Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
These diaries will necessarily shift from notes of active touring to simple records of home life. I am not certain of widespread interest, but we will keep track of life in Fresno nonetheless. If we don't record, we won't remember.
On the first of June, we arrived home mid-day and started the process of unpacking and re-settling. The house looked great, thanks to no use and to Gloria's special cleaning. The yard looked fine, thanks to automatic watering, with Kelsy's and Samara's occasional supplements. One of the new cactus had sprouted buds in our two-and-a-half week absence. The flowers seem to last just a matter of hours, so it was nice to catch one before it disappeared. Now let's see if the buds turn into "ears", like I think they can.
Thursday was back-home regular, starting with a video-call with Dr. Box, Marianne's oncologist. The doctor answered Marianne's list of a half-dozen concerns, mostly with "that's normal, or can be" and the reassurance was, well, ... reassuring. Cutting our ambitious travel plans in half was part of "normal", both in early optimism and in recognizing the reality of the effects of chemo recovery on stamina. Another three to six months of gradual recovery would also be normal. OK, we get the picture.
The rest of the day was chores, mostly. We visited The Market to refill our shelves, resulting in an over-$200 grocery bill. Maybe we were seeing the effects of the new, much-hyped inflation, but we were thankful we didn't have to worry. We are fairly immune to aspects of inflation, such as the gasoline price increase. Besides, many of our costs are fixed, such as taxes, utilities and housing. Most others are harder hit.
This being the first Thursday of the month, Fresno Art Hop was happening and we went over to Vernissage, friend Ma Ly's atelier. We had seen a Facebook entry that implied he was having a for-Ukraine showing, which we would have to support, but when we got there nothing special was happening. Somehow we had been misled by Facebook. Who'd'a thought. Anyway, it was nice to have time to chat with Ma.
We had to stop at Ampersand, our nearby ice cream store, to see if they had changed in our absence. Nope. Still as good as ever. These are the activities that solidified the reality that we were home.
In the evening, I watched basketball, a normal distraction, but the Warriors LOST, a very abnormal event. I hope this is not a new-normal.
Friday started at Kaiser again, this time for an eye check. Marianne had developed concerns on the last days of our trip and it was good to have the problem examined right away. It was kind of regular medical bad news, good news. The bad was that nothing could be treated. The good news was that nothing needed treating.
Back home, I enjoyed a neighborhood walk for the first time in a month or two. I have to admit that not much had changed, except I was disappointed to see that Tom, our garage-door-sign-making neighbor, was apparently closing up shop. We'll miss his words of wisdom. Otherwise, the flowers on my walk remain and I was able to get a loaf of The Bread Lady's seedy offering. It's all good.
The weekend started complicated, as complicated as our simple life can be, I guess. Marianne was scheduled for a Covid booster, so we were at the hospital at 7:30 am. Then I had to return home to receive Marianne's comfy new chair, at 8:15 instead of the "10:00 to 12:00" promised schedule. Then back to get Marianne, who in fact had not been allowed a booster because there had not been enough time since the last one. Because we could, we settled down by going out to breakfast.
That afternoon, we enjoyed a patio dinner, while watching grandson Sam's baseball championship on the little iPhone screen. Interesting technology. Too bad his team did not win, despite his solid hit in the bottom of the last inning.
After that, Marianne disappeared to the art hut and I visited neighbor Vern, before returning home to watch basketball. Boy, have we settled back into routine! But, you know what, it's all good in Fresno. (And the Warriors won.)
More as we go about normal life, in or out of Fresno.
John and Marianne