Today 23July2023

I have a headache, so I will not be re-reading; please forgive any misses from Grammarly improving the text or if I miss wording something. I often use a word that sounds the same.

Somedays, the hours just run away from you. Getting up late, after 8AM, made the morning disappear from me. I also wrote Saturday’s blog today after doing the first Zoom meeting. Rajani asked me to take the day off, Sunday, and enjoy the sun after working late on Saturday. But the Zoom meeting, too, seemed to drink the shallow waters of the morning until nothing remained. I did manage to do some work on the radio project with the hot glue gun. But I nearly burned myself by discovering that I best let everything cool down before I start back on the radio. The faceplate needs only to be glued in place now (and some wires cut and replaced with longer wires) to start the final assembly. It is always strange to reach the final steps.  You want it over, but also, you want to add just a few more touches here and there and not have the project ever end.

I dressed and headed out in Air Volvo. Paris Baguette was my target to get more tiramisu for Susie. I also found lunch at the Shake Shack and had a Smoked Shack Burger and fries. It burger was smallish and greasy but in a wonderful way for cheeseburgers; excellent. After getting lunch, having had to park in the reserve, I walked to the Bakery (the same one I used in NYC) and acquired two cup versions of tiramisu for Susie to take to the hummingbird house. Air Volvo then took highways 26 and then 217 to reach Susie, found at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. The Sunday traffic was light.

Susie was happy to see me, and Jennifer, filling in for Anassa, who is the usual weekend nursing aide, popped Susie into the wheelchair. We just stayed on the porch today as it was already hot. There we made a three-way FaceTime call to Leta, Susie’s mother, and Barb, Susie’s sister, and us. Leta’s bruises from her fall have spread, pouring down her face, but she said she is fine. We also saw Caleb, Barb’s son, and had a nice chat. Next, the Smiths contacted us on another three-way call. Cat was calling in from NYC for a short while, and then we chatted with Michelle and David from their beach house on the Oregon Coast. Susie, while getting a bit sleepy from the warm air, was happy to have so many people to chat with.

Next, We retired to Susie’s room and watched M.A.S.H. for a few hours. I did nod off a few times, as did Susie, I am sure. But it was good for both of us to slow down for a while. Some of the episodes I barely remember as we are in year three before the changes of characters. Today included the episode with the nutty General Steele, which first introduces Harry Morgan (later, Col. Potter) to the show.

At 5:15, waking up in the over-stuffed chair, I woke up, kissed Susie goodbye, and headed out after talking about the special dessert for Susie for tonight. Louis, the evening nursing aide (and Jennifer’s husband), wanted to clarify my expectations–Susie should get some tonight.

Air Volvo took me to El Senior’s to meet Dondrea and Z for dinner. We had a nice dinner planning our Opera adventure this coming Wednesday. We are going to catch the Philip Glass Akhnaten replay of the Met version at theaters. The Met reshows its best opera recording in the summer. Z and Dondrea have not seen this or any Met shows, so this should be fun. The lavish presentation matched the crazy repeating nature of the score and the use of singing ancient Egyptian words in some places. I am happy to see it again and share it with Dondrea and Z.

The food was good, and I had a large beer. We all decided on soups. It was a nice break for all of us. Dondrea had me explain Akhenaten’s history and how he potentially fits into the bible (not likely). I also covered a bit of Moses and the Twelve Ceasars. It was a nice time.

I returned after dinner to the Volvo Cave via Air Volvo. It was still bright outside, but I wanted to relax a bit more and read the book I picked up at Powell’s–a physical book. Zoo Station by David Downing started sad and slow, but now it is a boiling spy novel set in Hitler’s Berlin. Hard to put down, and I had to finish it to learn what happened to everyone and if the main character John Russel makes it all work. It is a Soho Crime novel, and those are usually good, and this one, after a sad start, manages to be great. Recommended. I will get the next ones on my Kindle I think.

After that, I finally started on this blog. Somehow Monday is tomorrow. I just had to sign back into work and approve another design document. The weekend, just one day for me, was very short.

Thanks for reading!