Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

We bought several kinds of apple at the farmers market a couple of weeks ago, and have been trying them when we remember.

The cultivar we liked best is Ludacrisp. It's crisp, though not ridiculously so, and tasty and juicy. It will never be my favorite, but I'll probably buy it again, if there's nothing more tempting at the market. A middle-sized apple with red and gold peel. The vendor's sign said it was part Gala, and a website about the apple says that one parent was an apple called Sweet sixteen and the other is unknown.

Cordera wasn't bad, juicy and crisp, but bland. cattitude said it might be worth trying again some other year, in case this isn't a good year for this kind of apple.

Goldee was soft but not mushy, and too sweet for Cattitude. Adrian and I both thought it was OK, but I'd rather have Gala, and she'd rather have Golden delicious. I think it has Gala or Golden delicious in its ancestry, but a lot of kinds of apple have golden delicious as a parent or grandparent). I doubt we'll buy this again.

Snapdragon: no. My reaction was that it was either underripe, based on texture, or just not a good apple. Cattitude said "too much Empire or Red delicious in its ancestry."

We will probably buy apples of varieties we know we like, the next time we go to the farmers market, but I like trying new apples, and sometimes I really like an apple I've never had before. I think all four of these varieties are relatively new, rather than heirloom apples I'm not familiar with.

The PT appointment today was productive enough that I will be going back. Certainly the already-scheduled appointment on Tuesday, and probably more after that.

The therapist is hopeful that she will be able to get me (back) to better balance than the previous therapist stopped at.

After a bunch of evaluation, the therapist gave me some new things to do at home. These are partly to strengthen my ankles. Two of the things she included in the evaluation are part of my current PT--moving from seated to standing without using my hands, and going up on tiptoe and back down. For the seated-to-standing one, I should not rest my hands on my thighs: my arms should be either crossed at chest level, or out to the sides if I need that for balance. [ETA: I have been doing these with my hands in front of my chest, palms touching.]

The evaluation included timing me doing a variety of things, mostly walking in various ways, and she was pleased with my timing on all of them.

However, the therapist didn't know why they'd sent me there to learn falling, because that location doesn't even have the mats needed for that.

She just sent me email about learning to fall, with what looks like a useful pointer.

I just got the 2026 flu vaccine, timed because we're going to be having company in a bit over a week.

The actual vaccination was straightforward. I did it as a walk-in, because the CVS vaccine scheduling site wasn't working this morning. Also, for some reason, the system told the pharmacist that I live in Belmont, which is years out of date; I know CVS has my address in Brighton because they mail me coupons.

I went to the dentist this afternoon and had the new crown fitted. There were some uncomfortable bits, because I needed to open very wide so they could reach the tooth in question, but they were fortunately brief.

On my way out, after paying for this visit, I made an appointment for a deep cleaning, in early November. I am feeling very grown up and responsible, because I made the appointment on my own initiative, rather than waiting to hear from the dental office about it.

I stopped off on the way home for a dish of the soft-serve saffron rose ice cream, and bought a pint of the same flavor to bring home. I know from the farmers market that the ice cream is better fresh from the soft-serve machine, but I like the flavor, and I will be too numb after the deep to eat ice cream.

I saw the neurologist today. He watched me walk in various ways, and did some other low-tech neurology, like having me touch my nose with my eyes closed. Conclusion: my balance is about the same, but there may be some left-side weakness that could make it harder to keep track of where my feet are. He suggested physical therapy for falling: to ideally reduce falls and also to learn to fall safely. I said yes, and am getting a referral to PT at Mt. Auburn, because Beth Israel Deaconess, where I was today, has a waiting list.

He also asked me if I wanted to participate in a research study, which is collecting and storing blood from people with various neurological problems, to use in future studies. I said yes, so a nice person described it to me and explained the consent form, and then someone took three tubes of my blood.

I am very unlikely to hear about the results of this research, and the research assistant made clear that I'm unlikely to benefit from participating. She told me they might ask for more blood samples, or saliva, if I'm there for other reasons. Also, if they ever need to do a lumbar puncture (which we hope they won't) they may ask for a sample of the spinal fluid.

And I forgot to ask about the monoclonal antibody, so I guess I need to send another MyChart message about that.

I just voted in the Democratic primary, which had contests for four positions out of about a dozen. I actually care about three of those four (Senate, State Senate, and District Attorney). I also filled in the bubbles next to a few unopposed candidates because I like them (Ayanna) and/or wanted to signal support (Bill Galvin, the Secretary of State, whose office is in charge of Massachusetts elections). Galvin has had the job for a long time, during most of which almost nobody had heard of him; it's not a job that gets much attention when things are going smoothly. I voted for Sen. Markey; his challenger, Moulton, is OK on some issues, but he's either genuinely anti-trans or willing to sacrifice trans people to get votes.

I took a Lyft for the short trip to the polling place, because my knee is a bit sore, and stiff, after I stumbled (or something) and fell Sunday, after going with Cattitude to the emergency room (he is OK for now). It could have been significantly worse, but the waiting room was crowded enough that someone caught me, so I didn't hit my head, or break anything. I sat in a convenient chair for a few minutes, catching my breath and considering whether I was in fact OK. Answer: yes. I took the bus home, with a stop at the farmers market.

I had a previously scheduled telemedicine appointment with Carmen today. She is concerned about my falling and not being sure what happened. I told her that my neurologist watches me walk at every appointment, and that I will be seeing him in eight weeks. She sent him a message, including the visit notes, and suggested that I should see him sooner. I now have an appointment Thursday morning.

I've been trying to note things that work for the BPL summer reading bingo, and I think I have a bingo on one card, after looking online at the covers of ebooks that I read on my (black-and-white) kindle.

• Eleanor Norton, Life Lessons from Historical Women: a collection of short biographies and online-style lists like "ten Roman women not to cross." Some of it was funny, though less than the cover blurb promised; some of that may be that I'm missing UK references. I already knew about some of the women she writes about, notably Artemisia Gentileschi and Inayat Noor Khan, but some were new to me.
• Cameron Reed, What We Are Seeking: science fiction with good, interesting world-building, and a viewpoint character I enjoyed reading about. The ending felt abrupt, but there may be no better stopping point unless Reed wants to write a sequel.
• Celia Lake, Silent Circuit, another book in her Albion universe. I liked it, but if I'd been reading for the romance I might not have; an afterword promises that the character will get her happy ending in the next book.
• Seanan McGuire, Butterfly Effects: an InCryptid book, what happened after Sarah saved the world. Fast-moving, but it felt a bit thin.
• Natalie Zina Walschots, Villain: this is a sequel to Hench, good but not funny the way that was. The main character has an impressively dysfunctional relationship with her boss, and sort of realizes that.
• John Wiswell, The Dragon Has Some Complaints. I liked this fantasy novel, but didn't make any notes. (It did let me check the "orange cover" box.)
• Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter, The Norm Chronicles: a chatty discussion of probability, risk, the differences between them, and how much of this is subjective, because it depends on whether someone cares about an outcome.
• Ruthanna Emrys, The Sheltering Fire: a fantasy novella in which three old friends move into a house that can be a magical refuge, but only as long as the residents offer shelter to anyone who asks, on the condition that the newcomers respect rules of hospitality. Good.
• Ardes Shea, "It's Classified," a short memoir of a year working at the Hanford site during World War II, by a woman who knew only that she was working on a classified military project. This was part of my Groundhog Day gift exchange, and counts for "from your TBR pile."

The Scintillation online book club just discussed Cameron Reed's novel What We Are Seeking.

I finished the book a couple of weeks ago, and enjoyed the discussion. I want to reread the book, both because it's dense in interesting ways, and so I have the comments about things lke gender, family, narrative strucure, and comparisons to other books in mind. Someone mentioned Ruthanna Emrys's A Half-Built Garden, which would also be worth re-reading.

Some of us thought the book ended too soon, or too suddenly, with a lot unresolved, and other people were satisfied because at least some of the emotional arcs they cared about were resolved, or at least not left hanging the way much of the plot was.

[this eminds me that I am overdue for a books-finished post, but I'm not doing it until I'm back in Boston, with my notes such as they are.)

My heat tolerance seems to have improved, at least a little, over the last year or so. For example, I looked at my phone before dinner and saw "84 feels like 92" (about 29/33 C), and based on how I felt this morning, I decided it was a reasonable time to take out the trash. That's only a couple of minutes outside, but it's a change from the last couple of years, when I would have stayed inside during the current heat advisory.

At dinner, I was wondering whether this change is because I am taking a lower dosage of gabapentin (Neurontin). So I googled, and while various articles list anti-seizure meds as reducing heat tolerance, the more detailed lists don't include gabapentin, under that or any other category.

So, I have a minor but positive change, with no apparent explanation.

*We have been getting very good small watermelons, and yellow plums (those from the farmers market), but no heirloom tomatoes yet.

*Today was hotter than I really like, but the next few days are likely to be hotter, so I went to Tosci's this afternoon. I tasted apricot sorbet, which is excellent, and blackberry lime, which had a disappointing texture. I bought and ate a small dish of the sorbet, and brought home two pints of sweet cream ice cream.

*Cattitude bought a ticket to Courtney Milan's "Samuel Alito is a whiny piss-baby" Zoom presentation, which was a fundraiser for Romancing the Vote, and we watched it this evening. It was good, though more serious and with less snark and gossip than we'd expected.