"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." (All's Well...)

.....Today was a banner day. It's not over yet, but so far it's about an A-. We had an appointment with the surgeon who dug out my melanoma with his shovel, and I believe secretly howled with Satanic delight at the suicidal pain I felt for at least two weeks. But today he finally released me from his service after diagnosing my wound as almost fully healed. In order to celebrate, I decided to drive to the Isle Casino for a little fun. I went alone because Rhoda went to a luncheon at Duffy's where forty women awaited to surprise the two guests of honor who had done a lot for the City of Hope, and were being rewarded with a couple of hours of cackling women who usually all speak at the same time. I was not at the casino for even one hour when three red sevens turned up on my slot machine with a bonus of 7 free spins that increased the value of the three sevens to a bonus of $214. I was only betting 75 cents on each spin. I didn't have the required nerve to continue playing, for fear of losing my winnings, so I had the valet retrieve my ten-year old Malibu and I drove straight home.

.....To continue with the A- day, I got a call from my grandson, Sean, who is 25 years old and lives in California. Sean is not only a professional surfer but also is a talented artist who is having a show of his paintings next month. He is a student at a prestigious school of art, and when questioned he said he loves it there. We had a lengthy discussion about what he is planning for his life, and I, obviously, was quite happy to hear from one of my grand kids. After hanging up, I wondered what other good thing was going to happen today and hoping that more of these A- events would be in in store for me in the future.

.....There are, of course, some F's in my life these days. One of them is that I can't open anything. When I get a fortune cookie in a Chinese restaurant I can never separate the wrapping it comes in. When we get a new jar of anything, I have to turn it over to Rhoda who has the skill to open most anything. One of the things that neither one of us can open is the door to our terrace. We never lock it, but the cleaning crew was here the other day, and apparently one of them felt it needed to be locked. Now we tried everything to open it without success. Oh, I almost forgot; one of the A- things is that it appears the two California baseball teams--the Angels and the Dodgers are going to be eliminated in the playoffs. That means we, on the East coast, will not have to stay up all hours of the night to see who wins a game considering the three hour time difference involved. And finally, we learned today that our maintenance fee for next year is being reduced in the amount of $129 a month. That anything is being reduced these days is astounding; even one's weight.