  Oh well!

This one was different though.  I always related more to Jan than the other kids on the show.  I think a lot of people did.  

I do know when Jan was forced to get glasses (because she had to in real life) so did I, and I felt like we were kindred spirits.

Way back in 2015, I did a special "birthday blog" to Eve Plumb (with some pretty mental memes) you can check out here.

She also bears the distinction of being my last post on Facebook before I closed my account there in 2016.  I shared an article where Eve was donating her teenaged bedroom door to a pop culture art museum in California.  The door was covered top to bottom in 70s stickers and decals, and her parents left it that way, after she grew up and moved out. 

So I've just finished the first chapter of Eve's book, and it's a sweet and quiet read, nothing like Jennifer Grey's juicy word dive.  Eve writes she was a real surprise to her parents when she came along in 1958; they were in their forties and had a son and daughter in their mid-teens.  (She also says that aside from new carpeting, her parents kept the same paint, wallpaper, curtains and furniture in their home over 50 years, from 1950 to 2001.) 

There's lots of photos too, and Eve claims many of these have never been shared before.  I'm certainly looking forward to more of her story.

Picture of the Day: My niece Sophia, all grown up and going places

Sophia and her years of study at Slippery Rock University

It's been awhile since I blogged about my niece Sophia--3 years to be exact, when I wrote about attending her high school graduation in May 2023 (click here to see) and how impressed I was with her speech.  She was in the top 2 of her class.

Since then, Soph's went on to Slippery Rock University and somehow while working afterschool jobs and meeting stringent scholarship requirements, managed to stay on the Dean's List -and- the fast track, completing her undergrad studies a year early.  She'll receive her bachelors degree when she dons her cap & gown next spring.

But this August, she begins graduate school where she'll get her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy in 3 years.  (You can't touch that, AI!)  I'm so proud of this young lady I could bust.

As of this writing, she (along with 20 of her classmates) are en route to Italy to tour the Coliseum and the Vatican in Rome-- they're flying there as I type this.  Talk about going places!

Ti voglio bene, Sophia! 

Happy Mother's Day to my favorite working mom

This is a Mother's Day card my dad made for Mom sometime in the mid-1970s.  (Her name was Linda, but he always called her "Line".)   On the card, she's wearing her red Fisher's Big Wheel smock.  It had a large white button pinned on the front that displayed her name and the caption "We're Big on People".

When Fisher's Big Wheel came to our hometown in 1972, we were all excited.  It was our first big department store.  We had a GC Murphy's and McCrory's, but those five and dime stores were small-fry compared to this.

It was right around my 11th birthday that Fisher's opened for business, and on Opening Day my mom took a couple of us kids to check it out.  We walked out of there with Mom holding a job application. 

That night at dinner, Mom told Dad about the store and how she was hoping to get a job there.  Dad (in a half-kidding manner) said "Now Liney, no wife of mine is going to get a job..."  and Mom said "Then go find one paying double so I don't have to!"   

   The inside of Mom's card

I swear to God I remember this--after the dishes were cleared, Mom was sitting at our kitchen table filling out her application, and where it said 'Age' (yep, back then they could ask for it) she drew an arrow pointing to the side and wrote "I believe women are like fine wines, we improve with age."  

She showed it to Dad and asked what he thought and he said "Oh sure Line, they'll like that" and winked at me!  I didn't say anything but thought "You blew it, Mom."

Apparently, Fishers liked it just fine--they offered her a job and she worked there for 23 years.  Happy Mothers Day Mom, and to all the other awesome moms out there.   

A puffy face, pioneer rigatoni and you've come a long way, Baby: Jennifer Grey in her own (sometimes dirty) words

I just got a haircut (which was long overdue) and I'm feeling downright civilized again.  I can't say I'm too happy with my puffy cheeks here, they are pretty sore and swollen right now.  But I suppose things could be worse.

This past Saturday was a mostly good day long covid wise, until sunset when the inflammation in my temples and cheeks sprang into action.  I awoke Sunday morning feeling better, only to have those same symptoms returning at noon and hanging around until 7pm before mysteriously vanishing.

Long covid is a strange and persistent animal, but I'm convinced I'm heading in the right direction.

Speaking of long covid, shortly after I was diagnosed in March 2024, I was filled with regret:  "If only I hadn't asked Typhoid Susie for that ride to Giant Eagle, I wouldn't have gotten infected..." 

I began watching videos on YouTube of people expressing regret for various things like getting bad tattoos (or worse, getting Lasik) to see how they cope, and that's when I saw an interview with actress Jennifer Grey, talking about her infamous nose job.  She said it changed her looks so much, Hollywood dropped her like a hot potato.  She said it was probably one of the worst decisions she'd made in her life.

The interview was for her book Out Of The Corner.  You know where that title came from, Patrick Swayze telling her father "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" in Dirty Dancing.

I put my name on the waitlist for the e-book at Carnegie Library, but after waiting two years, went on Barnes and Noble last week and bought my own copy for $7.99.

She doesn't waste any time getting down to the business at hand.  There's a 20 page prologue before Chapter One, where she discusses the surprise success of Dirty Dancing in 1987.  Why wasn't she being offered more acting roles?

She was convinced to get a minor nose job which made it fuller but less long (that's it on her book's cover).  She absolutely loved it and was soon offered a movie role right away.  But one year after that, cartilage began to grow on the tip of her nose.

When she returned to the same surgeon in 1990 to have it corrected, he went too far and she came out with a different face.

Filled with panic and despair, she was shocked to discover no one recognized her.  Invited to the Golden Globes, she approached other celebrities and was treated like a stranger.  Her plastic surgeon even admitted he'd never seen such a radical change in someone's features.

End of prologue.  The book is 310 pages long and I'm currently at the halfway point.  But for the first 140 pages it's only about her privileged upbringing, growing up with a celebrity father (Joel Grey) and living in big apartments in New York City or on the West Coast, in Malibu.  I'm not a prude by any means, but boy did she have a wild youth, especially her teenage years!  Everything is sex, cigarettes, booze, sex, "blow" (cocaine and she stresses she only snorted the primo stuff), more sex, Studio 54 while living with her fortysomething hairdresser at age 17 and getting every STD in the book.  

I never thought I'd say this, but frankly I'm sexed out.  Where's the acting career, the girl I fell in love with in Dirty Dancing?  Okay, I just started Chapter 21 where it's now 1984 and she lands her first acting gigs in The Cotton Club and Red Dawn.  Finally!  

I didn't know Jennifer was 18 months older than me, she just turned 66 in March.  Wow.  I can still remember my sister Shawn coming to visit me in 1987 and telling me we were going to see this movie Dirty Dancing.  Last night I watched it (probably for the first time in 30+ years) on Peacock and was surprised how charming it still was. 

EDIT:  I'm in the second half of Jennifer's book, discussing her acting career and backstories to Dirty Dancing, and it is much, much better.  She really is a good writer.

Finally, I thought I'd show you what I had for dinner Monday.  A couple weeks ago I decided to stop watching The Pioneer Woman's cooking show, but not before making her homemade pasta sauce and loving it.  She only uses crushed tomatoes (which I had a hard time finding, but got 2 generic cans), adding tomato paste, brown sugar, olive oil, garlic, peppers, basil & ground beef.  I cooked it for 2 hours and filled 4 freezer bags of the stuff, and added one of them to a pot of cooked rigatoni.

Throw in a garlic breadstick, some lettuce with some Bleu cheese dressing... yep. 😋

A forgotten letter from Mom, and a thanks to Dad

When I was looking through my shoebox of old photos for my family's years at Reeseman's Park, I came across this thank you note from my mom that made me tear up a little.  I have no memory of it, but I'm very glad I held onto it.

My mom always had the nicest stationery (and a real love for nature and hummingbirds) and the most beautiful handwriting.  In this letter, she was thanking me for my contribution to Dad's headstone, and her Mother's Day gifts.

There's no date on the note, but when she congratulated me for passing my driver's exam, I knew when this was written.  I wasn't able to get my driver's license at 16 like most kids, because I was diagnosed with epilepsy a couple years prior.  In the state of Pennsylvania, you had to be documented seizure free for a certain amount of time (2 or 3 years, I can't remember) before you could drive.

My final seizure was in Nov 1989, when I was 28 years old.  By the time I was eligible to get my license I was in my early thirties and had learned to get by in life without the need for a car.  But when Dad passed in February 2001, I told my mom at his funeral that as soon as I got back to the city I was going to sign up for driving lessons and have a car by that summer.

I kept my word and got my license (and a car) 4 months before my 40th birthday.  I was able to start driving back home on a regular basis, and got to spend a lot of weekends with Mom. 

Sad to say, but it was Dad's passing which motivated me to learn so Mom wouldn't be so alone.  Here is Dad's headstone (with his mother, my Grandma Morris directly behind his) in our family's cemetery.  My mom's headstone is now besides Dad.

Love you, Mom & Dad.