book, potatoes, game

* He says he will write me into his book--as the next door neighbor. I list my characteristics for him then giggle because he knows me well enough.

* "I think there's a dead mouse behind stuff in the kitchen."
   "Could be potatoes."
   "Dying potatoes do smell."
   "It was potatoes."
   "Potatoes are moisture triggered."

* "She remembered who she was and the game changed."

text, furnace, suitcase, life

* I get a late night text: "I think there's a dead mouse behind stuff in the kitchen." Ah, the beginning of "dead mouse in the kitchen" season. Lucky her. None of my mice in the kitchen are dead.

* I sit in the big room. I look out the top of the windows at the trees (2 pines, 3 aspen) swaying in the wind, beaten by rain. I notice the dogs asleep on their bunk bed (the sofa). The clock ticks. A fragrant candle glows. First day of furnace turn on--in September?? Early this year.

* My suitcase (why call it a suitcase? I put no suits into it) is spread over the table that no one eats at. Very conveniently at waist level. A trip, an amble, an adventure.

* Old habits fall by the life side. Today I did not buy a NYT. Gradually, I put together another life. I sometimes feel deflated having lived up to now with 24 stuffed hours in my day. So I sit in the big room:trees, dogs, clock, candle, furnace.

pencil, step, biscotti

* I like scribbling with a pencil but it's skirt gets in the way.

* Reading Katherine Graham's memoir. What she stepped into after her husband's unexpected death!

* Biscotti dipped into hot chai. Oh my!

Team, bear, faces, war

* I want a "team" so we can go on a "journey" together.

* A bear two blocks from the house.

* The dogs put up with my washing of their faces at the pump.

* "War is human nature on steroids." Ken Burns

Okra

* Spur of the moment I decide to take the car through the car wash. Confined to the tunnel of swish swish and monsoon water sprays I remember the okra that I  just picked up. Yum.

yogurt, board, mouse

* Orange and ginger yogurt=yum

* With no more bookshelf space I repurpose (giggle at the use of that word) the ironing board.

* Mouse scampering about my garden=cute, saucy, dear.
   Mouse in my kitchen=the devil incarnate, evil.

cheeses, deck, bundled up

* Finishing up the cheeses I bought for R twelve weeks ago. My throat tightens and then a relief sweeps over me. He is gone but his pain and the downward spiral are gone also.

* The deck guy rebuilt the deck and now my pencil does not fall through the cracks!

* Reading all day on the deck garbed in sweaters and hat---almost ready to hop up and get gloves.