Ramblin' with Roger

My month (or so) of medicine

Echo

My month (or so) of medicine explores why September, leading to October, seemed so darn complicated this year. It doesn’t USUALLY land so many events in such a narrow timeframe.

ITEM: I received a telephone call from CVS, a real, live person(!), asking me if I wanted a flu shot. Sure! The next day, I got an electronic message. Do I want the COVID shot too? Why not?

On September 2, I went to my nearest store. Oh, they haven’t RECEIVED the shipment for the COVID shot yet. It wouldn’t arrive until Labor Day. (This was true; my daughter got both shots that day.) Then the text I received indicated that I had DECLINED the COVID shot! What? Anyway, I got one on September 16.

ITEM: I went to my podiatrist on September 11. The office recently switched to a new computer system, so paying the $8.66 balance I owed required going back into the old system, which the new receptionist didn’t know how to access. It took a while. So it goes.

ITEM: I had been seeing someone to remove excessive earwax every three months; yeah, I could PROBABLY try to do it myself, but whatever. The problem is that I was supposed to see my person in July, but their system said they weren’t available until late September. Then I got these tantalizing texts saying there was an earlier opening, always at a time I couldn’t make. Finally, I got in on September 14, and the impaction, which wouldn’t have taken place if I’d been treated on schedule, had created an irritation that required prescription eardrops. I didn’t get them because they cost $170.

I gotta have heart!

ITEM: I was supposed to get a tooth implant, but I couldn’t remember the date. September 21 at 9:30 a.m. Fine.

Then I got a message from St. Peter’s Hospital portal saying my procedure would be fully covered. What procedure? It turned out to be my TRANSTHORACIC ECHOCARDIOGRAM (TTE) W/COLOR FLOW & DOPPLER (CONTRAST/BUBBLE/3D PRN). And this one was scheduled for the morning of September 21. They didn’t ask me; they just informed me. At least Medicare fully covers it.

So, I had to reschedule the tooth implant to mid-October.

I’m guessing my cardiologist’s office will contact me to set up an appointment to interpret my echo results.

ITEM: Teeth cleaning in late September; no issue.

ITEM: I had a follow-up for my cataract surgery from two years ago. But the doctor had to reschedule until later in the month. C’est la vie.

ITEM: The annual physical is in early October. My Primary Care Physician is retiring at the end of the year; I am sad. I was her patient when she worked in a two-doctor office. Her practice, like so many others, was taken over by St. Peter’s/Trinity Health. I have followed her to several locations; the current one is the most inconvenient. If I don’t get a ride from my wife, I have to take a bus to the Rensselaer train station, then an Uber.

But she’s been a great doc to me for over two decades: direct, opinionated, thorough, occasionally quite funny. I’m not looking forward to breaking in a new PCP.

Sunday Stealing – Stealers Are Doing It for Ourselves

Rocky meets Jolene

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Once again this week we aren’t stealing; we’re contributing! These are questions suggested by our “usual suspects.” If you can, please take a moment and visit your fellow thieves.

Before that, why Sunday Stealing on Monday? Because the blogger temporarily lost his laptop. The story will come out sooner or later.

DIY Meme: Stealers Are Doing It for Ourselves

1. If you were trapped in a TV universe for a month, what TV show would you choose? (Kwizgiver)

Probably The Dick Van Dyke Show. It was full of talented and funny people. Also, Laura Petrie was lovely.

2. What song instantly revs you up and gets you going? (Annie)

There are SO many of them! Off the top of my head, Keep On Running – Spencer Davis group; Tell Me Something Good – Rufus featuring Chaka Khan; You Can Make It If You Try – Sly and the Family Stone; Satisfaction – Devo; Middle Of The Road– Pretenders; I’m Shakin’ – the Blasters; Getaway-EWF; Got To Get You Into My Life – Beatles. There are plenty more. I might as well add the tease of the title: Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves – Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin.

3. Are you decorating your home for fall? (Lori)

Not likely. Maybe a crèche for Christmas

4. How do you treat a cold? (Syl)

I feed it. I know my folk myths.

My monkey

5. What insignificant thing would you be genuinely annoyed if you lost it or it was taken from you? (Lisa)

My stuffed monkey Oscar. After a romantic split, we were sharing our stuffies, but at some point, she decided I was faring better and kept them. Friend Mark found Oscar in a movie theater- thus his name

6. What place do you remember vividly, even though you haven’t been there in years? (Country Dew)

I worked at a summer camp when I was 17. My job was to mow the lawn most of the day. I wrote about it in the sixth paragraph of this post.

7. Do you have a favorite Dolly Parton song or story? (Roger)

The one involving her and Sylvester Stallone while they were filming the movie Rhinestone. “On a freezing New York night shoot, Dolly Parton laid her shawl over a homeless man shivering by the garbage. In her 1994 memoir, Parton wrote that Sylvester Stallone yanked it off, and she quoted him saying, ‘Don’t you put that good shawl over that scum. He could have made something of himself. We did.’

“Parton grabbed it back and told him, ‘That could have been you, you ungrateful son of a b*tch! Except by the grace of God. Who knows. It could be an angel sent to show you what an a** you really are…’

“A crew member told Parton the next day that Stallone had gone back and bought the man a blanket.”

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

PLEASE LEAVE YOUR LINK IN THE COMMENTS.

Movies by year – found post

The Moon is Blue

From Here to Eternity Back in 2008(!), I started a post referencing movies by year, beginning with when I was born. Clearly, there must have been some source that listed the leading films from each period.

1953
Favorite: From Here to Eternity
Runners-up: The Glenn Miller Story; Roman Holiday
Great films of that year I have yet to see: The Moon Is Blue; Call Me Madame
Worst film of that year I have seen: The Robe
Mostly want to see The Moon is Blue because it as referred to in an episode of the TV show MAS*H.

1954
Favorite: Rear Window
Runners-up: On the Waterfront; A Star Is Born
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Carmen Jones; White Christmas
Worst film of that year I have seen: ??
It may be that Rear Window ranks ahead on Oscar winner On the Waterfront because I saw the Hitchcock film in the theater when it was re-released, while I saw the Kazan film on TV. Carmen Jones intrigues me because it’s an update of the Bizet opera Carmen in an African-American setting

1955
Favorite: Lady and the Tramp
Runners-up: Oklahoma!; Mister Roberts
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Marty; The Rose Tattoo
Worst film of that year I have seen: Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, by default
Lady and the Tramp made $80 million. The runner-up is Cinerama Holiday, a movie now so obscure that it doesn’t even rate a Wikipedia post, made $12 million. The third was Mister Robers with $8.5 million.

Two MASH references

1956
Favorite: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Runners-up: The King and I; Carousel
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Lust for Life; Anastasia
Worst film of that year I have seen: The Ten Commandments, easily
The big b.o. that year was my worst pic that year.

I didn’t get far when the list inexplicably skipped to 1970, which was repeated about six dozen times! Weird.

1970
Favorite: Patton
Runners-up: Catch-22, MAS*H
Great films of that year I have yet to see: Brewster McCloud, Five Easy Pieces
Worst film of that year I have seen: Myra Breckinridge

But, unlike the ones from the 1950s, these did not seem right. I don’t even remember seeing Patton all the way through or Myra at all. I wasn’t all that fond of Catch-22, which I saw 1.5 times. (Very long story.) Maybe I had filled the record with dummy information?

Lydster: South Africa again

Amarula

The Daughter went to South Africa again, specifically Cape Town, from early July to mid-August. Only late in her previous trip in the first half of 2025 did she discover how easy the train system is.

Part of the appeal is seeing the beaches more often than when she was attending classes. She went to Muizenberg and Kalk Bay. She particularly appreciated the fisheries at the latter locale. Also, she visited Table Mountain again, Victoria Wharf, and Cape Point, among other sites. There were lots of penguins and some whales.

She said that she only went to the clubs twice. She was never IDed because the drinking age is 18. Once, she went to Barcadia, “Cape Town’s first and only Retro Bar Arcade. Arcade games were included for free when purchasing from the bar.” She discovered Amarula and directed me to buy a bottle in Albany if I could, and I did; it’s not dissimilar to Amaretto, but I may like it better.

One cultural phenomenon she noted is that people were generally paid only once a month, on the first Thursday. As a result, many cultural entities, such as art galleries, opened much later. My daughter noted that the cadgers were more aggressive, more in one’s face, than they were in, for instance, New York City or Albany.

Planning ahead

She booked two places to stay back in late December. The first place was mostly fine, though she noticed some mold hidden behind some drapes in the last of her four weeks there.

Her second place, also booked on Booking.com, was far more complicated. When she arrived, she was told that her booking had been canceled because they had stopped using Booking.com in February. But she hadn’t received any notification.

After considerable negotiations with the rental official, they eventually found her another place to stay on their properties. My daughter doesn’t particularly enjoy conflict, but she didn’t feel that the rep was listening to her.

As it turned out, the refrigerator did not work. Another one was brought in, but it didn’t fit into the space it was designated for. The water from the faucet left her mouth sore; she boiled it, then refrigerated it, and it was tolerable.

(Much of this was documented in a 25-minute WhatsApp message to my wife’s phone.)

To get to the swimming pool, she had to go through a restaurant. She found no towels, so she went to the main desk. When she attempted to go back through the restaurant, she wasn’t allowed because she didn’t meet the dress code, even though she had a blouse and shorts. Instead, she had to return to the room on the 8th floor and change to slacks.

One thing she did with a friend I met last year was compare American versions of various foods that they could buy at an import store. They found a South African version of Froot Loops cereal, which my daughter thought was “nasty” and her friend decided was “too sweet.”

She told me a lot more. I’m sure she’ll say, “Why did you leave THAT out?” Mostly for time and because I can’t read my own handwritten notes.

Les Green would have been 100

Les Green

Les Green would have been 100 on September 26, 1926. He was my dad, or, as I gleaned from a speaker I saw in Chautauqua in 2024, he IS my dad. His death in 2000 does not change that fact.

I love the picture above, though I don’t know how old he is here.

Of course, I’ve written about him more than two dozen times, usually on September 25. On September 26, I write about the grandchild he never knew, my daughter. Also, I note August 10, the date he died.

I only discovered in 2019 the name of his biological father, Raymond Cone. But he was raised in the household of his grandparents, Samuel Walker and Mary Eugenia (Patterson), as well as various aunts and uncles, in Binghamton, NY.

For years, the 1930 Census confounded me. He was listed as Wesley Walker, the “son” of Samuel and Eugenia. The fiction of the relationship didn’t confuse me, but “Wesley” did. Eventually, I visited the state archives and confirmed that he was born Leslie Walker.

Les Green

Flower child

I love this photo because it reminds me of his longtime talent for arranging flowers. He worked occasionally at Costas’s flower shop in Binghamton and arranged flowers for several family weddings, debutante balls, and the like. I had /have NO talent for this, but I would accompany him and my sister Leslie and schlep stuff.

BTW, I have no idea where or, especially, when these photos were taken. He looks so happy, full of joy. There’s no sign of that weird rollercoaster that I assume he experienced living with his mother, Agatha Walker, and his stepfather, McKinley, and then not, but ultimately being adopted by Mac just before Les’ 18th birthday.

Les Green

I feel as though that, maybe, I had seen these photos before. But I certainly never had copies of them until my daughter and I went down to Charlotte, NC, in May 2026. He, Mom, and baby sister had moved down there in 1974. The daughter and I selected and scanned a bunch of pics.

It seems that I should have some profound observations on the centennial of his birth. There was some talk of maybe some family members rerecording some Green Family Singers songs, but that didn’t happen.

I still have the unanswerable questions I’ve had since he passed away. Happy birthday, dear old dad (D.O.D.), as you dubbed yourself.