Cliff jumper, South Point, Na'alehu, Big Island - Monday, March 10, 2025

Cliff jumper, South Point, Na'alehu, Big Island - Monday, March 10, 2025
Cliff jumper, South Point, Na'alehu, Big Island - Monday, March 10, 2025
Showing posts with label SAMRA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SAMRA. Show all posts

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Bob's Consultation and a Movie Review - Sun., Aug. 7, 2016

On Friday, Bob met with the neck surgeon and the plastic surgeon. They prodded and poked his wound so they would have an idea of what surgery is needed next.

The neck surgeon said he will have to remove part of the muscle that controls the shrug response. They will have to carefully keep nerves out of the way.

When Bob had his surgery on Wednesday, the doctor's office did not give him any post-surgical instructions. Bob had me change his gauze dressing a couple of times, but we didn't do anything special. The wound is huge - about 4 inches across and two inches tall, plus it is over 1/2" deep. He wanted me to take a photo of it to share with family. I told him no.

Sunday morning Bob woke up telling me he had a headache. Bob NEVER gets headaches. I told him he needed to call his Mohs surgeon to make sure everything was okay. He wasn't going to call the doctor.

However, when he went to take his shower, the gauze pad was stuck in his neck wound and he couldn't get it out. I told him to take his shower and let the water run on the wound and it would probably come off. Wrong.

While he was in the shower, he asked me to cut off as much of the bandage as I could because it was waterlogged and heavy and was pulling on his wound. When I tried to cut the bandage, the scissors pulled on the bandage and he let out a scream. Apparently the bandage was stuck onto a nerve; the nerve that goes into his head and is causing the headache. I got sharper scissors and was able to cut the bandage off.

When he got out of the shower, I put another bandage over the wound. He called his doctor, but got the answering service. Thankfully his doctor called back quickly.

The doctor told him he needed to get back in the shower and soak the bandage and wound. He also reminded Bob that we should be using Vaseline in the wound and a non-stick bandage. In the shower, Bob was able to pull off the small piece of gauze that was left, but it really hurt him. 

I went to Walgreen's to buy some Vaseline. When I returned, I put Vaseline on a non-stick pad and taped it on his wound. Bob is much better now.

This afternoon, we went to see a movie called "Hunt for the Wilderpeople." What an interesting and good movie. It is about a 13-year-old boy (Ricky Baker) in New Zealand who was lost in the Child Protective Services system, being shuffled from foster home to foster home. Considered a problem child (thievery, graffiti, running away, kicking stuff, and a wannabe gangster), he didn't last long in any home. Finally a couple was willing to take him in. They lived near the bush in New Zealand, far away from a city.

Bella made him feel more at home than anywhere else he had been in his life. He started to feel loved.

When an unexpected tragedy occurred, Ricky ran away into the bush. This movie is about how he ran from Child Protective Services and survived in the bush. You will enjoy the humor and the story as it unfolds.

As we left the theater in the Wonderland of the Americas Mall, the San Antonio Model Railroad Association (SAMRA) members had their display trains running. We spent a few minutes watching the trains go around and looking at the sets they built. We enjoyed that.

Whistle Stop Cafe - SAMRA train display set

SAMRA model trains

There were even a number of camping sets!
As we were leaving the mall, Bob's doctor called back to make sure he was doing okay. That was very thoughtful of him.

Our quiet evening at home consisted of eating dinner, watching 60 Minutes, and HGTV's Beachfront Bargain Hunt, Mexico Life, and Island Hunters. Bob is still having headaches from the exposed nerve in his neck, but at least the bandage isn't sticking to it anymore.

That's all from here. Have a good week.






Saturday, September 15, 2012

Wonderland in San Antonio -- Sat., Sep. 15

"You'll be like Alice. That's a clue," quips Bob, as he kidnaps* me for the day. 
           Hmmmm...Alice? 

"Does that mean we're going to Wonderland?" I ask. 

Bob is silent. Clues are over.
I puzzle over his meaning. But I don't know where he's taking me.

[*Kidnaps = "Kidnap" is written on the calendar by one of us. To us, it means "Save the day because I'm taking you somewhere but not telling you where." The fun begins when the kidnapee tries to figure out where we're going. We've been doing this for years. Sometimes a kidnap is a whole weekend trip.]

So, back to today. We drive west on I-10 and exit the freeway on the west side of San Antonio and end up at...

Wonderland of the Americas is a mall with Ross Dress for Less, Super Target, Cowtown Boots, Stein Mart, a hobby store, Bijou Theater and some other shops. "What on earth is he bringing me here for?" I wonder. We enter and start wandering the mall. Not much to see at first. Up the escalator we went and stumbled into this HO train exhibition. 

San Antonio Model Railroad Association

Bob looking over the layout.
Diorama.
Oh, look, an RVer. Their awning has been hit by something.
 


Pretty cool display with lots of humor in the dioramas. But this wasn't the reason Bob brought me here. Bob was searching for something. What could it be? So we wandered the mall. 

I saw a hobby store and asked to stop in to buy two peacock feathers to use as cat toys. Of course, there were a couple of photo-worthy displays in the store. 



I could have spent a long time in there on photography, but we were on a mission. So with two peacock feathers in tow, we continued our search.

Next we found the Bijou Theater. The movies advertised did not sound familiar to us. We thought maybe they were classics; however, upon reading the movie posters, these were art house movies. Some had won prizes at Sundance 2012. Definitely not classics. We saw the poster for "Arbitrage" with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. There was a write up by Rolling Stone magazine which gave it 4-1/2 stars. The movie sounded pretty darned good. 

While at the Bijou, we saw a flyer for a Rock Art Show & Sale. Aha! I bet that's what we're here for!

Sure enough. We found the empty storefront in the mall that had been converted into the Rock Art Show. The show wasn't huge, but it was interesting. Ron Campbell, who animated 12 minutes of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie, was in the art show doing some painting. He was the guy who animated the Blue Meanies in the movie. I LOVE that movie! He also animated the Saturday Morning Beatles Cartoons.




Here's some other art from the show... (Sorry for all the reflections. Lighting wasn't the best in the space.)


Poster for a Grateful Dead concert.
 

Lyrics to Aerosmith's "Living on the Edge."
Dave Matthews Band Summer Tour poster
From Jon Anderson of Yes.  He started out to paint flowers, but said hummingbirds kept showing up. My favorite piece in the show.
Jon Anderson of Yes painted this watercolor.
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top created this for a Rock 'n' Roll cookbook.

Hand bill for a U2 concert in Dallas, Texas

What a fun show! Most of this art had little notes attached explaining what the artist intended or giving the inspiration for the piece. 

After we finished looking around at the Rock Art Show & Sale, we decided to have dinner in the food court after we dropped the peacock feathers off at the car. We shared a grilled chicken salad. While we were eating, Mariachi Alma del Sol serenaded everyone in the food court. They were excellent. Not only did they play, they sang and did little choreographed routines. If you are ever in need of a Mariachi band in San Antonio, you can call them at 210-378-9424. We can vouch for them. Superb!




The movie Arbitrage sounded so good, we decided to see it. The Bijou Theater is an upscale theater that sells food at the beginning of the movie. Each row has a large aisle with a table down the middle of it for your food and servers deliver the food to your seat. They also serve alcohol. The Bijou is a definite find. We'll be going back to have dinner with our movie.

Arbitrage was very well done. The movie followed billionaire Robert Miller (Richard Gere) and his wife (Susan Sarandon) through his life as an investment banker. Richard Gere does not play an ethical man. If you prefer light drama or comedy, this movie would not be for you. Bob and I give it two thumbs up. Beware because there is swearing, and there are decidedly adult themes, so no young kids to see this one. 

Bob, you da man! Today was awesome. Thank you, honey. Let's do it again soon.

Here's a couple of pics of the fur kids from this morning.
Bowie
Bowie and Sunnie.
Travel Bug out.