Connections

Gainesville

Your first shiner, Mom? How did you live such a long and adventurous life without at least one? I've had several, the most memorable of which was when my dog Twist accidentally mugged me when I was out walking him late at night. Playing one of our games to give him exercise, him running back and forth to the ends of his retractable leash, we both zigged when one of us was supposed to zag, and we clonked foreheads. Since he outweighed me, he won, and I landed flat on my back. Asphalt is more forgiving than concrete, for sure, but blood poured out of my nose for awhile, and the next day both eyes were black. I looked like a fly-weight who'd climbed into the ring with Ali in his prime.

Somewhat less pain today, and different. Lower back is now the worst of it. There are three modes: (1) no pain (when I'm sitting still); (2) moderate pain (when I'm moving around) and (3) hideous short term pain when I go from (1) to (2). I guess that's an improvement.

Couldn't drag myself out of bed to go with Bill in the morning, but by noon I was okay, and luckily it was one of those days when his schedule allowed him to pick me up for lunch. He had Barbara in tow, and we ate at Olive Garden.

Barbara happened to mention that her husband John has developed "a strange quirk" since retiring: he's become addicted to The Daily Show. "Me too!" I squeeked, before I could stop myself. Bill said, "Aha!" I'd not admitted my addiction to him yet-- still in denial, maintaining the fiction that "The happy retirees of Suztopia do not watch daytime TV." Barbara asked if I watched the Colbert Report too... well, of course! John and I have so many interests in common it's scary sometimes. I see him in person maybe once every 3-4 years, but we're always somehow on the same page.

Spent the rest of the afternoon working in Special Collections. Got back in synch with Mil and boxes, numberings, locations, etc. And showed him my latest file, and the title sort. Also spoke briefly to Jim, who will in charge of the new collection. He confirmed that the comics and the Belknap Performing Arts collections will both be moving to a compact storage area on the first floor of Library East. That at least provides a basis for making plans for how handle stuff from here. I will meet with him next week to talk this over.

When we left the Library at around 7:00, the air was just awful-- full of hazy smelly smoke. There is another fire to the southeast of us. This is only going to get worse, unless it rains soon. The azaleas and magnolias in the yard have never looked worse: I'll be surprised if we don't loose some of them, drought-resistant though they are. We need to do some fire-proofing around the house-- get rid of everything around the perimeter that might burn. Easier said than done, believe me.

Mom, I think Bill Fendrich's problem is using your old email address-- same thing that happened when we tried to change you over to the new blogger. You are right: the best thing you can do to help diagnose the problem is to send him an email and ask him to respond using REPLY. If that works, then he needs to change your address in whatever his mail system uses for "contacts." This is the fun of trouble-shooting, of course-- there are so many systems, and the terminology and user interface (what it looks like) for each one is just enough different to be hateful.

I need to go finish up the last few pages of Walt & Skeezix. Sandy, if you haven't finished it already, you are in for wonderful stuff.

Really felt like summer!

21.IV.07 - MoM

I don't think I am going to want to sleep in one of my flannel nightgowns tonight. My new outdoor thermometer is in place and I love it. It is mostly a transparent square with large black numbers. The slightest breeze changes the 10th of a degree. I asked Charlie to mount it in one of the north windows in the "expanded living room." It was mostly 75-ish°. It also has a high and low that resets twice during the 24 hours. I have an outdoor thermom with the rain gauge on the deck on my bedside table but I have to get close to read it.

While they were here, Sandy cut me some forsythia. I have been waiting for it for a year as I want to develop a note using it in the design. There are so many little bulbs popping up (many with obscure names) that I can keep busy for a while for the same purpose.

I hadn't realized that Ted had planted a lot of jonquils in the front yard on the bank near the street. I am on the wrong side in the car when we return home. Sandy picked them and brought them up today. They had very short stems (due to the strange temps this spring) so I added them close to the rim of the vase I had the pussy willows In for some color. I don't know if you got the pictures twice that I e-mailed today as they ended up in the trash instead of sent mail, so I rescued them and tried again.

We finally cut off all of the herbs, today, as they were so overgrown and scraggly looking. I am now in the process of cleaning out that planter and tomorrow I will replant it with a salad greens mixture. The tomatoes are something else. They are "cherry-type with the strongest, thick stalks I have ever seen. Soon, it will be time to trim the top of them to stunt their height and keep a thick stalk to support the "fruit." The company has certainly put a lot of time and development effort into doing this growing system. No wonder they aren't "inexpensive."

The expensive veal chop from Kowalskis was okay, but I have lost my touch when cooking. I breaded it with flour, egg and seasoned crumbs. Part of the problem is my fading taste buds. Also, lack of practice figures into it. But what the heck, it's food and there is plenty left for a day or two.

Enjoyed your letter, Suzy. I remember the culture shock when we first moved here. My first thought in Europe each morning was to wonder what kind of language problems I was going to have that day. Actually, I missed it when we moved here. I really could have used what I learned here during the 3 years of German when we moved there. The 4 years of French did help some during the 5 years we rented houses each fall in France. And to think I wasn't very enthusiastic when DoD first mentioned going to Europe and perhaps spending some time there. I was really enjoying our life in Shannondale too much. Al and Marian Fleigner had put their 2 teen daughters in school in Switzerland while they lived and traveled there.

* * * * *

A continuation of a letter from Suzy to us in Saalfelden, dated 11.Nov 1985.

I've been pretty euphoric since I got back. The glasses is part of it, but also, it's so easy to do everything, like shopping -- store clerks understand me (I find I chatter with them much more, just because I can) and I can tell just what something costs. My apartment seemed spacious seems spacious and luxurious. I can hear music anytime. All these things you take for granted become special when you go without them. Also, being completely removed from work and its problems was helpful -- being faced with a completely different set of problems puts things in perspective.

It was good to get back to work. My people gave me a great welcome -- they'd re-done my desk area, giving me an additional work surface and bulletin board, which they'd decorated with "Happy Birthday" things. They'd sorted my mail logically. And they kept a day-by-day log of what went on while I was gone (two typed pages) that was very helpful in reorienting myself. Also, sales of the program were at 33 when I got back but shot up to 40 in several days. Our original break-even was 41, but we never placed any advertising, so we are actually in the black now. I should have some or all of the bonus money sometime after the first of the year. Money will then start to accumulate to buy equipment and help to do more. I hope. The bad news is, our network, who was supposed to help us promote it, wants to wait until version 2.0 is out; they think those enhancements are critical. There is one serious glitch in version 2.0. Terry visited while I was gone and told Sally he'd work on it, but I've not been able to contact him.

When we got back to Chris' (around dusk -- right on time) it was cold enough to have a fire (the cats were both very pissed off at him, though, and refused to join us). It went down to 28° that night. I got off the plane in Gainesville the next day, wearing a turtleneck, blouse, two sweatshirts, down jacket, scarf, wool socks (which I love -- thanks, Ma) -- and it was 82°!! You never saw such a quick strip tease act. It seems I missed a horribly hot and humid October, and got in on the rain from yet another hurricane. Since then, it's been beautiful, mostly clear and warm, though today is a little hot.

Newsbriefs: Billy & his wife Alice (they live in Texas) had a baby boy Oct. 14. I had a letter from Andy Cassatt, written before I'd mailed my card from Paris. He may be in Florida later this month to visit his daughter and ex- so I will maybe see him.

Take care. Continue to enjoy life there and forget about
Crackerbarrel cheese!

Love, Suzy