So have you ever wondered where the idiom "it's the bees knees" came from?  If you're like me, probably not; and I'd probably live my whole life not knowing because I was never curious enough to look it up until this morning.   And when I do, I find a useful new resource: the blog of a non-fiction editor and proofreader, Suzanne Arnold.  Her lead-in hook grabs me immediately: "I watch out for the embarrassing mistakes so that you don’t have to".

So, about those knees: Apparently the term comes from an early 20th century fad, which is particularly well explained by Linda and Roger Flavell in their Dictionary of Idioms and their Origins: ‘Amongst the shocking and fun-loving flappers of America in the 1920s there was a vogue for concocting bizarre phrases that compared something deemed to be “the best” with improbable or non-existent parts of animal anatomy.’

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Bill ShaneyfeltWell, depending on what one means by "knee..."

(Wiki says it is "the joint between the thigh and the lower leg in humans.")

I suppose leg joints of a bee could also be called knees...
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2 weeks ago

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And why am I interested at this predawn hour of the morning?  Because it's the hook that comes to mind for sharing with you what's happening with my knees, because they're getting better.  Well, they're not technically better, in that they're still the same battle-scarred veterans that shot their wad of cartilage and have gone all arthritic on me, both of them bad enough for me to get placed on the waiting list for a total replacement - as soon as 250 other old hobblers get their turn under the knife first.  so they're certainly not the bees knees.

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CJ HornWowzer! For whatever reason I sure am glad you posted this!
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3 weeks ago

Scott AndersonTo CJ HornThey're an amazingly colorful bird if you get a good look. I'm hoping I'll see one with the new camera some year, but not this one. They don't make it as far north as England. I think I'll go back and find my best shot from the past though and include it here.
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3 weeks ago

Patrick O'HaraNow THAT is an attractive bird.
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2 weeks ago

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Well, here's a surprise.  I was prompted to go back and include the best photo I've ever gotten of this bird, and it's much better than I remembered.  This was taken on a day ride from Mattinata on the gargantuan Peninsula two years ago, on another of those times we had to overhaul our itinerary because of my debilitating arrhythmia episodes.  Ablation surgery was another life-changing event for both of us.

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But they are definitely troubling me less, to the extent that I realize that my radius of places I feel like I can walk to without enduring too much pain started widening perhaps a week or so ago, and has widened enough now that I'm thinking I can start walking over to Lovejoy or Umbria for my morning fix again, like I did as recently as last winter.

And I've got to admit they're getting better, a little better all the time, to the extent that I'm starting to question whether I'll need them replaced this spring after all.  And I think the answer of that is going to be no for at least one of them, and possibly both.  We'll hold that thought and walk on it for a few months and not lose our place on the list, but I'm back to thinking I should put it off for a few years more.

So what's changed?  Two things.  The first is that about two weeks back I finally started treating ibuprofen as a medication rather than a pain reliever and have started taking 400 mg twice a day whether I'm in pain or not.  It's such an obvious idea, but I didn't think of it that way before.  Now it's just in my array of morning and evening meds, treating the symptoms proactively rather than after the fact.  And it's definitely making a difference.  I'm steadier on my feet, more comfortable walking around my flat, and have a much easier time at small challenges like trying to get my coffee from the counter without spilling it.

The other change is to our new Tyenne-mandated lifestyle.  We won't be leaving the country for four or five or nine months at a time because we'll need to return and restock our Tyenne injection supply.  Which also means we'll be around often enough that I can start getting cortisone injections every three months or so.

So who knows?  Time will tell, but at the moment I'm feeling like we won't be locked down for the better part of next year with me going through two surgeries and lengthy rehabilitation periods.  Something to hope for.