Teapot Scandal

No, not that one.

The Teapot Dome Scandal is from history during the Harding presidency. So you may look that up if you wish. But my title stems from my faltering memory because as we all know, everything is personal eventually.

I have been noticing some episodes with my very short-term memory, and I am hyper- vigilant about this sort of thing having been with my beloved Mum from the beginning of her journey through Alzheimer’s. So when I say this is a scandal, I am not kidding. Many parts of me seem to be chugging along particularly with the help of the very latest modern medicine (I will be visiting an expert about my eyes tomorrow and am hoping for something positive there). But I know that short-term memory glitches can be a sign of further trouble down the line. It all depends on the nature of the forgetting—and again I am not a doctor—but it seems to me a bit worrisome.

What happened is that I enjoyed a wonderful teatime on the deck yesterday for the first time in quite a while because I can’t stand the heat. It was lovely out there in late afternoon, and I had carried out a fresh pot of tea I had just brewed. My pot was kept warm by the tea cosy, and I relaxed under a sunshade and read Jonathan Blitzer’s July 20th New Yorker article entitled “Locked Away” about the administration’s largest immigrant-detention facility (I know, not everyone’s relaxing read). I even took my afternoon love call on the deck as I whispered sweet nothings. Anyway, I stayed outside until it was time to fix dinner, and I then carried in the sunshade and my phone and started my evening routine.

It was not until making breakfast this morning that I realized my teapot had gone missing. Of course, it was still sitting on the little table next to my recliner on the deck with my afternoon teacup next to it. Vey glad that we didn’t have a storm last night. So I rescued the still quite full pot, and carried on with my breakfast. I do very vaguely remember now that I had thought of trying to carry everything in at once but instead took the more sensible option so that I had a hand free to open the back door. Obviously, I then promptly forgot to go back out. Again, this may seem minor and the fact that I can now recall and recreate the scene is probably a good sign; but honestly, I’ve been thinking a lot more about Mum’s journey lately. And actually I found some notes that I had made at the very beginning of taking care of her when her husband and I were navigating her diagnosis. I’m very glad I have that record of what we put in place right from the start. It gives me an idea of what might be necessary at some point so that I can discuss it with loved ones.

But back to the world affairs which consume most of my time. I have decided that Reuters is a great source not only for American politics but for world news in particular. I have been listening to their daily news podcast and this morning have branched out to some of their videos as well. Now I can actually see some of the reporters I have been listening to. And I have to thank Democracy Docket’s Marc Elias for introducing me to Reddit, which I had never used before. But of course, there comes a point when I have to take a break from it all. Did you know that AI had gone rogue recently? I learned this morning that it was out of the “sandbox” for about four days. Hardly what I would call good parenting!

RESIST ALWAYS

TTFN