Take This Waltz

I am home, have seen no one but my dear friend, Adrian. This is the life.

OK, so now that nobody is looking anymore I can tell all - my inner most feelings about life and all the people who are in mine. Nah. Although that might be fun. And destructive. And meaningless. I mean, what the heck, nobody is looking. Except Karen. Here are pictures of our trip to Maine. The best is the video of a white sand beach in the Acadian National Park. Lovely. I like that it ends with Eric walking the beach. You have to watch the whole thing.

Summer was eventful. I worked for some very nice people, made new friends there whom I will never see again. I almost died of humidity and heat. What a dreadful climate they have in DC. The world has always known that, but you have to experience it at its worst to really understand. And this was the worst. The news guys told us that every night. Cindy was amazed that I could live in So Pas without AC, since I kept the one in my room in Arlington going day and night. But really, dry heat, cool nights, blessed So Pas.

I nearly finished my tapestry, but have run out of some colors of thread that I need. But then I realized that, like my blog, nobody will ever see it. So I'm using "close" to finish it. I work on it an hour every day while I watch Perry Mason in honor of my mother. She loved that man. Soon I will start my new needlepoint. It's going to be as frustrating as this one was, lots of little flowers. When I am done with it, I will have 5 of these tucked away somewhere in the apartment. Maybe I do need a will. If I bequeath it, does that mean they have to take it?

And, of course, I've been reading. Books beyond measure. I think I'll save the list for my next posting. I also listened to some of the great music I have on my iPod. This is my "play this as I die" playlist. It lightens my heart to hear this wild mix of songs. I grin whenever I hear Leonard Cohen or someone singing his song. "I want you, I want you, I want you." Sung with his deep, raspy voice. I'm his. But I'm also Bob Dylan's, who takes me back to a dorm room in LA. I sing along with Mary as she sings Hush-a-by. This is the song that I used to sing to Adrian. Before he asked me to please stop singing. He told me the other day that he was listening to a Kate Hudson interview when she said that her child has asked her to stop singing. He felt a certain kinship with that kid. I bet Kate doesn't listen any better than I do. "I am not, the boy next door."

Yes, It's Been a Busy Month

First, happy birthday Adrian and Per. Adrian's birthday was almost a month ago. I was on the road. Per's birthday is today. He is on the road or his back. I'm sure he would prefer the other over the reality. I was not and am not in California to celebrate either. So, where in the world am I?

Virginia again. I have picked up about 4 weeks of work over this summer. Eric drove me back after his long trip across the country in his new car. We drove back over my favorite route. 15 to 40 to 81 to 66. How hard could it be? Virginia has responded by having the hottest June in eons. And most humid. How dare they! Luckily, Eric and Cindy run a cool house, so I've been content.

I guess a bit too content, since I haven't been writing. I have been reading or listening to books too numerous to mention. Really, not going to mention them. Well, maybe just one in conjunction with another. Eric and I listened to Churchill's book The Grand Alliance, Part 1. Oh, it was just part one, no wonder it ended so abruptly. Anyway, I also got Citizens of London on sale through Audible. It covered approximately the same time but was written by a journalist with no stake in the events. Therefore she was able to talk about events a bit more forthrightly. This was all very interesting. You should really read about these people. It always leaves me a little disheartened to know that the people we want to be perfect are merely human. Does this mean Obama too?

So besides work and avoiding the heat, I've been working on my needlepoint until this week. On Wednesday, Eric and I drove to Cass, West Virginia to ride an old lumber train. I promised Karen I would take lots of pictures. They are on my Picasa site. The town is high in the hills, so we finally got out of the heat and humidity of DC. It was a bit too cool for Eric, in fact uncomfortably so. Sweaters and jackets are good things. The wood cutting stopped in 1960. It was no longer profitable since they had chopped down most of the trees. Oh sure, they planted more, but it seems that the red spruce trees they preferred need to have older hardwood trees to shelter them. All of this takes time. So the state bought the property.

It was interesting to be in West Virginia as their Senator Byrd was lying in the Senate. It was interesting to think about what that highly maintained state is going to do now that they have lost their senator.

Oh, and I got a traffic ticket in Maryland on the way to WVa. I'd been driving for about two minutes when I was caught in a speed trap. Sigh. He fixed it so it won't be reported to my insurance in CA. I'm sure he tells all the "offenders" that. Such a deal. Such a joy to be back in my cool room in this now temperate state.

Lost in the Threads

First, a view of my favorite flower, the peony. I bought a dozen to put in front of my window. They were so much fun to watch as they unfolded into the floozies that they are. Just when you think they can't get any bigger, they find a way. Lovely. Too bad they don't grow in this climate.

I've been needling like crazy for the last month. I got tired of working on the right side of the picture, so I moved to the left. I know, impossible that I could move further to the left. I guess I was more comfortable over there because the far left is done from top to bottom. Now I need to fill in the blank top and bottom as I move to the right. Let's see if I like the right better than I did last month.

Lots of stitching means lots of listening. So many mysteries, all fun, but not worth remembering. Here's a few of the interesting books along the way.

First is The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell. Mankell wrote the Wallender mystery series that I've enjoyed in the past. This one also takes place in Sweden, but includes a backstory involving a Chinese family. Mankell gets pretty long-winded and diatribish at times. Interesting concept, however. Almost as interesting is reading Mankell's biography on Wikipedia. Talk about moving to the left.
My friend Per is seriously ill and in the hospital. Now he's getting seriously sick listening to me talk about The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. I've tried to visit Per regularly at the hospital because I know it has to be a drag having doctors and nurses poking and prodding and ripping flesh while removing gauzes day in and day out. But every time I go, I think about this book. Gawande has been working on ways to improve hospital and surgical routines using checklists. His previous book included a section on reducing infections in hospitals by having everyone wash their hands constantly. You can bet I was watching everyone who came in to see Per. He's been at two hospitals. The first was in Marina Del Rey and they have an excellent procedure, putting on new gloves when they walk into a patient's room, then throwing them out as they leave and then using an antiseptic cleaner. The UCLA hospital has antiseptic cleaner dispensers outside every room with a big sign to use it to prevent infections. I think I like the Marina hospital's procedure best. I never saw them not comply with their practice. Maybe the UCLA folks cleanse their hands every time they walk into a room. Gawande says that even he misses sometimes.

Then today a nurse came in to take vitals and ask about pain. This was a checklist! One of the most rudimentary checklists in a hospital is a nurse doing 4 things - blood pressure, temperature, heart rate and pain (from 1-10 rating). Some used to miss some of the 4 things and it was found that if all were done and recorded, patient recovery improved.

In other words, I liked the book.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has helped be to be more knowledgeable about cell reproduction and uterine cancer and John Hopkins and big Pharma stealing our genes. What a good book. It actually helped me understand my cancer better. I did better than poor Henrietta Lacks. My cancer was found at the very beginning. Hers lasted through two pregnancies. More than that, the biopsy they took of her cells in the early 50's are still growing today and have helped in unbelievable research and medical discoveries. This is a fascinating slice of history.

A Visit with Maureen

My college friend, Maureen, drove down from Seattle to visit her family last week. I got to sneak in a little visit on Sunday. She is just the dearest person. We can be separated for months and it still feels like we haven't missed a beat. Who else knows all the history of the intervening 40 years? Who else can laugh when I say that Reg is finally helping to support me with his Social Security payments? Who else will send a special message to Adrian when I'm showing her how I can take movies with my still camera? She is, after all, the Maureen that Adrian named our dog after when he was little. She was such a big part of his life.

Maureen was staying at Katie's house. Katie is Mo's sister and I haven't seen her for years. Gosh, it was good to see her, too. She's the only one still working. Maureen is still playing in the stock market. Not playing. She is a very serious investor. Sorry we can't see each other today when the market is bouncing back after its heavy drop last week. I don't know if she missed her moment to buy Proctor and Gamble. She's driving home today, so I'll have to see if she bought anything later in the week.

I can see that when I move up to Albany, I'll be making a lot of trips north and I hope that she can visit me more often there.

Finished Game Change on the way to Covina to see Maureen. Poor Mo. It was too much on my mind because of that. The Dreadful Edwardses, the foul-mouthed McCain, the muddled Palin, the over-confident and flawed Clintons, the brash upstart Obama. It was all good reading. As always, the person who comes off best is Michelle. That could just be my bias. It becomes easier to see how the Reps (and Dems) could be wary of Bill Clinton lurking in the background. Tom recommended this as a good read and I agree. Remember, nothing you ever read is gospel, which is why you must read a lot. It might as well be enjoyable while you do it.