- but some days are more equal than others. Days when I get a lot done I don't get a blog done. I'm too busy writing to write. And like everyone else I have fiddlies to attend to, like watering the plants, doing the laundry, planning meals (shopping cooking, and oh dear, coping with leftovers) all that stuff. And trying not to hoard. Every time I throw something out I feel virtuous; this morning was a good one, not filling land, either, but recycling. I have never considered a day well spent unless I wrote something, or at least thought something. I suppose this compulsion to achieve each day came from my father. It's as if I had to justify my existence. What did you do today? What did you learn today? If it's what is now called same-old, same-old (like the plants, laundry, etc.) then it's never enough. And yet.. You have to take time for people. Otherwise, there's no point, is there?

And blog tomorrow, but never blog today. That's why I missed yesterday because it was today all day, and I was very busy. I get the Sunday New York Times and I not only read it I also clip it. I run a clipping service for a number of people. I sit down with the NYT armed with scissors, a pen and little bits of paper, torn from the back side of used copy paper- better than an iPhone or iPad because I get the satisfaction of throwing them away when I have performed the imperative thereon, and I use my Latin shorthand, too (e.g. QV, NB) also question marks, but no exclamation marks because I am still trying to give them up. So, by the end of a quiet Sunday I have reduced the NYT to shreds and my Paper Desk (as opposed to my Computer Desk) is piled with clippings and notes to be followed up on. (Never end a sentence with one preposition when two will do.) And so - no blog. Today however, is another day. I opened my balcony this weekend. It's my summer home. No plants yet; I'll get those this week. But the air is lover-ly, and it's still almost yesterday and I'm out here with coffee and my Icelandic vocabulary to study but I had to write a blog first. There!