YAMB

Circus peacock fairy and clown
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

Yet Another Misc. Blog--but it almost sounds tasty, doesn't it, if it were baked til soft and afloat in butter?

Anyway…life, in no particular order:

I practiced being retired over the weekend, though Mom assured me that retirees absolutely do not have time to read. To me, retired means watching the mold grow on the shower curtain and not caring, thinking about sleeping a lot, and eating out four of six meals during the course of the weekend. And reading. And watching TV. So I accomplished all of the above--I mean, one can't retire and not be in shape for it, right? I have, what, 20-25 years to train for it, so I think I'll be able to really nail that event when the time comes.

Well, I (we) did accomplish something over the weekend, involving unloading a great deal of cash--which is part of a retiree's repertoire, is it not? M and I went shopping for a new bed. After some online research, we went out into the real world, of department stores, furniture stores, bedding stores, design stores. Holy canoli, there is a style out there for everyone, from be-bullion'd four-posters to austere Asian platforms to bachelor pad leopard 'n' leather. We ended up with a plain-ish wooden headboard and frame and a really nice mattress set--way more than I have ever spent on bedding in my life. I think those swanky hotel beds have had an influence on me. We did make our sales clerk work for it though, a nice young man who had the bedding patter down, most informative, named Dylan ("Wow, I've never heard of Susan spelled that way before." "Really? It's the Frenchy way." "Ah. Like my name, Dylan. Most people think it's d-i-l-l-i-o-n." "But, it's like Bob?" "Yeah. Or like Thomas." "Dylan Thomas?" "Yeah, I was named after the poet." "'Time held me green and dying/Though I sang in my chains like the sea.'"* "Wow, so you must've studied literature." "Uh, kinda." I was too wimpy to admit that I studied poetry in public to a twenty-something sales clerk in Sleeptrain). The high point of the whole tedious-ish process was when dear Dylan whipped out the wooden whistle to pipe us out of the store with the train toot, a sales colleague reciting that other immortal poetry, "Your ticket to a better night's sleep."

*****

One of the meals we ate out for was in Petaluma, in a second floor restaurant overlooking a main drag that is much more lively than what we're used to. Lots of kids roaming. We spied two toting "Free Hugs" signs, and I'm not sure if they were planning to emulate the video (that first hug always gets me), or just trying to get young ladies to press up against them. After dinner that night, we watched Pirates 3, which was fairly enjoyable to me, less so to M, who had high expectations, go figure.

*****

Work is going along fine, becoming more subtle and complex, which is A Good Thing, if also more mentally taxing. I'm tempted, but will refrain from writing more. M is studying very, very hard, all the time.

*****

Off to Redding this weekend to see my niece graduate from high school. We're all very pleased and happy for her, but of course there's the "where did the time go?" and "wow, she's…an adult…how the hell did that happen and how the hell do I relate?" feelings that are also very subtle and complex, but again, very worthwhile. I did not succeed in finding a new dress for the occasion, but oh well. Sleeping in the new bed will be consolation aplenty, I'm sure.

*This, and "Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer" are the only things I remember from my three years and thousands of dollars spent at NYU. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little.