Losing a friend is never easy. But my last moments with Bootsy were the best I could hope for.

Losing a loved one is never easy. But if you have to say goodbye, the last moments I spent with our cat Bootsy were just about the best anyone could hope for.

“Just press this button when you’re ready,” the woman said after handing me my friend of 14 years. Then she closed the door so we could sit together in that quiet, comfortable room for as long as I needed to say goodbye.

That was cool.

Because I’ve lost many cats, but I’ve never gotten to say goodbye in such a soothing manner. And many times, I didn’t get to say goodbye at all.

Especially to my sweet boy Oz, a fluffy orange kitten I found crying up a tree. After eight years with us, he got very sick right before I was flying to visit family in Denmark, and died in the hospital before I got back home.

But the one good thing to come out of all the time and money my husband spent trying to give Oz, who was still a relatively young man, every chance to keep living — and yes, for me to see him again — was how respectfully that hospital treated both Oz and my husband at the end.

So when it came time to say goodbye to Bootsy, that handsome charmer who kept climbing over the neighbor's fence to flirt with me before he moved in with us, we went back to that hospital to put ourselves in the hands of their kind, respectful staff. 

They began the process by giving me a quiet room before taking Bootsy into the back with the doctors. When they returned him to me, he was wrapped in a blanket, which helped hide the catheter now in his leg for administering medicine.

“Take as much time as you need,” the woman said after handing me that very skinny, but still very handsome, tuxedo cat, explaining that if I didn’t want to be present for his last moments, she would take him back to the doctor when I was ready. But if I wanted Bootsy to stay with me, the doctor would come to us after I pushed the button.

Wearing a Bigfoot shirt I chose in honor of his brother, Sasquatch, who died suddenly a year earlier at 14, I sat with Bootsy and thought about how much nicer this goodbye was than all the others, even the other very expected one I had with another black and white cat I had for 20 years.

Because while the vet who put that dear friend to sleep had also been incredibly kind and respectful, the process was much more disturbing: Standing at a table which we already associated with countless stressful visits, watching my beloved friend be poked with a needle under fluorescent lights, then being left with his limp body in the room where I would later take our much younger cat, was a distressing way for us both to spend his last moments.

Not like being given a calming room reserved for just such occasions, sitting down with him wrapped in my arms, allowed to quietly say goodbye for as long as I wanted. 

“It’s OK, Bootsyman,” I whispered to him at the very end, and when the doctor bent over him, he said, “Goodbye, Bootsyman.”

That was very cool.

Coolest of all, though, is how Bootsy and his brother chose us to be their humans.

Hear that story and see both cats in the video below:

Five cool trolls, one super cool friend: How Patty made my "impossible" dream possible.

I hadn’t seen Patty in 10 years. But when I told her I wanted to come visit and try to see all five of the Thomas Dambo troll sculptures near Seattle in one day, she not only offered me a bed, she dropped everything else in her life to spend eight hours driving us all across the Puget Sound to make my crazy dream come true.

That was cool.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” I said, five hours into our quest with three trolls down. “And I can’t believe you agreed!”

“That's why we’re friends,” said Patty as we headed onto a ferry to see Oscar the Bird King, who lives on Vashon Island. “Because we both like doing crazy stuff like this.”

So it makes perfect sense that I met Patty because of an even crazier troll adventure, which 25 years later is still the craziest thing I have ever done: Not just driving to Seattle because of a troll, but moving there — where I had no job and knew no one.

It all began with a special episode of the television show “Bay Area Backroads” that had host Doug McConnell leaving California for Washington State to show his viewers the funky Seattle neighborhoods of Ballard and Fremont, which I fell in love with immediately. And as soon as I saw the Fremont Troll, I decided I had to live in a city with an 18-foot sculpture of a troll clutching a Volkswagen Bug under one of its bridges.

Which is how I found myself starting a new life in Seattle, spending the summer of 2000 sending out job applications and buying myself a City Pass so I could see the zoo, aquarium, art museum, Space Needle and the newly built Experience Music Project while I waited to get hired. I also joined a singles group called “Restless in Seattle” that hosted lots of cool outings like hikes and kayak trips, though I was really hoping to find women to be friends with, not a man to marry. And it worked, because I met two longtime friends there, one of whom was Patty.

And I soon learned that Patty was definitely a keeper when we started walking around Green Lake. A lovely lake in the center of Seattle, Green Lake has the perfect path for strolling: flat, only about three miles, but offering plenty of nature and people watching with every step. It was also a perfect place for us to meet after work twice a week to fit in more exercise and chats.

Which we did for a whole year without fail. In the rain we wore our waterproof jackets. When it got frigidly cold, we wore more fleece. When it started getting dark before 4 p.m., we bought little flashlights. I remember thinking one day, watching the tiny snowflakes falling at our feet while Patty giggled at my bright yellow “sport” flashlight, that she was not only the first friend I made as an adult outside of work, she was the first woman who never canceled plans with me. Not once.

Patty Possible: “Peter says it will be impossible,” said our friend Lori, who joined us to see two of the five trolls, explaining that when she told a co-worker of our plan, he did not believe it could be done, especially because at least one troll visit required taking a ferry there and back.

I certainly knew how fickle ferries could be, given that my landing a newspaper job across the Puget Sound is what finally ended our Green Lake walks, since I began spending at least two, sometimes three, hours a day commuting to Kitsap County. 

And I continued sailing to work for eight years: Eight years of boats I missed. Or boats that were late. Or boats that broke down. Or even boats that turned around for confused tourists. 

So Patty and I could have spent the day obsessing about the ferry schedule and letting it dictate our day of trolls, just as it dictated my weekdays for years. But we never even looked at the ferry schedule. 

We just drove to the docks when we needed a boat, and hoped one would be there. And it was. Every time we got in the line, there was a ferry at the dock waiting for us that we drove onto.

That was super cool. And felt like the ferry gods were smiling on our troll trek.

And so we did it, made it to all five trolls in one day. Yes, it might seem super silly, but it was super fun, and I loved every second of it. And I especially love Patty for not only sharing my crazy dream, but making it come true.

You can join us on our epic troll trek here:

Movies I saw in July: Megan 2.0, Jurassic World Rebirth

Theater poster for Megan 2.0.

I didn’t see a lot of movies in July, but the two I did catch last month continued a trend I am quite enjoying: No-nonsense women having the lead role.

The first was Megan 2.0 (7/01/2025, in the theater), which I will give a B+, mostly because it was exactly what I wanted, and even better than I expected. I did not see the first Megan movie because it looked too scary for my taste, but I gleaned that the sequel would be more my speed, happily discovering it is basically a female version of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, one of my all-time favorite movies.

Just like Terminator 2, Megan 2 has a mom forced to trust a machine that initially terrorized her. In the first Terminator movie, for instance, Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor was hunted by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s robot, but in the second, they team up to protect her son, as she realizes that the robot in many ways is even better at caring for the boy than a human father.

The mom (or aunt? I was never sure!) in Megan 2 realizes this as well, eventually forced to trust a machine that previously tried to kill her because it is the only way to protect the teen both want to keep safe. All in all, I enjoyed this mostly-female twist on Terminator 2, as Megan 2 was pretty short with a good story, good action, and just enough inside jokes in its banter to keep adults like me interested in a movie that is definitely geared toward a much younger crowd.

The second movie I saw in July was Jurassic World Rebirth (7/29/2025, in the theater) which I give a B-, a grade mostly earned by the presence of Scarlett Johansson, whom I’m glad to see has successfully engineered an action hero career. 

I enjoyed her playing the tough guy lead, as the other “tough guy” gets eaten as soon as the first dinosaur shows up. I also can’t help thinking her white tank top was a nod to the one Helen Hunt wore for most of Twister, and wonder if it will again make a humble undershirt the sexiest fashion accessory for women.

But surrounding the calm charisma of Johansson is a mostly dull mix of people and props, including a criminally underused Mahershala Ali and a slew of completely underwhelming special effects. Though the movie, produced by Steven Spielberg, was a lot like his original Jurassic Park movie with a big dose of Jaws and a small dose of Raiders of the Lost Ark mixed in, I still think all of the older movies, even the one made in 1975, had better effects than this 2025 movie.

Heck, just one shot of the T-Rex’s gigantic foot in the original Jurassic Park, released nearly 30 years ago in 1993, was better than all the T-Rex scenes in Rebirth. In fact, I sorta think JWR was not worth seeing on the big screen, as frankly both the napping T-Rex and its mutant cousin at the end would likely look much better on a smaller screen. And I definitely think that if this movie represents our film future, one full of the “magic” of AI but stripped of the magic of real, and really creative, effects, then I am very sad indeed.

One particularly disappointing scene has Dr. Loomis rappelling down a cliffside with supposedly gorgeous, but obviously fake, waterfalls in the background. Since about half of the YouTubers I follow could go to the jaw-dropping Burney Falls, a Grand Canyon like waterfall in Northern California, and easily film a better sequence without even having to break any park rules, there was no excuse for that scene to feel so canned.

Still, Rebirth had a lot of the best parts of Jurassic Park, like punishing (or rather, grinding in a set of huge teeth) people who care more about money than the dinosaurs, or even their fellow humans, but with the nice flip of having Sam Neil’s Dr. Grant, this time Dr. Loomis, be nerdier and less capable, often dependent on a woman for rescue.

Movies I saw in June with more no-nonsense women: Ballerina, Thelma. 

Finally, just for fun, here are my grandmother’s much shorter movie reviews for July of 1999:

• 7/5/1999 “Notting Hill.” 4th time. (My grandmother obviously loved this movie, as she saw it more than 10 times in the theater, then bought the DVD and watched it countless more times. I remember at the time that we both liked the movie, but I don't remember her ever talking about why she LOVED it so much.)

• 7/8/1999: “The General's Daughter.” Exciting. Lunch KFC in Aptos.

• 7/10/1999: To show, “An Ideal Husband.” Trouble with audio.

• 7/11/1999:  “Arlington Road.” Enjoyed, but Siskel & Ebert said “no.” Last 20 minutes bad, not logical.

• 7/14/1999: “Ideal Husband.” Enjoyed, I think, but thought about bad breath, etc. Takes place in 1895.

• 7/16/1999: To show, “Tea With Mussolini.” Good. Maggie Smith, Cher, Lily Tomlin, Judi Dench.

• 7/18/1999: To show, “Notting Hill.” (5th)

• 7/23/1999: Saw “Notting Hill.” 6th. Look for She!

• 7/27/1999: To “Notting Hill,” 7th.

• 7/28/1999: “The Haunting.” Over the top. Some intriguing preliminaries.

• 7/29/1999: “Notting Hill.” (8th!)

• 7/31/1999: Bought sound track of Notting Hill. Not too good.

What’s on Valencia Peak? The best picnic table in California!

The best seat in California?

You don’t need reservations to sit at what I think is the best table in California, because it is a humble picnic table placed in a state park, free and open to all.

Well, all people willing and able to hike to the top of Valencia Peak, that is. Which is no easy feat, because it took me two attempts to hike all 1,350 or so feet of that gorgeous mountain.

The first day I was unprepared, getting so hot and hungry halfway up that I turned back in defeat. But I came back the next day determined to finally reach the top. And I'm so glad I did, because there I met my new favorite picnic table. 

That was cool.

And yes, I do indeed have a favorite picnic table. In fact, I have two!

 

The first table I fell in love with is in Wilder Ranch State Park, a weathered wooden one placed in a lovely spot along the Wilder Ridge Trail where you can stop and eat, drink, or just soak in the views of the Pacific Ocean in Monterey Bay. 

The views are so expansive, I think you can see all of the bay, which to me is one of the most beautiful sights in the world — though I freely admit that growing up along that stretch of ocean assuredly makes me biased in that department.

When I first found that table a few years ago, I remember thinking: “Wow, is this the best picnic table in California?! Like, could this table have the best view you could possibly see from a humble wooden table, completely open to the public?”

View of Morro Rock in the background.

I definitely thought so at the time, and kept thinking that until this summer, when I found a picnic table with an even better view: another gray-with-age, wooden picnic table atop just one of the peaks in Montaña de Oro State Park near San Luis Obispo.

That table also is on the central coast of California, but a lot higher up, so you can see for a lot more miles of the beautiful Pacific Ocean. And while Wilder Ranch charges vehicles a day use fee to enter its parking lots, Montaña de Oro allows all vehicles to drive into its sprawling gorgeousness, and does not charge them to park at trailheads. 

Which is yet another reason why I’ve decided that the picnic table sitting atop Valencia Peak is definitely the best picnic table in California. And since California is my favorite place, it is also quite possibly the best picnic table in the world.

Movies I saw in June: Ballerina, The Phoenician Scheme & Thelma

The movies I saw in June featured lots of cool women, including an assassin avenging her father’s death and a nun whose father keeps escaping death, but my favorite woman to watch was a plucky 93-year-old determined to find a scammer who stole $10,000 from her.

The assassin was the main character in Ballerina (Seen in the theater, 6/10/2025), which I will give a “B” because I found it a nice mix of two franchises I enjoy: John Wick, because it was set in his universe, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because our main character is small and scrappy, constantly underestimated by her opponents yet always winning because of her resourcefulness in turning anything she can reach into a weapon, which in Eve’s case was usually hurled at her opponent’s crotch.

Ballerina had all the things I love about John Wick, like inventive fight scenes that are often funny — particularly one involving another woman and a pile of plates — and lots of analog touches like switchboard ladies using old-school headphones, plugs, typewriters and printers to receive and broadcast the latest assassin bounties, or having the big bad’s lookout, “The Eye,” be a man who scans the mountainside for intruders with a balcony full of vintage brass telescopes.

Fun fact: This movie reminded me a bit of the 1990 French film La Femme Nikita, which I argue is the gold standard of “young woman learning to be an assassin” movies. And at least one person making Ballerina agreed, since Nikita herself, Anne Parillaud, is given a cameo in the movie. And if you haven’t watched Parillaud in Luc Besson’s movie, you should rectify that as soon as possible, as I can still see her “angry dancing” to Mozart 35 years later.

And while I enjoyed the love story in Nikita, I appreciated even more that the makers of Ballerina did not give Ana De Armas' assassin a love interest, or even a sex scene, staying true to the John Wick formula.

The nun was played by Kate Winslet’s daughter Mia Threapleton, who spends most of the movie as an oval of eyes and freckles, yet still manages to nearly steal the show from the ever-charming Benicio Del Toro in The Phoenician Scheme (Seen in theater, 6/14/2025.) I give this movie an “A,” but freely admit to adoring Wes Anderson films ever since falling in love with Rushmore in 1998. So if you don’t enjoy his droll and whimsical (some might say precious?) style, then you will likely not enjoy this latest effort; but if you also admire his creations, then The Phoenician could jump into your Top Five, as I think it was one of his funniest.

Fun fact: My husband and I saw a 9:35 a.m. showing of The Phoenician Scheme, which was definitely the first time either of us has ever gone to the movies before 11 a.m.! And since we were the only two people in the theater, I asked the usher afterward if they would have still played the movie if we weren’t there, and he said, with more than a touch of annoyance, “No.”

6/20 & 6/21/2025: The French Dispatch, 2021 (DVD, rented from the library). Grade: B-. I never thought I’d give a Wes Anderson movie anything less than the top grade, especially one that is reportedly a “love letter to journalists,” but this movie did not completely charm me like his others. In fact, it was so dense and academic that we stopped watching halfway through the first time, then finished it the following day. And I’m glad we didn’t give up on it, because the second half featured the best chapter, a delightful romp featuring one of my favorite actresses and people, Frances McDormand. (I probably should give it a C+, but I can’t go below a B for either Wes or Frances.)

6/27/2025: Thelma, 2024 (DVD, rented from the library) Grade: A+, because I adored this pretty perfect little movie written and directed by Josh Margolin, who obviously had a 90-something woman in his life that he adored while making this film, which is a loving-but-honest portrayal of an elderly woman desperate to maintain her independence from the family members who desperately want to keep her safe.

The plot is very basic, with our main character played by the marvelous June Squibb getting swindled over the phone by someone pretending to be her jailed grandson needing $10,000 for his bail. After learning she was conned, Thelma gets inspired by an article about Tom Cruise's latest Mission Impossible movie and embarks on her own seemingly impossible mission to reclaim her money before her frantic family can find her. Structured somewhat like a Mission Impossible movie, this tiny but mighty film is a fun caper with a great script full of respectful nods to the indignities of aging. And if that isn’t enough to recommend it, how about getting to see Richard Roundtree, John Shaft himself, playing Thelma’s partner in crime? Yes, I found so much to love about this movie.

Fun fact: The very end features footage of the real-life “Thelma,” perhaps the most touching brushstroke in a loving portrait of an elderly woman determined to keep going outside on her own two legs for as long as she possibly can.

More movie reviews: 

Mission Impossible 8, Columbus.

Sinners, The Accountant 2.

Last Breath, Black Bag and The Substance.

My Grandmother's Journals: June, 2000. Grandma has heart surgery the day before my move to Seattle!

My husband and my grandmother in 2012.

So much happened to my grandmother and me in June of 2000. While she was in the hospital discovering she needed open heart surgery, I was preparing to leave my life in California — my boyfriend, my job and everyone I knew — to start over in Seattle, a city where I knew no one, did not have a job, and had only visited once before when I flew up to find an apartment in one weekend. 

And the day before I was to drive north with all my furniture and my cat, my sister called me in a panic to report that our grandmother was in the hospital after having heart surgery. “Don’t you check your messages?!” she exclaimed in a 5 a.m. phone call.

Since my sister was living in Phoenix and I was only about two hours away in Benicia, I drove down to Santa Cruz while the boyfriend I broke up said he and his friend would continuing loading the U-Haul truck for me, a truck they were already planning to drive to Seattle for me! (Long story short: His kindness and respect for me during my move and the following year proved what an incredibly decent person he was, and we eventually reunited and got married after he moved to Seattle a year later.)

But back to my grandmother, who never shared with me her health problems until she was already in the hospital, though she was struggling with pains and sleeplessness when I came down to spend the day with her after announcing I was moving two states away. 

It’s a visit I remember vividly, especially us sitting on a bench at one my favorite places, Capitola Village, and enjoying some ice cream together. And how she graciously told me “I am glad you are spreading your wings,” even though she could not have been happy I was moving so far away.

The journal entries below are from the tiny notebooks my grandmother recorded all of her days in. See those notebooks and learn more about her incredibly full life in this video:

May entries.

Thursday, June 1, 2000

Awake 6, stiff. French Open at 7.

Andre vs. Karol Kucera. (Wears 1 black, 1 white sock.)

Agassi blister on toe, won first set.

Got ready for mattress.

To Longs, got canned apricots. To fruit stand, home.

Swept a bit, ate snack.

Mattress arrived 1:30 p.m.

To show, “Mission Impossible 2.” Tom Cruise very athletic? Showed emotion, face expression.

Home 4:30. News, JAG, Lehrer.

First night new bed. (Took them 2 minutes.)

Friday, June 2, 2000

Awake 5:30, stiff. Fog. Used heating pad. 

Up 7, breakfast usual. Strawberries!

8:30 to Goodyear, left car. To McDonald’s for coffee.

To Longs, line at cholesterol. Walked home.

Talked to mechanics about slit in seat cover, gave me 10% off 447 to 403. Wrote check.

To longs, food. Home, news.

TV: JAG, Lehrer. 

Bed, fitful sleep til 3, then 4 hours. Pillow under leg helped!

Heat both arms, leg. Face.

Wrote Mina, sent booklet on Lewis & Clark.

Saturday, June 3, 2000

Awake 7. Stiff, but got up. Exercise helped.

Breakfast usual, chores. Added to Mina's letter.

Put green t-shirt on my seat in car.

To Longs, mailed letter to Mina. Had cholesterol/diabetes test. A+

To library, email from Justine and Andra. Replied to both. Got info on West Nile Virus.

To fruit stand, home. Tennis.

Got video, “Three Kings.”

Sunday, June 4, 2000

Bad sleep again. Pillow some help.

Rested til 9:30, ate breakfast with CNN Headline News.

Wrote letter to Carla.

Tennis: Venus won, Pierce won.

To Hollywood Video, returned Three Kings.

To KFC for pie. 

Home, ate. Slept, read paper.

TV: News, Ebert.

Bed, read. Hardly any sleep! Woke cold.

Monday, June 5, 2000

Up 5-6-7. Took Motrin, better. Rested til 8:30.

Breakfast same, out 10:30.

To Outdoor World, got thermal top and bottom.

Mervyn’s new mattress pad.

Home. Lunch, papers, crossword, etc.

TV: L & Order, Lehrer, MSW, hockey.

Mail: JC Penny bill, letter from Mina. Put tabby to death, bad teeth. Could be cause of liver?

Watched TV late, miserable night. No sleep.

Tried couch, not good. New mattress cover helps.

Tuesday, June 6, 2000

Awake 8:30, up 9. Breakfast same.

Took Tylenol late, 10:30.

To Longs, BP, got TV Guide and visor.

Home. Hot today!

Lunch, salad.

TV: JAG (2), bed, crossword.

Slept 12 -1:30 couch, bed 1:30 to 3:30.

Wednesday, June 7, 2000

Tennis 6 a.m. Magnus Norman vs. Safin. Norman had blisters, Safin broke 3 racquets.

Took 600 mg Motrin.

To Longs, got Motrin, apricots.

To KFC, sandwich.

Home, reviewed for when legs started, in case go to doctor.

Some TV: Lehrer, MSW, news, Bio Vivien Leigh. Sad.

Took 200 mg Motrin.

Thursday, June 8, 2000

Tennis 5 a.m. Conchita over Sanchez, Pierce over Hingis.

Rested til 10, to library. 

Checked email, message from Andra. She got job! Responded re tennis results.

Home. Ate lunch, read papers.

Mail: ads.

Legs relatively quiet.

TV: JAG

Bed, slept 10-12-2-4-7.

Took Motrin, 200 mg. Feel like having hot flashes.

Decided to check with Doctors On Duty. 

Friday, June 9, 2000

Gas meter to be changed. Smith to re-light pilots.

11:30, plumber left.

To bank for balance, Drug Emporium for BP, paper.

To Doctors on Duty, Osteo-arthritis. Paid $53.

To fruit stand. 

Home, lunch. Ate tamale, lettuce.

Watched tennis in a.m., Norma won.

Slept good.

Saturday, June 10, 2000

Up 6 a.m.  Legs stiff, hurt. Took aspirin.

Chores, Sat! crossword.

Tennis 12 p.m. Mary P vs. C. Martinez, 2 hours, 25 mins.

Ellie called, gas not right at her placed. Called Margaret.

To Kmart, gasoline $13.92!

Ate pie, ice cream. Plus salad to take home.

Mary won, $500,000. Good.

Took Celebrex at 11.

Woke stiff, sore.

Sunday, June 11, 2000

Up 8 a.m., watched a bit of men’s tennis.

Hingis in stand, clapping for Magnus Norman. Last game long, 7 deuces. 

Norman lost, speech credited opponent. Hingis should listen.

To show, “Up at the Villa.” Good. Talked to man there for Hamlet.

Home. Salad, crossword, Ebert. Read Murdoch.

Monday, June 12, 2000

Up 5 a.m., took Celebrex. Makes drowsy.

Did money stocks, talked to Ellie.

To Trader Joe’s, food. Got paper, coffee.

Home 11:30 a.m. Sleepy.

Threw away three stuffed animals: Elephant (France), Dolphin (?) and Scottie (Greece?). 

Worked on thermal pants.

Mail: Letter from Carla.

TV: Old JAG.

Terrible night, no sleep til 2 a.m.

Tuesday, June 13, 2000

Up 8:30. No wheat.

Chores, made bed, etc.

Got paper.

Sister Grace arrived. Was in Chicago. Sister 95, brother 91.

Haircut. To 1.5 inch.

To library, checked book on arthritis, books on drugs. Vague info! Got 2 books.

No email.

TV: Lehrer, JAG, news.

Bed, aspirin 1:30 a.m.

Wednesday, June 14, 2000

Up 9:30 after breakfast. No soybean milk! Skim.

Walked a bit, hot on East Cliff.

Kmart, ate. Patio 100, 10:30 a.m.

Home 12:30. Rested, read paper, some of book.

TV: Lehrer. Cable TV out of sync: 23 USA is 42, no 22. 21 is OK.

Justine called. Moving to Seattle, by 30th.

Back to cliff, cooler. 

To Trader Joe’s, got sorbet.

Thursday, June 15, 2000

Up 6 a.m., part of time on couch. 

6:30, took Tylenol. 

Breakfast. Fog blew in, cooled off.

To Drug Emporium, got paper, TV Guide, diuretics, cold liver oil pills.

Stopped at bank, McDonald’s for coffee.

Home, lunch. Tuna, lettuce

Called Cable Co, check 19 for new. No! Nothing at 2, but 5.

TV: Lehrer, some news.

Took aspirin and Melatonin at 9, nothing.

Friday, June 16, 2000

12 to 2:30 on couch. Slept, exercised, back to bed.

Woke 6? Rested til 7. Stiff, took Tylenol. Out 11:25.

To Longs, got paper, BP, 155, Xerox.

To Aptos library, looked for Bev adds, not found. Talked to Erin, chef. Gave him Andra’s website.

Ate Kmart. Veggies, chicken, roll.

Home, ate soup, toast. Watched Murder She Says.

Justine called, be here tomorrow.

Took pain relief + melatonin, moved to couch, 11 to 4 a.m. Slept.

Saturday, June 17, 2000

Awake 7:20. Chores, breakfast same. 

Cold, foggy.

Justine arrived 11-12? Called from town, came and got me.

To Logo's, sold 5 RLS books, $4.88! No Iris Murdoch.

Ate Erik’s Deli.

Ordered book at Santa Cruz Book Shop. $14.94, about 4 days.

To Lighthouse, sat on bench. Lovely day.

To Capitola, got ice cream.

Home, checked CDs. Washed legs. Helped? No.

Took melatonin, also drops. Up 3 a.m. Slept 2 hours.

Sunday, June 18, 2000

Up 7:30, aspirin: 11:30, 3:30, 7:30, 11:30, 3:30.

Started on clothes, box under bed. 

Worked in yard.

Watched golf, relaxed some time in afternoon, then after Tiger won Pebble Beach.

Slept 5:30 to 7:15, up. Some pain, not much!! Had REM sleep.

Crossword, 10 news, 11 news. 

Slept on couch 12-2, then bed. Slept OK til 6:30.

Monday, June 19, 2000

1 aspirin 6:30, 2 8:00

Walked around 6:30, not bad stiffness.

Ready 10:30, to Trader Joe’s. Got Fiber cereal, also papaya enzymes!

Mailed Penney's bill, got paper.

To fruit stand, Goodyear. Can’t do anything re wheel.

To Burger King, got big fish.

Home 11:30 read papers (2), crossword.

TV: Lehrer, news. Got clothes ready for laundromat.

Bad night. Took two melatonin. Sleep deep.

Tuesday, June 20, 2000

Up 7, breakfast same.

To laundromat 8:30-9. Ate Burger King.

Home, left clothes in car. Rested.

Ate soup, fruit. 

Took Motrin 6-10-2-8. 6 p.m., pains low.

Wear pink long leg warmers.

Called hospital re support group/dr for fibromyalgia.

Mail: Master & fone.

TV: JAG (2), news.

Wednesday, June 21, 2000

Take back book, get new menu for Cable.

Check email, also pull up for fibromyalgia.

Up 8 a.m., ironed clothes for Goodwill.

Out 12:30, first Drug Emporium: BP, TV Guide, Excedrin.

To Cable, got menu.

To library, got diet book. Can’t get email.

Ankles are swelling.

Call from Santa Cruz bookstore.

Coughed up blood.

Pain in chest, no sleep. BP: 150-78

Thursday, June 22, 2000

Get book. Took aspirin 2 & 6.

No sleep in night, maybe 6 to 7.

Tea, breakfast same. Shower, hair.

To Santa Cruz Book store, cashier said her mom, aunt had fibromyalgia.

To Drug Emporium, BP only 118-55.

To KFC for dinner. Heavy, hungry.

Tried sleep, no go. But later did.

1 aspirin 2-6-10. 

Worse night.

Friday, June 23, 2000 (1st day in hospital)

Called carol 10:10. Asked her to take me to doctor.

Her grandkids are with her, Britney came.

To Urgent Care, EKG, blood tests, X-Ray chest. Took long time.

Carole came back, taking girls to swimming pool.

BP 110-50. Decision to take me to hospital in ambulance. 

Rick driver. Did not like Dr. V’s IV set-up, replaced it with one Dr. F did not like.

Another EKG at hospital (Dominican), blood tests. Nurse nice, young man from Hawaii.

Did not eat much today. BP 131?

Ate ice cream, Jell-O. Slept good.

Saturday, June 24, 2000 (2nd day hospital)

Awake 5, BP good. EKG showed electrical discharge same.

Watched videos of heart operations.

Carole called. Went to parade on Seabright.

Daughter came down, took girls for a time. Carole has cold.

BP 124, then 98. Got cold.

Soft tissue pain, back. legs, arms.

Watched Panetta interview, Jesse Ventura.

Sunday June 25, 2000 (3rd day)

Awake 1 a.m. Lorne, young man. More blood tests. BP 106.

Had prune juice. B.M., worked good.

Breakfast Cream of Wheat, decaf. Good.

Carole may go by home, see if Justine left phone number.

Tried to call Prudy, not correct calling card #

Make out check for Justine, $1,000. [She gave me this to help with my move. It was incredibly helpful and I was incredibly grateful.]

Dr. G: Do new invasive test tomorrow to determine heart attack. 

Woman at desk said she had to notify social services tomorrow.

Took medicine to slow heart.

Monday, June 26, 2000 (4th day)

Call social services.

Tests at 5 a.m. EKG, blood, vital signs, etc.

BP 108-80.

CArole to Monterey with girls. No dinner.

Dr. G stopped by. Canceled test, for stress!

He here at tray time, told nurse I did not have to eat.

Imodium. Started diarrhea?

Keep off oxygen, get rid of water.

Slept without pain, 10-12:30. Pill til 4:30.

Tuesday, June 27, 2000 (5th day)

5:25 a.m. Tea, 138 pounds.

BP 106/64, earlier 112?

Took shower, felt good. 

Called Carole: Mail, nectarines, messages.

Gave directive to nurse for no intrusive injury.

BP 96/46.

“Case Management.” Call every day first week.

Wednesday, June 28, 2000 (6th day)

Early again. Dr. G decided on anagram, then open heart surgery.

Triple bypass, out about five hours.

3 small veins, out of it late Wednesday.

Thursday, June 29, 2000 (7th day)

Better today, sat up in chair. 

Justine came by from Benicia, went to house and got change of clothes. Returned at 6.

H called her at 5 a.m. or so. I had put note on Justine’s machine.

Justine heading to Washington, drove down, arrived 3 p.m.

Friday, June 30, 2000 (8th day)

Problem with Dan, night man. No pills.

Christy said she’d order, but forgot?

Not good day.

Wrote checks, walked.

Ate, later bile up chuck.

Movies I saw in May: Mission Impossible 8, Columbus, Extraction & Extraction 2

Movie poster for MI:8.

The movies I saw in May included only one seen in the theater, one seen on DVD, and two seen on a streaming service:

Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning (In the theater). Grade: Solid B. I stopped watching the Mission Impossible movies after that ridiculous scene (maybe in the second installment?) where Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, and a foe are driving straight at each other on motorcycles, then both jump up and start grappling in midair – a sight that made my eyes stick in mid-roll for at least a week.

But I came back to the series for Mission Impossible: Fallout, which was enjoyable and certainly visually stunning, then found myself venturing back to the theater for Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning, though somehow I completely missed MI: Dead Reckoning, Part One. But no matter, they filled me in on all I missed from MI:7 with quite an exposition dump at the start of MI:8.

Final Reckoning is quite long, just a bit shorter than Oppenheimer. But while I never felt the length of Oppenheimer, I felt the length of this movie. A lot. The first hour is schlocky, the second hour slowly gets better before featuring the best sequence, which has Hunt diving into a sunken submarine and being forced to strip to his underwear again (I forget how many times total they showed us what great shape Cruise is still in), and the third hour has the best action, though it features a dueling-planes battle almost as ridiculous as the dueling-motorcycles one.

Columbus (DVD, rented from the library) Grade: A. I don’t remember ever hearing about this movie, though it came out nearly 10 years ago in 2017. Maybe a lot of other people never heard about it, either, because it has possibly the least-intriguing cover art ever, something my husband described as “looking like a boring training video.”

And for some, the movie itself might be quite boring, as not much happens. Just a lot of soothing and artistic visuals interspersed with lots of talking, mostly between a young woman living in Columbus, Ohio, and a Korean man visiting the city because his father had a stroke during his visit and is still in the hospital there. The two main characters meet over a cigarette and strike up a friendship that changes each other's lives in that way only a chance encounter can do, as often you need a stranger to finally convince you to do the thing that everyone else, including your inner voice, have been telling you to do.

My only gripe about the movie is that if you decide to have a character's smoking be important to the plot, you should really make sure the person portraying that character can believably smoke. Otherwise, people like me get pulled out of the movie with every puff pulled off by someone who very obviously has never smoked cigarettes.

Extraction & Extraction 2 (Netflix originals) Both get an A-. I watched these out of order, because my husband said the second one was far superior. So of course I preferred the first one! Both are definitely worth a watch.

I enjoyed the characters and their relationships much more in the first movie, though the second one includes one of the best fighting scenes I have seen in a long time, with Chris Hemsworth's Tyler Rake fighting off an entire prison full of inmates attacking him with whatever they can find, and being saved multiple times by the woman he is “extracting,” who bravely whacks anyone she can reach with a shovel, her fists and her feet.

Having women join the fighting is my favorite thing about the second Extraction, as some of the most brutal and inventive hand-to-hand combat scenes feature Rake’s handler, played by the beautiful and badass Golshifteh Farahani, fighting off multiple attackers more than once after being cornered in seemingly-impossible situations.

So, wait: Maybe my husband was right after all, and the second was better? Impossible! Either way, this review will self destruct after reading.

Bonus: My grandmother’s reviews for the movies she saw in May of 2000:

Mumford, rented from Hollywood Video, recommended by (Roger) Ebert: “Enjoyable.”

Dreamed of Africa: No review

East/West: “Thought good.”

Center Stage: “Excellent.” (Justine here: I loved that movie, too!)

Small Time Crooks: No review, though she notes that Ebert liked it.

Movies I saw in April: Sinners, The Accountant 2