May 2, 2003
The Outpatient Infusion Center where I get my morning shot is more like a hair salon. There are these chairs lined up along the wall with all these young nurses running back and forth. Most of the people coming in are there for chemo and are older women. They sit in the chairs and read and gab. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, there’s a lot of humor wafting around.

When my nurse Melanie quipped that she was creating a mosaic, or work of art on my stomach, I quipped, “Well, you’ve got a mighty big canvas to work on, so knock yourself out.” That got a huge laugh from the ladies. However, yesterday when Melanie commented on how many needle marks I have on my stomach I said, “No kidding. In the past week I feel like I’ve been poked more than Heidi Fleiss.” Not one laugh. Perhaps it was too blue for the blue hairs. Tough crowd. I wanted to say, “Hey, I’m dying here,” but that probably wouldn’t have gone over very well either.

In the afternoon, I painted an overview map of Turkey Creek in the office. Brought my paints in. Gus will now put in the towns and trails in the computer. Hope it turns out decent. Also worked on a Jesse and Frank James painting that was in my office. I just kept looking at it and thought it could use a better sky. Wailed on it and feel good. Needs a tad more, but I’ll get it later.

R.G. is out for the rest of the week. He’s in Idaho. He’s got everything in editorial under control. We’ve never been this far ahead and it feels good.

“Once you get people laughing, they're listening.”
—Herbert Gardner