Tomorrow is the solstice. So it appears as though it will be overcast around the clock. And so now the days will start getting shorter – no fun, no fun at all.

After talking with a nutritionist/dietitian, I decided to see if I could reverse my downward health spiral and get it heading back upward again. It helped that yesterday I got the first of two implants. This was a double, remember Toothy McTooth? Gone now, gone a long time. I think that this implant is going to stay put – it feels secure.

All those trips to the dentist, each and every one, has filled me with angst. Getting the double implant was the worst, the single on the other side won’t be as bad.

Encouraged, I decided to again resume the use of my hearing aids, which have been sitting in the recesses of a bathroom shelf for well over a year. I pulled them out and cleaned them yesterday. I put them on then took them off because they screeched. Today I figured out (for the first time) how to adjust the frequency. I hit it right this

Jackie writing on future shelving

morning and wore them all day. I could again hear subtle sounds, like the rattling of the computer keyboard keys. And I heard birds that otherwise I would not have heard.

The classical music on Big Cabbage radio also sounded pretty good.

Amazing, the history of the hearing aid – from the big horns that people used to hold up to their ears, to this.

I have been struggling to hear people, and often asking them to repeat themselves. At times, I would just pretend to hear someone, or not listen at all. I noticed today that the not listening has become an ingrained habit – it is, I suspect, a precursor to dementia.

The Historic Eagle Hotel distribution space has terrible acoustics, and I was having a very hard time hearing people talk to one another and to me. The hearing aids did help with this today, so I will keep wearing them.

It was a fun day there. Pete and Robert happily built shelves. Lois, Milena, Rebekah, and J.J., the latter’s daughter, all came and did a variety of tasks, including cleaning and stamping kids’ books. As they were working, I thought, wow – I spearheaded getting this project going – and now others are assisting in keeping it going. Never, ever in my life have I orchestrated anything. This is a first. I then told myself that I will need to keep this in mind, when, like last night, I get discouraged.

The hotel owner, Atli, stopped by to see what was going on later in the afternoon, when Pete and Robert were finishing with the shelf building. His first words were, “I don’t like it.” We figured that because the Albanian’s second language is English, that what he articulated was not fully what he was thinking, which had to with his viewpoint that there is cheaper shelving options out there. And maybe, just maybe, he is because of his upbringing, always seeking a cheaper way of doing things.

Tomorrow, I finish shelving the young adult books and get going on the nonfiction books. Making progress, slowly but surely.

Next: 170. 6/21/23: Summer Solstice