Hmmm..........

A little thunder?
the sky is almost white
although it's now past six
and evening fast approaches
I can't believe that it will rain
maybe it's just heat
we've spent the day entertaining
friends
too many beers
but I feel good
now sitting warm
in leather
feet kicked up and contemplating
more convivial hours
spent with my mate
and dog was fed
no need to rise
no need to fashion dinner
we've had a day spent
doing what we love
entertaining
being outdoors
eating well
reading books
what more
could
there
be?

Back to Work!

I’m happy to report that I’ve finally been offered a position with a home health agency in a nearby town, and I’m set to begin my orientation in the coming week. My hope is that this will work out to our mutual satisfaction, and I’ll have a good job for the foreseeable future. Any doubts I may have are connected to possible changes in the Medicare guidelines secondary to the present economy. I could see a time when cuts in the program would result in less caregivers needed or the visiting nurse program being scrapped altogether.

It is such a boon to be able to work out of an office close to my home, instead of having a lengthy commute. When you live in the countryside, as I do, it is generally a given that you will be spending time in the line of traffic coming and going to work. I recently read somewhere that a lengthy commute impacted on job satisfaction, and I believe it. The job as a visiting nurse already involves driving so not adding a lengthy commute is a plus.Since I will be working close to the community where I live, my travels will allow me to better acquaint myself with the area. I have owned my present home for many years but moved away from 1994 to 2009. There have been many changes in the intervening years. It’s also good to be working with people you will see within your community. I feel people always interact more positively with you when they know they may run into you in the grocery store.

I haven’t worked in Medicare home health in a long time so I have a great deal to learn about the documentation. There is much documentation in all aspects of health care, there’s no getting around it!You will be filling out forms or entering it into a computer, it just comes with the territory. In Medicare home health the documentation is voluminous. This volume of documentation was a specific point discussed during the interview process. My interviewer wanted to be absolutely sure I knew the amount of paperwork involved. Granted , paperwork is not my favorite thing. I am sure it will be months before I am at ease with it!One of the other concerns my interviewer plumbed at some depth with me was how I felt about being inside people’s homes. This was one of the reasons I chose to interview with a Medicare agency. These home visits are visits as opposed to shifts. There’s a big difference in making an hour’s visit versus a 4 to 8 hour shift in a private home. I can tolerate almost any conditions for one hour but a shift in cramped, dirty, or hot quarters can be unbearable. It has been a year and a half since I’ve been employed and I feel I am ready to go back to work!

Addlepated

Why do I persist?
This foolishness should stop…
And yet who am I harming
Surely not myself!
Now see, to me that has a
Certain cadence,
Pleasing to my ear,
The rhythm of the words
Is quite enough….
Enough for what?
start me ruminating
on words,
a phrase or random idea,
oh dear,
I lost my thought!

Proximity

We drive out through the country
looking for scenes to shoot,
my daughter and I with cameras,
a new lens, and time to spend
studying country views.
A pale old horse
behind a fence....
a friendly horse with time
to pose for strangers.
But the view that I remember best
was a field of tobacco
and beyond, a graveyard.
I was struck by how appropriate,
tobacco next to a graveyard.
We took our shots
and traveled on
to other winsome settings,
an old log cabin,
a scenic lake,
but my thoughts persist
and recreate that scene
of tombstones,
the backdrop of tobacco leaves so green.
My thought is that things are so seldom what they seem.



photo courtesy of guaromiami

Goldhead Fantasy

The old mill stream in Goldhead Park,
is a daydream for we mortals.
Cipher mossy rocks and fiddleheads,
meandering, crystal waters.
Ponder rocks
strung out along the bank,
a rosary for your thoughts.
Chattoyant water,
tinsel streaks on cashmere sands.
Be Gulliver in this land
of dew and palm and hoary,trailing moss!
No limits to the fancy thoughts,
at any moment one could see
a fairy or a water sprite,
sprung from this hidden grotto.
Down the stone staircase,
into the cleft
carved by those aqua waters,
Indulge your nature fantasies
in this exotic, ferny, old mill stream.
If your legs can just make the climb
down the stairs,
to rewind your mind!

Ennui

The sun dogs have all run home,
but darkness procrastinates.
Earth puzzles over purple clouds floating
above houses inhabited
by lying people collared in gold and diamonds.
What have we come to?
Overstimulated, we languish,
characterized by feckless intentions.
We deify doggerel,
and despise common sense.
The sound bite rules.
Civility is unknown.
Manners are a sign of weakness.
Surly darkness falls and
we watch the dying spasm of day.
Circumscribed by pitch
we are forced to confront our addictions.
Twelve steps demand we look
to our hearts, our core
and pick our higher power.

Once More......Sticking My Toe in the Labor Pool

Well, keep your fingers crossed, here I go again on another job interview! I'm almost afraid to write about it for fear of "jinxing" it. I actually went to interview with this company several weeks ago, but got sidetracked when the manager told me they had another branch closer to my home. She had graciously given me the number of the other branch manager and I went to that location, and truthfully I never got the same good feeling when I went to this branch. It didn't work out. Three weeks later they had still not gotten my references or called me back. I had a funny feeling they felt I was too old! Maybe it was them calling me Miss Fran! I called the first manager back and she was happy to make another appointment for me to come back, so perhaps that's where I am meant to be after all.