here we go again

Posted on November 11, 2026 by is there any more pie?

A little Willie Nelson to start your morning…

Bing Videos

Oh, how I wish I could insert the Youtube video so you could see it as you click on it. Trust me, it’s a good song.

And what am I doing again? Radiation, folks. And I’m thrilled. This is going to be so different from 2019’s intense schedule of two-hour round trips to Providence, to the pain of keeping my arms over my head, to tears seeping into my ears, and having to pretend I was on my chaise lounge on the dock at the lake so I wouldn’t panic as the machine blasted my chest. I was sweaty and scared to death and exhausted and, eventually, burned so badly my oncologist said she’d never seen anything like it.

But not this time!!!! The trip is 35 minutes door-to-door. The area where the evil tumors reside is small. Unlike the general “mopping up” after 2019’s surgery, this process is one of pinpoint destruction.

Oh, yes, I do love destruction.

I’ve been warned about the coming fatigue, but because I am already so exhausted from my cancer medication it’s not exactly a problem. And I’ve been warned about an upcoming sore throat and the need for a liquid diet for a few weeks. I’ll survive as long as I can have my morning coffee.

We’ve enjoyed a beautiful fall. A nor’easter is coming this weekend, but Banjo Man now owns an oversized portable gas generator and says he’s ready for future power outages. The monster was delivered from Costco last week and will be dragged into place under the front deck before the first really bad weather hits.

Happy Veterans Day to all of you past and present service members out there. You are deeply appreciated and not told that enough.

Here is one of my father’s favorite songs. I think I’ll march into the cancer center humming it.

Bing Videos

Posted in music, rhode island, the cancer fight | 3 Comments

happy birthday, will

Posted on October 24, 2026 by is there any more pie?

This is what I hope you are doing this Saturday afternoon, Will. Teaching takes a lot of energy (as my Texans all know!), so sometimes you just have to take a nap.

We are home in Rhode Island now. Our flights were easy and on time. The views across Montana and Wyoming were spectacular.

Daughter Nancy was practically jumping up and down with joy at the airport. Hugs all around and then home. Nancy had cleaned the house from top to bottom and it looked gorgeous. Hello, Rhode Island, we’re ready for the holidays!

Posted in rhode island, travel | 1 Comment

and…it’s over for another year

Posted on October 13, 2026 by is there any more pie?

These are the last of the cherry tomatoes and peppers. But that’s okay. We’ll do it all over again next year.

And here are our local geese. They think we’ve left already, so they have taken over the dock. I yell at them, but they refuse to leave.

Our last Ladies Dinner at B’s Beacon of 2026. It has been harder to get together this year, but memorable and full of laughter when we do. My French Friend Janou, you are dearly missed.

Banjo Man and I are busy packing and cleaning and cleaning out cars and moving deck chairs…and all the things that need to be done before we leave until next spring. The lake is like glass and the skies are blue and there is–gasp–snow on top of the mountains.

Dancing Mandolin Player’s Boyfriend Bob was given a fabulous birthday party last Saturday. The whole town was there to celebrate. Here are some of the family who are definitely having a great time.

Here I am celebrating with two of my favorite people.

On Thursday we will pick up the rental car that we will drive to Spokane. We’ll close up the house and say goodbye to the lake. We’ll fly back home on Friday. It’s always a bit stressful and sad to leave here, but we remind ourselves that Thanksgiving and Christmas are not that far away. There is much to do to get ready and I can’t wait.

I have an appointment on October 28 to start the process of having radiation again, this time to the three cancerous nodes in my chest. I am very excited about it, folks. I’ve waited since February of 2025 to get permission for this treatment and now it is going to happen. Hurray for me!

I will leave you with this meme, because sadly it describes my mornings. Some of you might just identify…

Posted in family, friends, lake, the cancer fight | 2 Comments

a rainy day

Posted on September 17, 2026 by is there any more pie?

It rained last night. And yesterday. And the night before that.

Epic.

Another frightening fire season has ended and our town has sighed with relief. The loss of hundreds of homes in Spokane, Washington (100 miles away) brought home how quickly fires can spread and destroy.

But this morning our little part of the world is chilly and wet. And that’s just fine.

I haven’t blogged in so long! The kids all came and the house was full for weeks. Of course the highlight is always the 4th of July.

UPDATE:

The above post was started on September 8. I don’t know why I was interrupted, but it was most likely due to Banjo Man and something tech-related that he needed help with.

So…the rain continued off and on for days. And we were so happy! Banjo Man headed up to the cabin many times and spent chilly, damp afternoons painting walls in the so-called “bathroom”, drinking tea and listening to cd’s. The boys gave him a portable generator for Father’s Day and he absolutely loves it.

The sun has come out again and even though the hdays are chilly, it is good to see the sun and blue skies.

It has been quite a summer. The highlight, of course, is having the family together once again.

We kayaked.

We loved our Ladies Night dinner.

Fourth of July, after the parade in Clark Fork. We were in no rush to get up.

Waiting for the fireworks to begin.

The Funny Grandson still loves jumping off the dock. I bet he always will.

We processed apricots for future jars of jam

The girls picked raspberries.

Time with friends and family on the porch.

The sunsets never cease to amaze.

It is September 17 now. And the summer events seem so long ago. It always goes by too quickly!

But check out this picture. It always makes me laugh. Do you think the old folks needed a nap?

Posted in family, friends, lake | Leave a comment

we do all the things

Posted on June 21, 2026 by is there any more pie?

Sunsets.

Dinners out on Ladies Night. Here’s the view from Pearl’s.

Plant the “garden”.

Hang the flag.

Shop for parade outfits.

And search for arrowheads, those elusive treasures from the past.

We have made meatballs. Lasagna. Shepherd’s Pies. Chicken Broccoli casserole. Mac & Cheese. The kids are coming!

We are so ready.

Posted in family, food, lake | 2 Comments

day 10

Posted on June 5, 2026 by is there any more pie?

Hello from the lake! It has been such a long time since I have blogged and I apologize. Right now I am sitting in bed recovering from some evil bug that Banjo Man caught on one of our flights and passed on to me a week or so later.

I have been in bed for ten days. I have not been this sick since I had the flu in 1990. But I now have antibiotics (day 3) and am starting to perk up.

On May 12 we left RI and prepared for three flights to get us to Spokane. The first was to Nashville, a fun airport with lots of restaurants.

We were delayed in Nashville and then had to stress over whether we would miss our connecting flight from Denver to Spokane. Turned out there were fifteen of us wondering the same thing, so the Spokane flight was held for an hour. There was a mad dash to another terminal in Denver. We sort of did the “speed walk” thing while others ran past us.

I will not go into other grumpy travel details, but I will admit to yelling at a very rude old man at the hotel. It was 2 AM and we had been up for 21 hours. My patience and general good humor had disappeared while waiting almost an hour for the airport shuttle. Banjo Man tried not to laugh out loud and the hotel employee thanked me.

I was thrilled with myself and went to bed happy.

The next morning we went car shopping. Yes, car shopping. Banjo Man wanted me to have a very nice used (of course) Toyota Highlander so I would be totally independent these next five months. I did not want a very nice Highlander. I wanted an old one, one that could go to town, up and down the mountain and to local restaurants.

I won. The compromise? We would buy a newer model car back in RI. It is time for a car with all the safety features we need for all the trips to Boston and points north.

It was time for lunch. Banjo Man picked his favorite:

Because we are superhuman old folks, we then drove to Costco and purchased $800 worth of groceries.

Epic.

We each had our own cart. I fizzled out long before Banjo Man and found a spot by the protein powders where I could lean on the cart and close my eyes.

Onward to the lake…

It would be almost 7 PM before we pulled up in the driveway. There was water to turn on, septic system to start, hot water tanks to turn from ‘vacation’ mode to normal.

Heaven, heaven, heaven.

Posted in family, lake, travel | 2 Comments

meeting miss mendon

Posted on April 29, 2026 by is there any more pie?

Although we’re not driving across the country anymore, we do still have road trips. They’re the medical kind, accompanied by a bit of stress and a smidgeon of dread, but still…we’re on the road again.

Monday’s trip was to a different Dana Farber Cancer Center in Milford, Massachusetts. My oncologist had moved to this location months ago and we had no idea where Milford was until I googled it.

We headed north, along I-95 and 295 until another traffic-free highway kept taking us north. And then we turned right, onto a rural road heading east to Milford. It was lovely. Small towns, a lake, historic homes…all to be gawked at on a sunny spring morning. We were in the country on a two-lane road!

About two hours later, while waiting to see the doctor, Banjo Man asked his typical road-trip question: Where are we going to eat?

I took out my phone and we examined the map of the surrounding area.

“That’s it,” Banjo Man exclaimed. “Let’s go there!!”

“Where?”

“The diner. Miss Somebody’s diner”.

We were then called into an exam room to meet with the doctor. She and I discussed my options, I reported on what the thoracic oncologist had said about radiation, I reiterated that right now I was more into “quality of life” decisions as opposed to high-powered treatments. We agreed on my having a scan in July in Idaho, continued bloodwork and a Zoom call in August. If the cancer was still under control, I would have radiation in the fall. Fine with me!

Banjo Man didn’t say a word. I knew he was thinking about lunch. And the thrill of going to an out-of-the-way restaurant.

We had to turn around a couple of times to find it. Tucked behind a massive car dealership, it was hard to spot from the road. My husband practically ran across the parking lot to get inside.

Do you see that mug in the photo?

Banjo Man did. He ordered a cup of coffee just so he could drink out of one. Then he asked the waitress if he could buy a mug to take home.

“Just take that one,” she chirped. “No charge.”

The food was great. I think it tasted better because we were now free to go to the lake and I hadn’t had to argue with my doctor about it. I had already decided that any and all treatments could wait until August. I was not about to be convinced otherwise.

Besides, Angela had already insisted it was the right thing to do.

While Banjo Man took his sweet time devouring a massive pot roast dinner, I nibbled on a chicken wrap and mentally packed my suitcase.

The mug went home with us.

Posted in family, food, rhode island, road trip, the cancer fight, travel | 3 Comments

brain tests

Posted on April 17, 2026 by is there any more pie?

Oh, how true…

Last week I had my annual physical. Before the doctor trotted in, his very young nurse took my blood pressure and went over the list of medications and asked familiar questions. You all know the drill: Do you feel safe at home? Have you fallen in the last six months? Any trips to the ER?

But then she mumbled something about Medicare and said she had to go over a few more things. I was still silently congratulating myself for decent blood pressure numbers. And then it began…

Do you know what month it is? The year?

Huh?

I wasn’t prepared. But I sputtered, “April, 2026.”

It continued.

What time do you think it is?

Remember these three things and I will ask you to repeat them later.

Count backwards from 20 to 1.

Recite the months of the year backwards.

Tell me the three things I asked you to remember.

I passed the test just fine, despite being nervous and worrying that I was in some kind of mental decline and didn’t know it.

Thank goodness she didn’t ask:

Do you remember what aisle the baked beans are in at Stop & Shop? (Answer: Never. It’s a mystery.)

Have you left wet clothes in the washing machine in the past month? (Yes. Drives Banjo Man crazy.)

Have you measured quilting fabric more than three times before cutting it? (Always have.)

Do you know what you’re having for dinner tonight? (Dinner? What’s that?)

Have you lost your phone in the house this week? (Uh…)

And my favorite:

Do you know what day it is immediately upon waking? (No. I’m retired and don’t need to.)

Posted in just for fun, personal female whining, rhode island | 1 Comment

practicing

Posted on April 16, 2026 by is there any more pie?

That’s what I told Banjo Man this morning: I’m practicing for the lake. I’m sitting on a deck. In web chairs. With my coffee.

First thing in the morning. In the sunshine.

Even without lake and mountain views, we’ve been enjoying our new little deck much more than we thought we would when it was erected last November. Completed last week with chairs from Home Depot and a tiny table from Home Goods, it’s a sweet place to enjoy the beginning of spring…and dream of the summer ahead.

Posted in family, rhode island | Leave a comment

the dreaded leak

Posted on April 15, 2026 by is there any more pie?

When your refrigerator leaks, you are very lucky to realize it right away. My friends have faced all sorts of problems and renovations due to water issues with their refrigerators. Catastrophes, even.

Thankfully we discovered ours right away, when a puddle of water appeared in front of a corner of our very old GE top freezer, no frills, fridge.

Was I sad? Heck, no! I seized the opportunity, throwing a dishtowel on the puddle before trotting down the hall to my office. It was research time, and my Dream Machine was to come home to Mama.

Banjo Man was in the car with me within two hours. We quickly agreed to buy a French Door refrigerator with a bottom freezer. There was only one model that was narrow enough to fit in our space and also didn’t have water and ice in the door. We wouldn’t be tempting fate and installing a water line for an ice maker. We headed to Westerly and purchased it at the store that could deliver it in four days and not six weeks.

Sometimes a text message can make your heart sing.

Sorry about the blurry picture, but you get the general idea.

Last Wednesday was the busiest day of the year so far. Nancy was here working on her quilt, the refrigerator was delivered and the old one removed, Claire arrived for her own sewing lesson and Jeff stayed to visit. The contents of the refrigerator covered the counter, island and dining room table.

And a few days later I actually had a reason to go to Home Goods and buy something I really needed: plastic refrigerator bins to keep the bottles and jars organized.

Banjo Man keeps opening the doors and exclaiming, “Three lights! Three lights!”

And I continue to stare out the back door and trill, “No snow! No snow!”

Welcome to Spring.

Posted in rhode island, shopping | 1 Comment