Making Gummies
I’m feeling very tired for some reason. Thanks to my CPAP machine, the first data point I get each morning is how many hours of sleep I have gotten overnight and the ancillary issues of any sleep interruptions or mask removals. I rarely, if ever, have a problem with the latter, but I keep a close eye on the hours of sleep. I am convinced that one of the basic non-rocket-science concepts of achieving a wise and productive old age (as Meatloaf would say) is to get enough sleep. In general, I am confused by the literature and data on the issue. It is a medical fact that along with aging comes lower levels of certain growth hormones including Melatonin. Since Melatonin is a hormone that induces deep sleep, it is therefore consistent for aging folks to have more trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. For added assorted reasons (aches, pains and bladder issues mostly) that tends to result in older people getting less rather than more productive sleep. Most people over 65 get 6.5 to 7 hours and should probably optimally get 7 to 8 hours. It’s a tricky issue because getting more than 9 hours per day tends to promote such conditions as dimentia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Getting less than 6.5 hours can add to cardiac risk by weakening the heart. One solution is daytime napping, but they say you should not nap more than 30 minutes and not at all if it detracts from your nighttime sleep, which is the case for me. It turns out that sleep is a more snd more impactful and complex issue the older you get.
It’s 10:30am right now, and I keep nodding off and yawning. This despite getting 6.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. I did get up a bit early yesterday to go get the rental car and then spent three hours driving each way to Delaware to visit my son Roger and his wife Valene. We had a very nice day that involved what my iPhone said was 3.2 miles of walking. I managed to get through it (they live in a lovely beach town and we walked on both the sandy beach and the on the sunny boardwalk). By the way, beach walking in deep sand is much harder than I remember…getting old. I keep wondering why I am so “off” and tired. I can’t really claim sleep pattern issues since I travel with my regular model of CPAP and good hotels these days have good beds (even though they are never exactly like one’s bed at home). I want to assume that it might be jet-lag but being three hours ahead should not be such a big deal. So, I am left to say that getting older and traveling is a bitch. I drink a caffeinated diet drink and carry on. What a mench, right?
The fact is that our week in New York did get front-end loaded with Monday being a travel day up to Milford, Connecticut (two hours) and Tuesday being a travel day down to Lewes, Delaware (3+ hours). We have basically covered the Northeast Corridor in the first part of the week and are using today to babysit the grandgerms at my daughter’s house in Brooklyn. She had Jury Duty in Downtown Brooklyn today and hubby John is busy earning a living arranging mortgages for people down in his downstairs office. We were supposed to go over to begin our tour a duty at 10am, so after returning the way-too-sporty-and-low-to-the-ground rental car, which added to my aching tired back, we met for our $45 breakfast (remember, I get only a $30 credit…damn). When I returned to the table after a visit to the men’s room, who should be sitting with Kim at the breakfast table, but my daughter, Carolyn. She had been released early from Jury Duty and given a two-year pass as a care-giving mother.
We Ubered over to Carolyn’s house to an anxiously awaiting John, desperate to get to his mortgage banking and the girls, desperate to play with the grandparents. So the daily nap-queen Kim and the slightly fuzzy-headed Gramps burst onto the scene to the jumping-bean kidlets and the aging, but still rambunctious Havanese, Abe. After the hubbub of arrival, we settled into our spots in the living room with the girls having given all the usual and appreciated hugs with Abe undecided over and over again about running around the rug or jumping up and off the sofas. After drinks were distributed, came the moment of truth…what would we do for the next few hours.
Fortunately for us, I can always count on Carolyn for her creative arts & crafts preparation and input. She learned at the feet of her craft-queen mother, Mary, who studied in the classroom of the original Arts & Crafts Queen-Mother, grandma Charlotte, namesake to little Charlotte and thematic namesake Evelyn. Carolyn had a project out and ready for the doing. It was a Gummy Candy Lab. That’s right, we were going to make gummies. These were no Gummy Bears, they were almost every shape a little girl would like other than a Gummy Bear. There were ubiquitous beast of the nursery, unicorns, and clouds and rainbows. We could suggest that this kit was about being LGBTQ-appropriate, but I suspect it has more to do with the unicorn theme and the ability to create a multi-colored gummy that wasn’t weird in its coloring. The flavors that were available were cherry (red), raspberry (blue?), banana (yellow) and vanilla (white). The basic requirement of a good grandkids project is something that they can do with Kim (that would be KiKi in this household) such that Gramps can sit on the sofa watching TV or doing iPad work while he wanly smiles at the activity at the kitchen table.
Carolyn usually has a back-up project on-hand as well and sure enough, while the gummies are cooling in the refrigerator, KiKi has time to sew a small mermaid doll that would later be stuffed with batting. You can never have too many of those when you are a five year old girl. It would join a collection of stuffed animals and dolls that has to be weeded out regularly to allow the Brooklyn duplex to not be filled to the brim with toys. Next time I come I will ask to see the mermaid doll just to see if it made the ongoing cut.
After a light lunch of PBJ on white bread with the crusts cut off (talk about a food that takes most of us back to our childhood!), its time for me to watch a cooking show while KiKi takes her 30-minute nap. I have found my second wind while Kim has faded. This week we have several more visits (dinner Friday and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Saturday) with the grandgerms and it is all well-timed. That means that while we are JetBluing our way back to San Diego on Sunday, the girls will be getting their game-faces on for the first day of school at P.S. 58. Charlotte will be going into Third Grade and Evelyn will be starting Kindergarten. Charlotte is anxious to return to physical school after a year or virtual school. Evelyn says she is 98% excited and 2% anxious about starting Kindergarten. I told Evelyn that’s a good mix with which to approach everything in life. And now that “we” have made the gummies, its time to eat the gummies. Gramps is always up for that part.