A Healing Month

I know it's been a while since I wrote anything here, but I've been busy reorienting myself to my new teeth and pondering the departure of winter.

Before and after: some screen shots of my winter viewing.

In the last few weeks, the freezing temperatures have pretty much disappeared, and highs in the upper 40s and lower 50s have been common. There is no snow to be found here in town, though it did fall on the last Friday I went out to Ettrick for Pizza Night about three weeks ago. (I also fell on a patch of ice outside Steve and Pam's place, which resulted in a bruised tailbone, a wrenched elbow and a twisted ankle.) It had been in the upper 30s during that Friday, and just when I was about to head out, a light flurry, a mere dusting, began to fall in town. I waited for 15 minutes or so, and it didn't seem to be sticking on the driveway, so I decided to hit the road. As I told myself, "You've got to get used to driving in the snow. It's just part of winter."

By the time I was halfway to Ettrick, the snow was coming down at a healthy clip. About six miles from Steve and Pam's, I discovered what "white out" means, the world disappearing into something denser than any fog, and folks were driving 45 mph instead of the usual 55-60. On my return home, I left about an hour earlier than I normally would, but the snow was still melting nicely on the pavement and never accumulated into slush. That was the last snow we've seen.

Duplicates: They even put in
my two crooked teeth

The healing of my mouth was/is an ongoing thing. Every couple days I'll still see small bits of red when I take my dentures out. They fit perfectly, but I do need to use Poligrip in order to keep them anchored while eating. Beyond not having sensation in the teeth, the denture feels like my own teeth, and every couple days I'll forget to take them out before bedtime. I can't bite down on anything hard (solid chocolate, for example), but I've mastered just about every other sort of food density.

There has been a definite emotional component to acquiring dentures, a sort of passage into a more mature look on life. There was a definite mourning for my missing dentition, and it did have the quality of someone snipping off a couple of your lesser-used fingers. With the fitting of the denture, however, I have begun to feel whole again, and my mood has improved immensely.

The telephone: my stage persona.

Another thing that helped was getting involved with the stage production, "Boeing Boeing." I am a lowly backstage grip, mopping the stage before house open, handing off props and ringing the telephone on cue. The cast (six) and crew (two) are very nice, though, and I try not to get into monologues about working in professional theater, or elucidating on the number of shows I've directed. I let a comment drop here or there so people understand I'm not a neophyte and David, the show's director and the theater's executive director, has a much better idea of my past experience.

The center of the audience from onstage.

The theater itself is very nice, fairly new, with a 300-seat proscenium main stage fully equipped with a fly system and ample lighting equipment, a scene shop in the rear and ample storage and workspace in the four-story (counting basement) building. There is also a black-box space for smaller productions and several rehearsal rooms. Since the space was designed and built as a theater complex, there's nothing jerry-rigged. It sits on the banks of the Mississippi and there are wonderful river views out the lobby windows.

The show is only running for two weeks, so this time next week it will be a memory, the set struck and the company disbanded. I am hoping, though, that my involvement will continue. Tomorrow and Wednesday evening they are holding auditions for "Billy Elliot," and being a male who can carry a tune, I figure I've got a fairly good chance of being cast as one of the miners. If I was 60 pounds lighter and 15 years younger, I might try for Billy's dad. Even the chorus would be fine, just as long as I never have to mop the stage again.

I'm finally taking the car in tomorrow to get the front end checked, as well as the brakes. It made it fine through the winter, and now that things have warmed up I'm realizing most of the noises it made this winter were just noises it makes when it's freaking freezing. But warmer weather does not make the shimmy in the front wheels go away. It starts when I hit about 65 mph, so it's not a problem around town, but something I should have taken care of nonetheless.

My car registration renewal came in the mail last week (a flat $75); a reminder that it's coming up to one year I've been in this house. I'm having Mark from Eagle Eye come and remove the awnings from the front of the house, and I have to get someone in to fix the concrete slab in back. At present, the concrete there has subsided below the foundation line, and all the rain/melting show accumulates next to the house instead of heading out into the yard. I'm also hoping to use the extra patio space the slab will provide as an outdoor entertaining area when the weather gets warmer. Brother Steve has said he will get me a patio set for out back in lieu of his original housewarming present of a snow blower.

I continue to browse the want ads for part-time positions that I might fill, but I'm still in no hurry. My funds are holding out better than I expected, so I easily can go for another year without worrying about wolves at the door. Having no mortgage really helps out.

Patty in the living room.

With this warmer weather I'm also realizing the touch of cabin fever that I had over the winter. As I look back, I remember going through the same thing in Ketchikan some 45 years ago.

The birds have been evident in the back yard for several days now; small finches, a few robins and several cardinals, their red almost shocking after so much winter white and gray. The trees, too, seem to be considering putting out leaves, some budding but not completely committed to bringing forth spring. As Steve says, the large old trees are wisest, and when they go green, you know spring has arrived.

Fresh air is also a real plus. After winter cold, a daytime high of 52º is reason to open the windows and air the place out. Patty is especially happy about this, since it means being able to sit in the sill of the open windows, smelling the world directly. She, too, has noticed the feathered activity in the back yard, and it interests her to no end.

Yes, I do like having seasons.