 Somehow
much time passed between starting this entry on May 2
intending to write about the beastly easterly blowing
waves of fog over the salt marsh, about what weeds are in
bloom so far this spring, and about the further
adventures of Reebok and Beethoven sworn mortal enemies
competing with Gavin, the new king of catdom, and this
gray May day. Where does the time go? My therapist asked
me this morning what I do all day. Not the physical
therapist. All she asks me is "Does this hurt?" "Can you
raise your arm?" "Does this hurt now?" These tend
to be yes or no questions. But the psychotherapist has to
ask what I do with no job, no plover warden shifts (can't
hold the binoculars up - just imagine "Law Enforcement to
North Plover Warden, where do you see those trespassers
now?" "North Plover Warden to Law Enforcement, damned if
I know they're out of naked eyeball range."), no cat
shelter shifts (I can't even get my arm up and over the
edge of that sink never mind reach down into it and scrub
a litterbox), no job (wait, I said that already)... What
indeed do I do? Let's have a fortnight in review, shall
we?
 Since
I last wrote:- I read:
- Trespassers on the Roof
of the World by Peter Hopkirk
- Sixpence House by Paul
Collins
- Crab Wars by William
Sargent (finished this AM).
- I went to physical therapy 3
more times and still can't lift my arm.
-
- I bought a SpongeBob
Squarepants ball (for the home version of PT
exercises) and became the envy of every Pedro, Juan,
and Omar in MarketBasket.
- I went birding three times
despite not being able to hold the binoculars.
I spent more time with Beethoven. Reebok
got adopted, but Beethoven is still a tense gray
lump.
- I spent more money than I could
afford at the FurBall auction, but I also won one of
the raffle items, a beach bag packed with water
bottle, sunblock, towel, T-shirt, Frisbee, paddle
ball, bubble stuff, and a map of greater
Newburyport/Salisbury. I was the high bidder on a
wonderful wall hanging of an orange cat dreaming of
fish, a goody basket from Simply Sweet, and an item
from the Christmas table that will work for the ritual
exchange of world peace and coffee at Christmas.
Peace-themed, not coffee-themed, but that's all I'm
saying because my family reads this and we don't want
to spoil the surprise.
I celebrated Mother's Day with La Familia Loca
at La Madre's place. She has mucho lily of the
valley in her garden. That stuff spreads fast. I
shared the Simply Sweet goodies with la
familia, letting them have the pick of what they
wanted, then brought the rest to the cat shelter for
the staff. Andrea has grown a full inch since Easter!
How is this possible? She is now taller than I am. Of
course, most people in the world are taller than I am,
but still, she's not 12 yet for another 13 days.
Andrea reported a brief sighting of David Beckham in
Groton. Lizzy told us about her trip to Annapolis for
a chorus competition. They did well and got to hear
the Naval Academy band.
Also since last I wrote, the bras
that were not supposed to be available for 30 days
arrived in the mail, as did The Natural History of
Moray, which is way too heavy for me to hold so it's
back to using the bookstand. And to my delight,
Charla
sent me Princess Mononoke on DVD, so I spent time
watching that. I bought the Spirited Away DVD. I
think I like having a DVD player after all.
And that brings us to today's
adventure. After a full rich morning of therapies, I met
Kate for lunch at Top of the Scales. This was rescheduled
from yesterday because Top of the Scales is closed on
Monday. Silly me, it's closed on Tuesday too! So Kate's
sitting there in her van waiting for me when I drive up
and park in front of North Parish Church across the
street.
Kate: "They're closed. I
lost my ring."
Me: "What?"
Kate: "They're closed Monday
and Tuesday."
Me: "Ring? Your engagement
ring?"
Kate: "I knew if I ever got a
ring, I would lose it. This would never happen with a
milling machine."
Me: "It would be hard to lose a
milling machine. I knew somebody once who got an
engagement convertible, and a college classmate got an
engagement beagle..."
Kate: "This would never happen
with a milling machine."
We searched the street, the grass,
the little island with stupid flower plantings, the
church driveway, the restaurant doorway. Nothing. We
searched all those places again. Still nothing. Kate went
back to search the place she'd stopped for coffee on the
way to meet me. I went to lunch by myself at a new
Chinese restaurant in Lawrence. I was hungry. I ordered
vegetable dumplings and house tofu. Who knew house tofu
included shrimp? The waiter asked why I didn't eat the
shrimp. He said next time I could order it with beef.
Beef? Why can't I just get tofu? Oh well, cross Lee Chen
Restaurant off my list.
I call Kate and leave a message
asking if she's found her ring and if house tofu is
supposed to come with shrimp. Later she calls back: "I'm
almost to your house. This time I have a metal detector."
Moments later she's at my door. We return to North Parish
and Top of the Scales and sweep the metal detector over
everywhere. We find a couple of rocks that set it off. No
ring. We don't even find any loose pocket change. This
would never happen with a milling machine.
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Weeds In Bloom:
dandelion (5/2)
common chickweed(5/2)
cypress spurge(5/2)
wintercress
Today's Reading
Crab Wars by William Sargent
This Year's Reading
2003
Book List
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