Thank you, Toronto.

From Red Sox Nation. 😛

My online passport renewal took 10 days from start to finish.

The time quoted is 4-6 weeks, so it was quite a surprise. You submit your own photo, so my patient husband kept taking until I found one I didn't hate. It arrived today so that's that for ten years.

Willie tonight

He sounded good, better than the last time we saw him. That goes for Bob Dylan too, also tonight. Hard to get a picture of him since he hides in a hoodie behind bright lights.

I can't believe TSF followed me to Alberta.

I'm two hours north of him but the stench wafts up and pollutes the whole province. Luckily I'll be off to Boston tomorrow.

There is not much that can make me feel like I'm past my expiration date,

but today after getting a nice haircut at a salon I declared, "I look like Gloria Steinem!" Nobody in the place knew who that was. 😳

Not the lottery I wanted to win: Glaucoma and macular degeneration,

both, which my doctor says is not that common. What a bother! Drops, shunts, more drops...

The worst thing is poor depth perception. I can read my phone with no glasses, and my "good" eye is still good enough with glasses for me to drive (soon to be reassessed), but stepping off a curb is like that scene in Beetlejuice where they open the door and the floor falls away.

I've just read that exercises to improve hand-eye coordination, like playing catch with a ball, can help depth perception. I want to be able to jog and hike!

I've been able to see for 80 years, which not everyone can say. Trying to be optimistic.

Do you like my shirt?

I'm wearing it to Zumba on Thursday, my first day back since knee replacement a month ago. I'm done now, no more joints to replace. Both hips, both shoulders, both knees done. I'm 80 years old but my joints are teenagers, kids, and babies.

November sunrise

In spite of it all, I turn 80 today.

Six family members whisked me off this weekend to NYC where we saw Wicked, feasted at the Russian Tea Room, and walked around enjoying the sights.

I wasn't in the mood to go, but it had been planned months ago, when we couldn't imagine the horror that was coming.

It turned out to be a great distraction from sadness, and now my goal is just to look ahead to the midterms and try to outlive the bastard so I can breathe a sigh of relief for the world.

Yes, Louisiana is politically dismal, but when I bought a shirt at the airport gift shop just now,

with the TV blaring RW talking heads, I said to the clerk, "May the best woman win!" She replied with gusto, "May the best woman win!" I smiled as I walked away.