Three Beautiful Things 12-30-2023: Working Out to Sting, Picking Up Groceries for Christy, Peaceful Time with Copper

1. I arrived at the Fitness Center with a goal in mind. I would exercise as long as it took me to burn a certain number of calories. I was disappointed when 12 noon rolled around and the gym was closing and I hadn't reached my goal. I didn't arrive at the center early enough, but I still got in some good exercise.

Lately, I've been working out while listening to albums from 1985 when three albums I loved at the time were released: Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms, Sting, The Dream of Blue Turtles, and the Talking Heads, Little Creatures. Today, Sting serenaded me for the first forty minutes of my session. I wondered whether, at age 70, I would still have the high regard for Sting's songwriting and his work on this album with Branford Marsalis that I did when I was 31 or 32 years old when I purchased this LP. 

I do. 

As my mind traveled back to 1985-86, I thought a lot about how much I was loving my teaching assignments the Univ of Oregon and how much I enjoyed fellow graduate students.  I loved these albums that were coming out and often played them while teaching myself to shop and cook on a small budget in my cozy basement apartment on W. Broadway in Eugene. I had great friends, was into a lot of independent and international movies showing at Cinema 7 and the Bijou that came out around that time, and enjoyed hanging out with my then girlfriend. 

I also started reading all kinds of material as I tried to launch the writing of my doctoral thesis. 

I loved the reading. I learned a lot. When it came to writing the thesis, though, I was lost and I never found my way. 

Sting's music called up a lot of warm memories, but also took me back to this failure in my life. 

Yin and yang.

2. After working out, I parked in the Walmart parking lot and PRESTO! a Walmart employee showed up at the back of the Sube with groceries for Christy.  She loaded them up and I transported the goods to Christy's house and she's set for a while. 

3. Debbie was watching a movie on her computer and I decided to join Copper and work on the Saturday and Sunday NYTimes crossword puzzles with him. I lay down beside Copper and extended my left arm and he put one of his cheeks on my open hand and purred. I think little by little, Copper is warming up to the idea of positioning himself closer to me when we are together. For much of the rest of the time we were together, I also put my hand on his back and on his belly and this further relaxed Copper. 

He was content. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-29-2023: Christy Goes to PT, I Read About Feral Urban Cats, I Finish the *Henry Fool Trilogy*

1. Christy continues to go to Smelterville three times a week for physical therapy and I drove her to her session today and got in a forty minute work out myself. As best I can tell, Christy's is making very good progress as she recovers from surgery. Her reports have been positive and she continues to dedicate herself to exercises at home and excellent self-treatment. 

2. The most recent issue of The New Yorker ran an article by Jonathan Franzen about the complications caused by feral and abandoned fertile outdoor cats in Los Angeles. It focused on the efforts of people dedicated to trapping these cats, having them spayed or neutered, marked with a tiny bit of ear clipped, and returning them to where they were trapped. The idea is to reduce the outdoor cat population while conforming to no kill practices. 

This story got very complicated. There is a shortage of vets available to treat the cats and most vets reserve only a small block of time to do these surgeries on vagrant cats. Many vet clinics won't take these cats.  In addition, cats are capable of reproducing at four months old. Cats are good at reproducing. With their outdoor populations growing, these cats are susceptible to predators (human and animal) and disease and depend on people in neighborhoods or people like the ones featured in this story to feed them. Further complicating the story is the fact that cats themselves are predators and kill a lot of birds. They are also capable of befouling and damaging people's properties, making them an often terrible nuisance. 

Ultimately, this story was about the relationship between animals (whether dogs, coyotes, cats, or others) and human beings. The article never used the phrase, "animal rights", but the different perspectives about how humans should treat cats and the efforts to solve the problems of proliferating cat populations reminded me of reading I did in my early days at LCC that raised questions about the rights of animals and what moral and ethical standing animals have in relation to human beings. 

My understanding might be mistaken, but I seem to remember that Copper came into Kathy's life as a stray cat and Kathy took him in some years ago. After reading this article, I thought a lot about how safe and well taken care of Copper has been all these years since having a home, first with Kathy and now with me. I know Copper would like to spend time outdoors and if I could confine him, like we can Gibbs, to the back yard, I'd let him go outside. But Copper can leap to the top of all our fences and then he wanders and I have decided I don't want him going into other yards with dogs nor do I want him hiding under one of our neighbor's porches -- which he did for the short time he was an indoor/outdoor cat.

So I keep him in the house where I always know where he is, can keep him safe, and feed him well.

I'm really happy he didn't end up living the kind of life I read about so many cats leading in The New Yorker piece, abandoned, wild, diseased, and in continually in some degree of danger. 

3. Debbie had plans to spend time with Diane late this afternoon and I decided to stay home and watch the last movie in Hal Hartley's Henry Fool trilogy. I'd recently watched the trilogy's first two installments, Henry Fool and Fay Grim and now I was ready for number three: Ned Rifle.

Ned Rifle is Henry Fool and Fay Grim's son. As the movie opens, we learn Fay Grim is serving a life sentence in prison and ex-con Henry Fool in on the lam. Ned Rifle is in a witness protection program, living with a Christian minister's family, but early in the story he turns eighteen and decides to strike out on his own.

He is determined to find and kill Henry Fool.

And so his odyssey begins. 

This movie takes us deeper into the damaged lives of Fay and Simon Grim, of a graduate student named Susan, (she has a dark connection to Henry Fool, is ghost writing Fay Grim's autobiography, and wrote a doctoral thesis on the poetry of Simon Grim), and of Henry Fool himself.

Hal Hartley's movies do not tell plausible stories.

Rather, they explore the very real and plausible interior realities of his characters. They explore damage. They explore decisions. They explore accidents, fatalities, intellectual ramblings, and human fragility.

So the things that happen in this movie are outlandish, purposely so. 

But what we learn about interior damage, about the longing for reparation, about the forces of inevitability strike me as truthful, upsetting, and provocative. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-28-2023: Talking Heads and Aerobic Exercise, Mellow Afternoon, Superb Pasta Dinner

1. Thanks to holiday closures and our dinner on Dec. 26th, I hadn't been to the rehab gym in CdA for a week and it felt great to be back on the machines again, find out my lungs sound, in Claudia's word, "beautiful", my blood pressure is golden, and that I'm very slowly losing some weight or at least not gaining a bunch of pounds. The Talking Heads' 1985 album, Little Creatures, worked superbly as musical accompaniment and right now to my huffing and puffing. and  The Talking Heads and Jethro Tull (Aqualung) are doing an especially great job helping me burn calories. 

2. I enjoyed a quiet afternoon -- I had no reason to leave the house and so I relaxed by working crossword puzzles and napping a little bit. 

3. Our Hello Fresh box arrived on Wed. instead of Monday and I was stoked to see that one of the dinners was Lemony Spaghetti with Brussels Sprouts, a delicious pasta dish made extra good by the roasted panko that goes atop the spaghetti once it's served in our separate bowls. I love the lemon, the red pepper flakes, the thinly sliced Brussels Sprouts, and the white sauce of this meal. It not only tastes really good, not only feels really good in the mouth with its various textures, it's a blast to make, too. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-27-2023: A Birthday Workout and a Trip to Post Falls, Reels and Jubelale at the Casino, A Perfect Beef Stroganoff Dinner

1. Today was my 70th birthday and I got to spend it just the way I wanted to. 

Christy had an earlier than usual physical therapy session this morning and I drove her out to Smelterville and worked out in the Fitness Center during her session. 

We then piled back into Christy's rig and blasted over to Kootenai Orthopedic Clinic in Post Falls where Christy had a post-surgery check up.  It was a stellar visit: in every way, Christy's knee looks great and she's healing and recovering splendidly. 

2. Back in Kellogg, I dashed into Yoke's and got a prescription filled for Christy, came home, leapt into the Sube, and screamed out to Kingston and piled into Ed's car. We picked up Jake in Rose Lake and blasted on down to the CdA Casino to spin some reels. I had a lot of fun.  I won some games, lost others, as is to be expected. 

Later on, the three of us met in the casino's Red Tail Bar and Grill. I was elated! Red Tail had Deschutes annual winter beer, Jubelale, on tap. I hadn't drunk one of these great ales for years and it was awesome.

3. Back home, I sat down to the perfect dinner Debbie prepared: chuck roast beef stroganoff over rice and a serving of canned green beans cooked with bacon. It was just what I wanted for dinner on my birthday and it made me very happy. 

After a day of nearly non-stop activity, I relaxed for a while and before long hit the hay, having had a full and satisfying, simple and various, 70th birthday. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-26-2023: Burning Calories, Basque Christmas Dinner, A Gift of Heidelberg Beer!

1. The Fitness Center wasn't open on Dec. 24th and 25th and I was eager to get out there today.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that I made up for two missed days in a single session today, but I did exercise for 70 minutes and burned as many calories as I could in anticipation of this afternoon's big dinner.

2. The big dinner was our family's Christmas dinner this afternoon and once again this year we prepared and ate the food of another country or another culture. This year, we joined forces to create a Basque dinner, a generous combination of garlic soup, meatballs, grilled shrimp, chickpea salad, Spanish rice, a Basque white wine, and toasted pudding for dessert -- this grand meal started off with Basque appetizers and a Basque cocktail. It was an intense meal combining varied flavors and textures -- and, to top it off, it was delicious. 

3. Over the summer, Molly's pal Brian enjoyed a few cans of my now depleted stash of Heidelberg beer. Recently, a friend of Brian's traveled to the Tacoma area and Brian asked him, unbeknownst to me, to pick him up a few four packs of Heidelberg at the 7 Seas Brewery in Tacoma. The friend did just that and to my utter surprise, Brian showed up at today's Basque dinner with two cans of Heidelberg as gifts for me, one for Christmas and one for my birthday. I haven't decided when I'll crack them open and enjoy them, but it will be a rare pleasure! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-25-2023: New York Bagels, Family Gift Exchange, Buffet at The Lounge

1. Just before 11 o'clock this morning, I hopped next door to Christy's, loaded up a couple of things she needed to take to Carol and Paul's, and drove us, in her rig, over to the Roberts' for a family gift exchange. Paul's brother and his wife gave Carol and Paul an order of New York City's Utopia bagels (via goldbelly.com) and so we all prepared ourselves a New York bagel and decided what to load up on them -- cream cheese? lox? onion? capers? tomato slice? -- you get the picture. 

2. Satisfied with our bagel breakfast, we went around the room opening gifts. We made wise cracks about different things, tried to make each other laugh, and we all gave and received gifts that seemed just right for each of us. 

3. Debbie and I returned home, needing some rest, recharged, and some time after 3:00 we headed up to The Lounge. Cas and Tracy lay out a buffet dinner every Christmas Day. Many people who come don't have family around to be with on Christmas. Others, like Debbie and me, come up to have some food and to enjoy being with people we know, many who are regulars at The Lounge. We had fun yakkin' with Cas and Tracy, Brian and Molly, Becky, Seth, a small contingent of the Trecker family, and others. My fun at The Lounge was enhanced by deciding, out of the blue, to drink a combo of Budweiser and Bloody Mary mix topped with the spicy Voodo spice blend. Somehow, this drink really hit the spot for me and, since the State of Idaho forbids the sale of liquor on Christmas Day, it was almost like drinking Bloody Marys.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-24-2023: Debbie's Anniversary Request, Fixing a Chuck Roast Dinner, An Evening with the Kennedys

1. A little while back, Debbie asked me to baste a beef roast for our wedding anniversary dinner. She specified that she wanted potatoes and onions with the beef and asked me not to include carrots or celery. So, on Saturday, I bought a chuck roast weighing about five pounds, thinking I could cut it in half and fix another pot roast another day. Debbie suggested, however, that I cook the whole roast and that we have a stroganoff on another day. 

2. So, that's what I did. I seasoned the chuck roast with rosemary, oregano, cumin, thyme, cinnamon, chili powder, salt, and pepper. I also pressed about eight cloves of garlic into a quasi paste and to put on the top of the roast. I seared the top and bottom of the seasoned roast, poured a puddle of beef bouillon in the bottom of the Dutch oven, covered the puddle with sliced onions, and put the roast on top of the swimming onions. 

I covered the Dutch oven and cooked the roast at 325 degrees. After a couple of hours or so, I put pieces of Yukon gold potatoes seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning in the Dutch oven along with more chunks of onion. I checked the potatoes about about a half an hour or so later, and since they were cooked through, I took them out and put them in a sealed bowl.  

After about four hours, the roast was pulling apart and Debbie and I agreed it was ready to eat. 

I steamed a bunch of broccoli and each of us made ourselves a bowl of beef pieces, Yukon gold potatoes and onion chunks, and some broccoli. We used the delicious liquid in the bottom of the Dutch oven as a kind of gravy. 

That was our 26th anniversary dinner. 

3. We relaxed into the evening by watching several episodes of a CNN documentary entitled, American Dynasties: The Kennedys. 

The series reaches back to the ascendence of Joseph Kennedy, Sr. in American political life, focuses on his and Rosemary Kennedy's dreams for their children and how they prepared them for lives of service, the tragedies that beset the Kennedy family, on John and Robert's ascension to becoming essentially co-presidents in 1961, and the many challenges John F. Kennedy faced as a president, with emphasis on Cold War tensions and the intensifying demands by Blacks for equal civil rights. 

We didn't finish the docuseries, but we know that the awful story of both John and Robert's assassinations is coming up next.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-23-2023: I Made Myself Exercise, Errands in Coeur d'Alene, Baked Chicken and Christopher Foyle

1. No kidding. This morning, for the first time since joining the Fitness Center, I didn't feel like exercising. But I resisted the siren call of crossword puzzles and the comfort of our warm living room and raced out to Smelterville and dashed into the workout room. Once I got my legs and arms moving on the first machine, it felt great and I ended up putting in a solid fifty minutes of aerobic exercise, inspired by Jethro Tull's Aqualung, stopped only the the joint closing at noon. 

2. The sunny skies and clear roads made it a perfect day to dart to Coeur d'Alene. I joined a squadron of merry shoppers at Costco and picked up a few items, fueled the Camry, and scurried over to Supercuts for a holiday trim. I wrapped up my excursion to CdA by joining more happy shoppers at Pilgrim's and purchased some produce, Nancy's whole milk yogurt, and a couple of Debbie's favorite styles of Bitchin' Sauce, Original and Cilantro Chili. I think I'm ready to fix our Christmas Eve/Wedding Anniversary pot roast dinner on Sunday. 

3. Before I left the house for Smelterville and CdA, I took out a package of chicken drumsticks to thaw. Once back home, I seasoned the chicken with lemon pepper and surrounded the drumsticks in a baking pan with quartered pieces of Yukon gold potatoes seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning. I also steamed some broccoli and Debbie and I enjoyed this simple, hearty meal. 

I was in the mood this evening for some British television. I've been s-l-o-w-l-y working my way through the eight seasons of Foyle's War since June of 2015. Whatever the opposite of binge watching is, that's what I've been doing for eight and a half years now with Foyle's War.

So, this evening, I fired up the the third episode of the fifth season, an intense story about WWII coming to an end and four psychologically damaged soldiers who return home to Hastings after brutal experiences in combat. As the town prepares for an end of the war celebration, someone murders a local doctor (with a German name) and, on the cusp of retirement, Christopher Foyle goes to work to identify the killer. The murder doesn't take place until nearly halfway through the episode because much of this broadcast focuses on the difficulties the newly returned soldiers have returning to civilian life and, at the same time, the way their difficulties puzzle and confuse the loved ones they rejoin. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-22-2023: Christy's Most Encouraging Recovery, Yakkin' at The Lounge, Eggplant and JFK

1. Christy's recovery from knee replacement surgery continues apace. She had a good session at physical therapy today. She learned that she can walk around the house without her cane, but to have the cane handy. Today Christy returned to her house to live and Carol brought the last of her things to the house and Riley also moved back in. 

I burned some calories at the Fitness Center while Christy was doing physical therapy and I also had a good session of exercise.

2. Ed called and we met at The Lounge around 4:30 or so. When I arrived, Debbie was already there and we yakked for a while. Ed arrived and I sipped on a shot of 1910 Pendleton Rye Whiskey along with a Rainier beer. Ed and I yakked until his take out order arrived from Wah Hing. Harley updated us on the upcoming Elks Crab Feed.  Rob Gilles came up to the bar, sat next to me, and we yakked. He showed me pictures of his brother, Rick -- Rick and I were teammates on the 1970 Kellogg-Wallace Miners American Legion baseball team. I'd heard Rick lived in California and ran a garden center/landscaping business and Rob confirmed that this was true. Rob and I also got in some high quality discussion of the Pittsburgh Pirates, especially their awesome teams back in the 1970s.

3. Back home, Debbie and I teamed up to fix a dinner of salmon burger patties, rice, and roasted eggplant. Debbie prepared the eggplant and I thought immediately of Michael Franks whose "baby cooks her eggplant/About 19 different ways". Then we listened to more of the podcast, Who Killed JFK?, but I was having trouble concentrating, trouble keeping all the unfamiliar names and stories straight, so I'll go back and listen again when I'm rested and not about to hit the hay for the night.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-21-2023: Happy Birthday for Debbie, Early Morning Dental Hygiene, A Pleasing Birthday Dinner

1. Debbie's birthday today was pretty good. Many at school either wished or sang her "Happy Birthday". Debbie talked with Adrienne and Patrick and exchanged text messages with Molly.  She opened gifts. We yakked a lot about some encouraging successes she's experienced lately with her students and talked about all the musicians Debbie used to hang out with and make music with in Eugene, warmly remembering the many talented people Debbie enjoyed as peers over many years. Debbie relaxed. She was happy that her 73rd birthday was an enjoyable one. 

2. I started off the day at 7 a.m. with a dental appointment for my three times a year cleaning and things looked good. I left the session feeling refreshed. A little later, I soared over to Coeur d'Alene, purchased a gift for Debbie, enjoyed a session at the rehab gym, purchased some ground pork and ground lamb for Carol (for our Basque dinner on Dec 26th), returned home, and not long afterward, went out to WalMart and picked up a grocery order for Christy and put the groceries in her house. Christy will move back into her house on Friday, Dec. 22nd, ending her week+ stay at Carol and Paul's. 

3. Debbie didn't have a specific request for a birthday dinner, but, as it turned out, the HelloFresh meal we had left is one Debbie likes a lot: Shawarma-Spiced Chickpeas with Pistachio Rice, Cucumber Tomato Salad, and Garlicky White Sauce. She also picked up a package of plump shrimp and some cocktail sauce on her way home from work and we both enjoyed this simple appetizer. It was a good dinner.  I was especially happy that it was so pleasing to Debbie on her birthday. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-20-2023: Eggplant and Romantic Adventures, Donating Luna's Kidney Care Food, Flautas for Dinner

1. While Christy had another successful physical therapy session (she can move back to her house now), I worked out in the Fitness Center while listening to a jazz mix of songs chosen by Spotify, based on jazz I've listened to since signing up with Spotify. 

The music didn't fire me up, say, the way the Talking Heads do, but this music gave me pleasure while I worked out. In particular, the mix included Michael Franks' very sexy song, "Eggplant". 

I started cooking quite a bit of eggplant about ten years ago or so, but, until about a month ago, I hadn't listened to Michael Franks' song for decades. Hearing "Eggplant" again now and enjoying again the way Michael Franks turns cooking eggplant into a metaphor for erotic pleasure ("And my baby cooks her eggplant/About 19 different ways" "The lady sticks to me like white on rice./She never cooks the same way twice"), I smiled widely on the aerobic machines, nearly giggled with delight, and I couldn't help but wonder if my love for eggplant (and cooking) hasn't been enhanced over the years by the way Michael Franks connects food and cooking to romantic adventure. 

2. I didn't quite get a full workout completed this morning, so I went back to the Fitness Center in the afternoon and worked out for another half an hour. Before I drove to the gym, though, I gathered up a partial case of kidney care wet cat food and a nearly full bag of kidney care dry food and took them to Kellogg Pet Medical Center. Luna was on a kidney care diet. Copper joined in, but not because he had to, but because they ate out of the same feeder and it was simpler to feed them both the same wet food.

Now Copper can enjoy more variety in the wet food I feed him and will be able to eat different kinds of premium dry cat food. 

I don't know if this really matters to Copper, but I like to act as if it does! 

3. I had fun fixing Debbie and me Black Bean and Green Pepper Flautas for dinner tonight. All I had to do was cook up some thinly sliced onion and finely chopped green pepper, add half a can of black beans to it, and heat up and mash another half a can of black beans in a small pot. I set out flour tortillas, put the mashed beans on each of them, topped the beans with the onion/green pepper/black bean mix (seasoned with Southwest Spice Blend), added grated pepper jack cheese, folded the tortillas, and heated both sides of the folded tortilla until they were browned. I garnished the flautas with sour cream, guacamole, and Pico de Gallo. 

It worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-19-2023: Exercising with The Who, Good Vibes (Mostly) at Costco, Copper and I Enjoy Each Other

 1. I increased the intensity on one of the machines at the rehab gym in CdA.  With the help of The Who and Who's Next, I rocked my way through twenty minutes of more demanding exercise, worked with the hand weights, and then walked up and down hills on the treadmill. I got off to a slightly late start at the gym so I had to cut my treadmill session down by five minutes, but, as I left the gym, I could feel the benefits of my exercise today.

2. Carol asked me to run a couple of errands for me so I blasted over to Total Wine in Spokane Valley and picked up an order Carol had made online (potables for our international Christmas dinner of the 26th) and then I soared back to CdA and shopped for Carol at Costco. It was fun. Shoppers were out in full force and  I only encountered one grinchy shopper who groused to her husband about all "the frickin' people in the store". It was the second time I encountered this couple and both times I overheard this shopper complaining to her husband about something. Otherwise, I exchanged smiles with several people, especially as we good naturedly worked out with nods and hand signals who should go ahead or come on through in small shopping cart jams here and there. I enjoyed helping out Carol and the overall positive vibes in Costco were a bonus. 

3. Back home, Debbie and I decided to have leftovers for dinner. I sautéed the eggplant, tofu, and white onion I didn't use Sunday night, added it to the leftover panang curry sauce and rice from Sunday night and we agreed this curry tasted even better the second day than the first. 

I spent a pretty good chunk of time after dinner on the bed with Copper. In the nearly three years Copper has lived in our home, I've always thought he was the more sensitive cat to being alone, to not being able to come out to the living room with Gibbs. I never could tell if Copper found much solace in hanging out with Luna. Their relationship always seemed cool and Luna intimidated Copper. So, here's the deal: Copper will get close enough to me that I can reach him and pet him and rest my hand on his back. He always stays about three quarters of an arm length below me. Occasionally, he'll rest himself against my hip or thigh, but he never rests himself near my chest, neck, or head. He wants me to touch him and his skin quivers with pleasure when I do and he purrs, but he's careful to keep a certain distance. 

Similarly, after Debbie and Gibbs go to bed and Copper joins me in the living room, he wants to lie down near me, but not close to me and he's only very very rarely joined me in my chair or only very very rarely sat on my lap. When we are near each other, he is content and relaxed, and during the time I was with him this evening in the bedroom, the tension in his body dissipated and he fell into a satisfied sleep.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-18-2023: Christy Resumes Physical Therapy, I Now Have Luna's Ashes, Curry and Hal Hartley's *Fay Grim*

1. I resumed my duty as Christy's limo driver this morning and we rocketed out to Smelterville to the Fitness Center where she had a physical therapy session and I began today's workout session. Christy's session was awesome. Her knee and her ability to use her leg is progressing beautifully. She only needs her walker if she walks on sketchy terrain or if she's become fatigued. Otherwise, she has graduated to  using a cane now. I'll add that Christy got in and out of Carol's house without much trouble -- likewise, she did a good job getting in and out of her car. 

While Christy went through her paces, I got in a half an hour of exercise, drove Christy back to Carol and Paul's, and, in the afternoon, exercised for another half an hour and worked with some hand weights. 

2. Luna was on a kidney care diet, but Copper doesn't need to be. Today I bagged up the kidney care dry food that was in his feeder and replaced it with another kind of dry food and now he can eat a variety of canned wet food. 

While I was working out this morning, the veterinarian's office called me. Luna's ashes were ready to pick up, so I did that. Her ashes are in a handsome box with her name on the front. 

3. A while after I fixed Debbie and me a Panang Thai Curry dinner, which we enjoyed, Debbie went to bed early and I watched the second movie of Hal Hartley's Henry Fool Trilogy. It's called Fay Grim. This movie was a wild departure from the other movies I've watched of his, all of which were set in New York locales, whether Long Island, Manhattan, or Queens. This movie developed a convoluted, even dizzying international spy plot. I experienced it as a satirical movie, poking fun at spy movies -- often during the movie I wondered if Hartley had been inspired by the Mad Magazine feature "Spy vs Spy". 

But, like the other movies I've seen of Hartley's, this movie was about love, about fierce loyalty, about Fay Grim literally going to the ends of the earth in order to help out and possibly reunite with her long lost husband, Henry Fool. 

Maybe it was this undercurrent of devotion in Fay Grim, to both Henry and to her brother, Simon Grim,  and Parker Posey's intense performance as a woman who discovers more and more the depth of her commitment to those she loves that kept me riveted to this movie and helped me accept all of its implausible twists and turns and to see it as more than just a parody.

That this movie traveled from New York to Berlin to Istanbul was not at all what I expected and this very different Hal Hartley movie left me happy that I stuck with it, stayed up late to finish it, and fell asleep with its core affirmation devoted, not romantic, love on my mind. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-17-2023: Christy's Recovering, A Hal Hartley Afternoon, *Frontline*: Israel and Palestine

1. Carol and Paul had a big day at church this morning and asked me to come over to their house and sit with Christy while they were gone. I'm happy to say that Christy is recovering very well from her surgery. She is managing her pain, getting up and walking around (with her walker), keeping her oxygen levels where they should be, and is making good use of her time of convalescence by preparing Christmas cards to send. From where I sat, blogging, hydrating, poking around online, and being available if Christy had any difficulties (she didn't), it looked like Christy's post-operation situation was moving in a positive direction. 

Next up: Monday morning I'll drive Christy to the Fitness/Therapy Center and she'll resume physical therapy which promises to help move her further toward being recovered and back on her feet again. 

2. Debbie went out to school for a little while today and then visited puppies at Diane's house. 

I returned to the watching another Hal Hartley movie. I started watching Henry Fool several weeks ago and the time was right to finish it today. 

This is the fourth full-length movie of Hal Hartley's I've watched. He's an independent screenwriter and director whose movies play at film festivals and art houses. While Harltley's movies are not widely popular, he has an avid, if relatively small, following and I guess I'm about ready to say that I've jumped on the Hal Hartley bandwagon.

Hartley consciously writes movies in a non-natural style. People in everyday life don't talk like Hartley's characters, don't have the kinds of conversations they do, so in that way Hartley's screenwriting is, to me, kind of throwback to plays, like Shakespeare's, written in verse. Hartley's screenplays aren't written in verse, but, in the best sense of the word, they are artificial. Likewise, Hartley writes stories that, on the surface, would never happen in everyday life. They aren't fantasy movies. In fact, the Hartley movies I've watched so far involve people without much money or many resources living stressful lives in very modest homes, working low paying jobs (if they are working). Hartley creates situations for them that work to reveal their inner lives in sometimes troubling, other times admirable ways. The situations might not be "realistic", but the inward truths are.

Henry Fool is the third Hartley movie I've watched that involves a character whose has recently gotten out of jail. Henry, the title character, is a bombastic, bloviating, pseudo-intellectual who claims to be writing a book that will blow the doors off of how people understand their lives and the world we live in. He makes friends with Simon, a geeky introvert, who works for a garbage company, and encourages Simon to write poetry. 

The complications of the movie's story take off from there in disturbing, darkly comic, and unsettling ways. I'll leave it at that.

Having watched this movie to its completion, I went back to the Criterion Channel's Hal Hartley collection and watched for about the tenth time the interview of Hal Hartley that Criterion conducted. I then watched two episodes on YouTube of Aaron Hunter's series, What Makes this Film Great? and listened to him discuss two of Hartley's earlier movies, Trust and Simple Men. It was fun listening to someone else who is enthusiastic about Hal Hartley's movies -- I don't know anyone here in Kellogg or elsewhere who watches Hartley's movies, and I enjoyed listening to Professor Hunter's ruminations. 

Next up? Well, Henry Fool is the first of trilogy of movies so before too long I'll watch the other two: Fay Grim and Ned Rifle. 

3. Debbie returned home. I'd fixed myself a baked delicata squash with steamed green beans. Debbie had eaten dinner at Diane's. I rambled on incoherently about Hal Hartley for a while and then we decided to watch another Frontline documentary. We went back to 2002 and watched Shattered Dreams of Peace: The Road to Oslo. We didn't quite finish it, but we watched about 90 minutes of the story of the high hopes many in both Israel and Palestine held after a peace agreement was reached between the two entities in 1995. But, those hopes were derailed by fundamentalists and extremists, both Palestinian and Israeli, who found the compromises and agreements hammered out in Oslo to be anathema. Cycles of violence, more negotiations, a big change in Israel's government, and still more summits and meetings to try move an establishment of peace forward ensued, but the violence and other violations of the Oslo accords multiplied. The peace process was derailed.

It was instructive, in light of the current violence in Gaza and Israel, to go back about twenty-five years and see, once again, just how intractable and deadly and very difficult this long-standing conflict between Palestine, particularly Hamas, and Israel has been and continues to be. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-16-2023: Talking Heads at the Gym, Spontaneous BBQ Take Out, *Perry Mason* and Donald J. Trump

1. After completing my morning routine of word puzzles and blogging, I buzzed out to Smelterville and spent a solid hour working out on machines similar to the ones in CdA. Lately, while huffing and puffing,  I've been listening to the soundtrack of the Talking Heads' movie, Stop Making Sense and their (mostly) uplifting rhythms and sounds have joyously catapulted me through my exercises. 

2. Back home, after I made a stop at Yoke's, I came home ready to make Debbie and me curry for dinner, but Debbie suddenly suggested that we get some take out from GarrenTeed BBQ and having some chicken, baked beans, and cole slaw was a fun and delicious change of pace.

3. After we watched an episode of Perry Mason, I found a 2018 episode of Frontline focused on Donald J. Trump's first year as president. I realized that so much of my focus in 2017 was on family matters that I really had never put together very well what was happening nationally. 

In 2017, Mom could no longer live at home and moved to Kindred, the local nursing home. Debbie was up in the air about her job in Greenbelt and we gave a lot of attention to working out how she might move forward. Once Debbie's school year ended, I returned to Kellogg to help care for Mom. Babes with Axes played their last show in July and we spent a week in Eugene so Debbie could rehearse with her band and perform. We returned to Kellogg and about two weeks later Mom died. During that time, Debbie decided not to return to the Prince George's County School District and Debbie and I decided to move to Kellogg, requiring us to move out of our apartment in Maryland and drive across the USA.  

Once settled in Kellogg, my sisters and I joined forces to hold a Celebration of Life and reception for Mom.

Not long after that, Debbie and I embarked on having our new house remodeled. 

I wasn't paying close attention to Donald J. Trump, the first year of his presidency, nor the upheaval in the Republican Party. Watching this hour long Frontline helped me get that tumultuous year in some perspective. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-15-2023: Two Workouts and Encouragement, Beers with Byrdman, Debbie Knocks Dinner Out of the Park

1.  On both Tuesday and Thursday this week I got tied up with family things and didn't make it to the Fitness Center. Today, I worked out twice, putting in forty minutes in Smelterville before driving over to CdA and completing my routine at the rehab gym. 

Today two staff members at the rehab gym had encouraging things to say about my progress. I'm losing some weight and I'm gaining some strength and stamina -- and my blood pressure reading was very good today. 

There's not a lot of instant gratification in my commitment to exercise, but over the long haul, it's uplifting to be experiencing some modest results.

2. After working out in CdA, I joined Byrdman at the spiffy and shiny Vantage Point brewery and food joint for a couple glasses of Helles Lager and a Caesar salad. Byrdman and I had a great talk about our relationships with our pets and the difficulty of having them pass away. It made me think back to when Luna and Copper came into my life in February 2021 and more than one person asked me if I were concerned that I might become attached to them, especially if it turned out I was providing temporary foster care.

I knew I'd become attached to them. It's inevitable for me and I welcome the attachment. I knew that one way or another that I would have to let go of them at some point, whether because Kathy got better (she didn't), someone else stepped forward to take them in (no one did), or because, as older cats, I might very well outlive them. I outlived Luna. 

So, as Byrdman and I discussed today, we do get attached, we often do outlive our pets, and it's painful. But, knowing loss is inevitably going to occur doesn't keep us from going all in and giving our pets the best life we can and sharing our care and affection with them unreservedly. 

And accepting their devotion to us. 

3. Two beers were enough for me, so I didn't join Debbie at The Lounge when she was finished with work. Instead, I cooked up some ground beef, and as Debbie requested, didn't do anything with it because Debbie had a plan in mind. She combined the ground beef with fire roasted tomatoes and some other pasta sauce products that were in the fridge and needed to be used, resulting in a superb sauce that we put over a product I'd never heard of called Ready Cut Spaghetti. I guess it's spaghetti, but looks like macaroni -- well, whatever it is, it works! Debbie cooked up a delicious dinner. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-14-2023: Goodby to Luna, Christy is Discharged, Flavorful Chickpea Dinner

 1. First thing this morning, I said goodby to Luna. I drove her to the vet's office, requested cremation, and bought an urn so that I'll have her ashes with me, along with Snug's. 

2. Christy thought she might get discharged some time after 10:00. I arrived at the hospital around 10:30. Christy was doing pretty well. She's moving about as well as can be expected, which is good. She needs to monitor her oxygen levels and take some steps at home to keep a good supply of oxygen going into her blood. Around 12:30 or so, a discharge nurse came in and went over Christy's discharge papers and her instructions for what to do at home. 

We left the hospital around 1:00 and Christy immediately requested a stop at Starbucks so she could treat herself to a grande Peppermint Mocha. Her spirits were already in pretty good shape, but the coffee drink lifted them even more! 

We arrived at Carol's. Christy had no problem, really, getting out of the car and going into Paul and Carol's house. Without a doubt, the weeks of physical therapy Christy has put in to prepare for this surgery helped her immeasurably. She strengthened her legs so that she can push off the leg that was not operated on. Her core is stronger than it was. Her hard work is paying off. She returns to physical therapy on Monday to begin working on her new knee.

I had a couple more things to do for Christy: pick up her prescriptions and purchase her an oximeter.

I completed those errands. 

Now Christy's under the care of Carol and Paul -- and she's back with Riley! 

3. Back home, I took out our second HelloFresh bag. Debbie had to be at work until around 7 o'clock, so I timed it so that dinner was ready when she walked in the door. Tonight's meal was among my favorites -- I tend to really enjoy the HelloFresh dinners that feature chickpeas.

Tonight's was called Apricot, Almond, and Chickpea Tagine with Zucchini, Basmati Rice, and Chermoula. 

It was a delicious blend of chickpeas, zucchini, apricot, almonds, cilantro, various spices, and some heat, topped off with a refreshing sour cream and yogurt (my addition) sauce. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-13-2023: Luna Passes Calmly Away, Christy's Surgeon's Positive Report, Christy Spends the Night at Kootenai

1.  I was at Kootenai Health's hospital from 7 this morning until around 4 in the afternoon.

I wondered throughout the day about Luna. I put her in her carrier with added padding to keep her comfortable.

When I returned to Kellogg, I checked on Luna and she was weak, barely responding to me. After I fixed myself a quick dinner, I brought her out to the living room and held her.

Slowly, mildly, serenely she passed away at around 8 o'clock. I kept her close to me for another half an hour or so before I returned her to her carrier to rest in peace. 

Luna was a loving and spirited companion. I'm very happy we got to spend nearly three years together.

The best I can do now is take good care of Copper. 

2. Christy had knee replacement surgery today at Kootenai Health's hospital. She checked in at 7 a.m. and I occupied myself in the waiting room until I went to the rehab gym, in another part of the hospital, to carry out my regular Wednesday work out. 

While I was on the treadmill, my phone rang. It was the surgeon. He had just left the operating room and wanted me to know that he was very happy with how the surgery went. His entire report was very positive.

3. I returned to the waiting room, worked a crossword puzzle and relaxed and a few hours later, a nurse wheeled Christy out and they invited me to join them on a walk to a physical therapy room where Christy worked on going up stairs and received other instructions about moving around once she was out of the hospital.

We thought Christy might be able to come home pretty soon, but as it turned out, she needed to spend the night because after being under anesthesia, her oxygen levels weren't quite right yet. This is a common occurrence for patients after surgery, not at all unique to Christy. 

I'll go back to CdA in the morning and bring Christy home then. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 12-12-2023: Luna's Strong Spirit, Blood Draw, Simple Fish Dinner

1. Luna lay still in my bed, occasionally meowing weakly, for much of the day with a sheet and blankets covering her up to her neck. After dinner, I carried Luna out to the living room and held her and petted her for about an hour or so. Her body is weak and diminishing. Her spirit is strong and the essence of her Luna-ness is alive, but fading. 

2. I dropped in at the Shoshone Medical Center where I had a vial of blood drawn to be sent to the lab in Spokane -- I do this once a month. It's blood that will be tested if/when I'm offered a kidney. 

3. I picked up Christy from Silver Valley Tire and planned to go work out when her car was ready and after I gave her a lift back. Unfortunately, the work on the car took longer than we thought it would and by the time I drove Christy back to get her car, it was time to cook dinner. It's no problem in the big picture, but I was disappointed not to get in an exercise session.

I decided to fix a quick dinner that turned out to very delicious. I baked tilapia filets with dill sprinkled on them and steamed a crown of broccoli. I also sautéed some onion pieces and in that pot I prepared jasmine rice. We had white garlic sauce left over from Sunday's dinner along with cucumber and feta salad. We both put sauce on our fish, along with lemon juice, and we both enjoyed how simple and tasty dinner turned out to be tonight.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-11-2023: Luna Update, Two Workouts, Mexican Steak and Rice Bowl

1. Luna continues to slowly shut down. Today she got off the bed so she could drink some water and, once Debbie leashed Gibbs, I brought her out to the living room so I could hold her and she could share my chair. I'm mostly trying to keep her comfortable. Gibbs, by the way, behaved beautifully when Luna was in the living room. He didn't bark. He just calmly rested on the couch alongside Debbie.

2. I'm not up to it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but when I am, I sure enjoy going to the Fitness Center in Smelterville and exercising for a half an hour before going to CdA for a session and some more education at the rehab gym. Today, after doing double duty, I felt good. I increased the intensity on both machines at the rehab gym and I recovered well after cooling off for a few minutes. I got home, could feel that I'd been working out, but I wasn't exhausted. 

3. I fixed a HelloFresh dinner tonight that was new to us. It was very simple. All I had to do was make a pot of rice seasoned with a Mexican spice blend and the white part of two green onions and some butter and then cook a 10 oz steak, also seasoned with the Mexican spice blend. In a small bowl, I marinated tomato wedges and the green part of the green onions in olive oil and lime juice. Once the steak was cooked, I sliced in thinly. I then made rice bowls: rice on the bottom of the bowl topped with steak slices and marinated tomato wedges and garnished with a dollop of guacamole. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-10-2023: Aerobic Snow Shoveling, Luna's Quiet Day, Dinner with Christy and Debbie

1. A half an hour of shoveling wet and heavy snow this morning had my heart beating faster and my lungs huffing and puffing more rapidly than a half an hour on the aerobic machines! I finished that job and let it suffice as my workout for today.

2. Luna had a quiet, still day resting on her favorite pillow on the bed. She's having trouble walking, but early this evening she made her way off the bed, drank some water, and once Gibbs and Debbie turned in, she had some time with me in the living room and hobbled around the living room and kitchen a bit. She slept next to me through the night. Copper got closer to me than he ever has and made it clear to me that he wanted to lie on my arm, which I was able to extend his way so that he could. 

3. Paul and Carol had a cast party this afternoon. I don't know what Molly did today.  But I do know that we didn't have a full-blown family dinner. Instead, Christy joined Debbie and me for some Middle Eastern food. I decided to fix a HelloFresh meal without the bag of ingredients, but replicate one on my own.

I fixed Middle Eastern Chickpea Bowls with Spiced Basmati Rice and Garlicky White Sauce. 

To begin, I combined turmeric, coriander, cumin, garlic powder, allspice, paprika, and pepper to make a Shawarma Spice Blend. 

I then put olive oil in a medium pot heated it up and added chopped onion, minced garlic, and Shawarma spice blend, let it cook for about a minute, and then added rice. I cooked these things together briefly and then added water and some Vegetable Better than Bullion paste. I brought it to a boil and then put on the lid and cooked the rice a low temperature.

On two parchment paper lined baking sheets, I spread out chickpeas, grape tomatoes, and wedges of white onion. I drizzled olive oil over them and seasoned them with Shawarma Spice Blend, salt, and pepper and put the sheets in the oven.

I then combined sour cream and yogurt with minced garlic and made the white sauce. 

When the rice was cooked, I fluffed it, added some cilantro, and a chunk of butter.

I took the baking sheets out of the oven and topped the chickpeas, onion, and tomatoes with lemon zest.

In each of our bowls, I put a layer of spiced rice and topped it with the chickpea, onion, and tomato blend. I drizzled sauce over the top, added some cilantro, and put lemon wedges on the table so we could add more lemon juice to our bowls.

I was very happy with how this meal turned out and look forward to replicating more Hello Fresh meals.

I also prepared a salad for our dinner. 

Last night, Debbie made a cucumber and green onion salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I augmented her salad with more cucumbers, fresh dill, lemon juice, feta cheese, and a few grape tomatoes, and more balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

I was very happy with this salad, too, and enjoyed how the salad and chickpea bowl complimented each other.  

 

Three Beautiful Things 12-09-2023: A Great Boring Routine, Caring for Luna, Dinner Tidies Up the Kitchen

 1. Yes, I know. My blog posts, however brief, about working out are repetitious and boring. At the same time, it's been a great change for me and the boring routine of it is what makes it work. I followed this routine again today. I did aerobic exercise for an hour, realized as I left the Fitness Center that I'd left my keys in the basket on the counter, and, thank goodness, the volunteer locking the center up hadn't quite left the building yet when I rapped on the door. He let me in and I quickly grabbed my keys, got out of his hair, and blasted back to Kellogg.

2. Over the last few weeks, I've been keeping close eye on Luna. She's been losing weight. She has not been eating wet food when I put it down. I'm not sure she's eating dry food out of the feeder.  She spends a lot of time lying on a pillow on the bed. 

Today, I began to think of my care for Luna as hospice care. I might be wrong, but I think she's reaching the end of her life. 

This evening, in the bedroom, struggling to walk, she signaled to me that she wanted to be in the living room.

Debbie leashed up Gibbs so he wouldn't hassle her and Luna came out, lay on the floor a bit and then wanted to assume the place she has liked ever since she came into my life, sitting next to me in the chair I sit in a lot. Luna isn't purring. She's always purred. She seemed content in the living room, but frail. Gibbs completely left her alone, as if he could sense her fragility. 

Later, after Debbie and Gibbs went to bed, Luna wandered out into the kitchen. After a while, I checked on her. I was startled when I could hear her weak meow coming from the bottom of the basement stairs. 

Weak hind legs and all, Luna had made her way to the basement and now she wanted back upstairs. 

I carried her back up the stairs and before long we went to bed.

At some point in the night, Luna got off the bed and drank some water.

She was unable, however, to catapult herself back onto the bed. I helped her. She lay beside me and we both rested peacefully for the rest of the night. 

We'll see what Sunday brings. 

3. Debbie wanted to use up some bits and pieces of food we had in the kitchen and made a pan of roasted chicken pieces, baby Yukon golds, and chunks of onion. She also sliced a cucumber with green onion, dressed it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and so not only did we have a simple delicious dinner, Debbie also tidied up the kitchen. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-08-2023: Success at the Gym, Revisiting Episode 3 of *Who Killed JFK?*, More 20th Century History

1. I checked in at about 10:45 this morning at the rehab gym. When I weighed in, my weight was the lowest it's been since I started, so I'm slowly losing some weight. I altered my routine, on Claudia's recommendation, and worked with the hand weights in between twenty minute sessions on the two aerobic machines. I upped the intensity, slightly, of my session on the recumbent cross trainer. After I finished, Claudia and I decided that on Monday I would start working with a "hills" program on the treadmill (it's what I do on the Smelterville treadmill), keep my mph the same, but having more variation in the machine's incline. 

2. I declined Debbie's invitation to join her at The Lounge after work. I also suggested she bring home some Chinese take out from Wah Hing. After we ate some of it for dinner, Debbie and listened once again to Episode 3 of Who Killed JFK? This episode focuses on Lee Harvey Oswald's teen age years -- his disenchantment with going to school, his enlistment in the Marines, and how he appears to have been trained as an intelligence asset for the CIA -- something the CIA has long denied. This episode features interviews with people we are unfamiliar with and Oswald's activities in the Marines, his time living in the Soviet Union, his marriage, and so on were difficult for me to keep straight. Listening to all of this information for a second time was very helpful and, I'm happy to say, I've also found a website that publishes this podcast's transcripts and it's already helping me nail things down more solidly to read what is said in this episode. 

3. We finished listening to this episode and Debbie asked me if I knew of any podcasts discussing the FBI/Branch Davidian standoff and conflagration in Waco, TX in 1993. I found some things, but I thought we might benefit from watching a filmed documentary rather than listen to a podcast. 

I searched for and found the Frontline documentary entitled, Waco: The Inside Story and we watched it.

It was gruesome.

It was enlightening and frustrating. 

Even more, it was gruesome. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-07-2023: Slight Workout Change, Salmon and Rice, Quiet Evening

1.  I tried out a recommendation rehab staffer Claudia made. Instead of working with hand weights after working out on the two machines, today I completed a half an hour of rolling hills on the treadmill and then worked with the hand weights. I finished my workout with a half an hour of a series of sprints followed by hills on the recumbent cross training machine. Her idea was a good one. 

2. After going to the Fitness Center, I returned home and fixed Debbie and me each a salmon burger patty with steamed cauliflower and jasmine rice. I thought a couple pieces of English cheddar cheese would taste good with this meal -- and I was right! 

3. Debbie and I enjoyed a quiet evening. Debbie talked a bit about what her students are doing and how she is devising ways to help them. It's heartening to know that she's having a good year with her students and that they are, all in all, eager to work on things she helps them do. They especially enjoy tactile activity, whether it's looking up words in a dictionary they can hold in their hands or working on projects with paper, scissors, glue, and other supplies that are physical, not virtual. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-06-2023: Intensifying My Workout with Harry Nillson (and Others), Thai(ish) Stir Fry, Lee Harvey Oswald and Deception

1. Over at the rehab gym in CdA, after consultation with Claudia, I increased the speed of my walking on the treadmill, but kept the incline the same. I increased the level of resistance on the hill/sprint program on the recumbent cross trainer. I huffed a bit on the cross trainer and the increased speed on the treadmill made me perspire. It was a great help to me on the treadmill to have "Jump into the Fire" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" come up on my playlist. I'm hoping before long that my playlist shuffle will include Billy Idol's "Many, Mony". It invigorates me. 

2. Tonight's HelloFresh meal was a Thai-ish ground beef and green bean stir fry over jasmine rice. It was very easy to prepare and the soy glaze and sweet chili paste that seasoned this meal made it especially delicious.

3. Wednesday nights in our household means one thing these days: a new episode of the podcast, Who Killed JFK? Tonight's episode continued last week's dig into the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. Both episodes argue that Oswald had primary and secondary connections with the CIA. The CIA referred to its means of deception and disinformation as a "wilderness of mirrors" and tonight's episode looks at how, according to Rob Reiner, the CIA was in the process of developing a story that was not necessarily true about Oswald as a Communist and Castro sympathizer. Debbie and I also learned about the practice of "sheep dipping". That's when a military or intelligence asset is given civilian status to continue to work on behalf of, say the CIA, in ways that can't be traced back. We plan to listen again to these episodes on Oswald. They involve a lot of discussion of operatives whose names are unfamiliar to Debbie and me and describe a good amount of double dealing, of Oswald as a player in a CIA driven theater performance, making it difficult to know whether what he did before JFK's assassination was real or a performance meant to deceive. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-05-2023: Three Favorite Things, Staying on Task at the Fitness Center, Yucatan Citrus Turkey Bowls for Dinner

1. Admittedly, they aren't worthy of song, like raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but late this morning I did three of my favorite things: I heaped the recyclables into the Sube and blasted up to the Transfer Station and put them in their proper bins; I picked up a few necessities at Yoke's; and, I bought Luna and Copper a big bag of their kidney care cat food. 

2. Riding high on the wild surf of these accomplishments, I rocketed out to the Fitness Center and with the help and inspiration of The Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, Steely Dan, and other combos on my workout playlist, I spent sixty minutes, combined,  huffing and puffing on the recumbent cross trainer and the treadmill. 

3. Back home, I combined green pepper and onion with ground turkey and a Tex-Mex sauce souped up with a Southwest spice blend, lime juice, and mandarin orange juice I also pickled an onion and made a simple smoky crema. All of this went on top of jasmine rice and Debbie and I thought very highly of our Yucatan Citrus Turkey Bowl.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-04-2023: Exercise and Calories, Billy Mac Recipes and Eugene Memories, Everything but the Kitchen Sink!

1. I decided this morning that it would be wise to give myself some rest before going to CdA to the rehab gym. I decided not to work out twice. I'll never really know if that was a good decision, but I do know that my workout went very well at Kootenai Health. Today's lesson was about calories, burning them, and working to slowly lose weight. I'm trying. 

2. I keep forgetting to write about an uplifting book I ordered and that arrived last week. For the last several years that we lived in Eugene, I joined a group of friends for Thursday dinner at Billy Mac's. This bar and grill, which shared a building with a convenience market, became one of my spiritual centers in Eugene, not only for the excellent food and drink, but, even more enjoyable, for the great company I got to be a part of and for the friendly relationships that developed between people who worked there and Debbie and me. It was also the site of my 2012 retirement party, a most memorable event! 

Billy Mac, the bar and grill's proprietor and head chef, has a full name! It's Billy McCallum. He has a long history of cooking and catering in Eugene. He retired in December, 2021 and Billy Mac's closed.

His sister, Molly McCallum, wrote a combination cook book and family history entitled, Living Legacy: Stories of a Restaurant Family. I'm thrilled to own a copy. 

The book combines, with stories, photographs, and lots of recipes, not only Billy McCallum's life as a chef, but also the history of Billy and Molly's parents and siblings and their beloved restaurant, The Treehouse, which was in business from 1977-1999. 

The recipes are Billy's. 

It is now possible for those of us who loved Billy Mac's (and for those who loved The Treehouse) to take a stab at fixing many of the appetizers, soups, salads, dressings, sandwiches, entrees, and desserts we enjoyed at Billy Mac's. 

In fact, not long after this book came out, some of the people in Eugene who used to gather for the Thursday night dinner sessions went to a reading and book signing of this book. Days later, as a way to celebrate Pam Dane's birthday, they joined forces to prepare a potluck birthday dinner that featured food prepared using Billy McCallum's recipes. 

I've spent some heart warming and nostalgic time reading Molly McCallum's book, going over the recipes, and remembering the many happy evenings I spent at Billy Mac's on Thursdays and many other nights of the week. 

3. I enjoyed the "everything but the kitchen sink" Debbie cooked up tonight in one pan, combining small amounts of food we had left over from earlier meals along with other food that needed to be cooked. This potpourri included eggplant, chicken, onion, some black beans, a bit of gravy, some leftover broccoli, potatoes, and other things. She also added some tomato pesto to the mix and we ate it over jasmine rice. We didn't eat it all. Debbie had had enough of it tonight so she didn't pack up the leftover rice and mishmash for her lunch. That means I'll get to have another crack at this meal in the next day or two. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-03-2023: Zooming About How Then Becomes Now, Another Work Out, Hosting a Tasty Family Dinner

1. Bill, Diane, and I leapt onto the ZOOM machine and had a superb discussion. I came away from it firmly convinced that history isn't so much a way of understanding what happened as a way of gaining insight into continuation. We talked about how we see the USA in 2023 and essentially everything we talked about is not unique to 2023 but a continuation of elements of our nation's life that have been with us all along. 

2. Often our ZOOM conversations last a couple of hours, but today I bowed out around 10:45 because I wanted to get in a workout and the Fitness Center closes at noon on Sunday. I intensified the demands on myself slightly which felt fine while I was on the machines, but by about 2:00 in the afternoon, I felt tired, in need of more recovery than just sitting and resting gave me, and I joined Copper and Luna in the bedroom for a nap that refreshed me and that reassured them that we belong to each other.

3. Debbie and I hosted family dinner tonight and Debbie decided she wanted to fix everything we, as the hosts, contributed. She made one of the best meatloafs I've ever eaten, presented us with delicious twice-baked potatoes, fixed a vegetable plate with dip for an appetizer, and mixed each of us a gin martini. She also bought the table's two bottles of wine. Paul brought a delicious broccoli and cheese side dish and Debbie, Paul, Brian, Molly, Christy, and I thoroughly enjoyed this meal. Carol was at a party with high school friends that happens every year, so she wasn't with us. 

Conversation tonight covered a galaxy of subjects ranging from The Pogues and Flogging Molly to the Idaho Vandals' playoff success to questions about gift giving and receiving at Christmas and the importance of traditions and being with family. 

And a whole bunch of other discussions, too.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-02-2023: Shoveling Snow, Meeting Ed at The Lounge, Roasted Chicken Dinner

1. It wasn't a heavy snowfall, but enough piled up that it needed to be shoveled. So, instead of going to the fitness center, I got my heart rate up and huffed and puffed a bit shoveling snow. I'm not sure how long I was at it, but I'll tell whoever checks me in at the rehab center on Monday that I exercised for twenty minutes.

2. Ed and I met at The Lounge at 3:00 and had a fun time yakkin'. The snowy weather inspired me to have a pour of brandy alongside a couple pints of Pulaski Porter, a very satisfying combination for a wintry day.

3. I returned home, took a whole chicken out of the icebox, let it warm up to room temperature, and then covered it in butter and seasoned it with a combination of salt, pepper, basil, rosemary, red pepper, thyme, cumin, garlic powder, dry mustard, celery seed, and paprika. I put the chicken in a roasting bag and about 80 minutes later it was ready to sit. Debbie turned the juices in the bag into a delicious gravy and I steamed some broccoli and boiled a handful of baby Yukon golds. 

It was a fun, delicious, and comforting meal on this bleak-ish December night.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-01-2023: Double Workout and "Shining Star", Coma Nap and The Lounge, Skyline Chili and Sobering TV Programming

1. I piled into the Camry and, on my way to Smelterville, listened to Jeff play some awesome cuts from a live Jerry Garcia Band performance from November 1973 on his radio program, Deadish. Until today, I didn't know that the Jerry Garcia Band performed "Shining Star", and, for whatever it's worth, I enjoyed the performance Jeff played more than any I've ever heard -- yes, even more than Earth, Wind, & Fire. 

The Jerry Garcia Band put me in a great mood to work out twice today: I dropped in for a quick twenty minutes at the fitness center in Smelterville and then blasted over the wet, easy to drive Fourth of July Pass into Coeur d'Alene for my Friday hour of power at the rehab gym.

I got out of Coeur d'Alene and back over the pass before a little hell broke loose later in the afternoon when the snowfall picked up and a semi jack-knifed and was high centered on a jersey barrier. I don't think this was the only accident, but I saw more pictures of this incident than any others. 

2.  Back home, the double workout hit me and I fell into a coma nap for a while. I woke up in time, though, to make plans with Debbie on the texting machine to head up to the Inland Lounge for some gin, relaxation, and yakkin'. Debbie swung by after she was done at school and we had a splendid time, happy to be part of a good crowd of good people, enjoying a few libations and along with lively conversation and laughter.

3. Back home, I made some spaghetti, heated up a can of Skyline chili along with a can of black beans and opened a bag of grated sharp cheddar cheese, and Debbie and I each enjoyed a bowl of Cincinnati chili. We decided to continue our recent habit of watching documentary programming and watched most of the first episode of Ken Burns' Civil War. If we needed something sobering to counter the gin we enjoyed at The Lounge, this documentary fulfilled that mission and more. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-30-2023: Ground Beef and Pinto Bean Soup, Solid Workout, *Frontline* and Lee Harvey Oswald

1.  Over the last ten years, I've been asked quite a few times what I'm doing now that I'm retired. For some reason, I almost never think to answer with the most obvious two words: I cook.

Today, I had some ground beef thawed and I cooked it up with chopped onions and then added diced fire roasted tomatoes, baby carrots, chopped red potatoes, and finely chopped garlic to the pot along with cumin, paprika, oregano, and some red pepper flakes. I let this all cook for a few minutes until fragrant and then added two cups of water and some beef Better than Bullion. I cooked this for about fifteen minutes and then added a couple of cans of pinto beans and let this soup slowly cook until the vegetables were tender. 

It worked. 

I made enough for dinner tonight, Debbie's lunch tomorrow, and for me to have some more when I return home from the rehab gym on Friday.

2. Once I got the soup assembled and cooked, I turned off the heat and bolted out to the Fitness Center and worked out for about forty minutes, the same amount of time I work the machines in CdA. I was a little rubbery from yesterday's double workout, but it was not a problem. It felt really good to get this session in before returning to Kellogg and giving Christy a lift to Silver Valley Tire.

3. After dinner, Debbie and I continued our effort to learn more about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 2013, Frontline ran an updated version of its 1993 documentary Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?. We watched it tonight. I'd say that Debbie and I agree that this story is so murky, so convoluted, so rife with possibilities that the more we learn,  the less we know for certain. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-29-2023: Two Workouts, My Workout Playlist, Chickpeas and Lee Harvey Oswald

1. I followed through. 

Yesterday I wrote that since my food hangover kept me from going to the Fitness Center, I would go to Smelterville, work out, and then go to Coeur d'Alene and work out again at the rehab gym.

Tha

t's exactly what I did. 

I arrived at the Fitness Center in Smelterville around 9:00 and exercised on two different machines for 45 minutes.

I then rocketed to the rehab gym at Kootenai Health and went through my regular routine.

Yes, I walked out of the second gym a bit rubbery legged and more tired than usual, but part of my rehab program is to log about a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise a week, and I'm right on target to do what I want: exceed that 150 number.

2. While I work out at the CdA gym, one of the staff comes to me with educational material about all kinds of things ranging from home exercise to dietary information. In addition, someone often comes around to listen to my lungs or to check my heart rate and, on occasion, my blood pressure while I'm huffing and puffing away. Therefore, I don't exercise with my wireless earbuds at the rehab gym.

At the Smelterville gym, it's a totally different story, and today, for the first time, I listened to the new workout playlist I created on Spotify while I worked out and it was fun listening to The Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and others while I huffed and puffed away.

3. After fixing a very interesting and delicious HelloFresh chickpea and rice bowl featuring blistered tomatoes, roasted carrots, and both a schug sauce and a lemon aioli, Debbie and I listened to the next episode of the podcast, Who Killed JFK.  Soledad O'Brien and Rob Reiner guided us through a convoluted story narrating the mind boggling comings and goings of Lee Harvey Oswald from the time he became a Marine to when he moved to the USSR to when he married a Russian woman and they resettled in the USA. This episode posits that Oswald was under the employment and direction of the CIA during this time. Listening to this episode was, for me, like watching a spy movie where I have a lot of trouble keeping up with just what's going on who is working for whom. 

Next week, the podcast will continue to probe the Lee Harvey Oswald story. Before then, I just might listen to tonight's episode again and try to get all the details and twists and turns of his story, as presented by this podcast, straightened out.  

Three Beautiful Things 11-28-2023: Getting Christy's Support Organized, My First Birria Tacos, A Food Hangover

1. Christy has knee replacement surgery coming up in two weeks and she, Carol, and I got together for lunch at Casa de Oro to go over Christy's schedule for when she needs rides to the hospital, physical therapy, and a post-op follow up appointment. We got that all taken care of and veered off into other subjects -- ha! 

2. I had read recently that Casa de Oro had just begun serving Birria Tacos. I'd never heard of this style, looked into it, learned that it features spicy stewed beef (or goat) in a pan-fried tortilla. The Birria Taco comes with a bowl of seasoned consommé for dipping the taco in. If spicy means peppery or hot, my Birria Taco was not spicy in that way. Rather, it was seasoned with spices. I enjoyed my three Birra Tacos and only wish I had ordered them a la carte. The rice and fried beans that came with my tacos was way more food than I wanted. If I'd been thinking clearly, I would have asked for a box and taken home one taco and at least half of the beans and rice. 

But, acting as if one of the teachers at Sunnyside Elementary school was hovering over me, threatening me with detention during noon recess if I didn't clean up my plate, I ate the entire meal.

I can't work out after eating. I'd planned on going to the Fitness Center this afternoon, but even by six o'clock, the heaviness of my lunch was still with me and not only did I not exercise, I didn't eat another bite of food the rest of the day. 

I decided that I would make up for missing my workout today by working out twice on Wednesday: once around 9:00 at the Fitness Center and again, at 11:00, at the Pulmonary Rehab gym in Coeur d'Alene. 

3. I managed to get some shopping done at Yoke's and mail a package at the Post Office. But for much of the afternoon and evening I read newspaper articles online, worked a couple of puzzles, talked with Debbie about her work this week, so far, and simply recovered from eating too much food at lunch. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-27-2023: Positive Hour at the Gym, Soup and Salad at Moon Time, Tomato Tortelloni Bake

1. I checked in with Eddie at the rehab gym, happy to report that I had worked out for 200 minutes on my own over the last week. I also lost a little weight. Today, on both of the machines the staff has assigned me to use, I increased the level of difficulty slightly and I liked how these levels pushed me harder, but didn't leave me feeling depleted or sick. I also moved up to five pound hand weights. My blood pressure upon arrival was great. 

It's working splendidly for me to work this program, primarily because I do better when I have someone to report to. This was true several years ago, back in Maryland,  when two of my former LCC students who were earning their nursing degree emailed me,  needing a "patient". All I had to do was report to them my weight, blood pressure, and number of steps. Working with both of them at separate times helped me take better care of myself. I do better when I have someone to report to.   

2. On the spur of the moment, as I was leaving CdA, I decided to stop in at Moon Time for a cup of soup and half a salad and a couple glasses of water. The soup was a delicious, moderately spicy pineapple and shrimp curry and I ordered half a Thai Crunch salad. Even though it was a half a salad, I had to box up about a quarter of it or so and bring it home. It was delicious, but I couldn't eat it all in one sitting. 

3. It sure didn't take much effort to fix tonight's HelloFresh Tomato Tortelloni Bake. All I had to do was briefly heat up some oil, Italian seasoning, chili flakes, and finely chopped garlic in a pan and then add two diced tomatoes to the pan. I let the tomatoes cook for a few minutes and then added a packet of tomato paste. After it cooked for a couple of minutes, I added a cup of water, vegetable stock, and cream cheese and when these ingredients were combined, I dumped the tortellonis in the pan and cooked them until tender. I added a hunk of butter to the tortellonis and sauce and once it melted, stirred it all up.

I had already combined panko, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil in a small bowl and now I spread this mixture over the tortellonis and tomato sauce and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes and ABBACADABRA!, Debbie and I each had a delicious bowl of food for dinner. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-26-2023: Back on the Wellness Trail, Hiking with *Deadish*, Comic Tales by P. G. Wodehouse

1. I had to put myself to a moderately challenging test today. The Wellness Trail winding up the hill just east of the hospital is only a half a mile long and, in descriptions of it, is considered easy.

Well, it has enough incline and gains enough elevation that it gets me breathing hard and works out my legs.

When I saw Dr. Jespersen back in the spring, I happily reported to him that I'd hiked this trail recently and thought I did pretty well. He told me that consistent physical activity was the key to keeping my pulmonary system functioning well and told me about a patient of his with low functioning lungs who keeps himself getting along well by riding his bicycle everywhere.

Inspired by that story, I took my bike to the shop, made sure it was in good shape, and started riding. I didn't ride everywhere I went, but I took rides on the local Trail of the CdAs.

Then one day in June, I got sick from riding in moderate heat in the sunshine and never rode my bicycle again -- nor did I hike the Wellness Trail. I didn't want to experience that sun/heat illness again.

When I saw Dr. Jespersen near the end of October, he recommended that I start a rehab program in the Cardio-Pulmonary gym at Kootenai Health and I'm going into that gym three days a week now and I've rejoined the Fitness Center near Smelterville and workout there on the days I don't go to CdA.

Today, however, instead of going to the Fitness Center, I returned to the Wellness Trail for the first time in over six months.

Walking to the start of the Wellness Trail, I'd become a little short of breath walking up The Trail that goes from Riverside Ave to Kellogg High School.

As I worked my way up the Wellness Trail, I stopped a handful of times to stop panting, but I thought my recovery time was pretty good. My legs, which had become weakened from inactivity over the summer, felt good going up this trail. I was glad to be doing this hike alone because I was so slow, but I made it to the end of the trail, rested at the picnic table for a short while and had a good hike back down the hill and a good walk home. 

2. Listening to the first hour of Jeff's Thanksgiving Day Deadish show on kepw.org made my hike even more enjoyable. He played songs from a show on 11-23-1973. Early on, Jeff  featured songs with Bob Weir on lead vocals.  I thought Bob and the band sounded terrific on "El Paso", "Mexicali Rose", and "Looks Like Rain".  Lately, Jeff has been playing a lot of live "Deadish" music from 1973, not just the Grateful Dead, but Jerry Garcia Band performances, Traffic, Old and in the Way, and other stuff. Is it just me -- or were these groups sounding really good fifty years ago? I sure think so.

3. Back home, relaxing in the living room, I put in my wireless earbuds and listened to a couple of stories by P. G. Wodehouse. One was a detective story about a boarder at a place called The Excelsior having been murdered under mysterious circumstances -- it involved bananas, a cobra, a harmonica, and a cat. The other story was an early Bertie Wooster tale that barely included Jeeves. It was hilarious. Bertie's overbearing Aunt Agatha sends Bertie to NYCity with orders to rescue his cousin Gussie. Gussie has fallen in love with a vaudeville singer. Aunt Agatha disapproves. Once Bertie is in NYCity, a series of madcap events occur and the story comes to a surprising and most comic conclusion.  The title of the tale is "Extricating Young Gussie". 

Three Beautiful Things 11-25-2023: A Good Workout, Afternoon Time with Copper and Luna, Exquisite Turkey Soup

1. After driving out to the Fitness Center on Friday, only to discover it was closed, I wised up today and called out there. It was open from 8-12, so I blasted out and got in some good exercise. While on a couple of machines, I listened again to Episode 3 of Who Killed JFK? and then powered my way to the end of my workout with ZZ Top, Free ("All Right Now"), and Pink Floyd ("Shine on You Crazy Diamond"). 

It might be time to make myself an exercise playlist on Spotify.

2. It was chilly outside today. Copper and Luna seemed very happy that I joined them in the bedroom to work on Saturday's NYTimes Crossword Puzzle and to take a nap. I was happy to be with them, too.

3. Debbie bought a couple of turkey backs and made a very delicious turkey soup this afternoon. It was like having a certain kind of turkey dinner in a soup. She added sliced yams, chopped potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and topped the soup with dumplings. I especially enjoyed how the yams sweetened the broth and were balanced by the Brussels sprouts. My favorite way to enjoy turkey is to eat turkey soup and this was one of the tastiest turkey soups I've ever eaten. Debbie made enough so that we can have some more soup on Wednesday. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-24-2023: The Lounge Instead of Exercise, Leftovers and Tiny Tim and Australian Mammals, Plans for Christmas Time

1. I buzzed out to the Fitness Center to do some exercises, but discovered it was closed. Disappointed, I returned home and Debbie and I decided to wash my sorrow away with a trip to the Inland Lounge. The Lounge was buzzin'. We planted ourselves at the bar. I enjoyed some gin screwdrivers, some yakkin' with Cas, Ginger,  Dick G, and with Debbie. It was a boisterous and mirthful scene at The Lounge. 

2. Next up: Leftovers at Carol and Paul's. I enjoyed that not only were there food leftovers, but I also enjoyed another glass of that Mezcal/cider cocktail Paul mixed for Thanksgiving. Brian E. had been with his family on Thanksgiving Day, but joined the leftover shindig and we had fun talking bout a bunch of stuff while we revisited the Thanksgiving food. Debbie helped bring surreal randomness to our yakkin' by talking about huge mammals that went instinct in Australia and her experience interviewing Tiny Tim in Eugene about 30 years ago. We also squeezed in a little talk about the Basque region and where we might go to purchase lamb meat for Christmas. 

3. We also, I think, pretty much figured out what we'll do where over the Christmas holiday. It's a crowded time -- Debbie and I both have birthdays at that time, we got married on the 24th, we have an international Christmas dinner that we hold on the 26th so that Cosette, Taylor, and Saphire can join in -- Christmas Day is a big work day for Cosette. 

And there's more -- so we'll have our first family get together on Christmas Day with a gift exchange and a brunch and return to Carol and Paul's on the 26th for the annual international dinner and another gift exchange that includes Cosette, Taylor, and Saphire. Debbie and I are leaving things open for possibly doing something together for our birthdays. There will be a party for Cosette on the 28th. I'm sure all of this is subject to change, but this evening we established the first draft!

(Christy will also be recovering from knee replacement surgery.)

Three Beautiful Things 11-23-2023: Fixing the Appetizer, An Hour or So at The Lounge, Family Time and Thanksgiving Dinner

1. I'll let the cat out of the bag right away.

We had a calm, satisfying, and delicious Thanksgiving Day.

Carol made the food assignments. She gave me an easy task: Loaded Sweet Potato Bites. 

Well, I used yams! 

All I had to do was peel the yams and slice them. I put the slices in a bowl and poured olive oil, chili powder, garlic powder, and cinnamon over them, and tossed them.

I put the pieces on cooking sheets, baked them for ten minutes, flipped them, and baked them another ten minutes.

I finished by putting a dab of Frank's RedHot Sauce on each slice, sprinkling grated cheese over the slices, and then adding finely sliced green onion and a dab of sour cream on each one. 

Presto! 

We had a Thanksgiving appetizer.

2. Annually, on both Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, Cas and Tracy host a buffet dinner at the Inland Lounge. Debbie and I dropped in before the dinner started, enjoyed Bloody Marys and had great conversations with both Cas and Tracy before other people started to arrive. 

3. We arrived at Carol and Paul's about the same time Christy did and we joined Molly, Zoe, Carol, and Paul in the house. We all settled into the living room and Paul served us each smoky cocktail, a mix of Mezcal and apple cider -- and I can't remember what else. We munched on the vegetables arranged by Molly and Zoe on a platter to look like a turkey, with the word  THANKFUL  spelled out with carrot sticks along the top.

We had a superb discussion of the play Arsenic and Old Lace. We'd all seen it. We'd had time to think about it. Paul had a great stuff to say about directing the play. It was really fun to have a sustained family discussion about something we were all involved in, having all either seen the play or been a part of its production.

Before long, we took our places at the table, sang a verse of "We Gather Together" (a favorite hymn of Mom's) for grace, and enjoyed turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, cranberries, and rolls for dinner -- with wine.  

We returned to the living room for pies -- pumpkin, pecan, and/or a salted coffee shoofly pie.

Six straight hours of social interaction, a few cocktails, and a delicious dinner wiped me out! 

I went to bed earlier tonight, almost immediately upon arriving home, than I have in ages. 

Copper and Luna probably wish I would get wiped out like this more often! They were very happy to have my company so early in the evening. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-22-2023: Bagel Run, Remembering No Crime Day While Exercising, Podcast Episodes at Home

 1. I decided to add to our Beach Bum Bakery bagel stash and on Tuesday I ordered a half dozen sesame bagels. Beach Bum Bakery no longer sells wares out of its shack behind the Furniture Exchange -- and wares are no longer baked out of the owners' home kitchen. The bakery now operates out of the Silverton Mountain Manor, so I buzzed up to Silverton today and picked up the bagels I ordered. Back home, I toasted a sesame bagel and topped it with almond butter and honey. 

It worked. 

2. Am I ever happy I purchased wireless earbuds some time back. It means that when I go to the fitness center in Smelterville, I can give myself both a physical and a mental workout. Today, I turned to Slate's season of podcasts focused on the year 1986. During that year, Detroit Piston's point guard Isiah Thomas organized, with the help of Mayor Coleman Young, a No Crime Day in Detroit. Detroit, like many cities at that time, was experiencing a high volume of crime, much of it associated with crack cocaine. This episode told the story of the crack cocaine epidemic, examined Isiah Thomas' idea of declaring Sept. 27, 1986 No Crime Day, and reviewed what happened on that day. The podcast also presented people in the present day who reflected back on No Crime Day, a day of enthusiasm and grief in Detroit. 

3. Today, the podcast, Who Killed JFK, released its third episode. We listened to it after I'd worked out, enjoyed a pint of Hammerhead Ale, and eaten a bowl of leftover corn chowder. I fell asleep, so when I go back to the gym on Friday, I already know that I'll listen to this episode again while I exercise.

We also listened to the first episode of a podcast entitled, American Terror. Today's episode unfolded the thinking and plans for destruction of a Neo-Nazi organization called The Base. The Base was infiltrated and the infiltrator turned over recordings he made of phone and face to face conversations he'd had with leadership of The Base and this first episode was built around what the infiltrator recorded and learned. 

It's chilling. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-21-2023: Working Out with Wireless Earbuds, Fixing Chickpea and Rice Bowls, Artificial Intelligence and Then More Watergate

1. I like to work with words first thing in the morning and exercise either later in the morning or in the afternoon. Therefore, having an 11:00 slot at the rehab center in CdA and going to the Shoshone Fitness Center at 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon works perfectly for me. Today, at the Fitness Center, I took my wireless earbuds, hoping they wouldn't fall out while I was exercising (they didn't), and listened once again to Episode 2 of the podcast, Who Killed JFK?, and to a past episode of Fresh Air featuring Brian Stelter talking about recent changes at Fox News -- the firing of Tucker Carlson and what it means for Fox that Rupert Murdoch has, to some degree, stepped aside. 

2. Once I returned home, I made our next HelloFresh meal and it turned out to be one of my favorites. The meal has kind of a long name: Vegan Street-Style Chickpea Bowls with Yellow Rice, Garlicky Hummus Sauce, and Pita.

Do you want to call this a Mediterranean meal? Middle Eastern food? Whatever you call it, it might be my favorite style of preparing food. 

And, it was simple. 

I heated up some olive oil in a small pot and added turmeric to it and then added water, vegetable stock concentrate, and jasmine rice and let it cook.

I chopped up a cucumber, tomato, and a couple of green onions, put them in a bowl, and seasoned this little salad with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. 

In another bowl, I combined hummus, olive oil, garlic powder, and lemon juice. 

In a pan, I heated olive oil with some chopped green onion whites, garlic powder,  and Shawarma Spice Blend (turmeric, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, paprika, allspice, and black pepper) and then added chickpeas and a couple packets of vegetable stock concentrate. I let this cook until the liquid was gone. Then I added lemon juice and some salt and pepper to the chickpeas. 

When this rice was done, I added a packet of sliced almonds to the pot and fluffed it.

While the chickpeas cooked down, I topped two pitas with olive oil and garlic powder and toasted them in the oven. 

Now it was assembly time. I put a layer of rice in the bottom of Debbie's bowl and mine. Next I added the chickpeas and the simple salad. I drizzled each bowl with hummus sauce and hot sauce. Last of all -- guess what? -- more lemon juice! 

I cut each pita into quarters and put them on top of the rice, chickpeas, salad, hummus, and hot sauce.

We loved this food! It was pretty close to ordering a tasty rice and bean bowl from a food truck! 

3. Debbie and I relaxed after dinner with a podcast episode and another tv episode of Season 1 of Slow Burn. We listened to an episode of Code Switch and learned how Artificial Intelligence and search engines are not neutral, but have the same racial biases built into them that we humans do. We learned about this from UCLA professor, Safiya Noble. Then we watched a Slow Burn episode focused on the aides who worked behind the scenes during the Senate Watergate Hearings and on John Dean looking back at his work in the Nixon Administration and his testimony before the committee.   

Three Beautiful Things 11-20-2023: Solid Workout, "Morning Dew" Bliss, Corn Chowder

1. I zipped over to CdA today and enjoyed a solid workout at the rehab gym. I returned home right away. 

2. It's a blast using my phone to play Jeff's radio show Deadish, thanks to KEPW.org archiving his Thursday night show for a couple of weeks and Bluetooth technology in the Camry.  Lately, Jeff has been playing excerpts from Dead shows from November 50 years ago. The band sounded especially good on I-90 yesterday when Jeff played a "Morning Dew" growing out of "Uncle John's Band" and then returning to "Uncle John's Band", growing out "Morning Dew". 

3. Back home, I got out one of our latest bags from HelloFresh and made an Old Bay seasoned corn chowder accompanied by a toasted mini-baguette, cut in half, and topped with a mixture of Old Bay Seasoning, a hint of sugar, and butter. It was a perfect November evening supper. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-19-2023: ZOOM Time, Watching the Movie *Arsenic and Old Lace*, Risotto is Slow Food!

1. Bill, Bridgit, Diane, and I jumped onto ZOOM this morning. Both Bridgit and Diane are either about to face or are in the midst of medical treatment and that was a central focus of our yakkin'. Bridgit was recently evaluated at her workplace and her hard work garnered her stellar reviews and evaluations. She hired on as a supervisor in a broken department and has, with months of diligence, focus, intelligence, and humaneness, resurrected it and was evaluated most positively for it. Bill didn't sing at a recent open mic, but he read poetry, an outgrowth of his Tuesday night Poetry Break, available live on Facebook. 

2. Debbie was curious today about how the play, Arsenic and Old Lace, was made into a movie and so she rented it.  If you know the play and watch the movie, you'll realize very quickly that the movie version is based on the play. It's not a film version of the play as performed on stage. This movie was made during the heyday of the screwball comedy and Cary Grant plays the screwball hero to the hilt. As the psycho Jonathan Brewster, Raymond Massey cuts a chilling, cold-blooded figure, focused, intimidating, and remarkably quiet. Peter Lorre plays Dr. Einstein perfectly and it's hard to imagine anyone playing the aunts, Abby and Martha, any better than Josephine Hall and Jean Adair. 

WARNING! I AM GOING TO GIVE AWAY THE ENDING OF BOTH THE PLAY AND THE MOVIE.

The movie is much more committed to the screwball tradition than to the original play. The original play concludes ghoulishly with the aunts killing one more lonely old man (or in the Sixth Street production, a woman), making the farce even darker than it had been and, again, teetering on the edge of tragedy. 

The movie has a bright ending. The newlyweds head off to honeymoon at Niagara Falls and the movie ends on a high comic note, not a dark one, with one last unsettling murder committed by the two homicidal Christian spinsters. 

3. When our HelloFresh box came last week, we got three meals -- not sure why. What that meant for us, though, was dinner time rolled around today and we had another bag of ingredients for me to turn into a meal.

A while back, HelloFresh introduced me to the slow, steady process of making risotto. I got to do it again today. This particular risotto dish included roasted zucchini and grape tomatoes along with sautéed garlic, shallot, and sun dried tomatoes. 

I stood over the risotto cooking for about 25 minutes, stirring the rice and adding half cups of water one at a time until the rice soaked up the liquid. The payoff was splendid. This risotto dish was creamy, full of delicious vegetable flavor, and accented with Parmesan cheese. 

It's slow food. 

My favorite kind. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-18-2023: Paul's Birthday Party, *Arsenic and Old Lace*, Debbie and I Yak About Farce and Tragedy

1. Paul Roberts turned 64 years old today. He requested a taco salad birthday party. So at 1:00 this afternoon Paul, Carol, Christy, Zoe, Debbie, Cosette, Taylor, Saphire, and I sat at Carol and Paul's dining table and made ourselves each a custom made taco salad, choosing from a variety of ingredients. After eating our salads, we gathered in the living room and Paul opened his gifts, which emphasized primarily his love of hot sauce and of Amaretto. Carol roasted a pumpkin she plucked from one of hers and Paul's gardens and made it the centerpiece of Paul's birthday cake. It was called a Delicious Pumpkin Bundt Cake. 

2. After Paul's birthday party, I was wiped out and took a nap. It helped refresh me to watch the Sixth Street Theater and Melodrama's production of Arsenic and Old Lace in Wallace. If I'd ever seen this play acted out before, I sure didn't recall it, and, to my delight, I'd kept myself about 95% unaware of what happens in the play. Paul directed this production and he played a lead character, the psycho Brewster brother named Jonathan. Carol played a small character role at the story's end and gave the play its finality. 

3. Debbie and I returned home and each poured ourselves a nightcap. Almost always, when we go to a movie or a play together, we don't talk about it right away. But, by the time we traveled back to Kellogg from Wallace and got settled into the living room, we began talking in earnest about Arsenic and Old Lace. Before long we were discussing a favorite subject, the fine line between farce and tragedy. I couldn't remember who first introduced me to this idea. I thought it might have been T. S. Eliot. But like dramatic tragedies, Arsenic and Old Lace is a story about death. Invariably, tragedies focus on the demise of a central character who lives by some kind of illusion. The tragic character's delusion develops into the source of the character's demise. Likewise, Arsenic and Old Lace is a farce built upon the delusions of the Brewster sisters and their nephew, Teddy Brewster. 

This idea that farce often teeters on the edge of tragedy led us to discuss the television show, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-77), a dark satirical, often farcical send up of the soap opera that often hit serious social problems so directly that it could be a painful comedy to watch. Later, the program, Soap, did much the same thing. It was a farcical comedy, a cutting satire, but often took its viewers to the brink of tragedy, if not occasionally crossing over into the tragic, and was often moving and unsettling in ways usually reserved for tragic drama. 

We also talked a bit about the self-referential bits in Arsenic and Old Lace, how the play was a play about plays, even poking fun at plays that had much in common with Arsenic and Old Lace itself. We both agreed that Arsenic and Old Lace could be regarded as an absurdist play and I remarked that I thought at one point a character had referred to someone who had the name of Pirandello, who wrote the superb absurdist play, Six Characters in Search of an Author. 

Last of all, the character of Jonathan's face has been surgically altered. He looks, in the play, like Boris Karloff. 

Well, guess who played Jonathan in the original cast of Arsenic and Old Lace?

That's right, Boris Karloff! 

Self-referential city, man! 

Three Beautiful Things 11-17-2023: Slight Ramping Up, The Cursing Man at Costco, Conspiracies and Cover Ups

1. So my workout assignments at the cardio/pulmonary gym at Kootenai Health are called prescriptions. One of the staff, on Wednesday, decided to ramp up my prescription a bit for my workout today. I think my workouts could be ramped up a little more after today. I did very well with today's challenges and look forward to continuing to search for the workout that makes me work a little more but doesn't make me double over, fighting for breath, or make me barf.

2. After my workout and a light lunch at Moon Time, I got some Thanksgiving shopping done for Carol, Paul, and me at Costco. One man passed me in an aisle, cursing shoppers under his breath who were blocking the aisle. (They were enjoying offerings at a sample table.) I don't enjoy getting agitated and was glad that I enjoy the crowds in Costco. Always have. I mean, I am contributing to the mob scene, right? Anyway, I watched this guy until he was out of my sight, practicing red-faced, grumbling indoor road rage as he headed toward the check out stations. I hope he got home all right and found some time and a way to settle down, relax, take it easy.

3. Debbie and I listened to the second episode of the podcast, Who Killed JFK? and had a fascinating talk about cover ups and conspiracies. Debbie cracked open a can of Skyline (Cincinnati) Chili which we enjoyed over spaghetti with grated cheese and green onions and we watched two different episodes (again) from Season 1 of Slow Burn, taking in more programming about conspiracies and cover ups.  

Three Beautiful Things 11-16-2023: Signed Up at the Fitness Center, The Camry and Bluetooth, HelloFresh Chicken Dinner

1. These sessions at the heart and lung rehab gym at Kootenai Health motivated me to rejoin the Fitness Center at Shoshone Medical Health today. After I signed up, I did all I could to replicate the workouts I do in CdA. 

2. I've been driving the Camry this week and Debbie has been driving the Sube to school. In addition to having superb headlights, I love being able to use Bluetooth in the Camry. Recently, I switched from Mose Allison and started playing music from nearly fifty years ago recorded by Michael "Popsicle Toes" Frank. I loved getting back in touch with his smart, clever, erotic, and imaginative writing and the superb musicians who support his vocals. After working out, though, I sought a different kind of music and rocked out to the best of ZZ Top -- "Give Me All Your Lovin'" had come over the house sound system while I was on the treadmill and helped make my workout very enjoyable. 

3. I didn't take much to make a delicious dinner tonight of chicken cutlets and roasted Yukon golds accented with a Parmesan and chive cream sauce accompanied by a mixed greens salad dressed with a Dijon Mustard dressing. It might have been the simplest HelloFresh dinner yet and one of the tastiest, too.