Our outing

We're still having the same cool, overcast weather with no end in sight. Our day got off to a slow start--I was feeling somewhat wiped out from the early morning dose of morphine, but at least my knees weren't hurting. Our aim was to get out of the house by about eleven thirty, to get to Sears when the optical department opened, but we actually left a little earlier, figuring we could walk around the mall a bit first. Marty put the new portable concentrator in the car and got it hooked up, and it seems to be working all right. We actually turned out to give it a little more of a test than intended, as when Marty left the car in the parking lot he unplugged the power cord, so it ran on batteries while we were in the mall, and when he got back to the car it was still running, but was beeping, indicating that it was just about out of charge, and on the way home it recharged itself the way it's supposed to, so I hope we have that problem solved.

Marty got the scooter set up and we wandered around the mall for a short time, then went into Sears. We had to wait about ten minutes, but once it was my turn, the guy got my glasses fixed really quickly. They have been so bent that I basically couldn't see out of them--they're no-line bifocals, bent so badly that I was looking through the wrong part of the lens all the time. When I got these glasses, I had left my old pair, which needed some kind of repair (I can't even remember what), but it was so long ago I was sure they had been thrown out; to my surprise, the guy found them, so now I have a decent back-up pair as well.

Legal Sea Foods was at the same side of the mall, so we went there next and had a lovely lunch. When I first moved to the Boston area, Legal had one restaurant, not at all fancy, in Cambridge; over the years, they have expanded to a small upscale chain with a number of restaurants in the Boston area, as well as Washington, D.C. and a few other places (http://www.legalseafoods.com/index.cfm/page/Home). Marty had one of his favorite fish, halibut, and I had softshell crabs, which I love, and we split a Caesar salad. I also had some of their famous clam chowder, and we shared two chocolate desserts--a very rich layer cake (most of which we took home) and a warm chocolate fudge cake, both served with vanilla ice cream. Although I've basically lost my taste for coffee in the last couple of years, I also had a decaf cappucino--I can't remember the last time I had one, and I really enjoyed it.

When we finished eating, my knees were starting to ache again. At first, I took a half syringe of morphine, but after discussing it with Marty, decided to take another half (since the full syringe I'd taken earlier had successfully gotten on top of the pain). I've taken one more full syringe, about eight o'clock, which I hope will get me through the night. I will definitely discuss this all with Lauren tomorrow.

After lunch, I wanted to go to Macy's, which was at the opposite end of the mall, so I suggested to Marty that I go there in the scooter while he moved the car (so he wouldn't have to go to all the effort of taking the scooter apart and putting it together again). I wanted to see if I could find a few simple summer blouses (I have so few clothes that fit me, because of the weight I've gained), but I didn't find much, and wasn't in a shopping mood, so after a short while we headed home.

We've been relaxing the rest of the day, including doing all of this Sunday's puzzle--I'm not sure when we'll get back to last Sunday's--and watching TV. I got very tired a couple of times when we were out and getting back into the house, but I feel pretty good right now.