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!
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