Jane Ashhurst arrived today for a weekend. Yvonne had her first chance to drive her new car alone when she went to pick her up.

Jane brought an interesting paste with her:

It's apparently Neri ume, a sauce so obscure that Wikipedia doesn't know it. Google Gemini tells me

Neri plum sauce, or Neri Ume, is a paste made from pickled Japanese plums (umeboshi). It's known for its distinct sour, salty, and sometimes subtly sweet flavor. It's incredibly versatile and can add a fantastic tangy kick to many dishes.

We had sushi for dinner tonight. Gemini had continued with

Sushi Rolls: Use Neri Ume as a filling or accent in maki sushi rolls.

So I tried some with that as a dipping sauce. Probably not the way to go; I'll investigate the alternatives. Jane uses it for a quick rice dish along with bonito flakes.

Call from Professor Peter Kistler today to discuss whether Yvonne should get a stent. Spent some time getting a laptop running Microsoft for a Zoom call, but this time he just called on the “phone” (the modern word for “mobile phone”, which at least omits the pain).

We thought it was about stents, but he thought it was about her medication and prescribed Sotalol instead. Somehow he hadn't been informed of the chest pain that Yvonne had had a few weeks back. He dismissed the idea that the pain was due to cardiac issue: she had had an MRI last year. That doesn't tally with my records, but it suggests that things can't get worse. But what could be done is to have a pacemaker installed, which would obviate the need for medication, something that Yvonne would like very much. And Dr Rodney Reddy can do the implant.

Downsides of a pacemaker? None. But he (Kistler) needs to do a minor ablation a month after implant to turn the thing on: if it stops, so does the heart. That sounds like a downside to me. I get the feeling that it's no longer his area, and that another talk with Reddy would be a good idea.

Saw a link to a video on the Nikon Nikkor 105 mm f/2.5 lens. I have one of them, one that I got with my Nikon FM2 five years ago. I was not overly interested in that lens—I found the 50 mm f/1.4 and 85 mm f/1.4 more interesting. But it seems that the 105/2.5 is also a classic lens, and the article came up with a lot more information, including pricing that I hadn't expected: he showed this particular model (AI-s aperture coupling) on sale in Japan for 48,800 ¥‎, currently rather over AUD 500, the upper limit of what I established 5 years ago. And that lens appeared not to have been in as good a condition as mine.

Then there is another article on the lens on the Nikon web site, which I must read. Other links are here and here.

The Nikon page also has articles on other lenses, including the 85/1.4. A lot more investigation to do if I ever find the time.

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