Thursday, December 31, 2015

Coasting and Rolling Through 2015

How was 2015 for y'all? For me 2015 brought some welcome ups and an unexpected down.

UP ~ 2015 began as I was, at last, comfortable wearing regular shoes after dealing with a slow-healing flesh wound on my left foot through much of 2014.

UP~ I'd had indication, over Christmas 2014, that I was one of several beneficiaries of an aged aunt's estate in England. My initial reaction was that my share would probably cover a nice meal out - if we were lucky. I was wrong. When I eventually received the money it was enough to go a long way towards replacing our 10-year-old car with an almost new one, which we did during the summer.

DOWN~In March I accidentally stumbled and fell when out and about in New Mexico, on a trip celebrating husband's birthday. I'd been taking photographs at a solar observatory in the mountains, not looking where I was putting my feet. No bones broken, but falling with throat coming down very heavily on the rounded edge of my 35mm camera left me unable to speak. A visit to the emergency clinic in Alamogordo resulted in CT scan, which resulted in further investigations by regular doctor, ENT specialist and hospital back in Oklahoma.

UP ~ All was well that ended well.

UP ~ Sometime in June I heard that I was to be one of many beneficiaries of yet another estate of a relative in England, this time that of a cousin who had died suddenly, unexpectedly in late October 2014.

DOWN-ish ~ This second windfall-to-be is still to come owing to a series of "complexities", according to lawyers dealing with it. The situation has now begun to feel quite unreal.

So, I've experienced several positive personal outcomes for which to be truly thankful.

Husband Anyjazz has been generally well, thank goodness. We attended his High School class 60th Reunion in Kansas in September, met many others who are also weathering their senior years with aplomb and optimism.

Husband became great-grandfather for a third time in May when a grandson and wife welcomed a baby boy, Milo, born during one of Oklahoma's famous hail storms with tornado attached.

Son-in-law Jeff, though, has had a very nasty, worrying year - a real "annus horribilis"! The latest of several health issues he has experienced, including two surgeries, has been due to a fall, from a table, while cleaning a light-fitting. He fell heavily onto their hard-tiled kitchen floor, shattering one heel bone to smithereens. After months of wearing an horrendous contraption on his foot and leg, screwed into his bones, he's at last in a slightly less horrible cast-like support, hoping that in early in 2016 he'll be rid of that too, and learning to walk again free and clear of any contraption but, perhaps, a cane...and walking, we trust, into a much happier, calmer year than this has been for him, and for his wife.

And so...how was your 2015?


UPDATE~ Should've included these - new arrivals during 2015:

 Baby Milo (great-grandson)
 Thanks to Auntie Mary great-grand-car!

13 comments:

Vanilla Rose said...

It's been good, thank you for asking.

Sonny G said...


Like You , I've had my hills and valleys. Such is Life.
Overall I've had a good year though my stay in the hospital and diagnosis wasn't fun, it led me to an overall better physical state than I've had in many years.. Clouds and silver linings, again:) I think at this age I've learned to roll with the punches and also learned when to Punch back lol..
I'm letting go of some long held dreams as I realize they would no longer bring the joy I thought they once would. New dreams now of getting even healthier and more grateful for the little things I used to not notice.

I'm working at walking away from the "JOY STEALERS" of life, politics being one of them. It will be as it must be for reasons I may never know, so why worry or get so agitated by it all.
I guess I could say, here at this late date, I am growing up-- a little:) Thats a good thing, right? lol
wishing us all a joyful , healthy 2016~!!

jan61108@yahoo.com said...

She is still bringing it at 73.

Aretha Franklin (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman - Carole King - Kennedy Center Honors 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RIgeu-6Jcs&html5=1

Wishing you all a healthy and happy new year.

mike said...

Well, let me try to recall this year! I'd say 2015 was essentially uneventful...full of momentary fluff and jubber that didn't affect me in the long-run...so a good year! Friends and relatives haven't had a particularly wonderful year, so I've done a lot of listening and consoling.

I have no expectations for 2016, so that should be easy to achieve in the months ahead. I'm sure I'll have local-national-global disappointments, but I'm getting the hang of that before 2016 even starts...another day on Earth.

Congratulations to you and anyjazz on the new grandchild. How do you like being a step-grandmother, Twilight? I bet it's fun...specially when waving them adieu (only kidding)...LOL.

BTW - My computer has been highjacked by a redirect-page with a cloudfront.com address. It's an Amazon extension used for ad placements. When I open a page, usually from a bookmark, it's a slow screen fill-in, and when I look at the actual address of the page in the lower left screen, I invariably will see a random set of letters-numbers followed by cloudfront.com. I doubt that I picked this up on any of your pages, Twilight, but there is a possibility, as cloudfront can be attached to youtube videos (those pesky ads that pop-up while viewing). I believe I had rid my computer of the intrusion, so let me know should you be afflicted.

Twilight said...

Vanilla Rose ~ Hi! Hope 2016 will be equally good to you! ;-)

Sonny ~ Very wise! None of us every stops growing up! Peac, joy and good health to you also for 2016 and beyond. :-)

Robert Nicewander ~ Hi Bob - Thanks for the video link - lovely! Nice to see Carole King getting so emotional too, and the Prez and 1st Lady! Peaceful, happy and healthy New Year to you too! :-)

mike ~ Your year was more or less on even keel then - that can't be bad! I hope that 2016 is at least as good or preferably even better than 2015 for you - with peace, good health and happiness to the fore.

Milo is a great-grandchild though, not grandchild. It's an utterly foreign land to me- the great-grandkids' territory - to be honest. I stumble around not really knowing what to do or say! :-/

I haven't noticed any cloudfront.com intrusions so far - but Norton 360 has been very good at blocking all intrusions, way, way better than any other anti-virus/malware blocking software. I did have trouble with Firefox the other day, but it seems to have righted itself now. Will watch for anything untoward popping up from now on. I am noticing more intrusive ads when reading on some websites - Salon, for instance, has become almost too annoying to visit.

mike (again) said...

A very pleasant, heir apparent recipient, not too eventful, full of delightful road trips and sights, year to you and anyjazz, too! And everyone out there in Twilightland!

Thought I'd disbanded cloudfront, but NO...it refuses to go away. I've spent hours so far with nothing to show for it, except frustration. Not a good start to the new year, but this is still 2015. Amazon's cloudfront is a WUD!

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~ Many thanks!
What's WUD mean? Hope you get rid, whatever it is.

PS - Have added a couple of photos above, couldn't find 'em when preparing the post.

mike (again) said...

WUD = wrongful and unnecessary dicks

cloudfront...I've given-up...hope it goes away on its own (Neptune thinking!).

Ahhh...your updated baby pic...little babies are so cute...hard to believe they grow-up to become like all of us adults.

Nice wheels! I see in the photo that you are parked next to a "Absolutely No Loitering" sign...do you and anyjazz pack that sign in your trunk and display it every time you park?

We are chilly (about 45*) and overcast, with drizzle-showers. Not a good night for the revelers' getting around. I'm hoping for continuing precipitation around midnight...we always have more fireworks at midnight than July 4th within the city limits...usually starts at 11 PM and runs until about 2 AM. Open carry gun law takes effect at midnight tonight...can't wait...what could go wrong?!

A loaf of whole wheat bread is rising as I type. I'll probably watch a Netflix movie in an hour or two to ring-in the New Year.

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~ Happy New Year - 2016 is here! We looked for someone counting down to midnight for we folks in Central Time Zone and found nothing on TV - what WUDs!!! (Thanks for reminding me of meaning!) :-D

We've watched Netflix all night - I compiled a list from that website you gave me the other day and tried 3 or 4 - dumped the first one, watched "Evening" - not too bad a movie but a tad depressing; then dumped two more pretty bad sci-fi films and ended watching a couple of episodes of a series called "Persons Unknown" - seems like it lasted only 1 season. Not bad, mysterious - one of those puzzle stories - why? who? etc etc.

We thought a few fireworks might alert us to the hour of midnight - but not a one. I had to skip over to the computer to get the correct time - it was 11.59 - so we filled our lasses and toasted 2016 with no prompting. :-)

Sonny G said...

awww. what a handsome little fella and a pretty car too.

Happy New Year~!

Twilight said...

Sonny ~ Ta! Happy New Year! :-)

Kaleymorris said...

I am TOTALLY looking forward to 2016, which by comparison to its predecessor, will be fabulous!

Twilight said...

Kaleymorris ~ Yes, I can well understand your feeling! 2016 will not have to work very hard, or raise even the tiniest sweat in order to be absolutely fab, after the disquietude 2015 dished up for y'all! :-)