ONE WEEK TODAY

...I'll be home in England, and hopefully asleep.  Denis of course has a band call for his new show that night in London so won't be there, but can't be helped. I will have the aptly-named King Size bed to myself and possibly the dog. Bliss. Until the phone rings from Laurel Lake Nursing home in the middle of the night..can't think about that so won't.

Meanwhile,  we see a move into high gear here. The pressure is on to complete projects before departure. Just sorted a million photos into MISC RENNING RELATIVES, PEG BABY, PEG YOUNG, PEG OLDER, ODD, FAIRFIELD, BECKET, ALASKA, DOGS, KINGS, FRIENDS, DEAD FRIENDS, FANS, ASSHOLES WE'LL NEVER SEE AGAIN SO WHY ARE WE SAVING and so on, all into sandwich size ziplocs and labeled. Afterwards I had, no exaggeration, 26 plastic storage bins, empty! Thrilled. Who knew. Doesn't take much, anymore. Am now in spiffing mood, enough to crack open the bottle of Prosecco Bonnie gave me last January when I managed to make Peg and Odd's long term care insurance company cough up for Home Care even though it wasn't in the policy. 

Three hours at the nursing home with Peg but we finished her address book and managed to pitch two thirds of an extra-giant plastic box filled with addresses, fan mail, pictures of fans, pictures of fans' families, cute cards, not-so-cute-cards, magazine subscription renewal notices from 2008, other essential "keepers"--plus write three more Mother-Daughter Dialogues for her website which we'll record sometime this week. Is the plan. 

Tomorrow I have to be there at 8:30 AM, make sure she's been showered, Tina her hairdresser arrives at 9:00 to do her hair, then I do make-up and choose wardrobe and jewelry (and for Peg too) and set her up for a Skype interview with one Liz McCloud at 11:00 AM in the "William Shakespeare" Library. This is for RadioSpirits to use to promote her Couple Next Door comedy shows, the first 24 of which (out of 755)  are coming out on CD end of May and simultaneously going to be run on Sirius XM radio. Not bad for a 97 year old. It would be a good day for me to be nice to her, wouldn't it. Will certainly give it my all.
_________________
STAFF ON DUTY:

Bonnie, who Odd-sat and cleaned the spice shelves and kitchen cupboards and the fridges and the desk area and walked the dog and vacuumed and made out checks and fed Odd lunch and gave him his pills and his nebulizer and was still in a pleasant mood when I arrived home at 4:00.  

Terri, who arrived at Laurel Lake just as I was leaving, intending a brief visit but Peg talked her into watching The Way We Were. Can't figure out if she'll need paying for this. She could have said "no, would love to but need to get to Wal-Mart",  right? I gave her five old voluminous and expensive outfits of Peg's that Peg would get lost in these days. Maybe she can use for her niece's wedding. Why am I worried about What Terri's Going to Wear.  Don't know, but I find I think about it a lot, probably more than she does. 
__________________
HIGHLIGHTS:

Daddy, at dinner just now, during "The Green Mile" on Turner Movie Classics, looking across the butcher block at me, mid-bite, and saying "You're beautiful". For one brief moment, I had without exception the most wonderful, kind, not to mention observant father in the whole world. And I looked over at him eating his creamed corn and then his meatloaf, with a spoon, almost consumed by love for him. He's now eating cashew nuts he found on the shelf and they're going all over the floor. And I will have to throw out those Planter's Cashews now, after he's gone to bed, because he's dug into the can and I have yet to see him wash his hands since I got here in March or kin fact comb his hair without me suggesting it. This is the man who used to shower at least twice a day, wouldn't think of going down the hill to the post office without shaving or putting on a sports jacket, and who used to leave a delicious trail of Burberry or Paco Rabanne wafting along the upstairs hallway. I miss that. It was comforting and I felt safe.