Days like this are precious. I don't care if you live in a city or out here, on the farmette -- you just have to step outside and take a whiff of that spring-like air! It's exhilarating! Oh, that cornflower blue sky of a sunny February day! How deliciously sublime!
We knew this day would be grand. At one point I thought of stepping out after breakfast and staying outdoors until dinnertime. But of course, those were idle dreams. After feeding the animals, I glance at the mess in the living room (the piles and piles of old letters dumped from the trunk last night) and conclude that I would have to put some order inside before I could truly enjoy the splendid outdoors.
Too, we get a couple of calls for some of the Craigslist items we posted yesterday. People came, people picked stuff up. This was exceptionally satisfying, because the buyers got superb deals on items that they needed. And, with every disappearing piece of useless (to me) debris, the farmhouse seems more voluminous. I'm sure it's in my mind, but it truly is the case that less is more: homes look better when they are uncluttered.
One sale, however, does puzzle me: it's of an old SLR digital camera. I'd stopped using it maybe eight or nine years ago. I also managed to lose the battery charger so that it's impossible to tell if it works at all. Ed kept nagging me to offload it and I always hesitated. How can I sell it when it may be broken? Someone will want it -- he kept saying.
Indeed, it is by far the most popular item of all that we listed, despite the fact that we clearly stated that it may not be in working condition. The first caller got it and he seemed so pleased!
It must be a guy thing... I mutter, acknowledging that Ed had been right.
You just don't understand, Ed tells me. Guys really like a challenge. All those youtubes on how to tinker with Apple products, even though Apple makes it practically impossible to tinker with their stuff? It's the same thing. Tell a guy he shouldn't be fixing something and he'll say -- oh yeah?
Ed sometimes appears to have a very gendered view of the world, but I have to say, at least with respect to mechanical challenges, he is not off base. He should know. He has spent his life around designing, making and using tools and machines.
My work on the trunk papers progresses slowly. I don't quite know how to handle all those thousands of letters. My daughter tells me to at least save the family stuff, but there is just too much! I left my family and my country when I was 18 years old. From then until the time when the world shifted to computers, my parents and I communicated through letter writing. Do I pick out a sample? What good is that?
I dont even try to read much today. It's too hard! Young people dont appreciate how convenient emails are in terms of visual display. Nearly all the letters I have were written by hand. My mother's handwriting was good. My father's -- not so good. My guy friends from Poland -- also not so good. Small letters, dense text -- you can't just glance at this stuff. You have to really focus and decipher.
Still, the afternoon brings several interesting surprises. I see that I was an irrepressible note taker myself. So many notebooks, filled with... stuff. Not exactly journal stuff. Small story stuff. I dont remember this about myself. Journals -- I had long gotten rid of those. Too much emotional angst to stomach. I'm done with that approach to life! But these notebooks are different and I pull out some to look at sometime in the near future.
By early afternoon I'm done. Ed carts off an empty trunk and several boxes of stuff to Goodwill and then takes off for a bike ride. I don't quite have the time for bicycling, but I do take a walk in our county park.
And yes, it's lovely!
In the evening, the young family is here for dinner. Note how not dark it is at the time they arrive (5:15pm)!
Cars, books, puppet shows -- it's all so lively and joyous!
Is it the sunshine effect? Or is it that little ones bring out the play in us? Maybe both! A double whammy of goodness!
We knew this day would be grand. At one point I thought of stepping out after breakfast and staying outdoors until dinnertime. But of course, those were idle dreams. After feeding the animals, I glance at the mess in the living room (the piles and piles of old letters dumped from the trunk last night) and conclude that I would have to put some order inside before I could truly enjoy the splendid outdoors.
Too, we get a couple of calls for some of the Craigslist items we posted yesterday. People came, people picked stuff up. This was exceptionally satisfying, because the buyers got superb deals on items that they needed. And, with every disappearing piece of useless (to me) debris, the farmhouse seems more voluminous. I'm sure it's in my mind, but it truly is the case that less is more: homes look better when they are uncluttered.
One sale, however, does puzzle me: it's of an old SLR digital camera. I'd stopped using it maybe eight or nine years ago. I also managed to lose the battery charger so that it's impossible to tell if it works at all. Ed kept nagging me to offload it and I always hesitated. How can I sell it when it may be broken? Someone will want it -- he kept saying.
Indeed, it is by far the most popular item of all that we listed, despite the fact that we clearly stated that it may not be in working condition. The first caller got it and he seemed so pleased!
It must be a guy thing... I mutter, acknowledging that Ed had been right.
You just don't understand, Ed tells me. Guys really like a challenge. All those youtubes on how to tinker with Apple products, even though Apple makes it practically impossible to tinker with their stuff? It's the same thing. Tell a guy he shouldn't be fixing something and he'll say -- oh yeah?
Ed sometimes appears to have a very gendered view of the world, but I have to say, at least with respect to mechanical challenges, he is not off base. He should know. He has spent his life around designing, making and using tools and machines.
My work on the trunk papers progresses slowly. I don't quite know how to handle all those thousands of letters. My daughter tells me to at least save the family stuff, but there is just too much! I left my family and my country when I was 18 years old. From then until the time when the world shifted to computers, my parents and I communicated through letter writing. Do I pick out a sample? What good is that?
I dont even try to read much today. It's too hard! Young people dont appreciate how convenient emails are in terms of visual display. Nearly all the letters I have were written by hand. My mother's handwriting was good. My father's -- not so good. My guy friends from Poland -- also not so good. Small letters, dense text -- you can't just glance at this stuff. You have to really focus and decipher.
Still, the afternoon brings several interesting surprises. I see that I was an irrepressible note taker myself. So many notebooks, filled with... stuff. Not exactly journal stuff. Small story stuff. I dont remember this about myself. Journals -- I had long gotten rid of those. Too much emotional angst to stomach. I'm done with that approach to life! But these notebooks are different and I pull out some to look at sometime in the near future.
By early afternoon I'm done. Ed carts off an empty trunk and several boxes of stuff to Goodwill and then takes off for a bike ride. I don't quite have the time for bicycling, but I do take a walk in our county park.
And yes, it's lovely!
In the evening, the young family is here for dinner. Note how not dark it is at the time they arrive (5:15pm)!
Cars, books, puppet shows -- it's all so lively and joyous!
Is it the sunshine effect? Or is it that little ones bring out the play in us? Maybe both! A double whammy of goodness!
