When In Doubt, Make A List
Some bits and pieces:
I just woke up from a dream in which we were looking at a penthouse apartment in Chicago. It was an artists cooperative, with a big community garden on the roof. A woman who had the topmost apartment (it was seven floors of so-called penthouses and she had the best one, though the rooms were open to the hallway)–anyway, she was ordering MacBook Pros for everyone in the building and ordered one for me without my okay. It was zero interest and no payments for one year (like Sears!) and then after one year you could pick how much you wanted to pay and stretch it out over as many years as you wanted to. No questions asked. I was kind of excited. Both about the MacBook and about the prospect of living in a big city again, especially under such bohemian, yet comfortable, circumstances. The apartments were beautiful, overlooking a funky downtown neighborhood with a farmer’s market on one side, and somehow looking out over a huge expanse of prairie on the other. I’ve only ever driven through Chicago once.
I ground the coffee extra thick this morning, and it tastes smoky.
Lila’s still asleep. I’ll bring her to daycare when she wakes up on her own, then come back here to do some cleaning, then head next door to help my MIL with getting the house ready for an influx of people over the next four days.
Calling hours on Sunday. Funeral (cremation, no ceremony at the cemetery) on Monday.
Mom looks good. Tired, but stronger than I’ve seen her in recent months. Said she intends to travel, and to spend part of every winter in the southwest.
I used the words “anal probe” in reference to my week in a staff meeting and everybody laughed heartily. Phew.
This was after I was called out of the meeting to the daycare. Lila was playing on the slide with a child again, playing the “pull me up” game. I was running back to the meeting to grab my things and let them know that I had to take her to the doctor to put her elbow back in place.
The doctor showed me how to do it myself, and suggested she wear a sling for outside play, at least for a few weeks.
Our neighbor felt so bad about what happened the night before, she brought over dinner and a gift for Lila. Her son even brought her a helium balloon on a string, which entertained her all night long. That was so incredibly thoughtful, and the dinner smelled so good. But still, I wish she didn’t torture herself the way it sounds like she did. The kids play that game every time they get together. It was an unfortunate accident.
When I got home, I thinned the salad beds and made a big, spicy salad to bring next door to go with the Italian they ordered (and put the neighbor’s delicious smelling dinner in the fridge for tonight).
A mosquito got me right at the edge of my ring on my finger, now the finger is swollen and the ring is cutting off the circulation. And itchy.
The sun is cutting an angle through the living room window, lighting up the blue glass vases on top of the black shelf. I’m too lazy to take a picture.
It’s tempting to not clean this morning, but instead to get out in the garden. Maybe I can do a little of both.
"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?"
~Hal Borland
June 8th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
And that’s the thing. People feel so badly about that kind of injury, when really, it’s no one’s fault. Just something that happens. An unfortunate accident, like you say.
Wishing you strength over the next few days. I can hear the Be Good Tanyas through the monitor right now in Sky’s room and it reminds me of you!
June 9th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
The garden is a great retreat at times when life is kind filling our shovels full of shit.
Because in the garden, shit is called manure and makes everything lush with fresh growth.
I’ve got to thin my own greens out.
It’s raining though and I’m in the store all day long.