Ramblin' (Wo)Man.

After the whole lotta shakin' goin' on here in The Lou, and after all the activity lately at my place of work, I took all my extra hours and took a comp day. The weather is gorgeous. I mowed the lawn for the first time this season; I fired up the kettle (sorry folk, a gas contraption "grills" food -- I 'que ... brisket (largely TX-style) if you want to ask).

Every stitch of laundry in the house has been done, folded, put away properly; every surface (including under and behind the fridge, and even the ceiling fans) wiped down and cleaned.

My garden -- planted about a week-and-a-half-ago -- got weeded, with a dollop of compost put on top.

I should remember to take some "me" time once a quarter or so. I think that is the one thing that suffers in the face of being in a commuter relationship and also taking care of a dying mother.

Speaking of familial health, MV has -- for the past month or so -- been tending to her beloved grandmother, on this earth now into her 94th year. This weekend, I was supposed to go to Chicago for the usual, but with Pesach and an grandmother with her third respiratory issue in two months, MV's family headed up to Wisconsin en masse before the weekend hit. I stayed in St. Louis to be with Mom, since my sister and her kiddos came in town on the same weekend. We had a great time here in The Lou. MV and fam had a bittersweet time. Not to harp on the obvious, but MV's grandmother -- after surviving internment camps and gas ovens, after surviving the 1950s, loving the 60s and 70s, and living a feisty little large life -- has systems that slowly are giving trouble and seem to be assaulting her week to week. Realistically (and MV, as a good physician, is an empathetic realist), she's living with assistance and declining steadily.

Her grandmother is someone who I feel sooooo very fortunate to have in my life, even if it is the occassional visit up to Wisconsin. Watching MV and her grandmother has been a riot. Even six months ago, Nanna was having herself some wine-soaked fun with her daughter and grand-daughter.

So, it's a big heapin' spoonful of life here lately.

In all of it, I sit and watch the Dem nom process much as one does when watching a relationship circle the drain: too much stupidity, too much drama, and too much eye-rolling long after the point the outcome was known. MV is her usual antsy self, and I seem to calm her by saying that Clinton will probably win by 6-8% points, but get little from the electoral college by way of gains. It will all get spinned, and there will be little fuel to get Clinton into the next two contests. The circling will continue.

Post-Super Tuesday politics have just been a waiting/watching game.

MV has taken much of the dirty, mudslinging about 60s radicals, her neighborhood and it's church's/educational/community institutions, alleged elitism, and anti-urban slams in the PA primary campaign personally. It seems to be helping her deal with the emotions surrounding what is happening with her grandmother. I can certainly understand that totally.

So, I sit here on my sofa, laptop in lap -- watching the screen continue to post silly "news" pre-PA results. I head up north on Friday, and I wish I were there already.