Monday with writing

I had little sleep the night before, so Monday was unusually challenging; most weeks, it is more like a Saturday, with sleeping in and chores. I rose at 6 and manually started the coffee I had assembled the day before. It is loaded with liberal coffee.

The first apple blossom.

I began to write, but I was time boxed with a medical appointment at 9:45 in Portland. The blog is always a set of competing goals of telling stories using formulas to make transitions effortless, stream of conscious capture, trying to remember what happened the day before, and editing (deleting) unneeded items (other people’s stories, political statements, and repeated items).  I sit in my chair, the same place I sat through the pandemic and worked and wrote. I have worn out two chairs and broken the tile in this space. More than five years now of writing here.

I rush and get 3/4 done when I see that I am at my stopping point. I hop into the shower, shave, etc., and soon board Air VW the Gray. The traffic through Beaverton creeps, but the Monday morning rush hour is light in Portland, and I arrive at the Good Samaritan Campus in Portland, park, and head to the Knight Cancer folks.

Aside: Knight, as in the family that controls Nike. For example, they gave over $100 million for cancer work at OHSU in 2008. The family has given away more than a billion dollars to programs in Oregon.

I park on C level near the place where I once took an ambulance from a reaction from chemo. I remember how hard it was to get help; I had to lie down on the cement to get attention while I could not breathe. The reaction is strange as it feels like you are dying, but you can breathe. I knew this, but I could not stop the reaction, and I had no way to tell if it was real or not. I could not speak. I was trying to get back to the chemo people but could not make it. Eventually, I was taken across the street in the shortest ambulance ride of my life, treated, and released. We skipped the drug next time.

With that memory, I put on my mask and headed to the appointment. They took blood, and I was reading the results before the doctor showed up. He also brought the same doctor-in-training. Everything was normal. I have a slightly enlarged spleen, as shown on my CT scan, but there are no signs of an issue. It’s something to monitor. I covered my travel since we last spoke and that I was headed to Iceland in July. With that, another CT scan and a visit are planned in six months. It is all boring, and that is what you want in oncology: to be a boring patient.

I stopped on my way home from Portland at Elephants Delicatessen, which was nearby. They were between breakfast and lunch; I had a bowl of their freshly made clam chowder (with Pacific Northwest clams) and a breadstick. I sat in their Garden Room with a blazing fire. I wrote more of the blog but did not finish it. I headed home as I had only three days to pack and prepare for a week in Michigan.

I arrived at home in the EV without issue. The traffic inbound to Portland looked messy. I started to pack but felt very tired. I had not gotten much sleep the night before. Soon, I was snuggled up on the bed with the pillows and fell into a deep slumber.

I dreamed pleasant dreams, but I cannot recall the details. I woke a few times but did not rise until after 3. Soon I shook off the sleep and returned to the kitchen. I reheated some coffee.

Somewhere in here, I finished and published the blog.

I drove to US Bank. I received two checks from the City of Portland, including tax refunds. I have found these checks do not easily deposit electronically and carried the checks to the bank office. But I discovered I had only one. F**k. I waited in line and soon deposited the check. I return home by way of the veggie place at the corner of TV Highway and 185th.

I got just a few items as I am traveling soon: lettuce, a small bunch of green beans, asparagus, and some garlic. It was only $12 there. The folks there remember me and ask about my next trip. Michigan on Thursday. I return home, find the missed check, and put away the veggies.

Next, I ate the last of my homemade pickles. I emptied and washed out the jar. I found another jar. I found another cucumber, peeled (waxed skin), cut into spears, added garlic and dill to the jar, and got the cucumber bits to fill the jar. I heated dried garlic from New Orleans, salt, pepper, more dill, salt, and vinegar with some water in a pan to a boil. I poured that into the jar. I had much left. I quickly cut some asparagus to fit in the smaller jar and fill it. I am short, so I had some cider vinegar (all I have left) and hot water to fill the extra jar. Both jars cool and then the lids are replaced and set in the frig. I will get more distilled (clear) vinegar on Tuesday and do the last cucumber.

I read more about the Battle of Jutland 1916 from a book by an American Naval officer in the 1930s. It is frustrating as the author did not footnote the text, even when quoting other sources. Today, I finally hit his analysis of the fleet strengths, war plans, and distribution of forces and the impact of geography. All of this is interesting to me, and I have not read a matching analysis in the ten or more books I have read on the battle, nor have I read this in the various wargame versions of the fight, except in the oldest game, Jutland 2nd Edition(1972) by Avalon Hill. The author states that the Germans are outgunned 2-1, hampered by geography, and will lose an all-out fight. The British fleet is large and split into multiple forces and locations. This could allow the Germans to cut off and damage/destroy a part of the British fleet. Interesting as the Battle of Jutland 1916 provides a version of all these options simultaneously.

Next, I made dinner. I had set out a pork chop to defrost, and it was mostly defrosted when I fried it in a pan on high heat to get it brown. I also heated the contents of a jar of couscous sauce, a North African flavor. I made couscous with spices, almond slices, and raisins. I had a few servings of the couscous with the spicy and lemony sauce. Excellent.

I start packing and organizing for a trip. I talk to Deborah for a while until she rings off sleepy. I head next to Wildwood and have a few beers. It is quiet there and I manage to write more of my story (book) and reach 5,400 words and start to assemble a direction for the story. I had only a vague idea but it is now forming up in my mind.

I close the place at 10PM and take the EV home. There, I assemble the coffee for the next day, decide to leave the dishes for Tuesday, and soon am in bed reading. I am tired and soon sleep. Thanks for reading.