Email Barbara

Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 22 April 2000 (Week 17)

Saturday, 26 April 2003 08:52

Sporadic reflections that recount the events of my life

wpoison

Saturday, 22 April 2000

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]

My sister has a resident lizard. When I got over to her house yesterday she showed me her little friend living in her geraniums she was going to plant. I am not much of a fan of the amphibian world, so we just left Mr. Lizard alone and planted the other stuff that needed done. I finally moved the geraniums, lizard and all, out on the driveway so he would not get loose in her garage. End of story, we finally chased him into a nearby garden where I am sure he is happily living and glad to be left alone. Actually, I am not sure if it was a lizard or a salamander. He was a cute little thing. 

I came home around 1:30 and decided rather than take my nap I would mow the yard and then have all day today to rest and not do much. Foiled again. The mower started but was not running right. I turned it off and messed with a few things and cranked it again. No power to speak of. I called my dad to see if I could borrow his. Off to the other side of town and back with his mower. Midway through the front yard it started to rain, which it was not supposed to do. It was not raining very hard so I just finished. 

I guess that's what I get for not taking my nap and the afternoon off like I planned. 

I will return dad's mower this morning and borrow his old one to keep until I can get mine fixed. I hope that was the other shoe. First the compressor on the Trooper, now the mower. 

I am back to reading non-fiction again. I bought three books in a series by Louise Dickinson Rich recalling her and her families life in the back woods of Maine. Even though they were written in the late forties, they are fun to read. She writes with a sense of wit and bravado much like Vena Angier wife of Bradford did in extolling their life in the wilderness of British Columbia. As is most works  like those or Henry Beston, which I just finished, they are timeless.

Never a good sign when I am in my "escape from the world" reading phase. 

Sunday, 23 April 2000

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]

Oops. Bob informed me that lizards are reptiles not amphibians. 

Well I finally pooped out yesterday afternoon. When I returned from my dads after lunch I hit the couch and slept for close to three hours. I do not do that very often, so I guess I have been fighting the exhaustion factor for some time now. 

We just sat around and read and listened to classical music last night.

I will clean house this morning. My folks and sister are coming over for dinner. My sister has to work this morning. I am baking the pork roast and my mom will make the side dishes.

Monday, 24 April 2000

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]

We had a very nice dinner yesterday evening and a nice relaxing day.

I finished the first of the three books by Louise Dickinson Rich chronicling their life in the backwoods of Maine. I really liked these two lines from the end of We Took to the Woods. She is summing up their reasons for being happy in their world as they choose to live.

"Discontent is only the fear of missing something. Content is the knowledge that you aren't missing a thing worth-while."

I will start the second on next which is Happy the Land. I will say it again, if you like nature and nature writing with some humor thrown in, I highly recommend this series.

No gym this week. If you missed my post last week, I am taking the week as recommended by one of the class instructors. I will take the lawn mower in for repair this morning and I always have errands to run such as drugstore, pet supplies, etc.

It is time for the semi-annual event of cleaning the basement. Twice a year I sweep out and clean up the garage area of the basement. Once in the spring after the winter clutter has accumulated and once in the late fall after the summer clutter. With the dryer and the cars in and out it gets quite an accumulation of dirt and leaves.  I will probably do it this week.

Tuesday, 25 April 2000

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]

I started the second book in the series yesterday, Happy the Land. She continues recounting funny episodes of her life in the Maine woods. 

Mother dove laid at least one egg yesterday. She was off the nest just a few seconds when I happened to be checking on her. This morning she is all puffed up trying to keep them warm. It is 47 degrees outside with wind gusts to 28 mph and raining. Typical spring weather for North Carolina after a warm winter.

I only ran about half my errands yesterday and then came home. I will finish the remaining ones this morning. 

Tonight is Gary and Laura's going away cook out in Greensboro. They are treasurers of CBCR  and have decided to move back to Jacksonville, FL where they are from. They live near us and behind the park where I take the dogs to play. We often met them at the park for dog playtime and attended flyball together. I will miss her and Gary. 

I am a big jigsaw puzzle fan. I go through phases where I will work several in a row. I have not had time lately and with Malcolm I cannot set one up right now. But, I feel a puzzle mood coming on. I may have to set one up in the dinning room where he is not allowed. I usually keep one on a card table in my office and work on it a few hours a day. 

Wednesday, 26 April 2000

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]

We had a nice time at the cookout last night. It was nice getting out for evening.

Not much going on today. Bob has to go to the dentist and I need to do the grocery shopping.

It is still rainy and cold here for the end of April. 

Thursday, 27 April 2000

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]

I got the basement cleaned up yesterday because Malcolm stole my glasses off the dresser while I was taking my shower. He mangled the frames but I don't think he harmed the lenses. I just happen to have my previous pair still in the drawer. The prescription is a little different but not too much to cope with daily life. However, long hours at the computer or reading are out of the question until I get my new ones back. They had to order the frames so I will have to make do with these until then

So, I went to the store and after lunch used this time when I cannot read or do much computer work to get the basement all tidied. It took about three hours.

I also managed to finish the second of the three books by Louise Dickinson Rich, Happy The Land.

I want to quote a couple of paragraphs from the end that struck very close to home for me and I think are very good words of wisdom for a lot people. She is summing up her life and why she remained living in the backwoods of Maine.

"It seems to me that the thing for which you spend your life to build, if you would be whole, is not a bank account, or an unimpeachable social position, or success in any one of the thousand lines of endeavor; it seems to me that the only thing worth having is a certainty of yourself, a complete confidence in how you will act under any circumstances, a knowledge of yourself.

She goes on to say "Every individual must find the proper ground on which to work out his own salvation...the important thing is to find the place in which you can be the best person you are capable of being, in which you can develop your potentialities most nearly to the utmost; and the implication is that that is the place in which you can be most useful and happiest..."

And finally "One of the many good things about growing older is that things are not what they seem...And so it is with everything. Every experience contains not only the present but the past as well, amplifying, and enriching it...Whatever you are, whatever life you lead, is a result of the experiences of the past, and to attempt to divorce the Now from the Then is foolish...The past recaptured isn't growth...The past means nothing unless its promise is fulfilled in the future."

Friday, 28 April 2000

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]

If you want to see what my mom does anywhere from two to four days per week, check out the gift shop web page at Baptist Hospital. My mom is is the first picture standing at the counter wearing the blue volunteer coat and handing a lady some flowers. She has over 10,000 hours and my dad has about 6,000. 

Thursday was a nice day. I played golf, mowed the lawn, and fixed dinner. 

Today is library volunteer day for me. 

[Last Week] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Next Week]