February 27, 2023
What a Difference a Day Makes
Dinah Washington’s version of What a Difference a Day Makes came out in 1959, in the heart of my formative years. I was in the eighth grade then, and hearing it now evokes memories of listening to it on the radio or LP player, at home or my grandmother’s house. There have been many covers of it, but hers is probably the definitive one and the one that comes to my mind whoever is singing when I hear it.
I looked up to see when it was written and who the composer was and was surprised to learn it was originally written and sung in Spanish as Cuando vuelva a tu lado. It was written in 1934 by Maria Grever, the first internationally known female Mexican composer. Born in Mexico of Mexican and Spanish parents, she moved with her father to Seville as a child, studied music in France (one of her teachers was Claude Debussy) and then returned to Mexico where she gained fame in Latin America for her bolero compositions before marrying an oil executive and moving to New York City for the rest of her life. Her musical career continued evolving into work in the film industry for Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox. With more than a thousand songs to her name, she’s an important musical composer whom I’d never heard of.
So why feature this song today? Not very subtle - it feels like there’s been a 180 degree pivot since yesterday. It begins well when I wake up just in time to see my bedmate flashing around the corner on her way to turn up the heat. To quick for me to grab the camera for a quick snap, but then I couldn’t post it anyway.
I lie there for a minute assessing how I feel, and find I like the results. I feel good, actually. I’ve had the best night’s sleep in a week, my head’s clear, my pulse feels regular and totally normal. Good news. A few minutes later I step out of the shower, admire my size twelves, and like what I’m seeing down there too. I can confidently step into and out of the tub without holding on to the wall, and the feet nearly match again. The right one is starting to show attractive bone and vein lines, full of character, no longer smooth and boring like I’ve been treating it with botox.
Rachael’s made herself decent by the time I head out to the living room. We admire the snowy hills together and then discuss the day and the months ahead. She’s still improving, enough so that she’s ready for more of a walk today than just yesterday’s stairwell descent to the basement and back up to the 20th that barely registered a hundred calories on her device. She’s to ready to dine out this evening, but nods with agreement that we should go to Eleni’s for a Greek feast tomorrow if improvements continue.
We of course discuss Sicily, and conclude that if my improvement holds then of course we should go. We’ll just be prudent and flexible, open-minded, ready to change plans, and just hole up somewhere or even return home if it comes to that. I fire off a message to our PHP, updating him and asking if he’d be open to authorizing a 90 day refill for my new medication if we can’t get in to cardiology before we leave.
Then I’m off to Kaiser for the top priority task of the day: getting another EKG. I just got three yesterday, but I need one from Kaiser before cardiology will take me in because they can view but not obtain a copy of the ER results for whatever reason.
After ouching my way away from the contacts of yesterday’s EKG I’m definitely not looking forward to this - but there’s good news here too. These are more lightly attached, and the technition just semi-painlessly rips them off and sends me on my way five minutes later. Phew!
I stop off at Caffe Umbria on the way home to indulge in quiche and coffee while I dip into the day’s mail; and the good news continues, including not just one but two! interesting mail slots from my friend Graham in Taiwan. Very uplifting. Who doesn’t love to see a pair of rusting, weathered mail slots staring back at them from their screen? It’s like getting a late Valentine’s Day card!
And then, back at home, I’m chatting with Rocky when a response comes in from my doctor. He’s letting me know he’s OK’d the prescription refill and that the referral to cardiology has been approved so I should call them ASAP to see what’s possible. I’m not optimistic that I’ll get in before we’re due to leave town, and am still almost in shock when I hang up five minutes later and record my appointment for Thursday morning - just three days from now! - on the calendar. I’d never imagined I might get in so quickly.
The afternoon passes. Rachael sees her opportunity and goes out for a walk south to Lair Hill while I putter around and start thinking about departure tasks. I’ve basically been in time-out for a week, and now it feels like it’s almost time to go. Suddenly I look up and am startled to see it snowing fairly heavily and instantly think of Rachael out on her walk. I’m about to call her to see if she might need a ride but look at her track on Garmin first and see she’s only a block away, moving toward the front door fast.
For dinner I decide to head down to the waterfront, my thwarted goal three days ago when the city was strangled by its historic snowfall. No problem today though, and a chopped salad with blackened chicken and a red ale make a fine way to wrap up such a prodigious day. What a difference a day makes!
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1 year ago
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1 year ago
1 year ago
Do you think it would start gettting too cold in Slovenia by the end of October? I know you had an exceptionally warm end to summer last year but that could be a blip. We've just had the worst summer on record with floods and cyclones. Climate change! Perhaps Spain/Portugal a better bet in October.
Good luck with your cardiologist appointment and I look forward to Sicily!
1 year ago
Yes, definitely I think it would be too late in the year to plan a tour in Slovenia. September and early October yes, but by late October you’d have to be pretty lucky. Andalucia would be perfect in my opinion, but then maybe you’ve already been there. Let us know if you’re anywhere near Valencia and maybe we could finally meet up in person!
1 year ago