Of the Heat, "Dancing like an Egyptian", Margaritas, Truck crashing into funeral holmes and Blood Tests~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well where do I start first???

I guess with the Heat, we had an unseasonable (although the weather man says it does happen) Heat wave here, and we are still getting through it.  There were some glitches with BART not much but enough to cause delays,  and the cooling system at work is so old it just could not handle it properly.

But at least we were out of the sun, the heat trapped in the "canyon's" of tall buildings makes it hotter, just blazing and inland it went to triple digits , it still high today.

Down in San Diego there having fires destroying homes, and we've been having problems as well,
I think the heat has affected some of the staff.  Our boss said it was O.K to play music on the radio to get our minds off of the heat, the next thing I Knew several of our staffers, Hank, Chris, David and Josh, went dancing across the room with towels on their heads like Ancient Egyptians and were dancing to "Dance Like an Egyptian", you know with all those crazy stiff arm movements, and then Brenda brought out non-alcohol Margarita's Lots of Ice.  It tasted good,  the boss gave up and said "If you get some work done I'll over look this."  We did, but it was fun.

I wore my long cool black cotton clothing, wore a black straw hat, used Neutrogena's Sun Screen at SPF 100 level and also used my black parasol, this pale skin is not going to get a tan, I do have to look my Elderly Gothicness.

If any of you have seen my earlier posts about Dark color clothing being able to block the sun's rays, do re-read it.   And I bought several bottles of Neutrogena's SPF 100 Sun Screen, Summer is starting early and the heat is making people crazy, even me.

There has been a lot of grief in the news and a few surprising things, but I think one of the more bizarre is a truck delivering supplies to a Starbucks lost control and crashed into a 90 year old Funeral Home, the truck caught fire and burned up the outside stucco of the building but nothing was damaged inside----as least no deceased customers had an unexpected cremation, and the person who lives above the funeral home and is a caretaker (a woman) was not hurt, the driver and passenger survived with minimal injuries.

The owner of the family owned and run funeral home, said that the Stucco facing prevented the fire from spreading and gave the firemen time to get there and prevent it from doing interior damage.

I've always remarked to people who drive pass me at a high rate of speed "Slow down, they'll hold the funeral for you!"  But Starbucks and a funeral home????  I love the bizarreness of it.

Well Coralline and I have chosen the nail polish color for Summer, she insisted I not wear a very dark color for the Summer Months, telling me that after Labor Day it would be perfectly alright.

I, of course, raised my eye-brows at this edict but decided to see where this would lead,  Well for Mother's day we got to my Brother's house for the Bar-b-Que but it looked like the grill was going to be fired a bit later in the evening and frankly with the weather it worked out just fine. 

Where my brother lives there's a CVS less than a block from the house, so making sure Doyle, the dogs and our elderly neighbor were comfortable, Coralline and I took a walk and there we looked at all the newer nail polish colors being offered for the Summer.

Most of them were too bright or glittery for me and I wasn't happy with the grey greens, and Coralline didn't want me to wear reds or corals or bright greens so we were looking at the blue palette and finally with the ESSIE brand we settled on two colors both a sort of Periwinkle Blue but one was slightly lighter than the other, I settled for "Boxer Shorts" and Coralline went with "Teeny Bikini" (the lighter color).

The shade is just right for Gothicness with a Summer bent, darkish but not too dark and not to light, Summery without being dull.  Coralline gave her whole hearted approval.  And at the Schools she's at for the last few weeks, they will permit color nail polish, and bright and fun hair clips, with the School Uniform. 

Frankly the color goes with almost everything I wear from blacks, greys, dark blues, dark purples, deep maroons.  So I'm all set as they say.

The bar-b-que was hosted by my brother and Doyle and the Boys, us women folk did not have to lift a hand, they even did the clean up although Coralline did have to help, after all she said "Its Mom's Day".

My Sister had a lovely time visiting her children and Brian had a chance to see his kids as well, but I do have to say on the way there and back we saw a lot of places with long lines of people waiting to eat.   Thank goodness the weather was great for a bar-b-que.

Then the Heat Wave---Oy Vey!!  and the Silliness Oh Boy!! But what can you do??

I took today off from work because I had to go to the lab for fasting blood work, Doyle is having a problem with the car, it was the starter motor, so here I am fasting, fasting, getting a headache, getting light headed and all I can do is drink water when I'm dying for coffee and a aspirin.

And because of my light headedness I don't dare drive, so Doyle calls the repair shop and has the car towed in and fortunately its near the hospital, so the owner loans his car to us and Doyle drives me there and when I get there the lab has moved, so I've got to walk a block and a half in the heat, for some vampire to take blood out of me,  But she made it painless remarking how nice and hydrated my veins are, and loved the color of my nail polish and where did I get it. 

Well that was nice.

 I had taken my coffee that I had made and put into a heat container, with me, as soon as I gave 3 vials (one was large) of blood and the Urine sample, I started gulping that coffee ignoring that it was still hot, it tasted so goooooooooooodddddd and topped it with an aspirin.  

We drove back to the repair shop and miracle of miracles they had a spare starter motor in stock and we were on our way, but Doyle did take me to lunch at our old retro-favorite the Merritt Coffee Shop, and even though it was lunch time I wanted Bacon and Eggs with whole wheat Toast---I know heart-attack city---But there are times when I don't care.   

Now I'm unwinding, Sis called and said she was picking up the fixings for a nice spinach salad with the pre-cooked grilled shrimp from Trader Joe's, We all ready had lavender Lemonade on ice, and Doyle took the insulated bag with some blue ice to buy Lime Sherbet for dessert.  

Tomorrow night we are going to the Friends of the Library Book Sale out at the old Navy Base, I'm so looking forward to that, one never knows what treasure one will find.

And now I'm going to flop on the couch with a fan on me, we have a box fan at floor level for the dogs and we are going to get cool and nap till dinner time.

Remember My Darklings Neutrogena SPF 100 Sun Screen.

Of Vampire Blood and Nail polish~~~~

Hello My Darklings,

I have been so bad not posting anything new, bizarre, glamour's or even interesting of late.

But it was seeming like things were just boring, boring, boring.  Except that Sis and I did have a fun Sunday shopping to celebrate Audrey Hepburn's birthday, and we also sent off checks to charities that she supported as well, we are not selfish. 

We are fortunate and blessed, so it behooves us to help out as best as we can.  I think of all of my nieces and nephews and think upon how lucky they are and hope that they realize it.

But we did go to Tiffany's and looked around, and I did splurge, I found a sterling silver chain link bracelet with a heart shaped pendant on it like a charm and I remembered an aunt of mine had something like that so I bought it and asked to have it engraved with my initials and my birthday, I also asked if it's something they usually have and was informed that it does come in from time to time so I'm going to buy one for Coralline have it engraved the same way and give it to her for her next birthday. 

I don't usually buy things at Tiffany's very much but this is something special.

And we went to Saks and Nordstrom and Macy's.  I bought a bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume as well as Coco.   And had fun looking at lipsticks and nail polish but I just could not find a color that would get me excited.

As a matter of fact I just could not get excited by any of the clothing or styles of things they had at the stores, it all seemed so blah and sameness, I asked Sis if I was getting too old and she remarked that it appears that the styles are not marketed to us but to the 20 something's with knobby knees and boney shoulders,  the style just didn't have any style.

At least I can be on the watch for the Vintage Fashion Faire next month I should be able to find something exciting there, I usually do.

As a matter of fact we had a number of women come up to us asking where did we buy our clothing and were surprised that it was either vintage or retro designs, and the fact that we wore hats,  and these ladies had the same complaint.  

But all was not lost I bought a bottle of J'adore cologne as well.  And found 2 bottles of Revlon's Devine nail polish---I had used up my last bottle. And I love the color, if I can every find a bottle of their limited edition of Devil's Lure I'll buy that as well.

I've discovered that I'm now preferring the Matt lipsticks, and the Besame colors seem to suit me very well.  Anything glossy on my lips just doesn't seem to work well or look well on my, perhaps that's the  curse of being an older woman, who is a bit retro.

Sis managed to find in her size a simple little black dress in linen and it fit her beautifully and no knobby knees. 

Then off we went to dinner at the Claremont Hotel, I just had to indulge in a "Pink Lady", I had not had one of them in ages.  Sis suggested that if Doyle and his Storm Troopers were going to have each year a "May the Forth" party we should have our "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Party as well.  I think its a splendid idea.

Ahhh but how does Vampire Blood come into all of this---Well Darklings, my co-workers know I have an interest in things morbid, gothic etc. etc. well one of them found an on line article from the UK from The Telegraph science news section titled " 'Vampire therapy'  could reverse ageing, scientists find"     It seems that old Countess Elizabeth Bathory had the right idea but went about it the wrong way.

It seems that a transfusion of youthful blood may halt and possibly reverse the ageing process, it seems that the chemical make-up of younger blood has surprise health benefits.

It seems that young blood actually 'recharges' the brain, forms new blood vessels and improves memory and learning.  The article claims that a protein known as  GDF11 is present in the blood stream in large quantities when we are young but peters out as we age.

The article goes on in more depth but you might be able to find it under  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10807478/Vampire-therapy-could-reverse...

I hope I have the right link but if you go to the Telegraph website you should be able to find it.

I found the article fascinating as a few years ago I had problems standing and walking, and I would get exhausted and could not focus.   I became concerned and made an appointment with my Doctor and took a taxi since I felt I could not drive, he had me tested and immediately had me admitted into the hospital, I was severely anemic and needed several units of blood as well as being dehydrated.  I knew I was looking very pale, but I didn't know it was from that. 

It turned out that for some reason my bone marrow was not making enough red blood cells, so I had to start taking Iron pills every day a heavy dose.  I still do but only 3 times a week now.  But with the fresh new blood I felt energized, even plumped up, my cognitive skills were heightened and sharpened, almost supernormal. 

When I talked to my Sister about it I laughed and said "I've become a vampire" but even she said that I looked younger than I had in years.  Now reading this article, and also with taking vitamins and Iron as well as being careful with my skin, it seems that something like this is not so far fetched, but in its own way a bit frightening when you think about it.

There is even a news article about what is called a "vampire facelift"  at this point in time I really don't want to go there.

And now Doyle has shown up with dinner as he pleaded with me for me to rest a bit and not cook.  And it's from our favorite Chinese take out.

Later Darklings

Ghosts and Blood~~~~

A Ghost Walk and Blood, Darklings???




Well Doyle has surprised me, with not one but two, yes, two ghostly events and the Oktoberfest.



He managed to book a cabin for two different weekends at the Marble Quarry RV Park just a 10 minute walk from Columbia State Historic Park. He did this months in advance knowing how quickly things can get booked.



So somehow we will manage to squeeze in an Oktoberfest, a Columbia Ghost Walk Oct 13 & 14, and a paranormal Urban legends weekends for October, and I have to make arrangements to get off on Fridays and I can take little Belladonna with us, as the Marble Quarry RV park permits pets but with a small fee of $5.00 a night, well worth it.



I am looking forward to it as it will make October and Fall so enticing and enchanting in a ghostly way. Already my bags are open and being packed bit by bit, with several warm sweaters for Belladonna.



I was relaxing last night with a glass of Zinfandel from the D’art winery and it’s rather good, all just right, the fire was burning in the fireplace, I was so glad to have one the first things worked on was the fireplace and it’s chimney, redid the firebox and ran a fireproof flue up the chimney to reinforce it and improve it’s drawing capabilities, the comfortable chair and foot stool, the fireplace, the zinfandel, Doyle reading, the CD disc of Angel Romero on the guitar playing on the stereo on a Fall evening, Belladonna napping on my lap occasionally uttering sighs of contentment.



So different from the hecticness of the day, I had a doctor’s appointment and she wasn’t going to waste a single minute of it, we talked over medications, diet and exercise, and she scheduled me for a mammogram, lab work which included blood plus several shots that I needed Tetanus, Whooping Cough, Shingles vaccine, Flu shot will be next week as well as a bone density scan….ahhh the travails of getting older and becoming and Elder/Elderly Goth.



But it wasn’t without some amusement, I was having blood drawn by a young man who loves his job and understands blood.



He saw it flow very nicely and remarked “You must drink a lot of water, your blood is flowing beautifully and cleanly” I told him I did drink a lot of water to keep hydrated but I had been concerned about the availability of my veins.



He said “Your veins are very small but well formed and plump, again the water. We have people come in and they could have nice large veins but they hardly drink any water and the blood does not flow very well, it keeps clotting or moving like sludge, so I have to advise them to drink a lot of water. The Elderly are notorious for not drinking enough water, they are so afraid of bladder accidents, but if they would drink a good amount of water at least two or three weeks before a lab test then it helps us and it plumbs up the veins. We have to be careful on the needle size, with small veins and for the elderly I like to use the smallest needle, it hurts less, and with being hydrated it hurts less when I inject the needle to draw the blood. The color is very good too.”



I turned and looked at him, smiled and said “Thank you, Count Dracula”, he smiled and blushed a little and said “I usually work nights but they were short handed today.” And with a deft flick of the wrist he put a Band-Aid where he had removed my blood. “Keep drinking that water.” He said as I left and I assured him I would.



So water helps plump up the veins and the blood so it flows through our veins better. I was not aware of that, so both water and blood is the life, I contemplated that as I idly stared into my glass of Zinfandel, how vital to our lives, and how easily we waste it.



With that thought I decided that I would look into the best way to irrigate my garden with the least amount of wasted water. About blood? I am not a good candidate for a blood drive, but I can donate to it. And with that thought in mind I relaxed as Belladonna shifted in my lap to get more comfortable and Doyle remarked about an article he read in the paper.



Later Darklings