this old man and lots of random stuff

From THIS OLD MAN by Roger Angell who is 90 something:
I’ve endured a few knocks but missed worse. I know how lucky I am, and secretly tap wood, greet the day, and grab a sneaky pleasure from my survival at long odds. The pains and insults are bearable. My conversation may be full of holes and pauses, but I’ve learned to dispatch a private Apache scout ahead into the next sentence, the one coming up, to see if there are any vacant names or verbs in the landscape up there. If he sends back a warning, I’ll pause meaningfully, duh, until something else comes to mind.
I bought fabric, cut it out, tried to sew it on the sewing machine, found I had no needles, got needles from Marie, found I had no idea how to use a sewing machine after all these years, hand-stitched the hem so Gus would have a nice bandana for Christmas Eve. Three days later he lost it on a walk. Not the $1.99 bandana we buy at Menards. This one.

 We had days of 30-40 mph winds so I didn't hold out much hope for finding it. But two days ago, on a walk, Regis spotted it out in the field. He traipsed through the snow to retrieve it. Amazing. Lost and found has been a theme this year.


I have been sort of obsessed with Scotland lately. I hung a large National Geographic map in the bedroom and I have a road map of Edinburgh in the night stand drawer. Yeah, repeating myself. Sorry. Now, I want to know about their language so I ordered these two books for my Kindle. Both free. Elements of Gaelic Grammar

This was my breakfast yesterday. I know some people get all sarcastic if you post food pictures but I like them. Social media is very selfish. People think they can see what they want to see and nothing else. I am quite proficient at hide and unfollow so I don't care. Post away. If I get tired of something posted, I quit looking.


This came in the mail. Always a good thing to peruse during the long, gray days of winter. My garden is one of those things where the fantasy and the execution are quite different.


Putting away the 2016 calendar, I found this list. What the heck is it? I wonder if I was listening to something and made these notes. It's a mystery. Lost and found.


This quote by Louise Erdrich has been in the front of my calendar all year. Now it is moved to 2017. I love her writing. I have started hoarding books again. I just stopped by my little library in the garden and some of my favorites are in there. It took a lot of will power not to bring them back in the house.

Happy Monday. Moving on into the day.

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