The Dark Side of the Sun

sun damage

When I was growing up we played outside all the time. After all, there was no air conditioning in the house, so at least being outdoors with friends made us forget the heat. There was also no sunblock available, at least at my house. Through the years my skin has had a lot of exposure to the sun, and I have been paying for it since I got my first skin cancer diagnosis in 1992. 

Last week I went in for my six month checkup. One of the spots the doctor had frozen at my last visit has disappeared, which was great news. I pointed out some trouble spots to her, and she froze four on my right hand and one on my left temple. The temple one will bear watching. But she took a biopsy of a spot on my left arm above my elbow. 

I should have gotten the results by now, but I guess the lab is backed up. I'd like to think no news is good news, but she has been spot on (pardon the pun) when it comes to calling what she thinks is a skin cancer. But I can still hope she is wrong, I guess.

Though I am diligent now with applying sunscreen and wearing a big hat, I can't undo the damage that was done in the past. I just have to accept these continuing skin cancers as a part of my life. And hope that this one isn't number 19 for me.

Sending Out an SOS

Apple watch SOS screen

A couple years ago my Fitbit watch conked out and I replaced it with an Apple watch. I love the seamless integration of the applications, and the fact that I can sync it with my other Apple devices. It was an added plus that the Workout segment of the watch actually has a selection for playing pickleball! I use that feature many times each week.

But a weird thing happened the other night with the watch. I was laying in bed reading when all of a sudden a heard a woman say, "911 emergency. Do you need police, fire or ambulance?" What the heck? It took a minute for me to process that the voice was coming through my watch. I had to quickly tell her that my watch had made the call, and I was not in need of any emergency services. 

As I was holding my iPad in two hands at the time, obviously I did not press the SOS button. You are supposed to press the side button and hold it for five seconds in order to make the call. So how did this happen? I am not sure, but I don't want it to happen again. The 911 call centers have their hands full dealing with real emergencies. I went into my Apple watch settings and disabled the SOS feature. Hopefully I won't need it in the future.

Another Year Over

our signature cranberry cosmo

The holiday season blew by and we are rolling into the middle of January already. We had a great Christmas with the kids and their families gathering here. Our daughter was again able to work remotely, so she was here for a few weeks. It's nice to have the extra time one on one with her.

Our son, daughter-in-law and their daughter were able to spend five days with us before heading on to see family on the other side. As our granddaughter is mobile now, we had baby-proofing to do before they arrived. I was very concerned about the Christmas tree, but she really only batted a couple of low-lying ornaments. As I had made sure all the low ones were non-breakable with cloth hangers, that was no big deal. I just didn't want her to pull the tree down on top of herself. I also didn't want to be the grandma that constantly said NO. 

We took them to the Stowe Botanical Garden to see the lights. My only choice with their schedule was December 23rd, which happened to be the last night of the light show. We lucked out in that it was in the low 50s, so we did not get cold. The lights were better than last year, and everyone enjoyed it.

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden

The day after Christmas we sent the big kids off to a movie. That gave grandma and grandpa some nice alone time with their only grandchild. She was very happy with us, and it was fun to take her for a walk in our neighborhood to show her off.

New Year's Eve our community had a party here. We didn't attend last year due to Covid, but we decided to go this year. They had a huge tent since we don't have a building large enough to house a big party, complete with a red carpet for us to walk down. Our picture is washed out due to the lighting, unfortunately. There was a second tent for the food, and there was also an eight piece band. It was a really nice way to ring in the new year. We are looking forward to seeing what 2024 will bring us.