tee’s piping stopped working last night, and she called our favorite e.r. doc first thing in the morning. turned out the radiologist on call at rvmc could see her right away, between 10 and 10:30. okay. we understand that when the drainage system is completely nonfunctional, it is Very Bad News, so we prepared to go to the hospital so as to be able to check in if it became necessary.

and we’ve made the hospital hajj enough times that (through successive approximations) we have worked out a pretty good algorithm. i know what needs to go in the overnight bag, and what accessories we’re going to wish we had, and that it’s very important to bring snacky treats and something to read, because hospitals are Like That.

we calmly gathered stuff up, and we both took showers, because it’s one fewer thing to be randomly annoyed about, and then we got in the car with an amount of time tee judged inadequate to the trip. it’s roughly 50 miles, and we had less than 45 minutes.

a few years back, i paid a lot of attention to hawks. i like their style: they find the thermal, and then they just stay up for hours, steering by the merest flick of a feather. it seemed to me i’d spent my entire life flapping my wings: i aspired to a more hawklike mode of living (but without, of course, the mouse-based diet).

we got in the car, and i found the thermal, and we got to the hospital just as eileen was striding up to the front door. i didn’t drive like a crazy person. i didn’t scare tee half to death. i didn’t even bait any of the possibly lurking state troopers. i just found the thermal.

and the nice doctor took a picture of tee and her tubing, and flushed it out a couple of times, and lo and behold, it runneth again. he didn’t need to change anything, she didn’t need a new tube, she could go now. easy. simple. eileen joined us for a lovely lunch at mcgrath’s, and we came on home.

where we were met by another of tee’s favorite people. i stood down, lay down, and had a nice, long, refreshing nap. i’m pretty sure tee did too.

the moral of the story is: if you’re prepared for the worst, the worst often finds you boring, and finds somebody else to pick on.

tee got a ride to her breakfast meeting this morning, which always makes her happy. then called the plumber about getting the gardening water started again (it gets turned off for the winter), and he was here twice, with suggestions and predictions and orders for parts. such a good neighbor.

the amazon cleaning team came again, and the place is just sparkling. they’re very good about working around us, and they’re coming back next week.

judy grahn was unexpectedly in the neighborhood, and she and tee had a long talk about art and history and feminist politics. judy took notes. her student gregory and georgie had a lovely long walk.

in the afternoon, bernie came to show tee some new work, and betty came to tee-sit, also with new work. tee had an energizing afternoon discussing art and dispensing art books. dinner was asparagus (and various soup), and tee’s having a nice lie-down.

the first thing that happened this morning was tee’s laptop went to sleep and wouldn’t wake up. bravely, tee thought to herself, “i can’t be the first person this has happened to.” we both had every confidence in the dragon’s ability to sort things out. imagine our surprise when i was unable to get the blessed battery out (which turns it off even when the power button isn’t responding, which was, alas, the case). i kept coming back to it, and finally admitted defeat. we thought about what to do (still so much needs done on the computer, tee declined my offer of using mine), and finally agreed that the thing to do was get another one and sort out getting this one fixed when time becomes available. we will return to this thread later.

before jenny left this morning, she watched tee’s current favorite movie, Raising the Roof, the story of seven sisters construction company. just by way of example of what can be done.

tee received a six-inch stack of fan mail (including a wonderful handmade card from france), and a chenille “recovery bear” (so cute!). she took lots of naps. she endured patiently while the broadband issue was lamented. when charlotte came over, the dragon took the wounded laptop down to connecting point in medford, which is every bit as customer-friendly as everybody says it is. i explained the situation to the unlucky young man who asked me how i was doing, and he was fascinated. never seen anything like it. he took it to the alpha geek, who extracted the battery. it’ll run when it’s plugged in, and that’s Good Enough. plus: they didn’t charge. because they’re nice.

while the dragon was otherwise engaged, tee got to take a joyride in charlotte’s new red prius. when they got back, tee treated herself to the excursion of walking some garbage up the drive way and depositing it with her own two hands into the can. a little walk, a little fresh air, an aid to balance and stability: it’s all good.

in the evening, she got to hear another perspective from one of the participants in her favorite historical southern oregon high intensity drama. she adored it. then we watched spirited away, by hayao miyazaki. so beautiful. so rich. we like the inside of this guy’s head.

no fire in the woodstove today. it was hot, and the pollen was falling thick as snow. oregon certainly has emphatic weather.

tee got up to bathe and wash her hair before our favorite hospice nurse arrived (at an ungodly hour). she’s so smart, and organized. such a pleasure to deal with somebody who knows what she’s doing. (not that that’s not true of nearly everybody in our current world, but especially true here.)

then she napped.

her old friends ken and jackie showed up with picnic baskets and a bottle of wine. “a delightful couple,” tee says, whom she hasn’t seen for far too long. tee even had a couple of sips of wine. ken brought in some more wood (yes, we’ll stop with the fire when it’s unsafe, but tee’s cold), and ran the lawn mower around the property. tee was so grateful. (me, i can’t see that kind of thing. a different esthetic, i guess.)

the social worker came by, and tee had a lovely chat with her. then she had another nap, and then we worked some more on the packaging for the cd project. tee wants it to go away for duplication tomorrow. the dragon is still prodding the prose obsessively. just a few more little tweaks, that’s all i ask.

then jenny council arrived with thai food and her video camera. after dinner, we rearranged the living room for videography, and then sat and told stories for a very long time. we learned a great many things. jenny’s video teacher encouraged her to make as many mistakes as she could as fast as possible. she didn’t make that many, but tee and i hope we can help her pick up speed.

after reviewing the tapes, we observed the ritual of the changing of the guard, the handing off of the monitor, and the dragon stood down.

and thus endeth another day at poppyseed.

today tee felt pretty good, mostly. the visit from the mortuary person was a teensy bit … weighty, but after all the details had been decided and papers signed, tee had one more thing she doesn’t have to deal with, and that’s a lovely, lightening feeling.

she sweet-talked joann into taking her for a ride in her sports car, down to medford, where she arranged to have prints made of one of her watercolors. the one everybody says “ooh, can i buy *that* one?” i think it’s of crocosmia, but i could be totally wrong. it’s quite lovely, and has been hanging next to the dining table for a very long time. also: notecards. she had a swell time in the sports car.

we continue without benefit of dsl, much less wireless. lack of customer service makes us think perhaps we should try the other possibility, but, really, is this where we want our energy to be going at the moment? no, it is not.

due to mercury being in retrograde, or the lesser gods being in a bad mood, or the ambiguities of handwritten notes on the calendar, neither the evening’s hoped-for canasta entertainment nor the night’s sleepover angel materialized. any astrologers out there? when will it stop, please?

official word is in on the lab results: bilirubin is 4.5, and the liver panels look, astonishingly, quite good, all things considered. you all do very good work.

i’ll hope to scan at least one image of tee in the 4-poster and put it up. it’s hard to find time, though, with all the astrology going on.

that tee corinne. there is absolutely nothing she cannot do if she sets her mind to it.

lordess knows what all she was up to before i woke up. some water witchers came by in the morning, and jeanne had papers to sign, and then it was time for a snack. brenda dropped off some herbs, and then we headed off to the appointment with dr. sue. dropped by the lab and gave ‘em some blood, then back in the car to swing by irelock, to sign prints. then back in plenty of time for the dr. sue appt. the technician who took tee’s vitals had the darlingest lavender stethoscope. the lab hadn’t yielded up a bilirubin count yet, but sue’s educated guess was 4.5, the lowest yet. tee’s temperature had stabilized too (we’re blaming it on an overdose of asparagus). dr. sue adored the final version of the scars book tee’s been working on, and the one of pictures of bev.

she also endorses scandishake, for weight maintenance purposes. anybody have a local source? tee’s fond of chocolate. or, probably, we’ll just order it online…

from medical land, we launched to lunch, and over to kinkos, where they disappointed us mightily. tee has the cd all ready to be duplicated, and the label that needs to go on it, and the insert, all beautifully put together. in the first place, nobody could be bothered to come help us. i finally liberated a chair for tee to rest in. when the indifferent clerk bestowed her attention our way, she said it’d be $9.99 each. didn’t know if they could even print labels, much less the insert. we know for a fact we can get better for less elsewhere. for spite, i left the chair where it was. we sailed out.

stopped at one of tee’s favorite places and bought a box of sparkly envelopes. then into grants pass for notarizing, then pickup at the pharmacy, and then to ray’s for a few little things. filled the car up with gas, and home to a ringing phone.

me, i needed to lie down, but tee continued buzzing around, accomplishing stuff. we got the fire going, and read some of the accumulated mail, and then susanna came with her new book to be admired (and a lovely lovely item it is, too).

tee’s resting now, but i know she’s going to be up and doing any second.

tee had an appointment with the stonecutter today, to see if it’s possible to laser cut two of her drawings into stones for her and beverly. (she has in mind drawings from her book Grasses, Weeds and Flowers.) she didn’t make the appointment, and then she dithered about whether i should tell you why, so: executive decision. i’m telling.

she’s been having temperature control issues today. in the morning she had chills, and her temperature was a degree or two under her usual. then in the late afternoon, it spiked, all the way up to 99 or so. application of cool cloths and lovely praise from one of her students evened it out to her normal 97.2 by about ten pm. hospice was called, and that was the advice they had.

not that a wonky thermostat slowed her down much. she had her first lesson in the use of a digital video camera today, and quite a bit of BC’s award-winning key lime pie. and rebecca brought the publicity materials for the show she’s having with betty wolff. and i quote:

Mixed Up
acrylics, pen & ink, colored pencil
featuring
Betty Wolff
&
Tallulah
Artists Reception May 5, 6-9
Creative Alternatives
229 SW “G” Street
Grants Pass, Oregon

there’s a lovely acrylic of Betty, by Tallulah, so it’s all very fine and in the spirit of tee’s way of moving through the world. i’m pretty sure tee plans to make the reception.

in other news: back to dialup until somebody can figure out what happened to our line of sight. it’s always something.

not only did tee have a lovely time at the benefit yesterday, but it didn’t completely wipe her out. she actually was able to accomplish some useful organizing activities today. three cheers for the four-poster bed!

as fundraisers go, this one was a raging success. it didn’t lose money, it actually made money, and conversations happened and it lifted the spirits of the benefee. huzzah for all the workers who labored so mightily on it, and rock on.

tee finished the evening playing double solitaire (losing by only one card), and then teaching somebody how to play canasta. she loves her some canasta, that tee.

and that’s all the news from poppyseed.

oh, how your love and devotion cheered up the tee. she happily slipped into the four-poster bed and received friends, admirers, students, and all three in one for the entire day. (so discreet was she that you may have missed the teensy nap she felt was called for partway through the festivities.)

something like 300 people passed through the doors, and it’s a tiny space. wall-to-wall love fest. art was sold, food was eaten, poetry was read and conversations were had. the jeanne who’s in charge of counting things will not release figures as yet, but the take was well into 4 figures, we can safely say.

somebody showed up in an orange outfit that tee coveted, even though orange isn’t her color any more. much pink was spotted.

tee feels so loved and taken care of. this community totally rocks.

tee had some energy today, and she used it to whittle down the list of tasks that’s been preying on her mind. she spent a lot of time in the little studio, packing up boxes and shedding superfluities. it was a satisfying afternoon’s work.

she had dinner with an old friend, a potter who no longer lives in the area. chinese takeout: yum.

she managed to do a very little bit of email (but don’t think that’s a surefire way to reach her: send it via the dragon if you want to be sure she hears it), and was extremely conscientious about hydrating. so her tummy stayed happy, and she felt quite serene and comfortable all day.

she heard a wonderful thing about the preparations for the tee-fest tomorrow. if it’s true, she may be able to stay the entire time.