Diversion, Distraction, & Discovery

Thursday, March 2…

DIVERSION: laundry. The machines were Maytag (fine), but this was an establishment in need of lots more maintenance than it’s getting. Even my permanent press items needed extra drying time, and Greg’s jeans simply came home damp. You do, however, meet interesting folks in a laundromat. One woman came in with 10 or so (no exaggeration) bags of laundry. I was dumbfounded. Chatted with her briefly – 2^nd divorce (“he just won’t stop cheating”), kids & grandkids living w/ her, moving, wanted everything clean. I spent $10 on 2 loads – can’t imagine what she spent (and her means were definitely less than mine). Also met another traveling couple – he was 82 (looked much younger), his wife seemed much younger. He had just bought a new Dodge (Charger) Hellcat; she plays gospel/country guitar, and they both love zydeco - a musical genre that originated in Louisana and blends blues, jazz, and indigenous Creole and Cajun music. Instruments typically include accordian and some form of washboard. And there was a single woman, maybe 60, who had a small BnB and appeared to washing one tablecloth in each machine (the ones w/ glass doors) - lots of suds sloshing around, but I had to look really hard to find the laundry. At the other extreme, one of the dryers used by another lady was stuffed - packed solid!)

DISTRACTION: Employment. Besides 17 years of editing commercial real estate appraisals, I’ve also edited some small nonfiction books and worked with a couple fiction writers. One of my clients sent me a manuscript a couple weeks ago. I’d read a good chunk of it once, read the first chapter a couple times, and decided this week that I had to do some actual editing. Which I did (especially today)…  and DISCOVERED that – even though it seems like I ought to have lots of free time - I don’t. I also don’t have an office or any place to shut myself away, and I couldn’t force myself to concentrate the way I need to. Fortunately, the client is very understanding (and also has lots more writing to do on this project), so I have a reprieve until we return. 

No pics taken today. I'll share a couple more from yesterday.

Whimsy (in a display case)

Every visitor gets 3
 free bottles. 😃