Friday, April 17, 2026

     Close to my home stands a tall old pine tree, actually several tall pine trees all on city property. Squirrels race across the limbs jumping from tree to tree.  Twice in 50 years I call the city forester to check on the trees. Will they fall on my house in a strong wind. No no, the forester says. There are laws against harming trees. I am not so confident.

     The most comfortable park bench to date is in the Presidio Park over looking Monterey harbor. They fit my body. They are made of some sort of molded substance. They win my award of best designed park bench.

     I finally finish reading A REAL EMERGENCY, a memoir of working on an emergency ambulance. Fabulous book.

     And we watch the last episode of THE PITT, another fabulous series. I thought I had found another series we could watch but I was wrong. EUPHORIA was disappointing. The public verbal fight between the New York guy and the Chicago guy continues, with the New York guy being foolish and maybe demented

 

Thursday, April 16, 2026

     My mind is full of rapid ideas, streams of thoughts.  I am going to be the substitute speaker at Brown Bag Zen on Friday. The talk should be about a dilemma in my life now. Mostly I have medical issues. But who wants to hear my medical stories.  My mind is definitely unsettled this morning. I trust my mind will figure it all out by Friday noon.

     I had a huge collection of brown paper bags piled up on the kitchen floor. Yesterday I gave a bunch to a visiting friend. Now I just have a large collection.

     While my roommate is out for the evening I watch several new shows on TV. The one I like is EUPHORIA. Might be a good show to watch together.

     I start rereading MOON TIGER by Penelope Lively.  I had read all of her books in the 1990’s. A tricky book that requires all of my attention. And I love it. And of course, the political news continues, will the president be impeached or maybe drummed out for incompetence. I will be glad to see him gone.

 

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

     Of course, I have a lot of opinions about politics in our country. I watch the daily news. I read the newspapers.  But I am tired of my opinions, tired of pushing for some point of view. We do watch several TV shows but right now the names escape me. I think about from Michael Pallon’s book on consciousness, THE WORLD APPEARS. Life is such a mystery.

     The birds have returned to the bottle bush trees this morning. I was afraid they would never return. Jumping around on the loose limbs, chirping and eating things too small for me to see.

     I do two chores on Tuesday. At the bank I pick up some cash and deposit a check. I may be one of their last customers going to the counter and asking for cash. My bank has been sold to new owners and now new furniture and new staff. How safe is this new bank now.

     I also go to the library and pick up 7 more books to read. I use their courtesy walker to move my book pile to the check out station. A staff person brings the books out to the car and my roommate brings them into the house. I am working on getting stronger. Books are so heavy.