melshutterbug

When someone dies here, they put out a small frame with or without their photo and with their name and birth and death dates. It stays for a week. I have seen weeks when there were 5 or 6 frames out. But, lately, like since Halloween, deaths have been few and far between. It's been a few frameless weeks. Until yesterday. When I got out of the elevator on the way back from volleyball, there was a group of non-residents getting in discussing funeral plans so I knew the no deaths string was broken. Turns out it was Harriet's husband. Harriet was the first person who ever left me a thank you note for my creatures. I did not even know who she was then. But now I do. She's a force. She's in charge of the pea patch program and next year will be head of the Food and Beverage Committee. And she has a giant golden retriever named Apple. She and Apple sometimes visit volleyball on their way back from morning walks. Also Apple has a job visiting folks in the memory wing.

I never knew her husband but saw them at the Abba cover concert last year. He needed a walker to move but clearly was ready to boogie. He kept getting up to try and dance and she kept getting up to try and stop him. Over and over and over again. He looked like a ton of fun. As most of us here, I have a healthy stash of sympathy cards. I'll drop one off for her on my way to swim this morning.

It's still dark out and foggy. Perfect for swimming. I think I'll go do that.

Biggie takes 3 pills a day. He has a vet appointment next week. His old vet moved to Iowa. So this is a new-ish one. She saw him last fall when he ate (and then popped) the nose plug but she hasn't weighed in on his pills/food. The last vet gave him one of the pills to discourage him from eating weird shit. The other pill was in lieu of the hyper expensive food she had prescribed the year before for his urinary issues.

I'm thinking we drop the anti anxiety pill and see how that goes. And then also drop the other one and go back to the hyper expensive food. Expensive, yes, but easier over all. He's fine. He acts fine. He eats fine. He poops fine. He pees fine. He drinks plenty of water. He's fine.

Oh and the tofu litter? It's really really fine. I am never going back. It's cleaner with no dust or debris and I also feel like I need less of it to do the job.

This morning, I think I'll go out and get some smaller cash. I never need 20 dollar bills. When I do need cash, it's ones and fives. There is a little Christmas fair this morning to raise money for something. But Martha has a table so I have to go. If I want to buy something, it's much more considerate to have exact change and all I have are 20's. To today is a good excuse to go get some usable money. I set up the Chase account for this very reason but have yet to take advantage. The closest Chase branch is very close.

It's cold and rainy but not nearly cold enough for ice so no big obstacle for going out and the car needs to stretch its tires.

When I lie on my side in the bed, my eyes look out on Barbara's terrace. Barbara lives in Assisted Living. She's a lovely lady with very little vision left. Someone has hung a VERY bright set of icicle lights on her terrace rail. I can practically read by the damn things in bed. I thought about asking her to turn them off at night but then decided, fuck it, I can wear the eye shades that I wear in Summer. They aren't uncomfortable and do the job so problem solved.

Laundry day. I have the process started. I forgot to turn on the lotion warmer before I left for volleyball so it's warming now. The paint roller enables me to apply a layer of lotion all over my back and then get dressed without oiling up my clothes.

There are a lot of seasonal activities planned around here and 99%, maybe even 100%, make me want to lock the door of my apartment with me inside. I have never been a fan of holidays but this year, I am really not. Don't know why and don't particularly care. Happily, I don't even have to explain myself to people. I can be what I want to be.

I got a really interesting email this morning from a French artist asking permission to use me in an AI art piece - specifically in an upcoming exhibit in a French High School. I cannot even believe that sentence. What a wonderful time we live in.

His name is Matéo Picard and his note was delightful. He was, oh so very respectfully, asking my permission to use my data. Of course, all of the stuff is out there for the world to see, no permission needed. He gave me a wide runway for landing a response of 'oh no, that's too creepy' which I really appreciate but do not need. I think it's fascinating. I have more than 25 years of daily journal entries, and photos back to the beginning of Flickr and Tweets and Bluesky posts and that autobiography I wrote and of course my now very old website. I mean there's a shit load to scrape from. It would be fodder for an artificial dummy but artificial intelligence could really go to town.

What amazing fun. And I love his website.

Ok the lotion is warm. Time to get greased up and dressed.