The Eyes Have It

This is one of those little-bit-of-this-and-that columns. On Monday, I'm having cataract surgery on my right eye. This will be followed two weeks later by the left eye. I flunked an eye exam last fall, so it's surgery for me. This delights my daughter, Sarah, the ocular diagnostician, because she tells me I'll see better soon, and probably without needing spectacles. (Down time is s'pozed to be brief, so I'll soon be back trying to help Ammon and Addie Hancock get out of Mexico before the Pancho Villa-types make it even more difficult. I had to hang four gringo cowboys two days ago, and I didn't much enjoy that.)

I think I'm a pretty good patient, but how would I know? My last surgery happened when I was four years old and had my tonsils and adenoids removed. I suppose I can count the event in 2002 where I broke my arm and the doc put me out, because he wasn't sure if I needed to be sliced and pinned. Turns out he was able to line up everything again, so it wasn't too bad.

The tough part about this means I have to stay out of the pool for a week. Water aerobics is not only good exercise; it is also my source of all knowledge here in Carbon County.  No, no, not necessarily gossip. I've only lived here 3 1/2 years, so whenever I have a county-related question, I know I can ask it in the pool and someone will have an answer. Hasn't failed yet.

I did an amazingly extravagant thing after Christmas, and it came in the mail yesterday. A month ago, my daughter Liz shared her history of perfume book with me. We discovered that - supposedly - the oldest actual brand-name perfume that is still in production is something called Jicky, by Guerlain. It came to life in 1889, and was/is popular with Cary Grant and Sean Connery. Yes, a guy fragrance at first, but it became a favorite with the ladies.

It's not cheap, and I'm cheap, so I had no plans to buy any. Then my sons each Amazoned me for Christmas. "Why not?" I asked myself, so I ordered a bottle of the spray cologne. It came yesterday, and me oh my, it is an original scent - mild with overtones of lavender. I've even figured out how I can work a reference to Jicky into the Mexican Revolution novel I'm writing now. Whether I do or not remains to be seen. I've certainly never done any product placement in a novel before.

Oh, those of you who are buying Miss Whittier Makes a List as an ebook - thanks! It's doing pretty well.

One more tidbit, then it's back to Chapter Fourteen. There is a most intriguing website called Shorpy.com that I have to mention. My friend Steve Patterson told me about it, and I'm hooked. It's a random series of old photos - they seem to range from the Civil War era to the 1970s - which have/can be enlarged to show amazing detail. People's comment are equally entertaining. Take a look; you might get hooked, too.