Monday, November 8, 2010

I'm Not Working

All week I'm not working. I don't know if I've ever done this, had a week off without going someplace. Durwood has been trying to figure out somewhere for us to go but I think that's a bad idea since we have no renter and money is tight so I've been discouraging his whimsy. It's going to be a "homemade" Christmas too. No one has a big list and all agree that being together is the best gift anyway so I'm going to be making... oh, no you don't, I'm not going to be giving out hints or telling outright. You'll just have to wait. Homemade Christmases are the best.

November 7--Mljet, Croatia. From the air the islands look like a fuzzy green foot kicking a fuzzy green ball. You can see the narrow tracks that thread of cabin to cottage through the dense forest with only one clearing at the west end that's just as empty as the rest. The old ones talk about the wreckers and smugglers that used to live out there before the wars and the socialists, but now no one lives there. A few cottages are still used by people eager to get in touch with the environment, to live clean without gas or electricity but soon they become tired of chopping wood and no computers or electric lights. They come back to the city with dirt under their nails to stand under the shower until it ran cold.

I don't know anything about Croatia, don't even know where it is on the map, so it was difficult to capture its atmosphere, but I like what I got. Have a Monday!
--Barbara

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