Time Past: The Fascinating World of June 2019

 

6/15/2019: Woke up at 4:30 AM and decided, yep, I’m awake. Decided what I needed to do was take some phone picture of my new arrangements, and so I did [lost now, on my old phone], then went online, looked at my sites, and caught up diary; ‘tis now 5:40. Relented about tossing my red British literature textbooks but still determined to dispose of Nanny’s Webster’s dictionary; but how? The easiest would be to toss it in the recycling bin, but part of me wants to lug it to the library or the park and abandon it on a bench for the next finder, with a note saying, “Free to a Good Home”. Shall I write today? Can I write today? Well, yes, technically, but one lets temperament decide all too often. Relenting on those tatty books is a bad sign, I think, showing I’m wavering in determination; I’ve already decided to keep the McKillip books. The longer I have to have ‘garage sale stuff’ hanging around, the more complacent I become about it. Grr. Say prayers, read Bible, and have breakfast.

Did so, then from 10 AM to 11:30 AM laid down in a doze. Got up and parsed through PoB [Power of Babel] looking at the lists of my old books to find titles I no longer have; then remembered my old fancy of “Dead Ready” back in September 2015, before I even had my toe/TIA trouble, in which I hoped to be ready by 2019 (this year!) to pass away with least trouble. Now I’ve joined the Church, written a book due for publication, and just recently finished another purge of the house, so I guess in many ways (except for the most practical ways) I am Dead Ready, and it is 2019! Shall I prove prophet? Or am I just ready for a new life? The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on right now; started at noon. Until about 2:30 PM worked on a new project: extracting biographical detail from PoB and putting it into year-by-year files; finished 2008. Taking a break. Haven’t heard from anybody on any media today.

Worked on PoB up until 2012. It’s now 7:44 PM. Still heard from no-one.

Said Rosary at about 11 PM. Worked on getting the extracts until 1 AM. Went to bed.

 

6/16/2019: Father’s Day. Woke up at 6 AM. Made one document out of extracts. Took shower, dressed.  Ready to head on out.

Got to church in time to say Rosary with others. A Father’s Day sermon, as well as Holy Trinity Sunday. But when it came time for the Eucharist, Father Greg had to excuse himself; he was feeling poorly. A rather subdued and improvised conclusion.   Got home. Finished up Extract and e-mailed it to myself and put it on Finder’s Keep.

In the afternoon I heard from Tom on Messenger and the book drop goes ahead. Messaged Kenny and everything’s set. About 5 PM took some garbage out and noticed that the gate was open; checked in with S&A to make sure the Rotts were inside. Told Susan about the pick-up tomorrow, so now everything is really set up. Now what to do with that #@%$& dictionary? This evening John and Amy came over to listen to the symphony in the park and the kids are swimming.

We looked through the ape-box with the old nostalgia (Morgandy was with us) and afterwards went in to look at the new batch of Muppet figures (like our old ones; M is on kind of a Muppet kick).

John suggests I donate the dictionary to an area at Half-Price rather than toss it. But when will we go? They left a little before 10 PM after a good visit, and I went in and looked up analogs for Omi’s old felt donkey and cow figures that we had been talking about. Finally went to bed.

Woke up sometime in the night to a thunderstorm – not the worst kind, but still, - and unplugged the computer and the AC. Hard getting back to sleep in the quiet and warmth, so after a hard night I ...

 

6/17/2019: Got up about 6 AM, got dressed, and opened the house up. The skies seem quiet and clear, but there’s a new batch of mud, of course, to get that heavy bin of books to the front porch through, and dirty up me shoes. Will start at 7:15 AM, though. Meanwhiles, Bible and prayers.

So I trudged out, pausing at the driveway, because an 18 gallon tub of books is no light load and my trollish strength is gone. Sat on the porch from about 7:20 AM to a little after 8:30 AM, when Tom came and picked up the books.

About 8 PM go in to clean up and Susan tells me about the exterminators coming tomorrow and that they found another scorpion. Apparently, Amy was talking to her about my offering books on Facebook and I explained to her that it was not particularly a quest for money as a way of clearing stuff out with first offer to friends and family. Told her the joke (I have been eagerly waiting to tell somebody) that I had wanted to offer Kaitlyn Nanny’s Bible; as it was Nanny’s, I could pretty much guarantee it was barely used. I invited her and Andy out and she looked through the sale bins and got out a few things for Kameron; I showed her where there is a cookie jar for sale on Seguin sales on Facebook. Reading some Robertson Davies.

 

6/18/2019: Got up about 6 AM. While looking at JABS [Junior Agent, Bureau of Shadows], I groaned and said to myself aloud, “Action, thy name is not Brer!” and I suddenly realized that I seldom refer to myself as Brer, either in my head or just to myself.

Went in and made toasted cheese and a jelly sandwich for lunch, saw that they HAD gotten the Mr. Peanut cookie jar. Read in more Davies and then in the Verlyn Flieger-augmented Smith of Wootton Major, and I realized that my problem was not just summer doldrums but the need to fill up my ‘reservoir’ for writing again. Once I finish JABS [which I never did] I’m taking a break until my birthday at the latest.

Kenny messaged me about 8:30 PM that they had the books. He said:  We drove out to the place they are staying in Kissimmee and met them as they were coming back from Walmart. Tom was super nice, and his family was as well. They seem to really adore you as well and told me they call you Balrog.

6/20/2019: Woke up about 6 AM from dreams and sat thinking about stuff. A bit about Haff and the Haunting [future elements for JABS] occurred to me. Got up and wrote stuff down.

 

6/19/2019: Up about 5 AM; more writing, bringing it up to ten more pages; need to do 10 more this week. A dab of writing. My left big toe keeps stabbing me with pain: a pox on this gout! To quote Falstaff.

 

6/20/2019: Woke up 6 AM. Bible, prayers. Knocked down wasp nest at back door. Writing on and off all day. Reading Davies on and off all day, mainly letters.

E-mail to John: Not a lot to say, just that writing progresses. I've been reading a lot of Robertson Davies the last few days; I had been reading "The Possessed" (or The Devils, or however you translate it), but it seems to have got to a point where it’s just too crazily Russian subtle for me at the moment, so I've laid it down for now. With feelings of some guilt, knocked down a little wasp nest high up off the back door where it was doing no harm except for making Kameron nervous about going in and out. Wasps are bastards, all right, but should be tolerated and respected for the minute 'good' they do if they're not completely in your face.

 

6/21/2019: Up at 5:30 AM and decided to get moving and really do something, after laying around a bit with ‘what-if past fantasies.’ Bible, prayers, and rosary. Swept up. Got dressed. Cleaned up cat barf down the wall [Socks still alive at this point]. Washed dishes. Decks all cleared to write and bring tally up to 40 pages. We shall see.

By 11 AM I had reached the 40-page mark and brought Bazzell to the steps of Billy’s Place.

No word from John; I had thought he was bringing $20 today, but maybe when we gather tomorrow for Kameron’s birthday? No message on e-mail, either. Got a huge load of Trollope on Kindle. Read more Davies and a pinch of ‘The Possessed’. What a weird experience, rambling around the old neighborhood [of Loop Drive] in fictional form today!

 

6/22/2019: Woke up about 5:30 AM from a dream that gave me the idea for a story called GOLLUM’S BOOK, being his tale told from his point of view, rather like John Gardner’s GRENDEL. Everybody misunderstands him, even Gandalf, whom he talks about like the wizard was his psychiatrist. He was actually happy to get rid of the Ring and left the Misty Mountains to start a new life, but everybody (Sauron, Gandalf, Frodo) kept pulling him back in and tempting him, if only in the form of making him remember and think about it. He actually liked Bilbo and had a kind of crush on him and comes to be grateful to him for taking the Ring; Frodo reminds him of Bilbo, which is why he agrees to help him. He wants to free Frodo from Ring-addiction, which is why he’s always trying to take the Ring away. This would be exactly the kind of book I hate, but the exercise of writing it seems fascinating. Last words: “Some people you just can’t help.”