Woke up with a cold. All those people coughing on the plane. Slept with the grandkids. Hope I didn’t give it to them. I was supposed to go to my stepchildren’s home for dinner tonight. By that I mean Laura Turner and Rutherford Seydel and two of their three children. I still feel we are part of the same family. Their son, whose birth I filmed, is a major hockey goalie and so went to finish high school in Toronto where hockey rules. I’m so proud of him. He is an amazing human being.

I just took this picture shooting up into the overhead mirror while lying in bed. That is my granddaughter scratching Tulea’s tummy. Sometime I’ll photograph the bed and post it. I’m a fool for unusual beds and this is definitely the most unusual, one of a kind, canopied, mirrored one I’ve ever seen. Richard hasn’t seen it either. My bed at my ranch is pretty unusual as well. (Come to think of it, I have a picture of that one and will post it now). The problem is I got them when I was solo and they’re antique so not very big. If Richard and I are still together in a year I’ve promised to get a king-sized one as he’s 6’3.”

Shucks. I erased the photo of my ranch bed so I’m sending this one, a bed that is outside on the portale. My favorite napping place (and sometimes overnight place) cause I can hear the river close by and see the stars.

———
The fight in the House is over, but the fight in the Senate is just beginning. It’s time to use our strongest weapon: the White House.

Join us. Ask President Obama to live up to his campaign commitment and stand with us to protect women’s health care today and every single day until reform is passed.

Click here for more information and to contact President Obama

Dear Jane,

Yesterday was brutal.

While there are some who are satisfied with the health care reform bill that passed in the House of Representatives late Saturday night, I am not one of them.

When it came down to it, Congress passed a bill that will undercut women’s access to comprehensive health care. Despite hundreds of thousands of voters like you and me who called on members of Congress to include women’s health care in health care reform, the bill that passed Saturday night includes a ban on private abortion coverage for millions of women and would prohibit it in the new “public option.”

At Planned Parenthood, we fought together with you until the bitter end (thank you), and once we lost the vote on women’s health, we started to do what we do best — gear up for our next fight.

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

Opponents of legal abortion and health care for women are emboldened by Saturday night’s vote and ready to bring their ban on abortion to the Senate floor. But now it’s our turn. And this time we are going to use our strongest weapon: the White House.

That’s why, today, we are calling on President Obama
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp
to ensure that lawmakers, especially those in his own party, support health care reform that protects women’s access to reproductive care as the next round of debate and voting occurs in the Senate.

Please, join us by asking our president to stand with us to protect women’s health care today and every single day until reform is passed.
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

President Obama campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan. Supporters of women’s health voted for him and contributed to his campaign in record numbers — and now it’s time for the president to reaffirm his commitment to women’s health, and demand that Congress reject any bill that leaves women worse off under health care reform than they are today. Take a moment right now to tell President Obama that we need him to stand with us — in both his words and in his actions.
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

If there’s anything we learned yesterday, it’s that women’s health is being targeted as expendable in health care reform. We also saw that anti-choice forces are working round-the-clock to roll back women’s health benefits. We will each need to take action many times over the next few weeks, and we need strong and public support from the White House to help us.

I’ve said this before, and it deserves repeating: without access to abortion care, and to comprehensive reproductive health care, there is no choice. Please, take action now http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp
 — and then spread the word on Facebook, among your friends and colleagues, via e-mail — whatever it takes.

Thank you so very much for standing with us and the women, men, and teens who rely on Planned Parenthood.

Sincerely,

Cecile Richards, President
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Leaving St. John’s today!! Hooray!!!

I am so happy to be going home. You know when it’s time. The antsiness, feeling the push to get on with things. Dr Moreland and all the nurses have been wonderful but I’d had enough bed pans and being wakened at 3am to have my vital signs taken–especially when I knew my vitals were full of vitality.

I’ve been thinking about my history with St John’s Hospital in Santa Monica: I had my tonsils out there when I was 6 years old. My maternal grandmother, Sophie Seymour, died there at 95 years old. It was the perfect way to go. She looked up at me and said, “I’m tired and I’m ready.” She’d had a hard life, losing both her daughters too soon (it’s always too soon if the child dies before the parent). Later, Gene Hayden, my mother-in-law, died in St. John’s. 3 years ago Dr Moreland replaced my hip there. Yep, I’ve had history with that hospital. Several of the Catholic sisters came to say hello and goodbye. One, in particular, was very funny. She said she liked my politics, what I stand for, so she’d forgive me for being skinny.

When he came to say goodbye this morning, Dr Moreland said that I seemed different, lighter, than when he’d done my hip.  I feel that way but didn’t think it was apparent to someone who doesn’t know we well. Lighter, to me, means happier, carrying less of a burden. Some of this has to do with feeling more confidence that I can find work. The possibility of doing theatre has opened up for me now and theatre offers more interesting possibilities for an older actor.

Some of the lightness has to do with love. I feel much more surrounded by love than I did three years ago. I don’t know which comes first, the lightness or the love. Maybe it has to do with age, too. It’s very common for older people to feel more positive about things. They see commonalities more than differences. I do. They don’t sweat the small stuff.

That’s about all the abstract musings I can muster on this day of going home.

See you next time.

Tulea is so happy to be home. When she got out of the elevator she ran to the door of our loft-well, not ran, skipped is more like it, and I mean it literally. She skips. I never knew another dog who skips. She raced around the place looking for Mouse, the brindle cat she grew up with and loved to play with. Mouse would perch on the back of the couch and jump on top of Tulea when she went by and then they’d roll around and wrestle. But for reasons we don’t understand, Mouse began to poop on my furniture so she now lives with Carole and Tommy and there’ve been no more problems. Carole brought Mouse over today and Tulea was so excited. She was all over Mouse, but Mouse could have cared less. Poor Tulea-except on the way to the airport, I will drop her off with the couple who pet sit and who Tulea adores. It’s more than mutual and they have two small dogs and two big cats that Tulea also loves. The couple are middle aged and their business is called ManyPaws-get it, menopause. Cute, huh? Tulea gets so excited when she realizes she’s at their house that she forgets that we’ll be apart for awhile. It makes it so much easier to leave.

Tulea with Daphne, Jane and her second family.

Tulea’s home away from home

Over lunch I will have a meeting with James Andrews about growing my blog, twittering, FaceBook, and hooking up with TONIC to sell my mug shot merchandise. James was at the Ludacris event last night doing a streaming video with his iphone and something called Ustream.

Gotta leave for the airport. Will be blogging and twittering from Equdor and the Galapagos.

Look what Susan Kellerman just sent, knowing I was about to depart for the Galapagos…with the words “Don’t forget your other family.” Isn’t that fantastic? Like I ever could. From the left it’s Samantha, Don, Caitlin (in the back-my understudy), Diane, me, Cletus, Colin

In car en route to airport with Malcolm on my lap.

Nathalie, Troy, Vanessa and Viva in Delta Lounge

Simone and Troy at airport

See you next time.