Upcoming Birthday

November 5th is my official birthday.  It's probably not my true birthday since I was adopted and didn't come with any paperwork.  So in theory, it will be 55 revolutions for my time here on Earth.

For Age 50, I managed to make it to Macchu Picchu.  This year I'll just have to be satisfied with my new 3 bedroom 2 bath condo.

Weather has been beautiful these past two months with only one really rainy day and 3 chilly ones.
Gone on a couple of short hikes and went to the local Audubon's annual chili dinner.  Bought the guidebook A Year across Maryland: A Week-by-Week Guide to Discovering Nature in the Chesapeake Region for more inspiration.

Caught L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Peabody October 28th and the Chamber Ensemble will be playing Brandenburg #3, Dvorak's Romantic Pieces, op. 75, Villa Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras #5 and Brahms String Sextet #2 in G Major, op. 36 on my birthday.  So we'll be going to that.

Music and More

Caught two more Peabody Conservatory Concerts

9/28/13

Chen Zhangyi (b.1984)
Raintree: Breeze, Rain, Leaves. Winning work in the Macht Orchestral Composition Competition.

Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936)
Saxophone Concerto in E Flat Major, Op. 109

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Symphony #5 in E minor, Op. 64
------------------------------------------
10/4/13

Chen Yi (b. 1953)
Celebration

Max Bruch (1838-1920)
Violin Concerto #1 in G minor, Op. 26

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony #1 in E minor, Op. 39
------------------------------------------
Add a Traditional Irish Music Session and Folkdancing this week.

Getting some culture.  Now just have to finish some projects around the home so I can dust off the cello...

Concerts

Having moved to the Baltimore region this past month, we have been checking out new classical concert venues.  Baltimore Symphony Orchestra opened its season with a sampler program.  We liked the rendition of Holst's "Jupiter" the best and the pop "Lost In Syndication" arranged by Jack Everly,  a medley of science fiction music  (Twilight Zone, X-Files, The Jetsons, et. al), was fun.

Peabody had a wonderful free and open to the public Master Class "The Art of the Countertenor” with internationally acclaimed singer/director Drew Minter last night. Drew Minter was humorous and insightful. Three countertenors were featured over two hours and there was live harpsichord accompaniment.  The Korean student was extreme.

Unfortunately, I have lost the programs for both of these events.  I'll try to be better about posting them so I don't forget what I have heard!
...
Found program from "The Art of the Countertenor".
"Tis Nature's Voice" Ode to St. Cecilia Z 328 - Purcell (1659-1695)
"Vivi, tiranno" Rodelinda HWV19 - Handel (1685-1759)
"Mi palpiti il cor" HWV132 - Handel

It's September

Lots of changes here.

First, doctor finally gave okay for me to use my right hand to lift things again...just in time for The Move. My husband decided to retire July 31st so we had to find a place to keep all his stuff. For example there were 700 pounds of compact discs.  Couldn't convince him that they could all go on a nice portable hard drive and be there for him anywhere in the world.  His sister found us a 3/2 condo near her home.  Big upgrade for us since we lived in a 1/1 apt for over 30 years.

Haven't played the cello since the broken wrist.  Classes again this Fall.  About 5 more to go to finish my Master's.  Doing reciprocal language lessons with a friend.  I'm learning Hebrew while helping him with reading Chinese.  Also, my Chinese study group is still chugging along -- we're finishing up the story "Lady in the Painting" and working our way slowly through the New Chinese Practice Reader, Volume 3.

Going on two weeks in our new home. It came furnished and still learning strange things about it.  The electrician this week showed us how the fans operate via a little lever by the light switch and how the long-life flourescent bulbs shouldn't be used with that type of switch.

Getting back into bird watching.  Posting my photos on my other blog: travelgalitz.wordpress.com.

Day 73

Measured flexibility from 2/20 to 3/8 - backwards gain of 15 degrees, forward gain of 20 degrees.

Day 55

Followup with Doctor today. I can stop going to the hand therapy clinic and just do the exercises at home now.  X rays show bones have not knitted yet.  Doctors says my blood work shows low Vitamin D so will have to take mega supplements (50,000 mg) for a month. Low Vitamin D may be the reason why the bones are being slow about healing.  I'm not to lift anything over 5 pounds.

Therapy Progress Note

	Before therapy	After 1 month	Normal (left hand)
Grip Strength	6	15	50
Lateral Pinch	4	7	14
3 Jaw Chuck	2	6	15
Tip to tip	2	6	8
Flex	10 degrees	40 degrees	90 degrees
Extension	20 degrees	50 degrees
Sup	30 degrees	70 degrees
Pronation	70 degrees	80 degrees

Day 45

Third week of hand therapy.  Feels slow going but they say I'm doing great.  Finally able to put the right hand into a pushed prayer position without too much trouble.  Backward bend without pressure to about 45 degrees.  Not doing as well on the forward bend -- maybe 15 degrees.  I can pickup the 5 pound weight but not the 8 pounder.

Day 34 - Attempt to Drive

We have a manual transmission car so I hadn't tried driving with the broken right wrist.  Decided to give it a try today.  Couldn't turn the key in the ignition. Well left hand can do that.  Shift to first manageable.  Shift to backup not manageable.  Well left hand can do that. Other gears were okay.  Progress.

Tried a listerine poultice the other day to reduce swelling.  It seemed to work but was a bit rough on the palm of the hand.  Don't think I'll do it every night.  And I'll try to avoid getting the liquid on the palm of the hand in the future.

Progress

Distal Radius Fracture - Broken right wrist progress report

• Day 16 - Stitches out, splint given. Uncomfortable. 
• Day 23 - Change doctors, splint removed. Not needed according to new doctor. 
• Day 26 - Able to write again. Start hand therapy 
• Day 27 - Able to lift spoon to eat.
• Day 28 - More hand therapy. Massage to unfreeze wrist bones.
• Day 29 - Able to comb hair.
  
  Therapist thinks I might be almost normal in a month. Hooray.
  
  However, opening jars and lifting heavy objects will take longer.
  
  Found out that I laugh when in pain during therapy. Laughter is supposed to be good for upping the pain threshold and for releasing endorphins.

Off Games

For winter break Earl and I went to London to see the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Tate Britain. We arrived on Xmas Day and checked into our B&B and took a nap. Then took a walk to the local 15th century church. It had rained earlier and the stones were wet. Fell down and fractured my right wrist (distal radius). Luckily, ER wasn't busy and they were able to take me right away, admit me and took me to the "theatre" the next day for surgery. At least it was the first day of the vacation and I was in the hospital for Xmas and Boxing Day which were "chill" days anyway in our schedule. The situation was fortuitous for what happened as it didn't affect my ability to fly home as airlines don't like to take people who have had surgery within 3 days of a flight or people who have had surgery below the waist. I had already planned on taking a break from FSU for a term but now had to cancel chamber music class as well. No cello for at least 3 months for me.

Last Quarter News

Had a terribly busy 4th Quarter for 2012. Chamber Music Class tried to do Suk's Meditation on Wenceslas. Here's a good version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBALLlTrzUc. I didn't take a video of our performance. Cellos were doubled and a bass was added in our group. Since the high notes on the cello were hit or miss, the other cellist played it solo so we wouldn't be quite so obviously out of tune. My FSU class in Information Needs for Young Adults was the hardest course (in terms of work) I have taken so far. It required reading 11 books, writing a 10 page term paper comparing two books(I did mine on Persepolis vs. Tina's Mouth), a book talk, compiling a poetry anthology and group project of creating a week's worth of lesson plans surrounding the book "Swamplandia".