Sunday in CinCity. The Fall Arrives! Edition

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The Fall Almost Nobody Sees


by David Budbill



Everybody's gone away.

They think there's nothing left to see.

The garish colors' flashy show is over.

Now those of us who stay

hunker down in sweet silence,

blessed emptiness among



red-orange shadblow

purple-red blueberry

copper-brown beech

gold tamarack, a few

remaining pale yellow

popple leaves,

sedge and fern in shades

from beige to darkening red

to brown to almost black,

and all this in front of, below,

among blue-green spruce and fir

and white pine,



all of it under gray skies,

chill air, all of us waiting

in the somber dank and rain,

waiting here in quiet, chill

November,

waiting for the snow.


Well, I don't know what the hell I've been doing for the past month or so. I obviously wasn't here. Biggest change other than the temperature is that we've gone completely to electronic/computerized charting at BigFatTeaching Hospital and I have pretty much lost my mind. It has been a struggle and rightfully, I don't want to see or touch a computer once I'm home. And a miracle that I haven't taken a sledge hammer to it just for being distantly related.

Yes, I'm a bitter bitch.

Hubby and I have been walking a lot. Five miles at Spring Grove Cemetery on my days off. I may have mentioned once or twenty times that my cholesterol and lipid levels are out of whack. Have tried multiple medications which have not taken kindly to me. So, I'm amping up on the exercise and cutting down on the CoffeeMate. That was before EPIC charting came our way. Now it's coffee and whatever transfatty food is available in the break room. I either have massive gastritis or a dissecting aortic aneurysm. Doesn't matter as long as I don't have to chart it. People say it gets better, but they might be the walking dead; it's hard to tell the difference these days.

We're leaving in about 45 minutes to take a long walk up to the university to see the POTUS at one of his last stumps in the heart of it all. Hubby, who "voted my conscience" and voted third party, is going with me. That's the real love of old married folks.

Much love to all of you and remember...only 54 hours till the end of the political ads...! Hang tough!

Comments

  1. Mary EllenNovember 4, 2012 at 11:03 AM

    Empathy on the bodily struggles - me too! I'm so very much yearning for the end of the political season, but heartsick too at the thought that folks consumed with fear will clamp down on others' freedoms (a marriage amendment proposed in our state). Makes me weep. But - history wends its way, slow and winding, and I trust in the lasting goodness and sense that humans have as our potential.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RudeeNovember 4, 2012 at 12:09 PM

    EMR is tough on everyone. Our last hospital to do so, went live last week and the place was a zoo with staff new to the EMR partnered with Super Users, who really only had little more training the the newbies. I was so thankful to leave that place!

    It does get better. It takes time. I think it's difficult to stay on top of charting in a dynamic setting like the ICU, and at first will take you away from patient care, but better it will get. I promise.

    Enjoy your walk, and please, I want to hear how the stump speech went.

    ReplyDelete
  3. NanceNovember 5, 2012 at 7:27 AM

    I went to see POTUS in Cleveland on 10/25 at Burke Lakefront Airport when he flew in on Air Force One, right up to the speakers' platform, practically. It was the last golden, warm day of Autumn. This election has been rough on us in OH--I think the ads started about 18 months ago--and let's hope it is Really Over on Tuesday night. My fear is that the Buckeye State holds things up for awhile, thanks to so much dickering around by electioneering from the Sec'y of State. Of course, there's always Florida, too, where I understand the gov is playing things pretty fast and loose.

    Keep your fingers crossed that things stay above board. Eat some oatmeal, keep on walking, and don't let the system get you down.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SilverLiningGirlNovember 5, 2012 at 7:33 AM

    I'm so glad you're back; and good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownNovember 6, 2012 at 12:13 AM

    Hi! Great site! I'm trying to find an email address to contact you on to ask if you would please consider adding a link to my website. I'd really appreciate if you could email me back.

    Thanks and have a great day!

    Aria
    aria.zoesch@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

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Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

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