Thanks for the nudge, Kathi. Yes, it is time for an update.
The Good: William arrived on Sept 2 and stayed for two weeks. For almost a week, he and I were alone as Michael flew to Austin to drive the rental van filled with British Don's stuff back to California, about 90 minutes north of us. I had cooked several meals before Michael left, William made Michael's birthday dinner of Maryland Crab with Crab Soup and Tater Tots. He even made the German Chocolate Cake. Ron next door and my mom received a nice big piece, too. William is marvelous with my mom and she adores him. I ended up cooking several meals but William did most of the cooking. He even made pizza with homemade dough and tomato sauce, Italian Sausage, thinly sliced fennel and finished with fresh Basil just before we ate it. Delicious! We looked through old family albums and lots of photos from his childhood. He took several albums home with him. He also took my Grandmother's Pre-WWII Dresden Tea set, Michael's phonograph along with my dad's albums - probably around 75 of them. It was a really nice two weeks.
The Bad: The fires burning miles north of us drifted in on the winds and stayed for over a week. We couldn't see across the street. I had to go into it for physical therapy and doctor appointments for mom but I wore a very heavy mask. Still, it was difficult to breathe at times. Recently, I have been coughing really hard and needing my inhaler more than usual. I fear that I am having a downturn of the disease and going to finally need the transplants. The only problem is that I still limp or need a cane so I do not qualify for transplants until I can walk a certain distance within a certain amount of time. If I need transplants now, I will not get them. Scary.
The Ugly: The smoke. For one day during the worst of the smoke, the smoke was trapped above the atmospheric levels and blocked all light. During the day, there was no sun, only darkness. When it was a bit lighter, the sun was a deep red. Maroon. At 2:30, I felt like we should get in our pajamas and hop into bed. The word everyone used was Creepy. I took the photo below but it really doesn't do it justice. The filters on the iPhone cleaned it up and made it brighter.
