The Record

Gainesville

It was predictably awful to return to work-- in other words, no worse than I expected, so not shockingly awful. It was broken up by Barbara wanting to go out to lunch, and by an author lecture late in the afternoon-- one of the side benefits of working in academe is this sort of thing just happening a floor away from your office. This guy has written a book, Losing it All to Sprawl, How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape. Very sad state of affairs, for one who remembers Florida before the Disney/Development explosion, and it's good to know that someone besides me noticed it.

I did a crock pot prep last night, got up early enough to get it started with no problems, and lo, it was wonderful. (Country Pork Ribs over sliced onions and a cup of home made BBQ sauce-- another cup reserved and thickened on the stove just before serving.) I made a simple cole slaw and had some leftover cauli-rice. That's two successes in a row, ending my long losing streak.

Hottern' hooties here once again.

Thanks again for posting the Aunt Dottie letters, Mom. It's great to have that family history. To keep things in synch with the present, I have a suggestion: for those of us bloggers still living, maybe it would be best to send (via email) any you transcribe to us respectively and let us post them ourselves. Of course, I'm dying to read Chris' letter that Aunt Dottie raved about, but feel that Chris should be the one to post it. Same with letters from Sandy, Marty, and me. Can we all agree not to post letters from each other without agreement from each other?

Aunt Dottie is a special case. She's not a blogger, and while she is still with us, she seems to occupy a twilight zone at present. Her reports on the immediate aftermath of Dan's death are priceless, at least to those of us who knew and loved Dan. I'm very glad she wrote those letters, and that you have saved them and are taking the trouble to transcribe and share them.

I wore my new jacket (with strange 3/4 length sleeves) to work today, and felt good in it. I can no more imagine actually sewing my own clothes than starting my own fire with a couple of pieces of flint-- I'd have to be mighty cold to attempt either one. I marvel that I actually made clothes that I was glad to wear to high school-- and I know there were quite a few things I actually loved. And at least as many that I hated the second they were finished. Somehow I never felt like a sewing machine was an extension of me, a tool I thoroughly understood. It was always a struggle, and I marvel that you seemed to be able to create entire outfits, entire wardrobes for yourself throughout your life, with ease. I wonder if computerized patterns and such have made it any easier. I know you can now buy software that includes patterns printed on the materials you just cut out, with sewing instructions right on them. This is for doll clothes, but the same thing could work for people clothes. I was born too soon.

Let the record show that I did a full complement of morning and evening routines, including the shiny sink and the swept kitchen floor. It would be Very Good if I now went to bed and got something close to 7 hours of sleep.

OH! And let the record further show that for the first time in my recorded memory, I ATE BREAKFAST BEFORE WORK. Those are four words not seen in my personal annals since the late 50's. It was just instant cheese grits, but hey! It counts!