No word from the doctor as of this morning. I did phone her office yesterday. My discomfort increased as the day wore on yesterday and after consulting Eileen, I self medicated with 2 martinis (she didn’t say I could have 2, only that I was justified in attempting some relief in that manner). Weirdly my BP this morning was the lowest it has been since I quit using the drug we suspected was causing my rash. Also my weight was down which may be why the BP was low. Who knows?

I feel pretty good this morning. The alcohol did help ease the itching. Mornings don’t seem to be as bad as evenings in general with this rash.

I spent some time with both versions of The New Oxford Book of Carols yesterday. Multiple copies of the short version arrived after I went to bed. The check I made out for them is gone from the fridge so I assume Eileen gave it to the Music Director from Our Lady of the Lake.

My summer reading in English Parish Church music has led naturally to reviving an equal one in the relatively new collection of carols. At this point I am planning to devour all the essays in the large version and use as many anthems from the small version as seems appropriate in the next choir season.  I have already earmarked a few including this lovely one:

Eileen did make jam and we had peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch. I worked on my books which distracted me from an increasing discomfort. They are now roughly all in order from A to Z by author upstairs. One box I discovered recently of unshelved books turned out to be all Classical Latin texts. Apparently sometime in the past I spent quite a bit of effort attempting to learn Classical Latin. This has seeped from my senile memory. But I have noticed that I seem to understand more Latin than I used to. I just thought I was mostly recognizing cognates (not only from English but from other languages I have some experience with like French and German).

Part of my culling has been to discard books in languages I can’t read, keeping only inter-linear or paginated versions.

Eileen is off to Whitehall today to spell her sister and tend to Dorothy. I have an organ lesson scheduled today, but that’s all. Hopefully I will hear from my doctor today one way or another. I would love it if she phoned in something to relieve this dang itching.

But life is still good. The explanation for today’s blog title, “old people in love,” is that this is something I mumble to myself as I spend my life with beautiful Eileen!

Opinion | John Brennan: President Trump’s Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash

My take is that this is largely symbolic, nevertheless our leader is out of control. Regarding the “collusion” with Russia, Brennan telling writes: “The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of “Trump Incorporated” attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets.”

NYTimes: New York Today: A Playlist for Commutes

This is fun. I listened to it as I worked on my books yesterday.

W.E.B. DuBois on Robert E. Lee

I do like DuBois!

Opinion | The Church of Aretha Franklin – The New York Times

Article by Michael Eric Dyson, I do like this writer and of course Aretha was a national treasure!