2006-09-18

It was still fair weather when we awakened this morning. After Morning Offering, Jim scooted off to mow like a madman, as heavy rain was forecast for sometime today. In the event, he triumphantly got every lawn mowed and also his other handyman chores done for that day before coming home in mid-afternoon.

I had a pleasurable morning working on Chapter Two, which talks about polarity. I am beginning to be happy with that section. After working it through again I started on the discussion of the service-to-others path.

After lunch I cleared my desk and got my prescriptions list updated to reflect the two new medications I am now taking for interstitial cystitis. I printed out a copy of the list for my visit with Dr. Johnson this afternoon. Then I came up and checked my e-mail. There were Steve M’s suggestions for correction of scientific terms in Chapter One. After taking a little time to make a date with Sandie for lunch and to let Gary know my MS Photo Manager is not working and ask him to check and see if he could adjust it, I started working with Steve’s suggestions for Chapter One.

By the time I needed to leave I was a fan of Steve’s editing style. He will be an excellent replacement for Bruce P, who used to be my science checker. I am most fortunate to have Steve to call on for this second eye on my words. It really needs to happen, since as a non-scientist I can use words poorly when it comes to scientific applications. Steve’s suggested changes are just what the text needed – changes like altering the word, weight, to the word, mass, in the text. Clearly that distinction means something to a scientist which eludes me! But it is good to get it right regardless.

Jim had finished for the day by the time I went to see Dr. Johnson, so he very kindly escorted me across the river to Indiana, as Dr. Johnson’s practice has moved from Fox Hollow to 21st Century Medicine in Clarksville, just about as close to get to as downtown from out east in the county where we live. Dr. Johnson gave me the materials for my hormone evaluation. He is in Integrative Medicine, which uses mainstream as well as naturopathic and other alternative resources for wellness. I must call my insurance before taking this take-home saliva test, as it is expensive and I need to find out if my insurance will pay for it.

Dr Johnson also prescribed a liver cleansing tea. He feels my transformational work in the last year or so has caused me to release a lot of toxins. This is great! However, processing all those toxins can slow down the liver, and he feels that, overall, this is my fundamental imbalance. I will enjoy drinking this herbal tea and bringing things more into balance in the liver. I was relieved to hear from him that drinking alcohol a couple of times a week, which I enjoy doing, will not place more stress on the liver. Drinking every day would, but as a child of an alcoholic I am not likely to allow myself to have a daily drinking habit. I like the taste of various alcoholic beverages like white wine and vodka, so I am pleased that I shall not have to give that up, in moderation of course.

The drive home from Indiana was breathtaking. The rains had descended at last. There was little wind but a saturation of humidity and, as we slowly inched across the bridge across the Ohio River’s half-mile of width, a mist lay on the water and gently thinned as it rose, so that the tops of the high-rise buildings of downtown Louisville could barely be seen, a delicate tracery of gray architecture against the gray sky. The river was streaming with rain and very flat, a supernally pure sheet of gray beneath us.

This trip takes forever in rush hour because there is only one lane on the bridge which will give people access to the expressways going east on the Kentucky side. It is a wholly inadequate amount of space for the traffic and the county is planning to build two new bridges across the Ohio River, both to the east of the city. That will eventually ameliorate the traffic crunch a good bit. Meanwhile, one lets the car’s engine idle its way forward across that span and seldom has to use the accelerator!

The beauty of this moment was saturated with the charm of old and worn-out things; what the Japanese call wabi sabi, I believe. It was a wabi sabi day! As we approached land, the beauty and mood turned more active and raffish. We could begin to see some colors amidst the heavily-falling rain as we drove through the unredeemed ashes of commercial failure at downtown Louisville’s edges.

Gary was busy at the L/L desk for part of the day, catching up on the always burgeoning Inbox for L/L Research.

Jim and I had a whirlpool bath and then spent the evening with the kitties. Valerie and Gary showed up for the Gaia Meditation, and I offered the closing prayer for peace. Jim and I had a lovely snuggle and sought our beds around 11 PM.