July 21, 2008

2:28 p.m.

Rain

It seems the heavy rainstorm is wearing itself out; there's a hint more brghtness in the sky, and sheets of water are no longer plummeting off the roof. Shortly after Dar left last night -- much later than we anticipated owing to dinner being delayed and delayed -- the sky cracked open and all the water in the world came down. Massive thunder and lightning. He called when he got to Route 3, and it turned out he had avoided the downpour. That's one prayer answered. He doesn't drive well in the rain.

We enjoyed our foray to the theatre, and he loved the Colony. I wasn't able to show him much as our time was short. We did get in a woods walk, and spotted two orange salamanders, with which he was as fascinated as I. I showed him how to gently pick them up -- cup around them and let them climb onto your hand -- and he kept petting them. "I'll bet they've never been petted in their whole little lives!" he exclaimed. I took him to the boulder and the labyrinth someone made out of fallen sticks. We ate lunch in my studio and I read to him from a book. By then it was time to go to the play.

There was a talkback after, so we had to wait for that, and our dinner with Ducky turned out to be 10 people from the theatre, so it was a while before they were able to get us a large table. Then it was another while before someone took our order. We told the waitress that we had a time constraint and they did bring our food very quickly. It turned out Dar had worked with one of the actors in Boston a few years ago. He's been on the scene so long now, it's not surprising.

Then back to my cabin to pick up his car; he put some nuts out for the mouse (which were gone in an hour) and headed back to civilization.

I'm all edgy today. Depressed and irritable. Digestion rather mediocre. No appetite for lunch; it came and I left it there. Went out to shower and do laundry, and now, halfway through the cycles, I'm finally hungry. I did have a pretty productive morning, and I'm thankful that today the water was hot when I showered. Yesterday I was a little pressed for time before Dar's arrival, and discovered there was no hot water in my dorm of choice. There was no time to gather everything and find another building to shower in. It was a quick and gaspy hair-washing, anyway.

I can't believe I'm leaving in a week. What will I do without the cadence of all these voices? How will I grow accustomed again to my two bandmates' voices, the way Chris manages to irritate me so often, the same problems I left over a month ago? How will I marry the realizations I've had here to the life to which I must return?

Oh, somehow, I guess.

Time to dry the clothes, and maybe pop back to the studio for some of my patient lunch.