S is Home and The Rest of March

S is finally home from the hospital! Alleluia! I am so glad to have him home and on the mend. While we were at the hospital, I took a few photos with the camera phone. I thought today would be a good day to share those with you. You know, so you can share in our experiences.

A Room of One's Own

This might LOOK like a double room, but it's a private room - they just changed a bunch of old double rooms into single rooms, and haven't changed out the furniture. The bonus for me was that hospital bed was more comfortable than any pull out couch ever would have been. S wanted me to stay the first night. I did. It wasn't bad. But, I slept at home the following nights. It was easier on the dogs. And me. And, I'd stay in the room late and get back early. So, I don't think S missed me much. Me, on the other hand, I missed S - I kept waking up forgetting he wasn't there. Very strange sensation!

These photos of the room were taken on Tuesday and Wednesday - S was already feeling a bit better by then - he wasn't dehydrated anymore, at least. I didn't want to take any photos of the death warmed over look he was exuding at the top of the week.

That was the view - of the other wing. Lovely.

The all important pain chart was on the wall.

The potty chair.

They really wanted S to use this thing. It would have given him a lot less ground to cover - and well, he was going to the "potty" often. But, he didn't like the idea of sitting in the middle of the room and doing his bid-ness. So, he hobbled, with help, with the IV stand, to the bathroom (in his room, around the corner) every time. At least once an hour at the beginning of the week.

The IV pump.


And, S's IV.

When S went in on Monday, he was VERY dehydrated. He was even more dehydrated than the doctor even imagined he was. So, this little pump, in very real ways, was integral to him feeling a lot better.

The TV "remote".

The only thing in the whole room that didn't work was the volume control on the TV. Every time you turned it on, it would blare at you at thousands of decibels. So, I'd be ready, at the TV on my tip toes, to turn the volume down with the controls on the front of the TV.

Exam gloves.

The gloves were next to the needle disposal container.

Also in good supply - hand cleaner.

The sign the lawyers told them to put on the wall.

This room was VERY private. There was this constant stream of air from the ventilation system that provided a good bit of white noise constantly. The door was big and thick. The only people who came in were family and the nurses. It was probably the most private place on the floor. But, just in case you were wondering, it was not confidential. Confidentially.

S washing his hands, in the gown, and the matted hair.

The large print Guideposts.

The chaplain came by on Tuesday. Nice enough fella. He was expecting to see an elderly patient behind door 306. Instead, he found S. You see, S was at least 30 years younger than his fellow patients on the gastrointestinal floor. The large print Guideposts is a hot commodity for most patients. Also a sign of the aging floor - most doors had a sign on the outside that warned the patient was prone to fall when they got out of bed. At least S didn't get one of those.

S was preparing here for his colonoscopy.

He had to drink the stuff in that there bottle.

There he goes for another sip.
Nurse Pam gave him 30 minutes to get down the 10 oz.

It's blurry, but I'll let you figure out what hand gesture I was getting here for photographing the procedure.

OK, so the next montage of photos speaks to the level of boredom one reaches while sitting days on end in a hospital room with not much to do except plug and unplug your husband's IV pump for his trips to the bathroom. I turned the camera phone on myself for a series of glorious photos. Ha.

Please be reminded that I HATE photos of myself, generally, so the fact that I decided to do this is SO out of character. It speaks to the aforementioned state of being. I almost didn't post them. But, they are all so horribly heinous that I decided you might think they were funny. I thought about captioning them. But, pretty much every caption would have been, "dork." So, I am posting them all together here as a Friday Funny. I'll see you on the other side. Enjoy.

I have mastered the cheesy grin. We already knew that though, didn't we. So, I have no real excuse for that montage except that people - I was B-O-R-E-D - while caring for my very sick S.

I should say that we did receive lots of wonderful company off and on - S's family stopped by, as well as several of our friends. It was nice to see everyone and it certainly broke up the photo sessions, so to speak. We also got lots of phone calls and emails. Thank goodness for family and friends.

One night, our good friend Tricia came by, representing herself and her good husband Wayne, and brought S a goodie bag full of games to play while in the hospital. On the last night of his stay, after his colonoscopy and diagnosis, (he has ulcerative colitis) they started him on medicine to get him well, we played a few of the games.

There was Non-Violent Politically Correct WAR.

And, finger bowling.

That's S taking a break from the bowling action to take a phone call from a well-wisher.

There was also a travel Connect Four game.

In this shot, I had just finished knocking down seven pins with the finger bowling ball.

They even brought S an electronic blackjack game.
He's playing it in this photo.

It was evident, the night before he came home, that he felt a lot better.

You might see the button on S's fine hospital gown in that photo up there, our old next door neighbors, Sophie and Sadie (and their parents Mike and Mikee) came by to see S while he was in the hospital. Sophie has a button making machine, so she made him a pink button that says, "Rock On". He wore it the whole time he was there. Everyone asked him about it and wanted one of their own. He was so proud to have it. It was so nice of them to come by - it was definitely a picker upper for S.

One of his medicines is Prednisone - a steroid.
He was immediately hungry once they started those.

But, sadly, as our friend Margaret pointed out, S is no longer eligible to play for Major League Baseball. It's hard to leave opportunity at the gate.

Steroid Stuper

Man, am I glad to have him getting well!

So, that's the report from the sickness chronicles. And, now - here it is - the big news - my dear blog reading friends, for the rest of the month, I'll be on the road. I'm on tour with work and advancing tours for work. So, the blog posts are going on the road with me. However, I don't know for certain that 1) I'll have an Internet connection each place I go, 2) that I'll have time to post while on the road with work, 3) that the computer won't completely die a horrible death while we're out, or 4) that I'll have anything to say.

But, that's the plan. To blog from the road and post photos of my goings on. So, if you come to this space and you see nothing new, you'll know one of the four things above has occurred, or something else equally halting or heinous. So, I hope to see you here, at least some, over the next three weeks. Should I not make it here and you do, please come back to check again. And, for sure, I'll be back to my normal posting schedule in April.

Also, dear blog readers, I know who lots of you are. And I know you are very loyal. But, it looks like no one reads this blog - I've added a "followers" box over there on the left - please connect and show you read this blog. It's painless, I promise. I would really appreciate, when I sign in to edit this thing, that it looks like more than two people actually read it. And, of course, I LOVE getting comments, so please comment away! Thanks.

Thanks for reading and best wishes for your own March adventures!

Colorado Waters

Last in this series of photos from my trip up to Colorado during the summer of 2005 is a collection of a few photos of water.



This shot is of Gore Creek, which runs through and near Vail, CO. I shot the water's raging rapids through some lovely yellow wildflowers. Much to my dismay, about halfway through my stay in this town, the city landscapers cut all those flowers to the ground. It was so sad, and not nearly as beautiful to walk along the creek after the wildflowers had been lost.





This photo, and the next two are of Lake Dillon, near Dillon, CO. This lake is actually a dammed reservoir that supplies water to the city of Denver. Its creation meant the whole town of Dillon had to be moved. The old town of Dillon is at the bottom of all that water. This photo looks so "perfect" to me in color and make-up it almost looks fake, doesn't it? It's hard to capture this kind of natural site on film.

Again, the clouds cooperated for some nice imagery on this day.

Which one do you like better - the one above which is pulled out a ways, or this one, where the sailboat is part of the main action?

Given that I didn't have a telephoto lens in 2005, I'm guessing I cropped this one up at some point - its saved in the file this way, and I can't really remember, but I don't think the lens I owned then would have gotten this close without some post-production cropping.

Last but not least, I have this photo and the one below of Clinton Gulch, on the road between Dillon and Leadville. To take these photos, I had to park my car in a pretty precarious spot and stand on the side of a fairly busy highway. S would have had a fit had he been there. But, it was so beautiful - I had to stop and try to capture the beauty. This water is also a reservoir. Interestingly, when I googled "Clinton Gulch" to provide you a link, hundreds of photo links appeared. So, I'm not alone in my assessment of the area's beauty.

Again, the photo above and below are in relation to one another by the distance from the camera. The one above is the "close in" shot - this was before I owned a telephoto lens, remember, and I think this shows the distance the lens I owned could muster.

It is as if the clouds are lining up to mimic the mountain line, isn't it? The object on the water is a single man in a kayak.

This one, however, is my favorite of the two - look at that reflection! This is completely unedited - I took these photos before I had editing software. The only thing I could do to my photos back then was crop them, really. That reflection is real and so beautiful. I might try to mess with it now using the software to see if I can make it even more exquisite, but I really like it just as it is.

Man, how I love Colorado in the summertime. Tomorrow, as promised, big news about the rest of the month.

Colorado Mountains

First, a little update for you on S. He's still sick - he was hospitalized on Monday. He has tests scheduled today that should tell us conclusively what he's got. They've ruled out everything else. So, I'll keep you posted, and we're working to get him well.

Also, in the wee hours of the morning yesterday, my friend Kellie had her little boy. We covered her shower here on Ate Up Amateur. She lives in another town, so there will be no hospital shots here. I know this is sad for some and just gut-renchingly (spellchecker thinks I should change that made up word to "unflinchingly". Poh-tay-to Poh-tah-to.) heartbreaking for others. Nonetheless, I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to them, and that I hope to see photos of the little one VERY SOON!

OK, now on to today's post.



Today, I've collected a few photos from the summer of 2005 Colorado trip that highlight the mountains. That photo above is of S, of course, on top of a mountain in Vail, where the ski slopes are clearly marked, even when there is no snow. And, of course, when S was feeling more himself.




This photo and the one below are also of the mountains in Vail, near dusk, on a slightly cloudy day. It was so green that summer - besides those "hills" being too big to be Ireland, I think they look like they could have been shot across the pond. It was fairly cool up there, even in July.







This photo is of the mountains outside of Leadville, CO on my way to that little town, where I shot that Manhattan Bar sign I shared with you on Monday. I liked the juxtaposition of the native grasses/ground cover with the still snow-capped mountains in the distance and the active, beautiful clouds in the sky. It was a wonderful day for a drive.





And this last one - again, one of my favorites of all time, was taken just outside the Ford Amphitheater in Vail, CO. It's actually along the walkway to the parking lot - a fairly pedantic place for such a wonderful view. I like the fence in the photo - it moves the eye through to the other side. And, I was able to get a lot of Colorado scenery in this one - again, the beautiful sky and clouds, an evergreen or two, native grasses and wildflowers, and off in the distance, those famous mountains. Hope you like it too. I actually found the fence to be such a wonderful help to this photo that I've tried to re-create the effect in photos I've taken in locations all over the globe. Maybe I'll do a "fence post" one day. Pun intended.

Tomorrow, if I can keep my act together, I'll finish out the 2005 photo montage with a collection of my favorite "water" photos from that summer. See you then.

Movie Houses of Dallas - Lakewood Theater

Today we have another installment in the series, "Movie Houses of Dallas" here at Ate Up Amateur. This series will be followed by "Root Canals of Dallas" and "Toe Jam to Be Remembered". But, you'll have to wait for those riveting topics while we cover this one.



Today's theater - the Lakewood Theater. This theater was opened in the at-the-time newly forming area east of Dallas called Lakewood in 1938, inside the Lakewood shopping center. The first film was an Andy Rooney-Judy Garland flick, "Love Finds Andy Hardy".



As you can see, this theater is still open and hosts events of varying kinds. Owners of the theater purchased the place in the 80's and retrofitted a 1927 Robert Morton pipe organ to allow for screening of vintage movies. I found the information about the history of the theater on the Lakewood Theater's website, link above, under the "history" tab.



I really like these colored lights under the outside canopy of the place - I wonder if they would have always been colored or if this has been added.






Inside the building, a bar is also housed - the Arcade Bar hosts special happy hours and such even when the main theater is not in use. The main theater shows movies, as well as hosts authors, comedians, corporate events and music groups. The main space can house up to 800 people, and can be a very hot ticket depending on what's booked.





The marquee gives away the fact that I shot these photos before the end of 2008. And, the Lakewood Theater was the scene of a happening New Year's bash. Now, I am sure this place is not keeping the owners rolling in the dough like they'd never have imagined. But, I do think it works and stays open in its community for two reasons. First, its location in the Lakewood shopping center anchors it next to restaurants and coffee houses that are well frequented by the surrounding areas. In contrast, the Casa Linda Theater, while in a shopping center, is surrounded by things like grocery stores, dry cleaners, jewelers and gyms. There are a few restaurants, but they are mostly chains and the whole center just doesn't have the same feel the Lakewood center happens to have.




Second, the theater's owners have embraced the community around them. While the occasionally host events that pull from the larger city, the regularly host events of interest to the surrounding neighborhood. One might say the neighborhood's demographics help this possibility, and I would agree with that too. They go hand in hand.



The "LAKE" on one side of the sign was not working the night I shot these photos. I wonder how long it will be before it's shining brightly on both sides once again. The tower of the theater, all lit up, can be seen in Dallas' flat landscape for a good distance, and helps identify the area of town and the shopping center as a whole. It is a landmark, for certain. I tried to capture the "fully lit" sign in the next few shots.






Dallas must like its neon, because there are LOTS more of these old houses to be had in these parts - I'll share them with you occasionally over the coming months, of course. Try to contain your enthusiasm. Tomorrow, we'll be back to Colorado, if I can get the photos collected in time.

Colorado - Trees and Stuff

This post is another "first in an occasional series". I have traveled to Colorado in the past for work. I'll be going again this summer. You can count on some photos from that trip showing up here on this blog at some point. But, this week, and maybe later this spring, I'm going to post some photos from my past trips to the big CO.

People flock to Colorado in the winter. Why not? There's great skiing to be had. However, I prefer Colorado in the summer - it's beautiful without all that snow, too, and I think only people from Texas fleeing the heat and the natives know this secret. So, while it's still snow-covered up there for several more weeks, why not get a glimpse of what's to come!

And, S is still sick, so I'm house bound and not really able to go do anything interesting. This has given me lots of time to peruse through old photo files, organize them and tag the ones I want to share with you here at some juncture. Please put in a good word for S - he's suffering with being sick. He needs to get well soon, God love him.

These photos were taken in the summer of 2005. I had just purchased my digital SLR before this trip, so these are some of the first digital images I took. My trip to Colorado for work in the summer of 2005 was the first time I had ever been to the state. You may find this hard to believe, but remember I didn't grow up in Texas, where the whole state runs to CO at the first site of snow or of 100 degree weather. So, this was my first stint up to the great state.

And, it being my first trip there, I was in AWE of its beauty. I remember, after landing in Denver and heading west in the rental car, I got a call from my co-worker Margaret on my cell. I said to her, "Right now, I'm wondering why anyone ever decided to live in a place like Dallas, TX." Really - in comparison, this place is amazing.

Manhattan Bar - Leadville, CO

First up - this photo doesn't really "fit" with the rest of the photos I want to share with you this week. It's a sign for a bar in Leadville, CO. Leadville is an old mining town. It's fairly depressed compared to the resort towns nearby, as most of the mining has dried up. But, it's trying to reinvent itself. It has a few blocks of quaint "downtown" shops, where you can find the Manhattan Bar - a far piece from Manhattan. I just loved the sign.

This photo, of the sun coming through the evergreens near Vail, CO, looked better in black and white, in my opinion. I like the whole "sun through the trees" look, but I have a lot to learn on how to capture it in a photo where it doesn't look like you just shot right at the sun.

In this black and white image, the sun is easier to handle and pretty much pulls off the look I was going for. It helps that those pretty clouds were ambling by. Helps a lot.

This covered bridge is also in Vail. It's pretty hard to screw up photos in this pretty locale, but this one has been one of my favorites for a few years now. It put it in my 2008 calendar - I didn't get a 2009 calendar put together. So, the three people who really wanted one of those were crushed. Just crushed.

There's just something about the trees surrounding the well built bridge that makes me feel relaxed when I look at the photo.





These wildflowers are abundant in the summer in Colorado - these dotted a hillside along a path I walked every day I was there. A close up view can be seen below. They are not the best images of flowers - I look forward to trying to get some new, better ones this summer. The light later in the day will make a better image, as will some better framing. And, the close up is not completely in focus. But, I like the photos nonetheless, so here they are for you to see.

Here is another "sun through the trees" photo, sort of, except that I captured more of the actual aspen trees in the frame, so the sun became less important. I tried MANY times the summer of 2005 to capture a compelling aspen photo. This is the best I did that summer. The next summer, I captured better aspen shots. I'll share those with you some other day.

Later this week, I have chosen a few more images from "Colorado 2005" that I'll share in this space, as well as post another installment in the occasional series, "Movie Houses of Dallas." And, at the end of the week, I will have some big news for you about what I'll be up to the rest of the month and how you're going to get to participate! See you then.