Garbage Morning - Walk around the block - and more more more

102 children in N.Y. may have a rare virus-related illness.

New York State health officials are investigating 102 cases of a rare and dangerous inflammatory syndrome that afflicts children and appears to be connected to the coronavirus, Mr. Cuomo said on Wednesday. .... Why read this and make yourself sad? .... From Roxana Nastase of Scarlet Leaf Review. Excellent piece of work. I would like it in this issue. It should be out in max  3 days. .... Took me many hours to polish it. Wish I could tell mom. .... So, bad leg and I walked around the block. I was the only one out. Had to get up early to toss out the rest of my garbage. This is what people eat:  McDonalds. Pancake mix.  One fellow's garbage can had fallen over and the contents spilled over in the street. Hey, you friggin slob! ... Yesterday I lay in bed all morning listening to music on WXPN.  Great music.  ... Oh, I saw a Frontline presentation about the virus. It explained very well - with illustrations - how our antibodies find the virus - one of millions of things swirling in our blood - and stick there. Look, I don't understand it either. Laboriously brought in the yellow plastic bin and the trash can. Sent a birthday card to cousin Linda Fogel who lives in South Euclid Ohio. 44118. Gonna bury myself under my covers now and fall asleep. BTW, I continue to read a tragic story about an avalanche in Colorado, printed by the never-miss-a-thing NY Times. These are daring skiiers who were afraid to say no to the overwhelmingly dangerous conditions. Whomever wrote the story should get a Pulitzer from Columbia University, a highly endowed university, who are embroiled in a financial situation with teachers and students. Below, skiiers would disappear into the trees.

Donations I made today - Poem: My beautiful yellow house

From my seat on Red Couch, I see the lovely honeysuckle vine growing in several places.



Soon it will bloom and DESTROY everything around it.

Will go out the morrow and blow the ship down.

Must wear gardening gloves.

Deal!



Why do the penniless insist on making donations?

25 to the healthcare workers at Einstein Medical Center where I got my kidney transplant.

And 25 to the Rivard Report of San Antonio, TX, which offers great reporting.

View Rivard Report here.

The writers Iris Dimmick and Shari Biediger are terrific.

Did I tell you I rewrote I HATE MARRIAGE ?

Am waiting for Rem, the postal clerk, to review it. Sister Lynn already did.

Went for a walk an hour ago and wore my fluffy hat from CVS, a warm grey sweater I chose this morning from my Sweater Drawer - the drawers are labeled - and my blue herringbone slacks that keep me warm.

Altho they do slide down on my legs.

I like staying in my living room where the light pours in.

Mom, have I thanked you today for my beautiful yellow house?

MY BEAUTIFUL YELLOW HOUSE

When I would drive, before the pandemic drove me in,
with a motion like a ballerina, Julie Wordon, for example,
I'd pliee on pink ballet slippers
and admire my house,
my own Swan Lake
with the prince living next door.

I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING. This poem didn't come out the way I thought it would.

I remember Mama! Poem: I remember mama

I just watched most of I Remember Mama, starring Peggy Wood, brought to you by Maxwell House Coffee.

Yes, I finally relented and am drinking Maxwell House right now.

View Mama here.

  Photo of Peggy Wood.

Kim from Second Home sent her regrets about my mom dying.

I remember Hedy and Fred, Al the pretzel Man, Calvin - good god, who is watching that man - and Igor, who guided us in exercises. A woman I did not like called everyone honey and would touch them inappropriately I thought.

Hold on, gonna drink another squirt of Maxwell House.

I REMEMBER MAMA

How I loved the Norwegian life of strict Mama and her children.
Life opened up to me through wonderful television shows.
Did we watch as a family?
Can't remember.
Just that television led the way
To a lifelong urge to travel
And I did.
Yes I did.

Read part of my travels right here.



Howdy to you, too, Marcus Aurelius.

Giddy up, giddy up.

Mother's Day Wishes by Sarah - and Performance Art by Ethan Iverson and Sarah Deming - WHOOPEE

MOTHERS DAY WISHES

Rubies for Reerow,

Unguents for her darling feet,0

Tea in cloisonné cups,  

Hats from Hatboro,

Zebras for the Serengeti of her mind,

Day lilies in droves, and  

Endless poems:

May they sprout like cucumbers

In a secret garden

Next to her partner in noir,

Gathering freshness forever.

How bout 'the serengeti of her mind.'

Told Ethan I'm reading a John Sanford novel, HOLY GHOST, which Scott lent me.

Ethan said Sanford is very popular in Minnesota as the books are set there.

....

Remember I said I couldn't find Sister Vicki's photos.

A miracle occurred.

Presenting them here. 

They may be the best photos I ever took. 

Hello Sister Vicki. May I say I love you?

What I did on Mother's Day - Sarah and Ethan gave me a wonderful gift - Performance Art !

Years ago when I was in grad school getting my MGPGP, one of my classmates was Sister Vicki. I called her on Mother's Day and we chatted quite a while.

She has PAD peripheral arterial disease and had her left leg amputated from the thigh down.

Talk about awful things happening!

We discussed most of the people in our class. And the deaths of our co-chairmen, Fabian and Mike Vaccaro, MD.

I am unable for some reason to download photos of Vicki from her retirement facility in Flourtown, PA.

....

Was at Scott's last night watching a funny movie with Diane Keaton, who had inherited a 2 yo toddler named Elizabeth.

Also starred the late Sam Shepard. Lemme look him up now. Click here.

He died at age 73 of complications of ALS.

He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. Shepard received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. He received the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award as a master American dramatist in 2009. New York magazine described Shepard as "the greatest American playwright of his generation."^[2]

Shepard's plays are known for their bleak, poetic, surrealist elements, black comedy, and rootless characters living on the outskirts of American society.^[3] His style evolved from the absurdism of his early off-off-Broadway work to the realism of later plays like Buried Child and Curse of the Starving Class.

MOTHERS DAY WISHES

Rubies for Reerow,

Unguents for her darling feet,0

Tea in cloisonné cups,  

Hats from Hatboro,

Zebras for the Serengeti of her mind,

Day lilies in droves, and  

Endless poems:

May they sprout like cucumbers

In a secret garden

Next to her partner in noir,

Gathering freshness forever.

How bout 'the serengeti of her mind.'

Told Ethan I'm reading a John Sanford novel, HOLY GHOST, which Scott lent me.

Ethan said Sanford is very popular in Minnesota as the books are set there.

Just peeked out the front door. Scott is home. 

Cold outside. Smells like mud.

Ah, the breakfast gong just went off.

And then I'm gonna get some much-needed sleep.

Have a wild and wonderful day!

He died

Donations made in Mom's memory - Poem: Mom, I'm with you every day

Many donations were made in Mom's memory. What am I - Ruth Greenwold Deming - doing to honor her memory.

I try to be a better person. Scott, whom she always asked about, and I walked around the block today. Much of it was hilly and difficult.

I wave to most of the people to show camaraderie.

MOM, I'M WITH YOU EVERY DAY

April 21, seared in my mind
Ninety-seven, but we never thought
you'd die.
You haven't.
Your body co-exists with mine.

....

I don't really believe in an afterlife. Or the immortal soul.

What I do believe in is being our best self, rather hard to do, but I try.

Gonna eat some chow now and then sit on the bench on Scott's porch to read.

We watched Mildred Pierce this morning on TCM. Ann Blythe plays Mildred's daughter, who detests her mom for working as a waitress.




Yours during the deadly coronavirus.

Exercises from the team of Margaret Fitzpatrick - the late Nicholas Joseph Breslin

Margaret Fitzpatrick

1. Walk, walk, walk...   
  
 
  * It's easy to forget to walk the recommended 10,000 steps every day when we're staying at home more, but it's important to get those steps in for improved blood flow. Try to spend 20-25 mins every day walking around the house if not outdoors, taking the stairs up and down an extra time, and staying as active as possible.     
    
 
  2. Standing back bends   
  
 
  * This is one of the best and most effective exercises for reducing back pain and tension. Stand with feet shoulder width apart with hands on hips. Gently lean back, arching your lower back, and then return back to standing. Perform 10 reps especially after prolonged sitting- at least once per hour.     
    
 
  3. Sit to stand
   
  
 
  * This exercise is a great way strengthen your legs without equipment. Simply sit at the edge of a sturdy chair and try to stand up 10 times without using your hands for assistance.

Margaret asked me for some newspapers where she could get the word out. I sent her 6.

.....

I was noodling around on Hektoen International, which publishes stories, poems and essays about healthcare and medicine.

Read an outstanding story by W. ROY SMYTHE, MD - readers, how would you pronounce this, SmYth or Smith?

Wanted to write him, but he's taken a new position in Boulder, Colorado. He's a professor of surgery and 

surgery and mesotheloma.

Hope I got that right.

Anyway, here's the great story he wrote. Click here. 

W. ROY SMYTHE, MD is chairman of surgery for the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and the Scott & White Healthcare System, as well as professor of surgery, molecular, and cellular medicine, and the holder of the Glen and Rita K. Roney endowed chair in surgery. He has been a prolific writer on diverse topics, writing and publishing manuscripts, editorials, essays and abstracts related to his clinical and research activity, as well as surgical history, education, health care delivery, and medical human interest.

Sure has some smarts, don't he?

This tea is delicious but not hot enuf for me.

I can sleep like a baby after drinking tea.

But not from Maxwell House Coffee, which Scott bought me. I told him Decaf. 

REST IN PEACE, Dear Nick Breslin.

He'd had a series of strokes and was taken care of aides at his home on Wanamaker Blvd. He used the term posseque, to describe a relationship he had with Faye. 

No such word, according to the Internet.

Here's Nick Breslin in 2013. He brought delicious stuffed mushrooms to a party I had.