But going on to brighter things.
Bright red hibiscus and pink lilies look great together.
Reading EILEEN by Ottessa Moshfegh, which is as dark at pitch but well done.
Watching DOCTOR FOSTER on Netflix. Like to find series that aren't crime now and then. Although I think someone is going down soon. The two actresses are in Scott and Bailey and Killing Eve. Sometimes I think there are only a dozen actors in the UK because the same ones turn up over and over.
Got to have dinner with my son and his family twice this week Good to get out of the house.
I am glad I live in an age when you can go to the grocery store and find good, healthy prepared food. Just can't manage real cooking every night on top of the rest.
Get this though, I have found a doctor who came to our house and calls me to see how Phil is doing. He also called all of Phil's specialists to see if we can move the surgery up. There are still doctors who care about their patients. And we are new ones. Hard to stay off the subject of health right now.
Once again, thank God for the people who helped me this week. Saints all.
What about you?
8 comments:
So glad you've got a caring doctor. That makes all the difference. Wishing you and Phil well...
Those flowers are gorgeous!
We both feel terrible about what Phil and you are going through. Good news about the doctor and I hope he can do something that really helps. When we moved to this building over 30 years ago now (yikes!) there were a lot of older people living here (nearly all gone now, of course). I remember holding the door open for an older woman with a cane, who gave me advice: "Don't get old." Considering the alternative, I'll still choose that option.
This week, we saw the off-Broadway revival of SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE, which, while not up to the original production, was still quite enjoyable. Nice little theater and we had great seats in the fourth row of the orchestra for $29 each, thanks to being members of TDF (Theatre Development Fund, which also runs the TKTS booths). You can really put this on anywhere, as there are no sets and it is basically just the songs of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (originally done by The Coasters, The Drifters, Elvis, etc.).
On Friday (the day after his 79th birthday), we took the ferry to Staten Island and saw Dion in concert at the landmark St. George theater (2,800 seats). He still sounds great and sings new songs as well as his big hits - A Teenager in Love, I Wonder Why, Runaround Sue, The Wanderer.
Also finished four books this week, so that was good, and we're plowing through series on Netflix and Amazon Prime/Acorn (as well as some we record on various cable channels), sometimes three or four a night. DEEP STATE (currently on Epix), the Australian SECRET CITY and BED OF ROSES (which I'm tolerating because Jackie likes it), WILD AT HEART (British couple run game preserve in South Africa), MARCELLA (yes, we've stuck with it, though we quit series two of GOLIATH after several episodes), the Montreal cop show 19-2, the last season of ORPHAN BLACK (some of these episodes are a real chore to sit through), X COMPANY (set in WWII France, group of Canadians helping the French resistance against the Nazi occupation), our once a week guilty pleasure of MIDSOMER MURDERS (we're on season 10), probably a few others that escape me. We enjoyed a folk concert from 2004 with Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Peter, Paul & Mary, and The Weavers. Sadly, many of them have died since - Seeger, all the Weavers, Mary Travers.
Didn't see any movies in the theater this week, but saw a few at home for the first time:You Were Never Really Here, Game Plan, Battle of the Sexes (Emma Stone much prettier than Billie Jean King). All okay but nothing great. Haven't binged any series this week. Started Sacred Games on Netflix but it hasn't grabbed my interest.
Read a few good books this week: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, The Anomaly by Michael Rutger (Really Michael Marshall Smith),and the new Dan Fesperman, Safe Houses which I am half way through.
Best of luck to Phil.
Hope Phil (and you!) get some relief soon. Maybe the surgical schedule can be adjusted.
Patrick is in London. Katie just packed up 8 boxes of books to prepare for her upcoming move to her new condo. Diane plans on flying to Boston to help Katie "get settled." Mother-daughter bonding time.
Meanwhile I have to meet with the Provost of SUNY at Buffalo to sign a bunch of legal documents before they come out and take away my 2000 book donation. I plan to donate most of my books over the next 10 years. It takes years to accumulate these books and years to get them to a Good Home.
We plan to see the new MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie later this week.
Oh, Patti. I know how hard it is to not focus on the health problems, it seems like it consumes you, but there is so much else in the world: your friends, and books, culture, beauty, such as those flowers. I hope you got the picture of one of our lilies I attached to that recent email. The proactive doctor sounds like a blessing, I hope things get straightened out and progress is made. I know both of you would like the surgery to be scheduled, and then performed and successfully over!
I'm reading a couple of books by Bill Bryson about his travels in England. Travelogues can get tedious, but his humor and the stories he tells keep it light and fun. I agree with most of his rants, so that helps too. I have an Anthony Horowitz book waiting at the library, it seems everyone is reading something by him just lately. That article in Mystery Scene magazine got me trying several things.
The garden is beautiful, but our hot weather - 90s and up - is hard on it.Also we're having a lot of arborist work done later this week, which will stress some things. It's the wrong time of year, but we had to wait for the OK of a neighbor for part of it and just got that. It will be a noisy, dusty day but things will be better afterward.
I don't know what to make of TOR's new ebooks at libraries policy (see John Scalzi's blog for complete details). It's already a long wait for an ebook, and to add 4 months... wow. Still, mostly if I really want an ebook, one I'll re-read, I'll buy it. Otherwise, I guess the wait is just part of using the library and having the book for free. Like George, I'm buying a LOT less these days and using the library more, which is good in many ways, I think.
I'm glad that you and Phil have found a doctor you can work with. I hope Phil feels better soon and that you are less stressed.
Today was a scheduled dentist appointment to continue some extensive work I cannot afford. My last visit was unpleasant and this one looks to be also. Fifty minutes before my 11:00 appointment they called to say they just had a big water main break and could not see me today. THAT makes me happy. Unfortunately, they scheduled me for next Monday...ah, the joys of anticipation!
Good news on Jessamyn's cancer front. The chemo is shrinking the tumor and looks like she will only need a lumpectomy. Hope so. She has two more rounds of chemo to go and (as you well know) it's just knocking the blip out of her.
Erin, the sixteen-year-old granddaughter had her first automobile accident. Minor damage to both vehicles but she went sixteen-year-old hysteric, more because she was driving her little brother than anything else, I think. Everyone is fine. lesson learned. She vowed never to drive again but her mother made her drive to band camp the next morning.
Jack got a CONNECT 4 game for his birthday and we played it with him last night. He skunked Kitty every time, then asked to play with me. My own girls and their childhood friends (and Kitty) wouldn't play board or card games with me anymore because "Mr. House always wins!" Jack just learned the hard way and was spending much of the time trying to figure out how he got out-foxed.
Watched PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. I had to separate the television series from the source material. (The 1975 film remains my favorite movie of all time.) They added a lot of sex and secrets to pad the thing out for six hours at the expense of the heart of the story. The series was enjoyable, albeit unfocused, but is best viewed without knowledge of the book or the film. Also watched PACIFIC RIM 2. Ho-hum. Del Toro did a much better job with the first one than this current director did.
Some interesting reading this past week, mostly various short stories from different anthologies and collections but also "Daniel Boyd"'s crime thriller EASY DEATH. I just got Leslie Klinger's ANNOTATED FRANKENSTEIN from the library, which should be interesting.
May the wheels of the universe grind properly and in your favor this week!
You guys are so lucky to have found a caring doctor who goes the extra mile. My doc is okay, but he overbooks and the waiting room is always full of folks patients straining their patience. In this context, that garage door crash almost qualifies as comic relief. May it have signaled the end of your string of bad luck!
Late to the party as always, but I am also very happy about the doctor news. We really could have used one that would have come to us to help. It is very easy to become lost in the medical morass and to do nothing but care giving. Also very easy to say ...don't do that. It is only now that I ma starting to realize what a toll it takes on one and how I should have found moments here and there along the way to take care of myself.
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