Hooray--back in the land of the living! I'm almost completely back to my old self, appetite included, which may not be a good thing. I met Susan for our regular walk at 7 am, had breakfast, then changed my bed, vacuumed, tidied up, and even took down some of the Christmas decorations. Made myself a big salad and had that and half an acorn squash for lunch; got various other chores done. Called my Cincinnati Sis, Marifran K. and we had a good, long chat. I didn't go out, though, as snow fell all day and we got about--well, between four inches and two feet. (Ha! Have no idea, but it looked like a lot.)
Nevertheless, after dinner, I showered, dressed and trekked down nervously to the H.'s, two doors away. The R.'s and D.'s came in and what a wonderful evening we had! Dominos was great fun and we played, laughed, and nibbled on snacks. I had a very small amount of red wine, then switched to ice water, as I haven't had any alcohol since I got back from California and wanted to be sure it wouldn't bother me.
WIDER: We stayed until almost 11:00 and after the game, started talking about the present state of the country. Now, this group is mixed. It consists of progressive liberal pacifists (the R.'s and me), the R.s committed Mennonites, I "fallen away," as the saying used to go; the H.'s, irreligious, though strongly conservative; and the D.'s, more conservative than not, old-fashioned Catholics. It was amazing, though, how closely our viewpoints about the present state of affairs converged. We agreed, pretty much, that our elected "representatives," of whatever political stripe, are the scum of the earth, that we are owned by the corporations that run the country and, indeed, the world, that the media are whores, education has turned itself into a sick joke, and the middle class has been struck down and trampled. We truly believe the empire is collapsing, as all empires do; Frank a bit more optimistic, saying he thought, rather then a major collapse, that what was coming was the relegation of the U.S. to a "second rate" country "like the U.K." I was glad when Dennis mentioned the hugely obscene amounts we spend in order to kill people--"what, more than the rest of the world combined?" I asked rhetorically--and, although the H.'s and D.'s are strongly supportive of the military, they didn't dispute the illogic--in fact, the immorality--of this.
It was a wonderful evening among wonderful friends, and good, serious talk. I'm lucky to live here.