Spent a week in VT once again with my friend of nearly 40 years, who still has the ability to make me cringe in embarrassment and/or wonder.

One of the latest examples: I had to instruct her how to light a match... she'd never done it before. (She's 65.)

Her idea of dieting is to weigh herself every morning. And then be happy that she's dropped a half pound between one day and the next.

She is scared of all insects, and paranoid about them getting into the house. (I wisely did not tell her about the thumbnail-size wolf spider I caught and relocated outside.) She wanted us to bag up all food waste in plastic before putting them in the garbage -- OK, so it's her time share/place that I'm visiting, I'll abide by her rules. Except that she then puts unclean dishes in the sink and leaves near empty soda cans all over the place.

She will happily tell me all the details of the pedigrees of her dogs (past and present) for hours straight. She's mournful that the pedigrees of the dogs her parents owned when she was small can't be found.

There really are many things to like about her, not the least of which is the miracle that she's actually taken Covid seriously (and as an obese cancer survivor she sure should) so I'm sure some of the endless chatter is the result of being pent up for 18 months in an apartment with only an elderly misbehaving deaf dog and finally having another human being along for companionship.

A week would have been too much but she sleeps really late (11 is crack of dawn for her) so I had enough alone time to recuperate.

Seriously -- NEVER had lit a match. I got her to do it without burning her fingers, but I made her stand over the bricks of the fireplace in the time-share when she did it, just in case.

Timelies all!

Well, crap. My folks are at/in the hospital, both having tested positive for COVID-19. They're both vaccinated, so hopefully it won't be too bad. This is all I know. (Normally they Skype with us at 11 on Sundays. 11 came and went, and Gary called both their cell phone and their home phone and left messages. My dad called Gary back while he(Gary) was picking up lunch. Now we just wait for more details.

Fingers crossed, Sheryl. I'm glad they're taking it seriously.

Where do they live, I think you've mentioned before but I've forgotten.

Oh no, Sheryl. Here's hoping they are fine.

Oh no, Sherryl. Much health~ma sent their way.

Oh, goodness, Sheryl. Health -ma their way.

Thanks all.

My folks are currently in CT. Their plan is to come down mid-October to go to FL. We'll see how that goes.

Yikes, Sheryl! Tons of ~ma to your parents.

My Mom is in the hospital after she had a bad fall last week. She has broken bones and a head injury. She’s supposed to go into rehab on Tuesday, but her condition is changing day to day. She lives down by my sister, but she hasn’t been able to visit, because the hospital has been locked down due to COVID. She’s 85, but this is the first time she’s had an extended hospital stay in decades. It’s quite disturbing to see just how rapidly her condition can deteriorate.

Also, it’s the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Also also all NYC employees are back at the office tomorrow.

Looks like I picked the right week to take a photography class. The first class was last Thursday. I was OK for the beginning of the class, but pretty frazzled by the end. When I left class and started walking towards the subway, I found myself walking in the wrong direction. I tried to re-orient myself, but I still found I was going the wrong way. The is in Midtown Manhattan, where the streets are CLEARLY NUMBERED.