Three Beautiful Things 12-20-2024: Remembering Lois Dahlberg and the Dahlberg Family Legacy, A Splendid Luncheon, A Good Evening at Home

1. Today I joined several members of the KHS Class of 1972 and the congregation of other mourners to join in a memorial service paying tribute to Lois Dahlberg, mother of our classmate, Susan Dahlberg. Susan's brother, John, delivered a comprehensive, detailed accounting of Lois Dahlberg's long, courageous life of missionary service, with her late husband, Dr. Keith Dahlberg, in Thailand, Burma, and Papua New Guinea as well as her tireless service to the Silver Valley and to her family and friends over the nearly sixty years she lived here.  

John Dahlberg detailed the inextricable connection between Lois and her father-in-law, Edwin Dahlberg, a titan of the American Baptist Convention, a past president of the American Council of Churches, and a devoted pacifist. The American Baptist Convention created a peace award in his name and, in 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first recipient of the Edwin T. Dahlberg Peace Award. 

John's detailing of Dahlberg family history and the legacy of his grandfather did not detract from his tribute to his mother's courage, faith, integrity, joyful spirit, or tireless service. Rather, John helped us understand the context of service and bravery his father and mother's service to the endangered and the impoverished grew out of. 

John's tribute uplifted and stirred awe in me. 

2. Following the service, many of us gathered in the Mountain View Congregational Church's fellowship hall for a delicious buffet luncheon featuring chicken, salads, and desserts. 

I especially enjoyed talking with classmates -- Sharon W. told me how her mother is doing, Susan K. and I reminisced about a (now closed) fish and chips shop in Brooklyn, the Atlantic ChipShop, we both enjoyed, Stu gave me a detailed update that I fully appreciated on his brother's recovery from two recent surgeries, and I got to join in some other really good conversation and story telling. 

It was heart warming to me that so many of us from the Class of 1972 turned out today to honor Lois Dahlberg and support Sue in her time of loss and grief. I felt proud to be a member of such thoughtful, kind, and generous classmates. 

3. Back home, Debbie arrived after she had a fun visit at The Lounge, and we enjoyed leftover curried chicken wings from last night along with basmati rice. We yakked about a lot of stuff, including our plans for Saturday, December 21, Debbie's 74th birthday and her day of travel from Spokane to Newark to begin a holiday visit at Josh and Adrienne's house, to eventually see almost all of our family (I don't think she'll see Hiram), and to enter into the buzz and excitement of the holiday season with all of them. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-19-2024: I Cruised the Uptown Gut, More Fun With the Wok, Watching the Wildcats Play Priest River

1. I vaulted into the Sube for a quick trip uptown to the Post Office. Some new life is and has been stirring uptown. Uphill Grill is open more days. Zany's Pizza is preparing a spot on McKinley to reopen after leaving the old Sunshine Inn building. Philly Cheesesteak is open -- I don't know how business is going. Beach Bum Bakery is working on locating its operations on the west side of Main Street. There might be more going on, but these are the stirrings I know about and observed when I cruised the gut today. 

2. I got the wok back out and used it to fry a package of chicken party wings. I took them out and in the melted fat at the bottom of the pan I added rings of white onion and sliced mushrooms, and, at the same time, steamed baby potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower. In a bowl I mixed two cans of coconut milk and two tablespoons each of red curry paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, and brown sugar. I returned the chicken wings to the wok, covered the chicken with curry sauce and added lime kefir leaves along with Thai Wheat Noodles. Last of all, I added the broccoli, cauliflower, and the potatoes, halved. I let this all simmer in the wok on low for about a half an hour and the result was a bowl of something like curried soup with curried chicken wings to remove and eat with our hands. 

Not entirely a convenient meal to eat, but the flavors and the curry sauce heat were nearly perfect. 

3. Ed swung by and we went to Andrews Gymnasium (I called it The Drew) at Kellogg High and watched the hometown Wildcats play the Priest River Spartans. 

From my point of view, the 'Cats played hard, hustled, did their best to push the ball up court and pick up the pace of the game. Two things stymied the 'Cats, I thought. The 'Cats committed quite a few turnovers and they struggled to score. Tonight, at least, the 'Cats didn't have a player or two they could turn to as reliable scorers and so despite holding the Spartans to 50 points, the Wildcats only scored 43 points and suffered a loss. 

I plan on returning to The Drew to watch this team some more, hoping that they commit fewer turnovers, continue to force their opponents into turnovers, and that they shoot better -- both their shots near the hoop and their outside shots. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-18-2024: Stir Fry on the Spot, No Parking at the High School, I Was Victorious Tonight

1. As you can imagine, the last week of school before the Christmas/winter break is challenging for classroom teachers -- at least in elementary schools. 

Today, Debbie arrived home earlier than usual to rest up a bit after an intense school day. Her students would be performing at 6:00 at the high school as part of a concert featuring students in grades 3-12 in the Kellogg district. 

Her early arrival home gave me a start, a good start, I might add, and I wondered how soon she wanted to eat dinner. 

"I'm really hungry."

"Okay. I'll get right on it."

One reason I love cooking with the wok is that I can have a dinner ready to eat in 20-30 minutes.

Tonight, I took out a large frying pan with vegetable and sesame oil, got the Trader Joe's Thai Wheat Noodles heated up and ready to eat.

I then did some chopping and slicing. 

I'd thawed a couple of small, thick strips of tri-tip steaks. I sliced them into small pieces. 

I sliced a red onion, chopped a half a red pepper, sliced and chopped an eggplant and half a yellow squash, and had sliced mushrooms on hand, ready to go.

I heated oil in the wok and then stir fired the beef with the onion and red pepper, added in the eggplant and yellow squash, and saved the mushrooms for last. 

I dressed the noodles with soy sauce, added ginger and red pepper flakes to the stir fry and PRESTO! in fairly quick order, Debbie and I had a delicious dinner ready to eat -- Debbie nourished herself and had some more time to rest before the concert. 

2. Debbie left for the high school and then, a short time later, she called me from our driveway. At the high school, so many people were attending the concert that Debbie couldn't find a parking spot. 

No problem. 

I hopped into the Camry and drove her back to KHS and dropped her off with a plan that she'd try to find a ride home or would call me to pick her up. 

She found a ride. 

3. Debbie wanted to go with potables more powerful than Hazy IPAs when she came back home and asked me to go to the liquor store and pick her up gin and Cointreau.

Which I did.

This led to me experiencing a small but exhilarating triumph. 

You see, I'm not a skilled handyman. 

I'm especially lousy when it comes to doing tasks requiring fine motor skills. 

I'm clumsy, especially with small batteries, clips, screwdrivers, and other tiny things.

Well, on my trip to the liquor store, I had both Debbie's and my fob in the car. 

I'd had an experience on my trip to Oregon that led me to believe my fob battery was getting low.

This evening, a message came up on the control panel telling a fob's battery was low.

Only mine?

Debbie's too? 

I didn't know. 

When I got home I found a YouTube video I've watched in the past for instruction, got new fob batteries out, and slowly, clumsily, inexpertly, and patiently removed each fob's battery, replaced each one, tested them by locking and unlocking the doors to the Camry, popping open the trunk, and testing the ignition. 

Success! 

I don't know what runners feel like when they finish Bloomsday or the Boston Marathon or an Ironman race, but my sense of accomplishment and triumph at completing this task must have been pretty close to those athletes' joy. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-17-2024: Lower on the Triage Ladder, Vivid Dreams!, Leftover Meatloaf Dinner

1. A lot happened on Monday: labs at Sacred Heart, checking results as they flew into my portal, a Great Harvest coffee and muffin stop, shopping at Trader Joe's and Pilgrim's Market, lunch at The Breakfast Nook, car serviced at the Toyota shop, and hoping the snow falling didn't stick to the roads. (It didn't.) We had family dinner on Monday. 

Monday was a cyclone. 

Today I balanced out the whirlwind of Monday with very little activity on Tuesday. 

Tuesday was a zephyr.

I have not heard from the nurse coordinator about my labs and I take that as a very good sign -- I'm assuming there are no problems to address and that my medicine dosages will remain the same.

For about six weeks now, I've been pretty sure that I've moved down the triage ladder, that I don't need and will not receive the kind of immediate attention and response I got when I had labs done in the early post-transplant months. 

To me, this is good news.

It's a ladder I'm happy to descend. 

2. When I went to sleep Tuesday evening, for the entire night I experienced one vivid dream sequence after another. When each sequence ended, I was too stoked to go back to sleep and I played the dreams in my mind over and over, hoping I would soon fall back to sleep.

I loved my first very intense dream in which a group of actors, including my first wife, and I were working hard in rehearsal (I was the director), preparing to perform a period piece involving royalty, broken marriages, forbidden attractions between characters, as written in the script, and deep character analysis as we talked together to figure out the roles and the action. I woke up and was talking out loud (what did Copper think?), telling the actors to work with the tension between strong transgressive sexual attraction and restraint. 

I've never been a play director -- don't ever plan to be -- but, in the world of dreams, it was fun working these things out with talented and experienced actors and negotiating the uncertainty of working on a project with my first wife with whom I've had no contact for right around forty years. 

My second dream involved a welcome and unexpected reunion with a Eugene friend I haven't seen for over ten years. The third enmeshed me in a madcap trip from our former residence at 940 Madison in Eugene to the Eugene airport to drop off Patrick and Meagan who were going on an international flight, but we and a herd of other family members who were piling into the Sube, a thousand clowns style, just couldn't seem to get going and once we did, I kept missing turns, making U-turns, and being unable to take the correct route to the airport. 

This stressed me out and I woke myself up and talked myself down, doing all in my power not to return to that disoriented dream once I fell back to sleep. 

I succeeded. 

3. I had to wonder as I climbed out of bed this (Wednesday) morning: were these intense and fascinating and, regarding the last one, stressful dreams a result of my delicious Tuesday night dinner?

Ha! I don't know why some warmed up leftover delicious meatloaf and sautéed mushrooms, red pepper, red  onion, and yellow squash and a sliced cosmic crisp apple would lead me to the stage, a Eugene reunion, and a labyrinth of a drive to the Eugene airport from 940 Madison in Eugene.

I don't need to know.

It's just fun writing about what was a fun, wild, and a bit stressful night of dreams and talking out loud to my pillows (and Copper!). 

Three Beautiful Things 12-16-2024: Blood Work Very Encouraging, Frisco Burger Elicits (Pretend?) Memories, Early Birthday Celebration at Family Dinner

1. As it turned out, driving on I-90 this morning from Kellogg to Spokane was not a problem, but just in case the roads got dicey, I took off at 5:30.

I arrived at Sacred Heart in plenty of time, the phlebotomist drew eight vials of my blood, and I dashed to the basement of the hospital, went to the Thomas Hammer coffee counter, and ordered a most enjoyable 12 oz double latte. 

It wasn't too long before results of my labs began to drop into my patient portal online. 

Markers that I consider key really look good. My BUN number is in range -- it's been many many years since this was true. 

My creatinine number is now the best it's been in many many years and is inching its way toward being in range. 

My GFR over the last 6-7 years had dipped as low as 12 (it didn't stay there), but the GFR has been in the teens ever since my last labs in Eugene in 2014.

With my new kidney, today my GFR hit 50 and if it should improve to 60, it'll be in range. 

More results will come in later this week, but, so far, my numbers are either stable or improved -- so far, none of the numbers sound any kind of alarm.

My recovery continues to go well.

My recent trip to Oregon had increased my confidence that my immune system is strengthening. Today's blood work gives me reassurance that my new kidney is doing its job. And how! 

2. The cafeteria latte bolstered me to vault into the Camry and rocket up Grand Blvd and head east on 29th to Great Harvest. Normally, Great Harvest sells Morning Glory muffins on Monday, but the bakery popped a cool surprise on its customers today with Lemon Poppyseed Blueberry muffins. I ordered one, loved it, and enjoyed a couple cups of Cravens (no apostrophe) Earth and Sky dark roast coffee. 

As I sat by myself contemplating the encouragement this day offered me so far, snow began to fall. 

I didn't rush out, but once I finished my refreshments, I drove right past Trader Joe's, eased downhill to the freeway, joined the other travelers, and drove without incident to Coeur d'Alene.

I had quite a bit of time before my oil change appointment, so I went to Trader Joe's in CdA and popped across the street to Pilgrim's Market and now the trunk was stocked with excellent groceries for home and an armful of Hazy IPAs for Debbie -- that's her favorite beer.

As I drove north on 4th, I suddenly decided to have lunch at the Breakfast Nook -- for the first time. All of my many many other meals at the Breakfast Nook have been breakfasts. 

I ordered a Frisco Style Burger -- a cooked through ground beef patty on grilled sourdough bread with Swiss cheese and 1,000 Island Dressing. My memory is not trustworthy, but I enjoy my fantastical trips to my past to things that might never have happened, but make me happy -- so accurate or not, this burger reminded me of dining at Original Joe's, a longtime eatery on 8th and Willamette in Eugene and also reminded me of what I remembered as the Rennie Burger at Rennie's Landing, a watering hole and eatery just north of the bustling University of Oregon corner of 13th and Kincaid in Eugene.

For all I know, those Eugene burgers from the 1980s and possibly on into the 1990s had nothing in common with my Breakfast Nook burger, but isn't that the beauty of nostalgia and memory? That the memories that rose up in my mind at the Breakfast Nook counter might have little basis in reality, but still gave me all kinds of pleasure, inspiring me to eat my lunch with what was probably a dopey grin on my face? 

3. The crew finished servicing the Camry within the time they promised. I stopped at Starbucks for a triple grande latte to help me get over the 4th of July Pass and, once again, to my relief, the travel conditions were not a problem.

Tonight we celebrated Debbie's and my upcoming birthdays. Debbie will be in New York on her birthday and I think there's a family craft day for those about to craft (we salute you) with Saphire on my birthday. 

For our birthday dinner, Carol fixed food that Debbie and I love. We started with mini won tons and then moved to the Roberts' new (to them) dining table (it had been Paul's mom and dad's table and his mom let it go) for a pork tenderloin and vegetable stir fry with rice (was it jasmine? basmati? white rice?). It was superb. We also had a tray of vegetables and a dip. 

For dessert, Christy prepared a sinfully delicious apple, cranberry, and golden raisin pie.

Then Debbie and I opened our gifts. 

Carol gave me a bag of treats: fruit cake, salted caramel pear butter, and Revival Northwest Breakfast tea  (did I miss something?).

Christy gave me a long sleeved T-shirt emblazoned with the movie title, The Last Waltz, on it. Coincidentally, as I opened it, I was wearing my gray "The Weight" hoodie featuring the members of The Band and the line, "Wait a minute Chester" on the front. We'd talked earlier about the movie, The Last Waltz and other rock music documentaries and this gift brought our whole evening full circle. 

It was unbroken. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-15-2024: Jury Is Still Out, Awesome Meatloaf, Pre-Blood Draw Giddiness

1. I spent a good chunk of this afternoon reading about current events, like in Syria, but also about things like how otherwise obscure people gain fame via the World Wide Web. I know more now about the world than I did this morning. My inner jury is still deliberating whether I understand things better. As of now, that jury is deadlocked, unable to reach a verdict. 

2. Debbie found a meatloaf recipe that interested her and this evening she made it. I'm afraid I'm unable to report with any detail or accuracy what made it so delicious, but I sure enjoyed it. 

3. I started feeling kind of excited this evening. I last had lab work done at Sacred Heart on November 25th and since then I've felt really good, had a great trip to Gladstone and Eugene where I put my immune system to the test in a variety of ways, didn't get sick, and felt terrific. 

I go to Spokane first thing tomorrow morning (Monday) morning and I hustled around this evening getting  what I need pulled together, feeling hopeful that my numbers are going to look good, that I'll enjoy a muffin and coffee at Great Harvest, and that I'll find other fun ways (Trader Joe's maybe!) to fill up time before taking the Camry in at 12:15 to be serviced. 

Big day ahead! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-14-2024: Copper Makes Contact With My Shoulder!, RIP Jack Robert (1946-2024), Mongolian Noodles

1. It wasn't really jet lag, but I had what I'd call auto lag today. I spent a lot of time lying down, resting and napping,  on the bed with Copper and, lo and behold, Copper positioned himself close enough to me that he made actual physical contact with my shoulder. Until today, Copper limited his contact with me to my thighs or calves, most often when I was under the covers. 

February 3rd will mark the fourth anniversary of Copper and Luna coming into our home. Luna died a year ago and now, after nearly four years, Copper has made contact with my shoulder! 

What else might be in store for Copper and me?

2. I'm going to take a break for a little while from strictly beautiful things and write a few words about a something sad I learned today.

Every so often, I go to Eugene's local paper, the Register Guard, and scan the obituaries. I usually find out about fellow parishioners from St. Mary's Episcopal Church who have died in the twice a week email I receive from the church. 

But, it's through these obituaries that I learn about people I worked with at LCC or that I studied with at the U of O, sometimes fellow graduate students who either stayed in or returned to the Eugene area. 

Today, I learned that on December 9th, a fellow faculty member from the English, Foreign Language, and Speech division at LCC, Jack Robert, died. 

Jack taught speech. 

I almost immediately recalled a Saturday afternoon in 1998, when I was the chair of the division, and Jack and Mike Skupsky and I played snooker downtown at Luckey's Club. 

We drank a lot of beer. Mike and Jack introduced me to the game of snooker. We had a great time together. 

As time went along, though, Mike, Jack, and I would never hang out together again, thanks largely to disagreements about hiring and other things at LCC. 

Jack and I didn't have disagreements about hiring -- we worked very well together on (I think) two hiring committees in the Speech department and I admired his insights about candidates and how he articulated his thoughts about whom the committee should hire. 

But, hmmm, what I would call Jack's libertarian worldview was often at odds with the emerging culture at Lane Community College. 

For example,  Jack was a prominent voice on campus in opposition to a campus wide smoking ban. 

I supported the ban, but I also respected Jack's point of view, although I doubt he ever knew I did. 

I heard through the grapevine that Jack was disappointed in my support of division and department governing principles like arriving at decisions by consensus, my support of Affirmative Action, and of what was and wasn't suitable language in the classroom, among other things.  

I thought we were always friendly with each other in the hallways, but I knew a chill had also moved in between us, so we never played snooker again nor enjoyed beers together. 

The sadness I experienced when this chill moved in about twenty-five years ago returned today.

But reading about Jack's life relieved me of this sadness. 

I'd always heard that Jack had many talents and passions that we never saw on campus.

His obituary highlighted the things Jack loved to do: cook, host an annual Polish Christmas celebration, work with wood, restore and refurbish structures, throw pots, host and design sets for a readers' theater, travel with his partner Martha, and, I'd have to say, play an accomplished game of snooker! 

When I was at Russell's retirement party on December 5, I was in conversation with Speech instructor Jay Frasier, and suddenly Jack Robert popped into my mind and I wondered how he was doing, wondered if he were still alive. 

I didn't ask Jay. 

The party was a joyous occasion and I just didn't feel like bringing the subject of who's dead and who's alive into the conversation. 

Now I know he was alive on December 5th, but died on December 9th.

Learning this felt eerie to me -- I hadn't thought much about Jack over the years and I'm not sure why concern about him popped out of nowhere into my mind at the party.

Tonight, though, as I read his obituary,  it made me happy to read that Jack's life in retirement and his life away from the college sounded fun, fulfilling, adventurous, and socially alive and satisfying. 

Rest in peace, Jack. 

By the way, if you'd like to read Jack's obituary and see a picture of him as a much younger man, here's a link: https://tinyurl.com/yvkpnhts

3. Debbie found a recipe on Pinterest for Mongolian Noodles. She combined ground beef, Thai Wheat Noodles, soy sauce, ginger powder, Hoisin sauce, chopped green onion, red pepper flakes,  and I'm not sure what else and created a superb dish for our dinner tonight.

I hope we won't forget this meal and that Debbie brings it back again on down the road some time. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-13-2024: Happy Copper, How I Like to Travel, A Night of Nostalgia

1. Back home. Rest. Napping. Laundry. 

A lot of time lying down with Copper who communicated many signs of being happy that we are back together again. Copper doesn't cling to me (like Luna did), but Copper moved as close to me as he is willing to do and purred almost without ceasing as I stroked the top of his head, the top of his neck, and his spine. He also enjoyed it when I scratched his chin. Normally, Copper moves around. He leaps off the bed, jumps into a laundry basket, or saunters into the Vizio room and hangs out on or behind the soft chair in there. 

Not today.

He spent almost the whole day on my bed, relaxing, awaiting my return when I left the room, luxuriating when I paid him the attention he let me know he longed for. 

2. I thought a lot today about how I like to travel. 

I've never had a bucket list and I don't see one in my future.

I have greatly enjoyed every trip I've taken with Debbie, especially the several time we have driven across the USA to see family and our trips back. When we drove from New York to Kellogg in 2021, we organized our drive around stopping at dog friendly, mostly small town or medium sized city breweries and that was a blast, sampling beers outside and getting acquainted with parts of the country we'd been unfamiliar with, like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

More than anything when I travel or think about traveling, I want to see family and friends -- in Portland, Seattle, Eugene, Valley Cottage, NY, New York City, the DC/Maryland/Virginia region -- and, I have to admit, hanging out in Washington, DC, going, say, to the National Gallery, driving to places I enjoy in Maryland,  and walking the streets of Manhattan by myself feels like I'm in the company of great friends -- and I am in the company of great friends when I stroll New York City with Scott or Mary or roam around New England with the Troxstar.

Similarly, I feel like after three visits, I've made a new friend with the city of Nelson, British Columbia and areas around Nelson and I'd enjoy returning to Nelson, alone or with family.

So, my trip to Portland and Eugene and to the ocean suited me perfectly. 

I spent many hours with longtime and beloved friends and, for me, there's no better reason to take a trip, no better way to spend my precious travel time. 

3. When I was ready to fall asleep last night, Debbie was out in the living room listening to different things online. I put ear buds in and fell asleep listening to Luna's superb album Bewitched on Spotify. When the album was finished, Spotify then played a mix of songs by alternative rock bands of the late 80s and on into the 90s. 

I didn't listen to this music when it came out around thirty plus years ago, but it's sure working for me now in 2024.

I especially enjoy a song by Miracle Legion: "The Backyard".

I slept through Bewitched, but "The Backyard" woke me up and suddenly I felt the most enjoyable nostalgic feelings in response to a song I've only known for about a month, but it's gotten inside me and has become one of those songs that it seems like I've been listening to forever.

It ended and I realized Debbie and Gibbs had gone upstairs to bed. 

I got up, made sure the front door was locked and that the heat was lowered, returned, put my earbuds in their case, fell back asleep, and later I had dreams about being with former Whitworth students in about 1983 and we were discussing the possibility of working out and performing a dance piece together to the music of the Eurhythmics. 

Nostalgia ruled my sweet night of sweet dreams (are made of this) and music. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-12-2024: Terry Feeds Me Really Well, Long Grateful Thoughts on the Road, I Return to Kellogg in Good Health

1. I wasn't exactly lightning quick getting out the door this morning to begin my drive back to Kellogg. 

No matter.

Terry prepared a delicious and bracing breakfast: sausage from a family grown pig (Sarah raised it), scrambled eggs, and pancakes. 

I was ready to crawl north on I-205, whiz east on I-84, blast up I-82 and across the top of the Tri-Cities on I-182, rocket up US 395 to Ritzville, and then fly east to Kellogg on I-90. I latted up a couple of times and stopped twice for fuel and made stops at three rest areas. 

2. I had a lot of time to think on this 8.5 hour drive.

Mostly I thought about how everyone I visited on this trip are simply superb people and great friends. 

I was nourished, stimulated, uplifted, and at ease with everyone I saw, all the conversations I had, and all the time we spent together. 

I was in great spirits when I arrived in Oregon, but somehow my friends and our time together raised my already high spirits even higher. 

3. Likewise, I was very happy to return to Kellogg. Debbie and I had a long and very thoughtful conversation about a wide variety of things almost immediately upon my return. I also enjoyed a great reunion with Copper who seemed very happy to be at my side again after a nearly ten day separation.

I'll also add that I was around a lot of people, sometimes in small spaces. I ate some foods that are listed as high risk for me post-transplant. I wore a mask at the Oregon Contemporary Theater, at the casino, and at the Irish jam. I took some risks. I exercised precautions, too. 

Now, here I am, back home, having been with a bunch of people and having done a bunch of fun stuff, and I'm well. 

It seems to me that my immune system is working pretty well. I thought this trip would be a good test. I hoped my system would pass the test and, as of today (Friday), it appears that nothing I did or ate made me sick. 

I'm telling you: for me, this is HUGE. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-11-2024: Wednesday Morning Eucharist at St Mary's, Darting Around Eugene/Springfield, Terry and I Were Unsupervised Ha Ha!

 1. I started my Wednesday by going to the weekly Wednesday morning Eucharist at St. Mary's Episcopal Church. Rev. Ryan Baker-Fones was this morning's celebrant which was especially fun for me because around thirty or so years ago, Ryan was a Shakespeare student of mine one quarter at LCC. As it turned out, his mother, Leah, was also in one of my classes, not Shakespeare, but research writing. 

I hadn't been to a service since some time before the pandemic struck. I quarantined myself with some strictness when the pandemic was at its hottest and I got out of the habit of driving to Coeur d'Alene to the closest Episcopal Church, St. Luke's.  

I loved being back in the loving arms of the Eucharistic rite. I was stirred, actually moved by the familiarity of the liturgy.  All those words I've heard repeated and repeated myself so many times sink into me a bit deeper each time I hear them and speak them. They sunk in a bit deeper today, especially during prays of preparation for taking Communion and during the prayer of thanksgiving afterward. 

Because not many Episcopalians live in the Silver Valley, the diocese closed both parishes here -- first in Kellogg and then in Wallace. 

I understand. 

Now, I've got to get back into the routine of driving to St. Luke's in Coeur d'Alene on Sundays again, weather permitting, and return to the liturgical rhythms and the kind spirit of Episcopalian worship. 

2. I left the church, returned to the studio apartment, having checked out but, as usual, I also left a jacket behind. I retrieved it. Then I ran errands. I bought a Fitbit charger at Best Buy. I bought Debbie some Hazy IPAs at Bier Stein. I returned to the Starbucks on 7th I used to frequent and purchased a latte for the road. It was fun driving routes in Eugene and Springfield  I used to use frequently to get around and a fun way to end my Eugene visit.

3. I then drove back to the Turner's house in Gladstone. Nancy is helping her sister after surgery in Boise,  so Terry and I were, as he put it, unsupervised. Ha ha!  

We had the house to ourselves. 

We really tore it up. 

We yakked for a while and then headed to a food truck pod in Oregon City where I enjoyed my first ever Nashville hot chicken sandwich. 

Terry had walked and played eighteen holes of golf earlier in the day. 

I'd been running around Eugene and Springfield and driving on I-5 and I-205. .

So both of us turned in around old man o'clock -- about 9 p.m.

I slept restfully and peacefully in preparation for my Thursday drive back to Kellogg. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-10-2024: I Slow Things Down, Eat at Tradewinds, Go See *Wicked* with Judy/Sparky

1. When I extended my stay by two nights in Eugene, my original plan was to go over to the Oregon coast on both Monday and Tuesday. 

It turns out, however, that I needed a day of rest today and I spent much of the day resting, napping, blogging, working puzzles, and taking breaks from relaxing by spiffing up the studio apartment where I was staying. 

2. I also waltzed into Tradewinds, a local eatery, and treated myself to a Greek Patty Melt, a fun fusion of hamburger, feta cheese, and other Greek seasonings and a sauce. 

3. Sparky/Judy and I decided to go see Wicked together in the Regal Cinema's IMAX theater. It was like being in a cinematic ocean of images, music, singing, dancing, comedy, and drama. 

I found the movie overwhelming. I definitely experienced sensory overload, but not in a bad way. It was kind of fun to submit to such a cinematic tidal wave, but I have to admit that I am more drawn to quieter movies, older movies, movies less driven by digital effects and flurries of noisy action.

That said, I can imagine going to see Wicked again and, once again, giving myself over to its magnitude. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-09-2024: Breakfast with Linda, A Trip to the Oregon Coast, Dinner at Jade Dumplings and Noodle House

1. This trip to Eugene has involved one superb conversation after another! This morning I dashed out to Elmer's where I met Linda S., our division's administrative assistant for many years at LCC, and we had excellent food and had a great talk about our renal health, some of the old days at LCC, the Oregon Ducks, retired life, the USA, and a host of other topics. We had other things to do and so had to end our talk. I look forward to the next time we are both in the same place (we had lunch together in Kellogg once -- and Wayne joined in! -- so who knows where we might see each other again! 

2. After breakfast, I returned to the studio, took care of few things quickly, and then drove to the coast. 

I sat on a couple of different logs and stared at the ocean at Heceta Beach and watched a few people play with their ecstatic dogs.  

Hardly anyone was on this seemingly endless expanse of beach. The sky was cloudless. The wind was mild. No wonder the dogs were so happy with plenty of room to run and chase balls and discs and even spend a little time playing chase with other dogs. 

I strolled up to the water line, stared some more. 

My peaceful visit ended.

I decided, then, to check out my former "home" casino, Three Rivers, just east of Florence. 

It's a completely revamped and remodeled establishment now.

And, today, sadly, it was also a house of no luck for me! Ha! I played for a while, kept making lousy spins, so I headed back to Eugene. 

Thank goodness all of my other reunions with people were infinitely better than this one, ha!, with machines! 

3. Back in Eugene, I decided to give the establishment that Eugene Weekly had named as Eugene's Best Chinese Restaurant in 2024 a try.

I went to the cozy strip mall establishment on S. Willamette, Jade Dumplings and Noodle House. 

Most of the patrons were in groups and ordered several entrees and shared them. 

Had I been with others, I would have ordered dumplings, but I decided against ordering the twelve that come with each order! 

Instead, I ordered a hill of Mixed Fried Noodles, a mound of delicious noodles combined with beef, pork, shrimp, chicken, cabbage, green onion, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, and egg. 

As an appetizer, I ordered half a dozen deep fried spring rolls. 

I enjoyed my meal a lot and if I lived in Eugene, I would invite another person or other people to join me so we could share dumplings and try out other entrees together. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-08-2024: Brunch at Lynn's, Yakkin' with Lynn, Irish Jam and Drunken Noodles

 1. Until Debbie and I moved to Maryland in 2014, we met for dinner with a group of friends on Thursday nights at Billy Mac's in Eugene. Billy Mac's is now closed. (In fact, in organizing Russell's retirement party, Anne held it on Thursday as a way to pay homage to those great Thursday Billy Mac's get togethers.) 

Today, some of the Billy Mac's dinner mates joined together at Lynn T's house for a superb brunch of egg casserole, bagels for Lox, Stock, and Bagel with lox, cream cheese, butter, and red onion slices out, link sausages, lattes, Bloody Marys, and Mimosas all available.  

It was awesome to see Anne, Russell, Mary, Jennifer, Carrie, Pam, Michael, and Lynn and enjoy the great food and energetic conversations and to have memories of nights at Billy Mac's flicker in and out of my mind. 

2. As our gathering thinned out, Lynn asked me if I'd like to stick around and yak for a while and I did. It had been a while since we talked about things that happened in the English Department over the years and we discussed times we enjoyed and things that were disappointing.  We talked about broader topics, too, and had a great time discussing life in the USA, the books Leah Sottile has led me to read, the pleasure of reading Anthony Trollope, women as superheroes in movies and elsewhere, and more. 

It was a superb afternoon -- uplifting, an afternoon that took me back many years to other great conversations I've enjoyed with Lynn over the years. 

3. From Lynn's house, I blasted to Sam Bond's Garage to listen to a circle of musicians join together for the weekly Irish jam. When I arrived, Sam Bond's was packed with people eating an afternoon meal while taking in the music and others, like me, there just to listen. I found an empty table, poured myself a glass of water, and just floated, enjoying the array of tunes and indulging in nostalgic memories of attending these jams from time to time with Debbie when we lived in Eugene. 

When the jam ended, I decided to go to Tasty Thai and I thoroughly enjoyed my plate of Drunken Noodles with tofu and a scoop of homemade coconut ice cream for dessert. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-07-2024: Joining Judy's Coffee Klatch, Reunion with AnnMarie, Great Harvest (!) and an Evening with Francoise and Herb

 1.  On Saturday mornings, Sparky (Judy), Mitch Hider, and others meet for coffee, most often at the South Willamette Market of Choice. Judy invited me to join them today and it was a blast. We yakked about theater, libraries, Shakespeare, my good fortune that I'm alive -- actually, all of our fortune is really good this way! -- and other topics that came and went. 

We had chocolates and pastries for treats. 

It was a jolly coffee klatch and I was beaming, so happy that Judy invited me to join in.

2. This joyous start to my day never let up.

Back in 1991, AnnMarie M. enrolled in the Wednesday night Shakespeare course I was teaching for the first time at LCC and we became longtime friends. She was the first person to act in what would become the Shakespeare Showcase. We and other friends and students travelled often to Portland to watch Shakespeare plays performed by the Tygre's Heart Shakespeare Company -- with dinner to follow, often, at the Spaghetti Factory, a fun tradition. 

AnnMarie became very active in the Eugene world of theater as a terrific actor and a superb costumer and in other ways. 

AnnMarie also owns Footloose Massage Center in downtown Eugene. Recently, on December 2, she held an open house at Footloose. Judy missed it and I wasn't in town yet, so Judy called AnnMarie to see if we could visit her at Footloose and it worked out.

I got to see AnnMarie! 

Judy and I visited her handsomely appointed massage center and sat for a while in the foot massage area and had a wonderful visit. AnnMarie has recently done some awesome traveling, I learned how her son and daughter are doing, we talked about cats, and we looked back at some of the shows AnnMarie has costumed and appeared in. 

As we sat comfortably and yakked away, I saw some of my best times in Eugene pass before my memory's eye: the first time I saw the movie Much Ado About Nothing, on opening night at the Bijou,  was with AnnMarie's family; I saw how much AnnMarie contributed to helping the Shakespeare Showcase grow into the splendid and fun event it became; I remembered how AnnMarie recommended to the director, Denise LaCroix, when she needed a replacement actor for Polonius in Rosencrtantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, that she invite me to join the cast (which I did). 

I was present in the moment during our reunion, but, at the same time, I was enjoying the many nourishing waters that passed under the bridge AnnMarie and I shared for many years, especially in the 1990s. 

I hadn't expected this reunion and I'm immeasurably grateful to Judy for making it happen. 

3. Judy's car was parked at Market of Choice and after I drove Judy back to her car, I dropped in at Great Harvest (Yes! GREAT HARVEST! It's been in Eugene for centuries!). I ordered a superb Chimichurri Roast Beef sandwich on Dakota bread and brought it back to the studio I'm renting and went straight to heaven thanks to this delicious meal. 

I got caught up on my blog.

I took a nap. 

I rested some more. 

I got cleaned up.

I then headed to Herb and Francoise's house for a scintillating evening visit, replete with superb and boisterous conversation about everything from the joy of having Misty in our life in Kellogg to the current state of the USA and our country's uncertain future. 

Our electric conversation was enhanced by the chicken noodle soup, Caesar salad, and fresh bread and Swiss cheese Francoise served for dinner. I also enjoyed a non-alcohol Black Butte Porter, my first NA beer ever. I couldn't believe my good fortune! 

Herb and Francoise's sons, Miles and Bryce, were both home. Both were students of Debbie's at Charlemagne French Immersion School here in Eugene.

Francoise wanted Debbie to see how splendid Miles and Bryce look and thought it would be fun to include me in a picture.

So, here we are, from left to right: Bryce, me, and Miles. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-06-2024: Burger With Roger in Salem, Coffee with Jeff and Margaret, A Night at the Theater

1. I am writing this blog post with over four hours ahead of me with nothing scheduled until 6:00. I will take my time writing this post and then plan to remember to post the link to it in the Facebook comments when I'm through. I also think I have my schedule straight today after messing up yesterday and scheduling two get togethers at exactly the same time. Very embarrassing. 

So here I go! 

I tried to finish writing my blog post enthusing about my uplifting day on Thursday, but didn't quite finish.

I needed to blast onto I-5 and rocket north to Salem to Killer Burger near the Costco on Kuebler Blvd where I'd be meeting my lifelong friend Roger Pearson for a burger and some great yakkin'. 

We had a first-rate discussion. We debriefed Don Knott's Celebration of Life, which was great to go back to and remember and we discussed our observations and thoughts about the USA as 2024 nears its end, unable to resist making some contrasts between our country now and the way things were when we were younger. 

Roger is an astute observer of the USA and has a keen understanding of the rule of law and I enjoyed a lot listening to his thoughts and insights.

So, as old friends do, we spent some time living in the past, but we spent a lot of time focused on the present and possibly the future. 

If you'd like to see a picture of Roger and me, happy to be together and finished with our food, just scroll down a ways. 

2. I dashed back to Eugene, found a parking spot in the busy 5th St. Public Market parking lot, and strolled into the market's Eatery area where I met up with Margaret and Jeff for coffee. Michael fell ill and had to cancel. 

We were resuming our long habit of meeting for coffee which began in the neighborhood of thirty-five or more years ago. 

We had a lot of ground to cover together and we did a most admirable job of it. 

We talked about people, alive and having passed, that we have (or have had) long histories with. I very much appreciated getting caught up on what's happening or has happened with people Jeff and Margaret had news about. 

We yakked about medical stuff, a nearly unavoidable topic as we grow older. 

I was so happy that our reunion today was so easy, that we fell immediately back into the ease and comfort with one another we've known all these years. I could have continued for more hours, easily, and kept yakkin', but we all had other plans coming up and went our separate ways after about an hour and a half or so.

3. I made a mental error this evening. I made a plan to go to the Oregon Contemporary Theater with Sparky (Judy), thinking I had arranged a get together with Francoise and Herb on Saturday. 

I was wrong. 

I misread a text message and when Francoise called me around 6:30, I discovered that we had agreed to meet on Friday.

Very embarrassing for me.

Fortunately, Francoise was both gracious and understanding and we rescheduled for Saturday evening, but I realized that I'm not used to having as much social activity as I'm enjoying right now and the flurry of activity left me prone to getting mixed up.

So, I picked up Sparky (Judy) and I loved being in a Eugene theater again. 

I'd never been to the Oregon Contemporary Theater before and, oh my!, I got to have a great conversation with Sam Arnold-Boyd and find out how her sons were doing and get caught up on other things. I shared a greeting with Dan P. I was ecstatic to have a chance to embrace and talk with Marla N. as I made my way to my seat.  

I loved the theater itself, the space, the seating, the feeling of the place. 

The play itself, Fresh Snow, transported me to a bar in an unnamed Montana town in the general vicinity of Kalispell and featured some songs and music from the 1980s that was fun. I thought the actors were energetic, were having a blast, and the audience not only laughed a lot, but many gave the performance a standing ovation. 

It was opening night so there was a table of food and refreshments available after the play ended.

Sparky and I decided to have our own party and we slipped out of the theater and scooted up to the Bier Stein and shared a platter of delicious, plump chicken wings and continued conversations we had begun on Wednesday and reminisced about our history together in the theater. 

How long had it been since I had an evening at the theater followed some time on the town? How long had it been since I stayed out until well after 11 p.m., noshing, yakking, reminiscing, and talking about dreams for the future? 

I don't know how long it had been, but it was a ton of fun tonight. 

Roger and I at Killer Burger: 

Three Beautiful Things 12-05-2024: Meeting Up with Alex, Russell's Retirement Party, High School Rockers at Whirled Pies

1. Alex W. came to Lane Community College straight out of high school over fifteen years ago and enrolled in a Learning Community I was involved in and so was a student of mine. Alex and I had many great conversations in my office back then and we kept in touch, off and on, over the years after LCC through Facebook and email. 

Alex left the Eugene-Springfield area and moved to Minnesota and Las Vegas, but recently returned to Springfield. 

Knowing she was back in the area and that she was enrolled in a course back at LCC, I asked Alex if we could get together during my current visit to Eugene. 

We could! 

We met today near JJ Java, a coffee shop on the second floor of the Center building and yakked together for nearly two hours.

Since Alex was a student at LCC in her late teens, a lot has happened in her life -- she's now thirty-five. 

She has two sons, she's a widow, she's lost family members to death, she's become active again in her church and with ceremonies and other tribal practices. 

I was deeply impressed with how much Alex has grown as she's become an adult, how she's become wiser, more mature, resourceful, more open with herself and others about her experiences with grief, more open in sharing her gratitude, and, as always, I continued to be impressed with wit, intelligence, and shrewd observations. 

We both felt much gratitude that through luck and pluck we were able to meet up this morning after not seeing each other for so many years. 

It felt miraculous to me. 

By the way, while we were sipping our espresso drinks and yakkin' away, I heard someone call my name. I looked up and it was a theater mate from long ago. 

Dylan K.! 

We had a brief and heartfelt exchange and it was a wonderful coincidence because Judy and I had just talked for a while about Dylan yesterday!

2. After Alex and I bid one another farewell, with hopes we'll see each other again before too long, I returned to the apartment I'm renting and got caught up on writing blog posts and took a rest.  

I got cleaned up and headed to The Public House in Springfield where Ann and Russell had reserved a room called The Study for Russell's retirement party. 

It was amazing. 

I saw a whole bunch of people I've known for thousands of years but haven't seen recently at all. 

The conversations, spirit in the room, food, the happiness for Russell all combined to make this a memorable celebration! 

3. After the uplifting celebration at The Public House, many of us rocketed over to Whirled Pies in Eugene where Ann and Russell's son, Allie (drummer) and Jennifer's two sons, Jack and Charlie (electric guitar and bass -- I don't remember which son plays which instrument) performed with two other high school boys and their music teacher. Most of their set featured an abridged version of the Who's Tommy and they played another jazzier tune to conclude. 

This was really fun! 

I also, to my delight and surprise, got to see both Nate B. and Mary P. who were in attendance at Whirled Pies.

That made my head whirl! 

An afterthought: When I arrived at Whirled Pies, an ensemble of women, with the boys' high school music teacher on drums, were playing awesome songs from the 80s. They told us in the audience the name of their group and I know the name had Ladies and 80s in the title, but I don't remember the exact name. 

I enjoyed their positive energy, the fun they were having, and the sentimental feelings their song choices inspired in me as I listened. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-04-2024: Clearing Out of the Turner House, Afternoon with Sparky, Fried Rice and Yakkin' With Randy and Marla

 1. Terry had a ten o'clock tee time. Nancy had 9 o'clock Tai Chi. I wanted to arrive in Eugene before noon. So the three of us were up and at 'em this morning. After a jolt of morning coffee, Terry fixed oatmeal. It made for a solid breakfast. At Stu's request, Nancy photographed Terry and me. Scroll down a ways and you can see one of the results. By shortly after 9:00, we all cleared out of the house. 

2. I had an uneventful drive to Eugene and after swinging by the house on Madison that Debbie and I lived in for nearly seventeen years, I rocketed up to Judy/Sparky Roberts' house and over tea and lunch we started yakking in earnest about all that Sparky has endured over the last several months. Her partner in love and theater and intellectual companionship, Joe Cronin, died in May. Sparky spearheaded a theatrical memorial and celebration of his life that happened in late July. Soon after, Sparky/Judy had a painful and serious heart attack. 

We talked about grief. Recovery. Old times. The USA. Medical matters. And more. We talked for about four hours and I didn't want to stop, but I had to get settled in the studio apartment where I'm staying and get ready for my six o'clock jolt of stimulation.

3. I got settled into my elegant Airbnb. I then blasted down to chez Troxstar and had a delicious fried rice in the wok dinner and more wide ranging conversation with Randy and Marla about kids, aging parents, music, and any number of other topics. 

Our discussions were made all the more enjoyable thanks to the Troxstar playing Donnie Iris Radio on Pandora. 

Here's a picture of Terry and me. 

We've had coffee.

We've had oatmeal.

We haven't quite changed into our travel or golf clothes yet. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-03-2024: I Blast Off for Oregon, Mandatory Ritzville Latte, Yakkin' and Dining with the Turners

1. With wobbly confidence and hope that I hadn't forgotten anything, I packed up the Camry and blasted off for Gladstone, Oregon. 

I fueled the car in CdA and then needed to stop in at the pharmacy at the Sacred Heart hospital and add to my pill stash. I couldn't resist making a stop, on my way to Sacred Heart, at Great Harvest for a blueberry oat muffin and a cup of Craven's Earth and Sky coffee. 

2. All went smoothly, but it took me a while to get out of Spokane and whenever I travel west, it's mandatory that I stop at the Ritzville Starbucks. So I did. I ordered a latte, leapt back in the Camry, and I was off again. 

3. I arrived at Terry and Nancy's house around 5:30 and we immediately fell into fun, fascinating, and stimulating conversation about a wide range of things on our minds and managed to stop yakkin' long enough to enjoy a superb grilled salmon, roasted squash, and green salad dinner. Then it was back to the salon and more splendid discussion. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-02-2024: Lists and Multiple Re-checks, Packing a Pharmacy, Santa Maria Tri-Tip Roast

1. I wrote a list. Then another list. Then a third. These were lists of things to remember to pack. I wrote another list. This one reminded what things would go in which bag. I have some plans already made to meet with people. I wrote another list outlining the days and times of these meetings. Then I gathered things. I laundered a couple of bags. I packed as much as I could. I was so careful all day long not to forget anything that it felt like the equivalent of triple or quadruple locking a hotel room at night. 

2. I swear.  Traveling post-transplant makes me feel like I'm packing a pharmacy. In my larger post-transplant bag I packed my pillbox and a box holding all my pills, a bottle of Tylenol, a pill splitter, my transplant binder (has my prescription list, transplant program phone numbers, my daily blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and weight log, and more), pens, a pad of scratch paper, and maybe more. 

I'm set with plenty of medication and information anyone can find in the case of an emergency.

3. I took a break from packing, checking my bags, rechecking them, and re-rechccking them (did I forget something?) and fixed a Trader Joe's Santa Maria Tri-Tip Roast and roasted cabbage, red onion, and potatoes for dinner. It was relaxing to give myself over to a task that didn't involve low grade anxiety about forgetting something. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-01-2024: More Bonus Time with Misty, Patrick Secures the Pet Gate, Superb Leftovers

1. So, on Saturday, Misty had to cancel her flight to Seattle and we very much enjoyed our bonus time with her at our house on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. We continued to get even better acquainted and we all seemed to enjoy each other more and more the longer we spent time together. 

Christy came over after church and also enjoyed some bonus time with Misty. Misty is a Native Alaskan and Christy taught for many years in Inchelium on the Colville Reservation and she shared some of her experiences with Misty and showed her pictures of Native community related projects her students worked on. Misty also told Christy about her social justice work with the non-profit organization, Native Movement (nativemovement.org). Misty is on Native Movement's Administrative Team, serving as the Creative Space Lead. 

2. Patrick and Meagan, as scheduled, drove back home to Portland early this afternoon and also drove Misty back to the airport -- where everything worked out pretty well. Yes, her flight was delayed a bit, but she made it to Seattle in time to catch her connecting flight back to Fairbanks. 

Before leaving, Patrick finished a project for us that he started Saturday evening. 

The screws securing the gate we have up that keeps Gibbs from chasing Copper came out of the wall and Patrick moved the screws to the wooden trim where we are confident the screws won't come loose. 

It's a great help having this gate fully operational again -- in his own way, Copper especially appreciates it.

3. We had Cornish game hen pieces and wild rice dressing left over from Thanksgiving dinner and Debbie combined them into a wildly delicious dinner dish. Christy's dressing aged really well over the weekend and the chicken remained tender, moist, and flavorful. It was fun tonight to feel like Thanksgiving had, indeed, extended all the way from Thursday to Sunday.  

Three Beautiful Things 11-30-2024: Bonus Time with Misty, The Others Visit The Lounge, I Fix a Stir Fry

1. I'm not going to get into it, and it had nothing to do with the airlines, but thanks to a harmless snafu, we got to have Misty stay with us an extra day and we took full advantage of her extended visit with more fun yakkin' and laughter together.

2. Debbie, Misty, Patrick, and Meagan spent about an hour at The Lounge, introducing Misty to our favorite spot in Kellogg. (I would have gone up, but I'm under instruction to be cautious with places where people smoke cigarettes -- smokers exhaling smoke has the potential to broadcast contagions more widely. I could have worn a mask, but I would have been taking it off and putting it back on to drink my water or soda or whatever.)

3. I took full advantage of the others going uptown by preparing a chicken stir fry with a wide variety of vegetables, left over spaghetti from last night, and a homemade stir fry sauce, a dinner we all enjoyed a lot. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-29-2024: Social Hangover, Cincinnati Chili, Icee Run!

1. Ha!

The day after our boisterous Thanksgiving Day was, uh, restrained. 

Or comatose. 

We were all pale and nearly motionless, experiencing what Misty called "a social hangover". 

We all slept in. 

We took it easy. 

Misty and Debbie worked on a weaving project. 

Patrick and Meagan hung out at their motel room.

I drank lots of espresso and heated milk. 

2. Patrick and Meagan bought an onion, a block of cheese, a can of kidney beans, and oyster crackers.

Debbie and I had cans of Cincinnati Chili sauce on hand and now we had everything we needed for a Cincinnati Chili dinner. 

Christy joined us and we had a low key and enjoyable time together. 

3. Yes, we were all worn out from our exuberant Thanksgiving Day, but it didn't stop us from continuing to have superb conversations as Misty continues to learn more about her newly discovered family and we learn more about Misty's life in Alaska and more about the small villages Misty lived in when she was younger. 

One of our conversations veered off to a discussion of Japan. Misty spent time in Osaka when she was in the military and Patrick reported on a video he'd watched about how and why 7-11 stores in Japan serve high quality food. 

I made a wise crack about Slurpees and before long Patrick, Meagan, and Misty dashed out the door and rocketed over to the Conoco station on Hill Street and Misty and Patrick came home with Icees, a Slurpee-like concoction, and Meagan bought a grapefruit Bubly seltzer water. 

I marveled at how the evening moved from Cincinnati chili to the interior of Alaska to Osaka to Icees at the Conoco convenience store on Hill Street. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-28-2024: A Boisterous Thanksgiving, Preparing for Dinner, "I Take Comfort in That" -- The Stranger

1. Ours was a boisterous little house today, filled with energy, love, countless discussions and conversations, and a delicious Cornish game hen Thanksgiving dinner and a post-dinner party that wrapped up around 1 a.m. when Debbie and Misty, the last two merry makers still awake, called it a night. 

2. Debbie was tired today. She'd had parent conferences all day Friday, taught her students on Monday and Tuesday, with more conferences after school. She drove to Spokane, happily, to pick up Misty on Wednesday, and their joyful person to person meeting happened and continued as they arrived in Kellogg and brought me into the fold of their developing friendship/aunt/niece relationship. 

My job on Wednesday and Thursday: take care of many of the logistics and food preparation and other arrangements for our family's Thanksgiving dinner.

So I did, with Debbie giving me help along the way. 

I stuffed the celery, prepared the crackers and olive tapenade, dressed the kale and sweet potato salad, helped Debbie lengthen our dinner table with the addition of our card table, opened wine bottles, mixed the Ocean Spray cranberry juice and vodka cocktails, halved the Cornish game hens, and maybe some other things. Debbie roasted the asparagus. She brought dishes we needed up from the basement after ironing the tablecloth. She thanked me repeatedly for doing what I did, giving her time to rest and to continue conversations with Misty and to help make dinner happen by doing some really helpful tasks. 

3. Patrick and Meagan arrived mid-afternoon. They brought wine, orange cranberry bread, brown butter Rice Krispie bars, and cookies from an awesome Mexican bakery in Portland.

Later they went over to Christy's to help transport Christy's several contributions to our dinner: a Tastes of Thanksgiving cake with whipped cream, several Cornish game hens, a wild rice and other grains-based stuffing, huckleberry wine, red Solo shot glasses and cinnamon vanilla whiskey so we could toast Everett after dinner, her tripod, dinner rolls, Trader Joe's pumpkin butter, and possibly other items that have slipped my mind. Earlier Christy brought over Thanksgiving napkins and two floral arrangements set in real pumpkins. 

Molly arrived a little later with multiple bottles of wine, guaranteeing that there would be something for everyone!  And there was! 

(I bore witness to the others drinking a cocktail, enjoying wine, and drinking in honor of Everett. On the doctor's advice, I continue to abstain from drinking alcohol.)

It all worked out beautifully. After toasting Everett we gradually made our way into the living room and I can hardly begin to sum up the many subjects of conversation that took place -- but, I can say that the conversations were fascinating, charged with goodwill, and packed with things we learned from one another. 

My favorite words in The Big Lebowski come from The Stranger (Sam Elliott). After hearing the Dude say, "The Dude Abides", The Stranger turns to the camera and says, "The Dude abides. I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that."

I just wrote that the Thanksgiving conversations in our little house were fascinating, charged with goodwill, and packed with things we learned from one another.  

I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-27-2024: Meeting Misty, Cleaning and Cooking, T. McVeigh Break

1. Debbie zipped over to the Spokane International Airport and, right on schedule, Misty arrived. Debbie and Misty arrived in Kellogg a little over an hour later and we spent time getting acquainted. Debbie and Misty have spent a lot of time on the phone. Misty and I were having our first conversation. 

It was awesome.  I learned a ton -- fascinating discussions! 

I'm eager for our time together over the next two and a half days. 

2.  I had a great day doing some food preparation for Thanksgiving and spiffing up the house in preparation for Misty's visit and for hosting Thanksgiving dinner. A good busy and productive day.

3. Because of all of this Thanksgiving preparation, I've had to take a break from reading the book about Timothy McVeigh, so that's why I haven't written any updates lately. So, for those of you who have expressed appreciation for my updates, first of all, thank you, and, second of all, I'll get back to the book before too long. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-26-2024: Homemade Morning Glory Muffins, Celery Stuffing, Stir Fry for Dinner

1. I experienced unexpected and stubborn lower right leg pain Monday night into Tuesday morning and in my groggy state around 3 a.m. I suddenly remembered that my new kidney can tolerate Tylenol and that I had a bottle on the table next to my bed. 

I downed a couple of tablets and, quickly, the pain subsided. It didn't return all day. 

So I slept in and was kind of slow getting to my projects for today, but, by early afternoon, I figured out what ingredients I needed at Yoke's, shopped, came home, and had a lot of fun baking nearly two dozen Morning Glory muffins. 

2. While those baked and once I put things away, I made the stuffing to put in celery sticks for our Thanksgiving appetizer. I'm hoping I won't get kicked out of the house because I didn't make this stuffing the way Mom did, but I like the results of the recipe I used and I think this different kind of stuffed celery will be just fine.

3. Debbie had an after school parent conference and the parents got delayed and so she didn't arrive home until after 6:00 or so. 

But, when she walked in the door, she discovered that I had a really good stir fry ready to eat, staying warm in the wok. I had air fried a block of tofu. I heated up a packet of Trader Joe's Thai Wheat Noodles. I stir fried a half a red onion, red pepper slices, a crown of broccoli, mushrooms, snow peas, cabbage, spinach leaves, yellow squash, and maybe other vegetables, and added a generous amount of fresh basil leaves. 

We each added whatever sauce we wanted to our individual helpings. 

This dinner worked -- and then some -- it was superb. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-25-2024: A Good Morning at Sacred Heart, Oddball Sentimental Attachments, Superb Evening with Debbie

1. I roared out of the house around 5:45 this morning and arrived at Sacred Heart in Spokane rarin' to go! I began with bloodwork, all of which turned out stable and totally satisfactory, then I ventured down to radiology and, once again, under the sure direction of Sarah, submitted to an ultrasound exam of my bladder and my new kidney, and then met with Dr. Murad. 

Dr. Murad wants to follow up in mid-December on some tests I had done earlier, so some time after I return from Eugene, I'll have labs done. Unless something spooky comes up in those labs, Dr. Murad decided he didn't need to see me in person again until the end of January. That's two months out. I was told in the beginning it would go this way. Two or three visits in the first week or two, then every two weeks, then once a month, and eventually ever two, three, and then six months. 

My recovery seems to be right on schedule. 

After Dr. Murad left the examination room, social worker Helen Hedges dropped in for a visit. 

From the very beginning, in the fall of 2018, of being a patient in the Sacred Heart transplant program, I have enjoyed talking with Helen Hedges. We had an especially good talk today about Misty coming to Kellogg for Thanksgiving and about my plans to go to Oregon next week. 

Soon after Helen Hedges and I finished our conversation, I was discharged. 

2. I'm a sap. 

I readily admit it. 

I enjoy developing sentimental attachments to people and places. 

I've made my frequent trips to Spokane all the more enjoyable by developing sentimental attachments to Great Harvest, the Trader Joe's on 29th, and, less frequently, Auntie's Bookstore. 

Usually, after going to Sacred Heart, I blast over to Great Harvest for a morning glory muffin and coffee.

Today, however, it was time for lunch when I strolled into the bakery, so I ordered a Pepper Bleu Roast Beef sandwich on Dakota bread and I bought a loaf of Great Harvest's white bread and their honey wheat bread. 

Yes, I could have then left Spokane and shopped at Trader Joe's in CdA.

But, I haven't yet developed a sentimental attachment to the CdA store, but I have sentimental feelings about the Trader Joe's on E. 29th -- and, on the pragmatic side of things, I was fairly certain parking would be much easier at the Spokane store. 

It was and I bought a modest number of items intended to make us all a little happier and thankful on and around Thanksgiving! 

I actually have pleasant (and sentimental -- yikes!) feelings attached to fueling up at Costco and so I filled up the Camry and then bought an armful of produce at Pilgrim's Market along with some bacon.

Then it was time to return to Kellogg. 

3. Upon returning home, I was bushed. Debbie texted me that she ate the lunch she'd packed late in the day and didn't need dinner. So, I grazed. I also cleaned the produce I purchased today.

Debbie arrived home, happy with the many conferences she'd had with parents or other of her students' caretakers on Friday and late today. 

We had a long and superb discussion about Debbie's job this school year and about Misty and the powerful fact that she came into our lives seemingly out of the blue and how happy and moved we are that we'll meet her in person and have Thanksgiving together. 

(If you need a reminder, over forty years ago, Debbie's now deceased brother, David, fathered a child in Alaska. That child, Misty, grew up not knowing that David was her biological father, but discovered, earlier this year, through ancestry.com, that he was. She called Debbie. Out of that phone call Debbie and Misty have become close, talking frequently on the phone. Debbie had planned to visit Misty in Fairbanks in June, but those plans got canceled because of Covid and fires and smoke near Fairbanks. But now it will happen: Misty will fly into Spokane on Wednesday, join Debbie, Patrick, Meagan, Christy, Molly, and me for Thanksgiving dinner, and we'll all get to visit with each other in person.)

Three Beautiful Things 11-24-2024: The More I Learn . . , Marinated Chicken, The Turning Itself is Wicked

1. It's 8:30 p.m. on November 25th. Normally, I would have written this blog post in the morning, twelve hours ago.

But, I was out the door at 5:45 this morning, rocketing to the Sacred Heart Medical Center where I had blood drawn and tested, an ultrasound of my bladder and the kidney I received, and I talked with Dr. Murad about my morning labs and the ultrasound. 

More details tomorrow -- but because of post-Sacred Heart be-popping around, I didn't return home until around 4:00 this afternoon. 

And now I'm blogging about Sunday.

I spent much of the day reading more deeply into the contradictory, complicated, and increasingly obsessive life of Timothy McVeigh.

I thought back to one of the riddling experiences I've had over the years with the plays of Shakespeare. 

I thought about Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's most violent and obsessive characters. 

I remember how the more the play revealed about Macbeth, the murkier my understanding of Macbeth became.

Shakespeare creates ambiguity, not by withholding details, but by piling them on, unfolding more and more of Macbeth's many dimensions.

I'll write more about this later, but as I learn more and more about Timothy McVeigh's life and how his thinking expanded and shifted and he sharpened his sense of purpose, the more mysterious he becomes to me. 

No, I don't think he's a Shakespearean tragic hero at all, but I also don't think you can reduce his character or his turn to terrorism to a few simple reasons. 

Nor do I think this turn was predictable. It might look, looking back, inevitable, but I don't think it was predictable. 

2. So earlier in the week, I made an eggplant sauce to serve over pasta. Today, Debbie marinated chicken party wings in a tamari sauce and baked them along with roasting thick onion slices and she reheated leftover pasta with leftover eggplant sauce and sautéed zucchini, all in one cast iron pan, and, taken together, these very different food items worked together beautifully as a great dinner. 

3. St. Augustine wrote ". . . when the will abandons what is above itself, and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil --not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked."

I think the book I'm reading about Timothy McVeigh could be titled, The Turning. I don't know if one can pinpoint the moment when McVeigh began turning from a principled man, a man of strong convictions and high ideals, to a man who abandoned higher ideals and turned to performing a violent act of mass killing in the name of ideals. But it's what he did and as I read more, I'll write more about McVeigh's turn to unimaginable destruction and murder, to acting out his convictions in such a horrific way,

Three Beautiful Things 11-23-2024: Trail and Error, Timothy McVeigh Goes to War, Salmon and Asparagus

 1. I had fun today making Debbie and me cups of espresso and heated/frothed milk. I'm learning a bit more all the time about how the moka pot works. I have some work to do regarding proportions of espresso to milk. So far, when the espresso comes out of the moka pot, it's a bit too bitter for me to enjoy straight, so, over time, I'll work on seeing if I can make it less bitter. The heated/frothed milk, however, cuts the bitterness and our cups of, what?, latte? cappuccino? have been enjoyable, but I think maybe I have been using a bit too much espresso -- trial and error.....trial and error. 

2.  Were it not for my decision to read the entirety of the Leah Sottile booklist I've mentioned several times, I never would have read American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing. I'd read about McVeigh in other books and I listened to the entirety of Leah Sottile's podcast on the Oklahoma City bombing, and I thought I was done.

But, here I am, learning more and here's my next installment reviewing what I read today.

I've mentioned, possibly in passing, that Timothy McVeigh was a scrawny kid when of school age and he got picked on, got bullied. 

At least two aspects of his character developed out of this experience. 

First, predictably, he hated bullies. He hated seeing the weak being pushed around by the strong. 

Second, he empathized with and was quick to take the side of underdogs, whether humans or animals.

So, as a soldier, McVeigh felt conflict within himself. 

On the one hand, he loved the discipline, the weaponry, and the physical and mental challenges of life in the Army. 

On the other hand, he hated that the USA involved itself militarily in the affairs of other countries. In fact, he regarded the US government as a bullying force.

But, McVeigh obeyed (most) military orders and even though he hated that the US was sending soldiers to fight in the Gulf War, he was able, in part, to justify fighting in the war because he regarded Saddam Hussein as the epitome of a bully.

McVeigh hated to kill and when he killed two Iraqi soldiers, it haunted him. 

He would have much rather confronted Hussein, the bully himself, and put a bullet between his eyes.

The poverty and the carnage he saw that the Iraqi forces and Iraqi people suffered shook McVeigh to his core. 

One of the orders he disobeyed was that he covertly helped out some impoverished Iraqis he came across. In one instance, he dipped into his squad's supply of food and gave a healthy amount of it to a family he encountered on a roadside. 

As I ended my reading session, McVeigh had returned to a hero's welcome in the USA and was about to begin the process of trying out to be a member of the US Army's Special Forces, a dream he'd had for a long time. 

I also read that we, as readers, were about to witness a turning point in Timothy McVeigh's life. 

3. Whenever Debbie pops into Grocery Outlet, she always comes home with delicious food. Today she bought a couple portions of pre-seasoned salmon and some very thin stalked asparagus spears. She baked the salmon and roasted the asparagus, creating a simple, nourishing, and very delicious dinner. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-22-2024: My Coffee World is Bigger, Timothy McVeigh's Late Teens, Photos of Copper

1. Today the moka Italian stovetop espresso maker and the milk frother I ordered arrived. 

I read instruction manuals and watched demonstration videos and began to get a handle on how these appliances work. 

I'll just say that the most important detail I've learned so far is to make the espresso coffee with the moka's lid open so that as the coffee begins to come out of the chimney of the pot's upper chamber, I can either reduce the medium low heat or take it off the heat completely. 

Doing this, as I understand it, helps keep the espresso from either being too bitter or having a burnt taste. 

The decision that lies before me with the frother: Do I prefer foamy frothed milk or less foamy heated milk? I could also make unheated frothy milk. 

Trial and error lie ahead! 

2. I've been referring to him as Timothy McVey. 

Blast it! 

His last name is McVeigh. 

From this point forward, I will be correct . . . . 

In my post yesterday, I referred to Timothy McVeigh's life from childhood to high school graduation as his formative years -- but I might have gotten ahead of myself. 

A huge shift in McVeigh's life occurred after he graduated from high school.

One part of this shift was actually a continuation. 

His grandfather, Ed McVeigh, had introduced Timothy McVeigh to rifles and rifle shooting when McVeigh was a youngster. Firearms excited McVeigh. He enjoyed shooting inanimate objects and the challenge of becoming more and more proficient at hitting targets. 

After high school, Timothy McVeigh voraciously read, first of all, gun magazines. He spent much of the money he made working at Burger King on buying more and more firearms, in part because he also absorbed writings on threats to freedom, protecting and defending freedom (especially the 2nd amendment), and survivalism. 

He also read books and was especially influenced by The Turner Diaries, a 1978 novel written by William Luther Pierce (under the pseudonym of Andrew Macdonald), a white nationalist. The novel is set in 2099 and depicts the violent overthrow of the U. S. federal government, including a truck bombing of the FBI building, and the systematic extermination of non-whites and Jews. 

McVeigh worked as an armed driver of an armored car, began to see more of the world outside the small rural western New York area he grew up in, and decided to join the army.

He wanted to be an infantry soldier. The Army's copious supply of weaponry excited him and he became a dedicated, hard working, and ambitious model soldier.

As I put down the book American Terrorist and went to sleep, McVeigh had just arrived in Iraq and I'm about to read about his experience as a soldier in the Gulf War. 

I am thinking that yesterday when I referred to McVeigh's life from birth to high school as his formative years, I misused the word "formative". His views of the world and his sense of idealism around freedom, honesty, integrity, and the corrupted state of the world, particularly the USA, really took shape in his late teens and early twenties. 

3. I took a break from Italian coffee and Timothy McVeigh this afternoon and tried to create a sufficiently lit environment in the room Copper and I occupy together to possibly shoot some decent photographs of Copper. I thought my success was mixed.  Here are a couple of examples. See what you think:

Three Beautiful Things 11-21-2024: Expanding My Coffee Prep at Home, T. McVeigh's Formative Years , Debbie Brings Dinner Home

1. After I bought some groceries at Yoke's, I visited three stores locally where I thought I might find a stove top espresso pot -- also called a moka.  I struck out at Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware, and Walmart. (I did purchase a portions dinner plate at Walmart -- nearly six months after one of transplant dieticians pointed out such a plate might help me eat more balanced meals and help me serve myself more reasonable food portions. It's never too late, I guess!) 

So, with espresso on my mind, I stopped at Silver Peak Espresso, ordered a cappuccino, returned home, and ordered a moka, a milk foamer, and a couple of espresso cups online. I'm looking forward to having some fun times diversifying my all important coffee drinking life at home. 

2. Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck wrote in a chapter covering about thirty-five pages a carefully researched account of Timothy McVeigh's childhood and adolescence. Nothing stood out as remarkable. He matured into a resourceful teenager, a computer whiz, a hard worker, a rural kid who enjoyed cars and rifles. His parents separated and divorced. He lived with his hardworking and dedicated father and spent a lot of great time with his father's father. He had sex. 

The young Timothy McVeigh loved animals, hated to see animals be injured, killed, or die. He was a scrawny youngster who learned how to deal with bullies and developed a lasting empathy for underdogs, for anyone he felt was being taken advantage of or overpowered by individuals or by entities, like government agencies. 

My sense in reading this opening chapter was that Michel and Herbeck wanted to point out that very little in McVeigh's growing up years signaled that he would become an anti-government terrorist.

From other reading I've done and programs I've listened to about McVeigh, I've learned he was deeply affected, unsettled by his experience in the military and his tour of duty in the Gulf War. 

I look forward to reading what Michel and Herbeck have to say about how McVeigh's thinking and outlook was affected by and during his years of military service.  

3. I was all ready after my shopping trip to Yoke's to stretch a container of homemade chicken soup concentrate into a dinner for Debbie and me. 

Then Debbie fired off a text message: "I'll bring home dinner."

I should have seen this coming. 

Debbie enjoys winding down at Radio Brewing on Thursdays after school and she often brings us home food. .

The dinner was terrific. We split a mushroom and Gouda cheeseburger along with pasta salad and a nifty portion each of Muligitawny soup. 

It worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 11-20-2024: Entering the World of Timothy McVeigh, Sunday Scribblings Again?, Eggplant Pasta Sauce

1. The next book I'm reading from Leah Sottile's list is American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing. The author's, Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, earned the trust of McVeigh and in April of 1999 he talked to them for about 75 hours. He told his story. McVeigh (nor anyone else) was compensated financially for his cooperation and McVeigh had no rights of approval. He confessed to the bombings. He told his story. Michel and Herbeck also interviewed about 150 people ranging from childhood friends to the psychiatrist who testified in McVeigh's defense at trial as they researched McVeigh's life and the bombing itself.  

I've just started this book. 

Michel and Herbeck are establishing that McVeigh's western New York small town family is unremarkable. 

If they write about something out of the ordinary in McVeigh's growing up years, I'll convey it in this blog. 

2. I used to write short essays on this blog. 

Some of those pieces were in response to prompts Christy, Carol, and I gave each other as Sibling Assignments. Others grew out of prompts from a project that ended about eleven years ago called Sunday Scribblings. 

I've begun to go back and look at prompts the two women who ran Sunday Scribblings used to give us participants. 

I don't know if I'll follow through, but after Sidnee messaged me, asking about my writing routine, it got me thinking that writing those somewhat longer than 3BTs posts all those years ago was fun and that I might enjoy returning to being guided by the old Sunday Scribbling prompts. 

3. When we lived in Greenbelt, Maryland, I got on a really enjoyable eggplant jag.

I loved (yes loved!) going to the Greenbelt Co-op or to Mom's Organic Market in College Park and picking out eggplants. 

I have returned to repeating this eggplant extravaganza by shopping at Pilgrim's Market whenever I'm in CdA -- mostly on my way home from kidney maintenance at Sacred Heart. 

Today, I decided to do something with the eggplant that I purchased at Pilgrim's over the weekend.

I wondered if I could find a recipe or figure something out combining eggplant and pasta.

Well, thanks to the magic of the World Wide Web, I found a very simple recipe for eggplant pasta sauce.

It intrigued me. 

So, I chopped up red and white onion and cubed the eggplant. 

I did something I've never done before: I boiled the eggplant cubes for about five minutes while I sautéed the onion.

I added the boiled eggplant cubes to the onion, in the wok, and sautéed them together for another couple of minutes or so.

I then set up the blender, transferred the onion and eggplant into the blender, added some half and half, and blended it. I added a little eggplant water to the emerging sauce to thin it out a bit.

I tasted it. 

The only seasoning I'd used was salt and pepper.

Then I experienced a revelation -- not quite divine, but a good one!

This sauce would taste even better with clams.

I opened a can of clams, poured the juice into the sauce, poured the sauce into a storage container, and sprinkled the clams over the top of the sauce. 

Upon Debbie's arrival, I heated the sauce, boiled some Garofalo pasta, and set out some shaved and grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

It worked. 

I mean it REALLY worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 11-19-2024: Longtime Friends and Longtime Anxieties, Heritage's Nurse Practitioner Goes the Extra Mile, Steak and Roasted Vegetables

1. Over the last two or three weeks, I initiated contact with two longtime friends who had been silent (one of them for two years). I was concerned about their well being and had some (unfounded) anxiety about whether I'd done something to alienate them.  I also contacted a friend who was worried if I'd decided to end contact with him after I failed to respond to an email. We are back on track again and I will see him when I travel to Eugene. 

I've resumed correspondence and contact with all three of these friends. The two friends I had the unfounded anxiety about have, indeed, been dealing with health problems. I understand so much better why I hadn't heard from them and I'll be able to spend time with one of these friends when I visit Eugene, but not the other because of his struggles with health. 

I'm relieved that these three friendships are intact, that it's clear from our recent correspondence that we care very much for each other. 

I think when I was younger I always thought that when I was older, I would outgrow or somehow get beyond anxieties that have troubled me much of my life. 

The most constant anxiety I've lived with since I was a teenager is that I'm just one wrong move, one utterance, one act of recklessness or neglect away from alienating any one of my friends and even family members. It's an anxiety I've experienced (big time) in marriage.  I used to experience this anxiety a lot in relation to the people I worked with when I was an instructor and also at church. 

I'm better at fending off this anxiety now than I was when I was younger. 

But old habits are stubborn and my inner voice's longtime patterns of sowing doubt and anxiety are difficult to change and silence. 

So when that long familiar feeling that I've disappointed a friend or family member rises up or when that voice inside me tries to persuade me that I've alienated a longtime friend and that friend is done with me, I am better at interrupting, putting an invisible wedge between my consciousness and those dark feelings, better at arguing back with that voice. 

The recent correspondence between the three friends I alluded to in this blog post and me was a very positive move. I'm glad the trip I have planned to Eugene gave me good reason to contact each of them, tell them I wanted to see them, and that things are all good. 

2. I've had a cyst on my backside emerge and recede for a couple or three months. It's not been especially painful, nor has it ever gone away on its own.

Today I visited my primary care giver at Heritage Health uptown.

I had also corresponded a bit with the transplant team about this cyst. 

No one seems overly concerned about it -- that was a relief. 

I was very happy with how the NP  I saw today handled things. 

She examined the cyst, told me to occasionally put a warm moist wash cloth on it and she told me she would put in an order for a seven day course of antibiotics. 

I told her I was a recent transplant recipient so she did some research, determined which antibiotic my kidneys could best deal with, and then she went the xtra mile. She called me to get a phone number for my transplant nurse coordinator, called the transplant clinic, talked, as it turned out, with one of the transplant pharmacy specialists, and confirmed that the antibiotic she had in mind for me to take was acceptable. 

I appreciated and was very impressed with her conscientiousness and willingness to put in this extra effort on my new kidney's behalf. 

She called me back, raved about how helpful the transplant team was, confirmed my date of birth, and ordered the medicine from Yoke's pharmacy -- and I picked it up. 

3. I do like these packages of marinated meat that Trader Joe's sells. I bought a couple of them in CdA over the weekend. Tonight I roasted potato strips, red onion chunks, zucchini spears, and red pepper slices and I stir fried the pieces of balsamic and rosemary steak tips I'd bought from Trader Joe's. 

Debbie and I both enjoyed the marinated beef and the roasted vegetables, seasoned with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute. 

I hope I can remember that one day I'd like to try to replicate some of these Trader Joe's packages of marinated meat on my own at home. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 11-18-2024: Tina and The Waterboys, I Build a Loaded Salad, Paul's Birthday Family Dinner

1. In my retirement, I'd say, off the top of my head, that I miss two things the most. 

I miss yakkin' with my fellow instructors -- I miss hallway and office conversations, coffee meetings, meals together, photo outings with Russell, theater projects with Judy, and more. 

I also miss all that I used to learn from my students and from actors I got to play with in the theater. 

Students and fellow theater-ites expanded me immeasurably, especially in the worlds of music and movies. 

Today, out of the blue, a student who was in, I think, two classes I taught at the University of Oregon about forty years ago popped into my mind. 

Her name is Tina. 

Tina once handed me a cassette tape of This is the Sea, an album recorded by a U.K. group, The Waterboys. 

I loved that album.  

I played one song, "The Whole of the Moon", from that tape repeatedly, in large part because, in my mind, it described what I thought and how I felt about a woman I loved at that time. 

With this vivid flashback of becoming friends with Tina and with that song occupying my mind all of a sudden, I wondered what kind of playlist Spotify would offer, so I did a search for Waterboys Radio. 

I played Waterboys Radio as I fell asleep and in my half sleeping half awake state heard a variety of artists: Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison, Nick Lowe, R.E.M., Supertramp, The Cure, and others. Finally, though, after an hour or two, I turned off the radio and slept the rest of the night without Neil Young, Crowded House, Robbie Robertson, 10cc, Roxy Music, and other bands lulling me to sleep only to jolt me awake again. 

2. Carol assigned Debbie and me to bring a loaf of crusty bread and a green salad to Family Dinner tonight. 

I eat salads frequently, so I had a lot of salad making ingredients on hand and decided to make an "everything but the kitchen sink" salad. 

I probably won't remember everything I put in the bowl, but among the ingredients were Romaine lettuce, baby spinach leaves, cabbage. red pepper, cosmic crisp apple pieces, blueberries, fresh basil, cilantro, celery, zucchini, grape tomatoes, and maybe more. I made a walnut oil, lemon juice, garlic, and balsamic vinegar dressing for the salad and topped it with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. 

I had fun making it and family members told me it worked. 

3. We enjoyed a simple Spanish-themed dinner in celebration of Paul's 65th birthday. Molly made a superb  Spanish white bean dip to go with tortilla chips to start. In honor of Paul's love of Amaretto, tonight's cocktail was an Amaretto Sour. Carol prepared a delicious, and wouldn't you know it!, comforting paelle for our main dish, complimented with the salad I made and the bread I brought. 

After enjoying our meal, we retired to the living room. Christy baked a perfectly moist and flavorful Spanish almond cake and Paul opened his gifts. 

I left dinner tonight asking myself if I'm overly sensitive about matters (in my view) of confidentiality and privacy. 

Maybe it would be good if I loosened up about such things. 

I'd say more, but what I'm referring to feels confidential to me! 🤣🤣🤣

Three Beautiful Things 11-17-2024: Seeking Enlightenment and Purpose, Thanksgiving Dinner Figured Out, That Chicken!

1. Tonight I finished reading Haruki Murakami's book, Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche. 

I admit, I didn't come away from this book with a clear understanding of what the title calls "the Japanese psyche". 

Nor, after reading Murakami's interviews with those past members of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo (known as just Aum) or with those who remain loosely affiliated with Aum, did I see any patterns in terms of these members' backgrounds, family life, level of education, or much of anything else aside from a shared desire to live a more purposeful life, to follow the disciplines and practices and demands of Aum and renounce the secular world in order to experience a more fully enlightened existence, and, for many, enter into a monastic life. 

Those who consented to be interviewed saw Aum's leader, Asahara Shoko, as a man of great wisdom, inspiring teachings, deep insight, and something like spiritual purity. 

But, he turned out to be corrupt. 

He orchestrated two sarin gas attacks and ordered assassinations and set several other criminal actions into motion. 

Aum Shinrikyo disintegrated. 

Asahara Shoko was tried, found guilty, and eventually, in 2018, executed by hanging. 

Regarding my ongoing project to learn about extremism, I have more reading planned. 

I have some reviewing to do of things I've already read. 

I have questions. 

No answers. 

I'll leave it at that for now. 

2. Debbie, Christy, and I agreed this afternoon on what we are going to do for Thanksgiving. 

Carol and Paul will be in Meridian. 

Debbie and I will have three guests in our home: Patrick, Meagan, and our niece, Misty. 

Molly will be in town and we'll see how our plans and Brian's family plans mesh (or don't). 

We set aside a plan we made a while back to have our Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Inland Lounge. 

We set aside a plan to have a second Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. 

We will have dinner at our house on Thanksgiving Day and we will follow the menu that Christy created for the dinner we were originally going to have on Saturday. 

I was really happy that we settled on this simpler plan and that we worked it out so easily. 

3. Months -- oh many months! -- ago I bought a couple whole chickens at Costco and one of them has been in our freezer ever since. A few days ago, I decided it was way past time to thaw that chicken and cook it. 

Today, it was finally thawed out and Debbie told me she'd like to fix it. 

She prepared it in the crock pot and fixed a delicious combination of chicken and leftover rice we had on hand. She also made a terrific zucchini salad. Our dinner was simple, delicious, and comforting and, best of all, we had enough food left over that we can have a simple dinner ready on Thanksgiving Eve when Debbie arrives home with Misty, after picking her up late in the afternoon at the Spokane airport.