1) Back porch coffee (really the first of the year) and devotional. It’s a bit too cool but I’m wearing my office fleece zipped high to prevent a chill.
1a) I looked over the porch rail and saw the rhododendrons in bloom! The grand courtyard of ye Instytytte has been ringed with rhododendrons for generations. When a former colleague would see them, they’d fill her with fear; they were the physical manifestation of REUNIONS. It’s been over ten years since she worked on our team, but I always think of her when I see the rhododendrons.
1b) The somewhat horrifying knowledge from chapter 1 of Daniel that God wants us to be vegetarians.
2) Friday night I had a particularly bad night’s sleep, made worse by pain across my upper back and shoulders. Saturday morning’s devotional readings from How Artists Work highlighted “working in the interstices of the day,” snatching bits of productivity between other things. My original schedule called for a needed haircut at 11:30, after which I was going to grab lunch and go to the office until 7ish. Instead I toted my laptop with me and got other (needed) work done over lunch between noon and a 2PM massage appointment. (Daddy was just not going to make it without resolving all that shoulder pain.) I then made it to the office by 4:45, and left at 9:30 having accomplished my needed objective - and without feeling tired or anxious.
3) The outgoing neighbors are coming down in about an hour for a Transfer of Power for the condo association - I will now be custodian of the files and checkbook, God save us - after which I’m headed back to the office for the day and evening. This morning, even with everything going on, I feel - dare I say it? - happy.
3a) How long will it last?! Please, help me cultivate this rare plant!