Month: May 2021

Monday, May 24   Deaths  2,624 (+2)   New cases 284

After more than a year of the pandemic our charts are getting crowded with too many data points. It’s time to simplify, time to focus on the overall trend of the pandemic. So, rather than reporting at ten-day intervals, the Pandemic Diary will henceforth publish monthly COVID severity charts. We hope this change will make it easier to see the big picture. The first of these charts is below. It shows data collected through April 30. Our next chart will come at the end of May.

Tuesday, May 25   Deaths  2,628 (+4)   New cases 424

It seemed like just another ordinary day: exercise class and infusion for E, garage/yard chores for M. Then more errands. Later on, though, our attention turned to matters anniversarial. Were there gifts? Cards? Dinner out? At a good restaurant? Inside with table service? Was there cake? Taittinger? There may well have been.

Wednesday, May 26   Deaths  2,639 (+11)   New cases 399

E went for her infusion and M set up his new streaming box. Then H dropped by and brought us a cheesecake! Was it the goopity kind with the sweet toppings and the cutesy crust, the restauranty kind of cheesecake? Nope. H makes the real stuff and it’s really tasty. In other news, we both took long naps. E provided Cirello’s pizza and green salad for dinner.

In COVID news, there is renewed interest in the possibility that the virus was produced in a lab and was then accidentally released into the wild. CNN did a feature on it and Biden has just asked the CIA to investigate it. Donald McNeil, a former NYT science reporter who initially resisted the idea, has published an interesting piece on why he has changed his mind. As McNeil puts it:

We still do not know the source of this awful pandemic. We may never know. But the argument that it could have leaked out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology or a sister lab in Wuhan has become considerably stronger than it was a year ago, when the screaming was so loud that it drowned out serious discussion.

One thing McNeil mentions is that early scientific dismissals of the lab leak possibility were based on the idea that genetic engineering of this type always leaves a particular tell-tale mark in the genetic structure of the new product. Since this COVID virus did not have the tell-tale, it must have been of natural origin. It turns out, however, that this argument was based on obsolete science. In recent years papers have been published that describe new techniques that do not leave such a tell-tale.

Thursday, May 27   Deaths  2,660 (+21)   New cases 433

Tertulia at Coffee Culture. It was raining a bit, but J and R got there early enough to get an outside table beneath the eaves. E brought our four sit-upons to make the cold metal chairs more tolerable. The rain soon faded away. We still wore our masks to go inside and order, then took them off outside. Everything is so much more relaxed than it was.

Friday, May 28   Deaths  2,665 (+5)   New cases 433

E is counting down her remaining infusion sessions. She has just six more to go. In the afternoon she did her usual Zoom yoga, which was slightly marred by audio difficulties. M is in the mood to get rid of unnecessary stuff. He has disposed of some stereo components and the old Apple TV via Craig’s List. (A pair of “vintage speakers” fetched $50.) This morning he put several items out by the sidewalk with a Free sign, and all but one of them are gone. (Nobody seems to want an eleven foot long length of garden hose. What’s wrong with people?) And he’s about to mail his old laptop to some buyback outfit in Cincinnati, who have offered him $118 for it despite it’s warped case and iffy battery. 

In the afternoon we had a nice visit with P. She came over at 4:00 and we sat at the patio table and had margarita wine cocktails, spanakopita, olives, and slivers of cheesecake. The weather was breezy but not too cold. A pleasure to see P, who is always gracious. 

In the evening we started watching a Spanish language series called Well Hidden Secret (Secreto Bien Guardado). The series is divided into ten 25-minute episodes. We were interested enough to watch three of them. In Argentina in 1940, a young Jewish girl and youngish Nazi lawyer fall in love. Oh boy. 

Saturday, May 29   Deaths  2,666 (+1)   New cases 376

The Pandemic Diary is excited to report that sometime this morning M’s offer of a free eleven-foot garden hose was finally accepted. That stuff is gone. And, just before lunch, a new thing arrived, an accent chest from India. It is part of the Global Archives Collection from Jofran, Inc. which is headquartered in Massachusetts. But it was shipped from California in its original Indian cardboard and is being sold through Wayfair via Kelley Clarkson Home. So we know it must be good. 

E went downtown in the afternoon, primarily for the purpose of a 15-minute consultation with a potential hair stylist, but then also to be able to look around all over the place for a bunch of things she needs for her multitude of projects. She didn’t find much to her liking, though. After three and a half hours, all she brought back was a tiger. What does E need with a tiger? you might ask. And how did she manage to get it into her car?

Sunday, May 30   Deaths  2,668 (+2)   New cases 257

E went straight to work watering the front yard this morning, while M made waffles. Not too long afterward, E was off to her infusion appointment and M worked on downloading some forest maps and an app to read them off-line. Before lunch E had a Skype call with her friend M in Madrid. M and her husband, the other M, are planning to go out and celebrate because it has been two weeks since their second vaccine doses. 

Later on we worked on summer vacation plans. We looked at car rental and E spoke to Mrs. H and MB about some things she wants to do as part of our trip to the northeast in August. Then we made holiday plans for Memorial Day, mainly focusing on potato salad(!) and hot dogs. Then it was time for a walk, followed by a dinner of leftover pizza and salad on the back patio. The temperature was in the eighties today, dropping into the seventies just in time for dinner. The back yard looks just ridiculous these days–peonies, poppies, iris, yarrow, upright phlox, plus roses all over the place. One of our milkweed plants is doing especially well. 

After dinner we finished watching Well Kept Secret. Was it deep? No, uh-uh, wouldn’t call it deep; wouldn’t call it believable either; might call it contrived. It moved right along though and it had its own unique style. Plus, the cars and the clothes were very good. M noticed the patina on the hubcap of the period correct Chrysler. E admired the spunky character and elegance of the main actress. Plus, the show was well-meaning in its way. It was earnest, kind of sweet. And, as such series go, mercifully short.

Monday, May 17   Deaths  2,590 (+3)   New cases 310

At the beginning of March, the rate at which people in Oregon tested positive for COVID was fairly low, about 3%. At the end of March, though, the rate started to creep up. It April it rose to more than 5% and this rate continued into the first week of May. It is interesting to see that in the middle of that period the daily death rate also began rising. So, first came a rise in the positive test rate and then, a little later, came the rise in deaths. If we look at the present time, we see that deaths are still a little high, but the positive test rate is falling. Hopefully that’s a good sign.

Today E had not one, not two, not three, but four visits to various medical facilities. That’s a first for her, a new personal best you might say. Or you might not. But all told, the news is good, so we are not complaining. And between appointments, E bought a new pair of shoes. We also thought about ice cream, but, alas, did not eat any. We had a good dinner though. Leftover boeuf bourguignon.

On 20 Minutes, Melek is definitely dead. Dead and buried. Sad.

Tuesday, May 18   Deaths  2,594 (+4)   New cases 484

Just one medical appointment today for E. How dull. No challenge to that. After her infusion we went to the Vietnamese Baguette to get some sandwiches. We get the same sandwiches there every time, a number seven and a number ten. What a rut we’re in! And happy to be in it! We took the sandwiches to Avery Park and had our lunch at a picnic table near the rose garden. There weren’t many roses blooming. The roses there are in a sunny but exposed location, which may explain why our backyard roses are blooming sooner.

In the late afternoon E attended a meeting of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society. The full membership was in attendance. Over the past year the Society’s meeting schedule has been irregular due to the pandemic, so there was a lot to catch up on, especially pie eating. 

On 20 Minutes, Melek is very much alive. It was all a trick! (Or maybe she is dead and these scenes of a living Melek are just dreams from which Ali will wake. It’s hard to be sure.) M has been pondering about the difference between an actor pretending to be a character who is sad and an actor pretending to be a character who is pretending to be sad. M may include a chapter about it in his next book, “Reality III.”

Wednesday, May 19   Deaths  2,601 (+7)   New cases 394

We had some rain today, not much but very welcome. E had a fairly quiet day with no Zoom classes and only one medical appointment. She used this free time to prepare a rather complicated vegetarian meal involving sauerkraut, potatoes, tempeh, meatless sausage, and juniper berries. M worked outside for a little while, then spent much of the day reading an Ivan Doig novel. In the afternoon E did some sewing and M made refrigerator pickles. 

In the evening we watched the last episodes of 20 Minutes. The ending was good. And of course the plot was not resolved until the final seven minutes of this 59-episode show. In both of these last two episodes things moved so fast that we didn’t have time to pay too much attention to the many, many details that made no sense whatever. And besides, there was no point in chasing plausibility at this point. That critter went extinct 50 episodes back. No, the main thing you want after watching a show like this is an ending that is emotionally satisfying. And they got that right. As usual, a couple of secondary good characters had to die. But the main characters survived, the younger lovers found each other, and the main villains all went down in very appropriate ways. The very last scene began at the graves of the two good characters who had died. Their graves were on a verdant hillside above a beautiful and secluded beach. Down on the beach Ali, Melek, and the kids were laughing and chasing each other around, with Melek and Duru both wearing two-piece(!) swimsuits. Where was this scene? A private island maybe? Or maybe it was heaven and it only happened after the whole family died? It was kind of ridiculous, but also…just right.

Thursday, May 20   Deaths  2,606 (+5)   New cases 603

It’s the 420th day of pandemic record keeping. About a month ago the Oregon COVID fatality rate fell to its lowest point since July of last year. Since then, however, it has been rising again. Here’s the new chart.

Tertulia today in the morning sunshine at Coffee Culture. Construction has begun on J & R’s house addition. During preliminary excavations, workers accidentally severed an underground cable, leading to J & R being left without wireless internet. A repair person from the cable company has promised to come sometime today. To get that arranged, of course, was a major triumph. Nothing is ever easy when dealing with the cable company.

In the morning M did some work on the edging for Hummock #3, breaking off when it started to rain. E had her exercise class and then went for her infusion. During these infusion sessions, the staff at the center usually offer her a juice or some tea. Yesterday, she was disappointed to have been offered nothing. But today? Today she got an egg salad sandwich! Life is good.

We’re having H over for dinner tonight. E and H have long had the custom of taking each other out to dinner for their birthdays and H’s birthday is imminent. Since going out to eat is not so pleasant these days, we’re dining here and getting take-out from one of her favorite restaurants.

M has been transported back to his childhood by a passage in the novel he’s reading. There’s a long section that describes haying as it was done back in the 1930’s. One of the jobs at harvest time was to drive the team that pulled the horse-drawn scatter rake. M is much too young to have seen a horse-drawn hay rake in action, but on the farm where he lived when he was ten, there was a long obsolete example rusting away in one corner of the barnyard. It looked pretty much like the one in the photo below. M used to spend hours sitting on the comfortable iron seat, occasionally trying to work the rust-bound control lever. What exactly he was imagining all that time we do not know. 

Friday, May 21   Deaths  2,613  (+7)   New cases 504

A certain amount of living room rearranging went on today, after which we both napped. Thus refreshed, we proceeded to do some late afternoon anniversary present shopping at the jewelry store. Perked us right up. Apparently some kind of geegaw was purchased. For the next few days M’s job is to keep the package hidden and E’s job is to try and forget what’s in it so that she can be pleasantly surprised on Tuesday.

Saturday, May 22   Deaths  2,618 (+5)   New cases 509

Something of an unusual Saturday. We started with a very light breakfast before E’s 9 AM infusion appointment. M did something in the yard while she was gone. But he didn’t stay out for long because when E returned she was carrying chocolate croissants so that we could have a real breakfast. Very sensible. A while later M went out the grocery store to buy some salmon and asparagus for supper. Normally Saturday is take-out day, but we just had a big Indian meal with H and we are planning to actually go out and eat in a restaurant on Tuesday. So. Let’s do something simple at home. E’s project for the day was to clean her car, inside and out. First she went to the car wash to use their vacuum and to rinse off the bark dust. Bark dust? Well, it seems that while she was parked at one of the many lots in the sprawling medical complex that her infusers call home, the bark mulch unit arrived to spread a new layer on all the flowerbeds. The bark mulch is applied via a giant air hose that spews tons of the stuff, some of which drifts off into the air and covers any vehicles who happen to be near. So that was one reason for the cleaning, and that part of the process was done at the car wash. Another issue, was that the interior hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned since last fall. E attacked that aspect here in the driveway in front of the garage. It was a long process and when it was done, the car looked beautiful. But it wouldn’t start. Deadsville. E scrubbed it so hard she killed it. 

Or…it could have been more or less coincidental. The battery had already shown some signs that it was wearing out. Today turned out the be the first day of actual failure. Well. What to do? E was counting on having the car to get to tomorrow’s 9 AM appointment. Could we get it fixed today? Let’s see, it’s 5:30 now, how late is the parts store open? Till six? No, actually till 10:00. Okay then.

M removed the old battery, put it in the back of the truck, and went off to AutoZone to trade it for a new one. When M returned, we stopped for dinner, which was pretty good, and then M skipped dessert and went out to install the new battery. E offered to help and when her assistance was declined, she had some maple sugar candy instead.

Sunday, May 23   Deaths  2,622 (+4)   New cases 334

After an early morning infusion in an mostly deserted medical facility, E did weekly chores at home and went card shopping. M went into the woods again–into the Coast Range where it rains a lot. Today, for example, it rained for fifteen minutes in Corvallis where E was, but it rained for about three hours where M was, just 35 miles west. M saw mostly just trees and got lost twice; all he really found was a old Ford log truck.

When M got back to town, his own truck was in a such a state that it required a visit to the car wash before it could return to the driveway. A little later on we had a Zoom meeting with E’s brothers. We discussed plans for the summer at the lake and were invited to drop in for ice cream any time. The suggestion was well-received. 

On TV we watched episode 8 of Templanza, a Spanish series set in the Jerez wine country in the late 1800’s. More on that later. We also finished up Atlantic Crossing.

Monday, May 10   Deaths  2,533 (+3)   New cases 388

It’s the 410th day of Pandemic Diary record keeping and time for another chart.

The Oregon Health Authority reported today that 1,467,659 people have been fully vaccinated and that another 514,824 have received first doses and are awaiting a second. The total population of Oregon is about 4,240,000. Speaking of vaccinations, there was interesting news today from Buffalo, N.Y., where Erie County is partnering with a microbrewery to encourage vaccinations. Anyone who gets a shot of the Moderna vaccine gets a voucher for a free drink at the brewery. When they come back for a second shot (of the vaccine) they get another free beer.

The plants have been left mostly unsupervised for a few days. They seem to be getting along anyway.

Tuesday, May 11   Deaths  2,549 (+16)   New cases 660

M has been thinking that the Porsche needed some proper exercise. The best Porsche roads are many miles away. But it couldn’t be put off any longer. So this morning M packed himself a lunch and an overnight bag, extricated the Porsche from the garage, and drove off.

E had her exercise class and then went off for her daily infusion. She spent the afternoon preparing a complicated vegetarian meal and ate it by herself. Either that or she went to Pastini’s with H. One of those.

It took M two hours to get to the other side of the Cascades and and another hour and a half to get across the boring flatlands that came next. In the mirror there’s a snowcapped peak slowly disappearing far behind.  

M ate his lunch at a park in the town of Silver Lake. It was quiet in Silver Lake and there was an awful lot of space in all directions. 

Past Silver Lake Oregon Highway 31 stops being straight and flat and the drive gets more interesting. M’s route led him to the end of 31, where it meets U.S. 395 near the south end of Lake Abert. At the junction M turned north. The highway follows the east shore of the long, mostly dry lake. It’s a wonderful driving road: smooth pavement, excellent visibility, very little traffic, lots of sweeping curves. The Porsche is magic here. 

Wednesday, May 12   Deaths  2,558 (+9)   New cases 616

M woke up at about 7:00 in a motel in Burns, Oregon. After a pretty bad hotel breakfast, he was on the road again, this time going farther north on another very fine segment of U.S. 395. It’s lovely country and the road has some places where you could go pretty fast if you wanted to. It’s also where you find the Silvies Ranch. It’s a 400,000-acre working cattle ranch and also a destination resort with a golf course and spa. It’s a fly-in kind of place, so the highway stays empty.

When he reached John Day, M finally turned west toward home. For a while his route took him down the John Day river canyon on U.S. Highway 26. Here’s where 26 enters the canyon.

M got home around 4:00. He was tired and the car was a horror show of splattered insects. Seven hundred miles total.

Thursday, May 13   Deaths  2,572 (+14)   New cases 733

M got up early and washed the Porsche. Once it was presentable, we took it to tertulia with J&R sans R. The two of them had just returned from a trip to St. George, Utah. J said they did some lovely slot canyon hikes, avoiding the big national parks in the area and finding more out of the way things. Their son had some problems in the cycling segment of his Iron Man, and so had a disappointing finish. 

In the early afternoon, we once more found ourselves in a nursery buying plants. Is there no way out of this nightmare? When we got home, we took naps. Then E did laughter yoga. Finally M made dinner and all was well.

Friday, May 14   Deaths  2,582 (+10)   New cases 713

Busy day. In the morning E planted another Lewisia and then went off for an infusion. M spent a couple of hours doing more planting..  

After lunch E did Zoom yoga and then went to visit with her friend S, who is leaving town soon to be close to her family in Nebraska. E is trying to plan a farewell get together in the next few days.

For dinner M made beef bourguignon. (E is thinking that she needs extra protein for healing.)

Saturday, May 15   Deaths  2,585 (+3)   New cases 751

More yard work. E did more planting. M mowed. E also wrote a letter to a friend, a real letter, in long hand. Yes. We mailed it on the way to MofC to get sushi for dinner.

We’re nearing the end of our Turkish TV series and things are really hopping. Ali and the Cat have succeeded in helping Melek break out of custody. They did it by intercepting the prison van in which she was being transferred from a prison in Istanbul to a prison somewhere in the back of beyond. But she was wounded in the process and died of her wounds! But wait, Melek can’t die! Melek is innocent and good; we knew that she could never have actually had an affair with that awful jerk and we were sure it was someone else who stabbed him eight or ten times, which should have killed him but unfortunately did not. At least, we thought we knew those things. But then we learned that Melek is not really Melek! She is Mevre and Melek was her younger sister. And now we learn that she is not really innocent either. She didn’t have an affair with the awful jerk, but she did try to kill him. He was actually stalking her and she recognized him as the man who raped her younger sister fifteen years ago, the younger sister who then committed suicide and whose name her sister Mevre took for herself. So whoever she is, this M woman is kind of interesting. And the series is not over. So did she really die? She was taken to the morgue and Ali sure thinks she’s dead. He’s mad with grief. But only Özan and Mirel know for sure. Either way, that jerk Kerim is going to make trouble. Fully recovered from his stabbing-induced coma–you know how that is–he seems primed to take over his father’s evil empire of thugs and torturers. 

Sunday, May 16   Deaths  2,587(+2)   New cases 507

M went four wheeling in the mountains and was frustrated at every turn. E, on the other hand, besides getting infused, hosted a farewell party for S. Several of S’s former Yoga students came by to offer best wishes. They all gathered at long outdoor table. E provided cherry tomatoes, lemon cookies, Tazo teas, and a bouquet of iris and lilies from our garden. S was in good spirits and all was well.

M had planned well for his tour, noting exactly which roads would take him up one side and down the other. But did this planning do him any good? Nicht! Did he go up one side and end up coming down the same side? Alas yes. He tried Road 1509 southwest–snow. He tried Road 1509 southeast–snow. He then tried Road 2024 northeast but he took a wrong turn and came to dead end, but then he found the correct turn only to be thwarted by…snow. What is snow even doing there when the temperature is in the seventies? Ninety-nine point nine percent of the road is dry dusty gravel. Well, it’s just in a few of the deepest shady places on north facing slopes, but that was enough. 

Monday, May 3   Deaths  2,502 (+1)   New cases 540

M went out early and got three fat rainbow trout. Wow! There was a momentary difficulty when the assistant in the meat department had a little trouble wrapping them securely, but otherwise it was pretty easy. E then went and picked out a bunch of fruits and vegetables from the Co-op. So did we have deluxe fish dinner? No. The fish are marinating (drinking red wine) for tomorrow; we had leftover spinach lasagna and it was great.

E is not happy with the condition of her foot, but has agreed to accept the advice of a podiatrist, an MRI clinic, and an infectious disease specialist. Nobody knows for certain, but the MRI seems to indicate a bone infection in the great toe. The remedy is to undergo daily infusions of antibiotics for 4-6 weeks. Whew! With much trepidation, she had her first infusion today and was relieved to find it not nearly as bad as she had expected. A lot of her relief was due to the cheerful and caring nurses and the view from the window at the infusion center.

In other news, we have rearranged the living room and we don’t think we like it. Still, we were able to watch TV with the new arrangement. We learned that Melek’s real name is Mevre and that she apparently used to meet with Kerim Solmaz every Friday in the months before he was attacked. It certainly looks like they were lovers, but something tells us that eventually we will find that there is an innocent explanation for these meetings.

Tuesday, May 4   Deaths  2,508 (+6)   New cases 748

Eve had her second infusion today, but before that we made a return to Rittner Creek Park. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed seeing the place in a different season. 

B and B came to dinner to help with the trout. It was good to catch up with them. They’re leaving tomorrow for a trip down to California to see family. 

Wednesday, May 5   Deaths  2,509 (+1)   New cases 808

E had her PICC insertion today, a long drawn-out affair as it happened. It took a long time because the first attempt was off target, so the procedure had to be redone. Ugh. Also, the computer in the treatment room was an in-patient specialist and got very grumpy when expected to deal with the fact that E was an out-patient. At that point another medical device in the room began flashing a ‘low battery’ warning, perhaps out of sympathy. E did survive, however, and is behaving normally–if you can call it that.

Thursday, May 6   Deaths  2,514 (+5)   New cases 763

Another day, another infusion. The PICC, as unpleasant as it was to have fitted, is doing its job well. It makes the infusion process easier and E says it is amazingly comfortable all things considered. Scheduling the daily sessions remains an issue.

M spent the morning futzing with his Rube Goldberg irrigation system and then went out and bought some all terrain tires for the truck along with a roast chicken for dinner. No, it was not a chicken he ran over with his new tires, but one from the M.o.C. deli.

And somewhere along the way, we found a place to hang our Turkish oil painting. It had been on the floor leaning against a wall ever since the TV was mounted in the space where it used to hang. Its one of our favorite souvenirs, a moon so bright it’s blinding.

Friday, May 7   Deaths  2,522 (+8)   New cases 844

E had a Zoom appointment with her doctor today, short and easy. The doctor said to carry on with the infusion treatments. It seems like there’s not much else she could say at this point. E then had to go to a real appointment to get the day’s infusion. M stayed home and set up his new HomePod so he can tell Siri to play things in stereo. 

After her medical morning, E was well enough to go to the Patissier and get breakfast treats for tomorrow. Then the two of us took a load of things to the Humane Society Thrift Shop and got some lattes on the way home. Then it was time for travel plans. We now have tickets for our trip east next August. Whew. Dinner was falafel sandwiches with tahini sauce, cucumbers, tomato, and lettuce. Gin on the side. 

For TV we watched more of 20 Minutes. We’re up to Episode 49 of 59 and things are moving a lot faster lately–not necessarily getting anywhere, but at least moving faster. For one thing, Kerim is out of his coma and is able to engage in communication of a frustratingly cryptic kind. For another, Melek’s husband Ali had sex with Raven, who has long been smitten with him. Ali had been resisting, but when he became convinced that Melek had been having an affair with Kerim, one thing led to another. And now Ali is really mad at Raven. How could she have done it, slept with a married man? Raven finds this a little peculiar. Don’t we all. And the next day when Raven was kidnapped by the bad guys and the Cat asked Ali to help rescue her, Ali refused. What a dud character he is. We in the audience, fortunately, are more on top of things than Ali. We know that Melek and Kerim share a terrible secret and that the secret is not that they were having an affair. They’re both acting like it’s much worse than that.   

Saturday, May 8   Deaths  2,528 (+7)   New cases 833

A quiet and uneventful day. Nice croissant breakfast, then after a bit E went for her infusion. While she sat there, a talkative nurse told her stories about goings on in the hospital during the COVID crisis. Apparently there was a certain amount of tension stemming from disagreements about the best ways of coping with the pandemic. Resignations ensued. 

E also went shopping and came back with a couple of spring blouses with sleeves loose enough to go around the plumbing connection on her upper arm. M puttered, cleaning out a drawer and finishing a Jacqueline Winspear novel that E finished last week. In that novel, which is set in 1939, the murder weapon is a handgun called the Ruby. The Ruby was a real gun. It was based on an American model–the FN Browning 1905 Vest Pocket semi-automatic. Although real Vest Pockets were made in the U.S., several other versions were manufactured in Europe under license. These were  given the name Ruby and were used by many European armies in both world wars. Winspear mentions that in England the Ruby was sometimes referred to as a “Browning” because it was a Browning design. All well and good. Winspear had done some research. But every time she mentions the Ruby, she calls it a revolver. The Ruby was/is not a revolver. We are not saying that Winspear had to call it an semi-automatic; she could have used a general word like pistol or handgun; but calling it a revolver is a terrible sin for the writer of a mystery novel. Where was her editor?! This novel had about ten references to a ‘Ruby revolver’ and by the seventh or eighth M was bordering on hysterical rage. (Nothing odd about that, eh?) You might wonder how M even knows anything about this. Well, as it happens, he has a minor interest in John Browning because Browning spent most of his life in Ogden, Utah. The FN Browning 1905 Vest Pocket was almost certainly designed in his workshop there, as were many of the most famous guns of the last century.

Sunday, May 9   Deaths  2,530 (+2)   New cases 610

We went to up to Portland for Mothers Day. Andrea had invited us to brunch. (Andrea knows that E loves the whole idea of holiday celebration by means of a nice brunch.) We went to a place called The Hammond Kitchen and Craft Bar. They specialize in exotic cocktails and E had a creamy sweet one. She thinks it probably had a huge number of calories, but not too much alcohol, which was about right. The food was very fine. E had quinoa yam cakes with roasted red pepper sauce and vegetables, some deviled eggs, and for dessert a bit of shared rhubarb strawberry tart. Before we left E got to open several nice very gifts. From there, we all went down to sit by the river for a while. Beautiful weather. All in all, E was very pleased.