Three Beautiful Things 09-29-2026: Whitworth at Dave's Bar and Grill, Geography Brain Fog, Thai Food with Colette

1. Ed and I headed out this morning for the Wildhorse Resort and Casino shortly after 6 a.m. and made what has become our regular first stop at Dave's Bar and Grill just off Pines Road on E. Sprague in Spokane Valley. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast. 

As we wrapped up our visit, I asked our server why she was wearing a Whitworth University shirt. She replied that her son had played football at Whitworth and earned two degrees there, a bachelor's and a master's degree. Her son also worked alongside Bud Nameck, the radio voice of the Pirates, over the weekend and Nameck invited him to join him again this weekend to provide analysis and insight. 

Listening to her story was a really fun way to end our breakfast.

2. Thanks to my confusion regarding the geography of the state of Washington, Ed and I took a somewhat out of the way route to Colfax and on west to Walla Walla and south to Pendelton. Luckily, my confusion didn't mar our trip.  We enjoyed the late September landscapes and ended up making pretty good time. 

Later in the evening, I consulted a google map to try to figure out my confusion. It happened as we left Tekoa and I think I pretty much figured it out. I hope I'll remember next time how to best travel from Tekoa to Colfax with a clear and not muddled mind. 

3. Colette and I also have regular thing we do when I come down to the Wildhorse Resort and Casino.

We meet for dinner at Thai Crystal. It's a twice a year thing and we always talk about a wide variety of topics ranging from health issues to books we've read to ideas and insights we have about the natural world, human activity in the natural world, and our lives and life in general. We always converse for about three hours and inevitably continue our discussion in the parking lot, always having a few more insights or stories to wrap up. 

Once again, this was a superb get together that stimulated a lot of thought and gave me more things to investigate in the coming days and weeks. 

Upon returning to the resort/casino, I bolted to the deli for one of the treats I indulge every evening: a two scoop dish of ice cream. This evening I enjoyed a scoop of Cookies and Cream topped with a scoop of French Vanilla. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-28-2026: Blood Test, Chili, Mortality

 1. Dr. Bieber determined that I ought to lower my dosage of Tacrolimus, that is, lower the levels of this medication in my bloodstream. I made the adjustment he ordered.  Then, today, I further followed Dr. Bieber's orders and drove to the lab in CdA and had a vial of blood drawn. The results came back and the Tacrolimus level in my blood was lower and Dr. Bieber messaged me that the new level was acceptable and to continue with the new dosage. 

2. Christy, Debbie, and I swooped into Carol and Paul's house for today's family dinner -- which has, for the time being, morphed into family lunch. Christy brought pickled vegetables for a starter and then we enjoyed Carol's chili, the Trader Joe's cornbread I baked, and the clean out the crisper vegetable salad that Debbie created. 

Great news! 

We hadn't quite, in previous family dinners, eaten all the ice cream that had accumulated at Carol and Paul's and so we enjoyed the last of their stash for dessert.

3. We returned to having a topic discussion, a practice we started back in the spring, but gave a rest over the summer. Christy planned today's meal and asked us, in light of her experiences this summer and of comments I've written in this blog about The Dog Stars, to discuss mortality and how our awareness of our mortality shapes the way we live. We learned quite a bit about each other and it was good to know it's a topic we aren't avoiding, even though it's tempting. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-27-2026: Solo Pianist, Piano Trio and Piano Quintet, Whistle Punk Brewing

 1. I thoroughly enjoy these trips Debbie and I (or I alone) make to Spokane to participate in the Science/Nature book club, hear the Spokane Symphony, listen to Northwest Passages presentation, attend symphony conductor James Lowe's lectures, and hear the Spokane String Quartet. 

All of these pleasures have enlarged my understanding of the world, music, and life itself. 

Today was no exception. 

The Spokane String Quartet played this afternoon at the Fox Theater. This was either the third or fourth concert of theirs I've attended and today's was unlike any of the others. 

For starters, today's concert featured a pianist, Frank Huang. 

The concert opened with Frank Huang as a soloist, playing a stunningly difficult and emotionally complex composition by Franz Liszt entitled Totentanz. I thought the piece pushed Frank Huang to show us the full range of virtuosity with its thunderous and drum-like passages, mind-boggling stretches of rapid runs, and sudden moments of tenderness and calm. 

2. Then the concert featured not a string quartet, but a piano trio featuring, along with Huang, violinist Amanda Howard-Phillips and cellist Helen Byrne playing the Antonin Dvorak's Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor. My enjoyment of Dvorak grows out of his ways of weaving together Slavic folk tunes, dances, and marches with moments of sorrow, soaring energy, and great beauty. 

The concert's last piece featured the famous piano quintet, known as "Trout", by Franz Schubert, one of my favorite pieces of classical music. I was unfamiliar with the first two offerings of this program and very much enjoyed settling into hearing music I've been enjoying for over twenty years. 

I loved that I came to a string quartet concert and heard everything but a quartet! We heard a solo, a trio, and a quintet and enjoyed three of classical music's most brilliant composers. 

3. As Debbie and I walked back to where our car was parked, we decided to pop into Whistle Punk, one of my favorite breweries anywhere. I didn't know what their non-alcoholic offerings were, but I was confident that Debbie would enjoy whatever she ordered. And I was right! She did. And I struck gold! Whistle Punk carried n/a IPAs in cans brewed by the mighty Fremont Brewing. First, I drank a fine n/a West Coast IPA and then a dark IPA, a style of beer I hadn't drunk since the good old days of Firestone Wookey Jack IPA. 

We loved the brick-lined comfortable tasting room, the fine service of the guy who poured our beer, and the enthusiastic young dudes at the bar who talked about topics ranging from the Spokane Greek Festival to where to eat great ramen in Spokane to their admiration for old music like Credence Clearwater Revival. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 09-26-2026: Spokane Symphony Replay, What Have I Missed?, Vanishing Birds and Animals

 1. Last Sunday I left the Fox Theater wanting to go back in, sit down, and hear the entire Spokane Symphony program again. I knew, however, that Spokane Public Radio station's KSFC 91.9 would play the entire concert again today at noon. 

I tuned in. I listened to the entire concert again. I absorbed much more of the music than I did a week ago and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. 

2. Maybe I've mentioned in earlier posts that until I cracked open The Dog Stars, I had never read a post-apocalyptic novel before. Peter Heller's book is turning out to be such a compelling exploration of love, loyalty, friendship, death, survival, memory, and other human experiences that I'm beginning to wonder if I've missed out on some good material by not checking out books, movies, and television shows in this genre. 

3. Debbie paid some visits uptown late this afternoon. Before she left, she said she asked me to find a podcast for us to listen to when she returned. 

I found an episode in the podcast The American West entitled "John James Audubon and Vanishing America". I chose this episode because we had both recently read Kenn Kaufman's book The Birds That Audubon Missed for book club and wanted to hear what retired University of Montana professor Dan Flores had to say about Audubon. 

The podcast episode ended up focusing on Audubon's deep dismay that so many birds and animals were being killed, often indiscriminately by settlers throughout the USA. Entire species of birds, for example, the passenger pigeon, were rendered extinct and other birds and animals were decimated to near extinction. 

Like so many of the books we are reading in the Science/Nature book club we have joined, Flores examines the relationship between humans and the non-human world of nature, why humans have seen themselves as having license to kill birds and animals (and often do it cruelly and voraciously), and how Audubon (and Henry David Thoreau, among others) grieved the loss of so much life, beauty, and variety in our world. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-25-2026: Grooming Riley, The Lounge, Debbie Rocks the Kitchen (Again)

 1. Yesterday it was Gibbs. Today it was Riley. I taxied Riley to the groomer and picked him up about three hours later and he looked and smelled great! 

2. Ed swung by around 3:00 and we blasted up to The Lounge and spent about an hour relaxing, yakking, and doing a little planning for our departure to Pendleton on Tuesday morning. 

3. I treat myself well and am content with my day-to-day life when Debbie is away. 

That said, Debbie prepares food that far exceeds my very modest imaginative powers in the kitchen.

Like today. 

She made a curried chicken and apple salad. Its ingredients and blend of flavors and textures blew me away. She also made a terrific batch of hummus that tasted great with the salad. Together, they made me very happy. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-24-2026: Gibbs Gets Groomed, Mortality, Take an Interest

 1. I picked up a clean and spiffed up Gibbs from the groomer today. 

2. I don't know much about post-apocalyptic fiction (or movies). But reading The Dog Stars and the thoughts the main character Hig has about his life before the book's pandemic struck and about his life now with few people left in the world is making me think that having a keen sense of our mortality inspires us to self-examine, determine what in life matters most to us, and do the best we can to love others. 

3.  Debbie and I had a long conversation this evening about the variety of books we've read over the past several months, how joining the Science/Nature book club has helped shape some of our reading and the questions we ask of ourselves and about the world, and how we read and think about books. So has attending Northwest Passages evenings in Spokane. 

I thought back to all those years I taught English and how I tried to impress on students the fact that an important aspect of an education is learning now to take an interest in subjects and ideas. Often students would resist essays or books I assigned, telling me they weren't interested in what the book/essay was about. I would respond, "Try taking an interest." Why? I thought an education was about expansion. 

Well, in my retirement (it's been twelve years since I last taught a class), I'm following my own instruction and have taken an interest in new things:  empty lots in Austin, TX, rivers in Ecuador, India, and Canada, how plants satisfy our desire for sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control, the history of mosquitos, the long history of Earth's moon, discovering species of birds, the medicinal qualities of plants, a fictional world of hunting for lost pianos in the Arctic, Josh Brolin's memoir, and more. 

I do my best to put aside the question of whether I like a book and focus more on these questions:  What is the nature of the world of this book? What is the writer inviting me to learn about this world? Is this book changing how I experience and understand the world I perceive myself to live in? 

All of the books I've referred to in this post have taken me into unfamiliar worlds and have changed how I experience and understand things. 

Talking about this stuff with Debbie was a terrific way to bring an end to our day. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-23-2026: Coffee at Mountain Gem, Coffee Cake Delivery, The World of Disney is Really Wide and Deep

 1.  I drove Christy uptown this morning for a 9:00 appointment. While she was taking care of her business, I strolled up Main Street to the Mountain Gem Coffee Bar to give it a try. It's a cozy interior and there's a seating outside on the south side of the building. I opted to drink my latte indoors on a stool, resting my drink and my book (The Dog Stars) on one of the wooden bars affixed to the wall. 

I especially enjoyed reading this book. It's lyrical. The narrator, Hig, is a poet and the language he uses to describe and tell tales about his life of survival in the aftermath of a pandemic that has devastated most of the human population is rhythmic, not flowery, but musical. I like that he cites poets like William Stafford and Li Po. Hig's loyal companion in this post-apocalyptic landscape is his dog, Jasper, and I'm getting attached to him. 

2. Debbie subbed at Pinehurst Elementary School today. She had a great day. She baked a coffee cake to have put out in the teachers' lounge, but she forgot it. So when Christy was done uptown and Carol came over to drive Christy to PT in Christy's car, I borrowed Carol's car and delivered the coffee cake -- and Debbie happily reported to me when she arrived home that the staff loved the cake. 

3. As I thought might be the case, Debbie decided to stay home this evening after a day of work.

I drove to Spokane alone to attend tonight's Northwest Passages' evening with Disney imagineer Joe Rohde. He's touring with his new book, Floating Mountains. 

It was a perfect evening for me, given what I enjoy in my life, namely learning about things through reading or attending lectures that I know next to nothing about. 

For starters, I've never been that interested in all things Disney. 

I know almost nothing about the Disney company. Aside from being aware of longtime animated characters and having seen some older Disney movies and knowing that Disney is the majority owner of ESPN, I am ignorant about Disney theme parks and other Disney ventures. 

That changed tonight. 

Joe Rohde's work with Disney started at least forty years ago and tonight I learned about ventures, like Animal Kingdom and the Hawaiian resort hotel, Aulani, that Rohde has been in a leader in conceptualizing and bringing into being. 

Joe Rohde's intellectual prowess fired me up. I wasn't expecting this evening to be a deep dive into theories of creativity, the power of collaboration and the near non-existence of individual genius in all walks of life, the desirability of dissent, the indispensable value of the world of nature, the vital importance of the experience, intelligence, and wisdom of indigenous people (much like in the book I just finished: The Plant Hunter), aesthetics and how we perceive reality (and how art shakes us out of those perceptions), and more. 

For me, Joe Rohde's ideas and experiences connected to books our book club has discussed, to Japanese haiku, to ideas Spokane Symphony conductor James Lowe has presented about aesthetic theories, and, most delightfully, to discussions Debbie and I have had over the past twenty-nine years about creativity, the collaborative efforts, including dissent, of Babes with Axes, and so much more that Rohde discussed. 

I really couldn't retain all that I heard tonight.

Thankfully, these Northwest Passages interviews are saved on YouTube and I look forward to replaying what Joe Rohde had to say, possibly several times. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-22-2026: Another Update on Christy's Recovery As I Understand It

1. Today I drove Christy to CdA where she had her next follow up appointment after having had her right hip replaced. The P. A. Christy talked with examined today's x-ray and summed up her assessment in one word: "Beautiful". 

This is great news and I was also happy when Christy told me that she and P. A. also talked about the chief complication to her overall recovery: the aftermath of having been in sepsis. The dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, lack of appetite, and general malaise Christy experienced over the last three days had kept her mostly confined to bed. 

The P.A. talked with her about three things. Because Christy had been on antibiotics to knock out an infection elsewhere in her system, the P.A. recommended that she care for her gut by taking probiotics and continuing to eat probiotic foods. She recommended that Christy focus her diet, as much as possible, on anti-inflammatory foods. Lastly, she gave Christy advice about how to pace herself as she alternates between activity and rest.

2. I helped Christy with a few things in her house when we returned from CdA. I gathered up her trash, disposed of it, and took her garbage can to the curb. She had had a handful of packages delivered to her that she hadn't opened and I opened them and put the contents where Christy wanted them. I cleared out her empty cardboard boxes, either putting them broken down with the trash or taking them to our house. Debbie and I clearing things we don't need out of the basement. The boxes will help us with that job. 

3. So how should Christy pace herself? The P.A. recommended that when Christy takes on a household task, she ought to put twenty minutes on a timer and then rest when those twenty minutes are up. Working in short segments of time will keep her active. Resting and not overdoing it will help her conserve energy and not wear herself out. 

Christy tried this approach on Tuesday and was happy with the results. 

Indeed, those twenty minutes of activity got her moving around in a healthy way, but resting afterward helped keep her need for activity and need for rest in balance. 

An example of one good outcome: Christy cleaned out her fridge, emptied another cardboard box, and had another couple of things for me to dispose of before the garbage collector's Wednesday morning arrival! 

Three Beautiful Things 09-21-2026: Fighting Infection, Sloppy Joes, String Quartet Tickets

 1. And I believe her. In her book The Plant Hunter, Cassandra Leah Quaves presents herself on a quest, through rigorous scientific research and testing, to integrate the medicinal powers of plants into the more common practice of using synthetic drugs as a way of treating infections, especially those superbugs that have developed resilience to synthetic antibiotics. 

In telling us her story, Quaves helps us see how the challenges she faces are, yes, in the laboratory, but they extend far beyond the laboratory. She tells us the story of the birth defect she's had to deal with in a multiplicity of ways her entire life. We learn about the interplay between her ambition to save lives by scientific means and the demands of joining her husband in raising a family. And then there's funding: Quaves spends an inordinate amount of time seeking funding for her work. 

Some men in her field harass her, condescend to her, and doubt the value of her work. She learns to resist and navigate this, push forward, and as her courage, self-belief, and sense of purpose grows, so does her success. 

I experienced this book as combining memoir with travel writing and with science and nature writing to give someone like me who is unfamiliar with the demands of doing botanical, infectiological, and medical research in academic settings a perspective upon this remarkable work I'd never thought to look into before.

Most of all, I admired that Cassandra Leah Quaves is an idealist. A higher purpose shaped by working for the good of the whole world, for the protection of plants and animals as well as the saving of human lives marks her work. She has a keen sense of ethics, love of family, love of others, widespread interconnectedness between all living beings and inanimate things, collaboration, service to her students, and hope.  

Now I wonder how our book club will approach this book in our discussions. 

2. In a drawing held after the Spokane String Quartet's final concert for the 2025-26 season, I won season tickets for two to the Quartet's four concerts in 2026-27. 

The tickets were supposed to arrive in my mailbox in late August or early September, but hadn't arrived and there's a concert this coming Sunday. 

I emailed the person who had congratulated me for winning the tickets and heard back from another person in the organization. 

It turns out the person whose job it was to send me the tickets is having medical problems and the person who stepped up and answered my email assured me that our two tickets would be available at the Will Call table when Debbie and I arrive at the Fox Theater on Sunday afternoon. 

3. Debbie prepared superb Sloppy Joe's for dinner. Somehow, the sweetness of the ketchup and tomato paste complimented the onions and green peppers perfectly and together these ingredients elevated the flavor of the ground beef. I added hot pickled jalapeno peppers and bread and butter pickles to my sandwich and I loved their crunch and the heat and sweetness of the pepper and bread and butters. What a delicious blend of flavors and textures inside the toasted hamburger bun! And, then, somehow, the vinegary cole slaw pulled the whole meal together.  

Three Beautiful Things 09-20-2026: Debbie and I Attend Today's Spokane Symphony Concert

 1. Debbie and I know that it's likely that we'll experience traffic delays whenever traveling between Kellogg and Spokane. Right now, delays are common on I-90 westbound because the Northwest Blvd exit is closed and in that area traffic is funneled into a single lane. The delay gets compounded by cars entering the freeway via the westbound Northwest Blvd ramp.

Our hope was to arrive in Spokane in time to attend today's pre-concert presentation at 2:00. The Spokane Symphony Orchestra's performance was at 3:00. 

We left Kellogg around 12:15, hoping we'd left ourselves enough time to absorb a delay and arrive a little before 2:00 at the Fox Theater. 

We approached the I-90 delay. 

The line of cars stopped still on I-90 looked long.  

Right away, both of us shrugged. 

"We might not arrive in time for the pre-concert lecture. No use getting upset. We know we'll make it in time for the concert."

So we patiently, without complaint, inched our way to the where the single lane turned into two lanes and, lo and behold, it was clear sailing into Spokane. We entered downtown Spokane via Lincoln Street, I spotted street parking spots on Second Avenue, we strolled to the Fox, and we seated ourselves at about 1:50 and got to hear the entire pre-concert presentation. 

The presentation was terrific. 

Conductor James Lowes' introduction to today's program was illuminating and stimulating and so was his interview of today's featured piano soloist, Mackenzie Melemed.  

2. This weekend's concert opened the Spokane Symphony's 81st season. I wasn't expecting the season opening concert to begin with the symphony playing "The Star Spangled Banner", but that's exactly what they did! 

We then got to hear the 20th century Soviet/Russian composer Dimitri Kabalevsky's energetic overture to the opera Colas Breugnon. 

I enjoy very much being introduced to composers and compositions unknown to me. Kabalevsky's overture was sparkling. It took full advantage of the entire orchestra and, like all the pieces we heard this afternoon, created fascinating and often fun interplay between the orchestra's different sections. 

The orchestra then played 19th century American composer Amy Beach's gorgeous and romantic Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor. Beach was a piano virtuoso and this forty to forty-five minute concerto in four movements presented soloist Mackenzie Melemed with mind-boggling challenges at the keyboard. He met these challenges with elan and his own virtuosity. As Romantic compositions so often are, many passages in Beach's composition were lush and emotional, giving Melemed and the orchestra long and gorgeous passages of interplay and deep feeling. 

Until today, I'd never heard of Amy Beach. I learned that this concerto we heard today has rarely been performed. It was thrilling to have James Lowe decide to bring this composition out of obscurity and to entrust its many challenges not only to the orchestra, but to the zestful Mackenzie Melemed. 

3. Having accepted the roars of the audience's approval and a lengthy standing ovation, Melemed then returned to the piano and played a medley of several favorite American tunes including "The Star Spanged Banner" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy", sending the audience into the intermission uplifted. 

Conductor James Lowe opened the concert's second half with a tribute to Charles "Chuck" Karscheny who passed away this past June after playing French horn in the symphony and later serving as Production Manager. His career with the Spokane Symphony spanned more than 40 years. 

Then, in a deeply touching further tribute to Chuck Karscheny, a quartet of French horn players stepped forward and played "Evening Hymn" from Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera Hansel and Gretel.  

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet presents a complex blending of a long feud between the Capulets and Montagues, the accompanying dark hatred and street violence, the high hopes of Friar Lawrence, and the passions, frivolity, and optimism of young Romeo and Juliet. 

Sergei Prokofiev, a 20th century Russian/Soviet composer, wrote the music for a Romeo and Juliet ballet, and a suite of selections which constituted the second half of today's concert. 

As with the concert's previous pieces, Prokofiev wrote compelling parts for instruments across the orchestra, even surprising us with gorgeous passages for the tenor saxophone. 

For the duration of this suite, we felt the many emotions of Shakespeare's play and marveled at how beautifully Prokofiev fleshed out the complexity of the characters and the story in his marvelous composition. 

The story of Romeo and Juliet features the death of the ill-fated, star-crossed lovers, and Prokofiev's composition ends with their tragic demise. The orchestra played the solemn final notes and James Lowe held the audience in silence for a short while -- the audience obeyed -- and then released us into a sustained and enthusiastic standing ovation. 

In a move that startled me (really!), James Lowe responded to this solemn conclusion by telling the audience he just couldn't bear to have the concert end so sadly. 

And, so, as an encore intended to send us all out of the hall in a more chipper mood, the orchestra played an uplifting and short Modest Mussorgsky tune (I couldn't hear what Lowe said its title was) and this move seemed to accomplish Lowe's goal. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-19-2026: Science, Stir Fry, Calming Sleep Sounds

 1. I spent much of the day reading Cassandra Leah Quave's book, The Plant Hunter and thought a lot about how difficult and challenging it is for scientists working within university systems to secure funding and places to do their work, especially if the research they are undertaking is outside the box of traditional approaches. Ever since I joined the Science/Nature book club, I've been learning a lot about the difficulties and obstacles scientific researchers face. The memoir dimension of this book is fascinating as is the learning about the ground she works to break in researching ways to combat persistent infections like MRSA and staph infections. 

2. While I read this book and relaxed at home, Debbie had a fun afternoon out on the town where she ran into and had fun interacting with former students, a former fellow teacher, and friends at The Lounge. 

She texted me that she was "in a groove" (great news!) and asked me to take care of myself for dinner. 

Gladly. 

I whipped up a very satisfying and easy vegetable stir fry with Thai wheat noodles and look forward to having the pork chop dinner we were going to have tonight on Sunday. 

3. I'm having trouble falling asleep at night. To help me settle down, I've been playing Spotify's offering called "Calming Sleep Sounds" once I'm in bed. It's helping. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-18-2026: Update on Christy (From My Perspective), Premium Yakkin at The Lounge, Chili Dogs at the Elks

 1. Today I drove Christy to the Shoshone Medical Center for lab work. We talked about the impact having been in sepsis continues to have on her system and how it helps explain the fatigue, reduced appetite, and other trying symptoms she has been experiencing. 

Things are going very well with physical therapy. The physical therapists have been encouraging Christy to increase the range of her walking, to walk up and down longer staircases (but not alone), and to engage in other activities. At the gym, they continue to work with Christy to strengthen her muscles, improve her balance, and other similar things. 

Knowing that recovery from being in sepsis can take months, I thought back to late 1999 and the year 2000 and how my recovery from having contracted bacterial meningitis took at least a year. During that year, I experienced fatigue, headaches, lightheadedness, depression, and other symptoms. 

I hope Christy's recovery from being in sepsis doesn't take a year, but maladies like sepsis and bacterial meningitis hammer one's system and the aftermath can last long after the condition itself has cleared up. 

So that's my update on Christy's recovery -- from my perspective. 

It's great to see her mobility progressing so well and, at the same time, sobering to know that she has much more than the hip replacement to recover from. 

Christy told me that having come to understand the complexity of her recovery has helped her feel more patient, knowing that the way she's been feeling lousy is not unusual given what she's been through and what the medical pros continue to monitor. 

I think that's a very good thing. Patience is a great help in nurturing the positive attitude and outlook that Christy has worked hard to maintain throughout this ordeal. 

2. Ed and I strolled into The Lounge around 3:45 and immediately engaged in some premium yakkin' with Abby, Fitz, and, when he wasn't busy serving customers, Cas. The guys told a lot of great stories. We had some high level talk about baseball. We thoroughly enjoyed our session.

3. So why didn't Ed and I stay longer? 

Well, tonight the Kellogg Elks served chili dogs so Ed and I went across the street and enjoyed a delicious chili dog dinner. Ed and I continued to yak about all kinds of stuff and we saw some people we've known forever.

It was especially great to see Tona. Her cancer treatment and has been rough on her. I thought she looked great with her new haircut (even knowing she'd rather have longer hair) and it was uplifting to know that after dinner at the Elks that she'd be doing some camping a short ways away. 

After dinner, Ed headed home and I returned to The Lounge. Debbie had arrived. She got involved in conversations with a couple different friends and I got to yak for a while with Rob Gillies. He filled me in on the spreading of Jack Lunger's ashes and we talked about some events that occurred when we were much younger -- like over fifty years younger! 

Three Beautiful Things 09-17-2026: Symphony Lecture, Pho and Spring Rolls, Rib Eyes and Plants

 1. Jetting over to Spokane to the MAC Auditorium this morning to attend Spokane Symphony conductor James Lowe present an hour-long lecture about the three pieces the symphony will play in concert over the weekend invigorated me. I knew very little about the three composers, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Amy Beach, or even the much more famous Sergei Prokofiev. 

James Lowe focused, in part, on the restraints each of them worked under. Kabalevsky and Prokofiev composed in the Soviet Union during the Stalin regime and its mandates regarding what was artistically acceptable and Amy Beach performed and composed under restrictions placed on her by her mother and husband. 

Learning about these restraints, learning about how these composers worked within them, and hearing some samples of the compositions we'll hear performed on Sunday made me very eager to hear this concert. 

2. After the lecture, I meandered up to the Garland District for a bowl of chicken pho and an order of tofu spring rolls at the cozy pan-Asian restaurant, Little Noodle. I enjoyed eating these Asian selections again after a long absence. I definitely hope to return to Little Noodle and try some other dishes featured on their menu. 

Part of why it's always a pleasure to visit the Garland District is the promise of Mary Lou's ice cream at the Milk Bottle. I topped off my lunch meal with a couple of scoops of Salted Caramel ice cream which left my never ending yearning for ice cream satisfied. 

3. Back home, Debbie fixed what for me was luxury dinner: thick rib eye steaks and a medley of roasted vegetables. 

What a great way to enjoy a day: a stimulating and delicious trip to Spokane, a superb meal at home, and reading an increasingly enjoyable book as I delve further into Cassandra Leah Quave's The Plant Hunter and learn more about medicinal plants and join Quaves as she learns more about plant-based cuisine in southern Italy and some of the accompanying spiritual rituals meant to enhance the healing qualities of the plants. Her teachers are very elderly women whose wisdom, practices, and knowledge is being lost, but Quaves is documenting their practices as a way to preserve and learn from them. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-16-2026: Insomnia Uncured, Electronic Keyboards, *The Plant Hunter*

1.  I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep Tuesday night on into very early Wednesday morning. I tried a music contrast that was very enjoyable, but didn't work as far as putting me to sleep.  First, I played the 4th Symphony by Johannes Brahms and it might have wound me up more than settled me down since I love it so much. 

Then, thanks to listening to "Sirius" and "Eye in the Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project during our Tuesday family lunch, I decided to play Eve, an Alan Parsons Project album that I listened to way too much during the time my first wife and I separated nearly forty-five years ago. Back then, the album encouraged the self-pity of my late 20s and it probably wasn't the best album to play as a way to settle down and sleep. But, I gave myself over to memories, mostly from 1982-84, and thought a lot about how lost and afraid I felt and how poorly I handled it. I'm happy to say I no longer have access to the self-pity, disorientation, grief, tantrums, and self-delusion I experienced back then, so while I remembered how I behaved and felt, tonight I did not feel it all over again. 

2.  Eve and other pop music I listened to today brought to mind how much the electronic keyboards and synthesizers made music from that general time period memorable. In fact, I didn't enter back into the self-pity and confusion I felt nearly forty-five years ago so much as I let the electronic keyboard sounds of The Alan Parsons Project and bands contemporary with that group wash over me and I thought how I enjoy that instrumentation way more now than I did in my twenties and early thirties, whether its jazz, progressive rock, New Wave music, pop, or soundscapes of Pink Floyd and others. 

3. I spent much of the day diving into the next selection for our Science/Nature book club: The Plant Hunter: A Scientist's Quest for Nature's Next Medicines by Cassandra Leah Quave. 

The book is a fascinating combination memoir and study of medicinal plants. In the early chapters, Quave tells the stories of her trips, as a teenager, into the Amazon River basin to not only search for medicinal plants, but to learn from indigenous experts about the powers of these plants, how to prepare them, dosages, and how to combine prescribing these medicines with exercises meant to calm and heal the patient's spirit. 

Going into the jungles of the Amazon helps Cassandra Leah Quave decide that she will not go to medical school, as she had always dreamed she would, but that she would study to become what she is now: an ethnobotanist. 

More on this fascinating book later as I read further into it and as I fill in more of Cassandra Leah Quave's back story. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-15-2026: Christy and Her Cane, Lunchtime Family Dinner, Debbie's Back

 1. After two weeks of the onset of her current fatigue, weakened appetite, and other symptoms, Christy continues to struggle with feeling lousy. But, she is making slow progress with her mobility thanks to her dedication to Physical Therapy. 

Today, thanks to work she and her therapist did on Monday, Christy used her cane, rather than her walker, to walk into the Shoshone Medical Center to have her heart monitor removed and she walked with her cane from the street to Carol and Paul's front door and back again, after dinner, when we went to Carol and Paul's for a lunchtime family dinner. 

2. Carol planned a Mediterranean meal. We started with Christy's Outrageous Stuffed Celery as an appetizer and then sat at the Roberts' dining table where we enjoyed Carol's Smashed Beef Kabobs over yogurt and cucumbers, Debbie's leafless Mediterranean salad, and lightly charred pieces of Naan bread (Carol knew the bread wasn't Mediterranean!).  Our dessert wasn't Mediterranean either. Carol and Paul have a variety of partially eaten containers of ice cream, and we enjoyed an ice cream buffet. 

3. The last time the five of us ate family dinner together was back in May.

It was fun having Debbie back at the table and she caught us up on different things as well as what's going on with Jack and Eloise at school. 

We talked about a variety of other subjects ranging from Plato to our family calendar and had fun listening to a couple of Alan Parsons Project tunes ("Sirius" and "Eye in the Sky") which led to a series of soft rock tunes by 10CC, Christopher Cross, Ambrosia, and others  from nearly fifty years ago.

Three Beautiful Things 09-14-2026: Labs Completed, Food for Two, Debbie's Dinner Rocks

 1. I blasted out of Kellogg around 7:30 this morning and rocketed to the lab I frequent at Kootenai Health to complete the blood work I started on September 4. There was a glitch in my standing order on the 4th. Several tests I needed done didn't get done. I whisked over today to get those tests completed. 

It took a minute or two to sort out with Teresa, the all-pro phlebotomist, what vials I needed drawn and which ones had been drawn on Sept. 4 and we efficiently got it straightened out and soon I was finished and could head straight to Blue Coffee for a fast breaking chocolate croissant and a latte. 

Good news! All the results that came in today were great. My Tacrolimus test can't be processed locally and I'll get that result in a day or two. 

2. Those of you who live by yourself might know what I mean: it's easy to fall into eating habits and not have a lot of culinary variety. Over the past three months, I enjoyed what I prepared for myself, but, I admit, I was fixing food within a narrow range of soups, stir fries, wraps, and eggs dishes.

With Debbie back, however, variety returns. 

Shopping for two of us instead of just for me made my trips to Trader Joe's and Costco today much more fun as I began to anticipate fun meals to come -- prepared by either one of us. 

3. And sure enough, for dinner tonight Debbie prepared Mediterranean ground beef and beans to put on top of white rice. I'm particularly partial to the flavors of cumin and cinnamon, which I loved in this dinner, and loved how the cranberry beans worked in this dish. Over the last few weeks, I've steered away from canned beans (which I love, btw) and have been soaking and cooking dried beans. That's what Debbie did for this dish. 

It worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 09-13-2026: Scam Alert Update, Canceled Trip, Discussions

 1. I have never seen with my own eyes the scam warning some followers of my blog get when they click on the link to my daily posts. I am understanding, however, that for many the alert has not deterred them from going forward and reading my blog posts. 

That's great news. 

I've learned that for others, the scam alert blocks them from accessing my blog posts. 

I am sending one of these people the link to my posts via Facebook Messenger and that works. 

If you are being blocked by the scam alert, let me know in the comments. I can send you the link via Facebook Messenger. If I have the right info, I can text you the link. I can also email you the entire blog post, if I have your emaill address.

2.  I had plans to drive to Spokane today for an event at Auntie's Bookstore featuring Meghan Jones, whom Debbie and I have met in the Science/Nature Book Club we attend. Meghan Jones is an artist. A few months ago, I went to the Chase Gallery at Spokane's City Hall twice to enjoy her paintings of deep ocean life. 

The Auntie's Bookstore event featured Meghan Jones' new book, The Unusual Ocean: Who Lives in the Deep?. Her book introduces children to paintings of twenty deep ocean inhabitants along with written text about each one. 

Alas, I woke up this morning with what turned out to be temporary unrest in my innards and decided not to risk having this unrest recur on the drive to Spokane or in the bookstore. 

It all cleared up this afternoon, merely leaving me a little fatigued.

3. Having been apart since late May, Debbie and I haven't had a chance to discuss all sorts of things ranging from family news to travel plans to taking care of things on the business side of our life together. 

We got started talking about some of these things today and these discussions will continue in the days and weeks ahead. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-12-2026: Debbie Returns, Fire in the Hole, Gibbs' Joy

 1. Early this afternoon, I picked up Debbie at the Spokane airport and we fell right into easy conversation about all kinds of things: how things are going in New York, books we've been reading, how things are in Kellogg, with special attention to Christy's rehab and recovery, and other things. Once home, Debbie assumed her usual spot on the couch, Gibbs was all over her, jumping and licking, and within minutes it was as if she hadn't been gone for three and a half months. 

2. Debbie wanted to have some food from a Kellogg eatery. I told her that ever since she'd gone to New York, I'd been hungry for a Fire in the Hole pizza from Zany's. Debbie had been thinking more about sandwiches, but after a while she agreed: we'll share Zany's chicken, pineapple, jalapeno pepper, and homemade buffalo sauce pizza. 

It was awesome. We have some left over. And Debbie not only brought home the pizza, she also checked out the scene at The Beanery and had a beer at Radio Brewing where she ran into Mike and Deanne Fitzgerald for some very enjoyable yakkin'. She also made a quick stop for a few items at Yoke's. 

She is already getting back into the swing of life in Kellogg! 

3. Gibbs is one very happy dog! 

On the phone, leading up to her return, Debbie and I joked about which of us Gibbs would choose to be close to once Debbie was home -- after all, Gibbs and I had become good pals in her absence. 

No contest! 

Debbie is definitely Gibbs' person! 

I'm always here for backup, but when Debbie's in the house, Gibbs wants to be with her! 

Three Beautiful Things 09-11-2026: Busy, Family Meal, Worn Out

 1. Christy, Carol, Paul, and I congregated at the Roberts' house at 2 p.m. today for family dinner. There's a lot going on among our family members for the next three months: play rehearsals for Carol and Paul and then performances, rehab and appointments for Christy, trips to Spokane for readings and classical music for Debbie and me, and out of town travel for Carol and Paul and, separately, a trip to Cincinnati for Debbie and me. 

Consequently, our accustomed times for family dinner aren't going to pan out, so we are getting together on whatever days and at whatever times we can to squeeze in a meal. 

2, As Christy rehabs and recovers, Carol and Paul's house works the best as our family dinner home base. 

I, however, was in charge of the meal and I made a beef stroganoff sauce to put over egg noodles that Carol prepared. Carol also prepared a leafless salad with vegetables from her garden and I made a side dish of lemon couscous and broccoli.

We began our meal with grapes Paul grew, recently picked pears, and mixed nuts. 

Carol and Paul had handful, at least, of partially filled containers of ice cream/gelato and all of us got to choose what we wanted scooped into our bowl from this buffet of frozen treats. 

3. I arrived home around 5:00 from our afternoon meal exhausted.

I had a lot of cleaning up to do in the kitchen, living room, and bathroom in preparation for Debbie's early Saturday afternoon arrival, and pushed myself to get some of it done. 

I took breaks. 

I fell asleep while resting. 

I gave up and resolved to go to bed and get right back to work first thing Saturday morning and complete the tasks I didn't finish today. 

My system seems worn out and in need of rest and sleep as it continues to work on my body's behalf to get rid of this bug that's been wailing away inside me for the last ten or eleven days. 

The bug is almost gone, but my need for rest and sleep, like the Dude, abides. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-10-2026: Stability, Bookstore Order, An Evening with Author Peter Heller

 1. Today I met with nephrologist Dr. Bieber to review my blood work and talk about my health in general. He confirmed that no doubt this cold I've had has lingered, in part, because of the medicines I take to suppress my immune system. He listened to my lungs. They are all clear. I'm nearly done with this cold. 

My renal blood test results are stable and I am, as of now, in very good kidney health two years and four months after the transplant. 

One glitch, though: for unknown reasons, the full order for blood tests didn't make it to Teresa who drew my blood. 

Dr. Bieber would still like to have my blood tested for cholesterol levels, Tacrolimus levels, and a couple other things. 

I'll go to CdA first thing Monday morning and have the tests run that got left out on Sept 4th. 

2. I drove to Spokane later this afternoon. 

One small accomplishment: I successfully paid for street parking using the ParkMobile app.

More important: I picked up a copy of our next book club I'd ordered at Auntie's Bookstore. Its title: The Plant Hunter. 

3. Until his name popped up on the fall schedule for Northwest Passages programs, I'd never heard of the writer Peter Heller. A couple of days ago I realized that his appearance tonight as a Northwest Passages featured writer coincided with his book, The Dog Stars, having been made into a movie and recently released into theaters. 

Just seven or eight months ago, I never would have attended this program. 

I hadn't heard of Peter Heller. 

I hadn't heard of his book The Dog Stars and the only things I knew about the movie were that Ridley Scott directed it and Josh Brolin, whose memoir I just read, is in the cast. 

But, in the spring of 2026, Debbie and I decided to attend these Northwest Passages programs every time -- unless circumstances outside our control stopped us. 

Along with joining the Science/Nature Book Club, committing ourselves to go hear these writers was a stellar decision. 

Peter Heller blew me away. 

I'll just mention two things he talked about that uplifted me. 

First, whenever writers of prose talk about the attention they give to the sound of their words, to the lyrical qualities of language, to often being as driven to write passages for the quality of their musicality even more than their literal meaning, I'm enthused. 

I loved not only Peter Heller's discussion of what his prose owes to his love of and devotion to poetry, I loved hearing him recite two poems:  a part of W.B. Yeats' "Prayer for my Daughter" (his father often read/recited this poem to the eleven-year-old Peter Heller) and Li Shang-Yin's poem, "When Will I Be Home?"

Secondly, when he talked about his book being rewritten as a screenplay by Mark L. Smith, he gave special emphasis to not minding at all that Smith made changes to his novel that he felt would work better as cinema. 

It was music to my ears when Peter Heller told us that he knows novels and screenplays/movies are different art forms. 

He told us that a movie based on a book is not the book. Inevitably, the two works of art will be different. 

He didn't go as far as I do when I watch a movie based on a book or play I am familiar with. 

My approach is to remove the original source from my mind, watch the movie for what it is, and not use up mental energy keeping track of changes and I find it impossible to declare which I liked better. 

But that Peter Heller was so open to having changes made to his book and that he articulated so clearly his trust in Mark L. Smith and that he so eloquently explained how a movie adaptation cannot be the book, well, it made my night! 

Three Beautiful Things 09-09-2026: My Energy, Christy's Energy, Chickpea Salad

 1. I'm not fully free of nasal congestion and sinus pressure, but the good news is that I have more energy and I'm not nearly as short-winded as I have been over the last week. 

2. Carol drove Christy for her physical therapy appointment this afternoon and afterward Christy reported that she had a great workout, leading to me write with some confidence that Christy is regaining energy, too, and feeling better. 

3. I had a can of Trader Joe's Greek Chickpeas with Oregano and Parsley on hand and combined it with radishes, carrots, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, and Kalamata olives to make a filling and very tasty salad this evening. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-08-2026: Reflections on Kendra Langford Shaw's Novel *The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos*

1. I spent most of today finishing The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos. 

I didn't foresee at all how this novel would fit so perfectly with two aspects of my pursuit of the arts in 2026. 

First of all, Debbie and I have decided to attend every Northwest Passages presentation we possibly can in Spokane, whether or not we are familiar with the featured writer. So, in July, I learned about Kendra Langford Shaw and her new book. Committing myself to read these books I hear the authors talk about has greatly enriched my reading life. 

Second, Debbie and I have joined the Science/Nature Book Club at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane and one of the great rewards of reading The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos was discovering, from the opening chapter, that while this novel is very much a character driven family saga, even more, for me, it's a book exploring the power of the natural world in the fictional Arctic site she created. 

2. Whether it's sea lions, moose, farming and eating octopuses, flooding rains, a rampaging river, fjords, reefs, goats, chickens, demanding trails and barely passable interior roads, vulnerability to disease and injury in the wild, and any number of other elements of the natural world these characters confront daily, this novel examines not only the power and grandeur of nature in the Arctic, it examines the indomitability of the non-human natural world in relation to human beings. 

As a result, this novel explores survival, the ever-present reality of death, and the combination of courage and foolhardiness of generations of characters as they move into this unforgiving land, working in a variety of ways to make the best life they can. 

And then there's the pianos.

And the piano hunters. 

You'll have to read the book to find out what this completely make-believe aspect of the novel is all about, but it's inseparable from the power of the arctic elements and the persistence and dreams of characters in his novel. 

3. I admit it. 

I'm not crazy about the idea that writers "kill off" characters, as if it's cruel or random or a punishment. 

When Kendra Langford Shaw spoke in Spokane back in July, an audience member asked her about "killing off" characters. 

Shaw never repeated the phrase "kill off" but talked about characters' deaths in her book as catalysts for change and as challenges that force characters to evaluate how they will move forward now that the deceased character is no longer with them. These deaths transform the ongoing story. 

I won't give away who dies in this novel, but I will say that as painful as it was to experience their deaths, each death moved the story forward in ways that never would have happened had the characters not died. The deaths deepened the story, gave us as readers insight into grief, love, flexibility, service to others, resolve, and other virtues. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-07-2026: Holding Pattern, Arctic Stories, Gibbs' New Life

 1. Monday -- the seventh day of my health not being quite up to snuff. I'm in a holding pattern right now. Slight nasal congestion. Occasional cough. No sore throat. Sleeping on and off during the day. Mild lightheadedness. This state of things is better than having these symptoms worsen, but I hope they clear up before long. 

The good news is that I can function, can get done what I need to. 

2. Today, I continued reading the adventures of life over the generations as told by Kendra Langford Shaw in her novel The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos. I enjoy the way Shaw couples fantastical storytelling with the development of characters whom I care about. I've got about a hundred pages left to read and look forward to seeing how the book's conclusion helps me understand what Shaw ultimately portrays about life, family, love, friendships, courage, endurance, and the other dimensions of human life her novel explores. 

3. I knew when Copper died, it would definitely change Gibbs' life. He's coming to realize that he has the whole ground floor of our house to himself now and this new development has drawn us closer together. I've been reading in the Vizio room, often stretching my legs out on our ottoman. Gibbs now can join me while I read in this room and he alternates between relaxing and sleeping on the ottoman and jumping up into the chair I sit in, pressing himself against me for more relaxation and sleep. 

Moreover, Gibbs also now fully realizes that he no longer has to spend nights alone on our living room sofa.

He can sleep with me at night, sometimes pressing against me, sometimes wanting to be alone and not making contact with me while on the bed. 

Debbie will be back home on Saturday and Gibbs will experience another huge change, one he will flip out over and love: he'll have the love and presence of Debbie back in his life again. 

He might go back and forth between being with both of us, but history says that once Debbie is back, Gibbs will devote almost all of his attention to her and this is exactly as it should be. 

She is his primary companion. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-06-2026: Updating Christy's Recovery From My Point of View

 1. I spent some time with Christy today. I picked up a grocery order for her and helped put the groceries away. I picked up a couple of packages for her that went to her former "residence" at Carol and Paul's house and helped put away those items. 

I thought Christy seemed a bit stronger today than she has the previous several days, but was still in a weakened state. She's been up and moving around with the aid of her walker and she got some work done in the kitchen and elsewhere in her house. Her voice sounded stronger. 

2. We talked about the renal panel results from her latest labs. Very strong! With other things going on, it's sure a relief to know that Christy's kidneys are functioning beautifully. 

Tomorrow I'll give Christy a lift to the Shoshone Medical Center where she'll be fitted for a heart monitor. Her PCP wants to determine if the AFib she experienced at the Kootenai Health Hospital was a temporary problem (that's what the doctor thinks) or if it's ongoing. She'll wear the monitor for about a week. 

Christy and I also talked about blood pressure and it looks like going off of blood pressure medicine is helping raise her low blood pressure up to more acceptable levels. 

3. Christy has been experiencing lightheadedness for the past several days. It's been more acute at night when she has to get up. She's been careful about getting up slowly, not rushing things, which is really smart. 

I, too, experienced lightheadedness for much of the day today (Sunday). 

Christy and I agreed that both of us must have caught a bug at family dinner Saturday. We both think it's part of what's had Christy down since about last Tuesday and we wondered if it might be the source of the lightheadedness we've both experienced. 

It just seems, since both of us are getting solid results when we measure our blood pressure, that the lightheadedness is not because of low blood pressure. 

Let's just say it's this bug that's kept Christy down. 

The resulting fatigue, lightheadedness, and loss of appetite have cut into Christy's efforts to rehab her new hip. 

Her next PT session is scheduled for Wednesday, and it'll be great news if she feels strong enough to make that appointment and get going again on her rehab program. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-05-2026: Returning, Recover(ed)ing, Reading

 1. Unless some unforeseen circumstances arise, I will pick up Debbie at the Spokane airport on September 12th early in the afternoon. 🎊🎊

2. I felt a lot better today and so began to deal with the clutter and neglect dominating the kitchen! 

3. Feeling better, for me, means being able to enjoy reading again and so I returned to Kendra Langford Shaw's epic, cross-generational, sprawling, and fantastical Arctic tale, The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos. For now, no words. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-04-2026: Labs, Low Energy, Bagel Cheeseburger

 1. Yesterday I wrote that I was determined to drive to CdA and have my labs drawn. 

I did it. 

The phlebotomists at the Kootenai Health lab I frequent are terrific. Today Teresa drew my blood and she is not only an expert at locating a vein and drawing the blood efficiently, she is kind and always strikes me as wise. 

The bloodwork reports that came in yesterday look stable to me. One important test result will come in later so I'll find out in the next few days how my tacrolimus levels look. 

Just to be safe, I always fast before these blood draws and I enjoyed today, as I have so many times before, a chocolate croissant and a latte at Big Blue Coffee, a modest reward for getting this task done. 

2. Overall, my recovery from this cold I've had all week is slowly coming along. Two symptoms persist: I'm a little short winded and my energy level is lower than usual. 

When I was done with labs, I wanted to drive to Auntie's Bookstore to pick up our book club's next book. It's waiting for me to pick it up and because I didn't go to our club's meeting on Tuesday it's still waiting. 

I decided I'd rather go home and sleep, if I needed to, and not sleep on I-90. 

So, the book will continue to sit on Auntie's shelf. I know I'm going to Spokane for a Northwest Passages presentation on Thursday. I can secure my book then. 

3. I had one plain bagel left in the freezer. I thawed it and I thawed ground beef. 

It had been years since I made myself a cheeseburger on a bagel and that's what I ate for dinner. 

I enjoyed it.

I'd fix it again. 

That said, my preference remains using a hamburger bun, but the bagel was fun and added some welcome variety to my life of cooking myself dinners. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-03-2026: Christy Sees Her PCP, I'm Determined, Bagel Bonanza

1. I drove Christy to her post-hospitalization appointment with her PCP. The doctor made some adjustments in Christy's medications, talked with her about doing PT through the winter and possibly beyond, and addressed the array of problems Christy is dealing with. Christy found the appointment very helpful and will see her PCP again in a month. 

2.  I see the doctor in charge of my kidney health Thursday next week and need blook work done ahead of time. I'm determined to drive to CdA tomorow (Friday) morning and get this task completed. 

It's been three months since I prepared for a blood draw and getting ready this evening was like riding a bike for the first time after an absence: I set out a water bottle, put my morning doses of pills in an empty pill bottle, set out a mask (since I've been sick), and I set out my wallet, keys, and water bottle so I wouldn't be searching for them Friday morning, I am relieved it's been raining. I won't have to put on my protective gloves while I drive, wear a sunhat, or do anything else to keep the sun off my skin. 

3. A treat today. Rebekkah of Beach Bum Bakery texted me that the bakery produced a batch of cinnamon raisin bagels. She knows I love them and when I was in the day before, I said next time she made them available, I'd buy as many as she'd sell me. They freeze well and it's fun having a good number on hand. 

I zoomed up to the bakery. I bought ten of the bagels. This left a some for other customers who might like some. 

I'm really happy to have.this many of these bagels on hand and I'll try to make them last a couple of weeks or more. 

Three Beautiful Things 09-02-2026: Dreaming in a Dream, Cans to the Curb, Medicinal Bouillion

 1. I don't remember having a cold interfere so massively with my sleep at night before. The good news, though, is that this afternoon I fell asleep for about 2-3 hours had experienced that rare phenomenon where I dreamed about people who then had dreams in my dream. 

2. When I wasn't having dreams within dreams, I rested but rallied long enough to put Christy's and my garbage cans to the curb. 

3. I have a long history of treating colds (and the flu) with chicken bouillon and noodles or pasta. Today I enjoyed a bowl of it along with a plain bagel toasted with cream cheese. Then I fell into the coma nap with its double dreaming. A connection?   

Three Beautiful Things 09-01-2026: A Cold, Copper's Back, Cinnamon Knot

 1. Monday night, I could feel it coming on: sinus pressure, sinus congestion, mild sore throat, and coughing. I barely slept Monday night and I knew this morning that I'd be resting all day today, trying to sleep, and staying home from book club in Spokane.  Very disappointing. 

The good news: it's been several years since I've been sick. In addition, when I do get sick, I'm never a hero, trying to push myself through it. I take my time. Rest. Pound liquids. Give myself time to get better. 

2. I brought Copper home today in his urn and soon I'll find a spot for him and Luna to rest side by side. 

3. I thought a cinnamon knot from Beach Bum Bakery would help me feel better. I loved the treat, but it did not have the medicinal impact I'd hoped for!