Wednesday No Games and Started Packing

I sat here looking out my window in my office on Thursday morning, drinking liberal coffee, trying to recall Wednesday. It is an interesting moment as your mind first produces a blank page, then little flashes appear, connect, thread if you like, and soon the net of yesterday’s memories forms. I can imagine that folks with memory problems just cannot find those threads and then pull on them to not unravel but to assemble the memories. I find it difficult at first, and then it all comes back into my mind, and I find myself smiling. Connecting again to yesterday seems to be a pleasure. “Yes, I was there, and it still exists for me,” I think. And while I find, of late, that certain words do not come as easily as they did only a few years ago, and I walk into a room and forget why I walked into the room, but the exercise to recall the previous day every day seems to keep me sharp.

I am waking around 6ish and will have to start rising then as the sunrise is marching earlier and earlier and the night is getting shorter. After I retired, I found myself up past midnight and rising around 9. I have found a new pattern. I suspect it matches Deborah’s early rising, and that I often travel East, which puts me in earlier times.

I rolled over but did not sleep again, rose near sunrise at 7, and assembled coffee. The dishes were not done (I have been a bit lazier on this return home), and I managed to get water and wash things. The mess was not worse.

I was slightly rushed this Wednesday morning as I have a meeting with the Church Finance Committee; I have agreed to audit the books for 2025. I wrote the blog, updated Quicken, saw that the ceasefire knocked stocks up, and I recovered about half of my unrealized loss in my IRA (from 70K to 40K). I read some of the news and also saw right-wing family and friends crow about the war. So odd to me. Especially when Trump is talking about a 1.5 trillion dollar defense budget, all deficit spending; social, farm, and discretionary spending is only 20% of Federal spending and cannot, even if zeroed out, cover that. Hmmm.

I managed to complete the blog, hop into the shower, and get ready for my meeting. I brought my laptop, pens, a pencil, and a notebook. I was there a few minutes early, and we set up a room to work. The treasurer brought the records, and we went through the official United Methodist Church audit document and process.

I will not detail this here, but we found only a few issues, and all were explained and related to Quicken, not our treasurer’s work. Been there, as I used to do the books and the US and Oregon payroll requirements with Quicken and Peach Tree Accounting.  After 90 minutes, we had covered everything (I tested random expenses and every check written over the past three months). Jeanne and Karen were happy, as was I. I congratulated Karen, the treasurer for our church, on passing her 2025 audit.

As the church lay leader, I will review the 2026 receipts. Someone who is not one of the counters or treasurer needs to check them once a month. It is a control we needed to update.

With that done, I headed to lunch. Pastrini at Cedar Hills was my choice after changing my mind a few times. Ingrid, a retired senior director at Nike, was there with a friend, and we hugged and shared a few words. We follow each other on Facebook. My waiter served me overpriced wine (but excellent), but an inexpensive lunch made up for the cost of the wine.

I skipped Powell’s as I had a stack of books from various trips and two deep on my Kindle, too. I headed home, read, and even nodded off (but only for thirty minutes). I started on dinner at 4 and tried to get The Fourth Protocol movie (1987), but found it, like a few other movies, is not available in any form (except to buy a physical copy). Instead, I found The MacKintosh Man (1973) starring Paul Newman. It was awful, but still an interesting study in what could have been a great movie with better direction. 

Z was busy with Track so no choir board games.

While watching a flat performance of Paul Newman, I did the dishes, folded the laundry, and got the kitchen and laundry back into order. I baked potatoes, talked to Deborah (wishing her a good night), and then added Tuscan-style spices (something I bought in NC last year) to mostly defrosted chicken thighs (boneless and without skin). I baked everything except some fresh broccoli and cauliflower (from a bag), which I steamed in the microwave. It was an excellent meal (I salted everything, which helped with the flavors). Again, I overcooked the chicken, but not as badly as before. The potatoes could have used more oil, but I did not need extra calories.

I am remembering the book I am reading, The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards, Book 1); I remember not finishing it now, as I can see the blood bath in the story coming. I do not like the author introducing sympathetic characters and then getting rid of them. I will try to read it and see if I am right. There are plenty of good books; I have no problem moving on (I don’t have to finish).

I soon turned off the light, reading in my PJs in bed, and went to sleep a bit early. I then woke at 5ish. Hmmm.

Thanks for reading!