Heaps of Stuff (D)

Gainesville

Some snow, guys! I'm glad you are all safe and got to enjoy it at least somewhat. Except for those who had to shovel it, of course. Here you all are with news of blizzards, and our highlight of the day was watching the cat chase her tail tonight. It was a very impressive performance, mind you, atop the hollow tube part of her carpeted gym set, and it went on for about five minutes. But still.

The weather contrast couldn't be more stark: we're having summer here-- mid-80's today, humidity, bugs, and all that they entail. For the first time since November, no turtle was around my neck, either real nor mock. We had to put on the A.C. tonight to feel at all comfortably human.

We went to lunch with Barbara at Sonny's, so I didn't bother cooking tonight. Got the sheets changed in the morning, and towels changed and laundered (well, they're in the dryer right now, but I'll get them folded and put away before sleep, as always). Seems mundane to keep repeating that I've done this, but I'm still proud of it. Pre-FL, there were ALWAYS heaps of clothes on the bed in my study; I tried to keep the dirty ones, and ones needing hanging separate from the heaps of clean ones, but it was a struggle. Sheets and towels would usually sit there for days or even weeks before I was in the mood to fold them. That bed is now pristine every day of the world before work, as part of my morning routine. What a difference that makes both in facing the world, and facing the evening when getting home.

Working on turning a mash-up of previous work into a coherent hour for Library consumption-- March 31. Mostly hacking and hewing, but also some major rearrangements and amputations. Problem is, going through it all, I'm faced with how dearly I love some of it-- but it's not always the parts that it makes sense to include. Lots of angst.

Made myself spend two hours in Special Collections on the indexing. This too is a blissful agony. It's drudgery to sit there by the hour and make tiny little notations on a graph and hope I can decipher them later, but I also have to force myself to not read them all-- I allow myself to read the few Terry & the Pirates there are (most have been torn out by some collector), and Smilin' Jack, since I want to write about him eventually, but if I stop to read any of the others, I will never get through this one box of Sunday strips, 1947-48, let alone make a dent in the whole collection.

Still, the part that seems frustrating drudgery is putting a whole lot of this stuff before my eyes, however briefly, and therefore into my brain, and I know that is going to inform any kind of serious work I want to do in the future.

Nuffa' this. Here's da Kid. And a gentle reminder to myself, the Diry is nearing its end-- I'll need to find some other crutch to make myself blog.

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[Nothing for Oct 30-31-- except for some scribbles probably made by Chris]

Saturday, November 1, 1952
306th Day--60 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we got up at 9:00 quarreling all morning with Mom. We cleaned up our

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Sunday, November 2, 1952
307th Day--59 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we rose early and proceeded to Sundae Shchool (Yuk Yuk) When we came home mom & Dad went over & got Frank and Jeannette who stayed for lunch. We saw "At Swords Point" with Maureen O'Hara & Cornel Wild also "Lovely to Look at" Kathren Grayson, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Marge & Gower Champion & Zza Zza Gabor. (Whew) Tonite around the fire we are making plans for our Snow trip. The latest is us having the Jensens go to Yosemite. Oh Boy. Suzy

I really love that "Tonite around the fire" line. I remember how thrilling it was to have a real fireplace at last. It was a wonderful one, too, up off the ground like that, with a grill rack in it, and places to sit beside it. If I had an image of it handy, I'd scan and post it.