Friday, August 14, 2026

    Six booms come through the open windows, fire crackers or maybe gun shots? Dark outside, lights on in the house. No sirens. A dog begins barking. Still no sirens. No flashing lights. I don’t know what gun shots really sound like. My only gun experience is through books and TV. No gun exposure in my family. 

     Wind and fog all day. Today more of the same. I approach each day with the thought of anything is possible. A friend arrives with eleven more library books and conversation. 

     The solitary potted giant sunflower plant is now outside in front of the kitchen window.  I sit in my blue recliner in the living room. The large golden flower keeps an unblinking eye on me. I am being monitored. 

     I cannot continue to read AGING OUT, an exploration of caregiving, community, and how ‘Americans grow old.  Too scary to read as vulnerable older woman. The book I am liking is a self published book, THE MEDICAL ETHIC, A PHILOSOPHICAL MEMOIR by Russell Noblett, MD. The focus is on the creative process of medical decision making. And a third book I start last night, a novel NORTHWOODS by Amy Pease.