The next phase

Stages of a monarch butterfly's life

At the risk of sounding incredibly cliched, I have come to the realization that it this time for the next stage of my life. 

I have probably posted this Bible verse before but it seems remarkably apt for this occasion:

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 The Message

A number of recent events have caused me to assess where I am in life and make adjustments accordingly. Ron has had to do increasingly more things for me and last night I took a fall in the bathroom that sent us to Prompt Care. My right knee hurt a lot. But after a pain shot and x-rays that showed I had not broken anything, we went back home. This actually made me more sure that it was time to transition to the next stage – in this case that means going to a nursing home or somewhere where I can get more care.

I fought this for a long time – determined to stay in my home until the bitter end. But I realize that this is not fair to my dear husband who has shouldered the responsibility for many not real fun tasks like transferring me from my wheelchair to the toilet and getting me dressed. Someone else needs to do these tasks that I am not able to do anymore. So the search for a facility that would provide care as well as be affordable has begun.

There is a part of me that is my essence – that makes me myself, independent of my body. For every bedridden, non-conversant person in a nursing home, this is also true. There is something inside that person that makes them who they are. Until I die, there will always be something that is uniquely me.

I will still have my family, my friends, my church, and my various interests which will never be taken away. But my life will be easier when I have people to take care of me.

So it is time to begin a new phase of my life. And I am okay with that.

The Dana-Thomas House as Office -- Part II Memories from Michael Thomas

The final post on podcasts

Okay I promise this is my last post on podcasts. I could go on indefinitely because I'm discovering new ones almost every day, but in the interests of brevity and fading reader interest I will contain myself (albeit somewhat begrudgingly).

Spontaneanation with Paul F Tompkins (this is the last podcast that I will mention that includes my hero) is an improvised show that features Tompkins plus a special guest and some of his improvisational partners in crime. The guest provides fodder for the improvisation that follows and the results are usually hilarious. It has given me a whole new respect for improvisational comedy. Highly recommended.

Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey host another podcast that has earned my listener seal of approval – Stuff You Missed in History Class. Though it has a different flavor than the Stuff You Should Know podcast, this is just as informative and interesting in its own way. Tracy and Holly do a wonderful job of researching and presenting obscure historical topics in a fascinating manner. Just this morning I listened to their episode on "The Black Hole of Calcutta" and learned a lot. They also did a good job of pointing out what evidence was hearsay and what was substantiated. Other favs include "The Iroquois Theater Fire," "Villisca Ax Murders" (since I'm from Iowa) and "A Culinary History of Spam." Give it a listen.

This last podcast is a great example of cross pollination. I heard about it on the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast this week: Can I Pet Your Dog? I listened to a few episodes and love it so far. It is exactly what you would expect – two young women and a man talking about dogs. Great for dog lovers everywhere.

Podcasts are a big part of my life and I am so thankful for
them. Keep 'em coming!

More podcasts that I love…

Did you think I was done after only one post? Oh you're not that lucky… Here are some more podcasts that I dearly love.

The Pop Culture Happy Hour is a podcast that I've been listening to for quite a while and liking more and more. The moderator, Linda Holmes, keeps the panelists like Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson and Barrie Hardymon in line (quite a task sometimes). They are an astute group and very interesting to listen to plus each has a unique personality that comes through in their comments. I have learned a lot from the podcasts, which are entertaining even if I haven't seen the movie or read the book etc. I found out about Orphan Black, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Bo Jack Horseman from this podcast and I respect the panelists' opinions about books and movies.

Josh and Chuck

Josh and Chuck from the podcast Stuff You Should Know seem like guys who might be my younger brothers. They have a real unique vibe and I trust them implicitly. They are very well informed on subjects that interest me and they have a great chemistry – they are very nice to each other and seem to like each other a lot. They've been on the air for years and their topics are those that I really want to know more about like:

• Does Gum Stay in Your Stomach for Seven Years?
• Are Dogs Really Man's Best Friend?
• Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste Bad? 
• How Face Transplants Work and 
• How Can a Lake Explode?

It is hard to describe Welcome to Night Vale and harder to explain why love I it. But I'll give it a try anyway. Cecil Palmer is the radio host of the podcast, with news announcements and advertisements from the desert town of Night Vale. All the incidents are presented as news but they all are very strange and unusual even though Cecil does not acknowledge it. For instance,The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home makes an appearance in almost every show along with sci-fi nightmare Hiram McDaniels. This show is very strange and very addicting.

Stay tuned for more podcasts! Yes you're right, I do have unlimited time to listen to these!

Did I mention that I love podcasts?

Okay I know that I did a post already on podcasts back in 2011. But now, after four years, I think I love them even more (if that's possible).

My tastes have changed -- I don't like the same podcasts I did four years ago. I am more educated about the choices available and there are many more podcasts out there now to choose from (and the number is growing every day).

It's an embarrassment of riches but I love it. All for free, of

Oscar

course, and somehow podcasts are the perfect company for someone who is often alone (if you don't count Oscar).

Liking a podcast is somewhat idiosyncratic –  it's very important to have a good host or hosts. "Good" means someone who is well-informed, likable, and would probably be a friend if I knew him or her better.

The topics covered are also important to me: I tend to like podcasts that talk about faith, movies, TV, books, or popular culture. But I also like those that entertain. 

Here are some of my current favorites.

The Dead Authors Podcast. Hosted by my current obsession, Paul F Tompkins, this monthly podcast features HG Wells (Tompkins) who brings a dead author such as Confucius, Lucy Maud Montgomery, L Ron Hubbard, Gertrude Stein, Mark Twain to the present day via his time machine. Tompkins as Wells is a delightful host and never breaks character. He has a running feud with Jules Verne and an ability to be tickled by many of his guests' antics.

Wells and Lucy Maud Montgomery

The visiting authors are played by a host of young comedians, often with men portraying women and vice versa, and the whole thing is extremely funny. Tompkins is quick-witted and his guests are informative as well was being laugh out loud hilarious. Highly recommended! http://deadauthorspodcast.org/

The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Billed as a podcast in the style of old-time radio, this wonderful show features three non-serialized segments such as Sparks Nevada: Marshall on Mars, Beyond Belief, Captain Laserbeam and The Cross-Time Adventures of Colonel Tick-Tock as well as songs and commercials.

The cast includes the WorkJuice Players and usually at least

Beyond Belief (Tompkins is at left)

one special guest. Paul F. Tompkins (there he is again) is one of the Players and stars with Paget Brewster in the Beyond Belief segment, featuring the adventures of married mediums in the vein of Nick and Nora Charles.

Very funny and extremely well acted, I was sad to hear that this podcast has ceased doing new segments. However, the old ones are all on iTunes or online at http://thrillingadventurehour.com/

That's all for now. My next post will continue the list of my favorite podcasts (I have a bunch).

The Dana-Thomas House As Office -- 1944-1981: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher

Long live the Forsytes!

Before Downton Abbey was even thought of, before Upstairs Downstairs, even before the time-honored costume dramas of Masterpiece Theater, there was The Forsyte Saga. And I was its biggest fan. Or at least a really big fan.

The year was 1970 -- the series was first broadcast in 1967 but somehow I missed it. Anyway at the ripe old age of 15, I was watching the series on PBS. Every Sunday night at 8 PM without fail I was glued to the screen of our old black-and-white TV as the lives of Irene, Jolyon, Fleur and most of all Soames, unfolded in Victorian and 1920s England. The Forsytes were a monied and conservative family and the sprawling saga touched on things like unfaithfulness, rape, family rifts, divorce and a host of other juicy subjects.

The actors were attractive and honored English men and women acting in a series where production values could be somewhat questionable. But that didn't matter, I was hooked. And it didn't take long for me to start reading the book that this series was based on -- the similarly named The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. I bought a copy of the hardback and read it till its spine gave out.

Soames (Eric Porter)

An entry from my diary in 1970 -- "I adore 'The Forsyte Saga.'"

Stuck in a small town, an overweight and lonely teenager, I ate up the adventures of the large family. I had a huge crush on Soames, an unlikely target -- he was a inhibited middle-aged man who cherished an undying sense of ownership for his first wife, Irene, a woman who definitely didn't want him. My favorite character had to be Soames's sister Winifred, an affable, normal-looking woman married to a "bounder" who stole her pearls and absconded with a Spanish dancer to Buenos Aires. The series and book brightened my lackluster existence and made life in Creston bearable.

The erstwhile Monty and wife Winifred (1967)

Monty and Winifred (2002)

Fleur (2002)

Flash forward 45 years to the present day when I discovered that my favorite TV show, The Forsyte Saga, had been remade back in 2002. I have been watching reruns on

Fleur (1967)

the local PBS station and enjoying it, possibly even more than I did back in the day. Of course the actors are different and I think it may not follow the book as closely, but I am understanding the series better and getting more out of it, possibly because I'm older, and wiser, and I've been through more life experiences. For example, when I was a teenager, Fleur, Soames' daughter, seemed somewhat flighty -- now she seems very spoiled and childish. Soames comes off as rather insufferable but his sister Winifred still seems like someone who would be my friend.

God has a way of giving me gifts when I need them -- and this new version of my teenage obsession works well to entertain as well as enlighten me. Long live the Forsytes!

1967

2002

Touring Wright's Laurent House: An Accessible Delight.