Robert quote

As we were driving home today, we spotted a neighbor doing something strange. Robert said in his typical dry style, "If we saw anyone else spray-painting the inside of a garbage can, we'd think they were crazy, but fortunately we know she's (the neighbor) only half crazy."

thanksgiving leftovers

At our Thanksgiving table this year were "the real guests" -- a mother, recently (two years ago) widowed, her son and daughter, and her son-in-law. Interesting family. Very close. Robert surfed for the son and discovered his friendster persona. This is his mom's testimonial for him -- ouch. (Do note that this might be a particular brand of humor, but one that I'm quite unfamiliar with):

My son Harry is a wonderful boy. I hear he is doing very well these days -- a big 'macher' with all the politics and such. I used to see him often but lately it is few and far between. He'll be very upset when Im gone and he thinks about all the time he spent not calling me.

from a conversation yesterday

Do you ever take the phone receiver away from your ear and stare into the speaker with disbelief? Is it me? Did I mishear something? Well, this is what I did hear:

. I quit my job recently.
. Oh, why?
. I couldn't stand the suspicion and interrogation anymore.
. What happened?
. Well, I worked at a hardware store, and there's always shrinkage at those stores. It seems like they wanted to waste their time accusing the employees and I could no longer stand to work in that kind of environment. I mean, everything I took I either returned or intended to return.
. [Brief calming noises from this end. Don't choke. Don't cough.]

do not adjust your cameras

I awoke this morning just after dawn and noticed high scattered clouds. Then I realized that the sky was a deep lavender sky field covered with pink polka dots -- the clouds were reflecting the sunrise. These color combinations often cause photo printers to attach stickers to their work, in effect saying "the colors you see are not our fault; there's something wrong either with your camera or with you." Those often turn out to be my favorite pictures.

internationally published author

Our book has been translated! This arrived in the mail yesterday. That's me, second name down in the black box. Robert sounded out the names for me, and then sniffed that the screen shots hadn't been translated. However, the software hasn't been translated either (except into Chinese, as far as I know), so there's no great loss there.

eldercat

I spoke to the vet yesterday, and at her strong suggestion, we've decided to start hydrating the cat, Juliet. This has been a hard decision. We've had it done a few times, and she doesn't much like it, though she does get used to new uncomfortable things after a while. She's twenty years old. So we've been trying to balance quality of life against the benefit of starting her on this type of program.

Juliet has had kidney disease for several years now, and her weight and other test numbers have been gradually declining. We've mostly managed it so far through a special diet. A friend who's a veterinarian says that the good news is that our human friends with the same disease tell us that there's no physical discomfort from the disease itself. Yet, as Juliet's vet points out, the hydration can reverse some of the damage (actually bring the numbers up) and help keep a small event from turning into a large setback.

This is a little harder than it would be with a human. I can't talk to Juliet to understand what she wants, how she'd like to live the rest of her life, whether she ever is in pain. She can't appoint me as her health proxy or make decisions about her own medical care. The best I can do is make educated guesses based on non-linguistic clues -- does she seem relatively happy? does she seem to have an enjoyable life right now?

So far, the answer to both questions is yes, and unless this treatment turns into a battleground, for now, it seems relatively uninvasive and low impact. However, I'll be trying to notice any cues she does give after we've done this a few times. If there is a huge battle, we'll need to reconsider.

still bristling

I'm still mad about Thanksgiving, and the more distance I get on it, the madder I get. The world is such a nutty and mean place; it seems ridiculous to have to go to your own family to get bad treatment. At the same time, I'm still kicking myself over my slow realization of how unwelcome we truly are, and how welcome the "real guests" are, year after year. OK, one of the weirdest aspects of the whole thing is that one of the players is... a psychotherapist. One of the least sensitive and perceptive ones I've ever met, but one nonetheless. And somehow he thinks that behavior that's unbecoming of a three-year old is appropriate in a septaugenarian. And it's also frustrating because at one time, I *was* welcome in that household, and I felt like I was developing a nice relationship with that part of the family. Alas.

OK, back to being thankful for so much else, and especially so many other people, starting with Robert, and moving on to other friends and acquaintances who seem to value having us in their lives.

We've (R&I) scheduled a little getaway after Christmas, to the cape, to our current favorite b&b. I'm already looking forward to walking on the beach and sitting in the hot tub and just being there.