so we can ring a bell with a blind persons cane

 

Yesterday my friend Pam, her blind cousin Mary, and I went to Columcile in Bangor. No some people question the sense of taking a blind person to someplace that is clearly a visual feast, but it was her idea. She's Irish and Scottish and has the pale skin and red hair to show for it. She went to Stonehenge and wanted to go here before she heads home. She lives in Florida. Pam's child, also home from NYC wanted to come as well. Be we had already left when we found that out.

I've been here three or four times. Each time there's been two, maybe three, cars in the lot. WAZE took us on this scenic route to get there and as we approached there were cars everywhere. The lot was full and there were cars parked on both sides of the road. What was going on? Apparently a memorial service. Our timing was impeccable. But as a bonus we got to hear the bagpipes playing.

As you enter the property there is a stone circle. Similar to Stonehenge. Much smaller.  To the left is St. Oren's Bell Tower. We went inside and I was telling mary about it having windows with iron bells hanging. Pam took her cane, raised it in the air and dinged the bell. Twice. Then we remembered the memorial service. Ooopsie.

 

We walked the "Glen of the Temple where there was a giant egg stone. And Thor's Gate. Two huge stones with a third on top. Even with the cane we could not touch the top. We wandered more and found this beautiful angel stone on the ground. It was carved. We guessed that it was the Sacred Women's site. 

 Then we walked around a pond and dared to take a blind person across stepping stones. Thankfully no one fell in. (Me.) This path took us to a restored sheep barn on the Kirkridge Retreats property. We came back thru the woods to the labyrinth. Pam set Mary up to walk it, and she did, just using her cane. Pam was usually in front and I was behind. When we got to the center we cheated coming out.

Then it was down the Faerie Ring Trail to the Oak Grove. A side path took us to the Eye (2nd from top). That's where we met up with the caretaker walker her golden lab, Merlin. Merlin was very friendly. Getting tired and hungry we walked back toward the start, stopping at stones along the way. The pipers had stopped playing so we knew the chapel would be empty, so we went inside to explore before grabbing our lunch bags and taking a break.

We were in this little shelter with benches eating when the caretaker came by. We probably talked for 15 minutes. Then we took Mary up to the house to feel stones. There were some great ones.

Miles/Steps:     1.5 miles? It's hard to know because I went to the Farmers Market first.
Weather:           mid 70s, sunny
Bathrooms:       Well if it was just for cleanliness these port-o-potties would have been a P-4, but it smelled to high heaven, and it was coming from the urinal. Therefore it becomes a P-2

Last Sunday my sister-in-law called and asked if I was interested in attending a laser light show Friday night at the fairgrounds. I said sure.  It was Drive-Thru style and the price was by the car full and she was taking mom. We were going to eat there. There was supposed to be food trucks. There was one—a carnival/fair food truck with outrageous prices. My funnel cake was cold. I threw it out. It was okay. We were. The show was an hour with pop music. There was a screen which had animated items on it, not necessarily to the music. And there were search-style lights overhead. The screen was too low. I don't think you could really see well from the car. Most people had lawn chairs. Not quite what I was expecting. Maybe it's because the students at my college do this stuff all the time. Many left before it was over.  But it was nice being out on a Friday night. Barb's and her mom enjoyed it. The Ritz BBQ for ice cream after it was over was certainly a bonus.

Miles/Steps:     at least a 1000 steps.

three weeks, no walks

 

It's been at least three weeks since I've walked. And worse, I'm using the elevator at Warren to go to the second floor! I am so out of shape. This A-Fib thing is kicking my ass. I get winded walking across a large parking lot and down a long hall. However, it is getting better. I think.

Coming out of school today was a table. I always check out the tables and this one had Tootsie Rolls. It was a drug prevention thing, specifically they were training people to administer Narcan during overdoses on campus. I wonder how many there are?

So I said I needed to get to my next job. (Really, I just wanted a Tootsie Roll.) They said it would take five minutes so okay I did it. I was not signing up for something that took an hour.

So I'm trained. It's really common sense for the most part. Call 911. Put on gloves. Roll the person to their back and try to arouse them pressing on their sternum. You can choose to do mouth-to-mouth which now has a new name that I've forgotten. It's a nasal spray you have to handle it carefully taking it out of the package and holding it without touching the red part. Then you put it in the persons nose and hit the red part. Then open the second one. Wait three minutes and do the other side. By that time 911 should be there. They said the biggest problem is getting the person to stay put. The wake up Jonesing for more drugs and want to take off.

Now my idea was to leave it in the car. But I can't. It's sensitive to extreme hot and cold. They want you to have it on you at all times. Basically because you won't know when you need it. I can't ever find my phone. How will I keep tract of a life saving drug?

And now the more important question. I did this in Jersey. I signed something so the Jersey "people" know I have it. Can I use it in Pennsyltucky? I didn't think to ask.

It's probably a moot point anyway. I'm useless in an emergency. I just stand there blubering.