Although fantasy is far from my normal genre, Gregory Macguire's series The Wicked Years has captured my heart. It has been a year since I listened to the first book Wicked on audio and then a month later attended the musical when it traveled to Dayton. Recently, I decided to return to the series and read the second book, Son Of A Witch, on my kindle. Since it was available as an ebook to check out from the State Of Ohio library, there was no expense involved, which is good while I am off work with my broken leg. Last night I finished the novel and it is just delightful. Liir is a protagonist that the reader can't help but like. He is insecure with a poor self image but a strong sense of right and wrong and during the story he comes of age. The book, like the first one in the series, continues to be full of political and religious underlying meanings that would take a college course to decipher in its entirety. One of the main themes of the book remains good verses evil. On pages 325 and 326 the author makes the statement that we usually look for evil outside of ourselves when it often is decided by what each of us chooses to do on a daily basis. Earlier in the novel on page 295 Mr Maguire refers to the future as having a very strong force in our lives calling it the strongest magic of all. From flying out of an underground prison on a broom stick to slaying an entire stable of dragons, this is a fast moving story of fantasy that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not since the Lord Of The Rings trilogy has there been a set of fantasy books that has interested me like Gregory Maguire's The Wicked Years. I look forward to reading the remaining two books in this series. Please click on the three links above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.
with gauze at each ear to catch the over spill of the drops or any irrigation fluid
I was prescribed my first set of glasses at age seven. By the time I was in high school I was pretty much legally blind without my glasses. At age sixteen I obtained my first set of hard contact lenses and since I had astigmatism I was never a candidate for soft contact lenses. Although I started hearing about Lasik surgery in the 1990s, I have never been one for elective type surgeries. Therefore, I decided that as long as they could correct my eyes with lenses I would not opt for the surgery, assuming if it ever got to the point that lenses would not correct them, Lasik would be a procedure that had gained in precision by that point in time. About two years ago my contacts became increasingly uncomfortable to wear because I had one near eye lens and one far eye lens and I could no longer see what was on the shelf at the grocery or the computer screen very well. I needed a third lens. So eighteen months ago I went into glasses full time but I did not feel like I could see well in my glasses. It could have been the progressive lenses but I was not satisfied. Therefore, one of my New Years Resolutions was to investigate Lasik Surgery. At the end of February I had my screening appointment and found out that I was a candidate for one of the newer procedures. I scheduled my appointment to have it completed on April 8th. The day after I made that surgical appointment I went on a hike and broke my ankle in two places. Assuming I would need to reschedule the Lasik until I was more mobile I mentioned it to my Orthopedic Surgeon who said there was no medical reason not to have the surgery. I then contacted the Lasik Plus people who said there was no reason to reschedule as they would help me with any mobility issues. So yesterday I had my Lasik surgery. The staff at LasikPlus was very knowledgable and kind. They took time to explain each step to me before hand and then explained again as each thing happened. The type of procedure I had involved two main surgical steps. First, one machine made a flap from my cornea that would be pulled back out of the way.
It took fifteen seconds on each eye to complete the part of the procedure that involved peeling back a flap on each of my corneas.
Then I had to be moved to the machine that actually did the laser cutting. I was afraid even though the staff was very reassuring, so I held very still throughout both steps. The second part was the actual laser cutting. I found it a little disconcerting that I began to notice an odor that smelled like hair burning. Nevertheless, there was no pain involved. It took 25 seconds to complete step two on one eye and 29 seconds to complete step two on the other eye. After the computerized laser cut the first eye then Dr Marino replaced the corneal flap by irrigation and moved the machine over to the second eye repeating the process.
When finished, they assisted me to sit up and I was able to tell them what time it said on the clock up on the wall. I was then moved to a viewing machine where Dr again looked closely into my eyes. After an assessment of things like rechecking my blood pressure I was helped to my car . My husband was my chauffeur and photographer for the morning. My appointment was at nine am and I was on my way home by eleven am. The most time consuming portion of the day was signing the consents and getting all checked in.
By noon, I was home and the numbing drops began to wear off. I found my eyes felt very gritty and I had some discomfort. They had given me tylenol pm prior to beginning the procedure and so before one pm I drifted off to sleep in spite of any discomfort. I woke up shortly after two pm and felt no further discomfort. My vision was blurry but improved through out the evening. I was not to read on my kindle or spend much time on my lap top but had been told I could mess with my smart phone and/or watch television as tolerated and it was necessary for me to sleep in sun glasses the first night. I was amazed when I woke up and could look over at my clock and see what time it was without having to feel all over my night stand for my coke bottle bottom glasses to put on in order to see the face of the clock. After getting up I went to my follow up appointment. If it were not for my broken right ankle I could have driven myself. My distant vision is now 20/20 when using both eyes and one line above that if I am looking out of one eye or the other. I am blurry up close but was told in the prescreening process that I would require over the counter drug store type glasses for close work. They explained that my vision will continue to improve over the next three months. I am shocked at the clarity with which I can see now along with the vividness of the colors. I also want to mention that the doctor called me the evening before surgery to see if I had any questions and the evening after surgery to see if I was doing okay and when he spoke to me prior to starting the surgery he squatted down at my wheel chair level and looked at me when speaking. He did not stand over me and talk at me. Even though my procedure was completed at the Cincinnati office my prescreening was completed at the Dayton office and I will have the remainder of my follow up visits in Dayton, I would not hesitate to recommend either office to others. In fact, I saw some of the same staff both places.
I do have to be careful this first week but I really only have one remaining question: What took me so long to decide to do this?!
Golden Age is the third and final novel in Jane Smiley's Hundred Years Trilogy. The first book began in 1919 and was called Some Luck. I reviewed it in January. The second book was called Early Warning and I reviewed it in March. The trilogy is about an Iowa farm family and it centers around the farm even though the family member's experiences branch out across the country and even the globe. In this final book the time frame covered is 1987 - 2019 and so most of the events experienced by the family are things that I remember happening. Smiley places one family member on the place that hit the pentagon on 911, one young man comes home from the Iraq War with PTSD, one man is in congress while Cinton and then Bush are in office. It is interesting how the author has different branches of the family on different sides of the political spectrum and how she deals with issues such as the 2008 financial crisis. It is eerie as she moves the book and family into the future of a farm lost to illegal foreclosure and the country turning into a dust bowl. At the end one of the great grand daughters visits the farm land in Iowa that the family no longer owns and measures the top soil. In 1919 the top soil was 14 inches deep and dark and rich but in 2019 she finds 2 inches of thin, dusty top soil. I really liked this trilogy and will read more of Jane Smiley's work. I highly recommend these three novels to others. Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to learn more and enjoy the video that follows.
Every April I try to commemorate Earth Day in some small way. For example, one year I added a goal to have no trash generated by the lunch that I carried to work and so I purchased reusable baggies and containers. Another year, shortly after a move, my goal was to get my recycling habits set up in the new location. This year I had planned on walking a 5k in support of a local nature center. Just prior to my paying my entry fee and signing up though I joined a local state park on their mid winter hike. The hike was beautiful but in one instant my foot slipped in the mud and my ankle rolled and my fat self fell right on top of it and I broke both my tibia and my fibula down near my ankle. Five weeks, one surgery and weeks of physical therapy later, I am still on non weight bearing status. Undoubtedly, my activities have to happen from my recliner. One of the things I did was obtain my state library card and investigate their website. They have many ebooks available to check out on my kindle and they had several copies of a book I have been meaning to read for the last several years - The Omnivore's Dilemma. The adult versions of the book were all checked out so I checked out the young adult version and reading it became my first observance of Earth Day for this year. This afternoon I finished the book and I enjoyed it very much. The first portion of the book explains our industrial food chain, while the second chapter reviews industrial organic alternative. The third chapter explains local sustainable eating. The fourth part of the book I found the most enjoyable. In this section the author attempts to hunt and gather ingredients for a meal. He goes into the forest to shoot a wild pig. He goes mushroom hunting and he tries to obtain salt from the sea. Vegetables are gathered from his garden and he grows yeast for the bread. The entire book is very entertaining but this part four was the most enjoyable for me. The book ends with solutions including many websites and other resources for the reader to learn more or act on any interests that the book generated. While I am not a great fan of non fiction, I highly recommend this book. Please click on the author's name and book title at the beginning of this blog, and the highlighted links through out the body to follow links to more information. And enjoy the video that follows.
