Progress on all fronts

Jesús, his wife Xelo, son Pau, and daughter Carme (the pistol). Jesús recently sent us this photo to add to the many others we keep close to us as a faint substitute for their actual presence. Aren't they beautiful?

Dear friends and family,

Jesús emailed us today to tell us he will come to visit after his attendance at the SAA (Shakespeare Association of America) meeting in Seattle. Merwin and I are both thrilled. I first met Jesús at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Camille, my dear friend who works there, is always alert to matches she can make, so when any reader asks for Hamlet materials, she always introduces them to me if I am there. Jesús was a grad student at the time. We clicked; I won't go into how his Shakespeare interests mesh so perfectly with mine but will just say that he is an important contributor to hamletworks.org, the website that is my passion. There are so many high points of our friendship to reminisce about: he phoned me in Stratford, where I was attending a conference, to tell me that Pau had been born: Merwin and I were as excited as if we were the grandparents. He invited me to be on his PhD defense committee (he is now on the faculty of his university), which was amazing because his work leap-frogged so creatively from my work. Merwin and I have visited him and his parents many times, and they all have visited us here. In addition we have gone to the same meetings quite often. Jesús is one example of the rich friendships that derive from our mutual love of Shakespeare. I think there is something about working with Shakespeare that makes these friendships, and especially the international friendships, more likely, perhaps, than it is in other disciplines. Jesús expects to attend the NYPL talk I am giving on April 12th (God willing).

Good things continue today. After our visit to Dr. Janus, I felt more cheerful than I have for some time. I can see now that I have been depressed about losing time (from the time left to me), not being able to be with Merwin, our children, and friends. Not even able to talk on the phone. Not being able to work has been especially onerous. I don't feel materially different today: still coughing from the flu, itching from the myelo fibrosis, and fatigue from both. But I am more hopeful now that I am doing something more active to get better; I have tried the nebulizer 3 times now, and I think that it may be helping.

I find myself inventing ways to make meals that will not require that I stand in one place for any amount of time; that's when the pains from the neuropathy kick in. I am really pleased about the one I tried yesterday. For convenience, we make a pound of pasta at a time; then I use it in various ways through the week. This week is was wide egg noodles, which Merwin boiled and drained, and I stored in the refrigerator.

The first dish was vegetarian stroganof, the second was a vegetable soup, and the third was a variation on Merwin's fantastic Mom's English style baked egg dish, which is our old standby for all our company brunches. I layered about 2 cups of the cooked noodles in a 10" square buttered baking dish, then added a lot of good grated cheese that Merwin had prepared. I broke 4 eggs on the noodles (I made little nests for them), sprinkled a little half and half cream on the mix and popped it in the oven. No salt, no pepper, which can be added at table if needed. I baked this about 20 minutes at 375 for Merwin (he likes runny yokes) and another 10 minutes for me (I like hard yokes). He was a happy man as he ate this new dish. My attempts are not all so successful, so I cherish the times he is enthusiastic about an invention, which really is nothing but putting two dishes together.

Sonia came today and helped with the wash, kitchen cleanup, prepping the cauliflower for the roasted cauliflower I made today, and making potato pancake batter. More importantly, she put me through my paces. For the first time in weeks, I went for a walk with her and did almost all my exercises. I didn't think I could do all that work. I had to take a nap to recover, but it was very good to know that I can get back into a healthy routine.

I am glued to the TV watching all the unfolding news. I heard many more positive takes on our national debt: not as bad as some think. But much of the news is not so good, especially about the recalcitrant gun loving faction.

And who knows about the relation of what we hear and see is to the truth? I have been reading an article in The New Yorker about how news is manufactured. Remember the "great" moment when "liberated" Iraqi people pulling down a huge statue of Sadam Hussein? I knew it was a fake when we first saw those images on TV because when the camera pulled back at times, it was clear that there were very very few Iraqis involved. It was all a sham that intended to show that the Mission had been Accomplished. It hadn't. I think the only reason we are still talking about Sarah Palin is because the news-around-the-clock people pay so much attention to her.

The sky is darkening: time to think about this night's dinner.

Love to all,
Bernice

Better days are ahead.

Love to all,
Bernice