I allowed myself no excuses today and headed for the blood center in the morning. And, my blood was red enough. The guy didn't even ask but pointed me to a platelet couch.

Things were a bit slow there--only two others came in during the 2-ish hours I was there, and they were both whole blood donors.

I now have a gorgeous heavy beach towel promoting the Blood Center. I passed on the pint of Blue Bell ice cream, since I had stuff to do on the way home, and today was a hot one.

Later in the afternoon I headed for where else. Main goal was charcoal lighter fluid, aka fire starter for my burn piles.

While I was doing the platelet thing I read more of the Tepper book. Like all her books, this one has an underlying message and it's about male/female relationships, circa late fifties.

It's partly a reminder of how far we (as a people) have come, but also a warning that equality of opportunity etc. is still not universal.

Her protagonists come of age in the late fifties--same time as I did, so there are a lot of things I can relate to as far as stereotypes and gender-based expectations go.

The book is also a reminder that there was a LOT more overt discrimination than most of us remember.

At any rate, when I got home I was greeted by a friendly black cat, and close behind him was a cautious little raccoon mama. Little Goldie definitely sees me as a Nice Person--who is also a source of food.

Tomorrow looks to be another hot one, although there may well be afternoon showers to lower the temperature and raise the humidity--resulting in about the same discomfort index.

Another IUD.