the weather was not awful. bernie came over and toiled on the grounds. jennie stayed until max arrived.

jennie did a short video of tee and the dragon, before the dragon finally got (probably) the last of her many things into the car and headed south.

tee got stuff done: little things, but meaningful.

max and tee and ni aodagain played cards.

according to tee, there was just “a lovely aura” to it the day.

can’t ask for better than that.

tee’s supply of smart water is running low. if everybody who comes over would bring a bottle or two, that’d work nicely. ray’s market on 7th (in gp) usually has it, but they’ve been out the last two times i’ve checked.

also: tee loves thai tapioca, the stuff that’s made with coconut milk. she doesn’t think she could ever get tired of it. she’s probably wrong, but do let’s indulge her until she finds out.

and, um, i’m leaving tomorrow. i’ll be available by email, and i’ll interview tee on the phone so i can continue updating the blog. (it would be mean to ask somebody else to do it, after all.) there may be some irregularity of posting here and there, while we’re getting this new system in place, but don’t panic.

i’ve been posting to the blog every single night before i go to sleep for almost four months. just remember that if there’s not a post first thing in the morning, it doesn’t mean catastrophe has struck. maybe it just means tee was asleep when i called.

bye, you sweet oregon people. take good care of our tee, okay?

peace out.

(kim & karen agree, the weather’s refusal to give us a nice thunderstorm is positively midwestern.)

this morning bethroot and tee completed the submission for the museum referred to in a previous post (women in the arts, in washington, dc), and packaged it for mailing. it went out today. then bethroot accepted tee’s collection of books which refer to southern oregon women and activities, to augment her library. tee says it’s thrilling to have another empty shelf.

her tummy was behaving itself early in the day, but in the afternoon it got annoyingly lively.

her appointment with the compassionate physician was today, and, as seems to have happened with everybody, there was a miscommunication about the time. fortunately, there was a decent-sized sofa, and jeanne had a blanket, so tee just napped until it was time.

apparently there’s a “despair” clause in the physician-assisted suicide law. if the prescribing doctor determines that you’re thinking of taking that route on account of “despair,” he (of course he) can deny you the prescription, and have you come back in five weeks. (when what, exactly, will have changed? you’ll be sufficiently sick? he’ll feel you’ve had time to “think it over”? what in the name of everything autonomous do they image you’ve been doing while slogging through the mountain of paperwork and secret passwords and fourteen layers of bureaucracy?)

it is the dragon’s opinion that if tee had been feeling a teensy bit better, and not troubled in her tummy, and had gone the lipstick-and-earrings route, that he’d've written the prescription.

so: barring, you know, death by cancer or something, we have tee among us for at least another five weeks.

tee slept a great deal on returning to poppyseed, and jennie brought wonderful new thai food, and tee only ate a little, but she’s feeling settled again.

then kim and karen came over, and there were two rousing canasta games. perhaps tee’s mind was on other things (you think?), but the outcome was not as usual.

now here’s our positive thought for today: if on her initial diagnosis tee hadn’t received the appropriate treatment, she’d've been dead in a week. they put her on hospice in march, and hospice doesn’t let you on unless you have a prognosis of six months or less. in april, tee suggested to a doctor that she had perhaps another three or four months, and he said “maybe three.”

so far, she’s outliving all the predictions. i credit her indomitable will, and the clouds of loving energy you all send her every day.

tee had breakfast, and then worked on (probably) her last book Lesbian Art Issues: Variations on Queerly Appealing Themes, or Variations, as we call it, so the dragon could start working on it as soon as she emerged from her lair.

jeanne came over, and while they were waiting for the dragon to pull herself together, tee ate three different things. it was heartening all around. the three of them went into “town,” as they call grants pass in sunny valley, did some errands, picked up a prescription, and ate at taco bell. tee even had some energy left when we got back home, instead of collapsing on the sofa as soon as she got near it.

the dragon spent the afternoon and evening re-editing the manuscript. the dragon may be up all night finishing this task. be careful not to disturb the dragon.

bethroot arrived, and tee reminded her how to play canasta. then bethroot made a wonderfully wholesome dinner, which tee and the dragon capped with some leftover birthday carrot cake.

bethroot and tee worked on their project of getting some of tee’s work into the national museum of women in the arts, and tee might even have the energy for another game of canasta.

she’s firing on all cylinders today, folks.

must. return. to editing mode.

tee’s tummy troubles seem to have resolved themselves, and she had a good breakfast before she and ni aodagain tackled the computer room. they emptied five file drawers and culled enormous quantities of paper. ni aodagain took home a pair of two-drawer file cabinets to make a desk out of, and heroically disappeared the excess paper.

the amazons sailed in, followed by tangren. the dragon went swimming. tee and tangren repaired to the air conditioned studio, leaving the amazons to do their magic. for the first time, they were allowed into the computer room, which now has a floor to speak of. two hours later, tangren and tee returned to a wonderfully clean and fairly cool house. tangren collected more books for the women’s studies program at southern oregon university. tee now possesses six shelves utterly emptied of books. her feelings of lightness are, as you can imagine, mixed.

max arrived with vegetarian sushi, tangren made an incredibly elaborate salad. she uttered a sentence the dragon has never heard spoken before: “i have an egg slicer with me.” it was a wonderful meal.

next up: doubles canasta. gotta go.

poppyseed is hip deep in plastic bags (partially because the dragon doesn’t remember to ask for paper until too late). tee needs paper grocery bags.

the dragon expects to be waist deep in paper bags by morning.

the first time tee was in the hospital, somebody brought a tub of “mediterranean spa shea butter.” it is tee’s favorite, and she asks for it whenever someone kindly (hint, hint) offers her a footrub.

therefore, it’s nearly used up. i’ve emailed the manufacturer (in italy), who directed me to their distributor (www.soapboxltd.com, in seattle), and the stores they sell to in grants pass don’t happen to have it in stock. we could buy it from the web site, but shipping turns out to be about 50% of the price, and my thrifty soul just revolts.

if you were the kind soul who brought the first tub, do you remember where? or should we just bite the bullet and pay the stupid shipping?

all the people who’ve stepped up to the plate when the baton might otherwise have been dropped (and other mixed metaphors). there are many many, and she’s tried to stay current, and here are three who may not have been appreciated as publicly as they deserve:

karen jordann: who came right over the first time tee came home from the hospital, and fixed the travesty of a dressing they’d put on her. and then she taught the dragon. she’s arranged with her work that if tee needs her to be here, she can just pick up and come.

kim bibeau: who’s offered the dragon acupuncture, which always works. the dragon feels better after, and kim offers with generosity of heart and purity of spirit. and also, karen and kim, who allowed the dragon to transform into a rutabaga on their sofa.

leslie hall: who made the purple “rogue” hat happen. the dragon also suspects her of deep involvement in the appreciation party preparations, though she’s much too discreet to have said so.

the dragon is delighted to know so many truly remarkable women. dragons are often solitary, but this one feels surrounded and buoyed by the enormous heart of this community.

so tee got up today (i like to start with a piece of good news), and had breakfast. then she and holly hertel, the overnight angel, had an extended conversation. looks like she and susanne are going to be sharing the daytime tee-watch, while max takes the night shift.

we got our regularly scheduled visit from susan, the terrific home health nurse. she says she’s seen tee in a full spectrum of moods, and what she was reading today was “calm.” so that was nice to hear.

tee’s painting student (and friend) tom came over and did some much needed repairs to a window and one of the bridges on the property. bless him.

the dragon went off to do many many errands, and her pilgramage to the gym, and marianne came over to have an art afternoon with tee. they drew together, and tee did some watercolor, then tee napped, and marianne drew her napping. they withdrew to the only airconditioned room in the house, and passed a pleasant afternoon.

except that tee’s stomach has been somewhat uncertain all day. she’s not sure if it’s indigestion, or just the heat, or the tail end of the antibiotics. as you can imagine, she’s a little spooked by any weirdness in that general vicinity.

ni aodagain just got beat at canasta, which diverted tee from the subject of her innards admirably. ni aodagain and tee are, even as i type, taking georgie for a walk.

(at the appreciation on saturday, bernie gardner took some pictures, showing the dragon making several extremely goofy faces. i’ve put them up here.)

tee is beginning to suspect that her interest in food is in direct proportion to her interest in being alive. this is useful information.

once again, food tasted good to her. it is conjectured that intake of food may bear some relation to energy available, and yesterday’s intake provided enough energy for the making of a key lime pie this morning. it is quite good, and we’re looking forward to eating more of it later.

bernie the steadfast came over to change filters, water garden, and show artwork. betty brought her recent work also, and it was a mini critique session. after bernie returned to her regularly-scheduled life (already in progress), betty and tee discussed teaching, tee took a nap, and then betty learned how to play canasta.

in the evening, our dinner included that fine pea-and-pinenuts salad.

as of this writing, a four-handed game of canasta is about to coalesce. i must take my place at the table.