Quiet day as I struggle with this cold. Sat in the sun on my front stoop for half an hour this afternoon reading a mystery story.

It's amazing how comforting it is to read mystery stories when I feel sick. I have a stack of serious books next to my bed but what I really want is the comfort of a story that confronts the chaos of the times and resolves it.

Also I ate some of my brother's gift box of Godiva chocolate.

UMMMMMM

I have a cold and I feel like a baby, lying in bed staying warm. My telephone has been on and off, hasn't quite worked right. Feels like it is being jammed by some outside activity.

Since this is a military town I immediately think it's some secret military experiment. Just up the street, the local elementary school has been turned into a secret military school to study terrorism.

This morning my phone now works.

A huge wind storm blew in last night. When I went outside to pick up the morning paper my three aluminum chairs had been swept off the porch.

back to bed now.

It was just the next thing to do today. A clinic appointment for bone density and mammogram.

I asked the technicians questions about the amount of radiation exposure. I am nervous about reaching that tipping point in radiation exposure.

My eyes filled with tears and I fought to hide them in this conversation. I tried to describe my radiation treatment 6 years ago in neutral tones, to match their voice. I knew I was sounding like a cry baby.

Maybe there is no way one can be neutral about a past painful experience.

I had the tests, maybe for the last time.

sigh

so where are all the bumper stickers on cars now. I walked through the Hospital parking lot and didn't see any, I did see one Obama sticker in a back window and a few yellow ribbons to support our troops.

We vote in two months, we have endless TV coverage but have we given up on taking a stand on our bumpers?

Maybe the cars no longer have identifiable bumpers. The new bumpers blend in with the car.

I saw several old cars and trucks with silver bumpers but even these cars were nude.

I miss bumper humor.

I overheard at the store a woman say she had no money because the satellite was down. And then at the gas station, I had to pay in cash because the satellite was down. I asked the clerk where the satellite had gone and he gave me a puzzled look. He pointed to the sky and said to me in broken English, It's down, it's down.

I went to the bank and got money just in case we were headed for some emergency.

Is the satellite being down some harbinger of what?

Sigh

Met a friend in the early evening at the elegant East Village Lounge, soft world fusion music, low lights and most of the tables occupied by single individuals in rapt attention to their open lap top computers, their faces bathed in the light from their screens. The silence was broken by the occasional cell phone one sided conversation.

My friend and I met to talk and to write.

It felt like we were in a science fiction world.

This morning a single heron stood in the old nest in the tall pine tree. I look every day as I drive past the gully.

Yea!

I went to my favorite pottery store the first day of the annual sale. The store was filled with potters who were anxious to sell their wares. I was the only customer.

While I was carefully looking, several of them asked if they could help me, did I want to talk to the potter who made the pottery. I kept saying no and backing away.

Finally I said to the fourth person who came up to me: I AM A SHY SHOPPER, IT IS BEST NOT TO TALK TO ME.

Oh, sorry, sorry. No one else approached me.

I bought two pieces and was very happy.