My day (2)

It is raining! The sound of pouring, pounding, even just pattering rain is so delightful to these drought-stricken ears! And I know the little fig tree and persimmon, the lavender and rosemary, the rhododendrons and cyclamen-in-a-pot, the Lady Banks roses and wisteria (if it's still alive...), are rejoicing even more. I hope it will be a good rainy season. Though too often, we get rain early, then nothing. So we shall see.

But the plants aside, for me this day had various acts.

Alfred Boulton, Untitled, c. 1940

I. Finished a proofread for the Getty Research Institute, about a Venezuelan photographer and art historian, Alfredo Boulton. I will send it back tomorrow. (I like proofreading. It involves minimal fuss. And I usually learn something.)

II. Finished my latest book-for-pleasure, The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafar. No spoilers now: the report will be tomorrow or the next day's post.

III. Walked our ballots over to city hall to VOTE. I am dreading tomorrow's results. I wish I felt more optimistic, but I just don't. We are in dark days...

IV. Helped (rather minimally, save standing in a very long line, for a very long time, at our local Xfinity store) David solve an issue with our TV. Last night when we tried to watch streamed features, it wouldn't work! Today, too: wouldn't work! David checked the Xfinity website and saw a large spike in people reporting issues with their TV streaming last night, so we figured we were part of that. But when it didn't resolve, David stepped up to the plate—or rather, picked up the phone. Many hours later, speaking to both Xfinity and LG (our TV's people), we (he) finally got things working. But our ethernet seems to be shot. So we're using wifi. I don't know what this all means, really. It's as foreign as baseball to me. 

Turned out, standing in that long line wasn't even necessary: we don't need the (free) gadget they gave us (because yeah, wifi does the trick). But we did run into an old friend, the Singing Sheriff Pat Duval (who turns 80 next week, and has just successfully fought off aggressive prostate cancer), and it was nice to chat it up.

V. Had leftovers for dinner: smoked gouda and pumpkin mac and cheese, with a bit of chicken tossed in, and salad on the side. Comfort food, for sure. I will be making that recipe again.

VI. Finished up with our usual evening of TV: Handmaid's Tale, third episode of season 5; Barry, first two episodes; and M*A*S*H, S3E21. And by then David was falling asleep. As he does by the time we get to M*A*S*H. Because the cats wake him up at an ungodly hour. Plus, today: all those phone calls. He was bushed!

All in all, a good day. And the dog even got walked! (He helped us vote.)

NB: I have a couple of friends (FB friends: friends I've never in fact met) who every day post about what they've been up to, what they see out their window, what their dog is doing, what music they're listening to, what friends they've gotten together with, etc., etc., etc. Just beautiful mundane stuff. I find it strangely compelling, even though I don't actually know these people. But I empathize, or maybe I'm sympathizing, I don't know. I just feel an affinity. Don't worry: I'm not going to do a daily accounting of my doings. But today: well, it was memorable, in its own way. I'm glad I have a record.