RUSSKA

One of my Venny friends loaned me the 760-page book Russka.  Spent most of yesterday with my eyes reading page after page of 1,800 years of Russian history.  The bookmark is right now at page 372.

A hardcover book this size gets heavy in one's hands, but that's okay.   Have read the Harry Potter series, War and Peace by Tolstoy, all of Henry David Thoreau's Journals, Anna Karenina by Tolstoy,  The Far Pavilions, the OT and NT, The Pillars of the Earth, and scads more long and difficult reads. 

Today I have a 2 o'clock doctor's appointment, including fasting blood work at 1:00.  Yuck.  This is the annual Medicare check-up.  Will get my annual flu shot at the same time.  We've gotten both of our Moderna Covid vaccines and both shingles shots.  Can only imagine that some of my numbers will be screwy.  The ones that should be high will be low, and the low ones will be high.  Before the nurse weighs me, I tell her to keep the number to herself.  If it's really outta whack, the doctor will kindly and compassionately tell me to walk more.  Been through the gig hundreds of times.  I figure if I was a foot taller, I'd be perfect. 

Thank heavens we reach a point in life where GUILT eases into I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S PATOOTY.  With nearly 8 billion of us evolutionized monkeys walking the earth, I doubt very much whether anyone cares how I look.  When we reach a certain age, we're tossed into one big dumpster tagged OLD.  We become old men and old ladies.  Our attitude becomes our only defensive weapon.  Last winter I bought myself an I DON'T CARE sweatshirt....black print on white.  It's my favorite and can't wait for cold weather so I can wear it.

The day is overcast again.  The sun is trying to peek through the clouds, with little luck.  I've just got to get myself from now until about 3:30 this afternoon, and then I can celebrate the day.....barring no big discoveries at doc's office.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the doctors who take care of my health...some of the world's finest, and they're cherished.  Despite all the crap that life doles out to each of us, I'm incredibly blessed.  Not one day in my life have I gone hungry or thirsty, I've always had clothes and shelter, wonderful people and pets to laugh and cry with, and books in which to burrow my brain.  And, to top it off, a blog where I can share my life with the dearest of the dearest.  Ta-ta.