Thought Wheel

Ann Chiappetta

Annie Shares News V. 2Issue 10

| Filed under blindness Poem Relationships

Annie Shares News Volume 2 Issue 10 October 2023

anniesharesnews@groups.io  Subscribe anniesharesnews+subscribe@groups.io

www.annchiappetta.com  Blog: www.thought-wheel.com

🎃  🍂  🍃

Autumnal greetings!

The most important  announcement is we are now living in Pennsylvania. Western PA cozied up beside Pittsburgh. We found a lovely one level house.  It came equipped with solar panels, three bedrooms, 1.5 baths, laundry, den, picture windows, garage and a beautiful, fenced yard. Not too much to maintain and plenty of living space.

 

I can’t wait to celebrate the holidays here and welcome  visitors who will be able to stay in the guest room.

 

In writing news,  Hope For the Tarnished is being narrated and it is halfway done. My second novel, Imperfections, is scheduled for a spring 2024 release.

 

I am looking forward to winter routines like drinking hot tea, slurping soup and cooking stew in our crock pot. And now I am also a Steelers fan. 😉

 

Here’s to a blessed month. Until next time.

 

The move has inspired  me to write a few poems.  Here’s one I wrote the day we moved from the apartment in New York.

Moving Day

By Ann Chiappetta

An empty room

Where once  life’s evidence  —

the energy and the sound  Saturated

Now Sparseness  joins

echoes. Memory echoes

touch echoes  visual echoes

 

Present yet empty.

 

Medium tan home bottom lined in matching brick. A truck is parked in the drive. A small lawn and peddle walkway in front and flag mounted above garage.  Halloween decorations  and a bench are to the left of the front door.

 

 

Zoom and Zap 🚀

| Filed under assistive technology Relationships

One of the volunteer hats I wear is being a Zoom host and account administrator. I manage the account settings, schedule meetings and  download and distribute the recordings for small nonprofits.  It is a geeky-techie thing and I like it. It allows me to be involved with others and  I feel  like I am giving back to the community.

 

The opportunity to train as a Zoom administrator was a direct result of the pandemic. I couldn’t visit  libraries, schools and civic organizations to present  topics or share in poetry readings. Back then, I felt I needed to learn Zoom if I did not want to fade away from the public eye. I needed to learn Zoom for the organizations I  represented and for the people  I liked and loved to survive while in the clutches of pandemic isolation.

 

The internet saved me from obscurity. I attended Zoom training sessions, presentations and meetings and improved my video and audio presentation skills.  I spent hours recording, deleting and reciting my work and reading biographies. I trolled YouTube for Zoom  tips and memorized short cuts. I increased my knowledge base regarding my assistive technology. I helped other people to improve their skills.

 

It is 2023 and thanks to being a good self-starter and being self-reliant , I am a Zoom administrator for small business and personal accounts. I reached  past my comfort zone and met my goals. I did not overreach and  this is essential to be successful.

 

Here is a poem I wrote about video conferencing platforms.

Zoom and Zap

By Ann Chiappetta

 

Prior to the pandemic

I got zapped with the Zoom app.

Now I zig and zag, click and tap

Interact on the Z

Meetings and webinars

Zoom zooming zoom

Unstable connections

Am I unmuted?

Get the got it button

Waiting for host

Virtual  connections

continue  after the pandemic ends.

☄️

 

podcast on money and relationships 💵

| Filed under blindness Relationships

Sometimes retirement has it’s perks, like being a guest on a blog or podcast, sharing  what it’s like to have been a professional therapist. Check out the Penny Forward podcast focusing on money management and relationships. Shout out to Chris, Mo and Liz for  inviting me.

https://www.pennyforward.com/penny-forward-podcast-money-and-relationships/

 

A DNR for My Dog Guide? 😨🦮

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs pets and people Relationships

Whoa, pups and people, first of all, this is not a shock jock kind of post. It is my attempt to express the feelings and observations during the events of the past three weeks. We are all okay, so it is safe to keep reading.

🦮

Bailey, my 75 lb. yellow lab raised and trained by Guiding Eyes for the Blind, was diagnosed with a tumor in his lung. It was discovered in a routine vet visit and I am so grateful for the  staff veterinarian at Guiding Eyes for  listening to me and ordering the Xray and referring us to Animal Medical Center in New York City for  a CT and needle biopsy confirming the diagnosis.

 

We are now waiting for the surgery date  to remove it. During the examination of the CT scan/biopsy procedure authorization, I read the DNR clause. It said CPR would be administered unless directed otherwise by the owner. Of course I wanted lifesaving procedures to be performed, my dog  is showing very little symptoms and isn’t ready to check out.

 

I stopped, thinking, OH, shoot, a DNR? And it hit me just how serious this was and  how sick my sweet 9.7-year-old lab really is. He showed only a mild cough after playing and slowing down a little when we were out and about. I’m not sure why but  Bailey’s diagnosis brought me back to our Mom’s lung cancer and the mind-numbing period of time during her surgeries and treatments. Because of the consultations and  speaking with medical oncologists during our Mom’s illness, I believe I have a better grasp of Bailey’s chances and risk factors. I am not saying a dog is the same as a person, but I am thinking that Mom’s passing provided insight and strength for me and my husband to be better equipped to handle whatever comes after Bailey’s upcoming surgery and convalescence. Then again, maybe I am saying a life is worth fighting for, human or non-human.  Mom did not differentiate among two or four-footed family, and neither will I.

yellow lab Bailey in our livingroom

 

 

 

 

A Lack of Motivation

| Filed under blogging Poem Relationships Writing Life

Motivation Acrostic

By Ann Chiappetta

Most days it is present

On the days it is absent

Touching   the creativity fails, dispersed

Into me, whispering within, like

Veins packed with  scribbled, microscopic   cells

Alphabet  infused molecules jumbled

Twisting and turning liquid

Impossibly

Overflowing with brain food I’ve

No chance of catching.

 

What can I say? Some writing days are better than others. One good thing that helped me write this poem was being able to end a writing-related  gig I found no longer provided the inspiration I needed to support my writing style.  A pressure has been alleviated and I feel  much better. Being a Pisces is complicated. ♓

 

I learned what I don’t want to write and what type of writing gig  could be more enriching for me.

Remembering Verona 2006 – 2020  🦮

| Filed under Guide dogs pets and people Relationships

 

It’s January, a month of memories.  I look back upon those who have died and I also look forward to keeping them close to my heart through recalling the special times we’ve shared together. My Dad, Bob, and his being a neat freak and a talented carpenter and mechanic and lover of nature. I also recall my mother-in-law, Carol and  the way she loved my kids and feeling blessed I survived her erratic  driving and feeling relieved  I did not have to see  the close calls because I am blind. 😓😱 .

 

Although we lost both my Dad and Carol in successive January  dates, both on the sixteenth of the month, I want to also celebrate the life of another family member, my first guide dog.

 

In  January 2009 I met and trained with my first guide dog, Verona and this post is being written and shared to honor her life. I am fortunate to be part of the Guiding Eyes graduate community and because of it I take part in  occasional grief and bereavement  Zoom meetings.  We share how much our dogs mean to us, the bond  of trust and love and how much they mean to us even after they die. I always feel better after one of these meetings because I spent the time with other handlers who understand the lifetime bond developed with these incredible dogs and the indelible  imprint they have upon our hearts.

 

Here is one of my favorite stories about Verona, a sweet sixty lb. black lab. My husband, Jerry, took over her care and handling once I retired her and submitted my application for a successor dog. She was seven years old and  full of energy but she developed  cysts in her eyes and it began effecting her ability to guide me. One day Jerry took her upstate     during turkey hunting season. She was a great field dog and not a bit gun shy. He set up the blind, telling Verona to lay down. He soon shot the turkey and  got out of the blind, saying “Let’s go get it!” and Verona ran out of the blind and ran for the turkey,  grabbing it’s neck.  He asked her to let go and she did but  kept trying to grab it. After he called me and told me the story, I laughed and   between giggles, said, “Well,  you told her to go get it and she’s a lab, what did you expect?”

 

Verona lived a great life, succumbing to old age in February 2020 at age 14.  I could not have had a better first guide dog and  since  walking our first  route together I haven’t  looked back. Thanks, sweet girl for being able to give me back my independence.

If you want to read more about our adventures, pick up my memoir,

Follow Your Dog a Story of Love and Trust .

 

close up of Black lab with snow sprinkled on her nose and head. She is looking at the camera with large, brown inquisitive eyes.

close up of Black lab with snow on her face

Full Circle 💗

| Filed under blindness Relationships

Full Circle

 

How much do we know about a person?  I consider myself a private person but also a person who believes  sharing a personal success or a  challenge could help someone else. I am sharing the following audio vignette  produced by the Hadley Institute called Insights and Sound Bites and hope it helps you or someone you know struggling with depression or vision loss.

https://hadley.edu/podcasts/insights-sound-bites/i-came-full-circle 

The Tooth about Aging 🪥

| Filed under Guide dogs Relationships

 

Have you ever had the feeling you were forgetting something as you walked out the door? Well, folks, if you haven’t already gotten the hint, once you are past fifty, the forgetting increases and making a mental list isn’t enough.

Case in point: Yesterday I got the text message from the paratransit provider about my confirmed ten-minute window and pick-up time . I put on my  guide dog’s harness, my jacket, slung my bag over my shoulder, and grabbed my support cane and  tromped out the door into the pouring rain with the niggling feeling I’d forgotten something.

 

I soon put it out of my mind as the driver and I talked. We arrived, my dog guiding me from the bus into the office building and into the PT waiting room.

 

It wasn’t until I was halfway done with my routine that the forgotten thing was exposed.

“Where’s your tooth?” asked the physical therapist.

All I could do was take it  as gracefully as I could considering it is a front tooth  that is gone.

“I left it at home,” I said.

 

 

by Ann Chiappetta | tags : | 0

Upstate Adventures 🐻🌲

| Filed under blindness pets and people Relationships writing

 

Hello from Windham and Hunter Mountains, Green and Ulster counties, NY, home of the New York Catskills and summer wildlife. Bear and deer and black flies, oh my!

🐻  🦌  🌄

It took us almost as long to pack for the trip Like we were moving out. In a way we were moving out, at least temporarily.

 

Let me explain.  Remember hurricane Ida in the Fall of 2021? We sustained water damage to our entire apartment. In fact, all the apartments on the ground floor and the lobby area took on six inches or more of flood water.  Our lobby was completely under over four feet of it. me we all had to first wait for the insurance and FEMA funding to come through, then wait for a move out date.  Since we own cats and dogs, this meant finding a location for two weeks that was not going to mean living in one room together like in a hotel. and the most important part of it was also packing up everything to be stored in a pod while the work is being done. Oh, and to add a cherry atop this shit show of bad timing, there is also asbestos abatement along with the replacing the floors from the old glue used on the original flooring being removed.  We didn’t know about that one. Now it is a concern and rightly so. It is also bad timing.

 

A powerful wave of flood water slamming open your front door and engulfing your apartment is traumatic enough but the asbestos thing is just, like, really shitty. It will delay things a bit more for the installation of the new floors and moving back in again when we return.

 

We are fortunate to be able to make the bad timing and all the packing work to our advantage.  we deserve some respite after so much upheaval. The stress exhausted us. If Jerry and April weren’t there helping me, guiding me around all the boxes,  extra workers, and taking charge of the packing prior to the work, I’d never manage it alone. This is our family and I am proud of us.

 

View from bridge spanning Windham nountain looking out into the valley below.

The wildlife is active. The variety of animals eating the apple tree in the adjoining yard included rabbits, a wood chuck, and two black bears, we think a mother and older cub based on size and attitude.

 

 

a large black bear and a small black bear beside an apple tree in West Kill NY

 

 

May the Bone Hoarder Chronicles

| Filed under nonfiction Relationships

It was a stressful day. I visited my dentist and underwent an extraction, one of many in preparation for implants. It wasn’t as horrible as anticipated, though I will admit I do get anxious whenever my trusted dental expert schedules to remove something I’ve grown up with and have learned to depend upon like a front tooth.   Needless to say today   some comedic relief would have been wonderful, and with this in mind, here’s the story:

 

I was going back to the kitchen to refill my drink with ice and Jerry was preparing dinner. He turned to me, then looked down and exclaimed,

“Hey, where’s the other ear of corn?” and before I could say anything, he bolted past me and found the stolen item beside another bone on the dog bed in the living room. May was not owning up to it, and) conspicuously nowhere near the crime. She is not only a bone hoarder but also a corn-on-the-cob thief. We’ve caught her before, and one time, it took her three days to finally poop out the cob.

 

I could not hold back and burst out and laughed the gut-busting kind of laugh, complete with tears and belly cramps, followed by giggles and more laughing.

 

May and my hubby gave me the best gift, stress relief!

May on dog bed with bones beside her.This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. May the dog on her bed with her bones

 

 

 

by Ann Chiappetta | tags : | 0