We had workers at the house all day yesterday. Unfortunately, Eileen is unhappy with their work. Instead of using the old trim around the upstairs door, they cut and stained their own trim which doesn’t look very good. They didn’t finish the basement door trim and left huge holes in the plaster. Eileen texted the company last night but we haven’t heard from them. We haven’t paid for the entire work yet so that gives us some negotiating power. It kept Eileen awake last night.

Rhonda dropped by for tea and piano duets yesterday. That’s always nice.

This morning we dropped the Subaru off at OK tire for some tweaking before our drive to Chelsea on Thursday morning. There was a slow leak in the front right tire which they fixed. Also they checked the oil, the coolant, and the power steering. All of these were low so it’s a good thing they did. Eileen and I went to the Good Earth and had breakfast together. These days are difficult for her. She finds herself a bit on the fuzzy side as she works at dealing with my cancer.

I’ve over booked myself today. But it’s for the good. I am meeting with Rev Jen today instead of tomorrow because she is going out of town for Thanksgiving. Then my piano trio is performing at the nursing home. I stopped by this morning and discovered the piano is 10 cents sharp. This is a lot. I texted the string players and they seem to think we can do it anyway. That’s a relief. Because the alternative would be for me to cart one of my electric keyboards over there for the gig.

I’m pages away from finishing Kendri’s Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. It’s a great read. I told Eileen that it might be a bit of a echo chamber type read for me, in other words, reinforcing  my own understandings and speaking from a point of view I’m sympathetic to. But on the other hand I do think Kendri is a brilliant scholar of his subject. I want to finish it so I can read Jill Lepore’s new book, These Truths: A History of the United States.

I also picked up another book on Shakespeare by Greenblatt.

Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. I do like this writer and think he does a good job of explaining stuff about Shakespeare.

I picked up another book of poetry to read. To the Left of the Sun is a collection by Linda Flaherty Halmaier. I’m enjoying it, but the poems I like are not online to share.

A choir member loaned me a small book of poetry by G. A. Stoddard Kennedy. At least I think that was the author. I gave it back to her recently. She asked me what I thought and I told her it wasn’t my cup of tea… too religious. After looking at some of his poems online, I could be wrong about him. Some of them were more bitter than the ones she had marked as her favorites.