Three Beautiful Things 10-26-2024: Friendly LCC Ghosts Visit Me, Reading *Washington Black*, Meeting My Physical Needs

1. Friendly ghosts kept visiting me today. 

I have no way of knowing, with a few exceptions, if these friendly ghosts were phantoms of the living or the dead, but they had one thing in common: they were students in classes I taught at Lane Community College, starting in 1989. 

I welcomed their visits today. They took me back to memories I cherish. 

I had been a community/junior college student at NIC from 1972-74 and those two years, especially thanks to superb, generous, and very supportive instructors and academically motivated classmates, changed the direction of my life.

I suddenly realized, in late summer of 1989, when the LCC English department hired me part-time, that I could begin to extend to the students in my classes the kind kind of generosity, knowledge, understanding, and support the NIC faculty I worked with extended to me. 

I worked at LCC for twenty-five years. That entire time I continued to draw upon the influence of my experience at a two-year school (as well as my experiences at Whitworth and the U of Oregon). At NIC, I especially enjoyed being in class with students older than I was -- many were military and Vietnam veterans, others were making changes in their lives, others had come to see the value of going to school later in life.

Now, starting in 1989, I got to work with these older students as an instructor, got to do what I could to help these older students and the fresh out of high school students work together, learn from each other, come to appreciate each other. 

These friendly ghosts visited, but didn't speak to me today. 

They appeared to me looking not like they did as many as thirty-five years ago, but came to remind me that they had aged, that while some of their faces might be frozen in my mind as what they looked like decades ago, those eighteen to twenty year olds were in their fifties now, some of the older students were, just like me, seventy years of age and older (one former student, Jane King, just turned 101), and I marveled at how many years had passed and wished I could remember all of the students I'd worked with. 

I recall vividly what we studied together, what kind of writing I assigned.

But I was working with anywhere from forty-eight to a hundred and seven students per quarter.

I can't remember them all, but I sure enjoyed the visitations of the ones who floated into my memory and visited my consciousness today.

(On the mournful side, these ghosts also moved my mind to think about the fact that so many of the instructors on the English department staff that I worked with starting in 1989 have died -- and I felt once again the appreciation and warm feelings I had for them, along with my past students.)

2. Whoa! I look back at what I just wrote about ghosts and I left out a lot. I could write almost daily in this blog about the uplifting memories I have daily of the many people, still living and dead, I loved working with at Lane Community College and all of the students, too, from 1989-2014.

So why today? Why so many friendly ghosts, so many memories and loving feelings today of so many LCC staff, fellow faculty, and students? 

I don't really know.

But, these intense experiences today could have been inspired by the book I'm reading.

Esi Edugyan's Washington Black is the story of a slave in Barbados who comes under the care, as his assistant, of a scientist and abolitionist who takes Washington Black off the island of Barbados, away from the sugar cane plantation.

An adventure and coming of age story ensues, narrated by Washington Black as an adult looking back on these adventures and on his passage from youth into adulthood. 

It's a coming of age story. 

I'm about half way finished with Washington Black. 

I don't know yet how these adventures will conclude. 

But, I do know that what I call ghosts (the book doesn't) from Barbados continue to visit Washington Black, especially the ghost of a slave named Big Kit -- she was still alive when Washington Black escaped Barbados.

I wonder if reading a novel about a grown character looking back, of having figures from his past visit him through memory, also spurred my mind to invite or -- I'm thinking of the surprise ghosts -- to accept  the many friendly ghosts who popped into Kellogg today.

3. Yes. This was a largely metaphysical day.

But, I cannot live on ghosts and memories and feelings alone.

I have physical needs, too.

Today Debbie told me she'd take care of dinner and early in the day she made a comforting, thick, delicious, warming cheeseburger soup and we dipped into it all through the day. 

It was a source of great pleasure and sustenance -- and kept me grounded in the physical world, a world I frequently seem to depart from as I read, entertain ghosts, negotiate with memories, and commune with the world of spirits, both divine and of the human and animal sort. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-25-2024: Christy and I Have Lunch with Kenton and Gerri, Bool Kogi Stir Fry, "Jupiter" and My Dreamy Feelings

1. Kenton Bird and Gerri Sayler popped into Kellogg today. 

Yesterday, Tony Teske had brought some historical Bunker Hill Company materials to me at home and my job was simple: give them to Kenton today so he can take them to the U of Idaho library. 

That happened. 

Even better, Kenton, Gerri, Christy, and I met at Radio Brewing for a nearly two hours of conversation and food. 

We had a lot to talk about: what's up with mutual longtime friends and mutual acquaintances, what's happening in Kellogg with Bunker Hill and with specific buildings, books, kidney transplant (zzzzz), the Kellogg Public Library's challenges and what its future location might be, and more. 

It was a rousing time together -- and along with great conversation, we executed the business at hand and those materials are on their way to the University of Idaho library. 

2. On one of my after Sacred Heart trips to Trader Joe's, I bought a package of marinated Korean beef called Bool Kogi. I've been itching to try it out and the stars aligned today and I made a dinner using it. 

More specifically, I made a stir fry.

I started by warming up a couple packets of Trader Joe's indispensable Thai Wheat Noodles. 

I sliced up the Bool Kogi into smaller pieces and stir fried it in the wok along with red onion, red pepper, mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, cilantro, and kafir lime leaves. 

The flavors were terrific. I thought the beef pieces were a bit tough. If I buy Bool Kogi again, I'll experiment with ways to make the beef more tender. 

But, the somewhat tough and chewy beef was not a deal breaker.

We loved this dinner and I'm a little embarrassed to say we couldn't stop eating it until all the food I prepared was gone.

No leftovers tonight! 

3. Once again, this evening, I had the experience of hearing a piece of music that set a complex of dreamy, stare into the great beyond feelings into motion. It felt like those feelings ought to be connected to specific memories, but, once again, I couldn't call up those memories and so I was feeling, feeling, feeling, but not remembering what happened in my past that made those feelings come over me so strongly. 

What was the piece of music? 

The "Jupiter" movement of Gustav Holst's larger composition entitled, The Planets. 

I'll just have to accept that my feelings are strong, but my memory is less so. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 10-24-2024: Travel Possibilities?, Mesmerized by Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze", Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich

1.  Despite finding it easy to be content staying home many days, I also know that I lived nearly thirty-five years in (or near) Eugene and I dearly miss the many people I used to teach, socialize, worship, take pictures, and yak with. People very important to me also live in New York and Virginia and I loved living in Greenbelt, Maryland and roaming around Washington, DC and other places in the eastern USA. 

I have an appointment on Monday, October 28th with the transplant team. 

On October 26th, it will have been six months since I received a kidney transplant.

How close am I to being able to fly, say to Baltimore, relatively safely? How about in March? Or mid-April? 

It seems to me that a drive to Oregon in early December shouldn't be a problem.

After all, I drove to and I spent three nights at the Wildhorse Resort just three weeks ago, protected myself, and didn't contract any illness.

I think that's a good sign.

I'll see on Monday what the pros at the Providence Sacred Heart Kidney and Pancreas Transplant have to say.

2. As I've played Bach Radio on Spotify, from time to time a piece of music comes on that stops me, mesmerizes me, and calls up feelings that I think should be attached to specific memories, but I can't seem to locate the memories.  It's a vocal piece, but I've been moved by a rendition arranged for piano, without a vocalist. This gorgeous composition comes from Bach's Hunting Cantata and translates into English as "Sheep May Safely Graze". 

If any of you reading this post recognize this tune and can tell me if it was part of a movie or television soundtrack or accompanied something else I might have heard it on, I'd be most appreciative. 

3. Debbie called me from Radio Brewing late this afternoon and wondered if I'd like her to bring home dinner. I was poised to make Korean rice bowls for dinner, but I kind of liked the idea of taking a night off from cooking and I said, "Yeah. That would be good." I'll build the rice bowls on Friday! 

She brought home a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich with a pasta salad for us to split and it hit the spot. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-23-2024: New Bedsheets, I Revive an Old Pleasure, Night Music - Another Revival

1.  After a couple of fun-packed days going to Spokane and Airway Heights, I spent today at home and focused on getting my laundry done. After doing a bedsheet inventory last week and deciding to donate two sets of perfectly good sheet sets that I bought as an experiment and decided I didn't want after all, it was especially good today to launder the two sets of sheets that I ordered online and that arrived over the weekend. 

2. I returned to a former pleasure today and yesterday that I'd almost forgotten about. 

It's simple. 

I heated up milk in a saucepan and fixed morning cups of coffee that were about half coffee and half hot milk. 

It's as close as I can get to a cafe au lait. 

3. I've returned to another former pleasure that got away from me over the last, oh, fifteen years. 

When living in Eugene, I used to have music on all through the night. Sometimes it was the Grateful Dead channel on Sirius/XM. Other times I played Eugene's classical station, KWAX, through the night or I'd play jazz programming from KLCC. 

Recently, I brought our wireless speaker in the bedroom and Copper and I have had music on all through the night, mostly via Spotify. Recently, I've been playing jazz as presented on Chet Baker Radio and to classical music as curated on Bach Radio. 

I play the music quietly all through the night and day. At night, it doesn't hinder my sleep. When the music does wake me up, it's not as a hindrance -- it's because, say, a classical piece I have a long history with and a deep love for, has come on and something inside me wants me awake to listen to it. 

I'm not very good with the names of classical pieces and I don't always even know what composer's work I'm listening to. But, I guess you could say I'm good at feeling how these pieces get to me and it's a pleasure to feel the happiness, sadness, nostalgia, love, and other emotions that rise up inside me and to have memories I cherish come back to me, even if in fragments. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 10-22-2024: Relaxing with Ed, Nurse Jenn Says Labs Look Stable, Sandwiches for Dinner

1. I'm not comfortable writing in this blog about other people's medical matters, so suffice it to say that today Ed had an important meeting with a doctor in Coeur d'Alene -- it was a very productive session -- and as a way to relax after it was over, we had made a plan on Monday to head over to the Spokane Tribe Casino.

Ed and Nancy returned to Kingston, I picked up Ed, and we rocketed over to Airway Heights. 

Our first order of business was to go to the Caesar's Sports Book and each make a wager on the World Series. I like betting on underdogs, so I threw my modest bet down on the Yankees. 

We both wore masks in the car. Ed's had a mild head cold lately and volunteered to join me wearing a mask.  I left my mask on in the casino, wore vinyl gloves, and spent my entire session in the non-smoking section. 

So, I felt like I protected myself well.

Had my luck only been as good!  

I had one of those sessions where I just never got anything going. 

Darn. 

2. When I read my lab results on Monday, I thought the numbers looked stable and solid.

This afternoon, Nurse Jenn fired me a message telling me that the team saw my numbers as stable and solid, too. 

My creatinine increased a tad, nothing big, and that moved Nurse Jenn to remind me to stay hydrated. 

I agree with her. 

I think I've been slacking a bit in this area. 

I'll focus more on drinking plenty of water. 

3. Late in the afternoon, Debbie texted me with a request: please cook a couple stips of bacon.

That meant one thing: Debbie was going to fix herself a bacon and tomato (no lettuce) sandwich for dinner. 

I fixed myself another kind of sandwich, more in keeping with my current dietary restrictions.

It was simple: Trader Joe's egg salad with fresh basil and cucumber on Great Harvest's Harvest Blend bread. 

It worked perfectly. 

Three Beautiful Things 1021-2024: A Dark and Successful Drive to Spokane, Making the Rounds, Pork and Squash Dinner

1. I just said to myself: "Okay. I'll deal with it!"

What was it?

As I blasted out of Kellogg this morning, I faced dark and rainy weather and stretches of standing water.

Visibility was limited -- it improved some once I arrived in CdA -- and when cars or trucks passed me, they splashed a blinding amount of water on my windshield. 

But, I knew what the deal was. 

I accepted it. 

I maintained a moderate speed, no matter how fast some of my fellow drivers decided to drive. 

I focused on what was in front of me, didn't really care what other drivers did as long as things seemed safe (and they did) and I arrived in Spokane, parked in the outpatient parking garage, checked in, got called into the lab, rolled up my sleeve, and the always friendly and competent Angela drew the blood that Dr. Murad ordered. 

The lab posted results on my patient portal within a half an hour and I was happy with every result I saw. Creatinine: stable. White blood cell count: firmly in range. Potassium and magnesium: firmly in range. Glucose: in range. My urine was clear and all the tests results expressed good news. 

Why do I drive to Spokane for labs, even though I could have them done in Kellogg?

I like knowing the results really soon. That's one reason. 

In addition, for some reason, when I go to LabCorp in Kellogg, there's always a billing hiccup I need to tend to. The billing at Sacred Heart is never a problem. 

And, lastly, I enjoy, even in dark, rainy weather, driving to Spokane. 

No kidding. 

2. Moreover, I really enjoy what I do in Spokane after I visit the lab.

I rocketed up Grand Blvd and east on 29th and pulled into the Great Harvest parking lot, walked in, and bought a loaf of Harvest Blend bread and loved sitting quietly and enjoying a Morning Glory Muffin and a couple cups of Cravens Earth and Sky coffee.

After a peaceful stop at the bakery, I shot a ways further east on 29th and strolled into Trader Joe's and had a great time stocking up on chicken tenders, a variety of pot stickers and dumplings, nuts, a Greek salad and a chicken lunch for Debbie to enjoy at school, and other fun purchases.

I ended my trip to Spokane by dashing downtown mostly via Southeast Blvd and picked up the last two books I bought online in my most recent Auntie's Bookstore order. I now have all the books on Leah Sottile's list and will continue to work my way toward reading all the books her list recommends. 

3. Debbie had requested pork and butternut squash for dinner tonight. 

No problem. 

I peeled and cut the squash into pieces just a bit larger than bite sized and baked them alongside a garlic and peppercorn pork tenderloin I purchased a couple of weeks ago at Trader Joe's. 

It worked!

 

Three Beautiful Things 10-20-2024: My Reading Gone Barbados, Autumn Themed Family Dinner, Former Oregon Duck Sparks the NY Liberty

 1. I have started reading another book on the Leah Sottile list. Entitled Washington Black, written by Esi Edugyan, so far it's the story of a teenaged slave in Barbados named George Washington "Wash" Black. He works the sugar cane fields on a plantation named Faith. The aged master of the plantation dies and a horribly cruel nephew of the original cruel master inherits the plantation and imposes a reign of ultra authoritarian terror. This new master's brother visits Faith and the brother takes Wash into his care to work as his assistant in his scientific explorations, observations, and experiments. 

The brother, named Titch, is benevolent and so, at least in the book's early chapters, Wash's life takes a turn for the better, much better. 

2. Tonight Christy, Carol, Paul, Debbie, and I met at the Roberts' home for a proper autumn dinner. Well, I'm not sure the appetizer I brought, smoked salmon bits atop a lemon chive cheese spread over a rice cracker was much of a fall offering, but Carol's pot roast and vegetables, her gluten free biscuits, and Christy'a autumn salad were all befitting the change in season. 

Our discussions roamed all over the place:  television programs, stereotypes, the upcoming World Series, life at Pinehurst Elementary School, and more. 

It was a delicious, comforting dinner with good vibes all around the table. 

3. While we ate dinner, the NY Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx were playing the deciding game of their best 3 out of 5 championship series in Brooklyn. 

I quietly checked the score from time to time, but as the only person genuinely interested, I kept my yap shut about the game, even as it went into overtime. I didn't say anything when the Liberty triumphed either. 

Trust me, if you were a follower of women's basketball and couldn't check in on this game and I told you the Liberty's 67-62 victory was significantly fueled by a player who played for the Oregon Ducks, you would surely, for very good reason, assume I was talking about Sabrina Ionescu.

But, no! 

Ionescu had a terrible night shooting -- but contributed solid assists and rebounds -- and the former Duck who sparked the Liberty's victory, off the bench, was Nyara Sabally. Injuries riddled Sabally's playing days at Oregon and, hurt, she sat out her first seaaon in the WNBA. She played limited minutes this season for the Liberty, but tonight she more than rose to the occasion of this championship game, scoring 13 points and snaring 7 rebounds and had a key steal, a crucial blocked shot, and a significant rebound in the overtime period.

I didn't see the game, but I read all about it and, within myself, not out loud, I let loose with a great big GO DUCKS!

I hope Nyara Sabally can build upon her great contribution tonight and get more playing time, stay healthy, and become a solid player in the WNBA.

Three Beautiful Things 10-19-2024: Donations and Ears Lowered, Petco and a Riveting Email, Costco and I'm On the Wagon

1. I had fun with the whirlwind today. 

My bebopping around began with a drive to Osburn where I donated the clothes and bedding I cleared out of the closet yesterday to St. Vincent's and I stopped at Capparelli's Espresso stand for a latte for the drive to CdA. 

I glided into CdA and went to Supercuts where I was the only customer.  Robin went right to work and had me out the door in under fifteen minutes. 

2. I decided, just to do something different, to blast up to Petco and check out the cat food situation. All I was looking for, really, was variety and that's just what I found, so I bought two thirty-two packs of wet food. Each pack had four varieties of styles, some fish, some meat. 

I probably care more about this variety idea than Copper does, but I had fun thinking it matters to him! 

I then sat in the Petco parking lot for a while and read a riveting email from Scott Shirk. I had written him a kind of long email thanking him for giving me the book A Month in the Country, one of his touchstone books, and I told him about working my way through the Leah Sottile list of book recommendations. 

Scott's response made me very happy -- he told me about reading he's been doing, his recent plunge into the music of King Crimson, and he sent me two gorgeous pictures, one of Cate (his wife) with their daughter Aarabella and one of Arabella alone, and, whether or not he intended to, made me wish I were going to New York City soon -- and to Brooklyn, where he and Cate and Arabella live.  

Scott and I have done some awesome roaming in Manhattan and it's been twelve years since I visited the Shirk family's residence in Brooklyn. 

Immune system willing, I'm ready to be leavin' on a jet plane and get back to New York (and Washington, D. C.) again as soon as possible! 

3. I indulged in a really fun shopping trip to Costco. (No sarcasm. I always have a blast in Costco.) 

Once I gassed up the Camry, I made sure that we'd be set for the next couple of months or more with ground beef, chicken wings, shrimp. try tip steaks, dishwasher pods, oatmeal, olive oil, paper towels, and maybe some other things. I also took care of making purchases so that Debbie and I are all set to make our Sunday family dinner contributions. 

I popped into Pilgrim's Market after Costco to buy more Cravens Earth and Sky ground coffee and snagged a morning glory muffin out of the bakery case. On my way to the freeway, I snuck into Union Roasters and treated myself to a latte for the road.

Whew! 

Pre-transplant, this was exactly the kind of trip to CdA that I used to enjoy topping off with delicious craft beer at any one of CdA's fine breweries and tap rooms. 

But, for now, I'm abstaining. 

Maybe I'm being too cautious, but so what! 

I want the medications I take twice a day to keep my body from rejecting my new kidney to work and if there's even only an outside chance that alcohol could interact poorly with those medications, you'll find me on the wagon! 

Three Beautiful Things 10-18-2024: Inward and Outward Restoration, Sorting and Tidying and Cleaning, Delayed Trip

1. I thought a lot today about how J. L Carr, in his novel, A Month in the Country, parallels the external with the internal. The novel's main character, Tom Birkin, works on the restoration of a long grimed and painted over mural in an old church in Yorkshire. We see that this external restoration gives us a visual, metaphorical picture of the restoration of his soul, of his inner life, he's experiencing while doing this work and living in the country. 

2. I realized today, when I thought I would put flannel sheets on my bed, that Luna (RIP) had torn up the fitted sheet of my flannel set. I saved the flat sheet and pillow cases, but I didn't have a full set to put on the bed. 

This discovery energized me to get to work.

I cleared a bunch of clothes and two perfectly fine sets of sheets I don't want any longer out of my closet. I'll donate these items. I turned my mattress. I laundered what bedding I have left and ordered two sets of sheets online. 

The room I sleep in and where I spend many hours reading and being with Copper during the day is tidier and cleaner.  I always enjoy crawling into bed when the sheets, blanket, bedspread, and pillow cases are freshly washed and dried. I'm grateful for this burst of sorting and cleaning energy that possessed me. 

3. Today I had planned to blast over to Costco and Supercuts and possibly drop into Pilgrim's Market, Kohl's, Petco, and who knows what else. 

But, because of my sudden burst of energy to tidy and clean up the bedroom, a burst that lasted much of the day, I'll delay my trip to CdA and gallivant another day.  

Three Beautiful Things 10-17-2024: Money Review, Going Off Script at Yoke's, Steak Dinner!

1. Every six months or so, I jump on the laptop and join a financial professional or two who work for the company where I've invested in a retirement account. Today, one of those pros and I talked about medical things to get warmed up, reviewed my account, addressed a few questions, and signed off. 

We'll talk again in April. 

Things looked fine. 

2. I had a few items on my shopping list at Yoke's today. Once I put those in my cart, I drifted over to the meat case, wondering if something might jump out at me that I hadn't thought about for dinner tonight. 

Small, thick tri tip beef steaks called out to me. 

So did a package of bacon. 

I answered the call and began to imagine just what I might do with bacon and these little steaks to make a (I hoped) fun dinner. 

3. I let the steaks and the bacon warm up to room temperature. First I fried three strips of bacon and poured some of the grease in our cast iron skillet for cooking the steaks. I took the bacon out of the pan and made a mess of onion, mushrooms, French green beans, and corn -- and once it all was cooked, I added broken pieces of bacon back in the pan.

I kept this side dish warm and seasoned the steaks with Trader Joe's garlicky and spicy seasoning blend called Aglio Olio. 

I didn't want to overcook the steaks. At the same time, in my post-transplant life, I am supposed to be sure to cook meat through and through. 

I'd say that I cooked these steaks right at medium rare. I hoped they were cooked enough not to make me ill. (So far, no problems!)

We had some bean salad left over and I put out that container and that was your meal: steak, vegetables with bacon, and bean salad. 

It worked!