Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
It has taken ten days for me to get back to the weekly diary. Nonetheless, I will continue our three-part record. At this point, this is more a history record than news bulletin.
Ukraine and War
A new war has begun, fought in the open plains of The Donbass. The city of Mariupol has been flattened, if not completely conquered, and is serving as the model for Russian intentions in the rest of the south and east of Ukraine.
It remains hard to imagine how this will end, but some of the retired military talking heads are now talking openly about Ukraine actually winning the war. The cost in civilian and military lives will be immense, in any event.
Health: Cancer, Chemo, and Covid
We celebrated the end of chemo on Wednesday, April 20th, six months after this second round started. Side-effects continue, but our hope is that normalcy will return. Someday.
We have avoided Covid and are still being careful, if not as compulsive as over the last two years. It seems almost everyone else has declared the pandemic over and joined crowds and abandoned masks. We hope they are right.
Distractions
Distractions have been pretty minor, but that's not news. I redid another puzzle, Marianne continues with art classes and practice, garden work and rain are producing nice color.
Throughout all the Covid and chemo, our culinary staff (of one) has produced a string of wonderful meals. Now that winter (such as it is in Fresno) is over, we get to eat al fresco, and that makes it even better. Good memories. Thanks.
As a final note, I offer this picture of our washing machine. That smear in the middle of the distorting window is Marianne's iPhone, tossed in along with laundry. We blame chemo-brain or Covid-fog or age-related degradation or, most likely, simple human oversight. The great news is that Apple has apparently worried about washer damage and designed the iPhone 12 to withstand an hour of sloshing. It still works. Amazing.
And that brings us through most of April. Next up will be a quick trip to Yosemite National Park, one of our favorite local destinations.
Stay tuned.
John and Marianne