Take it Easy

I loved the Moody Blues. What a name, huh? In my youth I gravitated toward the minor-key, and even now I surprise myself by possessing no music to enjoy when I am happy. Well. This must change. My two-week funk-extravaganza seems to be subsiding and I find myself kicking around ideas for the new class I will teach (STARTING IN A WEEK!) in my head. I will consider this phenomenon "planning". Why not?

Georgia has reappeared in my life! She flew out to spend a week with Dolly, and I spent much of that week with them. It was a bittersweet visit, as Dolly has gotten worse. She forgets how to use the phone or coffee machine when she is flustered. She also forgets we are there unless we are in the room with her. But she is still feisty and fun and she and I played music in the mornings to wake Georgia. Bobby Darrin's "Splish Splash I was taking a Bath" was great for silly dancing at 9am. The day Georgia left, Dolly was throwing up because she had taken a double-dose of her medication. It was a sad parting. Georgia's last words to her son? "You should come out and visit. I'm going to be there for a long time."

My yard is in the process of being "cleaned-up". I ordered one of those huge containers and Huck and I filled it with cement blocks, the brush pile and other miscellaneous debris. Clyde hasn't finished the shed yet. After Royce got shot in the knee with a nail gun, Clyde's teeth started aching and he began having them all pulled. The dentist pulled a couple of bad teeth without giving him antibiotics first, and the infection spread into his jaw and beyond. His eye was swollen shut. So that little project is on hold. I haven't heard from them in a couple of days, and I'm wondering if Clyde's daughter (Royce's girlfriend) had her baby. They remind me how hard it is to be poor. One day Clyde drove Royce's loud clunker of a truck to my place because his truck died and needed a new engine. He got stopped by the county cops and they frisked Royce and harrassed them both, saying, "Your eyes look glazed-over. You got drugs in there?" They searched the truck, found nothing and eventually let them go without a ticket. Clyde says they jump to conclusions because of the way you look.

I set out to write something literal this morning and there you have it. University students are flooding back into town. It feels like autumn and there are already bright red and yellow leaves punctuating the landscape. The squirrels are busy burying nuts and I am headed toward nine months of a kind of hibernation. I think I will go to the theater and see Little Miss Sunshine today. Maybe rake a little. Do a little more planning.