On a Sunday afternoon...

It rained yesterday in the evening and during the night. It was very pleasant to lie in bed and hear the rain come down on the patio through the opened window. That's how I fell asleep. To that sound.


Today it is an overcast day and cool, but I still have the windows open at the top, because inside it isn't cold. I'm wearing my boots and leggings and an extra top. I have a scarf around my neck for warmth. The draft that is moving through the apartment is not unpleasant and only mildly cool. I'm dressed warm enough for it not to bother me.

When I took Tyke for a walk at noontime, we got rained on, but it was a real springtime rain and very mild and light. It was like wet sunshine pouring down. Nevertheless, we were a bit soaked when we got home and I had to dry us off with towels. Tyke enjoys that and thinks it's the same thing as cuddling. My hair got sticky because of the hairspray. I'll have to wash it again. It was standing up in all directions anyway from sleeping on it.

I'm becoming a champion at sleeping at night. There's no problem anymore in sleeping through the night and waking up at a normal hour in the morning. I usually get about 8 hours of sleep. I think that's the requisite amount. I can do that without taking a nap during the day, but I'll take one of those too if I have to, though I prefer to do without and be really tired at night and long for bedtime.

I must admit that sometimes it's the cups of coffee that keep me going through the day. If I feel at all like I'm faltering and not hanging in there well enough, I make myself a cup and do much better again. It only takes one cup and I'm alright. I don't have to make a second one. That's what so nice about the Senseo machine. That I can just make one cup and drink it hot and fresh.

The Senseo machine is doing a lot better after a good cleaning with a bottle of cleansing vinegar. It's stopped leaking and is working normally again. I probably hadn't cleaned it on time and had waited to long to run the vinegar through. Time goes by so quickly and it is like with my haircuts. If I don't write them down in my agenda, I forget to make an appointment for my next one and walk around with unruly hair, not giving a thought to why that is. Being absent minded is one of my lesser attributes.

Tyke is doing better every day. he's not so worn out when we come home from our walks, so I don't think he really feels sick, although his eye still doesn't look so good. He's gnawing on a rawhide bone right now, preferring a new one to the left over bits of the old ones. I end up throwing those away in the trash. They're not very interesting to him. I need to go to the pet store and buy him one of those huge bones and see what he does with one of those. It will be just out of curiosity to see his reaction to it.

I put away all the clothes I wore this week in my organized closet. I had worn about four different outfits and had left them all lying around, although neatly folded. Today I finally made myself clean them up. When you live by yourself, you only have yourself to blame for the mess that's there. Whatever dish is dirty, is your dish. Whatever laundry needs to be done, is your laundry. Okay, some of the mess can be blamed on the animals, but most of it is yours.

I have to wash the dishes today, because tomorrow the domestic help is coming again and I do have to clean up the kitchen. That includes the counter and the sink and the Senseo machine. I also have to scrub the toilet and take down the dry laundry and see if there is a load ready to go into the machine. I have to change my bed, that's right. That will be one load of laundry. The fun never ends.

There are always enough jobs to do that the domestic help doesn't do. Things I need to do to make it easier for her. I didn't realize I had a bottle of bleach and I'm going to tackle the toilet with it, being careful not to get any on my clothes. That would be a shame, now that I'm so nicely dressed in my Sunday best. Actually, I'm wearing a dress that I had quite forgotten about and that fits me very well and hides all my faults. Who can ask for more?

Okay, I'm going to tackle those jobs now. It's a long enough post. After that I'm going to read my new book. "A Home At The End Of The World" by Michael Cunningham. It's intriguing, though very confronting and it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable at times. I think that must be the function of the book. I think he is harsh on young teenagers and their motivations. I don't think they're quite that sophisticated. Or young children for that matter. He interprets them through his grown up eyes and hindsight knowledge. It's written well, though. I intent to stick with it.

Ciao,
Nora