Three Beautiful Things 08-17-2025: George Washington's Home Church, I Nixed that Idea, Cooking Panko Crusted Pork

1. Debbie sent pictures today of the Diaz family, Jack, and her at Pohick Church in Lorton, VA, an Episcopal Church, notable for having been the home church of George Washington. Debbie texted Christy, Carol, and me a description of how she was moved by worshipping where George Washington also did and mused about his prayers for the United States as this new country was in formation. 

2. I thought it would be fun to drive to Montana this afternoon, but I got as far as Osburn and suddenly decided it wasn't really what I wanted to do. It's rare for me to feel this way, but I just didn't feel like driving. So I returned home, knowing the NYTimes Monday crossword puzzle would be available at 3:00 and I dove into it, figured out the theme before long, and worked the puzzle to completion. 

3. Overnight, I thawed out a small but thick chunk of pork and as I started preparing to cook my dinner, I decided to cut its thickness in half. I cracked an egg in a bowl, covered both sides of the two pork pieces with egg, and then rolled the meat in a mixture of panko, salt, pepper, and rosemary. 

While the pork cooked, I boiled fresh green beans.

In the skillet I used to cook the pork, I covered half of the surface with leftover jasmine rice and poured the rest of the egg over the rice and then covered this mixture with leftover panko, rosemary, salt, and pepper. 

What a great meal! 

Not only was it very satisfying, but I couldn't eat all the pork and I have a nice piece left over for Monday. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-16-2025: Restful Drive to the Airport, I Kept Going, Ah! Some Rain!

1. Niece Molly enjoyed a short and intense visit to Kellogg. She was deeply involved in her longtime friend Summer's wedding on Friday and enjoyed the post-ceremony festivities that evening. 

I picked up Molly at 8 a.m. this morning and drove her to the airport. We talked a little bit about the wedding and later she shared breaking news she just received from Brian about mice, but, for the most part, we travelled in silence.

I hoped that after about two and half days of talking a lot and tending to business in preparation for the wedding, that an hour of mostly silence was a welcome way for Molly to begin her weekend of rest and recovery.

2. Knowing I was driving to Spokane this morning, I'd imagined myself dropping off Molly and then going somewhere for breakfast. 

I didn't do that. 

I wasn't all that hungry and I had some driving momentum built up and didn't want to break it by stopping somewhere. 

Once home, I wrapped some refried beans, scrambled egg, rice, and sharp cheddar cheese in a flour tortilla and this breakfast satisfied me just as much as a meal at a cafe. 

3. I know we need some good strong rainfall here in North Idaho to slow down the fires.

We didn't exactly get that today, but I enjoyed the relief I felt driving to Spokane and back again in the rain. 

My hopes that the rain would continue throughout the day didn't come true, but the temperature today was much cooler, I welcomed the mostly overcast skies, and I began to think that it won't be terribly long until we won't have hot weather and unrelenting sunshine day after day. 

I'll enjoy that. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-15-2025: Roger Called Me, Organic Market Nostalgia, Navigating Google

 1. Every so often, when he strolls to the grocery store, Roger, my lifelong friend, calls me from Salem, OR. 

That happened this morning and we had a fun conversation about how machines on the casino gaming floor work, the 1970 Spokane Indians, and Debbie's purchase of another silver Toyota. I got kind of carried away telling Roger about our son-in-law Hiram's world-wide status as a euphonium player. I guess my endless yakking about Hiram arose because Debbie is back at the Diaz household again and I didn't know if Hiram had returned from a musical engagement he had in Portugal. 

2. Debbie sent me a picture today that sent me into a minor tailspin of nostalgic happiness. When we lived in Greenbelt, MD, from time to time I ventured over to the Hollywood neighborhood of College Park and bought groceries at Mom's Organic Market. Shopping there took me back to shopping at the Kiva in Eugene and now, when I shop at Pilgrim's in CdA, I get nostalgic for Mom's and the Kiva. 

Anyway. 

Debbie and Jack went to the Mom's Organic Market in Woodbridge, VA today.

Debbie sent me a photo of Jack outside Mom's. 

It sent me back to Eugene and College Park and over the 4th of July Pass to Pilgrim's. I was entranced. 

It's fun being someone who's easy to make all dreamy and wobbly kneed -- just over a grocery store. 

Btw, if Debbie reads this post, I want her to know I also mind traveled back to DC's Ivy City neighborhod and the Atlas Brewing tasting room and our conversation with that young couple. She'd gone to the U of Oregon. Had he? Can't remember. But we had a great talk and they had just finished shopping very nearby at Mom's Organic Market on New York Ave NE in DC. 

3. I think someone out in the world of cyber mischief making fooled with my primary gmail account. Google intervened. I wouldn't have known anything happened except I discovered Google canceled my gmail password. I did a little looking around, a little reading, got a grip on what I needed to do, and after a few Google-guided steps, I successfully changed my password. 

It's a relief for me whenever I navigate one of these processes, however simple it might be. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-14-2025: I Saw Dr. Bieber Today and Report on My Appointment

1. Shortly after noon o'clock, I met with Kootenai Health's Dr. Bieber, nephrologist, at the Shoshone Medical Center's Smelterville clinic. 

I'd seen the results of the labs I had drawn a week ago. I'd heard from the transplant team in Spokane. Dr. Bieber confirmed what I thought to be true: the blood work didn't raise a single red flag and while we might wish the protein in my urine would disappear, that situation is not getting worse. It's stable. The condition of my new kidney is very good -- we seem to have minimized the impact of the early signs of rejection that emerged about three months ago. 

2. Dr. Bieber and I had a good discussion of a problem I've never had in these twenty years of focus on and treatment of my kidney disease: low blood pressure. 

The upshot of our discussion was simple. I'm cutting back on a couple of meds, monitoring my blood pressure closely at home, and if it goes high again, I'm to contact Dr. Bieber for advice on readjusting my medicine. 

My cholesterol level has been a little bit high over the last few months. After letting that ride for a while to see if it would come down on its own, Dr. Bieber decided it was time to increase my dosage of Lipitor a bit. 

As I've said before, all the kidney pros I talk with are in agreement that, yeah, ideally I never would have had this episode of rejection of my kidney getting underway. 

But, it did. 

And the Spokane pros and Dr. Bieber are in agreement that stability is good and that when it comes to day-to-day performance, my transplanted kidney is doing its job very well. 

In fact, I now have a stretch of two months before having another kidney related appointment. I see the transplant team in late October and I don't need to see Dr. Bieber again until mid-November. 

Labs? I'll have blood drawn next week and then I'll find out whether I'll continue to go in every two weeks or if that schedule might also be relaxed a bit -- to maybe once a month....

3. This meeting with Dr. Bieber was low key. Yes, we discussed a lot of details, but in a relaxed manner. Dr. Bieber and I get along well.

Nonetheless, this appointment knocked me out. 

Fortunately, I didn't have anything I had to do this afternoon and so I could eat lunch, sit still for a while, and eventually go back to bed and enjoy a deep sleep in which I lost all sense of time and place and wasn't quite sure when I woke up just where I was. 

Copper straightened me out. 

My afternoon nap gave me a pretty good boost of energy and it felt good to be running on a fuller tank through the evening until I retired later. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-13-2025: Debbie Bought a New Car in New Jersey

1. When I woke up this morning, I thought I'd probably hit the road and enjoy the drive from Rose Lake to St. Maries to Plummer to the CdA Casino. I thought I might stop in St. Maries and eat breakfast at the Timber Lodge Cafe. 

I didn't think Debbie and I would be the proud owners of a 2025 Toyota Corolla.

Ha! 

But we are. 

Debbie and Adrienne went to somewhere (Ramsey maybe?) in New Jersey, Debbie texted me that she'd bought a car, and later she sent me a picture.

Now we have two silver Toyotas. 

2. Knowing now that Debbie had the fob to a new Corolla, I hit the road later than I thought I would. It was hazy in North Idaho from fires somewhere, but I enjoyed driving along the Chain Lakes and easing into St. Maries. Since I arrived in St. Maries too late to order breakfast, I didn't stop at the Timber Lodge Cafe, but I drove the scenic highway between St. Maries and Plummer and stopped in for another Winning Wednesday at the CdA Casino. 

Following my pattern over the last few weeks, I just relaxed on the machines, hit a few modest winning spins, and after a while and after spending the equivalent of dinner for two and a couple of beers at Radio Brewing, I headed back to the Camry. 

3. Debbie was going to call me later on, but I got the a/c going in the Camry and, instead, I called Debbie from my parking spot. 

We had a great conversation about Debbie's purchase, money, insurance, the to be figured out later future of the Subaru, and Debbie's plan to hit the road again on Thursday (Aug 14) to take Jack to Woodbridge, VA so he can see the Diaz family. 

It's all good. 

After Debbie and I hung up, I called the insurance agent in Kellogg with a billing question. That's all good. 

I drove home to Kellogg.

My mind wandered back to 1972. 

The Moody Blues released a single that year from their Seventh Sojourn album that struck me as fitting today. 

Remember it?

"Isn't Life Strange" 

Isn't Life Strange - YouTube

Three Beautiful Things 08-12-2025: Nurse Jenn Checks In, A Welcome Long Wait, I Call Debbie

1. Nurse Jenn from the transplant team messaged me a cheery report that the blood work I had done last week looks stable. I see Dr. Bieber on Thursday the 14th and I'll have some questions for him, especially about my blood pressure and the lower than usual diastolic readings. It's also not clear to me just yet if the new medication I started taking a couple of weeks ago is helping with the problem of protein leaking into my urine. 

2. On the spur of the moment, I decided I'd had it with my shaggy hair and so I drove to CdA, enjoyed lunch at The Breakfast Nook, went to Supercuts and came out relieved that I no longer looked like Fred MacMurray's sheepdog, and I bought a few items at Trader Joe's. 

It didn't take long for the heat to make me feel a bit shaky. All I had to do was walk across the Trader Joe's parking lot and put groceries in the trunk.

So I got back in the car, drove to Costco to fuel up, and I saw that a huge vehicle pulling another car was in the lane of the pump I prefer to use. 

I eased the Camry behind this behemoth, kept the A/C going, and relaxed to the music of Sirius/XM's Symphony Hall.

A woman tapped on the passenger side window. 

I put the window down and she told that I might want to gas up at a different pump because the leviathan in front of me was going to need about 65 gallons of gas. 

I made her laugh when I said, "Thanks, but I'm right where I want to be. I got too hot and I'm enjoying letting the air conditioner cool me off. I was actually happy to see that I was going to have a long wait so that I could listen to music here in the car and get more comfortable. Thank you for thinking of me."

Giggling, she said, "Okay! As you wish! I'm glad we could help you feel better!"

This worked out perfectly. I did get more comfortable. I loved the Tchaikovsky piece playing on the radio. And by the time I gassed up, I felt normal again and I had a most comfortable drive home. 

3. I got an email from Debbie that prompted me to call her just to clarify one thing and it took about a second to find out we are on the same page about some home business. To my surprise, on Thursday, Debbie will drive Jack (who just returned from a visit to his grandmother in Eugene) to the Diaz home in Woodbridge, VA for a weekend visit. 

I was staggered to hear that she is going to hit the road, especially given how very tired she was after her trip to Lake Michigan, Chicago, and to Woodbridge. 

But, Jack will get to see his cousins. Debbie will have more time with her grandchildren and with Molly. (I don't know when Hiram returns from his music trip to Portugal.) 

I told Debbie that I don't know how she's doing it. 

Her response, "Neither do I." 

Three Beautiful Things 08-11-2025: Gibbs Gets Spiffed Up, I'm On an Acrostic Streak, Easy Dinner

1. It's fun taking Gibbs to the groomer. He arrives eager to be cleaned and clipped and when I return to pick him up he jumps all over me with joy that he feels so clean and looks so handsome. 

2. I'm streaky. I go on book reading streaks. Movie watching streaks. Music streaks. I never break Joe DiMaggio's record. My streaks are shorter. Today, I continued an acrostic puzzle streak. For much of the day, it was all I wanted to do. It was a stimulating and challenging way to stay out of the sun and heat. 

3. I've neglected to take advantage of having these cans of tomato, corn, and okra that Debbie bought, but today I opened one of them, added a can of chickpeas, and stirred in some leftover jasmine rice. Fixing such an easy meal meant I wasn't pulled away from the acrostic puzzles too long (ha!). I thoroughly enjoyed this meal. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-10-2025: Catching Up with Debbie, Postmodern Jukebox Videos, Simple Dinner

 1. For the last ten or eleven days, Debbie has spent time with family on Lake Michigan and in Woodbridge, VA. Over those days, she kept me posted about how things were going with terrific photos and text messages, but this evening we had an extended phone call now that she's back in Valley Cottage, NY. 

Debbie's voice was exhausted from the travel and the intensity of concentrated time with so many people over a short time, but we talked for over an hour and we both have a much clearer picture of what's going on in each of our worlds. 

We are accustomed to dealing with uncertainty and here we are again. While we know things are solid between us, that things at home in Kellogg are going very well,  that Debbie is doing exactly what she needs to be doing, and that we both agree a hundred percent+ on that, we don't know just yet when we'll see each other next. 

2. From time to time, I thoroughly enjoy watching videos of Postmodern Jukebox covering well-known songs by transforming them into wholly different genres of music than how we know them.  Today I discovered a recently posted video of Postmodern Jukebox performing "House of the Rising Sun" in the style of soul music, featuring a superb soul singer I hadn't heard of named LaVance Colley. (I'm not very familiar with soul music on the whole.) 

Before I knew it I was happily watching Postmodern Jukebox on video after video enjoying songs like "Time of the Season", "Stayin' Alive", "The Chain", "Seven Nation Army", and others performed superbly in musical styles miles away from how The Zombies, Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac, and The White Stripes originally recorded and performed these songs. 

3. A bed of rice, a generously peppered, salted, and garlic powdered ground beef patty, some fried (unbreaded) rings of white onion, and a vegetable loaded green salad turned out to be just the simple and tasty dinner I needed with so much on my mind after Debbie and I had our jam-packed conversation. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-09-2025: The Perils of Perfectionism Are On My Mind

 1. Online, its title is "The Pain of Perfectionism". In the hard copy August 11, 2025 issue of The New Yorker, it's titled "Enemy of the Good". It's an article by Leslie Jamison in which she interviews and discusses the work of two psychology specialists, Gordon Flett and Paul Hewitt, whose life work has focused on the problem of perfectionism.

On our sibling outing to Clark Fork, the subject of perfectionism came up and we discussed it in relation to how it can contribute to crippling chronic clinical depression. 

I was blown away by the timing of this New Yorker article arriving in my mailbox Friday and was grateful for how it added to my meager understanding of perfectionism and how Christy, Carol, and I were right on the money in ways we discussed it in the car. 

Flett and Hewitt's work goes back over thirty years. Rather than go into detail about it in this blog post, I'll just say that perfectionism contributes to mental illness, physical ailments, and suicide rates. 

I came away from this article assured of what I've contemplated in the past: perfectionism is a demon.

If you'd like to read this article, I can email you a PDF copy of it, or I can send it to you through Facebook Messenger. I cannot text it to you. 

I don't know if this article is behind a paywall. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link: https://tinyurl.com/v6rpvmsf

2. As I read this article, I realized that I've been more plagued by people I thought (rightly or wrongly) expected perfection from me than by perfectionist tendencies within myself. 

I'll leave it at that, except to say that feeling these expectations from others (whether they had them or not) has never done me a lick of good. 

3. I also thought today about how, when I was working, I grew increasingly resistant to the idea of rigor. I guess I began to think that possibly rigor, making high demands on students, might be an enemy of the good. Couldn't students learn and perform well, I used to wonder, without the pressure of rigorous demands on them? 

I suppose some of this questioning had to do with the ways that enforcing rigor, given my personality, didn't come to me readily.  

About thirty years ago, I first read the poem "Her Right Eye Catches the Lavender" and as Gerald Sterns' poem develops, the speaker of the poem self-reflects and asks: 

Why did is take so long

for me to get lenient?

From that point forward, that question repeated itself constantly inside me. 

Oh, for sure, I backslid into not being lenient from time to time, but much more than rigor, being lenient came to govern how I approached my work and my relationships with my students. 

I hoped back then that I could convince my students to be lenient with themselves as writers. I used to encourage them to sin boldly. Let it rip. I always thought I could help students more who were not cautious as they wrote than if they wrote cautiously. 

They didn't need me to expect perfection. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 08-08-2025: Restoring Blood Pressure, Yakkin' at The Lounge, All's Well Back Home

1. A couple of low blood pressure readings today led me to increase my water intake and eat a salted bowl of popcorn and it worked: my blood pressure returned to a much more acceptable level. 

2. With my blood pressure restored, the low level of lightheadedness I experienced earlier in the day lifted, and I not only felt much better, I rocketed up to The Lounge and met Ed for a couple of Bud Zeros and had a great time yakkin' with Ed, Cas, and then Pete Miller. 

It was a relaxing hour or so. 

Just right. 

3. Back home, I checked my blood pressure again. 

It was in good shape. 

I fixed myself a delicious shrimp and vegetable stir fry.

I also laundered some bedding, 

I then thoroughly enjoyed the comfort of crisp clean sheets!