Wednesday,
October 2, 2002
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welded seahorse, threatened with takeover
"Liberty is being free from
the things we don't like in order to be slaves of the things we do like." |
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settling in I'm starting to do this free time thing quite well. I'm out in the yard, covered head to toe in clothes and armed with lopers. It's only 8AM. Forrest points out some things that I can chop "as long as I'm chopping." I do take down a volunteer tree he points out. But mostly I attack bamboo. Because, because, because it's in the lower lefthand corner of the yard. I tend to think of the yard as a rectangle with that corner at the 'top' and 'left.' Yeah, I know I said 'lower' but in my head it makes sense. Starting at the top and left is what I do. The top and left thing is the reason that I've cleaned out the left bookcase in my office a dozen times and the right maybe never. I think I'll stay in the yard at least an hour and a half. But a little over an hour does me in. The stooping and bending. The humidity. My clothes are soaked and there were no sprinklers today. So I shower and have some eggs (with cheese and hot sauce) and toast for breakfast/lunch. I try to get through the newspapers. Today's newspapers. This is made easier by the failure of The Wall Street Journal to deliver today. FFP tries to give me tasks to assist with the living and working he does here at the house. So I called the 800 number to complain about the failure of WSJ to arrive. Perhaps getting three daily papers Mondays through Fridays is the reason that they pile up. Anyway, I do glance through the ones that have arrived today. In the NY Times I discover that Bellevue Hospital has a literary review. I decide that I'm going to submit an essay on my mother's illness to this review. They don't pay for submissions but it is the perfect forum for this piece. Will I actually do this? I don't know but since I am retired, who knows?
Around 1:30, I go to Dad's to see what we can accomplish. I call the two credit card companies where they had accounts and tell them that she is deceased. I check what we've done in filing for a spousal continuation of a variable annuity account. I expect the mail to come so that we can find something else to look at. But it doesn't come and I take off. I leave Dad some books on Germany and a map to look at so that he can prepare himself for his trip. He wants to know what to do with Mom's passport. Keep it for a souvenir, I guess. On one of the credit card calls they want him to get on the line and give a challenge answer. For some reason this makes him choke up as the person on the other end asks what day mother died. You never know where it is going to come from.
My back aches and I decide to try to work it out by going for a workout at the club. It aches from stooping to whack bamboo. One of my goals is to get in better shape. I do about twenty-five minutes of light aerobic stuff and a few weight machines. Then I go home and shower and get ready to go to a ballet lecture. Giselle is the first ballet of the season. We have some drinks and snacks and listen to the artistic director and a dance consultant and a local non-profit (KMFA) classical staion announcer discuss the work. It's pretty interesting and the setting is Gremillion Gallery where some nice collage paintings are being displayed.
Home again I have a turkey and provolone sandwich and more water. Got dehydrated outside today, I think. Eschewed alcohol tonight for that reason. We watch things like West Wing and Law and Order without actually paying much attention. I flip through the old papers. And doze...
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180
JUST
TYPING