A new world of sound

Ring the bells! Bang the drums! Clash the cymbals! Let the music begin. I have new hearing aids! They’re half the size and half the weight of the ones I’ve had forever—and the tone is so much better. I spent most of the morning in the audiologist’s office learning how to use them. One huge benefit--I can now talk on the phone while my cell phone is lying on my desk. I don’t have to hold it up to my ear.

One thing I’ve learned with my medical troubles of late is that assistants in medical offices tend to chatter way too fast and talk way too softly. I’m hoping the new ears will mean I don’t have to keep saying, “Whoa! Slow down!” I’m so tired of saying, “Pardon me. Would you repeat that—slowly.”

I also expect these new aids to allow me to enjoy music more, especially church music. Hope to try it out on Sunday.

Other than that lengthy appointment, today was a work day, and I made good progress on the Alamo book. But last night I had one of the best dinners I’ve had in a long time. Betty, Jean, and I went to Paris Seventh, a spin-off of Saint Emilion, the fanciest French restaurant in town (maybe the only upscale French one). At Paris Seventh they offer a bistro menu on Tuesday and Wednesday nights if you have a reservation and get there before 6:45. The cost for three courses is $30 including tip but not wine.

I try to remember to watch the menu, because it changes every week. This week, the three courses were cream of mushroom soup, salmon en croute, and crème brulee. There’s a lot of cream and richness in those dishes. I ate all the soup but could only manage half the salmon, which was in a rich cream sauce with a bit of spinach. Absolutely delicious, but so filling. I brought half the salmon home but enjoyed the crème brulee which was lighter than many versions.

Had the leftover salmon tonight. Still good, but not as good as when it was fresh, hot, and finished with that good sauce.

Service was courtly if a bit slow—everyone seems to hit the restaurant at the same time to take advantage of the bistro menu. But I will continue to watch for the weekly menu and go back for the bistro dinner. Great experience.

But there was restaurant chatter. I need to go back with my super-sensitive aids which constantly check and adjust for the environment. So excited to hear the world again.

A nice if uneventful day

Fridays are the days Jordan and I go to the grocery and do other errands. For several reasons, today was more fun than usual though it started out with a frustrating errand. We had a bunch of prescription drugs, left mostly from my surgery, and some of them controlled substances. Jordan packaged them all up, took them to a fire station and was told they didn’t take them. So she went to a local police station—they didn’t take them but gave her the central police address on Belknap.

And that’s where we went this morning. Found a great parking space, but I was a little taken aback when she got out of the car and announced, too loudly, that she had to go around the car to get the drugs. I had a vision of her being mugged before she got inside. Turns out they don’t take them either and gave her an address on the North Side. Fortunately, there is a drug turn-in at several locations tomorrow, and so she’ll do that. Frustrating though when you try to be a good citizen and it’s so difficult. Wish the powers-that-be would just get their act together and settle on one place to turn in such things.

Then we went to the relatively new Tom Thumb near downtown. I really like this one—aisles are wide enough that I drive the motorized cart without fear of crashing into dumps, vegetables and meat are fresh, aisles are clearly labelled. I didn’t seem to have as much to get as usual, so we sort of whizzed through there.

And went to Eatzi’s. If you’re not from Texas, you may not know about these stores. The one in Fort Worth is new, but I had been years ago to the one in Dallas, which I found overwhelming. A friend said tonight the one in Houston is even bigger. But our local one is a good size—I felt like I could easily get around, even on my walker, and see everything. It’s all prepared, take-out food—great for happy hour entertaining or a last-minute supper, much of it upscale gourmet stuff. We ended up with green chile pimiento cheese (superb), Thai beef salad, and, for me, a salmon croquette. I suggested some night when there was no dinner plan, we should go get the twice-baked potatoes—huge and yummy looking!

Tonight, a group of moms of eleven-year-olds turned up in the cottage, wine glasses in hand, and we had a great visit—one of them was a girl Jordan went to grade school with that I don’t see often. And a couple of dads joined us briefly. After they left, I sautéed some Dover sole—love the delicate taste of that fish, but I’ll be darned if I can get it out of the pan without sticking. Result was that my dinner was delicious (added fresh green beans) but the meat looked like fish hash. Win some, lose some.

A good day.