Thursday, October 8, 2026

     My friend calls me early this morning asking if I would be willing to talk at Brown Bag Zen tomorrow, Friday, at noon. The scheduled speaker is suddenly not available. Within minutes I say yes. I am ready. I check my body and it is functioning pretty well. I can do this. Last week I could not but this week I can.

     The nurse squeezes water into my ear again this week and more wax comes out. She looks into the ear and proclaims my ear drums are now visible. Success at last.

     As hard as I try to be on time for appointments, it never works. I am always early. So, I spend time in waiting rooms. Yesterday I listen to three people talking on their cell phones, business calls. Complicated financial information being thrown about. They are careful to not let on where they are. Working at home is also working in the waiting room. I love it.

     Early morning fog and now the sun is out. Perfect fall day. I am back to reading THE ACCORDIONIST’S SON, a Basque novel by Bernardo Atxaga.  I am intrigued with this book and yet I keep putting aside. I am determined to finish it. In the evening, we watch another episode of SLOW HORSES and LUDWIG. I have collected all the information I need to vote and now I am ready to fill out the complicated ballot. I feel too good to write about the corrupt president today.

 

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

     The owls are hooting and the sea lions are barking in the middle of the night. My windows are open to catch the cooler night air. And I am awake trying to go back to sleep.

     My roommate puts the drops in my ears in the evening in preparation for today’s second attempt to clear my ears of wax. Such a minor physical event and I am hopeful.

     Stuff is piling up on the dinning room table, bills, election papers, packages, newspapers, computers, gardening tools. I turn away from the table for just a day, and then days pass and the piles are higher. We wash our dirty dishes daily without a hesitation, but the dry paper stuff defy control. I am still waiting for the pathology report from my last procedure.

     In the evening, we watch the last TED LASSO episode. I will miss these silly characters. My favorite show is back LUDWIG, funny, charming. I stick with reading THE KING OF LIES in spite of my reluctance.  I like Los Angeles and San Diego. I don’t understand why the corrupt president thinks it is OK for Iran to destroy them.

 

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

     Last year the PA at the urology clinic gives me quick advice on how to avoid another UTI. I am desperate to talk about what went wrong in the recent surgery, and emergency hospitalization for sepsis. The urologist is too busy to meet with me.  The PA is in a hurry and the appointment is over before I can ask questions and talk about what had happened to me. For a year I have been mulling over why no one would listen to me.

     Now as I recover from another UTI, I am willing to hear her recommendations and try the pills she had suggested. There is a lesson here for me but I am not sure what it is.

     I tell the young man, a recent resident of Monterey, a friend of my roommate, to not worry about our heat wave. The fog will return on the third day or maybe the fourth day. I know this from 86 years of living in Monterey.  But what about climate change he asks. Well, this morning the thick cool fog is here.

     Another book I am dissatisfied with. A clever well written murder story. Everyone in the story is suffering and mean and in terrible shape.  Not one likeable character. THE KING OF LIES by John Hart. I am not sure if I will continue. In the evening, we watch the latest episode of TED LASSO and then another episode of our favorite SLOW HORSES.  I have run out of words to describe our corrupt republican government. My ballot has arrived and I am ready to vote.