Story 3July2022: Sunday

The morning started at 7ish, and I was feeling better about mornings. They no longer felt like something was sneaking up on me, and pop, it was morning! I did Zoom meetings beginning at 8. I also wrote the blog covering Saturday. I have gotten into the habit of writing the blog the morning of the next day. I was happy to finish the work calls without any issues for me and the blog, with plenty of time to dress and be ready for church.

Aside: After the surgery, certain new habits developed in my colon. I misunderstood the signals this morning, and there was a sudden disagreeable clean-up. I only mention it as it is why I dressed so early for church and did a laundry load today. I had to be careful all day and had a close call at Hummingbird House, but no clean-up.

Air Volvo got me to church on time and without incident. The organist, Harold, was practicing a lovely rendition of America when I entered the sanctuary. The Rev. Anne Weld-Martin gave the sermon–our new pastor will not start until next month. She focused on citizenship and the tension of being a citizen of a country and a citizen of the Kingdom of God. The scriptures for the sermon covered the Old Testament prophets saying to walk humbly with God and provide justice in the world. Then the New Testament scripture focused on the story of Jesus asking whose face is on the coin and answering to give Ceasar what is Ceasar’s. Rev. Anne also quoted Martin Luther King saying that the church is the conscience of a nation, not its master or servant. She pointed out that the church is hurt when we fail to keep this separation. Our lives in the US are about giving God what is God’s and also providing to the state what is the state’s while living to bring justice to the world and walking humbly with God.

After church, I joined Anne and her husband, Dr.Rev. Wayne Weld-Martin, for lunch. Anne was fatigued as she was on call for the local fire department and was awakened to help with a terrible car accident, but it was not needed after all. Wayne, who has been in and out of the ER a few times in the last couple of weeks, was feeling a bit better and picked Sherri’s for lunch. He had breakfast, I had the new “goddess” salad, and Anne had a roast beef dip sandwich. We had a friendly chat, but soon it was 1PM, and I had to leave.

Air Volvo got me across Beaverton without incident (I witnessed some extra-legal driving demonstrating exciting lane changes from my fellow drivers), and I was soon at Hummingbird House to see Susie. She was still eating her lunch. The soup was thin, and Susie wore more than she was eating. After I set up for a movie, I helped feed Susie. It was another thirty minutes or more before she was done.

Susie seemed a bit grumpy and not happy about lunch. I think she was hungry, and it was just maddeningly slow going with the soup. Susie gave up on the soup and finished with some apple sauce I fed her. She said she was too full, and that was enough.

Hana, the nurse on for Sunday, moved Susie to the recliner in the activity room. I then called Susie’s mom, Leta, and they chatted a bit. Susie seemed a bit tired but managed to talk to mom for about 15 minutes. Evan, his work closing early for a holiday, came over for a second time and watched the movie with us.

This was the second half of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore that we started on Saturday. Susie and Evan both fell asleep during the movie. I like this one as it seems to have returned to some of the playfulness (even when it is scary) of the first movie of Fantastic Beasts. It also explains some of the illogical behavior of Dumbledore and others in the previous two films. This movie has the replacement of Mr. Depp playing the bad guy. Again, I like this one.

After the movie, I had a call for work, and then with a kiss, I said goodbye to a sleepy Susie. Susie was sleepy yesterday and again today, Saturday. I am becoming concerned that Susie may start a new phase. So, I will continue to watch.

Evan and I stopped by Iron Taps, a new tap house for us. This is a more homey filling place with all the taps written on chalkboards, not using an electronic screen. It was a bit dark for me, but Evan liked it. I then took a status call in my car.

We decided to try to make it work, getting lunch next door at Jimmy John’s Sub. I had the Italian Night Club. This is an old-school grinder with coleslaw, but too large for me. So I ate only about 3/4 of the sandwich. I had a Mexican-styled beer with the sandwich. Previously I had tried a Belgium beer that I did not like much. We carried the subs over to the Iron Tap.

Next, with no work items for me from the calls and watching the Slack channels and email, we go with the board game Architects of the West Kingdom on a corner table with just enough light. I managed to drop the game on the floor while setting up and made a mess. We played a fast game with it ending with Evan missing the win by five points. A very close match.

Architect of the West Kingdom is a newish game with my favorite mechanic. The player has effortless turns and a complex multi-turn strategy. The Euro game style is to have complex turns with many options and possibly does multiple levels of triggering. It can be interesting to have complex turns like in Vindication and various Mars games, but I find games like Concordia and Architects more my style.

Aside: I also like the board game Lisboa which is the worst for complex turns. I find the journey more interesting than winning, and Lisboa is a crazy complex game with fascinating options for each turn. Also, in Lisboa, you can play on another player’s turn. I like that in games–no waiting and wondering what the other players are doing; you are always involved.

I said goodbye to Evan and headed home in Air Volvo. I stopped by to gas up AIr Volvo, having waited until the last 10 miles on the warnings. I would not usually mention such a run-of-the-mill item, but it was my first $100 fill-up! Yikes!

I got home poorer with my new $100 in gas in Air Volvo. I did the dishes and completed the laundry. I finished watching The Ninth Gate with Mr. Depp, a fav of mine. I then read and fell asleep despite all the illegal fireworks explosions.

Thanks for reading!