I know I promised something to y'all on the California propositions...and I did intend to do my reading and writing today.  But as with the entire week, things did not turn out as planned!

I took a nice 3.5 mile run/walk with Charlie this morning.  Saw my gorgeous and talented therapist for a tune-up of my thinking.  Came home after errands and ate lunch with Dan.  Then my energy level went swirling downward and since Anne and I had just talked about listening to my body...well, a nap intervened.

I'll be making dinner in a few and then finishing up the laundry...but I promise to take pc and articles with me for our road trip this weekend to visit our friend in prison.

It's odd not to write a blog every day.  I hope folks understand I needed a couple days off to get my mind wrapped around this week's postponed chemo...and I do appreciate you checking in to see what's what.

On the road tomorrow!  Lots of breaks and so looking forward to see our friend.

We had a wonderful visit with our friend today.  As always, I am amazed at how the frustrations of visiting, the barbed wire on the fences, the guards, the other inmates...all of it fades away as we enjoy each other's company.

I'm not so naive as to believe that the same is true for our friend.  When we leave him, we go home to our comfortable mattresses, to eating the foods we want (because we can buy them at the grocery store), to the freedoms of seeing others when we like, making phone calls when we need to talk, even watching the television programs we want.

He goes back to his dorm, his bunk, the track on which he runs his laps.  He goes back to the petty cruelties of guards, the constant vigilence of being surrounded by inmates, the lack of choices and dignity that make up the bulk of his days and nights.

There may be moments where, in the company of us four...shared so many times and places over the past twenty years...where he can relax, just a bit.  Where he may forget, in a moment of shared laughter, what the end of the visit holds for him. 

And even so, his spirits are good.  He produces meaning in the severe constraints of his life.  He reads, works out, counsels others and keeps his own counsel as well.

9 more months, Lord willing.

Lord.  Please be willing.

I'm on the road this weekend, visiting our friend in prison.  So response to comments might be a bit sporadic.  I should be able to blog at greater length tonight, after arriving at our destination.

Speaking of prisons, did I mention how ticked off I am that the ridiculous, unneccesary and overly-punitive Prop 9 passed?  As a person who has sat through the trial of a good friend, let me say that it appears to the defense that there are plenty of folks worried about victim's rights and nearly no one worried about the rights of the defendant or the imprisoned.

Bah!  I hate propositions.  Poor way to write law, imho.

After visiting with our friend for about four hours today, we headed home.  It was a good drive, despite heavier than usual traffic.  And we are so glad to be home.

I always have a real sense of appreciation for the comforts of home when I return from prison.  Here I am free of anyone's rules but our own.  I can choose the foods I eat, the hour at which I rise or go to sleep.  I can listen to music, watch television, read books all of my choosing.  I can touch my beloved freely and without worry. 

I so look forward to the day, just eleven months from now if all goes according to this latest date, that our friend can return to these simple, blessed pleasures.

We had a good visit today with our friend in prison...and it only required the sacrifice of my underwires (in my new bra) to accomplish.

How many times have I been to this prison?  And yet, as I left the house on Thursday, the nagging thought that I was forgetting something did not translate into "prison bra."

I'm not sure what it is that one could do with an underwire that makes them so dangerous, such contraband that one must snip them out of the offending garment with fingernail clippers before entering the prison.

I could ask, I suppose.  But I fear I still wouldn't be any the wiser.

Like the kleig lights they brought in to comply with regulations when the prison started getting "lifer" inmates...and that still run (on diesel) every night even though the lifers are gone...the underwire rule is a vestigal remnant from days gone by.  Without logic or explanation.  And still and integral part of the California Prison system.

Ah well.  At least it was a good visit!  Cool weather, good conversation, vending machine munchies and at least a few hours where prison walls melted away in the pleasant company of well-worn friendship.

...of golf for us.  I know...I know.

We're turning into golf bums. 

Yet, it's for a limited time--sort of a sabbatical from regular life--and so I'm just going with it.

Except for those pesky times I hit a horrible golf shot.  Then I have a tendency to invest the game with meaning, to assume that an errant shot has some sort of weight on the scale of worth or relevance that...in fact, it does not.

I'm hoping to grow out of that (and grow up!)  quickly with more practice.

In the meantime, I bought an orange, a purple and a pink shirt for our visit to prison this weekend.

I know...I know.  I pledged to find a wild blue shirt with which to buck the system. 

Despite looking, I didn't find anything wild enough and...quite frankly, it's just not the windmill to tilt at this month. 

I'll keep you posted next month!  In the meantime, I might be offline for a day or so.  I'll catch you on the flipside.

We made it back home a few minutes ago from our journey to visit our friend in prison.  It's a gorgeous southern California evening.  We're exhausted.

I'm heading out to the fruits of the Great American Landscape project to enjoy the end of a novel (Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson) and a nice crisp sauvignon blanc.

We had a lovely visit with the "grands" and two of our godchildren on our trip.  Revin and William are growing up quickly.  Walking.  Making talking noises.  Giving hugs, kisses, love and generally being babies on their way to full toddler-hood.  So refreshing to see life continuing to unfold during the days where we see life at a standstill for so many inside prison walls.

Ta everyone.

For those of you looking for a succinct comparison as to where the three remaining viable candidates stand on taxes, take a look at Newsweek's "By the Numbers" Periscope entry from the March 10th issue.  It's a little easier to read in the magazine format but for those who prefer online research, here's the link.

Probably the position I'm most comofrtable with is Obama's.  He, like Hillary Clinton, would let the Bush tax cuts for high earners lapse (something I've been arguing for ever since the cuts went through 6 1/2 years ago). 

The real difference between Obama and Clinton is on the spending side of the equation.  Obama is more moderate in all of his spending areas than Clinton except for energy spending--especially when it comes to health care.  His plan, which provides more limited coverage than Clinton's, is about 3/5ths of the cost.

Most of McCain's spending will go, predictably, to defense spending.

Nice to have the numbers crunched for you a little bit, eh?

On the personal front, it's been a great couple of days of physical activity after two weeks of sinus-infection related downtime.  Yesterday I had a tough "welcome back" strength training with Calin, my slightly sadistic trainer.  I worked almost all of the arm and chest muscles to failure and I feel it today.

Today, it was nine holes of golf and then gardened this afternoon.  I'm dog-tired, but happy to be moving around instead of being stuck on the couch.

We're off this weekend to visit our friend in prison.  So no blog until late Saturday or early Sunday.  At least they've reinstated Friday visits so we should have a nice, long chat tomorrow.

Speaking of prison, a short aside to yesterday's blog.  Are you aware that we're currently shipping a significant proportion of our prison population to other states?  Yet another reason not to jail illegal aliens, imho.

Nope, not talking about bridal things (although I am excited to be going along with my niece and sister-in-law when they look at her potential wedding dress next week).

The something new is Twitter.  You'll see it in the sidebar of my blog--a little nano-blog about what I'm doing that I will update as I get used to the concept.  Twitter is a social networking website that allows people to update their locations, activities and general state of mind via the internet.

You follow people.  People follow you.  You talk about what you're up to.  You read about what they're up to.

The last thing I tried along these lines (introduced to me by my friend Erik, as was twitter) was an SMS (Short Message Service) program based off my cell phone where strangers kept trying to befriend me.  I found that vaguely creepy.  Plus, I got text messages all day long.  I soon deleted it.

In Twitter, I have two people I follow (and who follow me).  I'm enjoying seeing what they're up to when they update and posting little snippets of my day.  We'll see how it goes but so far, it's a 5 out of 10 as new tech experiences go.  God forbid I ever do Facebook!

Something old?  I'm following someone the old-fashioned way as we go to visit our friend in prison tomorrow.  The visit will be on Friday and we'll be back Friday night so Dan can head out to be with Dotty and Dick this coming week after her knee surgery.  He's going to be one tired guy!

I'll try to remember to take the right clothes, appropriate shoes, see-through purse, dollar bills for the vending machines, etc.  19 more visits and a pick-up.  LORD willing.

No twittering from prison.  Nor blogging.  So I'll see you in a few days!

We had a great two days visiting our friend in prison.  (Except for the prison part, obviously...the friend part and the visiting part were outstanding.)  I did manage to take a wrong colored shirt again, but was able to change easily as I now bring extras.  Ah well!

I managed to get in my quota of words on Friday before and after the visit and got in another 400 words yesterday.  But by the time we got home at 6:30 last night I was too pooped to do anymore.  So I had my first below quota day since I started the whole Nano process.  (Dr. Hamlin would be so proud!)

Today's session, however, generated 2016 words, an entirely unplanned for scene that came about while I was trying to write my way into another set of scenes.  Kind of fun, as I've shared, when that happens.

I spent the afternoon doing some cleaning and am on my way toward relaxation and recuperation.  Tomorrow I have a training appointment and some personal stuff to do...so I will be squeezing my writing in in the morning.  My daily quota, as a result of yesterday, is now at 1804 with 10 writing days left.  Should be well within the realm of accomplishment.

I was so sad to miss the annual Baldridge Thanksgiving this afternoon but with how tired I feel at this point, I am glad not to be on the road.  And with Nano still looming, I am so glad Thanksgiving will be a catered affair this year!