Wow, gang. Me and my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man had the best time yesterday.

It started out great because as soon as I got there, I went over the notes from the caregivers who had worked with him while I was gone. I had given my supervisor a full page of ideas for how a stranger could get the best results with him, and she printed it out and gave it to the other caregivers.

And they each followed it completely and they all had “an enjoyable time” with him!!

He got out of bed, got dressed. Took his meds. Ate his meals. And even chatted! No one was kicked out of the house!!

That made me so happy.

And we did indeed go out for sashimi & sake yesterday — by some miracle, the sun actually came out and stayed out through my whole shift.

He was alert and focused and chatty during our meal (during my whole shift, actually). But I tell you what, gang, he absolutely broke my heart yesterday, in the best way.

He likes to see photos of my cats, so I showed him this recent photo. And just FYI, he also studied for & got a degree in the Christian Ministry — at a small college in Kansas, for 3 years in between working on his Engineering Degree from NYU in the mid-1950s. So Jesus and Christianity are a big deal to him, too.

He has seen photos of the cats on my bed before, but he never saw that full corner of my room. The print of Christ Pantocrator or my cross from Bethlehem, in particular.

He looked at the photo and was spellbound. He got tears in his eyes. He said, “Your room is so beautiful.” And then with so much emotion, he said, “I love you.”

He has never said that before. And to be honest, gang, no one I have ever known has ever said to me “I love you” and meant it as deeply as he did at that moment.

It was incredible.

And then, after our meal was over!! It turns out that the Peony Bistro has yet another new supplier of fortune cookies!! So much better than the last ones. Sort of mystical this time. His fortune is on the top:

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Before I forget!

It’s Abraham Lincoln’s heavenly birthday today. Happy Birthday, Abraham Lincoln. RIP. You did great things.

And here’s this. Johnny Cash sings the Civil War classic, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”:

(BTW, when I was 11 years old, I came in 2nd place — city wide!! — in an oratory competition: reciting Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. I was so proud of that plaque they gave me. It disappeared sometime after I moved to NYC. I think my mom eventually threw it away…)

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Anyway!!

Here’s a big bunch of stuff from Instagram today!!

A great photo of The Clash in Paris, in 1981:

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And here’s this!

Warren Ellis celebrating jet lag, to the tune of Johnny Thunders singing “Jet Boy”!!

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And here’s Tom Petty smiling — wow! This actually made my day:

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This brought back memories!!

The poster from Patti Smith Group’s second album, Radio Ethiopia. Photo by Robert Mapplethorpe:

The album included this song — which made my mom declare disgustedly, “She’s an animal!” (And she didn’t mean it in a good way.) “Pissing in a River”:

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And here’s this!!

From Pamela Des Barres Instagram page! A great old photo of her and Iggy!

(Excuse me — I meant to say a “groovy” old photo…)

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Okay!

Some great photos of Keith!!

I love this one — I have no idea what he’s doing but his expression is so intense, and Ronnie’s is sort of like “not this again”:

And some happy photos from Keith’s autobiography LIFE:

And here’s Keith, bored with Mick in 1975, while being photographed by the great Annie Leibovitz:

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And yes!!

While I did indeed try to find a photo of Nick Cave on Instagram, post-tour…

Here’s one of my all-time favorites from my private desktop stash instead!

Nick with Luke — just yesterday:

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And I think that is it!

It’s another splendid sunny day here in the Hinterlands. I have the entire day to myself.

I’m still waiting to hear back from Sandra re: the TV project proposal, which we will be sending off the moment I hear back from her.

Meanwhile, I might get started on those LULU videos on how to format an eBook nowadays… We shall see!!

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!!

I absolutely loved this song, gang. It was a huge Top 40 hit in 1974. I had the 45 rpm and played it on my little portable record player in my room, over and over and over.

I think it’s kind of a huge blessing that the record came out right on the heels of the film version of “The Exorcist” being such a huge sensation. I didn’t see the film back then, because I was too young, but I read the book and was absolutely terrorized by it.

Maybe that’s partly why I played this record over and over and over, even though I was Jewish. It helped calm me down. (I was already secretly way over in the Jesus camp by then though. Unbeknownst to my family.)

Sister Janet Mead, “The Lord’s Prayer”. Enjoy, gang!!