Fri. Sept. 20, 2024: Enjoying the Work

image courtesy of Engin Akyurt via pixabay.com

Friday, September 20, 2024

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Cloudy and cool

Another week gone already. Time is rushing past too quickly.

My friend, poet Joanne Corey, has a wonderful article in GENERATIONS magazine, “One Woman’s Evolution into a Climate Warrior.” It’s a terrific piece, and you can read it here. Please share it with those you think might enjoy it.

Got a couple of things done early on. The maintenance guy showed up when he said he would, with a ladder and two new smoke alarms. When he put the new one in the front hall, every alarm in the entire building went off, and turning off the switch in the basement panel did nothing.

It was a wiring problem with that particular area. He rewired it, and that’s worked, so far. He switched out the one in my mother’s room.

Those alarms were new, put in a few months ago. They’re supposed to last ten years. But when he pulled them down and checked the dates, they were both expired. So why were they put in the first place? The “new” ones are within the date range – but they won’t last ten years.

I told him if they start going off again, I’m bringing in the fire department to do a building-wide carbon monoxide test.

Once he left, and it looked like things would stay quiet, I packed up the computer and the flash drive and headed down to MASS MoCA. I picked up the flyers for the A4A grant program that I promised to distribute in the coming week, and printed off the BHPC flyers for our reading. I filled out the paperwork so they can pay me for the advisory work (it takes about 60 days), and confirmed the date for the November meeting to discuss the incoming applications. The residency manager had a great idea about space for us to workshop during the residency. I talked it over with the coordinators for the group, who agreed, and the space is booked!

Came back and got to work on the script coverages. I had one large and 3 ½ small. It took me until about 9 PM, and then I worked on the book for review, which I will finish reading this morning, so that I can write/submit the review and invoice.

A friend offered a deep kindness to me yesterday, which I accepted with gratitude. I also picked up a small consulting job for the week after the residency.

I used many lovely CSA vegetables to create a deep, layered pasta sauce for dinner, which was very good.

I got out some marketing materials, I noodled with the idea fragment that I had the day before, I sent out an email to the cohort about the reading on Sept. 29 and the BHPC reading.

MASS MoCA is doing a really cool Day of the Dead celebration on November 1, which I hope to attend.

Today, I work on the book review, do a grocery shop and a library run, turn around one script. Start flyer distribution. I hope to get some writing in, but I’m not sure that will happen.

I’m starting to pull the books I need for the residency and pack those up, so they are ready to go.  I’m packing what I need for my friend’s project on Sunday, and also working on the detailing for the piece I’ve created for her tomorrow. I’m hoping I don’t have to read tomorrow; I’d like to focus on other things, especially prep for Sunday. And I need to finish the poem for next Sunday, so I can work it and hone it all next week.

Looking ahead to next week, I hope to have a good balance of coverage work and my own writing. Along with a lot of flyer distribution! But we’ll see how it shakes out.

Next weekend, I will probably start switching out the lace panels for the spiderweb panels, put up the Halloween tree, and start that whole turnover. Just in case we both get our vaccines on October 1! It’s only a couple of days early, and it makes more sense to do the turnover on a weekend than try to make it happen during the week, juggling everything else.

And yes, this year, for the first time, I’m putting up a small tabletop Halloween/Samhain tree. It’s a test run to see how Bea does with it before we put up the big tree for the winter holidays.

The big tree usually lives in the doorway between the sewing room (Bea’s current safe space) and the living room. It’s tied off, and I’ll tie it off even more this year. We’ll leave it up undecorated for a few days to see how she deals with it (as in teaching her not to climb it) before putting on the decorations, especially anything breakable.

It will be an adventure.

But Bea is doing really well. She’s not gobbling her food anymore. When she’s out and about, she’s not stealing food from the other cats’ dishes. This morning, it was more important to her to come out and explore than it was to eat breakfast. She played and interacted with the other cats and THEN went back in to eat her breakfast. Then, she came out to play some more. She and Charlotte actually touched noses. Big step for both. Charlotte is much better with her than I expected. Tessa enjoys having a cat around who looks up to her and listens to her. Bea makes little chirpy sounds at them, but she can also imitate them, and when she does, they are completely shocked. It’s hilarious.

Eventually, she will expand her circle to include the humans in the house. She can take her time.

Have a good one!