New Times

I met my high school friend, BCV, at Hagemeister Park last night for supper and we had a lovely long visit.  Since Durwood wasn't coming she palmed her husband off on her brother and we had a "just girls" night.  We caught up on all our doings and our kids' doings, talked a bit of old times but not too much, and basically reconnected.  I was amazed and pleased to hear that her mom is still going strong at age 90 and still has her marbles, I always liked her mom.  We both ordered the Cobb salad and I highly recommend it.  It had grilled chicken on it instead of ham and lots of bacon, real bacon not the fake, pink, "what is this made of?" stuff.  We weren't able to get a table close to the riverwalk so we could watch the sunset but other than that it was a grand evening.  The downtown is unrecognizable from our youth, it was hard to tell her where the place was since all the landmarks are gone, but we managed to connect.


The white lilies are blooming!  I went out this morning and there are two of them open and spreading their intoxicating fragrance.  I didn't count but there has to be at least ten more buds ready to pop.  The red daylilies are still blooming too.  I need to get a few more plants of that color to sprinkle around the edges of the lot.  (make a note)  There are still a few roses blooming too.  The fragrances of them both mixed is kind of overpowering--but it's better than snow.  Way better.

I need to figure out how to get my head back in writing mode.  BCV and I talked about books, authors she likes, and I showed her the first page of a manuscript.  It's the kind of book she likes to read--and she liked it.  I wish there were a visible shifter for my brain so I could clunk the gears back into "writing" beyond this little daily blabber.  I'll work on that.  Maybe if I make a schedule to go along with my to-do list...  Maybe if I hide my knitting and audiobooks, put on blinders so I can't see outside, and put industrial strength earplugs in my ears...  I have the next 3 days off, I'll carve out an hour a day to focus on a page or three and see what happens.  I'll take paper to work today, plonk down a tenner for toner ink and print me a copy, I'll probably work better from paper that I can scribble on, at least to start.  If I do three pages a day for a month... Stop it, Barbara.  Just focus on one day, one page, get through that and then you can make a damned chart or schedule.  Geez.

July 24--Nigeria, Yoruba Peoples, Panel Ornaments for Ceremonial Sword and Sheath.  The jangle of bells heralded his arrival.  Milton was the most dramatic of the nerds in the Anthropology Department.  He saw every faculty meeting as a chance to trot out the most outlandish of the artifacts he had collected from all the corners of the globe and challenge people guess what or where he represented.  Over the years he had gleefully shot down everyone, including the department chair.  This afternoon he had draped himself in a length of kente cloth and wore a ceremonial sword in its beaded and belled sheath around his waist.  Either the get-up or the ridicule was too much for someone because his TA found him sprawled on his office floor with the sword embedded in his chest an hour after the meeting adjourned.

Alrighty then, we've all known a Milton, haven't we?  I hope none of us has been a Milton.  Nah.  Couldn't be, we're all swell and dandy folk with only nice things to say about everyone around us.  Right?  Right.  Mmm, I just brewed a pot of coffee and the house smells grand.  I add a pound of hazelnut to three pounds of coffee so it smells like hazelnut but barely tastes of it.  I like it that way, just the aroma.  Hey, it's decaf, I have to have something to make up for the lack of an accelerator.  Time for showering, breakfasting, etc. so that I can go out in to the cool and sunny day and keep the world safe from SCUBA diving.  Ta-ta!
--Barbara