Marge Piercy

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Let the Holidays Begin

Last Monday I left Dale with first section of my new book to fix all the corrections I made in it.  Woody took me to the oral surgeon, who had some trouble getting the deep roots of the molar out but  did it.

 

They no longer give you pain killers that actually work – medical people are terrified of giving opiates – so I had to rely on aleve.  I sort of worked, not so well the first days and nights.  When I got home, I kept bleeding and bleeding. I spoke with the oral surgeon twice and he had me apply an herbal teabag that I kept dipping in a glass of ice cubes and icy water and finally, finally that stopped the bleeding.  But I lost a fair amount of blood.

 

The pain continued also.  I called them twice but the oral surgeon said at my age, it takes a long time to stop.  It has finally slowed down and faded a bit, but it still get a few times a day and night and wakes up.  I am tired of it, believe me.  I have been eating only soft foods but soon I want to eat more normally so I can enjoy thanksgiving. 

 

I finished reading Gish Jen’s novel THE RESISTERS.  Given the new discussion of the possible effects of AI, it is a very timely book, published in 2020.  There’s a lot about baseball in it, which is not a sport that interests me, but I put up with that for the way she creates a full AI-run and what happens to normal and  not-so-normal so people.  Gwen, one of the important characters, is a pitching phenomenon. 

                               

I finally got all my summer clothes put away and most of my warmer clothes out

of storage from a back closet.  I have been cooking after the first evening, when I just made leek and potato soup for me and Woody.  I am hoping to change that soon. 

 

I have mostly been working inside as I needed to deal with the change of seasons and also to get control of my bedroom and office.  I have noticed that Willow has gained a fair amount of weight. It’s my fault. I have been feeding her extra Science diet because the boys, especially Shaman, tends to steal her food. I have to stop overcompensating. 

 

Getting dark so early does get to me.  But I’m ordering gifts for the holidays and actually have about half my shopping done.  We’ve shopped for thanksgiving and Woody got a smallish turkey for the eight of us.  Melenie is coming Wednesday afternoon and Jay will follow in time for supper – he has clients that day, So they’ll be driving two different cars.  I’m really looking forward to time with Melenie. It’s been awhile.