Rolloy Rollator

 

My back pain ramps up fairly quickly while standing and walking. I purchased a Rolloy rollator so instead of searching for a place to sit to get relief, I have my own seat with me. This is mainly to use outside or at large venues like museums or shopping malls. 

It arrived Wednesday; I took it for a spin this afternoon. I think it is going to be just what I need. It has wide wheels for stability. I tried it on some grass, and it moved easily. 

It folds up compactly so it will fit easily in the car. Some people use them at airports either putting them in the overhead bin or checking them at the gate. I will not have trouble navigating the aisle of an airplane so I would choose the latter option, having it ready to use after the flight walking throughout the airport. 

There is a "backrest strap" which I think would be awkward for me because of my kyphosis and curved spine. The backrest has to be removed each time you fold up the rollator.

It also has a bag that attaches at the front.

We are renting a cabin in Brown County Indiana in a few weeks, and I hope to walk some of the nature/easy access trails of Brown County State Park with this device. On the way south, we will stop at Newfields in Indianapolis. This is the Indiana Museum of Art, gardens, sculpture garden, and the Lilly house. I am not interested in the art museum this time around. I want to wander the grounds weather permitting. We will also try walking around Nashville, Indiana to look in shops. The Rolloy will get a testing. 

My surgeon told me last fall before my sacroiliac fusions that I would still have considerable back pain. The best thing that came from those surgeries was that my weak legs regained strength. For now, I adapt with a rollator for lots of walking/standing and with a stool in my kitchen to do cooking and cleaning. 

It was raining when I went to bed last night. Today it is gray with a few drizzles. A chance of rain tomorrow, too. I may have to wait until Monday to have a dry day to take my Rolloy for another walk. 

Beaucoup Blooms Inside and Outside

 

My house cleaner brought me what she calls "wildflowers" from her yard. She likes to share her spring and summer blooms.

However, I already have some other bouquets. Last Saturday while at Fort Wayne, I bought some blooms from Trader Joe's. They are in my sunroom.

Plus, the flowers I bought at Walmart over a week ago are still hanging on. They look a little worse for the wear, but I am keeping them because the two roses smell so delightful. The Joe bouquet has one red rose, but it has no fragrance. When the Walmart flowers fade away, I may take the white statice and add to the Joe bouquet to lighten it up a bit.

Also, I bought some geraniums for the front porch and a hanging basket of fuchsia

 

I don't have a green thumb, but I have had good success with geraniums on my porch. This is my first fuchsia. We'll see if I can keep it alive and thriving.

Flower enjoyment season.

Iris Progression

 

A friend gave me a stem of iris buds and blooms a week ago. I have never tried putting iris in vases; I do not have enough of them to use that way anyway. She was leaving for the weekend, and she said you might as well enjoy it since I will not be home.

In the photo above, I have already snipped off the two spent blooms that were open when she gave the stem to me. They lasted a day and a half. But it had lots of buds, and you can see that another one had opened fully and one part way.

Above the two are still fully opened but drooping a bit and a different bud has opened.

I snipped off a wilted bloom; but on the right you can see one bud left.

The final flower opened today. That means I had blooms for one whole week. 

This afternoon I bought a little bouquet at Walmart. I have been feeling a bit down this week. Flower therapy for sure.

Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits and Farmers Market

In trying to restore some missing photos, I guess Blogger made this a new post. This trip was taken in the summer of 2014. My apologies for the re-posting showing up on the wrong date.

Besides visiting with family in Whittier and helping my mom with some work projects, my husband and I drove to two spots in Los Angeles during our California trip in July: La Brea Tar Pits and Farmers Market.

I visited both of these spots in the 1950s. I don’t remember much of the tar pits (a school outing), but I have memories of my Girl Scout troop going to the Farmers Market. We went in spring and many of the girls bought baby chicks. I doubt they received a warm welcome from parents when we returned home. I preferred to spend my money on yummy goodies to devour.

 

La Brea Tar Pits have been excavated since the early 1900s. The remains of animals found in the pits date back millions of years. The pits have mostly dried up with the trapped creatures embedded. There are tar seeps still on the grounds.

A quarry that was excavated in the 1800s is now a “lake” that churns and bubbles with asphalt and methane gas. It gives a good idea of what earlier pits might have been. You can stir some of the goo in the museum which makes you realize how thick and heavy it really is. The staff meticulously sort the remains excavated at the active digging sites, from insect legs to mastodon skulls. You can watch them behind plexiglass in the museum. They use microscopes to distinguish plant parts from insect parts, etc.

The grounds of the tar pits and excavations are free to view; Page Museum has a fee. There is an additional fee to see the movie about the Ice Age. Ice Age fossils dominate the museum display. Ancient camels, bisons, dire wolves, giant sloths, saber-toothed cats, wooly mammoths, mastodons are plentiful both in fossil form and in reproductions.

 

 

 

The Farmers Market in Los Angeles was established in 1934 and has operated continuously in that spot for 80 years, except for a short time in World War II when it housed military offices.

It is a short drive from the La Brea Tar Pits. We ate lunch at DuPar’s restaurant, an enclosed building, but the market itself has stalls with open-air seating for many food establishments. If you park in the designated Farmers Market parking, you can have a restaurant or vendor validate your parking which gives you 2 free hours. If you park in the next-door Grove lots, there will be no free time or reductions even if you utilize the Farmers Market. The Grove is an unenclosed mall of popular companies like Banana Republic, See’s Candy, The Gap, Container Store, etc. built around a classically-inspired movie theater. We walked a short way thru it, but didn’t really shop.

The Grove

Farmers Market stalls

We did enjoy some locally made Bennett’s ice cream after strolling thru the market.

People who live in this part of LA do shop regularly for produce, meats, ethnic or exotic foods and specialty products. It is of course also a tourist attraction and was very busy on a Friday.

Dragon fruit for sale at stall

 

This outing was enjoyable and gave my sister and her husband a break from their Indiana relatives.