"Dinner with Bernice"

Dear All,

Bernice continues to become more involved in what had been her normal daily activities. Every week there is a mail delivery of large multi-colored advertising papers announcing the big bargains available in the local supermarkets. Bernice hasn't looked at or thought about this riveting publication for weeks. Not only did she examine these sheets but she composed shopping lists for me at our two main shopping marts: Waldbaum's and North Shore Farms. She read out to me her written list so I could create my own for she felt I would be unable to read her writing but also so I could note down her specific guidance on many items. In the past we would often shop together and my major mission was pushing the shopping cart and bringing the grocery bags into the house. I was told to take my cell phone today just in case. She is getting into the domestic routines and i am pleased for multiple reasons.

In accordance with Bill the PT's instructions, Bernice is staying out of bed as much as possible, is walking extensively with her rollator, and with either my help or the help of an aide, is walking on her own. She has been downstairs twice today. At dinner time she came into the kitchen and directed me and helped prepare our dinner. I had bought a one pound piece of fresh bluefish (an advertised special) and learned how to prepare this. A first for me. After washing the fish I placed it in a broiler pan, squeezed the juice of a lemon over it, added pats of butter, and put it into a preheated oven at 350 degrees. Is this what cooking is about? There was a salad I made including our own tomatoes, and some pasta with peas. What made this dinner very special was that we sat together at our kitchen table! The routine has been to bring a tray to Bernice of food prepared by me with long-distance guidance. Our dinner time discussion might not have interested Andrè but we enjoyed ourselves.

Most notable today was that friend and co-author Laury came in the afternoon and the two worked for a little more than two hours on their almost completed manuscript for their Measure for Measure book. Six months go they were aiming for completion by the end of September but the publisher has happily given them an extension. Business is not brisk at present in publishing. Being able to do this brought a glow to Bernice's face and being.

We certainly have had some rain the past few days. I wonder how my fish pond is doing. On nice days I regularly make a round of the garden and always spend some time getting glimpses of my fish. This is frustrated by the presence of a large frog who took up residence there during the summer. i have never seen him for, in spite of exercising all the stealth i can muster as I sneak up on the pond, this rascal frog gives a raucous croak and creates a splash loud enough to frighten a whale. I really hate that frog. And, surmising from the sound of the splash, that frog must have grown to a monstrous size. I manage to see some of the fish scurry for cover under water lilies and other pond vegetation but there is no chance to count them as i could early in the summer before my uninvited guest arrived. These fish overwinter by burying themselves in the bottom mud during the long winter and some number of them survive and appear early in the spring. At that time there is not yet any plant cover and I can easily count and size up the lucky ones. There were nine in the spring and they have grown fatter and larger in this little ecologically and natural paradise I have provided them. A rich diet of mosquito larva, other insects, and pond growth has prepared them for their winter challenge.

Good night,
Merwin