Day 8: Sunshine! Heat! (1/13/22)

 Yesterday was cool and cloudy, with a few misty drizzles. But today we’re inching up into the high 70s, with clear skies. Yes! This is what we’ve come for.

So Phil got busy and did his laundry, making use of the sunshine and warm breeze:


We can, of course, drive to a laundromat about ten miles away. But why not hang out our underwear for all to see? I am planning to wash mine in the evening, then hang it out under cover of darkness. 

Phil took advantage of the great weather to bike to a quiet spot on the lake and listen to a couple of hours of Tom Sawyer on earphones. I stayed with the dogs, reading a murder mystery by Anne Perry, then took a bike ride toward evening, enjoying the sunlight and water.




I sat for a few moments in the evening calm, till a fish startled me by leaping out of the water, feeding on insects. Two herons stalked the shoreline like white question marks, and a hawk perched on the buoy halfway across the lake, looking for prey. A turtle poked his snout like an arrowhead out of the water’s glassy surface, staring at me. I felt like Annie Dillard at Tinker Creek. There’s something about stillness and watching that adds depth to life.

This evening, instead of our usual installment of All Creatures Great and Small, I did a Zoom video writing conference led by Donald Maass on the subject of going beyond character arc, following the protagonist’s inner journey to self-discovery. A great presentation, lots to think about. All based on our own quest for meaning.




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