Tessie is graduating (again!)
In two days I am off to Seattle to see Tessie graduate with her Masters degree. This is astonishing to me, as it seems only two weeks ago she was a shy little thing hiding behind her mother's skirts when being introduced. I'm so proud of her. She's dealt with the loss of her mother to cancer and the trauma of being basically kidnapped up to Washington state. She lost her grandfather and the love of her aunt and yet leapt over all these hurdles to become her own self, smart, sensible, confident and (seemingly) at peace. She's forgiven me for my lapses and will be welcoming me to her home on Wednesday night. And I can hardly wait.
I'm taking the train up on Tuesday night, and am looking forward to a day of reading and rest while seeing the gorgeous landscape whizzing by on the trip. Thursday is also my name day - the anniversary of the death of Saint Kevin. Doubtless I will celebrate that in some sense once Tessie's celebrations are done. It's going to be a great week. It was, mostly.
Health update, etc.
It seems I have lost something. My sense of smell is clearly impaired, and my navigation and memory affected too. It's not that I get lost going to the bathroom, but it takes me a while to mentally map any outside journey. Add to that the worsened "Where the bloody hell are my keys and spectacles?" and I am clearly less than once I was. But I'm upright and facing forward, doing all I need and that's A Good Thing in anyone's book.
More than anything, I'm concerned with keeping my emotional, social and intellectual health up. Reading I've mentioned, but I also set myself some technical challenges. pursuing my coffee hobby and have a few things planned to write, on of which is a "hints and tips" writeup based on how y'all enjoy coffee at home. The poll is producing about the results I expected, and it's fuelling a list of things that we can all do to enjoy coffee more, because there are times when Coffee is Life, as most of us know!
Finally (and you know I can't resist this), I have to comment on Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts of business malpractice. Thank goodness it's over, now for a while we're free of his whining about "the cold", the Biden conspiracy and the rigged trial and crooked judge, biased jurors and just generally Failing to Keep His Mouth Shut. I've already seen one "Trump 34" bumper sticker, and doubtless there will be more. Poor little Donny, it's not over yet, there are more cases pending. Will he go to prison? Doubtful. I can imagine house arrest surrounded by US Marshals and the Secret Service. Of course now he has a probation officer. Pity that poor soul's task. I can only hope that somehow we can keep The Donald away from social media and out of the hearing of his adoring cult of followers, although if prison is his fate, that at least will be a guarantee. But he's at least won a popular vote, that of the jurors.