I just spent the morning with my dad. We started by looking at his trains, which he has recently set up in the dining room. He collects and build model trains of the central New York line, and a few others, and is big into milk cars. Sometimes we go to train shows together. They are a lot like book fairs, but the people wear more overalls and there are even fewer women. I'm not so into trains, but I'm certainly not against them. Nobody else will go with him. So it has become on of those things we do together. I like knowing that part of him.

My father showed me several engines. The first, which made sounds like a real train, kept jumping the tracks. A few pieces fell off and although his hands were shaking pretty badly he got them back on. Then he showed me a little Japanese engine, about 20 years old, that had light that were green on the front and red on the back. When the train changed directions, the lights changed. I liked this one. He had a couple boxes of tiny sitting people, passengers for box cars. He has a problem. When the box cars are moving and empty, they look silly. But if they are full and sitting in the yard they look silly too. The only thing we could think of is that he could fill them with old people who might have forgotten to get off at the last stop and ended up spending the night in the yard.

We went out for breakfast then headed up to Salem Hospital. I'd never been there, but he needed to go for an iv traetment. The place was crazy. I spent an hour in the waiting room listening to people talk about Salem, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the woman behind the counter. I felt sort of bad about using a handicapped spot (legally) when these really old women came in but they were so mean about everything I didn't worry too much about it.

Dad wanted to go to a new hobby store in Swampscott. He loves to go look at everything, and to explain how everything works. He got some 0.60 foam board to build floors for the box cars.

Driving around with him is nice. We get to talk about a lot of things. If this treatment doesn't work well he'll have to go to MGH for a week or so. I hate the idea of him alone there. Things seem to be working less and less. Or maybe he is just more resigned to fate. At this point, what does fate have to do with it?