A ROUTINE WEEK IN LOMA LINDA

Settled... back in Scoopy, clothes, kitchenware, books, food and kitty box, condo and toys all stashed back in their usual places. We turned in the keys to the mobile home yesterday.

Settled... back into the rhythm of life and treatment in Loma Linda. Odel plays golf on Wednesday, we join the other proton beam patients on Thursday nights for the "restaurant tour", which resumes tonight at Clara's Restaurant in Redlands.

Every weekday, Odel gets his treatment (34 down, only 11 more to go). We exercise, admire Scoopy's new skin, run errands, do the laundry, read, watch TV, play on the computer, pet Luna... it is a predictable routine, not unpleasant but getting old! More and more frequently, we get out the atlas, check the calendar to see if we are still on schedule to make it to the big Boomerang of the year in Quartzsite. If all continues as planned, we will leave here on 1/23. YAY! Urban living isn't for us.

While we ARE in the urban environment, we have a few entertainment options that we don't find out in the boondocks. Redlands has a wonderful, luxurious movie theater complex, and we have seen four movies while we have been here: Quantum of Solace (loud, fast, fun, and Daniel Craig is a worthy new James Bond); Milk (don't miss it, Sean Penn is amazing); Seven Pounds (morbid and depressing); and Frost/Nixon (great acting and amazingly suspenseful even though you know the outcome).

Loma Linda and adjacent Redlands must have the best grocery shopping in the country (though people coming here from other states think the prices are outrageous). Look at these ORGANIC carrots - light orange, yellow, dark orange and purple with a yellow center - that I got at Clarke's Nutrition, the best organic grocery store I've ever seen - conveniently located between here and LLUMC.

Now that all other parts of the country are deeply into winter, RV'ers are moving south. We had several visits with friends passing through the area - which stoke our desire to get moving again, of course. Fortunately, it won't be long now.