In the Garden

The garden is lovely. I’m take “naps” there. The quotation marks mean that an insomniac like me can’t expect to sleep in the middle of the day so a true nap is but an idle dream, as ‘twere, but at least I can rest. The weather has been very warm for this time of year, in the 80’s. I called our next door neighbor a few days ago and asked to borrow a chaise longe, which he graciously and promptly provided, so I go out there several times a day and simply rest, watching the sunlight filtering through the leaves.

Today was a landmark. I went upstairs and played my banjo, an activity that was unthinkable even yesterday. It felt wonderful, although I have a long way to go before I get my banjo playing up to an acceptable level. (I haven’t played it for a long while because I’ve been so insanely busy.)

My office upstairs seem suddenly appealing. The new bathroom is a real place now and the third floor (where the office is) has ceased to be a construction zone. Not so the second floor, which is a huge mess because we had to demolish the ceiling of the second floor bathroom in order to repair the plumbing of the third floor bathroom. Andrine, however, has been making major inroads in clearing construction debris out of that bathroom and perhaps the chaos that spilled over into the bedrooms will be addressed at some point. I’m still camped out on the first floor. Given my energy level, it seems wise not to keep two flights of stairs between me and the kitchen. I have a lot of energy these days, but it just doesn’t last very long. Reminds me of a line that our friend Magical Mystical Michael says in his show: “I have good memory, but it’s short.”

I have lots of visitors and lots of phone calls from well wishers. It’s been quite lovely. Many people from my synagogue are bringing meals for us and I get to visit with them when they come. The rabbi stopped by yesterday as well. I had expected to get a lot of reading done, but the days are so full, I find I don’t really have the time. Perhaps now that the first week is over, it will calm down to a dull roar. However, my dear friend Deborah is driving up from southern Oregon to do some caretaking tomorrow. That should be a lot of fun to have her here.