June 24
More plants, less beer. More Star Island. That's how I plan to improve my life.
1966
Here I am in New Stanton - the Ramada Inn. It’s high on a hill, a brand new motel. Our room is red and orange, With TV and pool. I’m rooming with Mrs. D. Soc and Mr. D are next door. We leave Soc tomorrow.
I left New Milford at 6:30, and we got to New Stanton at about 8:30. Meals?
Breakfast - four donuts and milk
Lunch BLT, iced tea
Dinner: Ham, fries, corn, salad, coffee
Our only long stop was at King of Prussia, PA. Soc’s friend lives there and we spent half an hour.
Mr. and Mrs. D are a lot of fun, and Socco is a real riot! Square, but a riot.
I keep having grammar drills in Spanish.
So far: use “ra” form, rather than “se”
Bus: camion
Taxi: libre
Nurse: infermadera
And a song, Canción Mixteca
Qué lejos estoy del suelo donde he nacido!
Inmensa nostalgia invade mi pensamiento
Al verme tan solo y triste cual hoja al viento
Quisiera llorar, quisiera morir de sentimiento
¡Oh Tierra del Sol! Suspiro por verte
Ahora que lejos yo vivo sin luz, sin amor
Y al verme tan solo y triste cual hoja al viento
Quisiera llorar, quisiera morir de sentimiento
Up early mañana.
Comment 2023
And…I’m off to Mexico! Me, a high school Spanish teacher and his wife, and “Soc” aka Socco, aka Socrates Clonnaris, my high school Earth Science teacher. I immortalized him in several cartoons which he fortunately never saw.
1978
A pleasantly warm day; I moved two lettuce plants into separate pots today and thinned the original pots to one plant each. Tomorrow I will move the snow pea plants into bigger pots. I planned to plant a second crop this week, but decided I would have to be crazy to do it. They grow much too fast; I would be surrounded by pea plants in a very short time
A is in Michigan this weekend, at a professional meeting that sounds very interesting. I have this unreasonable suspicion that she will talk about me, hoping to undermine my career. As I said – – unreasonable.
Several of us graduate students had a picnic near the new building construction site yesterday. It was so very pleasant! We weren't sure why we hadn't thought of it before. Probably just routine.
Now I will attempt to read one page of Madame Bovary, in French. No hands.
1977
The best biggest story since then is the Daleview Tenants Organization. It promises to eliminate a lot of my doubts about living here. My own stance, I find, is very moderate – – – get what can be reasonable gotten without weakening our position. The pool area question is a good one. I can't see using it exclusively as a pool. More efficient use of the area might be possible: a combination daycare center in community room, with perhaps a three-month swimming pool outside more for cooling and dipping. How about the economics of running a low-cost daycare center, including providing 2-3 part time helpers, from Daleview Residents? That Mrs. J charged $40/week - - what about $10- 20 per child, with a 25 child program? That’s $250-500 a week, which could pay for a professional director and food. Pay the p.t. staff at $20 a week, minimum wage. 80 hours a week at $3 an hour = $240. Or Daleview could rent or franchise the day care center to someone on the condition that first preference for p.t. staff would be Daleview residents.
Comment 2023
Despite taking two summer courses, teaching a third, and preparing to teach a new class in the fall, I somehow found time to help organize a tenant’s organization for the run-down apartment complex we lived in. Also, despite having NO EXPERIENCE OR EXPERTISE, I was working out a plan to convert the equally run-down pool into a daycare center.
This is black-belt level procrastination, for sure.
1997
It is hard to be clearheaded on three hours sleep, and even harder to make these calls.
But I did it, Mom.
And now I'm going to take a bath and try to relax.
2004
How can it be, that I have only five more days of this delicious travel? I'm trying to schedule a retreat between Saint Paul and LaCrosse.
But perhaps it can be from St. Paul to Red Wing, which would be about an hour. My intention is not clear. I think I need to mourn my loss of mountains, and reconcile myself to being east of the Mississippi again.
At least it was cold out on the platform this morning. It feels good to be cold. Yes, a goodbye to the mountains retreat.
2006
It’s been a long, strange week. No Jim, a little Kiddo 2, no Kiddo 1. Just me and the dog. If Jim were gone permanently, I’d be an alcoholic in no time. I’ve just been treading water since he left. Trying to work, trying to get things done. It would be easier if it were during the semester. I’d have less time on my hands. But it’s hard.
2019
More plants, less beer. That's how I plan to improve my life. I am not ready for all plants and no beer, and never will be. And there he was surrounded by women half his age. There's no denying he's a beautiful man, a beautiful person. But still (or maybe because he is so attractive) there is something a little icky about seeing him holding court like that. After all, don't beautiful people know the power their beauty gives them?
Maybe I shouldn't have told Grandkiddo 2 the cowboy suit story. It probably has a different moral for him than for me. Maybe it gave him permission to nag Kiddo 1 for the kayak trip to Smuttynose.
This morning's conversation about age has stuck with me all day. People who deny their age – – men and women, alike. Hmmmm.
This was one of those days that it is warmer on the island and it is on the coast. But I felt chilly and feverish all day. Boo. So do I really want to work on my writing? As in deliberate improvement as described in “Slow writing “? Well, not today, perhaps. Feeling too icky.
2023
Off to Star Island again, to sit in a rocker on the porch and tell more stories to Grandkiddo 2.
2024
Coming to Star for two weeks is the most brilliant thing ever. My family showed up yesterday, arriving on the Thomas Leighton in a thick fog. This week there will be babies, and tweens and teens running all over the island. A totally different vibe.
I don’t drink but the more plants less beer sure sounds like a good plan.