The Harvest of Leaves

Friday morning the roofs of South Davis were frosted over. The leaves got a good icing and, during the night with wind and a bit of rain, they all fell off. This morning the back deck, the front terrace and the street were covered in yellow, red and brown leaves. I hope that one good sweeping will mean the end of the 2006 crop of leaves from the Chinese Pistache and the birch. What a wet, soggy mess!

Jim has had a pretty good day. He built a fire in the den fireplace and we hunkered down for a cold, drizzly "indoor" day. He wanted to go up to the library, which we did, and managed to stay up until about 4:30 when I finally urged him to sleep in the bed instead of slumped over on the couch. He slept about two hours before he had to get up to clear his throat and mouth. During the "awake" time we watched Mel Brooks' "Twelve Chairs" which we had seen about 40 years ago. It was better then. Since this is Saturday, there is the obligatory football to take up the silence. Overall, I would say he has had a good, restful day. There is something about "resting" that is against his nature. Whether it seems a waste of time, a sign of weakness, boring, or the perfect opportunity for someone to pull a fast one, I don't know. But the doc has told him that he should rest at every opportunity. It's the body's way of saying, "Help me out here. You need to stop so I can recoup." But even the doc is fighting an uphill battle. Jim has some swelling in his ankles and hands today, but his blood pressure was good. He got pumped full of fluids, including saline solution during chemo, so that may be what is causing that situation. If it doesn't go down tomorrow it will be an item for discussion with the doc on Monday.

Alex will return home tomorrow after a week here. It has been wonderful to have her here. Both girls have been a real source of strength to both of us.

Travel Request
We have been talking about getting away to someplace warm before we go off to Mexico in February. The name "Hawaii" came up. We have never traveled there together ~ I spent two weeks on Oahu at the East/West Center for work many years ago ~ and consequently know nothing about which island to visit or which part/coast of an island is best. We want to rent an apartment or condo for about a week or 10 days. Any suggestions?

Good night and good luck.