Into My Book Again, Finally!

This week, I finally resumed working on my book. Woody has been reading it. He’s my harshest critic. He read the first 50 pages and it was a rare page on which he had not made a criticism or suggestion. I also have the notes from the editor who wanted Knopf to publish the book and thought we’d be working together. I expect to finish revisions on the first 50 pages this weekend. 

The antibiotic eyedrops I FINALLY got a prescription for seem to be working. Fingers, toes, whatever crossed. I was not bothered last night as I tried to sleep, the first night that I’ve gone all the way through without my eyes waking me or keeping me awake. A true blessing to sleep.

I have been putting so much effort into revising that I haven’t written poetry this week, very unusual.  I think this is the first week in a long time, a very iong time. I think of this book as my legacy and want to polish and finish it well.

The cats have been very interactive with us and each other. Shaman and Schwatrz enjoyed company, although they said they prefer when we have more women. Women have better laps and seem to know where to rub and pet. Friday night, Melenie came for a visit, a friend who lives in western Mass. It was good to see her after so long. We also had neighbors Dale, Stephen and Stephanie. We roasted a leg of lamb (from the Noon farm in Maine). I made cinnamon lamb, an old recipe attempting to replicate a festive dish of myi grandmother Hannah.  I made a puree that I adapted from Julia Child, a mixture of pumpkin, whiie beans and gruyere cheese (and made we’d have leftovers the next night). For appetizers, we had grapevine leaves and our homemade gravlax with allouette cheese. Dale baked a wonderfully moist Italian lemon cake for dessert, one of his best ever.

I get too many magazine subscriptions. I’m trying to decide which to drop.         At least two, I expect. I’m trying to choose which I don’t need.  I won’t cancel but just let them run out on the journals I am going to drop.

We’re expecting snow this afternoon, but probably not more than a couple of inches. The rest of the state will likely get much more. The snow we got this week has long since vanished. It was pretty, but fortunately for Woody’s back, only about an inch that all melted without any help from us.

I miss reading, but have finally started to do some of it. I’m going through periodicals that came during my eye problems. Then I want to start on the Booker Prize novel that Gigi gave me back in December.