Once you have recovered from the shock of seeing me post two days in a row, I will share with you a few more things wandering their way through my head...
Yesterday was the 100th birthday of Jim's grandmother, Alice. There are plans for a to-do about it this weekend, as said grandma lives stubbornly on her own about 200 miles north of all of her family, down a little country lane, where the nearest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away.
If I live to be 100, it would be very important to me to be able to still read as Alice does. When my own mother reached her mid-sixties, she began to lose her sight from macular degeneration. In less than ten years, she was legally blind. I am paranoid about eye health, and don't normally take any chances with my vision.
When I am in the midst of my work day, and getting tired or anxious, I wish for two things: a quick nap and my Kindle. When I am not using it to read, I am searching for things to read, or following the Oxford American Dictionary to learn the etymology of a word I am curious about, or playing Shuffled Row, or doing a NYTimes crossword puzzle (Friday puzzles still kick my ass).
Kindles are not backlit like an iPad or a Nook, so I use the brightest bulb I can in my bedside lamp, and an LED booklight. I still sometimes have to work to be able to see clearly after a bit of reading. And when I say "a bit" I mean 3-4 hours, which I guess is normal eyestrain for a middle-aged-person, right?
My mother was a chain-smoker for many years. Chain after chain went up in flames with that woman.
Really, I think a chain-smoker can be typified this way: If you light your cigarette with the ember of the last one? You can consider yourself a chain-smoker. At least, that used to be the case. My brother and his wife are smokers, and have been, on-and-off for as long as I can recall (they were married when I was eight), but now, neither smokes in the house. Both take smoke breaks on their incredibly awesome porch. I am sure this is better for them than the way my parents did it, but if I could lend them the willpower to quit altogether, I'd do it.
All this aside about smoking is to point out that smokers tend to be at a much greater risk for macular degeneration than non-smokers. I have had the occasional cigarette in my day, usually at the bar, but was never addicted. Since both of my parents smoked like chimneys inside the house when we were growing up (accounting for my annual case of bronchitis back then), and hot-boxed our car with tar and nicotine on every outing, I'm not sure that counts as my having a history of smoking or not.
Hmm.
Anyway, Happy 100th Birthday Grandma Alice, may you have exactly as many more birthdays as you desire.
