12/4/23

 Monday, December 4, 2023

In bed at 9, onto lzb from 2:00 to 2:50, back to bed, and up at 3:20 with BP, RP, and a very sore left shoulder.  Let Lilly out.  31°, mostly clear, high of 37°, wind NW at 8 mph, 4-8/1, 0.25" of rain in last 24h,   Sunrise at 7:06, sunset at 4:16, 9+10.       

Treadmill; pain.  Worsening left shoulder pain the last few days.  It gets better during the day.  Arthritis? PFP sent me back to bed after 6, after completing kitchen chores from last night, and up again at 8. PFP again later.  PITA in the afternoon, plus PFP. Breakfast: leftover spaghetti w/ marinara😨; Lunch, watermelon, salami sandwich; Dinner: salmon, potato crisps,  00:00 & 0.00

I'm grateful for the early morning hours in retirement. It's time to spend with Lilly with her old age sleeplessness and occasional restlessness, to light a log in the fireplace and to sit quietly, to listen to my tinnitus, to read the morning newspapers, to start the daily journal, and try to collect my minnows-in-a- bait-bucket thoughts.  Geri is thankfully still asleep, still resting and recovering from covid which has knocked her for a loop for 2 weeks now though she is improving with the steroids and cough medication prescribed by Dr. B.  I am so grateful that she was and is up-to-date on her vaccinations and didn't land in a hospital, like so many patients her age.  We each need our solo quiet times in addition to our normal quiet mornings reading the papers, The Atlantic, the New Yorker, etc.  How very different life is from our working days, up each morning to shower, dress for work, maybe eat, maybe not, get in the car and drive off to work in heavy traffic until dinner time, back in the car to drive home in traffic for dinner, sometimes stressed, sometimes not.   For a time, Geri's work had her living away from me in a different city or town so she and I lived alone during the week (except in my case when A, A,&P or my Dad were living with us.)  We've had quite a bit of solo time during our marriage, more than most married couples, and we continue to have it in old age and retirement.  I think of our friend Janine telling me of her parents in retirement who were always together and did everything together.  Different strokes for different folks.  Geri and I each need our solo times, for reading, for hobbies, for projects, for napping, or just for solitude.  I've wondered at times whether this is because we were in our mid-40s when we married, each of us having lived independently and with plenty of solo time for some years between marriages.  In any case, we are settled into our modus vivendi and it is good.  That said, given my druthers, I would prefer not to be up this early for solo time.

The first 50 pages of double-page, color ads in yesterday's NYT Style Magazine: Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Prada, Celine, Chanel, Rolex (2), Cartier, Fendi, Bulgari, Burberry, Van Cleef & Arpels, Loewe, Dolce & Gabbana, Graff, Saks, Movado, Prada Paradoxe, David Webb, Regent Cruises, Conrad Hotels, Bennett Winch, Suprima Cottons, CrystalCruises, before we come to a Table of Contents and single page ads for Tiffany & Co., De Beers et al.   A reminder of Christmas in America.  For unto you today is born in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

More and more articles appearing about Trump and the likelihood of dictatorship; the fragility of American democracy.  Was I moaning about this in 2015 and 2016 before his election?  I certainly was ringing alarm bells about his fascistic personality after he was in office.  Kitty must have wearied of me moaning about our nation's electorate being so ready to choose fascism over our woebegone democracy and our Constitution designed to empower conservative minorities and disempower majority rule.  Robert Kagin's article is the most nerve-shattering.  He outlines step-by-step just how it will occur and everything he says seems likely to occur.  God help us, if only he could or would😟  The entire next issue of The Atlantic is devoted to "If Trump Wins."  How many people read The Atlantic?  One sure bet is that none of the MAGA voters do, but kudos to The Atlantic for doing what needs to be done.  On the other hand, . . .

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.  An entry from this journal on this date last year:

Countering Happy Horseshit with Happy Horseshit From Heather Cox Richardson's most recent post: "Today, one of former president Trump’s messages on the struggling right-wing social media platform Truth Social went viral. In the message, Trump again insisted that the 2020 presidential election had been characterized by “MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,” and suggested the country should “throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or…have a NEW ELECTION.” Then he added: “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone False & Fraudulent Elections!” In other words, Trump is calling for the overthrow of the Constitution that established this nation. He advocates the establishment of a dictator."  This is, as we used to say in RVN, pure happy horseshit.  No surprise from Trump

New Haflingers.  I bit the bullet and finally bought a new pair of slippers at Stan's, the soft-sole indoor variety.  My 3 old outdoor ones are all old and stretched out of shape by years of wearing them with compression socks.  When I wear them without the socks, they are so loose I'm in danger of slipping out of them, tripping, and falling.  I also found a perfect Christmas gift for Geri.

Thoughts on Trump's criminal trials.  I can't believe he'll ever be convicted.  I expect a hung jury in Washington, an acquittal (or dismissal) in New York, and a constant finger on the scale in Florida by Judge Aileen Cannon.

Is it Israel's 'war in Gaza' or Israel's 'war on Gaza?'  It is hard for me to believe that the members of Israel's government give a flying f___ about all the civilian deaths in Gaza, including thousands of children.  I'm certainly no authority on urban warfare or on how to combat militarily an enemy like Hamas in a densely occupied, extensively tunneled environment like Gaza, so I don't know what Israel should and should not be doing in Gaza to eradicate Hamas.  But I have to believe that Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, and their allies in the government, the settlers, and at least some members of the IDF have been experiencing some schadenfreude over all the death and destruction in Gaza.  The wholesale slaughter of Isralis by Hamas on October 7th and the wholesale slaughter of civilian Palestinians over the last month brutalizes the slaughterers.  

Our annual Usinger's care package arrived today.  Thanks to Sarah and Christian.

Thank you to Andy.  My text: "Hi, Son.  Are you home this afternoon?  I finally got to Total Wine and picked up a bottle of what I hope is a good  German Mosel for you as an inadequate Thank You for tending to me in my distress last week.  I can bring it over or you can pick it up here.   I wanted to get you some Weißwurst too but I haven’t been able to get to Usinger’s."  His reply: "I’m in the office but Anh is home with the kids, who have no school today. You don’t have to get me anything, but I’ll take the wine because you know what I like. Are you and Geri somewhat back to “normal?”  My reply: "Geri’s cough is still with her but is a lot better with the steroids and another medication Dr. Baugrud prescribed.  C still has a big fatigue problem, pretty wiped out.   My extreme pain hasn’t returned, thankfully, so I only have my  normal daily pain which I am seeing a pelvic pain therapist for on Thursday and the VA pain clinic on Wednesday."  I dropped the wine off to Anh this afternoon.