Today 22July2023

I am writing this on Sunday morning–my sister’s birthday. She is somewhere in Michigan catching fish to celebrate. Happy Birthday Linda!

Returning to Saturday morning, we will even move back into Friday. After I finished the Friday blog, I decided that I was feeling restless and went to the 10PM showing of the next Mission Impossible movie, number seven, and joined the chaos at Movies on TV. One girl was a perfect Barbie, including the high heels (I suspect her heel does not touch the floor). The late showing of the ramping down MI7 was attended by another family; otherwise, it was empty. The movie was a blast, and I was laughing at the over-the-top stunts and a plot that disappeared into the poof of amazing chase scenes and even more completely unneeded stunts–perfect. Tom Crusie’s character smashes a tiny Fiat into a wall after starting it and apologizes that sometimes it takes him a while to figure out a car–not sure that was in the script. Still, it was so unexpected it was hilarious. If you need to escape, and they do many times in the movie, this one is for you.

Air Volvo was ready to deliver me to the Volvo Cave at 1AM. I managed to sleep sometime before 2AM. That made Saturday morning a more challenging prospect. In the morning, I managed to ignore the shoe company, make an NYC bagel, and write the blog with my French Press delivering coffee. I tried to start on the radio project, noticing an issue and breaking the replacement plastic window out. I reglued it in place, and that ended that plan.

I boarded Air Volvo in the early afternoon and faced low traffic; hole installation had stopped for the weekend. I soon arrived at Susie’s 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 just finishing breakfast, and we headed to the park to enjoy the day before it was hot again (another 90F+ day with no rain–32C). I took the paved trail that led through the tennis courts to skip the crushed stone that rattles Susie and can suddenly stop the wheelchair (the loose rock buries a front wheel and halts the forward motion). The park was busy with humans being walked by various-sized dogs. Small children were with their parents on the swings or other devices for child happiness. The butterflies were meeting in columns of light between the trees, doing spirals together, and then parting and dancing across the park: Definitely showing off.

We found my favorite shady bench and did a three-way call to Barb, Susie’s sister, and Leta, Susie’s mother, and us. Barb, oddly, could not see or hear Leta on the call (how do you do that?!), but everyone else was okay. Leta’s face is red and purple with bruises from her fall, and she is tired and resting more. We played a strange game of telephone with Barb as we repeated what Leta said, but it was a good call on FaceTime so we could see everyone.

We finished the usual tour and returned to Susie’s room. I found the movie Bohemian Rhapsody on the cable, and Susie sang along for this Queen biopic. We spent the next two hours watching the story of Freddy Mercury and the band, with Evan showing at the movie’s finish. Susie had an Ensure while we watched the show. Once the film was completed, I promised to return soon after grabbing a fast lunch. Evan and I did a sub sandwich and then dropped off a copy of 2600 for Dondrea (signed by me on page 57). We returned soon to the hummingbird house, and Susie was having lunch. Evan headed out, and I stayed with Susie for ninety minutes watching M.A.S.H. I had to return to the home office by 4PM to start my shift.

I was just on time with traffic returning and running slow. I logged into my shoe company laptop and started an hour of status meetings, plus a bonus Zoom meeting, as there was a crisis of the moment. I spent the evening following along and monitoring the current crises. I reheated the jambalaya from a few days ago for dinner. Later, being a bit bored, I made scones from a box (cranberry and orange), King Arthur Flour brand–recommended. I watched an episode of The Avengers (1966) after seeing a fan work on Mrs. Peele (Diana Riggs). Returning to the shift, I stayed until 1AM to update folks on the crises I watched.

I finally slept after 3AM, making Sunday morning harder.

Thanks for reading!