Summer got 5th in the Washington State 2A track meet in Tacoma running the 400 meter in basically a minute flat. She also competed at the state level in the 4x200 m relay and she remains disgustingly sweet and successful in her hard 10th grade classes…ie she’s perfect but that’s not what I want to brag about.
Today a guy asked me if I worked out just on the basis of my forearms AND I was standing next to Summer AND he looked like a young weight lifter and most flabbergasting of all, he worked at the counter of the Washington State Dept of Licensing. Secondly, when I played cutthroat pickleball with Tom ( a mortal) and Jerry (the best the YMCA has), I momentarily tied Jerry with a 3-3-0 score before Jerry went on to show both Tom and me who’s boss. And most exciting of all…. ( I know you’re breathless), Emily and I were the most cheerful, chipper and polite members of our family from 10 pm to midnight tonight. Chew on that awhile perfect Lauren, Eric, and Summer!
And to flesh out the progress report, my book is coming along…I combined about 5 timelines into one grand prologue to denouement timeline today and I’m enjoing my characters…. the real life model for my villain could still be more evil than the character but I don’t want any character to be all bad….And Anna Lukas (moved to US from St Petersburg in 1980) has agreed to talk to me so I can borrow her Russian accent for my character with bad English.
Eric’s got escargot begonias, lettuce, cilantro, and artistic combinations of beautiful plants in his sweet smelling hot house out back where the chickens used to live. He also scrubbed the dog and restored to mint condition the kitchen table I recomended for goodwill in 1987. Who new it would be his life’s project and the crowded underpinning of leisurely, laughter filled dinners with 3 adult daughters and their friends.
Dale Carnegie’s advice on How to stop worrying and start living is really helping. At least I notice that I’m an idiot when I worry about the earth’s destruction without seeing the cul de sac in front of me.I instead open my eyes to towering douglas firs and cedars sheltering the rhodedenra, apple and maple trees, exuberant weeds (our yard) and showcase gardens of my neighbors. Only the wooden houses appear fragile. My patient stream definitely supports Carnegie’s assessment that the majority of sickness stems from worry.
Speaking of the psychological beating the physical, Iris is probably halfway through her radiation now. Good thing she’s resting anytime she wants during this treatment because…we’re all descending upon her to mourn the loss of Judy’s youth (40th birthday bash for my Jookness). She’s then travelling to Miami with Summer, Lynelle, Emily, and Andy to visit Carol Lipson and see Bob and Lisa’s new house on Coconut Grove AND THEN, Emily and Summer will take her to the Tampa airport so Lauren can pick her up at the Guadalajara Airport. Carol and I will arrive shortly thereafter. By the end of the trip, we’ll successfully shove that breast cancer back behind the rest of the junk we forget easily.
The Handmaid’s Tale joins 1984 and Brave New World as excellent examples of Dystopian speculative fiction. I wish I could find an excellent example of Utopian speculative fiction. But maybe that’s the one thing correct in “The Rational Optimist” (lousy brand new out in hardback) The best minds tend toward pessimism for the future. Yuck. Yeah- an advantage to losing brain cells with age!
