Today 19July2023

Today the day started at 7 with me waking to prove hydration twice at night and the sunrise waking me. I rolled over a few times and woke with the alarm. I stumbled out of bed and made liberal coffee. Breakfast was an NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce) with a veggie smear and yogurt (purporting to be Organic which I think describes yogurt anyway) with fruit (which I guess is really the Organic part) that I took to the office and started writing Tuesday’s story in WordPress.com. I also use Grammarly to correct and help with the perfection of the text. So far, the new Artificial Intelligence improvements have tried to rewrite some of the blog’s sentences into simple sentences–I resist AI that does not improve the text. I already deal with Grammarly putting and then removing the same comma and missing plurals for complex nouns.

Barb was showered, packed, and ready to head out by 9ish. We said our goodbyes, and she headed to Susie’s place to say goodbye to Susie.

Barb would arrive with plenty of time as her flights all changed, and she did not leave until after 7PM and will be arriving in Chicago at 1AM local time and getting a car to drive home to Michigan. Barb enjoyed PDX all day, reading her book and finding adult beverages to pass the time. She was offered more complex flights over two days but decided that Chicago worked for her.

I left the house after doing various chores like stripping the beds and starting laundry. Air Volvo crossed Beaverton without issue, and I was soon headed to 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. Mariah contacted me and was in the area for some medical stuff and suggested a late lunch. I continued the hummingbird house and arrived to find Susie napping in her recliner in the shared living room. Her favorite show, Blue Bloods, was running, and we completed an episode.

After that, Jennifer (the weekday nursing aide) popped Susie into her wheelchair, and we headed outside before it got too hot (it reached 92F today–33C). My black Star Wars t-shirt burned with the clear sunlight, a poor choice. We headed into Metzger Park and met Joan and Bud Goldhammer, who were also using a shady bench. They were happy to see us, and we chatted for a bit. Before that, we had called Leta and Barb, a three-way call (Barb was stuck at PDX). Leta and Susie enjoyed seeing everyone in one call. Later we called Joyce, Leta’s sister in North Carolina (and Susie’s aunt, of course), and talked for a bit too. Had I been thinking, I could have done a four-way call. Susie was happy talking to so many people, which removed some of the sadness from Barb’s leaving.

I returned Susie to Jennifer’s care and used Nav to reach Ancestry Brewing to meet Mariah; I was only a few minutes late. We both had adult beverages, just one for me as I had to return to Susie. The red ale was fantastic, and the burgers, we both had one, were excellent. We talked about writing and other items. I headed back and got back to Susie’s at 3:20ish.

Susie was resting in her bed, listening to music. I just sat in the overstuffed chair and sat next to her. We talked a bit, and Susie seemed confused about where she was and if she could go home with me. Susie was very tired from everything we did and missing her sister.

I left at 5PM, and she wanted to know when I would return and asked me to repeat it twice. She kissed me goodbye and looked like she would rest before dinner. I could see she was still a bit confused, but was mostly tired.

I headed home in Air Volvo, arrived at the Volvo Cave, grabbed my laptop, and headed to Wildwood Taphouse to write. There I had a few beers and slowly wrote this blog. Will, the barkeep, asked me questions about AI which I tried to answer and explain.

Thanks for reading!