My Ideal Day, Redux

Back in 2013, I wrote an entry for this blog called "My Ideal Day", in which I described said ideal day. It went like this:

MY IDEAL DAY
"I wake at 5:30, refreshed and energetic after a restful night's sleep, full of good dreams. I go out on the back porch, where I sit among the trees and flowers and watch the sun rise, my mind empty. As soon as the sun is well up, I take a brisk nature walk among the junipers. I have a nice breakfast of coffee, croissants, and jam while reading the paper (fortunately the news is all good today) and dashing off the crossword.

After my leisurely breakfast, I sit down at the computer and write. The words cascade onto the page, each one a gem. In three hours I have ten pages of pure gold that will require very little editing. My husband and I head out for our favorite bistro where we have a light lunch, after which we stroll over to the independent bookstore and spend an hour or so browsing. We make a quick stop at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods and pick up a few fresh items for supper.

When we get home, I'm bursting with ideas again, so I head back into den and write for another couple of hours. It's hard for me to stop when suppertime rolls around, but my husband has whipped up quite a gourmet feast for us I quit writing in the middle of a sentence so I can take up right where I left off tomorrow. Don and I laugh and chat through supper, then after cleaning up, we sit together on the couch and watch a '40s noir movie. I take a shower, then read in bed for a while until I fall into a restful sleep, looking forward to tomorrow."

TODAY, in 2018, I woke up thinking about that entry. My days have not been ideal lately. They've just been actual, life-living days with a lot of strange occurrences and goings on. But, my, have the fates been giving me material to write about. To refresh your memory, Dear Reader, last time we met I told you about my husband's accident. He took a header into the kitchen wall and broke his upper arm in two places. This happened after he had to have emergency eye surgery, which messed with his depth perception. This happened a mere few days before I was supposed to fly to Oklahoma to do a couple of library events that had been in the works for months. Cancelled. So the past two weeks have consisted of doctors' appointments and nursing duties, and unexpected time to work on my manuscript. Don's hanging in there, thanks for asking. Kind of. His right arm is in a sling so he can't write or drive or dress himself.The splint is heavy and he can't sleep well, he's still a bit unsteady on his pins from the eye surgery, so he's very careful about how he moves. I told somebody he walks sort of like Tim Conway's little old man. He's seeing the orthopedist again this Friday and we hope he can get a smaller cast. We're managing all right, but we've had a lot of practice.

It's summer in southern Arizona, too, so it's hot, hot, hot. It was 114º F (45.5 C) yesterday, but not so bad today at 105º F. (40.5 C). At least we're used to it. July and August are our stormy months, and we've been enjoying spectacular dust storms. We had one last week that was the worst I've every experienced, and I've seen some doozies. Fortunately we had just gotten home from a trip to the store when it blew in. One minute it was clear and the next minute you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. We're cautioned to pull off the road when one of those blows in, because you could plow into somebody in a minute. And good luck if you have asthma.

Still, things could always be worse. I'm not getting as much writing done as I hoped, but I am getting it done.

I understand that Mercury is retrograde until August 18, which means stuff goes sideways for a while. I can't say I'm a big believer in astrology, but I'll happily blame it all on Mercury.