Monday, June 29, 2026

     Early morning, the blue jay is working the bottle bush tree.  In the distance the cooing of two mourning doves. Foggy gray sky, a chill in the air. I used to be ready to get up early in the morning to start my day but now I want to just stay under the covers and sleep a bit more. 10 hours of bedtime is not enough I tell myself.  Get up.

     I finally finish season two of YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. I watch the last couple of episodes in one day. I love, hate, this show and I am glad it is over. My prejudices of wealthy people is encouraged. However, I am fond of the characters and in the end wished them well. I may be wasting my days by watching these kinds of shows.

     I have been feeling lazy or maybe weak the last couple of weeks. I am researching what to take to increase my energy. My blood test says I am fine. The doctor recommends vitamin D. Facebook has lots of recommendations for me. Maybe I am just feeling my age.

     I am now reading a fast moving novel by John Sandford, REVENGE PREY.  He has published dozens of similar books, full of action and clever brave people. A tonic to my present state and the bedlam of our country today. The Sunday Times book review is full of appealing books. Today I am sticking with John Sandford.

 

Sunday, June 28, 2026

     I remember 20 years ago standing at a train station in Long Island, New York, looking at a complicated map to determine the right train to take to the airport. My suitcase next to me. A middle aged man asks which train goes to the airport. I point to the train nearby. We both walk to the train and he gets on.  I hesitate and realize it is the wrong train. This happens too fast and I am unable to find the guy to correct the information, He thought I knew the way and I didn’t.

     My older sister says, she keeps asking people for directions or recommendations, until she finds two people who agreed. So easy to receive the wrong information.  

     I finish reading Solvej Balle’s novel ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME. Such a strange puzzling book and I love it.

     In the evening, we watch SUGAR, a strange detective story on Apple TV. I spend the day doing minor chores and napping. My roommate is out involved in the community. If I had the energy I too would be out and about. sigh. So much of my life is memories now.

 

Saturday, June 27, 2026 

     The murder weapon in SHEEP DETECTIVES is a poison made from the yew tree.  Well the yew tree saved my life. My chemo therapy, docetaxel was originally made from the bark of the yew tree.   

     I put on hold and receive two history books last week that I might want to read.  But each book, over 800 pages each, weighing too much for me to manage. Written by Tony Judd earlier in this century. I read POST WAR when it was first published to understand the effects of World War 2 on our lives. And now he has a later book.

     So, I am just reading the final chapter of each book where his conclusions are written. Now that I am old, I want to understand a bit more how my life played out. I know I started on my first job in the 1967s because of Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty and left this job in 1999 because of Clinton’s war on women.

     Mourning doves cooing this morning. Fog and sun light outside my windows. Sitting in my room deciding what to do today. What to do besides dishes and straightening up my areas of the house.