I woke up in good condition but still a little shaken from yesterday’s experience and probably weakened from lying down for two days straight. It’s a familiar feeling from when I was a child, getting up after being sick in bed for a few days. At my age, I lose muscle mass daily with even with exercise. Needing to lie in bed has a scary element to it. Judy texted that she wasn’t going to the 10 am mass at Holy Rosary but to the 4pm and St. Michael’s. I chose to go with her.
Elsa and I went out for our long Sunday walk. I have been experiencing a sharp pain in my right heel as I walked. I have been concerned that I am generating a heel spur. Before I went to bed last night, I pressed my heel into the floor without consequences. I had no idea what was going on. The problem seems related to the shoe, I guess. These are new ones.
Yvette texted me that her tonsils were inflamed. Good thing she stayed home yesterday.
I texted Elijah, asking if he would come up and help me with a few small things. I have a printer sitting on the library coffee table that I would like moved into the study where it was initially. I’m working on creating order where I can. Elijah didn’t respond. I heard B.’s truck pull in before 9 am. I suspected they gone hunting. Otherwise, they would both have still been in bed at that time on a Sunday morning. Because Elijah didn’t respond, I walked out into the driveway to greet them when I heard B. start up the truck. Elijah explained that he had his phone turned off; he would help me around 2 pm. They were heading to see a movie. B. also announced that Elijah had shot his first turkey that morning. This island is awash in wild chicken, turkeys, pheasants, pigs, goats, and sheep, all were brought over here as domestic animals. Oh yes. We have feral cats too. People release them when they leave the island - and once thrown out of their domestic paradise, they go forth and multiply.
I feel very stressed. There are problems with the floor in the guest room to be resolved, and again I’m dealing with a situation where I can’t get information about what is going on. People are being evasive. John Zimmerman called me the other day to say he’d found information on a system that made it possible for the subflooring to be screwed down right through the carpet. That someone offered to help me find solutions was like a balm for my frazzled nerves. The next question is, what will the screws void the effect of the acoustic material I paid so much for? There are other areas of discomfort with others too. They’re mounting—all normal.
I’ve come to realize that every contact I have with another human being is active. I have no simple inactive ones. Mike and I would just hang out in the same house or the same room or the same bed and just being, doing our own thing, parallel play. While we didn’t have active interaction, we were actively aware of the other being there and the complete trust and comfort our presence afforded the other. It was so relaxing.
The closest I come to something like that is in Bikram. But even there, it is a coordinated activity with an objective we all share. I had that relaxed relationship with the young woman who moved in here. She spent a lot of time at home dealing with her infected legs. We would sit on the lanai together, each doing our own thing. I loved it.
I remember when Mike and I first started dating. He went on an outing with Dorothy and me to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. I remembered that the three of us sat together quietly. I checked that criterion from my list of absolutely necessary traits in someone I was going to live with.
Some people must think this is comparable to sitting in a library with a group of people. But no, this is very different. It’s different because he was connected to me, aware of me, and delighted I was there as I was connected to him, aware of him, and delighted he was there. A small difference that changes everything.
I spent part of the morning cleaning an old hairbrush of Mike’s to hand over to the homeless. They’re hard to clean. Then, I called Victor, the carpet installer, again for the fifth time. He is still not answering. I will call the shop he works for tomorrow. I hope I don’t face endless defensiveness. I have the money; I am willing to solve the problem without putting people who have less in jeopardy. But if I don’t get these answers, I will have to change tact. It seems clear that Victor knew what the problem was if not before he lifted the Pergo after he walked on the bare subflooring. He would have had to make other arrangements. He would have had to stop the job he was doing, told me that I had to hire someone to screw down the subflooring, and then come back another day. He would probably have lost time and money to do that. Do I like that he behaved that way? No. Do I understand? Yes.
I needed to get out of the house. I decided to drop off some of the books I had collected that were not part of Mike’s collection at Kona Book Store. Let’s see how many of these books they accept for store credit. I stopped off at Island Naturals, which is right next door, to pick up a head of broccoli for dinner.
I got Dorothy on FaceTime again to go through our mother’s box of old linens to see what she wanted. Most of the stuff is old linen napkins, but, boy, there are some beautiful lace runners. Dorothy suggested the church might be able to use some of them. I’ve decided I have to sort through the stuff before I speak to her again. I know she doesn’t want the white linen napkins, and there are still a number left in this big box. I am determined not to leave all this stuff for the next generation to deal with after my death. Of course, given the current situation, the house may be bombed. That should take care of everything and more.
I vacuumed the lanai rung, cleaning up some spots Elsa left for me. I washed some of the kitchen floor when I decided to call Dorothy and continue sorting through the box of linens from my mother to see if she wanted any. There are linen napkins from her trousseau. Let’s see, she was married in 1937; that’s a minimum of 82 years ago. They’re still intact. Amazing! Of course, there are some stains. Besides the napkins, there are some wonderful runners. Unfortunately, we have no use for them. I’ll try my niece Karin before I give them away.
Judy and I went to 4 pm mass. Lio keeps that church as cold as a refrigerator. After mass, I saw Sandor and Meaali’inani. They had come directly from the airport after a fourteen-hour flight from Miami. Sandor offered to do anything for me he could. It occurred to me that if I don’t have success getting answers to my questions from the carpet store, I could ask him to call for me. A masculine voice
Judy stopped off at the house on the way home from church to check out the large jars I had and pick up the pork roasts from my freezer. Mike had four or five large pieces of pork in there. Judy wondered how long they’d been in the freezer. I assured her it was since January. I certainly hadn’t bought any large hunks of meat.
There is not much left in the freezer now. I made the broccoli and some chicken ravioli I found, along with some salad. After dinner, I went to the library to watch some more of Wycliff. This is a good TV series on Amazon Prime for those who might be interested.
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