Lagrangeville, NY - A Fairy Tale Snow

The Homestead

No surprise here - it's still cold! However, if were had to have snow, at least it was beautiful. The snow was light as a feather and fell with no wind at all. Given those conditions, it floated onto every branch, outlining all the trees in a blanket of white.

Every branch was covered

The morning dawned with a brilliant sun which gave an otherworldly aura to the winter scene. It was cold at first but it "warmed up" to the mid-'20s later. Ann, as an artist, wanted immediately to go outside and take photos so we toured the area, it was beautiful.

On tour with Ann to find inspirations for her pastels

Despite all this natural beauty, I remain unconvinced that the best strategy in winter is to remain up north to participate in the wonders of nature in the colder months. With that in mind, we are now aiming to return to Titusville and reasonable temperatures by 2/14 or thereabouts, depending upon the weather. To say that we are looking forward to warmer weather is an understatement. If you're in the area, drop by, we'd love to see you.

A stream nearby, the snow was magical

Lagrangeville, NY - A personal experience

Just not like Titusville!

One moment, I was typing at my desk and the next moment I was gasping for breath with a big egg on my head where I had apparently hit my desk. I was breathing heavily and managed to get over to a chair and called Ann who was upstairs. One look at me and 911 was in order. The ambulance came and I was rushed to the hospital. My heart doctor prescribed a combination pacemaker/ICD which not only regulates the heart but will also send a defibrillator shock if needed to restart the heart. 

At the hospital, it was waiting time until Monday when the operation was scheduled so I typed away on my iPad doing articles and stuff on my ICW Cruising Guide Facebook page to pass the time. Hospitals can be really dull and the food is not much better but the company was great, my family gathered around.

The big day came on Monday and now I'm a cyborg, which my 8-year-old grandson thinks is really cool! He likes to talk to a real-life cyborg, we have many conversations via texting. I can't leap tall buildings in a single bound but I can now walk up a steep slope without a problem, I was dragging my anchor before when doing that. One may ask, "What were the symptoms?" before the incident, always a popular question since we're all getting along on life's path. I had two: firstly, my heart rate gradually decreased over the past five years from 60 to 45 bpm. Secondly, I had RBBB causing a mismatch in the beating of the left and right side of the heart. That resulted in giving up running, the decreased blood supply wouldn't support the exercise. Walking was fine, running was not and no uphill walking unless done very slowly. 

Ice, ice?! This is not bad yet - but still - ice?!

I now walk an hour a day and will start weight training and running tomorrow, having been cleared for both today. I am prohibited from driving for 6 months, a standard time period in New York for those with my version of the pacemaker. Our plans are now to return to Titusville, Florida by the first week of March and spend some time there before returning north up the ICW. Unfortunately, Key West is out of the equation this year but we already have our reservations for 2020! 

I hate it when people use the term, "a blessing in disguise" but I now feel great, better in fact than anytime in the past four years. That "blessing" came very well disguised at first but things are working out for the best now. However, the blog hiatus will continue until we return to Titusville. We are definitely not enjoying the cold weather up here and it's only going to get colder for the next two months!  

To everyone else, enjoy life as it comes, don't put off what you want to do - I won't and you shouldn't either.