Tuesday, February 10, 2026

     Our warm weather is over. Fog yesterday, and thunder, lightening, and rain expected today. I haven’t been outside yet today. I look outside my dirty windows and read weather predictions online.

     A talented friend comes to measure my head.  She is knitting a red protest hat for me. I choose the heavier yarn. I want a warm head when I protest. I give her small whistle packages for her and her partner. We are ready to have our voices heard with our red hats and whistles.

     My roommate is now my temporary librarian.  She returns books and brings me new ones in the late afternoon. We are all waiting for my personal librarian to get well. Maybe I should go to the library myself.

     Rachel Maddow is wonderful last night as she prods these high powered lawyers to fight the president’s attempt to create many more ICE prisons across the nation. The local folks are standing up to ICE and deserve the legal assistance. I am reading book number two in a mystery series by Amy Stewart, LADY COP MAKES TROUBLE.

 

Monday, February 9, 2026

     I see the grey fog from the bedroom window.  The kitchen is flooded with sunlight.  I am living on the edge of the fog bank. Outside a flock of birds are chirping away as I pick up the morning newspaper. Now I am back in my bedroom, heater on, eating my breakfast.

     I argue with the doctor’s notes. He writes I can do what ever I was doing 5 years ago.  No, I say, I can’t. I am five years older and damaged.  Didn’t he notice. I am now 85 years old. I am just looking for arguments. My old shoes are so comfortable even if they have holes. Actually, I have very little to argue about this morning. Life is good. The fighting spirit keeps arising.

     The doctor asks how I am feeling.  I go through my body parts and mention that my feet are numb.  I can’t tell if I am wearing socks unless I look. He jumps out of his chair, What? YOU HAVEN’T MENTION THIS BEFORE.  This is a serious common side effect of the chemo I gave you.  I say, I might have mentioned it to the nurses. I had no idea what I should report in my 19  sessions of chemo.

     We watch the last season of THE BIG ‘C’.  A wonderful sit com about a woman dying of cancer. Very funny, very warm and truly scary.  Tonight, we are going to watch more of THE PITT. More action then a slow cancer death.

    Last night I go through the pile of library books to find the next read. I don’t succeed.  I spend the evening playing computer solitaire.  I am so good at solitaire.

 

Sunday, February 8, 2026

     What about the old broken water bed, hidden in the basement for decades. No one is admitting to this relic of the past. I guess an old waterbed is better than a dead animal. The two guys and a truck load up piles of stuff in their pick up truck and drive away.

     After a few days of confusion, I am now feeling unshackled. I am free to do anything after years of chemo and immunotherapy treatments hovering over me. Maybe just a transitory feeling. A good feeling.

     I talk on the cell phone with friends about their current medical conditions.  My favorite topic. But it is time for new topics. Most of my friends don’t want to talk about politics and ICE. Need to develop new interests.

     The last couple of New Yorker articles are really interesting.   I am just about finished with THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY, a really wonderful novel. Started watching LONG WAY AROUND, the first filmed motorcycle ride with those two young guys riding from London to New York through Europe and Asia and Russia.