Finally, Book Finished and Tomatoes Planted

Finally Woody drove to Yarmouth and picked up the old MAC my assistant uses. It was slow but we could put in the corrections to the 5th draft of THE HOUR OF MY DEATH.  We were warned that this computer could fail at any moment.  It takes about 25 minutes just to boot up.  Woody ordered a new [used] MAC for Dale. He’s goes on vacation next week.  We’re hoping to have it up and running when he returns June 3rd. in the meantime, we’re celebrating his birthday this weekend.

Since we couldn’t work last week, Dale and I put in two days this week and got all the minor corrections into the 5th draft.  I had done the major additions and cuts, but we had to go through page by page for the minor corrections. When we finished and I printed out the whole book and saved it and saved it, I felt an immense relief.  I realized how much stress I’ve been under since Dale’s computer died.  My agent is in London till after the holiday.  I’ll send it to her next week and see what she thinks.  It’s such a mixed strange genre, zuihitsu. But I liked it a lot and it was suitable for writing about the first year of my second life, after I died and was revived. I hope somebody likes it. Narrative, new poems, little essays, a few lists. It’s t, a Japanese form a thousand years old dating back to THE PILLOW BOOK.  A woman invented the fo rm.

I  planted the last three tarragon plants, frying peppers and the paste tomatoes I started in March.  I have room for one more bunch I started of something in my farthest raised bed. It was hot, suddenly, like mid summer while I was working in the garden and I wasn’t appropriately dressed. Our temperature went from  early spring feeling – cool, actually quite chilly – to hot overnight.  Now I finally have some lighter clothes out. I didn’t have a single short sleeved teeshirt.  Now at least some I found and 2 more pairs of light garden pants. I pair of shorts so far.

Thursday was a down day as I had knocked myself out in the  heat on Wednesday.  By Friday, I could work outside again.  Spring was  late this year and now it’s summer.

t’s supposed to cool down this coming week, and I welcome it.  It won’t get as chilly as it was – decent weather to work outside.

I will be looking for lighter`clothes in the hall closet probably all next week, whenever I get the time and am not too tired. I won’t be going to Jay’s play in Ptown tonight with Woody Dale, Stephen, and the Grotzes.  My doctor said that the coughing would probably continue another three weeks and I should stay out of crowds. With my cough, not only would I disrupt the play but without a mask or perhaps even if I could wear one, I’m very vulnerable.  He reminds me that most people my age who get pneumonia die of it.