Journeys 3.1

Walked over to the University for my monthly blood draw. On the way home, I wandered into the Mechanical Engineering Department out of curiosity about all this ductwork rising up through an atrium. Following a duct, I realized it’s part of the HVAC system. Later, I learned it’s all made of stainless steel, which is pretty fancy.

It was my annual Medicare physical, a routine appointment that didn’t amount to much. Since a former president bragged about ‘acing’ the cognitive test, claiming it’s incredibly difficult, I’ve opted out. The test is actually quite simple, but the idea of potentially making a mistake on a test he passed with flying colors is unsettling.

The new-to-us Hotel Ivy was an objective of a Downtown walk with a friend. The modern building incorporates a “mini-skyscraper,” originally an office tower for the Christian Science Church, built in 1930. Today, the old tower houses suites, including a two-story penthouse. Afterward, we recharged with coffee and croissants at a new-to-us coffee shop.

Glanced out the window toward Gold Medal Park. Cyclists, out for a group ride, were relaxing in the fading afternoon sun atop the mound with the spiral path. I smile when I think of my nephews running up that hill, then rolling down the spiral path on their scooters, again and again. They were so young then. Now, at 16 and 17, they’d rather drive their cars.

The Dyson was making random unfamiliar sounds, so today I partially disassembled it and gave it a clean. A YouTube video advised me to clean a fine-mesh filter with an air blaster outside. I decided this was good advice as I stood upwind while releasing a toxic cloud of fine dust. While I was at it I also cleaned the canister vacuum.

While Dwight baked these almond biscotti, I stretched out on the couch with a novel I’d checked out from the library on my Kindle, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant. The Remains of the Day is still my favorite, but none of his novels has disappointed. Early samples of the biscotti didn’t disappoint either.