Your friendly neighboorhood police officer - rewriting Yes I Can - flowers - organizing my pills

Oh, you're a police officer, I said. A handsome young cop in shorts was walking up my steps to give me a handout prepared for houses on "Greyhorse to Terwood, Cowbell to Turner, Davisville to Division, Overlook to Everett."

Click a couple times to see the officer - see reflectors on the back of his shirt - telling Neighbor Nancy to lock her car doors. She parks in the garage. Many of us, including moi, don't have garages.

Last week TWENTY-FOUR unlocked cars in the neighborhood were burglarized.

Guess where I just went? I said to the officer.

Went outside to lock my doors!

Worked nonstop on a revision of my booklet. I'll hand it out at two presentations I'll give on bipolar d/o this month.

Now. I could not stand the first graf of the book. Had tried to rewrite it last October, during my second revision, but couldn't think how.

Last nite, I finally figured it out. Here is the new first paragraf:

This book of reflections discusses the 20-year period when I suffered from manic-depression, also known as bipolar disorder. Though the illness was difficult – “highs” and “lows,” and suicidal depressions that tried to defeat me – the love of my two young children I raised by myself kept me alive and in love with life. They are now healthy adults, happily married, and my son has given me a beautiful grand-daughter.

I've adapted to that obnoxious terminology - given me a grandchild - what? - they dropped her on my doorstep and said, Here! She's all yours?

Objection duly noted, your highness.

I also added my entire Kidney Article from Patch.com. Since the booklet had to come out in folios of 4 pages, I increased it from 32 to 40 pages, adding many new poems (!)

(It took me 15 seconds to remember the word 'folio.')

Stopped at Stutz Kandy Kitchen to buy some Mother's Day candies.

From top to bottom:

- Milk chocolate Milk Cows filled w/ peanut butter. Those go to The Demings: Dan, Nicole and Grace.

- Truffles to Dorrie and Norman Hawkes

- Chocolate-covered cashews to Mom and Ellen

A very take-charge young man rang them up at Stutz. He was, in fact, a boss.

Hmm, I'd love to write about the shoppe for Patch.com. Thing is, they're in the borough of Hatboro, and I cover Upper Moreland.

Turf issues! I think I could persuade my boss to let me do it.

After the boss rang up my order, I asked him if I could have some 'crumbs.'

We walked over to some almond bark - woof! woof! - and he gave me some that had fallen away.

Yum! (That's all I wanted since I have to watch my blood sugar.)

My friend Carolyn Constable gave me these sweet woodruff which showed no signs of life for two years until this year, the year of the Kidney T'plant. Here they are, having jumped 12 yards to my new tree stump.

Speaking of beautiful gardens, the Hawkes have a magnificent garden in Hatboro. Their son died last year of too much Valium in his bloodstream. Friends of Justin and his family gave New Directions thousands of dollars of donations, even though we couldn't save him.

Justin, we shall not forget you!!! Never ever and we shall be ever vigilant when a person is in a depression.

On the left are strawberry plants that re-seeded themselves from last year. They didn't produce a single flower last year, but look at em now. Water em, Ruthie, water em!

Qu'est-ce-que c'est? Very beautiful, n'est-ce pas? This is a shot of my screen door. I was trying to photograf the cop across the street but my camera thot I wanted to photograf the screen.

So I hadda step outside where he could see me. Hey, I'm a photographer, and you gotta do these things, embarrassed or not.

New way of organizing my pills. I put them in little hats which are really colored envelopes.

Got permission to take the generic of the antirejections Cellcept (mycophenolate) and Prograf (tacrolimus).

My new pharmacy - Giant - only carries the generic.