The news about Liz is hopeful. The MRI she had yesterday showed minimal brain damage from her two strokes. The doctors are cautiously optimistic. A second MRI will be given tomorrow to check the first results and look for any changes. If they can, they will start to take her out of the coma. The doctor said it would be a long haul in rehab, but she’ll do it. Liz is tough.

Yesterday was an air-conditioner day. The dogs were panting and I was sweating. Today could be the same with a high of 80˚, the current temperature. There is a thunderstorm warning, but I’m skeptical. It is a pretty day. The trees are dappled by sunlight. The blue sky is clear of clouds. The breeze ruffles the leaves of the oak trees.

My to-do list has familiar tasks. The laundry is in the hall where it has been for at least a week. Trash bags are by the fence waiting for my dump run, probably tomorrow.

Today I have a uke concert at the Harwich farmer’s market. We played there last year. I remember the bread lady. She always had a line waiting. I’ll be standing in that line. I got money yesterday.

My dance card has nothing after today until Monday, except maybe the return of movie night. It’s time to bring the red carpet out of storage. Last year I bought a few really bad B science fiction movies, but I never opened the deck for company. I’m thinking maybe to open with a classic like Gunga Din.

I went on the deck when the dogs were in the yard. I’ve put yard trash clean-up on my list for today. I saw the paper remnants of Nala’s thefts strewn around the yard.

My deck makes me smile. On the rail are the deck boxes filled with herbs. Flowers are in the rest of the pots around the rail. I finished the planting late yesterday when it was a bit cooler. Today I’m going to sand and paint the small red, metal table and the wooden fish table, deck regulars. I’m also going to decorate with candles, hanging decorations and some oddities I love. Already, the wooden shark head is hanging. I keep humming the shark theme from Jaws.

When I was a kid, there was a bread bakery in the square. Some days, the whole square smelled like baking bread, and I couldn’t resist that aroma. I’d buy a loaf with my allowance, tear off pieces and munch all the way home. My mother used to wonder why I wasn’t hungry for supper.

I could eat hot dogs every day. My sisters even joke about it. I butter and brown the rolls, add some cheese then slathered the rolls with spicy mustard and green pepper relish. I yum at every bite. The dogs sit by the table and stare. I always share, no wonder they sit and stare. I would.

Today is not the best of all days. The decision will be made as to the next step for Liz. All the test results will be ready by the afternoon. Yesterday, Ryan told his son Ryder the extend of his mother’s condition. For the first time, he cried. Now Ryan has to figure how to tell Georgie, his daughter. The worst is yet to come.

The morning is already warm with the temperature of 79˚, the high for the day. It’s cloudy right now, but the sun is back and forth from behind the clouds. The breeze is strong. All the leaves are blowing.

Yesterday I decided to finish my deck planting though I’m using finish loosely as most of the plants were still in plastic pots from the garden centers. I was out on the deck four hours. I planted herbs and flowers in 2 deck boxes and 15 pots, two decorative and the rest clay. After the potting, I swept the deck, cleaned the table and trash picked the yard. I was dirty and sweaty but happy. I had finally finished the one chore on my to-do list which had been carried from list to list. Today I still need to hit the garden center as I have one empty deck box and one empty clay pot.

When I was growing up, summer seemed endless. Days were spent on my bike, at the park or the pool. I was never home. I’d make my lunch and bring it with me. It was always a bologna sandwich on soft white bread slathered with mustard (the yellow kind as that was all we had), cheese, also yellow, and hot peppers, sometimes chopped and sometimes whole. I’d also pack some cookies, Oreos if we had any left as they went fast. I was never one for fruit in my lunch. I used to stop to eat under the shade of a huge tree. I’d put the kickstand down and keep my bike in the shade. Those handlebars got hot.

When I was in Ghana, I used to borrow a bike to pedal to town. It was all downhill. I’d park the bike near the market, finish my shopping then pedal home, uphill. That reminded me of when I was kid, and our house was at the top of a hill. I loved the ride down, but I mostly had to walk the bike uphill. It was the same in Ghana, but the more I rode, the easier the hill got. Finally, I was able to pedal all the way to the top of the hill. I stopped and cheered.

Today I’m taking a break. It has been a tough couple of days. I’m sitting by the phone waiting for updates. My niece-in-law, Liz, my nephew Ryan’s wife, is in critical condition with what they haven’t figured out yet. Those who love her, her family and friends, have rallied around her. They stay at the hospital. Liz is never without someone to hold her hand and talk to her. They take turns going in to see her, two or three at a time. Ryan stays by her side.

Her older child, Ryder, knows what is happening and has been with her, but her daughter, 8, only knows her mother is in the hospital but not the particulars. She is staying with her aunt, my niece, and her cousins.

Liz is in an induced coma and intubated. That’s all my head can handle.