Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

new sandals

2026-06-03T00:00:28Z

I went to REI this afternoon to buy sandals, and I found a pair that suits me. They're Tevas, and if I'm satisfied after wearing them a few times, I'm going to order another pair in a different color (these are basic black).

I tried on several other shoes, which ranged from not quite right to just weird (a pair of Birkenstocks that had their arch supports in a really weird place relative to my feet).

Having found a pair that I thought fit, I walked down and then up a flight of stairs, as a test, and they were fine. I try not to climb a lot of stairs, but some are unavoidable, and it seemed like a useful test.

I'd been a little worried that there wouldn't be anything left in my size, since we're well into the time of year when a lot of people are wearing sandals, but REI clearly thinks it's still sandal season, along with hiking and running shoe season.

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recent(ish) reading

2026-06-01T03:41:33Z

Books finished:

Ada Palmer, Inventing the Renaissance. the book covers a lot, with a focus on Machiavelli and on Florence--The idea of a Renaissance, as a goal, was invented in Florence, and tourism has been important to the economy of Florence for centuries. Recommended.

T. Kingfisher, Paladin's Faith. A reread of a romance set in the Temple of the White Rat universe.

Celia Lake, Claiming the Tower. Another romance set in her Albion fantasy history, this takes place during the Crimean War, and the relationship arc is a slowly-developing friendship and then romance between two wonen.

Jenn Lyons, The Sky on Fire. A fantasy novel, set in a world with dragons. The main viewpoint character wanted to be a dragon rider, and instead found herself living on the barely-habitable surface, after what was intended to be been a fatal fall. Politics on multiple levels, as well as relationships. I enjoyed this and am not sure what to say about it. Lyons does a good job of world-building, with a lot of what Jo Walton calls including to avoid the "as you know, Bob" problem of telling the reader things that the characters take for granted. This seems to be a stand-alone book, and I have another of Lyons's books on hold at the library.

Susan Kaye Quinn, editor, Bright Green Futures. An anthology of solarpunk stories. These are mostly near-future stories about living in a climate-changed future, and adapting to aspects of that.

I liked most of the stories. Serena Ulibarri’s “What Kind of Bat Is This?” is about people working on studying and restoring a bit of desert. Danielle Arostegui’s “A Merger in Corn Country” is about farming and finding community as the climate changes and people have to decide whether to relocate. Brightflame’s "Ancestors, Descendants,” is weird and interesting, depicting a few people finding a way to live within a fungally-linked network of plant life at the northeastern edge of the continent (I think North America). “Centipede Station” by T K Rex is set much further in the future, somewhere a long way from Earth. It's anti two people whose starship has crash-landed on some kind of space station. Recommended, though I apparently tried and gave up on one of the author's novels a few years ago.

Celia Lake, Distilling Sunlight. Another Albion book, a romance between a widower with two children, and a woman who has never married, because she never met anyone she wanted to marry, and because she thinks her distractability and tendency to lose track of time would interfere with any serious relationship.

Holly Day, Squirrel Circus. A romance between two "shifters," one a wolf shifter (with a lot more control over the transformation than the typical werewolf, and a squirrel shifter. The two men can smell that they are each other's destined mates, and both think it would be a very bad idea, because wolves tend to kill and eat squirrels. I enjoyed this, but have no immediate impulse to seek out more of Day's work. We never see the titular squirrel circus, but it's a minor plot point. (This book, the Celia Lake romances, and the Courtney Milan book discussed below all contain explicit sex, but this one has an "adults only" warning at the beginning.)

Lois McMaster Bujold, Knot of Shadows. Another Penric and Desdemona novella.

Courtney Milan, A Compendium of Ever-Increasing Mayhem. Romance, and I'm not sure I entirely believe the characters getting together after the man ruined the woman socially years earlier, largely to amuse himself and his friends. (He has changed, but she has trouble believing that.)

Current reading:

I am reading what seems to be the new Penric and Desdemona story, Darklight Dare, on the kindle.

Our current read-aloud book is Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, translated by someone who liked the book enough that he learned French in order to translate it. (We compared this to another translation, and agreed that we preferred this one.)

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dentist, and ice cream

2026-05-28T02:52:12Z

I tried a new ice cream place this afternoon, on my way home from the dentist. The bus driver pulled over because he realized that the air conditioning wasn't working, fortuitously in front of an ice cream and frozen yogurt shop with a sign in the window that said "saffron rose." So, instead of getting on the next bus, I went into the store and got a dish of soft-serve saffron rose ice cream, which was very good. I had vaguely noticed the shop in passing, but been unimpressed, because the place is named "tutti fruitti" [sic]. While eating my ice cream, I mentioned to the bus driver that I'd been going to get ice cream in Harvard Square. He asked for the location, and said that his favorite ice cream is sold at a bowling alley in Hyde Park.

The dental visit itself went fine. He placed my new permanent crown, to replace the temporary one I got three weeks ago.

I noticed again that my risk of catching covid (or any other respiratory infection) there is very low: the dentist and his assistant were masked, and there was nobody in the waiting room when I arrived, and one person when I was done. The dentist mostly works out of a different office, and I don't know know the economics of keeping this office open one day a week work, but I'm glad they do.

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three things make a post

2026-05-19T19:16:02Z

*After a mild spring, it suddenly got hot today. Fortunately, we had enough warning that adrian_turtle was able to contact our usual handyman and have him put the air conditioners back in the window, which he did a couple of hours ago. I am staying inside today, because 97F/36C ("feels like" 39/102) is too damned hot for me; I'm glad the handyman was willing to come when he did, rather than early in the day.

*I have been going back and forth with my health insurance company and various people at my psychiatrist's office and the Beth Israel Lahey billing department over a claim that the insurance told me they were denying. The denial letter, with instructions about how to appeal, was dated April 26 and arrived on the 28th, but they haven't sent that to my doctor's office/billing. Meanwhile, billing first told me I don't have an outstanding bill, and then today could find it but said they couldn't do anything as long as it's "pending insurance." Someone at the insurance company suggested I ask the doctor to resubmit with a different code, which seems to have them puzzled. (It was sent in as "doctor's visit, long.") Someone at the insurance company advised me to have the doctor resubmit this with a different code, but when I gave up on billing and sent my doctor a message, she said she didn't know what I want her to do and was forwarding the message to the admin people.

Trying to figure out this insurance mess is why I was on the MyChart website Sunday, and thus led to me getting an overdue mammogram yesterday.

*I mail-ordered a bunch of spices from Penzey's. I'd wanted to get this done sooner so we could take advantage of last weekend's sale, but cattitude reasonably wanted time to look through the spice cabinet. So I assembled an order yesterday, and saw that the most recent politically-themed sale would get me discounts on more things I actually wanted: peppercorns and mustard, rather than their "lemon pepper" seasoning.

Last weekend's sale was loosely immigration themed. The current one is anything starting with I, M, or P, with a promise of a discount on E, A, C, and H in a couple of days to spell out IMPEACH (which is also the current discount code). In any case, we need the pepper and mustard, as well as a variety of things that don't start with those letters, like roast garlic powder and cracked rosemary, which added up to enough for free shipping.

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mammogram

2026-05-18T20:42:05Z

When my doctor told me to get a mammogram, she warned me they were scheduling months in advance. Instead, when I logged on to MyChart yesterday, it offered a lot of appointments in the next few days, including several this afternoon at a nearby location.

I had nothing else planned for this afternoon, so I made an appointment for this afternoon, a convenient trolley ride from home. Unfortunately, it didn't warn me that I would have to climb a couple of flights of stairs, because the building elevator has been out of service since May 4. The mammogram itself was uncomfortable, but not as bad as I had expected. I think the main difference is that it was quicker than last time, which may be because they were using better machinery than the last few times.

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dentist: crown

2026-05-06T22:42:33Z

I went to the dentist this afternoon, and they did some uncomfortable things as part of creating a new/replacement crown for one of my teeth (which had cavities under the old crown). I currently have a temporary crown, and will be getting the permanent replacement in three weeks; it will be ready sooner, but that's the next available appointment.

I was pleased to see that my Lyft driver, the dentist, and the dental assistant were all masked when I first saw them. I told the driver it was nice to see other people masking, and I tipped extra because of it.

When I checked in, the receptionist told me there would be a $750 copay. I told her that I had been told that the crown was fully covered, and asked her to check. A few minutes later, she confirmed that I wouldn't have to pay anything. I do not understand dental insurance, including this dental insurance, which is an add-on to my Medicare Advantage plan; I would have paid the $750 if I had to, but I'm glad I don't.

I'd been planning to stop and visit some lilac bushes on the way home, but it was raining, which made that less appealing, so I didn't. I did stop at Lizzy's on the way home, and now have a total of five unlabeled pints of ice cream: three today, because a broken freezer meant I had to get the clerk to hand-scoop the ice cream, plus the two from Tosci's. However, I have blank sticky adhesive labels, which should make this easy.

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another pointless medical test

2026-05-04T23:02:40Z

I saw Carmen (my PCP) this afternoon, in person. I couldn't remember why we'd scheduled this in person, but assumed we had a reason at the time, but when I asked, Carmen didn't know either.

She wrote the next Ritalin prescription; listened to my heart and lungs as long as I was there; and had me provide a urine sample for a once-a-year toxicology screening. In theory, that screening is to make sure that the patient is actually taking rather than selling their Schedule II drugs. The thing is, the standard/required test panel is for about a dozen things, not including Ritalin. There is a test for that, which she didn't order because the sample would have to go to a different lab, and she trusts that I'm taking the medication as prescribed.

I'm also supposed to schedule a mammogram.

It's a nice day, so I went to Tosci's afterwards, and now have a pint each of sweet cream and lime vanilla ice cream.

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a slightly weird spring

2026-05-04T03:13:18Z

The timing of spring is being weird in the Boston area. The lilies of the valley have started to bloom, while some of the forsythia bushes still have a lot of bright yellow flowers.

We still have daffodils, the rhododendrons are being exuberant, and the violets have been looking good for a week or two.

I will look for lilacs sometime in the next few days. The most convenient would be to see what's in bloom along and near Mount Auburn Street near Ash Street, on my way home from the dentist on Wednesday. (I'm also considering a side trip to Sophia's Greek Pantry for good oregano, but stopping at Sevan Bakery or Arax would be more convenient.)

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redbird @ 2026-04-23T20:17:00

2026-04-24T00:49:24Z

I had an appointment with my neurologist this afternoon. The weather was nice enough that I got onion soup at the Panera in the clinic lobby and ate it outdoors before seeing Dr. Sloane.

The doctor did some low-tech neurology, including watching me walk quickly down the hall, having me walk tightrope-style to check my balance, and testing my grip strength by having me squeeze his fingers. The doctor said there was no change in those, but I think my balance was better today than at the last visit. He then sent me downstairs for blood tests: my vitamin D is where we want it (at the top of the "normal" range), and the abnormally low antibody count is what we expect from the Kesimpta.

I asked about reducing the gabapentin dose to 900 mg, since when I went from 1500 mg to 1200 the medication continued to be effective at stopping my legs from twitching at night. (For a while, it was 1500 mg, with the option of taking another 300 mg capsule if necessary. I went to 1200 after a few months of never needing the extra capsule.) The doctor said I could try it, but he would prescribe 1200 mg/day (I think the last refill was for 1500 mg/day.)

I then walked up the hill to Brigham and Women's Hospital to keep adrian_turtle company in the epilepsy monitoring unit. We talked some, I made some phone calls on her behalf, and I sat quietly reading next to her bed for a bit.

All in all, I did a lot of walking today, despite taking a Lyft to the neurologist; some of that was because I got turned around a couple of times, including inside the hospital. (I stayed home yesterday because my knee was bothering me, and wasn't sure how much walking I had in me today.)

Addendum: After posting this, I got an automated message giving me what was labeled as a fasting blood glucose number--but I hadn't been fasting, the blood was drawn about an hour after lunch. I sent my PCP a MyChart message telling her about the mis-labeling, and she has written back to thank me for the information, and said that the number was in the normal range for a non-fasting test as well. I also messaged the neurologist to say that the test was mislabeled and I didn't want incorrect/misleading information on my medical record. He has just replied to say he will see what he can do.

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redbird @ 2026-04-18T18:50:00

2026-04-18T22:55:42Z

I accompanied adrian_turtle to an MRI facility, where she had an MRI with contrast, which hopefully will help her current neurologist figure out better medication for her seizures. Like many people, Adrian finds the contrast medium unpleasant, which is at least part of why she wanted company.

Afterwards, we went to JP Licks, where I got us both ice cream. They have non-dairy coconut almond lace ice cream this month, and there's now a pint of that in our freezer.

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covid booster

2026-04-16T21:59:01Z

I got a covid booster yesterday. When I told the pharmacy clerk I wanted the vaccine, he checked that the Pfizer vaccine would be OK, then started to ask when I’d gotten my last booster, stopped, and instead asked whether I’d had one in the last two months. When I said no, he asked whether I’d had covid in the last two months “as far as you know.”

The last time I'd checked, they were saying to wait at least three months after having covid, and I thought the recommended interval between boosters was also at least three months. (My previous covid booster was last fall.) Massachusetts is now advising everyone to get boosters twice a year, and having that as an official recommendation means health insurance companies will pay for it.

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memorials

2026-04-12T18:27:54Z

I just attended part of the online memorial for minoanmiss. While I was there, a couple of people talked about Ny, and read poetry. I disconnected after listening to one song, because listening to people sing over Zoom feels thin. There were some great photos of Ny, smiling.

Also, yesterday I went to shul with Adrian to say kaddish for my mother. Most of the service, including the singing, was in Hebrew, but I felt more of a connection there, I think because I was in a room full of people, not looking at boxes in a Zoom window.

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unexpected dental visit

2026-04-02T21:27:44Z

I was going to have my teeth cleaned next week, but the dentist's office called yesterday to tell me that the hygienist wouldn't be in that day, and asked me to reschedule either for today, with the next available after that being in June. So, I went over to Watertown this afternoon.

Before cleaning my teeth, the hygienist took a full set of X-rays, because it had been a couple of years. The dentist looked at them, and said that there are no cavities, but some of my old fillings are no longer doing their jobs. So, he wants to do two crowns (at least). This will involve some drilling, apparently, but no root canals. I have an appointment in two weeks to do the work on at least one tooth, possibly both, depending on how I'm feeling after the first. To my surprise, my current dental insurance is covering 100% of the cost.

Also, after a complicated office maybe-move and name change, that dentist is consistently seeing very few patients at a time: there's often nobody [else] in the waiting room while I'm there, which is reassuring given that I can't wear a mask while having dental work.

I stopped on the way home at Lizzy's and got a quart of ice cream. It's a few degrees above freezing and overcast/drizzly, so I didn't want to be outside eating ice cream, but that also meant I could leave the insulated bag home.

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replacement credit card

2026-03-31T03:25:41Z

My replacement card arrived this afternoon. So far, I have entered the new card info at Amazon (where I was buying something), Lyft, and a couple of organizations I make monthly donations to. There's a bunch more, of course, some of which will probably require talking to someone on the phone; I wasn't in the mood to play phone tag with the company we rent our storage unit from.

Someone commented that when she needed to replace her card, the updated information propagated automatically to some large companies. That doesn't seem to have happened here, and I'm actually pleased from an infused and fraud angle, even if it means I have to do more work.

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credit card crap

2026-03-27T15:54:34Z

I got a text this morning from Chase, asking me about a suspicious charge. I tried to log in to their website to look at it, but couldn't get them to send me a one-time code, so I went ahead and sent back "NO," telling them to cancel/replace the card in question. Now I'm going to have to update a _lot_ of recurring charges and stored payment methods.

So far I have had enough trouble finding my other credit card that I went ahead and gave Chewy a debit card for the auto ship order they're in the middle of processing. I then looked further back in the same drawer, found the other credit card, and put it in my wallet. I'm going to wait for the new card to arrive, and use it for most of the recurring charges, because I get slightly better points/cash back on purchases. But this is going to be tedious and time-consuming, and I will almost certainly forget at least one recurring charge.

I think I can make a list of the monthly charges by looking at last month's bill, at least.

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Medicare advantage, again

2026-03-20T21:58:33Z

It turns out that changing Medicare Advantage plans is not costing me significant money: it looks as though the money I paid for prescriptions at the beginning of the year counts for a calendar-year maximum, even though I switched plans. I ordered another dose of Kesimpta on Wednesday, and they aren't charging me for it. As I said to cattitude and adrian_turtle, I'm glad that I could have afforded to pay that twice, but there are plenty of things I'd rather do with the money.

As a side note, this plan will pay for $65 per quarter of over-the-counter medications and some related things. I used part of this quarter's today to order Mucinex, Imodium, and an under-the-tongue digital fever thermometer. I think I can get them to pay for non-emergency transportation to medical appointments, and I should check what dental coverage I have.

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home again

2026-03-18T00:31:32Z

I am back from Montreal. The trip home had some annoying delays while they found us an airplane, or figured out how to tow the one they had, or something, but was otherwise fine.

Rysmiel gave me a back rub last night that did significant good for the tension in my neck and right shoulder. I currently have an unrelated shoulder pain, from spending too much time poking at my phone while spending several hours at the airport, but if I'm somewhat cautious now that I'm home, that should take care of itself in a day or three.

I am catching up on some of the PT exercises I didn't do while traveling because they require elastics, or the foam roller, or weights, but doing all of them tonight would be imprudent.

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shoulder etc

2026-03-15T17:11:33Z

My right shoulder and neck started hurting Friday night, along with an ache on my right side. I tried Tylenol, which did nothing, but this morning it occurred to me that while I know naproxen doesn't help the weird neck/shoulder tension, it might help my back. I tried, and yes it helped.

Other than that, I went for a walk in the snow yesterday, after staying in all day Friday, and in the evening rysmiel, Sasha, and I watched the first half of the National Theater at Home production of _The Importance of Being Earnest_. It's very good, and we are going to watch the rest of it tonight.

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in Montreal

2026-03-13T17:39:51Z

I'm in Montreal for a few days, visiting Rysmiel. The trip up yesterday was ompressively smoooth. despite freezn rain the day before that caused some power outages: the sidewalks were ckear enough that taking transit from the airport worked fine.

It's decent weather for the tine of year for Montrea;, currently just below freezng withh snow not expected until well after dark, but that's not the sort of weather that encourages spedng extra time outdoors. Since I'm nr eating indoos in restaurants if I can avoid it, that means getting food delivered or eating sandwichs, but I'm here for the company, not the food or tourist ssuff.

Being someewhee that isn't actively at war is also good, but I bought my ticket a month ago, whicj feels like long time under the Trump regime). The stte of the world *gestures widely* is still stressugu, though.

Being here does mean I won't he able to go to the in-person memorial for minoanmiss on Sunday. The funeral this afternoon is being live-steeamed and recorded, and I may watch that when I'm back in Boston.

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recent reading

2026-03-11T23:16:46Z

Finished recently:

These are all parts of ongoing series, and all fantasy (in significantly different styles)

Testament of Mute Things, by Lois McMaster Bujold (a Penric novella)

Apt to be Suspicious, by Celia Lake

To Ride a Rising Storm, by Moniquill Blackgoose: this doesn't just leave room for a sequel, it ends on a cliffhanger. Strongly recommended. Definitely start with her first novel, To Shape a Dragon's Breath, for world-building and if you care about spoilers. (I think the Bujold and Lake books would both work as starting points for reading those series.)

I am currently partway through Ada Palmer's Inventing the Renaissance, which is chewy nonfiction.

We just finished our latest read-aloud book, Half Magic by Edward Eager. Adrian and Cattitude had read this before, I hadn't, we all enjoyed it.

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more about the New Orleans trip

2026-03-05T04:06:14Z

The trip to New Orleans was very good for cattitude, who had an easier tiee finding food he could eat and enjoy than Adrian and I, but the few days of warm weather did us good as well. (And then the trip home was physically difficult and painful for Adrian, unfortunately.)

I did more walking each day, including but not only the travel days, than I expected or planned, and found it less difficult than I would have predicted.

Saturday afternoon we met my brother at House of Blues, because they had outdoor music and a performer he liked. That was fun, and Adrian enjoyed dancing with an enthusiastic stranger. I think that was the day we took a streetcar downtown in search of lunch, only to find lines for the relatively small number of places with outdoor seating. But I'd wanted to ride a streetcar--streetcars are part of the New Orleans transit network, not just a tourist attraction, so we could get one a couple of blocks from our hotel.

Our hotel had a courtyard, which was part of why Cattitude chose it. The courtyard had an unexpected, charming cat. The drum circle I mentioned in the previous post was in the park across the street from our hotel, which is part of why Mark recommended it.

Also, the New Orleans airport terminal plays music, not very loudly, over the PA system, which is entirely fitting for an airport named after Louis Armstrong, and much better than what comes over the PA at most airports.

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bad news about @minoanmiss

2026-03-03T18:08:12Z

[Ny is gravely ill, unconscious, and unlikely to recover:]

Update: Ny is gone. As of a couple of hours ago, she no longer has brain function, and will be moved off life support after evaluation for organ transplant, and allowed to die peacefully, not necessarily immediately.

[my earlier info was via princessofgeeks, who linked to goss's post]

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New Orleans

2026-03-02T02:48:53Z

We’ve been in New Orleans for a few days, enjoying warm weather and eating outdoors— cattitude in particular needed to get away from winter. Not as much interesting food as we’d hoped, but lunch today was at a lebanese restaurant, where we tried Lebanese iced tea, made with rosewater— the server apologized because she thought we had asked for it instead of ordinary sweet tea. My grilled shrimp and rice were also excellent.

Then we wandered through the French Market, and bought hats, a shoulder bag, and a smaller cros-body bag.

We rounded the afternoon off by listening to the drum circle in Congo Square, which has been weekly for more than 300 years. My brother suggested than because our hotel is across thethe street street from the park.

More when I get home ; we’re flying back tomorrow

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a nice walk, a day after the blizzard

2026-02-24T20:27:46Z

I have just been out for a walk, a day after the blizzard: bright blue sky, temperature around freezing, and most but not all of the sidewalks have been cleared, so I walked down the middle of the street for a bit. The turkey flock that hangs out on Egremont Road is now up to at least 12 birds, two of which were sitting on a railing. [We got 16-18 inches of snow, I think--the official number from the airport is 16.5, which is significant, but a lot less than this storm dumped on some places.]

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Medicare advantage, again

2026-02-21T01:51:43Z

While I was dealing with trying to figure out whether I could see my psychiatrist, and what it would cost if so, I got an email from medicare.gov about the Medicare Advantage "open enrollment" period: anyone who enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (part C) plan at the end of the previous year can change to a different Medicare Advantage plan between January 1 and March 31st. I decided that it would be worth it to get into a PPO instead of the HMO I had somehow signed up for, even though it means I'll be starting over on the annual out-of-pocket maximums for prescription drugs and for medical care generally. I put the application in this afternoon, and was told the process might take 10 days, but I also think it's supposed to be effective the first day of the month after I requested the change. My confirmation email from Medicare says the plan will notify me after they verify my information and confirm my enrollment, so I will wait and see.

Fortunately, I can afford to do this, rather than having to find new specialists who are in that stupid HMO's network, or spend large amounts to see my current doctors. (Switching now is expensive because I take one very expensive drug, the Kesimpta.)

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