Quick update:
- Ernie is doing ok with the chemo. He’s sometimes extremely fatigued and there are other odds and ends to it but overall he’s doing ok.
- Leo has spent his week in England BEING SICK! Fortunately Tal has been taking good care of them but I feel so terrible for the two of them. He texted today to say he’d gone to NHS and been tested (they couldn’t find any COVID tests locally) and it was not COVID (thank God) and it wasn’t strep throat. They said it seems to just be a nasty fever. I’m relieved somewhat by that but feel so terrible for the two of them. I told him I hoped they’d at least enjoyed being together despite everything and he said that had been the saving grace of the whole thing. He comes home tomorrow so I will trundle up to O’Hare to pick him up. Not sure if Ernie will come with me or not.
Ok, then. We’ve been pretty quiet. Appointments or meetings here or there but I feel as though we’re living in our own little bunker, just the two of us. The outside world comes in now and then, or we venture out, but not too often. We’ve watched far too much tv. I pause it when Ernie starts to doze and I read. When he wakes up I turn it back on. I go up to bed early and read, mostly fluff these days, often staying up too late. Ernie was surprised when he came up last night and I was already sound asleep. I slept long and hard and am so pleased to have a gray day today.
Now, a few pictures. We had a mini wander the other day and good god it felt wonderful. This next week is busy, with the Black-Volk Festival on Saturday (can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait…go get your tickets!!) and the following week is super busy with doctor appointments and chemo. Maybe the week after, if Ernie’s up for it, we could do a short little wander. 🤞
Beautiful salad greens from Heather and Steve’s garden. We added a piece of sauteéd Artic Char after that and let me say, don’t overcook your fish. Sigh. If you think you don’t like fish like salmon, try cooking it a little less. Works for me but my lazy cooking the other night did NOT work. The salad greens, dressed with just a bit of olive oil and salt, won the plate.
Look at this poor little house in Deland. For sale, for back taxes I presume. $824. I worry about these little towns. Are they just going to disappear? So many empty commercial buildings compared to the number of houses. I wondered what the population used to be to support all those commercial buildings. It currently has 419 people, according to the census. I looked it up and it doesn’t ever appear to have a population of much over 600. What a different world that 600 people could support what must have been a vibrant downtown.
Here’s something from a 1973 Centennial publication.
I just can’t help but be fascinated by the changes in our built environment and population patterns. The other day we noticed that new telephone polls were replacing old metal structures along Springfield west of town. I sighed and Ernie said, “you can NOT be nostalgic about those!” Hmmmm. We’ll see.
Onward.