Dear Kids,

Book club is today at 5:00, and we’re talking about The Great Brain.  I finished reading it a couple of weeks ago so I don’t know if I’ll be able to answer any questions, but the book itself is definitely a winner.  I baked some brownies in honor of JD’s dog Brownie, and Nora might bring ice cream, so we’ll be having great treats.  Be there or be square.

Two weeks from today, the 29th, is Super Sunday at Tom’s house.  Charlie Thacker is planning to be there, so we’ll have a lot of fun talking to him.  I called him to see about his plans, and it sounds like he’s doing fine in school.  We can question him more closely when we see him.

And our early Thanksgiving dinner is just over a month away.  We’ll be getting together on Sunday, November 19, for a real turkey dinner.  Sharon will be in charge, and I’m sure she’ll be making assignments.  (Yes, the Thackers will be here--all of them.)  We’ll meet at John’s house, so it will be a very elegant meal.  Then, on the real Thanksgiving day, we’ll be having a barbecue-type dinner at the cabin.  All of you who are having your “on-year” can get together with us.  Donna will be in charge.

Too bad the eclipse yesterday was such a bust!  I hope it was sunny down south, where it was “total,” but here it was just cold and dark.  In fact, I had mostly forgotten about it yesterday morning, and the dark sky was getting me all depressed.  I called Nora about book club, and she reminded me that the eclipse was going on.  I was so glad to know the sun would be getting brighter again!  By afternoon it was warm enough that I could go out and prune shrubs.

I just finished a week of chemo and my next challenge will be radiation, from October 30 to November 3.  I’ll be going every day for the five days, so that will be a lot of driving for us.  I had a pre-radiation scan last Wednesday, and they gave me a bunch of pamphlets to read, which I haven’t gotten to yet.  I don’t need to know every single thing–only if it’s going to hurt or not.  I had radiation 5 years ago, and it wasn’t too bad.  I’m hoping for the best this time.  If it works really well, I might have more time off from chemo, time enough for all my “hurts” to heal up.  Right now it’s my left foot, my back end, and my lip, besides some neuropathy in my fingers and toes.  In fact, it’s hard to type, so I’ll end this treatise.

All my love, Mom