Sunday, May 31, 2026

     It is morning again and again.  Morning comes quickly everyday. Sun is out.  I am sitting in my bedroom, the breakfast tray near the chair.  I drink my coffee and eat the cereal and am ready to write.  I sit here wondering what words will come up.

     My roommate is outside with friends preparing a bunch of potted herbs for a fund raising lunch today. I hear the voices but not the words. I wonder if it is time for me to get my hearing checked. When they leave, I will have the house to myself and I have plans. I need to write them down so I don’t forget.

     Yesterday I look up studies of statistical outcomes of Bladder cancer treatments.  I am trying to find if I am going to live or die soon.  As if I can ever figure it out.  The information doesn’t have to be accurate, rather just something I can hold on to, and then let it go. I hear laughter outside.

     After several false starts I find a book that interests me. STRANGERS, A MEMOIR OF MARRIAGE by Belle Burden. Today between tasks I plan to read more of this memoir. Last night we watch the last episodes of THE BOROUGHS, a truly entertaining series. And I want to say something about our horrendous politics but I am not sure what. While the sun is out, life looks good.

 

Saturday, May 30, 2026

     In the late afternoon my roommate and I go to the classy grocery store. I pick up Ad Astra bread and she slowly goes through the store picking up things she wants to eat. I find a chair to wait, noticing the many people in the store, shoppers and staff.  A really fabulous store. And over whelming with people and carts. Back home we are both tired.

     The salad garden is ready for harvest. I am intimidated by these green growing things.  Which ones are eatable. My roommate planted some flowers in the salad garden.  I feel kind of inept asking for help with the first harvest.

     I worry about our community’s immigration status. How can I help is my question. The danger seems to be unpredictable. I wonder if it is dangerous to even write about it. Such chilling times. Even in private it is scary to share too much information. I am grateful for the groups of people who are working on this problem,

     We watch another episode of AFTER THE FLOOD, but it is too intense now so we switch to watching a couple of episodes of HACKS, also intense but with a lot of laughs. I am continuing to read SWING LOW, a memoir by Miriam Toews.

 

 

Friday, May 29, 2026

     I have finally figured out my job as an older retired person. My work is to read books, as many books as I can cram into my days and nights. No one assigned me this job. But for years when I was working at a job I liked and raising kids I loved, I longed for the freedom to spend a day reading. And now I have it.

     Piles of library books and purchased books are on the dining room table challenging me to hurry up and read them.  Their voices silently taunt me,” you will never be able to read all that you want.”  I want to be fair to the books and alternate reading a library book with a bought book. This work is never finished.

     Today I finish reading Elizabeth Storut’s new book, THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY. A realistic novel of the loneliness of human life in these times. And I am also reading a memoir by a favorite author, Miriam Toews, SWING LOW, an attempt to understand her father who is mentally ill and kills himself. The middle aged heroes in these two books are high school teachers for decades and well loved. The trend of my reading today, sadness and despair, and quiet hope.

     I am watching THE BOROUGHS, an 8 episodes series about a senior living community facing monsters while living active lives.  Funny and scary. Good to see my peers getting some action. Our political news is still grim as the demented leader continues to try to destroy my country.