Wednesday, October 22, 2008





I decided to give the lace scarf another chance or three last night and we are still not on speaking terms. I also realized that the cold weather we have been having is having an effect on the arthritis in my hands. This weekend I have to go through the coat closet and see what we all have in the way of winter woolies. I know I have mittens somewhere and a scarf and I think there's a hat in there. I also have to take my wool coat to the cleaners. Pk and I own winter jackets that come apart into two separate jackets made by Columbia. One inner layer that is fleece and one outer shell that was waterproof. They are well over 10 years old and the plastic zippers are starting to wear. We dropped them off at the cleaners to have them replaced. I thought about doing it myself but it means disassembling the front of the jacket and I thought I'd let a professional do it. The shells will be done in 2 weeks. In the meantime, we can wear the inner jackets. It's expensive to have a zipper replaced. When Pk told me how much, I almost went back inside and took them back! Then common sense kicked in and I'll let them do their job. It's a lot of work to replace these zippers and they deserve to be paid fairly.


I had so much trouble falling asleep last night. I dozed off and on until about 3 and then finally fell soundly asleep. I think it's probably because I am going to the dentist today for the final round of preparation to have my crown replaced. Yay! I can get rid of the little metal cap and get my tooth back and then I can chew on both sides of my mouth. An underrated feat if ever there was one. I also always have trouble sleeping this time of year. As the daylight grows scarce, my internal clock takes a while to reset. And the end of daylight savings time isn't for another week. That always takes me days to adjust to mentally.


I sat through one of the most uncomfortable meetings ever yesterday. It was supposed to be a chance for our interns to talk about their experiences in social rehab groups and talk about when they would like to run groups. It turned into a debate on recovery in mental health and I watched two professionals who should know better debate in front of the students. One of the girls said to me afterwards, "I've never been so uncomfortable in my life". I challenged what one of the people was saying because he was not making any sense and he didn't respond well. (He is my supervisor and I'm afraid I'll pay for that. ) I wish now that I had kept my mouth shut but I couldn't help it. He kept making statements that contradicted themselves and I couldn't stand it. I have supervision with my other supervisor today and I'll have a chance to talk about it.

There was (is) a huge fire burning in our neck of the woods. The Wharton Tract is on fire. We were driving in that direction last night but were still 20 miles away but could see the huge cloud of smoke. And as it got dark, we could see the glow from the fire. That's one of my favorite spots in the world and it hurts my heart. It's been really dry the last few weeks and the woods are ablaze. The winds aren't helping either. As of this morning, over 1300 acres have burnt and it's not under control yet. This happens now and again and I know that the woods will come back but it's hard to watch. This time there are houses and people in the way of the fire.

Have a good Wednesday. The World Series starts tonight. If I didn't live in the Philadelphia area, I wouldn't know that. But because the Phillies are playing, you can't miss it. There is a distinctive red cast to everything!




6 comments:

Galad said...

Good for you in taking an assertive stand. I hope the fallout won't be too bad, but sometimes you just have to do what is right.

Good luck with the tooth. Let this be the end to the troubles you've had with it!

Alwen said...

Yikes! Re the fire. We had conditions like that in Michigan's Upper Peninsula last summer, and something like 19,000 to 20,000 acres burned. It was up in Luce county where my parents took us on vacations when I was a teenager.

Sheepish Annie said...

I have found that there are no debates quite so heated as those which start with the mental health providers. Everyone is so busy protecting their feelings and trying to project their ideals...gah!!! Hope that all goes well between you and your supervisor. He really needs to be professional about this.

Share your feelings with him. It's how I dealt with all my grad school professors when things got dicey. Especially the guy I took Group Process And Procedures with. I would have failed that class without a little of the "Sometimes the group makes me feel..." Again. Gah!!!

Bezzie said...

Aye, I can't tell you how many fires in how many states I've had to deal with. No fun at all. And what horrible timing the wind up here has been awful!

Rose Red said...

It's funny how it's called the World Series but it's only in the US (well, I think that's the case). Not even sure which sport you are talking about - baseball?

We have terrible bushfires here too, and it breaks my heart too.

Good on you for challenging your supervisor. Sometimes I think the workplace would be a much better place if people said what they thought (diplomatically) instead of saying nothing. It takes real courage to do that so I think you should feel proud of yourself, not fearful. I hope your supervisor will recognise that too.

Bells said...

Ah, the lace is being a challenge, isn't it? Pesky, pesky lace. So is mine, just so you know. Can you post a progress shot, even if it's tiny? It'll help when I write about you! :-)

Hope the dentist goes ok. Not a lot of fun.

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...