BACK TO WORK
Although I haven't done anything resembling work in the 3 hours I've been here this morning. Sorting through the 123 emails I received in my absence (can't read my email from home because the laptop I have doesn't have Java loaded on it yet). Lots of crap, some relevant messages. Spent almost 2 hours, 2 separate calls, on the phone with my college friend Doug. He called to tell me that he had lunch with the man who was the college boyfriend of my friend Beth. When Doug told Bob that Beth was a friend of mine, Bob said, "Oh, I remember Elizabeth, she was the little blonde." Doug said he was kind and didn't point out that I am no longer very little or very blonde. So during the first phone call we spent a lot of time talking about a lot of people from college, since he had new news of people we don't ordinarily talk about. That was nice, new names to talk about. We graduated from college 31 years ago. How can that be?

Second phone call was devoted to news of our lives. His three children are finally all in good places in their lives. Two of them (one named Elizabeth) have had bad patches in their lives, especially Beth, whose "patch" extended through several years and included an unwanted pregnancy and subsequent abortion, drug use, clinical depression, self-mutilation, and the list goes on. Poor Doug struggled through all of this and was the target of a lot of her venom. I listened to him endlessly through these years and counseled him as best I could. His marriage is not a happy one, hasn't been for many, many years. He said he knew the night before his wedding that he didn't want to get married. WHY DO PEOPLE GET MARRIED ANYWAY? At least I'm not married to someone who doesn't want to be married to me, say what you will about the mayor of Lake Placid.

So now I'm sitting at my desk. The morning started out poorly. The dog knocked a bunch of stuff of of the night stand by the bed, retrieving the 3" piece of leash with clasp attached that passes for her current favorite toy these days. I was convinced my glasses had been there, so searched for 10 minutes, including looking with a flashlight under the bureau, the bed, etc., moving the bed, trying to pick up the bed to put the leg back underneath it (boy that sure hurt my abdomen! don't do that!). I finally found my glasses--NOT on the television, where I promise myself I will always put them, but on the plant table, where I never put them. But they were safe, unscratched and found. I left home early, plenty of time to stop at Ken's to put drops in his eyes in prep. of his cataract surgery tomorrow. Got to work BEFORE 8:00. They were shocked to see me, solicitous, eager to hear how I was, how my surgery was (or at least feigned interest). I arrived with a big smush of dog poop on the sole of my shoe, had to go to the garage to wash it off. I'm beyond being embarrassed about that sort of thing and they all know me too well to do anything but chuckle at me.

So how do I feel? I have some discomfort, but that's probably from trying to pick up the bed, not from coming to work. Driving was fine. Sitting at my desk is fine. I have to move a few boxes of books for the Court System's legal resource project, to make sure that all that was ordered by them for our member libraries was delivered. That seemed to go ok and I won't unpack them right now, just open and examine the contents of the boxes. What I'll do for the rest of the day is uncertain. Catalog, I suppose.

It's very green here in Plattsburgh, very different from Hawkeye. Leaves on trees, ornamental trees in bloom. Shad is in bloom at home, that happened quickly. My daffodils are blooming, just about peak. Cherry trees not yet in bloom. Tiny, tiny leaves on poplars there, tiny leaves on maples here in the city. It's about 10 days ahead of us here in the Champlain Valley. Nice to drive in to see it.

Dinner with Ken last night. Bill was there for a while, we had cocktails together. He had come to put the water in at his camp, which only took 20 minutes--not a single leak or complication. Boy that sure never happens at our camp! Ken and I had a nice visit over dinner, then sat companionably and read the newspaper afterwards. It rained hard for a bit, then I went out on his deck and listened to the spring peepers. Yum, a wonderful sound.

The other night I watched the film House of Sand and Fog. I'd read the book so I knew about the ending. Ben Kingsley played the lead role. He's truly a master. It was a really wonderful film, true to the book. I reallly enjoyed it. I also watched I Heart Huckabees, which I did not enjoy very much at all. All-star cast, including Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman. What were they thinking when they agreed to be in that? They played existential therapists. That's a movie to skip. Sand and Fog, that's one to see.