Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    I complain to the staff that the basement garage is too dark for me.  Get some lights down there I say. And they shrug their shoulders and tell me to park there.  I don’t.  A few weeks later a staff person tells me sheepishly, there are actually lights in the basement garage. We have learned to turn them on in the morning.  

     Another wonderful morning sitting in the Larkin house garden, talking with a friend. The garden is coming alive after last week’s rain. People walk by, taking a short cut through the garden to another street. We sit on the new benches under the arbor and converse back and forth.

     For a couple of nights I take a Tylenol pill at bedtime for an achy shoulder. And I am now sleeping better then ever with that tiny pill.

     I am alone in the evening. I watch several episodes of the MAJOR CRIMES series on Netflix. Murder dramas with quirky police people. So satisfying to me. Reminds me of my work at the welfare department decades ago. I continue to read REGIME CHANGE, a hopeful look at the corruption of the Trump mob. The election is coming, the election is coming.

 

 Tuesday, October 27, 2026

     Reading the morning paper about wars and poverty helps me understand my current upset is really small. My palliative care oncologist has retired.  When I last meet with him, he seems old and tired. The phone caller from the cancer clinic wants to help me find a replacement doctor. There is no replacement. People are not interchangeable.

     I worked with him for 6 years. He was willing to listen to my ideas and concerns and to create a workable plan for treating my bladder cancer. It is good he is taking care of himself, and I am also sad. When I am ready, I will begin the search for a new palliative care oncologist. He wasn’t perfect but he was kind and thoughtful, and smart.

     I have survived the two vaccines.  My arm is ok and my energy is back.  I drive my roommate to and from her afternoon medical appointment. I promise her this time I will not get angry at the staff. I keep my promise even though the one potential parking place contains their garbage bins. I surrender to the hopelessness of improving this office’s parking culture

     We watch an episode of last weeks THE DAILY SHOW. We both want to laugh a bit. We also watch some of MY BRILLIANT CAREER. I continue reading REGIME CHANGE, the report of Trumps incompetent and corrupt presidency.

 

Monday, October 26, 2026    

     My roommate makes early morning appointments at CVS for our flu and covid vaccines on Sunday. We talk about this for months and finally on Saturday I say now is the time. I don’t want to get covid or the flu. Six years ago, I develop a pulmonary embolism after the first Covid vaccines, and am sent one hundred miles  away to the Stanford Hospital ICU. The medical people say the embolism is related to the kidney cancer later found, not the vaccines. But my body is still cautious.

     Of course, the vaccine shots are easy. Walking through the mega store is exciting. So much stuff to buy.  It has been years since I have been in a store.

     While writing this, my roommate is talking calmly to a frantic small bird who is smashing around my bathroom. This is the third bird trapped in the house this week. She catches the bird and takes her back outside. My roommate has become a bird whisperer.

     We watch three episodes of MY BRILLIANT CAREER, a new series netflix. My New York daughter recommends it. No murders, no violence and likable characters. Perfect for us with sore arms and a bit of tiredness. Next week is election day. Maybe I believe too much that our country will improve, life will be better when we win. These corrupt politicians have a strangle hold on our country.