Saturday, October 18, 2025

     Cold morning.  Back to wearing my green puffer jacket while I eat breakfast and read the paper. Sun is out and the day will probably warm up. No heater on.

     A retired social worker friend visits me in the morning. We social workers are not afraid to talk about anything. Family, medical stories, our lives as older people, fears for the future. I love these conversations.

     The apricot tree is in fall colors. Leaves are red and orange and golden, slowly landing on the ground. Little green shoots are coming up in the dirt from the recent rains. No visiting black cat today.

     I watch Rachel Maddow’s new documentary about Andrew Young’s time with Martin Luther King.  They are all so young.  I was a young adult during the civil rights movement. I remember the distressing violence against the protesters. Will the present protests become violent. Today is the NO KING protests across the country. Certainly, the violence by the federal officers against the people is out of control. Time to stand up to the bullies.

 

Friday, October 17, 2025

     The desire to shop is strong now.  I click through images at Amazon looking, what is it that I want, what do I need.  As I young person the yearly Sears catalogue arrived. We spent months thumbing through the pages, imagining what we wanted. If I am patient the shopping desire might release it’s hold on me. 

     Two friends have been diagnosed and treated for the good kind of lung cancer. Who knew there are good kinds of cancer. Decades ago, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and died.  She did not have the good kind.  Maybe the good kind didn’t exist years ago. My bladder cancer is both, the good kind and the fatal kind. They are fighting it out. I am rooting for the good cancer to win.

     We watch two episodes of THE DIPLOMAT on netflix, such a great show.  Season three has started and is still good.

     I finished reading RULES OF CIVILITY by Amor Towles, his first book. A story about young people in New York city 1939, I loved it.

 

 Thursday, October 16, 2025

     Spend the day close to my cell phone texting with a friend who is having trouble breathing and ends up in the emergency room.  She is finally admitted to the hospital and is doing OK. It is a different experience being the well one with a friend who is seriously ill.

     The street cleaner roars down my street at dawn.  Loud music rising from the thundering machine.  Maybe 10 feet from my bedroom. Time to get up and make coffee. No leaves on our neighborhood streets. Soon construction workers are using their equipment on the near by street. Lots of noises today.

     We watch another episode of THE MORNING SHOW.  I still struggle with what is happening, who are these people, and is there a plot. Maybe my mind is slipping a bit. We also watch the latest very funny Stephen Colbert. I do understand his jokes.

     My roommate has been selected to be on a criminal trial jury.  Now I have to be careful not to ask questions about the case. I need to stick with reading detective novels. Of course, I am curious and want to hear stories. She is resisting talking about the case with me.