Not much news

Dear family and friends,

The event last night for Sean Fanelli at the Crest Hollow Country Club was enjoyable, and most importantly, I didn't even want to leave early. My stamina has much improved. Merwin pointed out that leaving after dessert and before Dr. Fanelli's speech would be smart because at the end of the evening there would be 300 people or more trying to collect coats from 2 coat-check people and others trying to get their cars from the valets. So we left very quietly and were home a little after 9 p.m.

I wore an outfit that didn't get much notice from anyone: it hangs loose on me and so sort of hid the spleen. It's been 10 years since I retired, and I felt I knew only a few people. Merwin, who taught math for a few years there, seemed to know as many as I did. But I heard some nice things about the active learning project that I started so many years ago. The woman from Biology seated on Merwin's right told him that the program has changed her life as a teacher. Nice to hear.

Today I went again to Mimi's class, and it was better for my rib than last time. So I won't mention going to classes anymore. I will plan to go often. Carrying my gear takes a bit of thinking. I pare it down to a minimum. Also now I have a handicapped parking permit so I can park where I don't have to walk too far. Walking itself is not a problem but can be when I am carrying a lot.

I have a Camry that has a pedal problem, a 2007. Toyota was supposed to come up with a fix in January, but I have heard nothing. Should I be driving the car? I will stop into the Toyota dealership tomorrow to ask some questions. Like what is the best thing to do if the pedal jams—hit the off button and risk a rear-end collision?

Also today I got a haircut at last. My wonderful artist hair cutter, Paul, does a wonderful job, and it is such a pleasure to see him. I noticed that though he has stairs going up to the hair level as well as stairs going down to the manicure level (I also had a manicure), and though I had to go up and down a couple of times, I managed it quite well. Very little breathlessness. How nice to feel normal.

For his med-day meal I wanted to make Merwin chicken with crisp skin, and Googled to see what people suggested. Turns out whole chicken works better than pieces, which is what I had. So I dried the pieces as well as I could (since they were slightly frozen still), rolled them in SPIKE, a spice mix, preheated the oven to 500 and baked them for about an hour, turning in between. Merwin liked his meal, and tomorrow I can serve chicken sandwiches to him and our granddaughter Rachael who is coming for a visit. She will be going over my film books and choosing which, if any, she'd like to have. I will save them for her until she has a place to put them.

My remaining books, hundreds of them, are getting neater, and the bedroom is shaping up more in our minds.

Most of my day was spent thinking about and doing some research on the essay I have to revise. It's a puzzler, but I know I will get through it, and enjoy it too.

Love to all,
Bernice