January 11, 2009

10:56 a.m.

Some More Life

We made it to the Indian buffet for lunch yesterday. When Rose and Karl drove up, she was a bit out of joint because, "You NEVER have your phone on!" After some amusing chastisement because "I'm ALWAYS trying to call you and your phone's never on!" I promised her I'd turn it on every day from now on. We have different phone sensibilities -- she has no land line, so her phone is always on and her bluetooth glued to her ear. For one thing she has patients who might call her outside of office hours. I have my phone mainly for touring, so when I'm not on the road it's rarely on. She is right about that. But she wants to be able to reach me when I'm on my way to CVS? Okay. (Remember when we just had a phone in the house, and if we were home, we'd answer it? No machine, no caller ID, just the off chance that someone might reach us?)

So this morning I turned my phone on and texted her that it was on, just in case she wanted to send me anything. She sent a video she took after we parted ways yesterday, at a parrot breeder's place. She aches for a conyer these days. It was an awfully cute birdie. She was scritching its neck through the bars and the bird kept trying to get closer to her. They need to do some construction upstairs in order to kind of seal off an area from the cats... but knowing Rose as I know Rose, that conyer will be in the house by Spring, construction or no. She'll take whatever precautions she needs to take, but patience and waiting for "the right time" are not in her.

Anyway the buffet was pretty good. I don't think I'd go often, but it was worth having the chance to go to the cheap fabric shop down the street. When we arrived we learned the restaurant opened 1/2 hour later than we thought, so Rose and I scooted down to Affordable Fabrics right quick and I got a few various yards for a quilted wall hanging project. Great fabrics, everything $1.99 a yard. There were people there getting miles of fabric for bridesmaid's dresses, guys getting tweeds for suits. We had to hurry up though because by then it was noon. The wedding people were taking forever. Another woman came out to help us and she was so fast, whipping those bolts around and flashing those scissors. I could tell she'd interrupted something else she was doing to help the cutters. But at least we were getting helped. Some other lady came up and asked her something. Quick answer, whip, flash, cut. Then in the midst of this flurry, a man came in with a very excited dog on a leash.

This dog was ecstatic to be in the fabric shop, pulling at the leash, wagging his tail. Suddenly the woman froze, staring at the dog, completely nonplussed. Her expression was mute disbelief. I could just see the thoughts passing through her head. "...!!? What the --?? You can't have a DOG in here! Should I...? Uh-- Hey, mist-- Ach, whatEVER!" Finally there was the subtlest of eye-rolls and she continued cutting my fabric. Swish, fold, stack! All done. Rose and I laughed about the dog incident. It only took a few seconds but her thoughts were so loud and clear they might as well have been broadcast on speakers.

Fairly interesting buffet, heavenly Gulab Jaman for dessert. (These are the little squishy donut holes soaked in sweet syrup, piping hot. These will cure anything.) We got out of the restaurant before I had to go to my homeopath, so of course I went back to the fabric shop at a more leisurely pace and found a pattern for some pants, and two kinds of fabric for two pairs. When I went looking for pants patterns last year at JoAnn Fabrics, the only one I liked cost almost $18 for the pattern alone. A little steep for me. This one cost $3.99 and each fabric cost $6 -- only because I got extra. Now that's my kind of shopping.

The visit to the homeopath was another hour and a half or so of trying to get to the "Bornearly-ness" of my symptoms -- they're less interested in standard symptoms than in what makes them unique for each individual. It's kind of like going to therapy, only you're not looking for behavioral solutions, you're only trying to paint a picture they can use to narrow down a remedy. Anyway the snow had begun and was coating the roads by the time I left. I took it easy on the way home and parked on the side in my "alternate space" so the plow could come later. The evening was quiet; I knitted on my scarf and re-watched "What the Bleep Do We Know?" -- a great movie, period, and if you haven't seen it, please make the effort. It'll stretch your brain. I always cry when she has the epiphany in front of the mirror.

In the middle of knitting (ha, I typed "knotting" -- well, same thing really) I had the sudden urge to call Sig, my studio engineer friend. I can't remember the last time I talked to him -- certainly before we went to England. Maybe before MacDowell, which would place our last visit in the Spring. Anyway he was so glad to hear from me, and apologetic about not keeping in touch. We had a great conversation and he's coming to lunch on Tuesday. We both moved to this area just over 4 years ago and he's never been here yet.

I think he gets himself into ruts of loneliness. He's very busy in the studio most of the time, and though he's in contact with many people he doesn't often go out. I think his personal growth was badly stunted by his marriage to a violent, unpredictable woman with serious mental disorders. She's back in the house he left four years ago -- his family home -- and while he seems better off on his own and with some distance between them, the scars are still evident. They talked about divorce, but he found he couldn't afford it. So they're still married; she's out there, he's out here. He has to still support her, as she can't work. Last year I asked him if I could have the little hard drive that one of my albums is on. It's back at the old house somewhere, and it took him a few weeks to get around to going back there (it's a couple of hours away and he doesn't go that often any more). When he got there she wouldn't even let him into the house. So, so far, I haven't gotten my hard drive back.

So: today. I have a goal of taking pictures of my eBay stuff, so we'll see if I pull that off. I'm pretty allergic today for some reason. My fingers are itchy and sore, and I just noticed a new patch on my LEFT palm. Sigh. Eye-rolling. Pulling of self up by bootstraps. Carrying on with life.