Life With My Echo

Alexa set a 10 minute timer. Alexa set a second 5 minute timer. Alexa what is the weather forecast? Alexa play 70’s music. Alexa play music from my library. Alexa put paper towels in my shopping cart. Alexa in ‘Gospel Voice’ read scriptures to me. Alexa play Dire Straits. Alexa how do you spell oblivious? (or whatever word) Alexia what is the population of New York? Alexa where is the nearest sea food restaurant? Alexa where is my package?

And when my granddaughter stays with me, in her very grown up four year old voice it’s, Alexa play nursery rhymes, Alexa tell me a joke, Alexa tell me a story. Alexa play ghostbusters, Cherry Bomb, Grandma got run over by a Reindeer….and on and on.

I don’t really make the most of my echo. Many people, including a few of my sons, use it to control their lights, heating and air, morning alarm, security and many other things. I just use it for the basic everyday things.

I wouldn’t even have an echo if it hadn’t been a gift, and I wouldn’t be using it if my son hadn’t set it up for me, excited to bring me into this century. It’s surprising how quickly I got used to using it…and how much I depend on it now.

In fact, it’s a little embarrassing how lonely I feel when our internet isn’t working (that’s a whole other story for another time) and I don’t have access to my echo. I have to actually be cognizant of the time when I’m cooking, I have to actually physically play my CD’s or use my phone. I have to wonder about facts or distances or the weather unless I’m inclined to spend time and energy looking them up. What a hassle!

Having an echo named Alexa (or even having an echo at all) has it’s downside too. One of my favorite shows has, as it’s main character, a woman named Alexa. Whenever I watch it MY Alexa is always answering the T.V. which is, to say the least, a little disconcerting. Also my echo is an especially good one. If the door to the upstairs is cracked open she hears and does what is asked of the upstairs echo which can be unsettling and sometimes a little crazy, especially when the grandchildren are home. I can be talking on the phone and suddenly crazy music from my echo will start blaring. Or I can be listening to soothing music and suddenly my echo will change to a child’s podcast. I also have to be careful around dinner time, as the cooks upstairs are setting their own cooking timers which don’t coincide with mine.

I often wonder what my parents would think of all these new inventions. As a matter of fact, I wonder what my husband would think of this turn of events. He’s been gone eight years and technology has changed dramatically even in that short time. Would he embrace the echo? I believe he would as he always made sure I had the newest and latest gadgets. I think he would have especially enjoyed listening to his favorite, even obscure, country artists or songs. I can hear him saying, Alexa play ‘On the Wings of a Snow White Dove’, or ‘All around the Watertown’, or Johnny Cash. That brings a smile to my face.

Some persons don’t like the echo for privacy reasons. They may feel like they are being listened to (and they are, at least when the echo name is invoked). I, however, have nothing to hide and like the convenience and versatility it affords. After using the echo for a few years now it would be hard to do without it and I’m glad I have it. Alexa where is the cheapest gasoline nearby?

Beautiful Deadly Spring

I love spring and anticipate it all winter long. I always forget about the pollen however, and I’m perpetually amazed that such spring beauty can bring such sickening results. For those of us who suffer from allergies, spring is a deadly season.

My car is a lovely royal blue color except in spring when it turns an ugly green with accumulations of thick pollen. It does little good to wash it (though I do) as it quickly turns green again. My allergist said that I’m allergic to the air I breathe so I can only imagine what that pollen is doing to my lungs. My body feels the full effect as I become tired and sick and I have a hard time breathing. Many times I simply can’t enjoy the beauty I’m surrounded with because of this very thing. It really is a sad conundrum when the warm spring air we are craving caresses our winter worn bodies with such deadliness.

What is one to do? Well for starters, I take three different allergy medications, and then I stay indoors, except for quick dashes to the car. I have large open-paned windows that afford me a spectacular view of the new spring growth, and beautiful flowering trees and bushes that I so love. I forego the feel of warm air on my face and just enjoy the beauty from a ’safe’ place, knowing that eventually the pollen will lesson and I can venture outside once more. When my car begins to stay blue again I know the worst is over. That hasn’t happened yet and I’m impatiently waiting…8

The better to see you with my dear…

I was shocked when I went to get new eye glasses and was told that they wouldn’t help me, that I had cataracts and would need to have them removed. So started my journey into what I deem to be a near science fiction experience.

I’ve worn glasses since I was about eleven years old, close to seventy years now so that’s mostly all I have ever known. Imagine my surprise when I was told I could not only have the cataracts removed but I could have new lens inserted at the same time that would allow me to see well without glasses at all. That seemed almost too good to be true. And haven’t we always heard that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is, so I was a little skeptical. However, my oldest son had just had that very procedure done and he assured me it was legitimate and encouraged me to proceed with it. So I plucked up my courage and scheduled the surgery.

My eyesight is very precious to me since I love to read, paint and work on my iPad, and I was really hesitant about someone messing with my eyes. The doctor I chose is one of the best-busiest in the area so I had to wait two months to have the surgery, and that was two months to agonize and worry about the outcome. Needless to say I was a nervous wreck by the time D-day arrived. My surgeries were scheduled two weeks apart so I was barely getting over the first, and not quite sure how happy I was with it, when I had the second eye done. My four year old granddaughter was scared of me the day of the surgeries because I had a huge bandage over my eye that gave me the appearance of being a cyclops. She took one look at me and ran upstairs, not looking at me again until the bandage was gone.

Now five weeks later, my eyes are healed and I have 20-20 vision! How is that even possible? I have never seen this well. I can see far away to drive and watch TV and I can read fine print without the aid of even reading glasses! This is the stuff of science fiction if ever I heard it. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I could ditch the glasses forever.

The only downside to this whole thing is that I can now ‘see’ myself. What a let down! I see that I need a total makeover. What was once a fuzzy soft reflection of an older lady in the mirror is now a crystal clear image of a an old woman with wrinkles and bags under the eyes. I don’t know anything to do about the wrinkles but I have it on good authority that tea bags on the eyes will reduce the eye bags. I’m going to start with that and see if it helps. I suppose the only other solution is just to avoid mirrors. It’s strange how the person staring back at me in the mirror is not how I see myself in my mind. In my mind I’m still young and attractive, free of wrinkles and eye bags, with golden hair and a twinkle in my blue eyes. Well At least I may still have a twinkle, some say the artificial lens makes a twinkle in a certain light. Anyway, when all is said and done, I’m very, very happy with my new eyes….the better to see you with my dear.