Sunday, April 12, 2026

     55 degrees in my bedroom while I eat my breakfast. I am dressed n layers of warm clothes except for my icy hands. Clouds are dispersing, a huge rainbow sits just outside my window. Sun is beginning to warm up the neighborhood.

     I am particularly intrigued by the thought chapter of Michael Pollan’s A WORLD APPEARS. How difficult to catch our stream of thoughts and describe them. And how we each have individual streams of thoughts.  Words are inadequate to describe our inner worlds.

      I am home alone most of the day. I do my daily chores, read, nap and watch the news. My roommate returns from her master gardening class with two dozen eggs she won in the class. The tall man brings me a box of my favorite cookies from Whole Foods. The professor moves on to continue her vacation in Santa Cruz.  Slowly the clouds and wind gather for the next storm.

     In the evening, we check out the new shows on Netflix and decide to watch BIG MISTAKES, an eight episodes series. Fast moving, some shouting and lots of almost laughter. Funny, serious, grim and a bit stupid.  My kind of show.

 

Saturday, April 11, 2026

     Early morning breakfast with the professor is always full of conversation and kindness. We both like to get up early and hang out together.  She then goes for her daily walk and I read the newspaper and work on my writing.

     The potato plants are thriving in the back yard. Now the question is, will the gophers get to the potatoes before we do. My roommate is at the Saturday master gardener class with 50 students. The house is quiet.

     The three buckets are under the skylight to catch the drips from the light rain last night. More rain expected in the late afternoon. House is cool and damp this morning.

     Not much to report from yesterday, more repeat episodes of THE PITT, the landing and rescue of Artemus 2 in the Pacific Ocean, walks on the deck, naps and continuing to read several books. THIS IS HAPPINESS, WILD TREES and A WORLD APPEARS. The story lines are creating a collage of images in my 85 year old mind.

 

Friday, April 10, 2026

     Thursday morning, I see hummingbirds busy with the bright red flower clusters on the bottle bush trees. So few birds this year in the garden. This morning, rain is falling and the sky is gray.

     I remember a time in the 1980’s early in the AIDS epidemic.  I was in charge of a Medi Cal AIDS case management program and all the men were dying. For weeks I would just cry at work. So many wonderful guys were dying. And then I got used to it and better treatments were found. And I could stop crying.

     The professor is visiting for a few days. We reminisce about our childhood growing up in the same family. For a treat we are binge watching season 2 of THE PITT. Me for the second time. The second time is actually better. I understand what is happening in that fast paced Emergency Room. I am reminded of my many trips to the ER the last five years.

     I continue to read THIS IS HAPPINESS, a novel by Niall Williams. It has taken me awhile to enjoy the slow descriptive passages of a quiet Irish town in the 1950’s.