Lighting Up Mount Holly

seahorse lantern

Last night was the 8th Annual Mount Holly Lantern Parade, and for the 5th year in a row our community had an entry in the parade. Also for the 5th year in a row we took 1st place in the Group category. This year's theme was "Into the Deep Blue Sea". 

As we plan what we want to do we take a couple things into consideration: What is going to resonate with the kids who line the parade route?, and how can we involve the large number of people who want to walk in the parade with us? We have a core group of 8-10 people who consistently show up each week to build the lanterns. But we normally have 30+ folks who want to walk down Main Street with our group.

This year we decided to do "Baby Shark", the wildly successful YouTube video featuring a family of sharks and a few sidekicks. Mommy, Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa sharks were five feet long, not including their tails. Baby Shark was four feet and his buddy William the pilot fish was three feet. The other main character, in our minds, is Pink Fong who is kind of the mascot for the show. 

Once we built those lanterns, we moved on to ancillary items. We made a seahorse, three jellyfish, three schools of fish containing twelve fish each, seven starfish and four clams that were our first attempt at hand puppet lanterns. A crowning late addition was a coral reef that was worn around the waist of the carrier. It could have been an entry all by itself.

coral                                                banner

An Imagery banner led our entry, followed by a baton twirler with a lighted baton, then a decorated wagon with speakers playing the Baby Shark theme song on repeat. Two residents dressed as the little boy and girl from the video came next, running away from the sharks. We also had four people handing out shark-shaped small bags of candy. At the end of all of our lanterns was a wall of wavy blue streamers complete with lighted bubbles to signify the end of our group. All in all, we had 39 folks in our unit including two of our own parade Marshalls to keep us in order.

Imagery Lanterns

Though the night was a little cooler than previous years, it was a beautiful evening to be out. The parade went off mostly without a hitch. Baby Shark decided to act up and his pole disconnected inside his body. This caused him to drop down on top of my nose. Ouch! I was able to get him somewhat situated before we passed the judges station, but after that I just hand carried him for the rest of the parade. Bad Baby!

It was rewarding as always to be named First Place as we have been working since April to pull this project together. After the winners were announced, the organizer released the theme for next year - the "Wide World of Sports." All I could think was, ugh. The theme does not excite me, and I wonder what we can pull together that makes sense with the theme but will still engage the kids. What a challenge!

Another Shot in the Arm

covid booster

Thursday I went in for the Covid booster shot. I know there is a lot of discussion going on regarding whether or not this booster is really necessary. But we will be doing some travel outside the United States, and the last thing I want to do is get sick in a foreign country. Hopefully between the flu shot and this booster, I will be pretty protected.

The shot itself was a piece of cake. I barely felt the needle going in. Later in the day I got really tired, which is a normal reaction for me. (And a great excuse to take a nap.) I never felt sick that day at all. By Friday I had a large, warm, red knot at the injection site. I also had a headache, and felt a little sluggish while playing pickleball. That afternoon I slept for over two hours, which is atypical for me.

By Saturday all was back to normal, so overall the experience wasn't too bad. I go in on Tuesday for my annual physical, so I'll be happy to report to my doctor that I am all up to date on my vaccinations. It's nice to have them out of the way.

Falling into Color

fall color

On Monday we took a drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) in search of fall colors. One of the things I miss about the St. Louis area is the large tree diversity that results in brilliant fall colors. Here there are so many evergreens that you just don't get that burst of color. Except when you go to the higher elevations in North Carolina. We are fortunate in that we can get to the mountains in about two hours.

We left the house around 5:40 a.m. as we hoped to see the sun rise over the Linn Cove Viaduct. That part of the BRP is not only an architectural marvel, its complexity resulted in it being the last section of the BRP to be completed. The seven mile segment was completed in 1987. 

As we drove up it began to mist. The forecast for the area had called for partly sunny skies - perfect for photography - so we were disappointed to see the gray skies. Though tempted to turn around and go home, we continued with the journey. We rounded a curve (the BRP has plenty of those!), and there were blue skies.

We had a perfect day in the mountains. Crowds were larger than expected for a Monday, but we had forgotten that it was Columbus Day. That explained the abundance of children in the area. Nevertheless, we found parking spots at all the stops we wanted to make, and a favorite restaurant in Blowing Rock had outdoor tables available when we arrived for lunch. By the time we left it was packed.

Blue Ridge Parkway

All in all, it was a great day. It did my heart good to see all the glorious fall colors and to get out in the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Flu Time

too much?

It's the season when a lot of germs get passed around as we start to spend more time indoors with other people. I decided to get my flu shot on Monday. I go to Walgreens as they are the closest pharmacy to me, and they have a record of all the shots I've received in North Carolina. 

I love the fact that I can make an appointment online, and complete the paperwork ahead of time. Also, when you get to the store you can scan a QR code and check yourself in. As I was doing this, a huge cockroach was making its way across the floor to me. It was headed right towards the area where I would have to sit to be called for my appointment. I can't stand the sound of crunching bugs, but there was no way I wanted to have to keep my eye on the bug's progress. So I stepped on it. What a loud popping sound it made! A lady way down the aisle said she could hear it from where she had been standing. Ugh! One of the pharmacists came from behind the counter with a tissue and picked it up, thank goodness.

The shot went smoothly, and only stung a little bit. I really didn't have much of a reaction to it, other than a little swelling and rash at the injection site. Now I just have to decide if I want to get the latest Covid booster. As we will be doing some international travel, I suspect it would be a good idea.
 

Scar Face

surgical scar

The stitches were taken out of my left temple surgical site on Thursday. It was quick, easy and painless. I was in and out of the office in less than ten minutes. My only instruction for post-op at this point is to keep  putting vaseline or something similar on it for one more week. I'll be glad when that's done as it makes my hair greasy.

The swelling has gone down a lot over the past week, and the bruise has lightened. The bottom part of the scar is still puffy, but I am hoping that it will continue to flatten out. The surgeon said it can take a year to settle completely down. I guess I'm lucky that it is located so close to my hairline as I can probably cover it somewhat with my hair.

Latest Mohs Surgery

basal cell after biopsy

As I posted previously, the biopsy taken on the spot on my left temple back in July came back positive as a basal cell carcinoma. The Mohs surgery could not be scheduled until September 25th. The specialist who performed my previous Mohs procedures is no longer with my dermatology practice, so this was my first experience with their new surgeon. He is fine, but I really liked the gal they had before. 

The surgery was scheduled for 8:45, but the doctor was late and didn't even get to the office until 9:10. Not a great first impression. He took the first cut around 9:30, and I was bandaged up and sent to a small waiting area with all the other walking wounded. Everyone else had bandages on their noses, so it must have been Mohs Nose Day or something. It was an hour before they took me back and said they did not have a clean margin on the piece removed. The surgeon said while the basal cell was not deep, there were still some cells along one of the sides that needed to come out. By the time he got done with me, the small waiting area was full, so I had to go out to the main waiting room.

A gal came out to get me a little after 12:00, and since she took me to a different area of the clinic I assumed they had gotten a clean margin on the second try. That assumption proved correct, as I was led back to the plastic surgeon's procedure room. I have had this plastic surgeon for wound closure every time they have done Mohs on me, so I'm very comfortable with him. He stitched me up, gave me my followup instructions, and the gal put a covering on the site. They are aware that I am allergic to every known adhesive on bandages and tape, so she put on a gauze pad and attached it with paper tape.  

This is my 22nd skin cancer removal, not all of them by Mohs of course. But this one has been pretty painful. When I removed the gauze pad after 24 hours as instructed, I was stunned to see how large the cut was. No wonder it hurts! For the first three days I alternated taking Tylenol and ibuprofen every four hours during the day. By the fourth day I was only taking them every six or seven hours.

Mohs surgery

Hopefully this wound will not get infected like the last two ED&C removals have done. I go in this morning to get the stitches out, and I am praying that the skin smooths out after that since the bottom third of the wound looks really rough.