Norine's Notes
Norine's Notes
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Highlights of 2004This summer I took the opportunity to work on issues related to living a healthy life style. This is a nice way of saying I worked on diet and exercise. I joined Premier Fitness Center and participate in aerobics, conditioning, yoga, Pilates, and swimming workouts. It took a while to get up the courage to try to swim some laps in the big pool. At first it was very scary as I could not see anything, but once I got the feel of the lane markers and the side of the pool my confidence increased. My first five minutes of laps evolved to 90 minutes three times a week (over a mile of swimming at a time) and I love it. I am so at home in the water. I like the feel of the water all around me and the warmth of the sun. It is close to total relaxation because for that time everything else is washed away from my mind. I can drift back to happy times when I was skiing and just about living in the water, or I can meditate and send up prayers of praise and thanksgiving to our great God. I am so glad that I have rediscovered that I can swim. Moses enjoys the gym also. He is good at taking me wherever I tell him. He knows “Find the locker,” “Find the pool,” “Find the class,” and many more commands pertinent to the gym. It took him a long time to get used to the idea of me being in the pool. When I first started doing laps he paced back and forth along the side of the pool with me. Now he has realized he can just lie there and relax a little, but he always seems to be on double duty when I am in that pool. He can’t wait to give me a big pooch smooch when he thinks I am done and help me out.
Moses’ favorite command at the fitness center is “Find the track.” He loves to walk a mile on the track with me and at first guides me around with gusto at a fast pace. Fortunately for me, he does slow down a bit when we are about half way through. I am sure the exercise is good for him too.
Tubing Down the Itchetucknee River Another highlight of the summer was a visit from Kara and Ashley. We did many fun things including a tubing trip down the Itchetucknee River. Moses enjoyed this as much as anyone else as he got to take a few cool off swims in the river. He would have liked it better if I had stayed in the boat with him, as he had to really keep his eyes on me in that inner tube behind the boat.
The last night Kara and Ashley were here Ashley and I put on a concert. She plays the violin beautifully. I just wanted to listen to her but she insisted I bring out and play my dulcimer. It wasn’t long before we really got it together on “Boil Them Cabbage Down.”
In Memorium
Although most of the summer has been happy, Dale and I have had to cope with one tragedy, the loss of KC, our 17 year old cat. We miss him very much, but have some consolation in knowing that he is no longer suffering.
St. John’s Church Another great opportunity came my way this summer. Every Tuesday, I worked as a receptionist at my church. I loved getting to know the staff better and meeting and greeting all the interesting people that came in and out. I have learned so much about the workings of a large parish and the tremendous amount of work and coordination that is necessary. I was assigned to write some articles for the Proclamation and really had my eyes opened to just how outstanding our young people are. I interviewed them and wrote of their mission adventures to places in Africa, as well as the inner city of Orlando. So much of the media news focuses on what’s wrong with our young people. I experienced what’s right with many of these kids
This is a picture of me with my friend Tina. She was so patient with me and helped me increase my skills. She would give me lists of typed assignments so I could scan and complete them, like calling members of committees to remind them of the next meeting. This experience made me so much more aware of just how effective vision impaired people can independently function in the workplace thanks to the technology that is now available.
Our church celebrated it’s 175th anniversary. We enjoyed dinner at the University Club and a special worship celebration on Sunday. The church was packed and the singing glorious and beautiful. It literally felt like the church was “filled with music.”
St. John’s Church does a special “Blessing of the Pets” in conjunction with the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. The third grade teacher asked me to talk to the class about St. Francis and about Moses and animals doing special things. It was a wonderful experience. Moses especially liked it when I took his harness off and all the children could pet him.
Friends My friend, Barbara has just published her first book. It is a mystery called “Payback” and I hope all of my friends will read it. “Payback is a game, a deadly game. One in which Ginny Arthur, owner and operator of a security agency, becomes an unwilling participant. Pitted against thieves, drug pushers, and murders, it is a game Ginny has to win.” I was privileged to join with many of my old friends at the YMCA as she had a wonderful book reading and signing event.
Advent Day School Several months ago my friend Heidi asked if I would take Moses to visit her children’s school. I said I would and she scheduled a date for us in early September. Moses and I have done this many times. We go into a classroom and I tell the children some things about vision loss and guide dogs. I show them Moses doing his obedience lessons, and end with taking his harness off so the children can play with him or pet him. What my friend Heidi neglected to tell me was that we would be going to 11 different classes.
It all worked out well. Moses performed beautifully for all the classes and patiently accepted the love and pets from over 100 children. By the end I was feeling tired and exhausted as I sat there waiting for the last child to give Moses a pet. However, the last child, a little girl, came to me and said “Can I give you a hug too?” What a perfect end to a wonderful day!
Guidedog Tales In between all the other things we have been doing this summer Moses and I have been very busy writing a book for children called Guide Dog Tales. I plan to submit this as a children’s chapter book for 8-11 year olds. It is written from the dog's point of view. It is about the life of a guide dog and includes some information on vision loss, life and accomplishments of people without vision, and the story of two guide dog puppies, one raised in a home with children and the other raised by a prison inmate. I submitted the first few chapters and a proposal to a publisher and have received back a positive response to publish it. Although I have not done enough to research the market and make a commitment yet I am very encouraged by this first attempt. I will keep you all posted on the status of Moses, the author. Fall
This is our favorite time of year. I know fall has arrived when I hear Dale out working on the RV to get it ready for our coming adventures.
However, this year it seemed like every time we made plans for a trip they had to be changed because of another approaching hurricane. We dodged Frances, Ivan, and Jean before we could make our way to Mississippi for our annual visit with Dale’s family. But, good things are worth waiting for and we had a wonderful time seeing everybody and catching up on the news.
Since returning from Mississippi our additional RV plans have been postponed because of Dale’s work and the projects he is responsible for. However, Tom and Mary have been able to enjoy the fall colors in the Smokies and have shared some of their beautiful pictures with us
I have kept very busy with my exercises classes and the Academy at FSU. I am enjoying the classes and field trips. A group of us went to Colquitt, Georgia for their local production of Swamp Gravy. This week-end we will be attending a production of Oklahoma. I was a facilitator for my churches’ two day Divorce Recovery Week-end. It felt good to be involved in this because it enabled me to use my psych and counseling skills again.
I spent the week of Thanksgiving in Jacksonville and had a wonderful time with each of the girls and their families. Shannon and I went to some yoga classes together. Vance read to me and demonstrated what a math whiz kid he is.
While I was with Kathy we took Sean and Stephen to the beach and zoo. I had as much fun as they did.
Ashley had a special surprise for me. They were celebrating Grandparents Day at her school. She played the violin during the Mass. We went to her classroom and each child read an essay they had written about their grandparents. Anita and I were bursting with pride to be honored this way.
All of us celebrated a wonderful family Thanksgiving dinner at Shannon and Brian’s house. Shannon used our beautiful Irish china, prepared a delicious turkey, and we all brought the rest of the trimmings. The children kept busy during the preparations decorating a special Thanksgiving tree with colorful leaves on which each wrote and drew the things they were thankful for. I was so thankful for each of them and this time together.
Later Thanksgiving Day, Dale met us as we joined the McDonald Family for another lavish Thanksgiving at their farm near Lake City. The adults enjoyed the food and conversation while the children enjoyed chasing cows and playing outside on this beautiful farm.
Dale, Norine, and the critters loaded up in the RV to spend a delightful, white Christmas with Tom and Mary in their new home near Nashville.
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I
also had an opportunity to get back in touch with my professional background as
I co-taught a two day course to prepare over 40 licensed mental health workers
to provide their services to Red Cross in disaster situations. I hope I also
taught them that being blind doesn’t mean being disabled.
