1. Watching people on the bus suddenly discover their friends, and maneuver to sit next to them.

2. Finding my soup card was full, so I had free soup today.

3. Mark coming up with: "Sweeney Dog, the Demon Barker of Flea Street."

4. Buying fish at the fish place on the way home, and realizing how lucky we are to have such a fabulous place in walking distance.

5. Making a particularly scrumptious dinner.

It's off to work tomorrow for the first time in three and a half months of FMLA. Feels very odd.

Poddie is charging.

Lunch is picked out.

Mark has set alarm.

Bus schedule is checked.

Know what to cook for dinner.

I can't think of anything else. Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs do that thing bed bugs do to your toes.

I have cups and cups of beans in the fridge. I had no idea, really, no idea, when I soaked Bob's Redmill 13 bean combo that I would end up with so many. Dried, they didn't look so big.

Two cups went to chili tonight, which was good. Gave some of that away to Miki. Must do something else with the 5 or 6 cups I have left. Wow, that's a lot of beans.

If you haven't heard about the Portus Project, you should check it out. It's very cool. I'm stunned that a) it was lost after it was first discovered in the 1800's, and b) it's next to an international airport and no one noticed. How do these gigantic things just get buried and forgotten? The University of Southampton has magnificent photos of the objects and field work as well as computer visualizations here.

Another amazing ongoing project is the Persepolis Fortification Archive. These "volumes" catalog the daily business of the Persian empire, revolutionizing knowledge of the ancient Persian empire from around 500 BCE. There's a bit of rush to get moving on this since the Oriental institute "borrowed" it to copy and translate since 1933. Iran would like it returned. The politics would fill a book. U of C is indeed hurrying, with technological help.

It was a good book day. I found a used copy of Folk Shawls (knitting) and Cirque du Freak at our local used bookstores. Very pleased. And got my order of Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome: Trust in the Gods, but Verify. Who could resist a title like that? Not me!

Mark is doing well. Miki delivered a loaner oximeter to us, which is awesome. We watched Mark's pulse go from 116 before dinner to 98 after dinner. His oxygenation is good. This device will make it much easier for him to keep track of this stuff. We went out for lunch, which was nice. It was sunny down at Alki, and great to get out. Today really felt like a vacation day which was nice.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. He went to bed and bumped his head and couldn't get up in the morning.

There. I've infected you with th earworm that's been going through my head all night because it IS raining and pouring. It took me a long time to figure out it wasn't really a very nice rhyme.

A bleak, dreary day. Mine was spent at my own doctor's, doing laundry and mostly on a long work conference call. Mark's was spent lying down. Which I know he finds extremely dull. Our evening last night to his class reunion last night was pretty tiring and his legs were hurting today and swollen. So it was a day of feet up in bed. Tomorrow should be better. Nerve pain is pretty bad. Nothing really makes it go away.

Next Wednesday we go see a kidney specialist, who Mark calls a phrenologist to amuse me. Although he is taking tons (1,000mg)(350mg is considered a high dose) of magnesium a day, he has less magnesium than a normal person. Since they'd like him to be in a high normal range, this is mystifying. They think now something may be up with his kidneys. Magnesium helps prevent fibrillation, which Mark (now) has a history of, so high magnesium is good. The current thinking is that maybe his kidneys are not being cooperative.

But, the good news is that they've decided that he -doesn't- have congestive heart failure. So we are pleased about that. And hopefully they won't change their mind back again next week. This is me being grumpy about medical seesaws. I know, they're a part of life.

I feel like the sequel has a good shape in my mind. I think it will come together from here and I am pleased. Lots of work to do.

There are many Halloween decoration sprouting. I love them all, even the really kitschy ones. They make me happy inside.

Today I finished a pair of knitted blue slippers that were started at scarlettina 's Crafternoon last Sunday. After much figuring out of what exactly they meant by "folding in half" which I could see happening in several different ways, it all worked out and I have a pair of perfect dark blue slippers. I am certain they will pick up white dog fur perfectly.

A question for the cookers: slow cooker (crock pot) or pressure cooker? I should get one or the other in the next week, have yet to decide which. Is one better than the other?

Many, many thanks to ironymaiden  for graciously coming over and hemming sweatpants for Mark. We are deeply appreciative of her generosity with her time.  We are fortunate to have such good friends.

Tonight, a dear coworker I haven't seen in ages was in town and took us out to dinner. It was our first time out on an expedition like this. Perhaps a little long for Mark (2 hours) but it was good to get out for a bit, and his heart rate is not the worse for a glass of wine and vegan soup and crabcakes. Mine may be for several glasses,  and a cheesy dish, but I can stand it.

It may be an exotic Saturday night out for the rest of the world, but we shall go read in bed with our various medications.

Thanks to Amy, I had a zucchini worthy of the Puyallup Fair.  Today, what with Mark getting bed rest and Kai at the groomers thanks to choosing the path less taken (jumping in the green duck sludge rather than go over the bridge with me, shades of Loki!), I decided to make batches of zucchini bread after the therapist left this afternoon.

It's an excellent recipe, with grated lemon peel, brown sugar, and other good things to eat.

The instructions call for mixing all the dry ingredients, then mixing the wet ingredients (the shredded zucchini is left exhaling water between paper towels during all this) in a center hole and gradually whisking them together. Then you switch over to a (wooden) spoon to add in the zucchini.

This is hard.  I have a big whisk, and it works, but it's tough. Much easier when you switch to a spoon.

So for the second batch I thought I would ignore the "use a whisk" directions and use a spoon the whole way through.

Wrong!

The purpose of the whisk is to get the batter smooth without having to run it through a beater. It's actually -much- harder with a spoon since it doesn't accomplish the same task.

OK, this isn't really cooking fail.  The zucchini bread will come out just fine. I hide my head in shame for deliberately ignoring the directions and trying to take the "easy" way out. There is no shortcut through the woods. My help-writing friends may now solemnly shake their heads. I am hopeless.

We are fortunate to have such good friends and such good neighbors.

Kai is playing with one of his squeaky balls. All is (loudly) right with the world.

Skeletons have popped out on doors. Neighbors' yards are now plumping up with graveyards instead of flower beds. Bright orange pumpkins are littering steps and walkways. One house has severed heads and limbs hanging with bloody glee from its balcony. Now that's the spirit of Halloween.

Mark increased his cane walking with his therapist yesterday to four blocks (two away, two back to the house). She also gave him some new exercises to strengthen his right leg. So this is all good.

Of course, progress is never as fast as you'd like. Mark is frustrated that his stamina is so short. 15 or 20 minutes and he has to rest. The neuropathy in his feet hurts all the time. His feet and ankles have been very swollen, which hurt me to look at. At Friday's doctor appointment we must bring that up again. Very uncomfortable. Resting heart rate persists in the high 90s, low 100s. I would like that to go down faster.

Still, we have so much to be pleased about. We've gone out and enjoyed these beautiful autumn days. I'm a -lot- stronger than I used to be! Mark is diligent about his exercises. He can go up and down to the temple of dude with a spotter. That's huge. He can walk short distances in the house without a cane. One of these days we'll even have to test going out for a meal.

It's been a beautful fall.

I brought the car in for its standard fluid change (it was due in June, for some reason, we hadn't gotten around to it.) The lovely scarlettina  had lunch with Mark while I hung out at a coffee shop near the car place waiting.

Alas, the car won't be ready until tomorrow. It has a broken right tie rod, and the left tie rod is also going which means it also needs an alignment. The steering fluid is sludge, and the serpentine belt was slipping off its bits, is cracked and starting to tear. And to think I didn't used to know what a tie rod or serpentine belt was.

These items, as the guy at the garage informed me, are original. In fact, in close to 100,000 miles this is the first major repair we've had to make.  Oh sure, we've bought tires, replaced brake pads, and had oil changes. That's it. 

We bought our Jetta in 2001. We got the top-of-the-line model.  I figured, I'd never had a new car, I wanted one at least once in my life.  I think when I pick it up tomorrow afternoon, I'll tell it I love it.

There are good things and not so good things. Let's go with the not-so-good things first.

I cut my finger slicing bread (shades of Dracula).

This morning, I realized I have cracked some of my teeth over the past few months. Dentist time.

It was just a tiny, not even half, a glass of wine, and Mark's heart rate is up to 120. Slowly coming down. Still in the one-teens hours later.

Good things:

Spent the afternoon with friends.

Started knitting some slippers in a really pretty blue washable wool.

Took Mark for a long walk this morning, such a beautiful day! Many pumpkins out, trees changing color. Just spectacular.

The Toulouse Sausage was a good addition to the perpetual soup. It went from peasant to French.

This is a good time to go shopping in West Seattle. With the new QFC opening up a few blocks from us, within less than a mile of our house we have two Safeways, a PCC, A Metropolitan Market, and now a big, very fancy (oh the cheese deli!) QFC.  Perhaps it's just as well Whole Foods chose not to finish construction this summer.

Right now, we are living among Grocery Wars, and the buying is good. Everyone is competing on essentials, and trying to find just that sweet spot for our particular little odd combination of demographics. So soy milk is going for $1.99. Yogurt, $1.00.  Bread, 2 for 1. Selected cheeses and meats, half price.

It's a good time to stock up for the flupocalypse.

We anticipate one of the Safeways will collapse like a busted balloon.

In the meantime, Mark and I went shopping. He used the cart for support, and we ignored many aisles, so it was good. Walking got slow by the end, but we made it!  I did not buy as much cheese as I wanted. I was sad.

The expedition tuckered Mark out, so he spent the afternoon resting, doing some arm exercises while lying down, while I wrote and took Kai out.

In the evening we went downstairs (Mark can do the stairs slowly, with a spotter, or someone to land on as I think of it) and watched "Tristram Shandy: A cock and bull story." Not sure what I think of it. I believe it attained it's goals. It was amusing in many parts. It felt long, and I suspect that, not having read the book, the meta-ness of the movie in some parts flew over my head like a winged thing. It's very meta.

It wasn't a bad day. Just not the day I expected. My plans flew away. The afternoon was spent at Mark's cardiologist, which is a useful way of spending the time, getting everything caught up. Because of edema in his feet and ankles, she ordered an echo, so we stayed the afternoon for our turn with the echo guy, who did an extremely thorough job, which also took longer.

So an anticipated 45 minute appointment ended up taking more like 3.5 - 4 hours, then a trip to the pharmacy. This is not a complaint. It's just a "where did the time go?"  Sick people were everywhere.  The receptionist kept saying (more or less) "Don't you want a face mask with that?" our fingers are crossed we stay healthy.

Since the initial appointment was at lunch time, we were starving.  We are grateful to awesome neighbor Dawn for emailing me midafternoon and offering to supply dinner, which I gratefully snapped up. Chicken and cashews. Nom nom.

Good news is she (csardiologist) doesn't see any reason for Mark to be on a low sodium diet. Cheese, here we come! Just be reasonable. (Drat!) Her expression was that those rehab folks, they're just afraid of cardio patients.  We also talked about hematology and What Went Wrong. My current favorite for the initial hematological problem is TRALI, complicated by a month of 600 mg amiodarone/day. She hadn't heard of it (TRALI), which isn't surprising. A cardiologist wouldn't normally know weird transfusion stuff anyway.

It's also great to hear that his valve is likely to last a long time. and when replaceable, it will be some percutaenous method, which is awesome.

In the meantime, Mark's heart rate continues uppish. He is doing great walking short distances without a cane, but tires quickly. We'll hear later how the echo turned out, and if she thinks he should be on diuretics of some sort.

Tonight, Mark is really tired and his feet/legs hurt. Probably from sitting around in a waiting room all afternoon.  And I feel remarkably unmotivated. Reading seems good.

1. We are in a transitional phase. From what to what, who knows? Every day is a gift. My thoughts don't seem to range much further than the coming nightfall.

2. Slices at Alki has excellent pizza. We were pleasantly surprised. Perfect with a beer after a long, sweaty dog-walk.

3. There are entire aisles of the supermarket I can completely ignore. Way too high in sodium.

4. Making soup stock with a soup bone makes the house smell great.

5. The furnace has been turned on. Winter must be coming.

We are fumbling toward excellence.

Toward was annoying for Mark. He was laid up with swollen feet and ankles, waiting for them to go down. Very, very boring keeping your feet up above your heart all day. Good opportunity for arm exercises and learning patience. Well, arm exercises.

I was pleased to get chores and errands done in the morning. In the afternoon, I edited out 1,000 words from a short story. It's amazing how long that took. Tomorrow I'll read it aloud and see how it sounds. So far, I'm pleased.

Cooking is taking up more time than anticipated. Thank goodness for leftovers (you know who you are). Because of Mark's dietary requirements, I end up cooking every meal, from breakfast to dinner. We are for sure getting a new stove. If I'm doing this much cooking, it's no longer a luxury. I don't mind cooking, I just wish I were a better meal planner. I find I oftentimes wonder if snap peas really will go with chicken. So far, it's all worked out. Every meal has to have protein, vegetables/and/or fruit, and a starch. Low salt. I just learned cottage cheese is high sodium. Boo!  That's been a staple for us in so many ways. What a bummer! Ricotta here we come. Or a low sodium version if it doesn't taste like crap.

And the blender just lives on the counter. Smoothies!  What a great idea!

At least we are eating as healthy as can be. First time ever.

Tonight, we watched Wonder Boys. I love that movie. I've lost count of how many times we've watched it. It's about writing, love, and second chances. In Pittsburgh. In absolutely horrible weather. And it's very funny, I still laugh at it, of course, I'm easily amused. It also was the movie that introduced us to Michael Chabon. He took better with Mark than with me, but that's OK.

I got a bunch of emails asking what the heck this church is. I'm not really much of a church person. As I said, I'm more of a magical realist.  But here's what I know. On the east coast, Unitarian Universalists are pretty big. In fact, here's the church in my home town, designed by Thomas Bullfinch.  I've never been in it. I was brought up RC.

Here's where I went Sunday. Alki Masonic Hall. Same religious beliefs. Quite a difference in church styles (which actually pleases me.)

It's not a Christian church. UU is dedicated to the individual search for truth, however you may find it. Childrens time was a discussion of how life was full of wonder and mysteries. The sermon was a series of readings from a book by a neurologist on brain function. The songs were very Earth centric, and a little leftist. The big issue was support for Prop 71. The sign up sheet was getting more people to volunteer for end-of-life assistance primarily for people with AIDS but also for other fatal long term diseases. The charity auction is Star Trek-themed.

It was interesting and fun. Everyone was pleasant, but not overwhelming so.

The choir was small but surprisingly good. Ages ranged from babies to quite elderly.  I will go again next week.

Let me be clear. I am a magical thinker.  Me and Augusten Burroughs. I go to church on Christmas. Otherwise the new year will be a financial ruin. It's true. The years I've let Mark convince me it was silly (I know it is) and superstituous (he's right) and an absurd thing for an intelligent woman to believe so we might as well stay home (fine, be it on your own head), we have had terrible, awful, years where we have to scrape by, hunting in the edges of the couch for every last quarter and penny.

So on Christmas Eve I drag everyone except the dog off to a church, it doesn't matter which one, to keep us in chocolate.

This summer, my best beloved nearly died several times. I peered into the abyss. It didn't peer back. It wrapped a tentacle or two around my neck while whispering dim nothings in my ear. Not much of a talker, the abyss.   I made it a deal. Let my husband live. Not only that, I bargained as I peeled tentacles away from neck, wiping off some slobber, let him be neurologically sound. The abyss (like my husband) told me I was a crazy person. Why should it do anything for me?  However, if it's wrapped a tentacle around your neck, it may have you, but you have it as well. I can pinch really, really hard. And bite.

We made a deal. I get my husband back in nearly as good as new condition. In return, On Sundays, I go to church to be grateful to the abyss, and apologize for the pinching and biting.

It isn't wise not to pay your debts. So today I went to the Unitarian Universalist church of West Seattle. They meet in the Masonic hall. It was fun. I'll go again next Sunday. The abyss doesn't really care if I go or not (that's why it's the yawning abyss) but it is always waiting.

By which I do not mean men's underwear, although that would be entertaining.

Earlier this week we had a lovely dinner with scarlettina and Esther Friesner, who we haven't seen for way too many years. It was great to see Esther again. We also got to meet Robey who was charming and not just because we like the same things (Rome and Midsummer Murders). We ate at Dukes on Alki, where the clouds hid the Olympics from us. Conversation ranged widely and was enjoyable.

The whole economic crisis thing. How crazy is that! AIG used to be bigger than 3 or 4 countries put together. Washington Mutual. What were they thinking? Or should I say Chase of Washington. Here's my prediction. Cash will freeze up gradually, and we'll gradually start to feel the effects over the next three months. That's the economic cycle as I see it from my CFO desk at work. It takes about 90 days for goods and bills to do their little dance, and in tough times, people hold onto their cash. I hope this doesn't affect any of you, I truly do, but that is my prediction. It's sad to say that for me, bad economic times are good times. There less there is, the more people fight over it. Cash flow, unfortunately, affects me too. We are already strategizing in our little company how to maximize cash now so we can be cozy when the crunch comes.

Being a true American, the best thing to do in a dire situation is go to a movie. So we went to see Burn After Reading. Not the best Coen Bros. movie, but charming enough. After all, there isn't a bad actor in the bunch. The story is missing a little something. Maybe plot. But still, it was amusing enough for a Friday night.

Tomorrow, I have off, and then it's back to work on Sunday. No rest for the wicked, and I am obviously very, very wicked.

Normally, just in one direction.

So this is what 2008 looks like. Huh. Rain.

This has been a bad day. And this will be an awful month for reasons I'm not actually going to go into. But not everything in life is bad.

Fangland is awesome. I love it. Great retelling of the Dracula story all up to date.  So far I'm really grooving on it. It's fun to read.

Juno was a wonderful movie. We got an advance copy to watch, and when it comes out (maybe it did Friday?) it's wonderful. It made me happy.

I'm almost excited about the Dr. Who Christmas thingie, now that I know the Titanic is in space.

And I like the blue lights on our bush outside.  I like blue.

It's very flat. The art museum, which I was disappointed was not the Indianappollis Art Museum (I really wanted to call it I AM), was surprisingly good. I mean, really really good.

An excellent small collection of Rodins, A fantastic pointillest room. Really good impressionist section. Some magnificent medieval art, and Flemish portraits. A brilliant Caraveggio. 

The American collection was also quite good, particularly in the modern section. There was a painting called "Gold and Pearl" which was of a standing nude that I think Mark will dream about for weeks. A hefty collection of O'Keefe and Dove. Very impressive.  We, at least, were impressed.

Oh yes, and the Roman Art from the Louvre. Knock Your Socks Off It Will. And I understand SAM will show the complete collection and not just the selected pieces they had in Indy.

So, if you're ever in Indy and don't know what to do, go to the Art Museum. Well worth it. 

And the 100-year-old cat is very glad we're back.