Except for two brief cold snaps, the late fall and early winter have been mild and wet here.  I get tired of the grey skies [it feels like my childhood and early adulthood in the Midwest] but we are grateful for all the rain.   The months long severe drought of 2022 was dangerous.  A replenishment of the water table is a great plus.  We need all this rain, and so far, we have had few downpours of the kind that are afflicting the West Coast.  Mostly, it has been gentle rain mostly and harder sometimes, but never flooding. 

I finally went back to the dentist. I was supposed to have two crowns put in when I was incapacitated.  Olga was very understanding of my weakness and did only the prep work on one molar yesterday. She even used a heart-friendlier anesthetic. So often on Facebook people give me advice on various health questions that show they live in cities.  I live out to sea on Cape Cod.  the resources in cities are not available here.  But the woods and the animals here are available. To me, after living in cities from birth through age 35, I love living in the woods.  I find it peaceful and nourishing.  It’s where I want to be.

It took me six weeks and only then with the help of my new doctor was I able to finally get to a cardiologist after being dismissed from the ICU.  All the ones I tried were not taking new patients. There’s a real and dangerous shortage of doctors here and in many places that aren’t big cities.  We seem to have enough dentists but try to get an appointment with that rare creature, a dermatologist.  I like my cardiologist. He’s pragmatic and communicates bluntly and clearly.

My appointment put off from when I was incapacitated with my dentist to get two crowns finally happened, but she understood my situation and only did the prep work for one I go back late in January to have the prep work for a crown done on the other molar.  She even used a different anesthesia that is gentler on the heart. It was much less of an ordeal that I had anticipated.

We began seek ordering Thursday night.  We do the vegetables together and then I do the few flower orders myself.  He does the shed and storeroom inventories so we can order what supplies we may need for the spring planting season.  We got from pole beans [the only kind of bean we bother with] through leeks.  Last night t we resumed with lettuce.  We grow a lot of lettuce in spring and fall.  Many kinds. We’re fond of salads. Got through winter squash. Today: tomatoes, herbs.

Now that the holidays are over, Willow, our mostly white female, is once again all over the house and less time in her condo in the storeroom wall.  Less visitors. We are getting back to doing far more work and housekeeping.  I have been writing haikus lately, I can’t quite say why.  Today I revised five poems that were too lax, too wordy.  I like them better now. I’m making slow but steady progress on my new book THE HOUR OF MY DEATH.  We still haven’t really had winter yet. No snow, only two brief cold snaps.  Lots of rain and mild temperatures.