10/27/24

 Sunday, October 27, 2024

Trick or Treat day

312 Roman Emperor Constantine the Great was said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross

1941 Chicago Daily Tribune editorialized there would not be war with Japan

2017 Catalan parliament met and unilaterally declared independence from Spain

In bed at 9, up at 5:52 after a night of many strange dreams including a big family gathering for a holiday meal, many small children, my cousin Chris who was taller than me, and something like the casting of electoral college votes after dinner. ?!?  A few minutes before the 7:20 sunrise, chickadees and finches arrive at the tube feeder and woodpeckers at the suet cakes.  I listened to Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony while unloading and loading the dishwasher, cleaning up the kitchen, and belatedly cleaning the big cast iron skillet in which  Geri cooked the beer-battered cod two nights ago.  A big cleanup job.  As best I can recall, Tchaikovsky's 6th was my first classical music album purchase at the National Food Store at 73rd and Halsted Street. Our neighborhood's first supermarket,  I'm not entirely sure about the 6th being my first classical purchase; it may have been the 1812 Overture.  In any case, Tchaikovsky was my introduction to classical music and I still enjoy his music, the 5th and 6th symphonies, the piano and violin concertos, and Swan Lake.  As a teenager, I made a point of learning about his life, his homosexuality, marriage, suicide attempt in the Neva River, relationship with the reclusive, idiosyncratic, and wealthy Nadezhda von Meck, his brother Modeste, etc. . . Lilly didn't show up until 7:40.

 Prednisone, day 166, 5 mg., day 17/28    Prednisone at 6:05. AllBran w/ berries & prunes around 11.  Morning meds at 2:40 p.m.  Yesterday I was in a brain fog and never got around to taking my meds, other than the prednisone.  The day before I missed my appointment with the VA lymphedema specialist.  Regularly now I walk away from my iPhone and lose Bluetooth contact with my continuous glucose monitor.  There's no question in my mind that I am experiencing some memory loss/cognitive decline/loss of executive function.  . . Today I woke up with nasty back and shoulder pain and napped much of the morning despite my long though interrupted sleep.  My normal routine now is to wake and remain fatigued much of the day, until mid or late afternoon.  I wonder whether I may have fibromyalgia, a recurrence of the PMR, or some other autoimmune disorder.  Or is this just life in the mid-80s?  I see Dr. Chatt at the VA on Tuesday at 1 and I'll mention these symptoms, in addition to my difficulty swallowing, but I suspect she'll just recommend physical therapy for my back and maybe something else for the swallowing.  The swallowing problem has me concerned about choking, which I've come close to a few times.

The Washington Post’s Decision to Stop Presidential Endorsements.   There's no disputing that Jeff Bezos's timing couldn't be worse, and it's hard not to indulge the thought that he was worried about retribution from Donald Trump, should Trump prevail in the presidential contest, but his decision to stop presidential endorsements is not unreasonable.  It is virtually inconceivable to me that any American voter changes his or her vote for president based on who newspaper editorial boards recommend.  That is to say, newspaper endorsements at the level of presidential elections may not be entirely meaningless, but they change no votes.  By the time a newspaper publishes its endorsement, every voter has been swamped, flooded, and overwhelmed by thousands of stories in the newspapers, reports on television news, obnoxious ads in every available media, mailings, visitors at the front door, and text messages all designed to affect his or her vote.

Trick or treat!  We had only 4 visits this afternoon, a total of fewer than 10 kids, all in costumes.

Geri goes to Ellis' volleyball 'practice' this evening.  This afternoon,, Ellis had a rehearsal for her role in this year's Nutcracker.

Anniversaries thoughts.  I wonder what the real story is behind Constantine's seeing "In hoc signo vinces."  Regardless, his supposed but doubted conversion to Christianity marked the beginning of the corrupt relationship between the poobahs of the Church and the poobahs of the State.  I recall that those words appeared on every pack of Pall Mall cigarettes in my smoking days.

The Tribune predicted no war with Japan.  Less than 6 weeks later, Pearl Harbor.  This is the same paper remembered for its headline on November 3, 1948: "Dewey Defeats Truman!"

Many Catalonians are still working to secede from Spain.  How long will it be before Texas or some other Red state tries to secede from the U.S. if Kamala Harris wins this election?