Maybe it was the 66-hour power outage, the encounter with idiots at the Verizon Wireless store, Candy’s tough run at Spaulding, or Judy’s passing away, but my Qi has been shattered this week.

I snapped out of it long enough last night to save us the expense of dining out with a nice pollock baked in onions and cream.

Ron and I got to see Ruthie Foster and Mavis Staples and their touring bands – what a show! We lucked out for weather, too, dry roads and no snow from 7 to almost midnight. Saw a few breakdowns, though, very sad for vehicles to be in danger like that.

Spent part of yesterday finishing up the medical reimbursement account documentation. We’ll pretty much clean out Ron’s balance, and he’s fine with that.

Ron is almost finished reassembling the wood CD rack. It has been a trial, but he’s powering through it.

I dragged him out for supper at Zoe’s, which we both thoroughly enjoyed: veggie pizza and Greek salad.

I’ve been staring at a couple of blood sausage Ron bought that have been sitting in the meat tray since Christmas.

Quite honestly, I was afraid to cook them, but finally bit the bullet tonight.

Ron had shoveled a path to the grill a couple of days ago. It’s still getting dark kind of early, so I haven’t taken the hint; he looked so downcast when I suggested that we make a meal of salad, though, that I threw on some shoes and started cooking, outside as he suggested since he knows how much I hate stove top frying.

I’ve never grilled blood sausage and couldn’t find a recipe online, so had no idea how long to keep it on the heat or what it looks like when done.

The sausage would have been good and I could have cooked it inside, and I’ll do better next time, I hope.

I’ve been working on cellar cleanup in the hope that some day, we can build a rec room.

Found a suitcase full of really good CDs that Ron had in his storage unit, and he’s agreed to repair a wood CD rack so we can store his music properly.

I did get as far as cleaning off the pool table and setting up the net. I’ve been finding and putting aside decorative items so we can make this a space for Ron’s things.

We got word via email from Peter that Judy passed away yesterday at 5 PM.

In all the advice I’ve read about how to prepare for getting older, I’ve not seen a word about how to adjust to the death of friends.

I’ve done a lot of reading about Judy’s condition, which has been described as “unusual” and “rare”. As far as I can tell, it was treatable. I still can’t understand why her brain stopped functioning unless it was the result of infection.

I’ve known Judy for 20 years and can’t imagine her not being there for the annual Fourth of July party or other family occasions.

I saw Candy yesterday. She’s very unhappy, and I wanted to bring her books on tape, just to take her mind off things, but her nurse said that wouldn’t be allowed. Of course, she couldn’t explain why.

We went to Plymouth District Court today to support our friends who will be on trial for trespassing at Pilgrim: Joyce, Paul, Bill. We basically just sat there after talking briefly with each one. After listening to the lawyers drone on and on, my sympathies are with the judge.

This week’s theme is “just being there”, and it’s frustrating. There’s nothing we can do for anyone except that.

Good stuff from Senator Sanders:

“On February 7, 2013, Senator Bernie Sanders is introducing legislation to crack down on
Wall Street and corporate tax avoiders that are avoiding tens of billions in taxes every
year by shifting profits to the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. Rep. Jan
Schakowsky (D-IL) is introducing the companion bill in the House.”

I signed up with Credo today. Yesterday’s ugliness provided just the kick in the pants I needed. Up yours, Verizon Wireless, you snotty, sexist, tax-dodging SOBs.

We were without electricity for 66 hours, from Friday at 9 to 3 PM today. We were lucky: most of Bourne, Plymouth and Rochester are still without power and not projected to be fully restored until Thursday night.

I “celebrated” by doing a small load of laundry, running the dishwasher and baking.

It’s been raining today and some of the snow and ice has melted. I went to the Falmouth library to catch up on email this morning and was treated with such kindness that I started to cry.

Ron and I did the transfer station run around 9:30 this morning and by the time we got back, the BBBS truck had picked up our donations.

Hope they and everyone else who worked today gets home safely.

We parked our vehicles lengthwise in the driveway and brought in anything that could be a flying object. We have gas, batteries, cash, groceries and water. Loaded up on fruit and vegetables last night. It would be nice to have a generator and a fireplace.

Visited Candy yesterday. It was good for her to talk with Ron about his recovery from brain damage.

Bad news from Peter last night about Judy. This has been very hard to understand; the impact on the Nowiks will be unimaginable. If she were my sister, I’d be seething.

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with a lot of kitchen and household odds and ends, so when the Big Brother Big Sister organization asked if they could schedule a pickup this week, that seemed a very good idea.

I started working yesterday and finished this evening. It didn’t take long to actually sort things out, but we’re expecting weather tomorrow, so Ron and I covered everything with plastic bags: 10 packages in all.

BBBS are a terrific organization and well worth the effort. Besides, I am happy to donate useable goods which are no longer of use to me.