I concur about the heartening photos of the marches across the US. There was a fast shower followed a half hour later by a thunderstorm that doused the large crowd in Fort Worth, but people stayed through the downpour. This crowd was almost double that of the first No Kings march. This is shared secondhand - I was finding the preparations for the event stressful enough that I decided to participate online instead and listened intermittently to the speakers in D.C., New York, Atlanta, Kansas City, Chicago, and San Francisco. Indivisible counts viewers in the day's participants.

Until the recurrence of the PMR the typical stress of preparing to march wouldn't have been remarkable, but I am trying to avoid prolonged exposure, both external and internal. Preparation for the march, getting there and staying safe is one part; ironically, beating up on myself for not going this time could be just as unhealthy. It was with mixed feelings that I listened online until enough of the speakers got through my internal chatter and reminded me again that there are many ways to support this cause. My PMR recovery also depends on me not beating up on myself too much.

One answer is to be more spontaneous. I have a few signs and several message shirts ready and can sign up at the last minute to go if it feels good. In the meantime I can amplify the messages of others on social media (recognizing this is preaching to the converted). For the rest of the time, I have signs in the yard and wear message shirts during the week. They get noticed. I still write to my elected representatives and donate to a few of the well-run causes. I feel like this went full-circle in analyzing the stress involved in the process and landed in a healthier place. The bottom line is I want to finish the Prednisone and stay off of it.

One side-effect of the donations is that groups sell their lists and others try really hard to get my attention by sending durable items. I'll be giving away several 2026 calendars because I can't use them all; the political message postcards are sent to my representatives.

Meanwhile, I worked in the yard after that rain. A weed spreading in a corner in the back was dug up and bagged for trash (I don't want seeds spreading from the compost). I'm set to spend some time this afternoon with the string trimmer up and down the driveway and along the curb at the street. I downloaded another audio book to accompany my jigsaw puzzles (I enjoyed McCullough's storytelling so much that I got another - John Adams.)

I recently read a remark about how to maintain the dishwasher, and several folks talked about removing and cleaning a filter. Filter? I dug out the booklet - no filter, other than just picking up any accumulated chunks on one spot near the drain. I'm glad I didn't have a 20+ year buildup of something to clean now.