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Gunk and other updates

Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

It is Saturday, December 28, around 8:30 a.m. when I start this. Do not expect much eloquence from me, as the gunk Eva passed on to me from her recent illness is still interfering with my ability to think and sleep. It has instead given me a lovely cough, which now after more than a week is getting “wet” and “productive.”

I FINALLY finished my medical intake at the St. Luke’s Medical Fitness program. Because of my paused membership, I’m not sure when my end date in the Thrive program is but let’s assume mid-February for now. This whole journey started in early November when I visited my neurologist-physiatrist to talk to her about my recent mobility issues and any concerns she had about me returning to an exercise program.

The older I get, the more I worry that my cerebral palsy will cause me to hurt myself because I tend not to notice when my body is doing the wrong things.

Eva has worked really hard on remodeling the garage and including a space for a home gym, so I need to pay some attention to myself in that regard. But I’m out of shape, and falling more than usual, so I’m scared.

My neurologist referred me to the medical fitness program, and I had my first medical intake appointment on November 11. My blood pressure spiked during that appointment, so they sent me home without doing the baseline exercise portion of the intake. I returned two days later, and they almost sent me to the ER because my blood pressure was still bad.

Here are the previous entries recalling all of that, when it was happening.

Two trips to the primary care doctor, two trips to the cardiologist, and two or three falls (depending how you count, one was a trip, but I still believe it happened because of balance issues which makes it a fall) later, my blood pressure seems under control again.

And of course, yesterday, when I turned up at the gym in the basement of the hospital, it was 130/90.

Since I’ve been fighting the gunk, I almost canceled the appointment, but I filled a water bottle with my electrolyte flavor, grabbed a scarf, forgot a mask, and hopped in the car. My fear was that if I canceled the appointment, the intake would have to wait until after my colonoscopy and I was worried that one thing would lead to another and I’d never get this done.

When I arrived, I forgot my water bottle in the car, still couldn’t find a mask, and realized I had no idea where my membership/gym tag was. In the back of my mind, I knew I had packed a gym bag at my last attempt and that the tag was in the gym bag. But where was the gym bag? And what bag did I use?

Lots of hand sanitizer and frequent hand washing and I refused to shake the young man’s hand. I also told him if I continued to cough and he had to send me home, I understood. But I reiterated that I had had many trials to get to this point and I would rather be sent home than continue the cycle of not trying.

Onto the fancy scale I went (168) and I know that body fat percentage was in the forties, wish I could remember what it was when I was super lean a decade ago. Turns out that information may only exist in paper journals in my attic.

39-year-old Angel … with something to prove before hitting 40

The Angel in the pictures is 45 pounds lighter than me, and I think those 45 pounds, age and stress have had a ridiculous impact on my blood pressure and my mobility. (And for the record– the sweatpants worn by Angel in the pictures were my favorite sweatpants ever.)

I have learned that my body reacts strongly to salt and sugar, and that I “do better” when I cook, and that I have no self-control with processed snack foods like potato chips and doritos.

The trainer I met with yesterday talked about maximum heart rate and how hearts slow down as we age. The highest my heart rate reached in 2024, according to my AppleWatch, was 186. 207 was the highest since I got the watch. The online calculators I have seen suggest that my maximum heart rate for my age is between 170 and 179.

The trainer, and maybe his name was Ryan but maybe I invented that, would like to see me four times a week. I still have the mental mindset to make this work, but my physical stamina and fortitude have worn me out to the point where I can talk myself out of my own efforts.

I found this post from when I started my journey with Apex Training in 2021.

Maybe, someday, I will get my discipline under control and be one of those old ladies who powerlift. Screw the whole red hat/purple dress thing.

Meanwhile, Monday is my first colonoscopy. It was supposed to be the Monday after Thanksgiving but the doctor had a death in the family. Tomorrow I start my official bowel prep, and it scares me, because I get shaky without food, and low blood pressure without salt, and I already have a mobility disability. Then they will knock me out on Monday, and I tend to have a heavy reaction to medications and anesthesia. So none of this makes me comfortable. The actual colonoscopy, that doesn’t scare me. But everything else does.

So tomorrow, unless I experience miraculous healing today, I will be expelling mucus from my lungs and all the poop from my bum.

This Christmas (2024)

Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it multiple times this year. 2024 has brought with it profound hopes and joys, and also some challenges and disappointments. I hate when people say “it’s been a good year” or even a “bad year” because our measures of time are such arbitrary concepts.

I would like to take stock of my life not in calendar years but more in marks of what I have achieved in my various stages and ages.

I believe after November’s blood pressure scare we have that under control. I have an appointment to return to the medical fitness program Friday, and have in the last four months successfully lost 4-5 pounds. Considering my affinity for stress eating, the low level of weight loss is not surprising.

Food certainly plays an important role in my heart health as my blood pressure and weight respond clearly and drastically based on my sugar and salt consumption.

Eva had a double ear infection, sore throat, laryngitis and vertigo three-ish weeks ago, and she is still recovering from that– and she has shared with me whatever gunk started her troubles. I had a small fever last Tuesday night and struggled with an excess of clear phlegm and a cough for the last week. I have coughed more and more at night for the last few days, hours each night according to my AppleWatch, and finally expelled some pale yellow mucus and blood from my nose at 5 a.m. this morning. With luck and dreams I can hope that was the “infection,” and perhaps I can start to mend.

Eva and I haven’t fully embraced Christmas in recent years, especially since my father’s death three years ago and the increasingly-distanced behavior of my parental family. But at the same time, despite my health challenging me, trying to grow my business and watching my financial security evaporate, and in general surrendering a lot of items and ideals that were important if not central to me, I find myself closer to peace than I have been in a long time.

I meet people every day who, in some cases, inspire me, and in other cases, remind me who I don’t want to be. I still spend too much time mourning the past and not enough celebrating the future.

I had coffee with an impressive woman last week– Lenore Kantor– at Plants & Coffee.

Let me share with you these holiday-themed photos I took there.

When one is battling health problems or illness, especially at the holidays, it offers so much time to think undistracted by the work we just don’t have the mental or physical energy to do.

And in my case, I have explored some of Roku TV’s nostalgic offerings for Generation X (and earlier). I have watched Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Diff’rent Strokes and Pink Panther recently while AppleTV offered me a free month so I am binging La Maison.

Unexplained falls and bad timing

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I can’t even begin to articulate what I am feeling these days because what I’m feeling is a range of highs and lows.

I’m editing books, planning presentations, talking with writers about their books—- and still dealing with blood pressure fluctuations and high heart rate notifications.

We haven’t had heat so far this winter and the outdoor temperature this week has been highs of the low thirties and lows in the twenties. The interior of my home has been 45 degrees in the morning.

With any luck, the part for the furnace will arrive tomorrow and my repair is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

And even that, I handled well. Until I fell this morning. A real fall. An unexplained fall.

My AppleWatch didn’t even notice and I hit my head hard enough I scared myself.

I had made myself a beautiful egg and yellow pepper omelette that ended up on the floor with me. I ate it anyway.

I turned to carry my plate into the dining room and stumbled and went down as if I didn’t even at feet beyond my ankles.

I felt so vulnerable for the rest of the day I curled up on the couch and alternated between episodes of 1,000 Pound Sisters and The Sopranos.

Delight at Cellar Beast Winehouse

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Last night, I had the pleasure of accompanying Darrell Parry and William D. Prystauk to a reading at Cellar Beast Winehouse in Andreas, Pa., not that far from where I had breakfast at Bowmanstown Diner earlier this week (in the Palmerton/Lehighton/ Carbon County region). We joined Liz Rosen and JZ Nieves as part of a book-and-wine pairing event that celebrated this unique winehouse as well as our writing.

Darrell opened the evening with some poetry.

Bill went next with the opening of his novel, The Hanging Girl. The wines began with German-inspired white and progressed all the way to a dark, rich red called “Dark Angel” that the host paired with my reading from my second novel, Courting Apparitions.

I wish I could have seen the sign language interpretation of my excerpt as it was the only reading of the evening to contain a very sultry scene– in addition to the appearance of a ghost.

Darrell ended up buying a bottle of Dark Angel, and it was an impressive evening, both because of the organization, participation and the ambiance of the venue AND the excellence of all of the wines.

Tell me to keep going.

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

I feel unseen and unheard. I’m cold and I’m tired. And I have a headache.

The cold is easy to explain but not easy to remedy. My furnace started acting odd last winter, and I invested more than $600 into a possible fix that was nothing more than a guess and a bandaid– and it worked for last winter.

My heat is on 58-degrees right now, because I keep my heat low to save money and it doesn’t go up to 62 degrees until I’m consistently cold. And it only goes higher than 62 on special occasions.If you balk at those numbers, then you’ve never been poor.

Today the furnace refuses to work in any capacity. I called my heating people and they said they could come tomorrow, but I have special plans tomorrow (reading– the wine and book pairing at Cellar Beast Winehouse in Andreas, Pa. Buy tickets here) and I don’t want the stress of knowing if I’ll be without heat this winter. Because the furnace might really be dead. I’m hoping maybe it’s the thermostat, but that might be delusional thinking on my part.

[Help Angel heat her house this winter! Buy Parisian Phoenix books! 30 to choose from! Here’s our affiliate store on Bookshop.org— https://bookshop.org/shop/ParisianPhoenix— where you can support me, my authors and your favorite independent bookstore all at the same time without leaving your house, which I hope is warm!]

They are coming Tuesday afternoon, at my request.

If you follow this blog, you may already know that I signed up and paid for the Thrive Medical Fitness program at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Past blogs regarding this:

How I learned about the program

Medical Fitness Intake, part 1

Medical Fitness Intake, part 2

So, when I got home last night, I tracked my blood pressure for the hour after I returned and watched it come down to normal. Then, I ate Wing Stop. I had previously eaten about 850 calories that day with about 50 grams of protein and yeah, when Eva said she was starving and wanted Wing Stop I ordered it. I got a chicken sandwich, 5 boneless wings and an order of the fried corn with parmesan instead of the seasoning. I hoped I wouldn’t eat it all, but I did, which brought my protein totals for the day to around 125 grams and my calories to probably slightly more than 2,550.

My weight this morning did not change. My heart rate also appeared normal. My blood pressure before my beta blocker dose was 116/84. I skipped my morning coffee, drank a glass of electrolyte water and even wore my AppleWatch in the shower to see how my heart rate responded to the hot water.

At the doctor’s office, my weight had not changed. My heart rate was 77! That’s so ridiculously good for me as usually when I walk in the door it skyrockets. My blood pressure was 150/96. And they still have my height listed as 5′ 3″ which makes me obese. I’m 5′ 4″!

I saw a doctor that was not my own, and while he seemed like a very nice person, he didn’t see or hear me. He spent five minutes with me and prescribed a new medication. My history shows I have an issue with anxiety and my blood pressure, and I’m not saying I don’t have an issue, but no one seems to care that my blood pressure only escalates when I am outside of my house!

And I mentioned I struggle with orthostatic hypotension so I’m really concerned about changing my medications.

I am waiting for the pharmacy to fill the meds, and I made the follow-up nurse visit, but I also made an appointment with my cardiologist. But it’s hard to take care of yourself when you don’t have the same financial resources or the same “normal” body as everyone else.

I decided to cheer myself up and do something positive I made a coffee bar at the end of my desk.

Did I just flunk out of fitness?

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I started my new fitness journal Monday and have been making good choices, tracking my activity and walking the dog everyday.

Each day my number of steps increases by about 500 and today I made it up an extra bend of stairs before I was out of breath– Nan lives on the third floor and I always take the stairs instead of the elevator.

I’ve reduced my caffeine intake, resumed taking my beta blocker and have taken my baclofen regularly. Today was my second try to finish my intake for the Thrive Medical Fitness Program at St. Luke’s Hospital. I even arrived 15 minutes early, used the restroom and sat in the waiting room imagining petting my cat, Fog, and listening to his purr.

They wouldn’t let me finish the intake on Monday because of high blood pressure and heart rate and I was determined to do everything I could to come in on target.

Well.

My heart rate passed.

My blood pressure, despite several attempts by more than one person over a course of 20 minutes, did not. They asked several times if I had any symptoms– and I said no because I didn’t. They asked several times. And the last time my trainer emphasized if you have any symptoms at all I will accompany you to the E.R. right now. They let me go home with a promise that I would call my primary care physician and go talk to them tomorrow. And they instructed me to take my blood pressure as soon as I got home.

My numbers there were: 180/120, 180/117 and 160/110.

I came home and the numbers had fallen: 123/91, then 116/82, and finally 115/71.

I went to the bench outside the hospital and called my primary care physician from there. The office is on the way home from the hospital and it was only 4:30 p.m. so if they had concerns they could have me come immediately to the office or stay at the hospital.

I have an appointment for 8:45 a.m. tomorrow.

And the staff at the fitness center thanked me for being so flexible and understanding, acknowledging that the whole situation must be frustrating, but getting angry about it won’t help me– or my blood pressure.

Honestly, I think my body is just anxious about being in/near the hospital.

So we’ll see what my primary care physician’s office says tomorrow.

Fitness strike out

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I had my intake for the Thrive medical fitness program at St. Luke’s Hospital. I did not finish all of the required testing because my heart rate and blood pressure were too high.

But let’s back up. Perhaps things aren’t as “all or nothing” as I feel right now– I feel like in many areas of my life I am “failing” or “losing” and the reality is that life is more complex than that.

I was soooo excited to join the Thrive Medical Fitness program, and I still am. The staff seems pleasant and supportive.

And I wanted to do stuff.

No doing stuff yet.

I had a 5:30 appointment for the intake, and I was 100% honest on the form about my habits and my medical conditions. After all, it’s a hospital-sponsored program so they have access to at least my medical history anyway. So I told the staff member about my fall history, about my bout of afib, about my orthostatic hypotension, my anemia, and my increase in spasticity.

And I quickly learned that due to all of these conditions, I will not be allowed to workout independently at the facility. I will have to make an appointment and work out with one of their trainers for every workout.

Now, to start, I can see this being prudent, and I hope I will prove I am not a danger to myself and be allowed to drop by and workout. But, if not, my new home gym is almost ready.

So, I accept this. I even try to see the nice staff person’s small gestures to my elbow as I step on and off the fancy scale as kindness. She does not know me, so she has to be cautious. But it would be a delicious story if I fell off a scale. And hurt myself. At the hospital.

Which reminds me of the time I fell down the stairs at the hospital, but that’s another story. You can read that story here.

Then, they took my heart rate and my blood pressure. Both were really high and would not come down.

Part of that might have been because I did not know they were in the basement, and even when I made it to the basement, they were tucked in a corner that had me walking around the whole building for a while. Then I got myself worked up when my anxiety was already doing overtime– I’m thinking a lot about how I’m going to heat the house this winter, what my next strategy will be for maintaining the publishing company’s income, and facing the holidays, a time of year when I typically feel the absence of my family.

So today I started taking my beta blocker again as I initiated my Clever Fox fitness journal. I filled out all the spaces regarding measurements, goals and trackers. Maybe it will force me to be introspective and keep track of my own behavior.

And meanwhile, I have taken Bean Dog for several walks this week. Our first was on last week, and it lasted less than five minutes. We walked halfway up our block and back, just to see how she behaved for me and if she would walk with me and leave Eva behind. The second walk was straight down our street almost 1.5 blocks and straight back, for a total of nine minutes.

Yesterday we walked around the whole block, which took 12 minutes, but about 8 minutes in, Bean spotted our neighbor’s pitty jumping at the fence literally within view of our house and I was afraid to try to get her home. In trying to grab her heel-level handle, I scraped my knuckles on the asphalt and decided to just sit there and wait for Eva to rescue us or for the dog to calm herself.

Today we walked two full blocks (15 minutes) after Eva trained me to use a hands-free leash with a bungee-style lead to absorb some of the force. Eva hooked it to the traditional leash so if she started to react badly I could brace my body weight and use more of my power to balance the dog, and then regain my control by taking the traditional leash back.

We have not had to do that, but it’s good practice and good exercise for both of us.

PS– I return to the medical fitness center tomorrow to resume my intake testing.

Energized

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

I’m energized in a way I haven’t been for a long time. And hopeful.

And once again I find myself greater for a strong, smart medical team that genuinely listens and cares.

It’s been a while since I had a medical update, and part of the reason for that is because of my high deductible medical plan that makes it more expensive to receive care. I am a big proponent of high deductible plans– because with an HSA they can save a lot of money, but I do not have an HSA. My current plan has out-of-pocket costs that are twice that of my previous plan. I’ll be paying $120 a month for the next two years to pay off my MRI from earlier this year.

And you haven’t seen any fitness entries because I haven’t worked out in a very long time. My coach at Apex Training took a hiatus for a family emergency and has not returned, and I no longer have the money. I have a feeling the guys at my gym would offer me some sort of deal– they have always been reasonable people, but life is so uncertain I just didn’t have it in me.

And food has also been an issue. As my food budget is also highly restricted.

These realities, especially for someone proud and stubborn like myself, are a constant reminder that it is not easy to be poor and take care of yourself, even without factoring in a disability. I believe having a mobility disability, which in my case is diplegia spastic cerebral palsy, makes me more away of how important diet and exercise are.

We all hear it all the time– that all of the body’s systems work together and that food, rest, and exercise provide the foundation and potential to fix a lot of problems. And in my case it’s easy to see the impact. It’s been about six months since I stopped working out, and my spasticity has reached a new level of inconvenience. I have spent much of my life in jobs that did not involve sitting behind a desk, and that, coupled with the lack of gym routine, has taught my muscles that we sit. And when my muscles learned something, they remember.

I need to start healthier routines. Eva is remodeling our garage and will move all of our weights, resistance bands and other equipment out there. And I am walking more. I get what I consider reasonable step counts about three times a week. I might even start walking the dog.

But about two weeks ago, I had my second episode of crippling muscle spasms after a day of walking. And I walked with a cane for a day. That also drove the reality home. I have never used a cane before.

In the midst of all of this, once I realized how out-of-shape and out-of-breath I was, I scheduled an appointment with my neurologist/physiatrist. This was a couple months ago and she couldn’t see me until Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. But they put me on a cancellation list and moved me to November 6.

My doctor arrived and immediately called me stylish, not knowing I picked my clothes to keep my weight the lightest possible and when she noticed my red boots, I had to let her know that they were on the floor next to my desk and I didn’t have it in me to look for other shoes. (But later in the visit, she acknowledged how my choice of boots also makes walking easier and the ankle height of the boot gives me more support. All part of why I love boots!)

She also commented about how long my hair has gotten, at which point I had to remind her that we hadn’t seen each other in more than a year. “Really?!?” she said. I nodded. (We set up another appointment for April so that doesn’t happen again.)

She gave me an exam and noted all my muscle tightness and had me walk around the office for her. And we talked about my hopes to improve my habits– because I know my role in my situation accounts for most of my everyday problems.

(And my cardiologist never got back to me about going off my beta blocker, but I did stop taking it. I have seen more incidents of high heart rate, but nothing significant or repeated, and most of it can be explained by diet or exercise. Eat a Little Caesars pizza? End up with a racing heartbeat. Do short stints of rapid walking? Also high heart rate.)

She suggested I resume taking my baclofen regularly and to up the dose to 10 mg if needed, up to 3 times per day. I took it regularly while working in the warehouse and have been taking it now when I feel I “need” to.

As she made a written note of all my lower body muscle issues, she asked if I might be interested in an ambulatory referral to a medical fitness exercise specialist at St. Luke’s Anderson Fitness & Sports Performance Center. “Sure,” I said.

They called me while I was driving home.

And when I learned it was $99 for the three-month fitness program and that insurance might even pay it, I really was glad I decided to go see my doctor. I made an appointment for intake evaluation on Monday and maybe soon I’ll be using my Clever Fox Fitness journal.

This is what the website says:

Medically-based exercise programs for those with a chronic disease and / or disability. Designed to increase exercise tolerance and enhance functional capacity. For all ages.
Join us and get ready to THRIVE!
$99 three-month fitness memberships are available to all patients and clients referred from St. Luke’s Weight Management, Physical Therapy at St. Luke’s, St. Luke’s Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, St. Luke’s Physicians and St. Luke’s Oncology.

https://www.slhn.org/fitness/fitness

Day 3: Rhode Island to Rare Books

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

This weekend was indeed the three-day whirlwind tour. What started as an exploration of the Museum of printing ended up covering at least six states (not including our home state of Pennsylvania), a plethora of bookstores, a variety of art, rare books, a lexicographer’s grave, and a wild ride down memory lane.

And I have not even had the opportunity to sort my thoughts and keep up with my blogging because the internet was soooooo bad in our hotel last night (even though I paid for “enhanced wifi”). It kept kicking me off like it was 1999 and I was using a dial-up modem.

And now it’s Monday morning, not quite 7 a.m. and I am trying to get myself organized. But first, I get a shall talk about Sunday.

The plan was to get up, find internet, have breakfast, and go on a Waltham Massachusetts Volkssport walk at 10 a.m. when we could access the walk box. The wrinkle came when the temperature dropped to 30 degrees with no chance of the sun warming things up until late in the day. And we did not bring coats.

Gayle at least brought a sweatshirt. I brought t-shirts and my paisley sportscoat.

With the time change, we checked out of the hotel by 6:20 a.m.

We then ended up in Attleboro, Massachusetts and neighboring Pawtucket, Rhode Island at 7:20 a.m. It’s not easy to find a breakfast spot open at sunrise on a Sunday morning. So we visited the local Market Basket– and the place was mobbed, with baggers and everything. They opened at 7:20 and people were already pouring out of the place with full carts at 7:20! They had more registers open than a Wegmans the week before Thanksgiving!

In the parking lot of the grocery store, which sat in a grocery plaza looped into the commuter rail station, we plotted our next move. Honey Dew Donuts. Apparently, a Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire chain with some super nice doughnuts, solid coffee and bagels that resemble rolls but have phenomenal flavor. And Gayle had hot apple cider. Because Autumn. In New England.

After our egg sandwiches in Rhode Island we drove another two hours to the TA in Brandford, Connecticut. While there, Gayle managed to find a reference to a nearby Gutenberg Bible– because where else do you find info on a prestigious, historical Bible but in a truck stop. But the library where the Bible lived did not open until noon.

It was about 9:45. The map indicated that the area we had stopped in was close to The Thimble Islands and a google search showed a variety of picturesque parks. I picked one with some rail relics and off we went. Except Google took us to the top of one of the rail trestles or something, not the nearby walking path.

But we did see some amazing views of the water. Gayle suggested we get back on the road and forget the Bible. But how could we be that close and not see the Bible? I clicked another nearby park and somehow ended up in adorable Stony Creek, Connecticut. We walked around the very busy village, seeing families and dogs and boats and the view of the Thimble Islands.

Now, remember: We’re just a couple of nerds hanging out waiting to see a Bible.

We get back in the car at almost 11, and this is where I learn that the Bible is at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven.

And we could certainly arrive on the Yale campus a little early and poke around. We found a parking space very easily, and New Haven does not enforce parking meters on Sunday, so we got parked and realized we were near a cemetery. The cemetery had some lovely type that attracted Gayle’s eye so we went in and discovered that it was the cemetery that featured Eli Whitney’s grave. And Gayle and I both knew that we should remember who that was. Luckily the brochure reminded us that it was the inventor of the cotton gin. And if I remember correctly, the cotton gin spurred the Industrial Revolution.

Gayle and I decide to explore Grove Street Cemetery and on our way to find Eli I spot Noah Webster. I double check and sure enough he’s the Noah Webster of the dictionary.

And then we visit the Beinecke Library… Which the revolving door seals up with a cover so you can’t even see the front door when the library is closed.

Day 2: Breakfast in Salem (New Hampshire), Musuem of Printing and Lowell, Massachusetts

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Checking out of our lovely Doubletree hotel (goodbye cookies!), Gayle and I headed to Sammy J’s Luncheonette for breakfast. Gayle made a comment about the proximity of the state line, not realizing it was so close. So I decided to take her to the next state– less than six miles away– for breakfast.

I knew it was a good choice when we arrived and had to circle around the building to find a parking space. And we found ourselves in a weird dumpy area, next to a fire station and what looked like an empty grocery store. There was a back door to the restaurant that asked customers to please not wear cleats in the restaurant.

I think we found the local spot where all the boomer men eat, which is surely the sign of a good diner. I had a kielbasa and cheddar omelette with baked beans and marble rye toast. Gayle had cranberry walnut pancakes.

After we finished eating, we put gas in the car and the GPS took us a lovely back route to the museum. We arrived in Haverhill about forty minutes before the Museum of Printing opened. Gayle suggested perhaps we could go early, park the car and walk the town. I pointed out that I didn’t believe the museum was in a town.

And sure enough, the museum was in a residential neighborhood, wooded, on narrow, badly aged one-lane streets. So we went to a shopping plaza about 1/3 of a mile away. It had a Marshall’s and I’ve been trying to use a gift card that Little Dog’s Mom gave me for my birthday.

At 9:25 a.m., we turned up on the doorstep of Marshall’s. And they open at 9:30. We waited– and here’s the kicker– a crowd assembled with us. TO GO TO MARSHALL’S. That killed fifteen minutes. And I got some cool stuff: coffee, syrup, candy and PINK NAIL POLISH.

We got into the car a little before 9:50 a.m. and drove back to the museum.

And there, my friends, let me tell you, the folks at the Museum of Printing can REALLY pack stuff in. The museum is relatively small but has just everything in it. The story the museum tells covers so many different aspects of printing. I’ll be writing more about that over at the Parisian Phoenix blog.

Then we stopped at Andover Bookstore, and Andover was cute and at the tail end of a scarecrow festival. The town was quaint but also a bit boring.

Next we visited Lowell, which I’m fairly certain is my great-grandmother’s birthplace. I actually downloaded a new parking app for Lowell. It has a rich history as a transportation center, canals and trains and all that jazz. Once we parked the car we noticed a sign, “Mochinut: More than Just a Donut.” I asked Gayle, “Can we go see what that is?”

And after we ordered some mochinuts (which we tasted after dinner and the ‘classic’ tasted like funnel cake) and a brown sugar thai tea with pudding and boba, we found an art store (a good one) and then we meandered to lala books where E.H. Jacobs is having a book event next week. Very cool store. Had small town vibes in a very urban space. And I bought some local books.

At that point we came to our hotel to find a charming desk clerk. She asked if either of us had pets with us. I answered, “Just my hair.”

We’re at an Extended Stay America. The dishwasher has a swamp in the bottom of it, the sink drips and the internet keeps dropping even though I paid extra for the “enhanced” wifi because I couldn’t get on the internet at all and had no cellular service. I even got to call tech support!

That’s when we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant, Gayle found it and told me to order a margarita. The host was from Macungie. We started chitchatting when I asked if he had a t-shirt with the same phrase as the neon in the doorway: eat tacos, drink tequila, have fun.

And all I need to say about that is that the cocktail I had included cassis, rhubarb bitters, maple syrup and fig and was beyond delectable. And they had this enormous appetizer of Brussel sprouts. It was sweet, savory and just yummy.