Today 10July2023

I have been cleaning, buying groceries, cleaning more, doing laundry, and finding things I did not know we had or had seen for some time. I am trying to get the house ready for guests. Mostly, I have had little time or strength for the home. I found Susie’s pill collection from the Europe trip and my carry-on for our NYC trip. We never unpacked in some ways as the pandemic, cancer, and strokes happened one after the other. I am just now feeling strong enough to clean. Until recently, work, visiting Susie, and writing the blog exhausted me. Now I can keep going. There is so much I want to do: Machine Learning in Python, model building, electronics, robots, rockets, painting figures, writing adventures for Role Playing Games (RPG), playing RPG, playing board games, roses, travel, travel writing, horror, movies, and so on. I am feeling better and starting to do more than just make it work. Cleaning will allow me to get to my next items!

The morning, today I am working a required shift in the office, was me up at 6:00AM, finding a bagel, NYC style (thanks, Joyce), and quickly read emails, Slack channel updates, and news updates. I also enjoyed liberal coffee made in my French Press. Soon Barb, Susie’s sister, will be here to share a pot of liberal coffee–Barb arrives on Thursday afternoon staying a week. Next, not rushing, I showered, dressed, got coffee into my thermal cup, and boarded Air Volvo to fly over to the office at 7AM. No traffic, and school out means a brief trip.

My first hours (yes hours) at work are status meetings, and today they seemed endless (until 10AM). I had a comment about work here that I deleted–I can’t put that here.

I left early after reacting to some more crises of the moment and quickly was at Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was in her recliner in the shared living napping. Jennifer, the weekday nursing aide, told me that Susie was not interested in eating that morning, and she had to help her eat some of her oatmeal. Susie did drink her Ensure (with protein). Susie woke and was delighted to see me, but I could see she was not awake and never really woke up. We did call Leta, Susie’s mother, from her recliner in the living room. Susie and I agreed to skip the park today; it was an overcast, damp day (no rain, just mist).

Susie managed to stay awake for the call, but she slipped back into dreams when that was over. I stayed with her until noon and then left with a kiss. Susie looked confused that I was going so soon (she had slept through most of my visit) but was reassured with a kiss and a promise to return.

On my way back to the office, I stopped and ate at Jimmy John’s. I had a sub (Spicy East Coast Italian), read emails, and thought about the crises at work. A few moments of peace allow me to clarify computer problems and possible solutions in my mind. I returned to work and had some direct discussions about the issues and fixes. I headed out at 4PM, and the light traffic had me home, the Volvo Cave, soon. I rested for a moment, and at 5ish, I went and bought groceries at Whole Foods and brought those home. There I also got a spicy sandwich for dinner. Next, I put the stuff away and started the laundry. While I ate my sandwich and had some nectarines, I started over Good Omens show on cable TV; the new season started at the end of the month.

After that, I cleaned the toilets, did even more laundry, and swept the floors. I also tried to get more things off the floors. I found more items for Goodwill and memories from our trips.

I found the cookie we received (Cat and I) when we were there for the reopening of The Phantom of the Opera in NYC. I found Susie’s pill bag for our Amsterdam trip that ended on the day that Patient Zero arrived in Europe. These were all good memories.

I tried to organize the bedroom for Barb and to put things away that had just piled up over the last six months.

Finally, I returned to writing this blog. I have some more laundry running. I will not be done when Barb is here, but I will take the time while she helps with Susie to get things better at the house.

Thanks for reading!