The Other Don Kelly

Well, the stone roof for my father’s final home has finally been installed. They put the gravestone in place sometime last week, and Mom and I visited the gravesite on Monday. It looks really good:

It was good to finally see it in place. Dad’s actual burial place will no longer be a guess, it’s a real milestone on our way to closure, and it turned out really nice. Mom loved it.

It was a good day to be at the cemetery too: quiet, sunny and autumnal, it left me feeling peaceful and introspective. I’d been feeling Dad’s death a little harder recently, especially after hearing the stone was finished; seeing it for myself made me feel a bit better.

I went to physical therapy on Wednesday and the place was closed: on the door was a notice that Dr Sewards, aka Dr Pat, aka Doc, had passed away a few days before. His obituary can be found here.

I don’t know when and why Anne first went to Dr. Pat, but she recommended him to me almost ten years ago for my knee. He was an orthopedic surgeon who almost always recommended against surgery unless absolutely necessary, and advocated motion and exercise for almost all bone/joint problems. His office was mostly a gym, with a bunch of greybeards like myself working our muscles and joints to 60’s-era rock. (Strangely enough, this office was in the building that used to be the West End Community Center, where PPRAC had a bunch of meetings and parties — my last time there, before Dr. Sewards took over about a decade ago, was for Janna’s 50th birthday.)

Dr Sewards gave both Anne and me excellent treatment and advice, and he helped lot of other people too. He was also very inspiring — he overcame some serious injuries himself, back in his youth. I don’t know what’s going to happen with his practice, without him it probably can’t continue the way it is now. His passing left a big hole in the world.

Hi I’m back, in more ways than one:

• My broken arm/shoulder is healed. I’ve been out of the sling since the start of September, and have been doing PT several times a week ever since. Most mobility/flexibility is back, strength is almost back to normal (for most movements), and the pain is gone except for the occasional twinge.
• We had our big East Coast party for Ben & Jennie, hosted by Anne’s sister at her family property outside Tamaqua. This was sort of a belated wedding party for their East Coast friends and relatives, a “welcome to the area” party, and a “thank you” to all the people who helped them, financially and in other ways, after the big fire. Catered BBQ, a big tent and a dance floor, even a few porta-johns… no expense was spared! There were probably just north of a hundred people, and it was a two-day blowout. (We were going to camp with everyone else, but I was still in my sling at the time, so we went home and came back with coffee in the morning.)
• We went on vacation to Gardenstown (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) to visit our friends John & Donna, who vacation there every year — they actually closed on a house while we were visiting. Scenic hikes, whisky tours, and a lot of sitting around enjoying the incredible views. I’ll be posting photos soon.
• I’m back on the bike. I’ve done a few rides in the past week or so, and things seem to be OK, though I keep admonishing myself to pay more attention to the road surface… I’ve been riding the touring bike, which really has been my go-to lately anyway since the MTB needed work — I was planning to bleed the brakes before I fell, but that had to be put on hold until the arm healed. I brought the bike up to spec about a week ago, and I’ll probably take it out on the towpath tomorrow.
• We got back yesterday from an overnight trip up to Homer, NY with our friends Jan & Marty, to see Iris DeMent at the local art/music venue. Jan & Marty have a cabin just outside of town, and it was nice to finally get to see it.

Plenty more has happened in the past two months I’m sure, but those are the things that come most immediately to mind.

Earwigs — that’s what was blocking our mini-split head the other day. The unit was dripping condensate (again) so we put in for a service call, and the technician found the condensate line clogged with dead earwigs. Ewwww!

The tech cleaned it out and put some anti-algae enzyme tablets on the condenser pan to keep things clean, and our system is back up and running.

In other news, I got my road bike back, tuned up and with a new small chain ring. I took it for a very short test ride today — felt great — and may do a longer ride, a real ride, tomorrow.