Wednesday

Wednesday was a tough morning. I woke up with a bad cough, feeling like something had sat on my chest (like an old engraving of a nightmare sitting on you) and might still be there. Not a pleasant start!

Deborah, who often calls after I send a text of ‘good morning’ to start our remote day together, noticed the cough. I went for the works: inhailer, ibpropen, and Tylnon. This often can stop the inflammation, which is the real cause of the cough.

I write the blog, but I find it a bit of a struggle to finish. I am tired too. All I want to do is curl up with a blanket. I do remember to write Mom Wild a card, the last of the cards I bought at the Portland Art Museum; I will need to get new ones. I walked it, in my robe and slippers, out to the mailbox. My neighbors no longer harass me for being in a robe in slippers in the morning; nothing says ‘retired’ like a robe and slippers in the late morning!

The blog is finally published. It was hard to finish it. The exhaustion is worse. I also discovered that the English Muffins that I purchased at The Market of Choice are the Keto version. They are weird. I have one with marmalade anyway. I remember that I found them away from the bakery. Oops.

I log on to TreasuryDirect and try to change my bank settings (I did not notice that the account number needed to be updated after US Bank changed my savings to a plain savings account). I locked the account due to my missing a security question, then called the help desk. They resolved the issue except for the bank account. I then corrected the problem and ordered another T-Bill purchase. I am waiting for it to complete before doing another.

Thinking the warm water from a shower might help my lungs, I shower, shave, and soon am dressed. I am still exhausted, but it seemed to help. I decide, F**K It!, and make lunch from scratch. I fried a nice pork chop and made mac and cheese from a Portland-based pasta company (both from Market of Choice), but I put too much milk and somehow undercooked the pasta. Yikes, I should be able to make mac and cheese! The pork chop, with some Cajun-style seasoning, was terrific, making up for the disaster of mac and cheese.

I stumbled upon an old spy movie, Funeral in Berlin (1966), for about $9, and I ended up purchasing and watching it while cooking and eating lunch. It is also a book, yet unread, from a favorite writer, Len Deighton (though I only like the dramatizations). I did not know that Michael Caine did a set of these films, most based on Deighton books. I will start looking for them. 

I enjoyed the 1960s filming of Berlin and the view of the airport, the Wall, the clothing, and the cars. The story is full of betrayals, murders, and cynicism, which makes these old stories so interesting to me. No Hollywood happy ending here, just more of the Cold War burning on. It is an acquired taste; not recommended except for the images and the surprising betrayals. Some of these movies/stories have been redone as series. I will try to find the 1960s movies with Michael Caine.

Corwin stopped by after I had had lunch, and we headed to The 649. I was feeling much better from the painkillers, cooking, and eating my lunch. Crystal was bartending with Hana. I had the bread pudding dessert with coffee while Corwin had a large lunch. Cystal was happy to see some of the photos from Iceland and hear about Deborah and my trip.

Corwin headed out, and I stopped by McDonald’s and got a dietary sin of a small chocolate shake and large fries on the way to First United Methodist Church, Beaverton in Air VW the Gray. I arrived early, consumed my wicked but delicious repast, and soon joined Z in a two-person board game of Concordia on one of the smallest maps, Balearica. This map also has only ships for placement. Land-based colonists are placed only by the Colonist card, but this board is for two players (maybe three, but that would be really messy, and there are more fun choices for three). We had to end early (as the choir finished early), and I only won by four points, which could have been made up by one turn of Z’s.

The game is too close to call, with the score being stopped. But it was fun. We played with Forum, but not the fish market. I will have to learn the exceptional rules for the Rome and other maps. It would be fun to add a few more moving parts, as Z and I know this game well. There is also a solo and automated version to create a third player. More fun to come.

I returned home, finished the spy movie, read, wrote more of my SciFi novel (just a paragraph), and went to bed. I was falling asleep in the middle of Assyrian history again. I had good dreams, all of which are nearly forgotten in detail, but I recall they were about traveling. I was surprised to find that my dream travels were not about being lost and trying to find my way back; instead, I was enjoying the journey.

Thanks for reading!